Throwback Thursday: The Five-Year-Old makes her Christmas list

In this week’s extract from my now-deleted Facebook archives, the Five-Year-Old sings a letter to Santa.

The Caterpickles Middle Grade Gift Book Guide: Part 2 – Fifteen Great Middle Grade Novels

This week, we publish Part 2 of The Caterpickles Middle Grade Gift Book Guide – 15 Great Middle Grade Novels and 10 Well-Known Series that Kids Keep Checking Out at my middle school library. #books

Throwback Thursday: My daughter winterizes her bike

In this week’s extract from my now-deleted Facebook archives, my then four-year-old daughter spends the day preparing her bike for winter.

The Caterpickles Middle Grade Gift Book Guide: Part 1 – Ten Great Graphic Novels

My favorite thing about December is that people start asking me for book recommendations. This year, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about good books for middle schoolers, so I thought I’d share my recommendations on Caterpickles. This week… 10 ten great middle grade graphic novels.

Throwback Thursday: The Very Giant Glycodont

In this week’s extract from my now-deleted Facebook archives, my daughter and I visit the glycodont at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.

Book Review: Mouse Guard by David Petersen

Mouse Guard: Fall 1152, the first book in David Petersen’s graphic novel series about a band of warrior mice reads like a cross between Jill Barklem’s Brambly Hedge and Brian Jacques’ Redwall.

Throwback Thursday: Daddyo teaches The Three-Year-Old to use his giant camera

In this week’s extract from my now-deleted Facebook archives, my husband teaches our daughter how to use his Giant Camera for the very first time. She was three. We were in Cape Cod.

Facebook post that reads: "one of the downsides of the three-year-old's brad paisley obsession is her tendency to belt out 'we're going to catch all the fish and drink all the beer' while we're at the playground.

What’s a parent to do about Facebook?

I joined Facebook a very long time ago as a way to reconnect with old friends, keep my extended family up to date on funny stuff The Youngest Howell said, and of course, post cat pictures. It was fun and seemed harmless at the time. But my daughter is older now, and it’s time to re-examine my social media use.

Book Review: Mister Monday by Garth Nix

Mister Monday, the first book in Garth Nix’s The Keys to the Kingdom fantasy series is an extraordinary fantasy novel of competing agendas, time-bending experiences, and mysteriously fatal epidemics.

50 States of Public Art: The Josephine Sculpture Garden in Frankfort, Kentucky

While watching the election returns out of Kentucky this past week, I found myself wondering what the public art looked like over there. Turns out, Frankfort, Kentucky boasts one of the world’s most interesting and kid-friendly open-air sculpture gardens.