Rosie Flo’s coloring books series by Roz Streeten offers several out-of-the-ordinary options for kids who like to and have the patience to color in detail. The series includes books on kitchen items, gardening, animals, travel, night-time activities and more. Now author Roz Streeten has created Rosie Flo’s Coloring Fashion Show with tear outs that let kids create their own fashion shows, complete with an audience and a runway.

I asked for a copy of this for review from the publisher because I thought it would resonate with younger girls who like to color and would appreciate being able to make a display with their creations. Once I received my copy in the mail, I knew it would live up to my expectations. Rosie Flo’s Coloring Fashion Show comes in a sturdy box that can keep everything tidy as girls complete each part of the tableau that will make up their stage and fashions. Once colored in, the stage itself with the runway is easy and fun to assemble.

The outfits for the models and audience members are not connected with faces, legs and arms, and at first I wasn’t sure I liked it that way. I am used to cut-outs that attach to figures that actually look like people. But then I realized I like this template better, because it lets you imagine the types of people wearing the clothes. In your mind, you can create an audience and models of whatever ethnicity you’d like, without a cut-out making it fixed.

I really enjoyed thinking about the colors I wanted to use on the fashions, and it was fun creating wild combinations that I would never wear myself. My daughter and I worked on this together, and I appreciated the time we had to talk as we both colored away. It’s the kind of unstructured conversation time that rarely comes up in our daily lives. My daughter is also a fan of Project Runway, so she was happy for a chance to put her own thoughts about color onto the outfits provided in the kit.

Here are a few photos of Rosie Flo’s Coloring Fashion Show to help give you an idea of what you and your daughter can create.

Here’s the box with the stage unassembled and sheets of fashions nearby.

Here’s the audience assembled and a dress on the runway.

Here’s our work area. Lots of fashions are already completed, but there’s still more to go.

I loved being able to recommend good books for middle-grade readers, which is roughly defined as readers aged 9 to 12, The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook is one of those, so read on for the review, and check back tomorrow for an essay from author Joanne Rocklin about the power of telling stories (check back tomorrow for the essay).

Ever since Oona found Zook, short for zucchini, in the alley by their apartment, the kitty has been a big part of her family’s life. He helped comfort Oona’s dad when he was dying of cancer, and he’s a constant companion to Oona and her little brother, Fred. But when Zook gets sick and has to stay at the vet’s office, Oona and Fred both worry that he won’t make it.

To distract Fred, and to buoy up her own spirits, Oona tells him that cats have nine lives, and Zook is on his fifth. She creates imaginative stories about all the adventures their kitty has had in his other lives, and while she talks she also helps Fred learn how to spell by drawing rebuses, which are puzzles that combine pictures and letters to suggest a word.

In between telling stories of Zook, Oona worries because her mom is hanging out more and more with a man who lives around the corner. Plus, Oona is keeping a big secret about the day she found Zook. She’s not sure how she’s ever going to tell the truth, but she knows the day is coming when she’ll have to.

The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook is a sweet book about a thoughtful 10-year-old girl who is still grieving for her father and is determined to do what she can for her beloved cat. You’ll fall in love with Oona, who knows that important words are spelled in all caps and has what she calls the “Rainbow Whopper Theory” about lying—blue whoppers save “your scaredy skin,” black whoppers are told to hurt someone, yellow whoppers leave important information out…and so on.

Oona loves her little brother, and she wants to protect him as well as help teach him. She’s a big help to her mother, but she also resents that her mother seems to be moving on with her life after her dad’s death. She’s determined to think bad things about the man her mother is spending time with.

Oona is quick to judge, but she’s also quick to revise her opinion. Deep down she knows what is right, but she struggles to always do the right thing. By the time you turn the last page of The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook, Oona will have worked her way into your heart and will stay there for a while. I highly recommend the book for mother-daughter book clubs with girls aged 8 and up.

Check the author’s website for a sample chapter, an activity kit that you can use during a meeting, and a link to the book trailer.

The author provided me with a copy of this book to review.

Mavis Elizabeth Betterly, or May B., has been hired to help at a neighbor’s farm. On the Kansas prairie that means the neighbor is 15 miles away and May will be there from August until Christmas. She doesn’t want to go, she’d rather stay in school, but her family needs the money her work will bring.

When the neighbor’s new bride decides she can’t handle life on the prairie any more, she leaves, and he goes after her. Neither returns. Left alone, May must fend for herself for months without any expectation that someone will come for her. As the days and weeks pass, she searches inside herself to discover who she is and what she will be when she rejoins her family.

May B. by Caroline Starr rose is a story about pioneer life and one girls determination to make more of herself than people expect. May struggles with dyslexia, and she can’t understand why words don’t always make sense to her. She knows she’s smart, and she wants to continue her education to be a teacher one day.

