Hanukkah Kit {Review and Giveaway!}

I was invited to review a new product from a company called Jewish Holidays in a Box. I love this idea. A simple kit for each holiday to help families learn more about the holiday and feel confident and comfortable with their celebrations.
Right now, they only have the Hanukkah Kits to ship, and I received mine over the Thanksgiving weekend.

To read more and participate in the Giveaway, visit Thoughts from Rabbi Phyllis, my other blog.

Books for Shavuot {Reviews & Giveaway}

Shavuot is a pretty major holiday that gets a pretty major short-shrift in the mainstream world. The grocery stores aren't putting out their displays for this holiday. (Last year, my family had a great Shavuot observance, which I'm hoping to replicate in some way again this year.) That's why I was so excited to receive a package of Shavuot books from Kar-Ben Publishing!

They sent me four books:

No Rules for Michael by Sylvia Rouss

My kids loved this one. Partly because their dad's name is Michael, and he is pretty mischievous in this book! A really sweet story about a boy who wants NO rules, and when he gets it...well, you can only imagine.

Ten Good Rules: A Counting Book by Susan Remick Topek

Adorable photographs and simple print accompany this introduction to the 10 commandments, while also pointing out the "counting" lesson, which my kids are always really into. We enjoyed this one as well!

Sammy Spider's First Shavuot by Sylvia Rouss

If you haven't met Sammy, you should. The cute little spider lives in a great house where they're always observing Jewish holidays. "Silly little Sammy...spiders don't celebrate Shavuot, spiders spin webs!" That's what Mrs. Spider always tells her son...but he ends up celebrating the holiday anyway. Sammy watches the way that the Shapiro family prepares for the holiday. I must admit, this one was a little bit of a stretch for me in Sammy-land, but my kids, especially my own Sammy, loved it.

The Littlest Mountain by Barb Rosenstock

This was my favorite of the four! It is a lovely adaptation of a midrash in Bereshit Rabbah, telling the story of the mountains competing to be the site of the giving of the Ten Commandments. The illustrations are beautiful and the story is told so sweetly. I wasn't sure if my kids would like it but they really did, they asked to have this one read again! I love how the story reminds us that impressing God is not about our size or our accomplishments, but rather how kind and caring we are.

The Littlest Mountain was also my family's PJ Library selection this month, so I'm giving away the copy from Kar-Ben to one of you, my lucky readers! Leave me a comment here to be entered to win. Ends on Friday morning so I have time to get you your book before Shavuot!

What's your favorite book for Shavuot?

Full disclosure: Kar-Ben sent me the books for review, and my family has read them over and over again.

Cool Stuff Every Kid Should Know {Guest Review and Giveaway}

I received a copy of Cool Stuff Every Kid Should Know: Chicago and the State of Illinois. I decided that this was the perfect book for my oldest son, David, to help me out with. He is 9 years old and an avid reader.

He read the book and here is his interview:

Did you like this book? 
Yeah. It was a good book.

Why?
Because it had some pretty interesting facts and a lot of stuff I didn't know.

What was one of your favorite parts?
I liked reading about the Butter Cow. It says in the book that the butter cow sculpture is made out of 800 pounds of butter to cover a wood and wire frame to make a cow. It is very big.

What was something else that you thought was interesting?
When it is St. Patrick's Day in Chicago they make the water green in the Chicago River. They say in the book that it is a formula that is eco-friendly. I really want to go to that special celebration. {Ima's note: we live about 25 miles north of the city of Chicago but my poor, deprived children almost never go into the city.}

Anything else?
I thought it was weird because the Chicago style hot dog is made without ketchup. I really like ketchup on my hot dogs. I don't like any of the other stuff.

Do you think that kids should read this book?
I do. If they want to learn some cool facts about Chicago.

Thumbs up or thumbs down?
Thumbs up!

Ima's turn: This is a great little book for learning more about your own hometown. If we were going to take a trip to one of the other cities for which they've done these books, I would definitely acquire that book for my kids. (They've done 22 cities.) It is colorful, bright, and full of interesting little facts that I didn't even know! (Like...did you know that Chicago's O'Hare Airport's code, ORD, is for its original name, Orchard Field? Yeah, me neither.) And I thought it was really neat that this book was published recently enough that the 2011 blizzard was mentioned.

The publisher, Arcadia Publishing, is offering a 20% discount if you buy through their site, just enter the word COOL at checkout to get this discount. There's also a money back guarantee!

So...great book. Wanna win it? 
Just leave me a comment telling me about your favorite city to visit with kids.
Tweet it or Facebook it and you get an extra entry.
(Leave me a comment telling me you did it, please.)

Giveaway closes before Shabbat, Friday afternoon.

Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher for review. I'm giving it away to one of you. I was not compensated for the review, although my young reviewer might have gotten a bribe payment extra treat for helping me out.

Free Money? {Giveaway}

(I bet you think I'm giving away free money, huh? Close...but not quite. Keep reading, though, it's still a good giveaway!)

