Urban Mama

It's a Leap Day Miracle! Favorite Things

Hello friends -- two posts in a month! It's truly a Leap Day Miracle, as Kenneth from "30 Rock" would say. Since it's such a unique day (happy birthday and anniversary to all of the Leap Day babies and marrieds of the world), I thought I would check in to share some of my favorite things.

1. I've been having lots of (regularly updated!) fun keeping Teen Lit Rocks going with my sister Diana. Each month we read a book with adult and teen contributors and then review it on a monthly Book Club Day. February's selection was "Born Wicked," a story about the oldest of three sisters who are actually witches in 19th century New England.
2. Hunger Games. Only 24 more days until the movie hits theaters. I'll be watching it (again) at a midnight screening in San Francisco, since we're heading to California for a close friend's wedding that weekend. Can't wait to see one of my favorite YA books come to life with such a stellar actress playing Katniss.
3. The Civil Wars. I am still kicking myself for not going with Jen to see them when they came to DC, but they're just so, so good. Their harmony and their chemistry (and they're not even together!) is amazing. Here they are singing their most popular single, "Barton Hollow."
    
4. The show "Alcatraz." I know it's not "Lost," but I still love it. The husband even watches it with me (which is the ultimate sign of a show's awesomeness). As People's TV critic Tom Gliatto says: "The show has the makings of great--what else can I say?--escapist entertainment."
5. Dr. Seuss. It's Seuss' birthday this Friday, and we're all set to watch The Cat in The Hat-a-Thon on PBS. We've alrady seen "The Lorax," so we're going to enjoy our early release day by donning our red Cat in the Hat hat, reading our favorite Dr. Seuss books and and watching PBS together. Mami once enrolled us in a Dr. Seuss Book of the Month Club, so we have almost every title he ever wrote. Wasn't she an amazing Abuela? We're looking forward to the Dr. Seuss-a-thon.  

 

Confessions of a New Y(oung) A(dult) Addict: The Hunger Games

If you're wondering why I haven't posted in a month, the answer is simple -- I've been too busy reading. Reading Young Adult books, to be exact. This was a complete shock to me, since I never read YA books as an actual teen, preferring to turn my nose up and read Serious Books and Classic Authors. I now realize that I was a snobby little swot who should've been open-minded enough to enjoy a genre that has some amazing authors who know how to grip their audience from page one.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. It started last summer, when I was shopping for a book to supplement the vanilla Game Stop gift-card I was giving my nephew for his 14th birthday. I went to my absolute favorite toy story, the family-run Child's Play in Rockville (for you familiar with Maryland), and asked their book-buyer Phyllis (she's also married to the owner) for advice on what book to get. She suggested I buy him Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, and that I read it as well. I was already re-visiting Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time series, so I figured, why not? I bought the book for my nephew, borrowed a copy from a friend, and took it on my family's camping trip. I couldn't put it down.

The next time I went into Child's Play for books it was November, and I was buying Christmas gifts for my kids. I chatted with Mandela, told her I had loved The Book Thief, and asked if she had any recommendations for me. She suggested The Hunger Games. I first heard about Suzanne Collins' books at a BlogHer event sponsored by Scholastic. The publishing powerhouse was promoting their global literacy campaign Read Every Day and took some time to introduce the key books coming out in late 2010. When Mockingjay was mentioned, most of the audience hooted, and I went "huh." I added it to my growing pile of Christmas-present books, and then promptly left it in the closet where I stash the Christmas presents.

Fast forward to Christmas Eve-Eve, at my sister Diana's in Florida. The paperback fell out of the bag, and voila, the holidays became The Christma of Katniss and Peeta. I became transfixed with Collins' dystopian universe, where North America is Panem, which is broken up into a Capitol and 12 Districts that must offer up one girl and one girl (ages 12-18) for a Battle Royale-style competition that's televised for the pampered citizens of the Capitol.

I fell in love with the amazingly fierce and beautifully flawed 16-year-old protagonist Katniss Everdeen, the Tribute from District 12, and her fellow Tribute, Peeta Mellark, aka The Boy With the Bread. I couldn't stop reading, and while the 24th, 25th, and 26th became a blur of presents, food, games, and young cousins playing while grown-up siblings talked, I was happily obsessed with the books.

I'm going to write more about The Hunger Games, but since reading the trilogy, I've read 13 YA books (Graceling and Fire by Kristin Cashore; City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, and A Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare; Shiver and Linger by Maggie Stiefvater; Lily and Dash's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan; I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore; The Maze Runner by James Dashner; Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi; and Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson). THG is still my favorite of the lot, but many were equally as addictive and well-written and plain fantastic.

I plan to recommend the ones I especially love here. In fact, I originally planned to read 40 books in 2011, but at the rate I'm going it could end up being 75. If only I could use a Time-Turner and tell my preteen and teenage self to get over my pretensions and enjoy YA then, I think it would have been a very sweet thing.

Anyone have any good suggestions of what other YA books to put on my list this year? If you don't have any, I'll just go back to Child's Play and ask Phyllis and Mandela.

Mini Holiday Gift Guide: My Kids' Favorite Apps

To kick things off, I asked my kids what their favorite apps are, since they're always swiping my iPhone and iPad to play. Here's what they picked:

 Alice in Wonderland (for iPad, $8.99): This was one of our first big purchases for the iPad, and it's amazing. I had forgotten to bring the bag with my daughter's books to a beach vacation in July, and with one swipe of a finger, this multimedia version of Lewis Carroll's classic became an instant favorite. Yes, the price is hefty, but it's worth it to see the moving pieces and have an interactive reading experience.