Through her reflections the reader finds that May had the advantage of an early teacher who encouraged her and helped her with her reading. But the teacher who replaces her isn’t so kind. She looks for ways to humiliate May and make her feel that she is stupid.

Spending months alone, feeling that her family doesn’t believe she can achieve any more in school, May struggles with the question. Is she smart, or is there something wrong with her? Can she go on to achieve what she wishes for, or should she just give up trying to overcome the hardships all around her?

Told in verse, May B. will steal your heart and have you leave you happy you didn’t live in a sod house on the Kansas Prairie. I recommend it for mother-daughter book clubs with girls aged 8 to 12.

The author provided me with a copy of this book to review.

Claudette has heard the legend of how the baby-toe-eating giant was banished to the far-away mountain by the marquis of her town so he could never terrorize them again. Longing for adventure, she believes the giant should have been killed, and she thinks she’s the one to do it. Together with her brother, an aspiring chef and swordmaker, and princess-in-the-making Marie, she sets off to slay the giant and make her village secure.

Giants Beware, a new graphic novel written by Rafael Rosado and Jorge Aguirre, melds the dynamics of a medieval village with the sensibilities of people today to create a new kind of fairy tale that’s funny, irreverent and wholly enjoyable. As the children go about their adventure they have to face challenges from human-eating trees, a hag who wants to cook children so she can break the spell that’s been put on her to ruin her looks, and a river king made of water who’s searching for a princess to marry his fishy son. Each of them finds strengths they didn’t know they had to come to the aid of their friends.

When they reach their destination these pint-sized heroes find something surprising that will change their view of their perceived enemy. Adults as well as children aged 8 and up will have fun reading Giants Beware. The story is cleverly told and the illustrations, particularly the facial expressions of each character, are fun to look at.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book to review.

Sarah Kay has been a performing poet since she was 14-years-old. At 22, she is now a slam poet who wrote a powerful note of love for an unborn daughter.

First performed at TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design), “B” opens with the lines, “If I should have a daughter, instead of mom, she’s going to call me Point B. Because that way she knows that no matter what happens at least she can always find her way to me.”

In her poem, Kay tells her daughter she will always be there to help with the heartache that is sure to come from life. She also wants her daughter to know that she should never stop believing, never stop hoping, and never stop loving. It has been called a “thank you note, love letter, wish, promise, confession, and a secret.” All this from one small poem that can be read or listened to in minutes.

I encourage you to watch Kay’s performance (http://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_kay_if_i_should_have_a_daughter.html), which is compelling, but you can also get a copy of the book, which will let you keep it always and read aloud to your own daughter. The slim volume includes beautiful, yet simple black-and-white illustrations by Sophia Janowitz,

The author provided me with a copy of this book to review.

Jennifer Fosberry and Mike Litwin, who brought us My Name Is Not Isabella, have added a new adventure for spunky, purple-haired Isabella. In Isabella: Girl on the Go, she is an explorer discovering some of the great places of the world as she works with her dad in her own backyard.

The day starts with Isabella playing in a sandbox and her dad asking his “favorite little girl” for help. “I am not a little girl,” she replies.  “Then who is going to help me today?” asked the father. Isabella replies, “I am an archeologist, searching the hottest, driest desert for the tomb of a king.”

As the day goes on, Isabella becomes an artist in Paris, a Chinese warrior building the Great Wall, an astronomer at a Mayan temple and more. When the day comes to an end her father takes her hand and asks, “Where are we headed now?” By this time Isabella has explored the world and discovered that the most wonderful place is home.

The back of the book features information on all the places Isabella imagines she travels to, perfect for extending the learning when you read this book to your child. The illustrations and the story will have you coming back to read this over and over again. I highly recommend it.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book to review.

Here’s a guest book review from author Christina Hamlett. Visit her website for more information about her work, www.authorhamlett.com.

Title: Mistress Masham’s Repose
Author: T.H. White
Publisher: New York Review Children’s Collection (2004)
Reviewer: Christina Hamlett

What a wonderful trek down memory lane! I owned a copy of this book when I was 10 and remember being so riveted by it that when it was time to go to bed I took the book under the covers with me and finished reading it by the light of my Girl Scout flashlight. (Which no doubt accounts for why I have such bad eyesight as an adult!) Since my own copy had been long gone, I was delighted to discover I could buy a replacement on Amazon. Instead of preceding this one with a cup of hot chocolate and finishing the last chapters by flashlight, however, I had a martini and happily stayed up until midnight. Time has not diminished in any way the satisfaction of a tale well told.