I don't think I've ever blogged about this before, but my cousin David Bach is a famous guy. He's a best-selling author of financial books and you may have seen him on shows like The View or Oprah. Yep, I watched him on TV today! (How cool is that? I even got to see him in person on Oprah once, which is a whole other fun story.)

His most recent book is Debt Free for Life, and it's quite a good read. David has really solid, normal advice for how to pay off your debt in a timely manner. His books aren't boring at all, which is high praise for a financial book, don't you think? I think he writes just like he talks, which makes me hear the book in his own voice as I'm reading it. But that's just me.

This book had something in it that I don't remember reading in any of his previous books. There's a whole section on "free money" - for real! I kid you not, I went to www.unclaimed.org (don't hit .com, that's a paid site) and I found $270 that I had "overpaid" at an allergist's office in Cincinnati years ago. I haven't mailed the form yet (my printer is out of toner) but that is just amazing. (I also found $16.70 that was owed to my husband. Nice but not nearly as exciting.) Now...I haven't received any money yet. But the thought that I might get that in the mail made me super excited.

I know, right?
(which is what my 9-but-going-on-teenage son would say.)

So, in honor of this fun, I'm giving away a copy of David's new book! Leave me a comment with your favorite money-saving tip and you'll be entered to win a free copy of Debt Free for Life by my cousin!

Other details:
Get an extra entry by sharing this post on Facebook or Twitter. Get one more entry by subscribing to my blog, either via RSS or email (if you're already a subscriber, just let me know that too). Please leave me a separate comment telling me that you did so. 

Giveaway ends Tuesday, March 1st.


Oh, and P.S., speaking of free money, Swagbucks (the best place on the web for free stuff) is turning 3, and they're planning a big celebration for February 28th. If you're not already a Swagbucks user, why not? Sign up here and you get 30 free Swagbucks to start, and then enter this code: 3rdBirthday124 to get an additional 50 in honor of their birthday (good until February 28th). I use Swagbucks every time I buy from LivingSocial, for example, and make it an even better deal! I have earned $25 in Amazon gift cards since I joined Swagbucks in November. Seriously!

Chanukah Giveaway Winners

Winner of the Oh Nuts giveaway is Jessica of The Gaggle Photography!

Winner of the Eight Winter Nights book giveaway is The Angel Forever!

Please look at your email for more information - thanks for playing!!!

Eight Winter Nights {Review and Giveaway}

I received Eight Winter Nights by Laura Krauss Melmed as a review copy, it arrived in yesterday's mail. My kids were very excited to get a new Chanukah book, and I was too! This book is lovely for many reasons.

The illustrations are sweet and beautiful. When I read it to Sam, he was able to count the candles on each page and there were lots of little things to look for in each page's illustration.

Each page had a number of whimsical poems and rhymes that were fun to read and elicited giggles not only from my 5-year-old but also from the 9-year-old who was studiously NOT paying attention to the reading that was going on. Our favorite was this one (pictured above, and you can see the sweet illustrations by Elizabeth Schlossberg):

Dreidel Chase

I had a little dreidel

I made it out of clay,

But Baby grabbed my dreidel,

And now I cannot play.

Let's catch that naughty baby -

OOPS! Baby got away!

For some reason, this tickled their fancy, and I thought it was adorable as well.

The book follows each night of the holiday, and what I liked the very best about it was that there was not a single mention of the "g" word (gifts) until the 7th night. Yes, on the 5th night, there is mention of chocolate coins, but no presents. And, to make it even better, the 7th night has a poem about "Opening Presents" accompanied by a poem entitled "Tzedakah" - how awesome is that?

The last night also explains how all the candles that we light add up to 36 (1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8 = 36) and while this didn't quite click with the 5-year-old, it did click with the not-listening 9-year-old who thought it was "cool." And I'd imagine it will click with parents who don't know this "cool" fact about the Chanukah candles!

So...if you're looking for a book to add to your family's Chanukah reading collection (we keep all the Chanukah books in our Chanukah box and pull them out each year to read during candle-lighting), may I recommend Eight Winter Nights.

We are going to keep this delightful review copy, since the publisher has been gracious enough to offer one for giveaway as well! (shipping only in the US or Canada, please)


How to win this book:
1. Leave a comment here with your favorite Chanukah story or book. (one entry)
2. Tweet this giveaway (one entry)
3. Facebook this giveaway (one entry, please tag me in the post)

Leave a separate comment for each way you enter.
*Make sure I have a way to contact you - do not post anonymously if you hope to win!*
Giveaway will close on Wednesday, December 1st sometime before first candle lighting!

And don't forget that I'm giving away $25 to Oh Nuts over here. Also ends Wednesday.

Chanukah Giveaway from Oh Nuts!

With just one week left until Chanukah, I'm so happy to offer to you, my beloved readers, this giveaway from Oh Nuts!

 

You can win a $25 gift certificate...with which you could buy...a Chanukah gift box like the one you see pictured here! Oh Nuts has some really delicious stuff and lots of choices for any holiday.

Here's how to win:

 

1.Go to the Oh Nuts Hanukkah gifts page. Choose your favorite Hanukkah Gift and leave a comment on right here on this blog post with the name and url of the gift you like the most.

