Literary Book Gifts Review #holiday #gifts #read #books

There is one child in our house that's always been a reader. Any guesses who that might be? It's Mica! Even when he was itty bitty we would read to him. That's the only time he sat still. Now when books aren't around he'll read junk mail on the table. He reads though his textbooks at school. One teacher thought he didn't like a book he borrowed because he got it back to her in one day. Nope he read it all! He's volunteered at the library for a few years now, and was selected to do Quiz Bowl in school because of his literary knowledge.

I'm happy to introduce to you Literary Book Gifts.

They have high quality gifts for book lovers! Mica fits into their target market. I'm sure you have someone that you know that would as well.

All design work is done in house. I have to say that I'm jealous. I'd love to work there!

Each product is printed professionally with care.

Products:

Women

Each shirt is $28. Remember they are designed in house. They have about 73 shirts with 14 color options. The sizes run from S, M, L, XL, 2XL, and 3XL. They are fitting shirts. I find I have to buy up in sizing for women's shirts. They have a chart on their site to help with sizing.

I picked out my top 3 to go over. They all have great typography and illustrations.

The first I picked out is Edgar Allan Poe. I like this one because when we went to Mesa Verde a crow perched up on an ancient window. It sat there just long enough for me to get some great photos.

The second I picked out is The Wizard of Oz. Travis read The Wizard of Oz to the boys, we all enjoy the movie, and a big pop-up book we have.

The third I picked out is Huckleberry Finn. I made Mica read Huckleberry Finn because I find it's a classic - must read. Then at conferences we asked if they have to read any classics, and mentioned this book. His teacher said, "That's a book I had to read when I was in school. Nope the kids don't have to read that." Well Mica has. ;)

Men | Unisex

Each shirt is $28. Remember they are designed in house. They have about 73 shirts with 9 color options. The sizes run from S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL and 5XL.

I picked out my top 3 to go over. They all have great typography and illustrations.

The first I picked out is Walden. Travis visited Walden Pond when he was up in Boston. I'd like to get this shirt for him.

The second I picked out is Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland. I just always liked the story. Alice was quite the day dreamer, and had a crazy imagination. I think many artist types like this adventure.

The third I picked out is Dracula. I like anything spooky, so Dracula fits the ticket.

Tote Bags

I'm a big fan of bags. I use cloth bags all the time.

Small Cost: $24 Size: 13x13
Medium Cost: $28 Size: 17x15
Large Cost: $32 Size: 18x18

I picked out my top 3 to go over. They all have great typography and illustrations.

The first I picked out is Peter Pan. We loved the live show at The Rose Theater. I like the illustration on this so much!

The second I picked out is Huckleberry Finn. I just like that Travis, Mica and I have all read it. The movie industry loves to remake things, why don't they remake Huckleberry Finn? Bring it back!

The third I picked out is Frankenstein. It's just creepy cool. I had both boys be Little Frankie for Halloween when they were itty bitty.

What book would you like to see turned into a shirt or bag? 

Still working on your holiday shopping? Buy something for your reader at Literary Book Gifts. Take 20% off with this code: AnApelaDay20

Disclaimer: I did not receive anything for writing this post. Please use the code AnApelaDay20 to get something from their site.

WW: Read to Succeed {Linky}

After Mica's adventure of the Spelling Bee his teacher came up to us and said, "Well Mica you may not of won this, but you have Read to Succeed to look forward too." I sort of knew what Read to Succeed was about. I know that Mica could have participated in it last year, but chose not to.

Mica was talking about reading 6 books for it. All he needed to read was 4 books.

He was in a group with 3 other students that also read 4 or 5 books. His group was against 39 other groups. They were asked questions about the books. Their teacher thinks that they got all the questions right. Out of the 40 groups, only 15 received a gold medal. Mica's group was one of those 15.

Their group competes again against the other gold winners in April for a trophy.

I'm proud of him because last year I got on him about not participating in extra things. He let a lot of opportunities pass him by.

This year he joined band, did the Spelling Bee and won at school, Read to Succeed and won a gold medal, Chess and was 1 of 3 that won a gift card to go to a movie, and Student Council. It may sound like a lot. They were all active at different times, so it worked out. He's happy, successful, and had fun. I'm not all about pushing him if I didn't think he could handle it. He's the type that could easily get bored in school. Very much the opposite to how I was in school. I had to work for my grades! Even then I struggled a lot.