The story speaks to timeless themes about the powerlessness of children in the dreary world of rules imposed by adults. Is it any wonder, then, that the spunky heroine, Maria, delights in the colony of Lilliputians she discovers on the grounds of Malplaquet and sees a ready kinship with their dreams, fears and sense of righteous rebellion. Although she is not a perfect child, Maria is possessed of a kind heart that infuses her with bold – and sometimes comedic – determination to save her diminutive friends from harm. T.H. White seamlessly intercuts between the two worlds that Maria inhabits. It wasn’t until many years after I first read this book that I recognized striking parallels to the novel for which White is most famous – The Once and Future King. Maria shares much in common with the bewildered young King Arthur, including the “Merlin” mentorship of a bookish professor and a quest to keep an enchanted and special version of backyard Camelot from being absorbed by external vice and unabashed greed.

Although the book is targeted to lower grades, one would never know it from White’s style and engaging use of language. He would be the type, I think, who could hold lengthy discourses about the state of the world with a rapt gaggle of 10 year olds and they would never once think that he was talking down to them nor trying to impress them with philosophies beyond their vocabularies or frame of reference. Whether you’re discovering this literary treasure for the very first time or revisiting it after a long absence, it doesn’t fail to entertain or inspire.

Thirteen-year-old Zardi is the daughter of the Sultan’s closest adviser. She lives with her family and Rhidan, a ward of the state since he was found on their shores as a babe years ago. Rhidan doesn’t look like anyone else in their country, and he knows nothing about where he is from.

When the cruel Sultan imprisons Zardi’s sister and father she is desperate to find a way to free them and end the Sultan’s iron-fisted rule over her country. If she and Rhidan can find a sailor named Sinbad, who seems to know something about Rhidan’s origin and tells tales of fighting magical creatures, they just may be able to solve Rhidan’s mystery and get rid of the Sultan once and for all.

The Book of Wonders is the first in a new trilogy for young readers by Jasmine Richards. Drawing on Arabian legends of djinnis, Sinbad, Sheherazade, a Cyclops and other magical creatures, Richards weaves a tale of adventure that doesn’t stop from beginning to end.

Zardi is a strong character who refuses to accept the way things are and the strictures for how girls are supposed to act in her time. Together, she and Rhidan encounter one adventure after another as they race to save her family and find out where he comes from. Along the way they have to ponder big issues about deciding who to trust, making amends for wrongdoing, and finding out what it means to be a friend.

While the ending sets up the next adventure the two will tackle, it also is a satisfying conclusion to this story. I recommend it for mother-daughter book clubs with girls aged 8 to 12.

The author provided me with a copy of this book to review.

If you like combining art and reading, then a new children’s book by Canadian artist Sparrow called Yummy from A to Z is sure to get your attention. For each letter of the alphabet, Sparrow has created a tasty character, with names such as Vivacious Vivian Vanilla Wafer and Kiki Key Lime Pie. Each of these tasty characters is drawn in a setting that emphasizes other items that begin with that letter as well. For instance, Yummy Yolanda Yogurt has adventures with a Yammering Yak and some yellow yarn among other things.

The illustrations have a beautiful, soft quality that comes from a technique Sparrow says she stumbled upon while creating a painting one day. Read more about the technique in a blog post she wrote about her discovery.

Parents can turn Yummy from A to Z into an interactive reading experience by downloading free coloring pages of the book from the website. Kids should have fun coloring  the characters they are hearing about, and since the coloring pages come as a PDF file to your computer, you can print more off each time you read the book. The book is available in both hard cover and soft cover editions as well as an ebook.

Ivy and Eldridge have become fast friends after their adventures in Ivy’s Ever After by Dawn Lairamore. Now they’re trying to enjoy themselves at Drusilla’s wedding when a giant beanstalk with vicious teeth for pods grows into the clouds, taking Drusilla’s pet goat with it.

In Ivy and the Meanstalk, the two set off to rescue Toadstool, only to discover a giantess who is intent on recovering her golden harp, stolen by Jack and whisked away generations ago. Largessa threatens to destroy the kingdom of Ardendale if Ivy and Eldridge don’t return the harp within a week.

This new story takes the princess and her friendly dragon on a journey across the sea to Jacktopia, where a big-headed Jack set himself up as ruler long ago. Every king in the land since then is intent on increasing his kingdom’s wealth and showing off an abundance of gold.

Ivy has her work cut out for her, but she’s got the assistance of Eldridge, Owen, and One-Oh-Three, an overprotected prince who wants to have a little more freedom. They work together to win what Ivy needs and what One-Oh-Three hopes for.

Ivy and the Meanstalk continues the fun from the first book with author Lairamore imagining the aftermath of Jack and Beanstalk. Instead of the hero he portrayed himself as, Jack is revealed as a less-than-ethical character who thought only of himself. Mother-daughter book clubs with girls aged 8 to 12 will enjoy reading it as well as discussing some of the issues touched on, including how historical events may be viewed differently by various people affected, the ethics of stealing something to avert a tragedy, and the wisdom of seeking revenge on someone who had made you mad.

The author provided me with a copy of this book for review.