Angry Birds ($0.99): I have to be honest and admit I've never played, but my husband and E, our nearly nine-year-old son, claim it's addictive. I'm too busy winning at playing Words With Friends to be bothered, but it's gotta be the No. 1 paid-phone-app (and one of those iTunes Hall of Fame app) for a reason, at least according to the men in my life. There's zero educational value, but since my son picked it, here it is!

iPuzzleWords ($1.99): This is a great word game for budding and early readers. Kids have to rearrange a picture until the corresponding letters spell the word depicted in the picture. When kids finish, they hear a voice go over the spelling of the word: "J-E-E-P, JEEP!" If they rearrange the letters incorrectly, they hear a buzz instead of a beep.

Princess Dress-Up: My Sticker Book ($2.49)*: My daughter is going through one of those typical princess-and-fairy obsession phases, so this app is pretty much meant for her. She hears short little stories about each princess and then helps them get dressed (she selects the clothes and accessories). There's also an option to a photo of my daughter and help *her* get dressed up, but we haven't done that yet. This is strictly for Disney Princess-philes, though.

Thumbelina ($3.99): We downloaded this app when it was free for a day (thanks to App Advice), and D, our six-year-old daughter, loves it so much, she sometimes asks for it as her bedtime story in lieu of a real book. That would usually make me sad, but the app allows me to turn off the narration, or we go through and read/play it together. 

Toddler Counting ($0.99): This is a ridiculously simple but educational and fun app for my preschooler. We pick easier or harder levels, and then my little one is asked "How many carrots can you count?" Then he taps on each one, hearing "1, 2, 3, 4..." and when he's finished, is told "Fantastic," and then the new flashcard-style page appears with roosters or what have you. It's basic but fun, and he loves to count along with the narrator.

Honorable Mentions:

• Toy Story 3 Read-a-Long ($8.99)*: It's a good read-a-long app if your kids like the Toy Story characters, but it was buggy for a while until its last update.
• PandaMania (9+, $0.99): My oldest likes the challenge of this quest-based game.
• Animal Fun (free!): My toddler loves animal sounds, so this is a perfect fit, but be warned, it can get kinda loud!

For more kid-friendly apps, check out what my colleagues at Common Sense Media have to say.

If you post with suggestions on some apps my family should try, you'll have a chance to win one of the above apps as a holiday gift from yours truly! Contest ends 11:59PM Dec. 22nd.

 

*Disney Publishing provided me with free access codes to Toy Story 3 (ages ago) and the Princess Sticker Book, but these really are my kids favorite picks.

Four Of My New Favorite Things

I don't want to be a Debbie Downer about the limbo situation we're in (which is dragging on and on, but all we can do is pray and wait), so I've decided to write a completely frivolous post about a few of the things I've grown to love this summer.

• Pretty Whimsical's Scrabble Pendants: (see photo above!) I was collecting items for a housewarming care-package for a good (and much younger and stylish friend), when I read one of Pretty Whimsical's tweets about her latest Jane Austen-themed Scrabble-tile pendants. I clicked over and immediately fell in love. She was running a buy two get one free promotion, so I bought a Mr. Darcy's Girl pendant for my friend, an I love Mr. Darcy pendant for myself, and as a bonus, the above Keep Calm and Carry Chocolate pendant for my Hershey's sponsored train trip to BlogHer. I've received a ton of compliments, and they are just the cutest and most affordable accessory I own. Really, they're $6.95! Just keep some Super Glue on hand, in case the tile separates from the bail, but at that price, I'm willing to do some TLC. My female friends and family should know you are very likely to receive one for your birthday or Christmas stocking stuffer this year!

• The family iPad: It's not all that new, but the iPad is the best gadget ever. All five of us play on it daily. This week we've used it like this: the toddler counts animals, the Schmoopette reads along with an amazingly multimedia Alice in Wonderland, the Schmoop plays Plants vs. Zombies, my husband developed an app obsession with Worded and Historic Earth, and I check my email, watch movie trailers and go online to do everything from shop to look up recipes to figure out which hotel to stay at when we're in Europe for our 10th anniversary next summer. It's definitely a splurge, but it has been used so much we feel the cost was justified. ($499-$829)

• Fresh lip balm: I was in San Francisco visiting my lovely editors at Common Sense Media and while strolling around Union Square, it dawned on me that I had zero makeup on. Nada. Usually this doesn't bother me, but I could hear Mami's voice whispering in my ear: "You're walking in one of the greatest cities in the world! Ponte pinta labio!" It was way too early for proper lipstick, so the Fresh manager saved the day by recommending their tinted lip balm. It's got SPF and gives you a "just-kissed" glowy look that's not plumping or over-the-top, just more of what God already gave you. I love it; I just wish the packaging weren't quite so thick. But that's a minor concern for an amazing lip balm. I have it in Sugar Rose and the brand-new Sugar Plum ($22).

• The IGo charger: I received it for free at our final DC Metro Moms party, and it's one of the best goodie bag items I've ever gotten. It's so useful I bought two more tips. Tips, you're asking? It's a universal charger, and it can charge any device as long as you purchase the proper tips. I needed one for my iPhone (which was also given to me), but then I bought one for my Jawbone Bluetooth and another for my husband's BlackBerry. It was a life-saver at conferences or during that tour of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, when you're going to be out all day and have no place to recharge. ($39.95 for charger; $5-$10 for tips)

Photo credit to the amazing Jean, of Stimeyland fame.

Full disclosure: As I already mentioned, the IGo was swag, but everything else was paid for by yours truly.