Here's his Read to Succeed Medal:

Have you ever been a bookworm?

Rock N Learn Early Childhood Book Collection #Giveaway #BackToSchool

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. I received the books mentioned in exchange for this review. All opinions are mine.

I love books and movies that are educational. Rock N Learn has a great collection for kids all through elementary. Mica likes their multiplication DVD, and Isaak learned so much from their DVD on sight words. The company focuses on learning.

Rock N Learn sent me 2 board books to review. I love board books for kids because they last so much longer. Both books are 30 pages, which I think is a perfect length. They are for ages 1 and up. They are going to be gifts for my nephews for Christmas, but in the meantime Isaak has read them. I even spotted Mica picking them up for a quick read. 

Animals - Point & Name With 44 Rhymes

This book brings the reader in with its pretty pictures of animals. There are 44 creatures from the forest, farm, and other animals around the world.

There are fun rhymes throughout the book.

Isaak read this a few times because he loves the pictures.

Letter Sounds Silly Sentences - Early Phonics Skills

This book helps with learning how to read in a fun way. It builds pre-literacy skills. There are 26 letters in the book, and silly sentences that help with learning to read.

Isaak said, "Hey I know these characters!" He saw the characters in the videos that we have. He was intrigued with the book right away.

The Polly Porcupine page cracked the boys up!

Giveaway

I have both of these books to giveaway to 1 US reader. The giveaway ends 8/28. The winner chosen will have 48 hours to claim their prize.

If you'd like to get 25% off your order use the coupon code: KR8822.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Question of the Month

This is the question of the month: What was the first book (or book series) you fell in love with?

That's a hard one. I always fell in love with books for their illustrations, and not the writing. Illustration was my major throughout college.

My first book that I can remember having my mom read to me repeatedly is Bembelman's Bakery.

Source

I remember I loved the illustrations, and the stories was similar to Cloudy With the Chance of Meatballs; in the fact that food took over the town. In this story it was bread dough that took over.

As I aged I didn't want to read thicker books. Mainly because they didn't have pictures. In third or fourth grade my mom got me into The American Girls series of books. Kirsten was my first doll, and series read. This was before they became super commercialized. Back when they only had history stories and dolls. I liked Kirsten because my Great Grandma on my Mom's side had a similar story to her. She came to America from Sweden to. Her name was Britta. I was sad when The American Girls Collection started making dolls that looked like modern girls. It was more about the dolls and commercialization than it was about history, good craftsmanship, and the love for reading.

Source

A librarian said some pretty mean things to me that made me rebel to read bigger books. Maybe it was the way she said, "You're too old to read books like this!" holding up a picture book. I was in 5th grade when I was still checking out books with pictures. My teacher in 5th grade changed all that by saying, "Alissa you can make pictures in your imagination." She was super nice. After that I was reading 500 page novels. I read all the time!

To this day I still go to the children's book section at the library to look at the illustrations. Yes I read bigger books now, but I love to see the pictures in children's books.

What book got you into reading?

Harry

So Mica finished his last Harry Potter book. Do you have any good series that you'd recommend for a little boy that loves to read? This book was over 500 pages. I just don't want him reading something that's too mature for him. He'll be 10 in August.

Here are book series that have been recommened to us: 

• Percy Jackson & the Olympians series

• Series of Unfortunate Events

• The Zodiac Legacy series

Mica's the type of kid that wakes up before everyone else on the weekend just to read. He reads so much that Dad gets annoyed. Why does he get annoyed? Because Mica won't do chores because he's reading. I guess if that's our biggest problem with him, he's a good kid. 

We've been playing a lot of board games because Mica lacks patients for them. Isaak loves them. We kind of feel as parents that board games are great for Mica, and reading is great for Isaak. We need to get them to equal out a bit.

Sleep

Can you tell that they each have different interests?

This one is all about reading. He loves when I tell him to go to bed early, so that he can read.

This one is all about his stuffed animals. I found this dog in the back of our closest. Daddy takes things they treasure when he's fed up with them. I washed it, and gave it back to Isaak 2 years later. He's been caring around the stuffed dog ever since.