I will pick a random winner and Oh Nuts will email the winner a $25 gift certificate. You have until Wednesday, December 1st, the first night of Chanukah (but I'll pick a winner sometime in the afternoon).

 

2 Other ways you can win, from Oh Nuts:

2. You can go to the Oh Nuts facebook page  and post on the wall the url and name of your favorite Hanukkah Gift. Please also write "I am here via Ima on and off the Bima" 

3. You can follow @ohnuts and Tweet 

" Win a free Hanukkah Gift from http://bit.ly/6nIsCi Follow @ohnuts & Retweet to enter.  "

Totally full disclosure: Oh Nuts is giving me a $30 gift certificate for running this giveaway and if I get more than 40 comments, I will get even more. So be nice, share it with your friends... 

 

Happy almost Chanukah everyone!

How Good {Review & Giveaway}

I'm a big fan of Craig Taubman. Not just because I think he's a cool guy, but because I really like a lot of his music and also the cool projects he gets involved in, like the Jewels of Elul. (P.S. on his website right now, there's a free download of the month and it's one of my favorite of Craig's songs, so go check that out.)

So when I was given a chance to review his new CD, of course I said yes!

The new CD is called "How Good" and it was written as a companion CD to a new siddur from Behrman House. (I did not receive the siddur for review, but I ordered one and I'll let ya know what I think when it arrives. The siddur is billed for children ages 5-10 and their parents, which I tried to think about as I listened to the CD, too.)

The CD jacket bills itself as "14 original melodies" for the new siddur. This means that (I think) some of them are new versions of some of Craig's familiar standbys. I really like the new additions to Adonai S'fatai - an English verse that helps to illuminate the meaning and purpose of this line of prayer. (I'm not sure I'll be able to use the new part effectively in a service, but it's nice for learning and singing along in the car.) I also liked Rise Up and Acceptable...and my husband and I were groovin' along to Out of Zion, which had a great beat! Craig's earlier Romemu has become pretty standard synagogue fare, but I really liked the new version on this CD!

I didn't love every track, but it had enough gems to keep me listening all the way through. Plus, I do think that some of Craig's music is perfect for tefillah (services) when adapted - sometimes I'll take out the English parts and just do the Hebrew, or just the chorus. But for listening, most of it was really nice.

Overall, I would recommend this CD as a great addition to any Jewish listening library!


I'm giving it away...would you like to have this CD for your very own? Leave me a comment, I'll choose one lucky reader by random drawing to win it. I'll post the winner on Friday...so you have until then to leave me a comment and tell your friends!

For the Love of Being Jewish {Review and Giveaway}

What can you say when your boss writes a book?

In this case? That it's great.

Yes, my boss, Rabbi Steven Stark Lowenstein, wrote a newly published book! It's called "For the Love of Being Jewish" and it's a coffee-table picture book.

From the book's website:

Using RHYMES AND COLORFUL ILLUSTRATIONS, "For the Love of Being Jewish" explores the key concepts of Judaism in a fun and humorous way. Definitions of key Jewish words, inspiring quotes, and clever caricatures of famous Jewish people make one of the world’s oldest religions accessible and understandable to all.

Packed with colorful illustration and whimsical verses, this lighthearted, factual, and entertaining exploration of Judaism is the perfect book for encouraging people of different faiths to learn from each other. Through the lens of history, culture, ethics, and values, important Jewish themes are uncovered in a way that makes us chuckle— and think. While it’s not possible to pack 5,770 years of history into 48 pages, For the Love of Being Jewish touches upon some of the key concepts of one of the world’s oldest religions and introduces us to Jewish people who have helped make the world a better place, from Moses to Albert Einstein to Bob Dylan.

And it really is a fun and wonderful book. For me, it's particularly fun, because I can see Steven's favorite quotes and ideas sprinkled throughout - his voice is clearly there, even though he doesn't usually speak in rhyming verse. It's an alphabet of Jewish life, done in a way that you might not expect.

One of my favorite rhymes?

"I" is for Israel,
A place like no other.
It also stands for Isaac and Ishmael,
who luckily didn't have another brother.


The illustrations are awesome. Mark Anderson created great caricatures and drawings that are creative and interesting and add a lot to the book. See....

I really recommend this book - a great gift, a fun addition to every Jewish shelf.

I have one to give away! Funny enough, even though we have many copies here at the synagogue (go figure), the publisher actually sent me a review copy (Dear Rabbi....) so I decided to give that one away to ONE lucky reader. I'll even have it signed just for you (since I do have an in with the author!) - how cool is that?

I'll do a random drawing next week to pick the winners.
You have until next Thursday night, October 21st. 
Tell your friends!


(don't forget that I'm also giving away the Shalom Sesame DVDs....it's Review Week here at the Ima's place.)

Shalom Sesame {Review & Giveaway}

I must admit, I was so excited to get the new Shalom Sesame DVDs in the mail for review. I loved loved loved those days at camp when it rained (or, as I now know, the counselors were hadn't written a lesson plan) and we were allowed to watch the a Rechov Sumsum video, the Israeli version of Sesame Street. I loved seeing these videos, which were clearly created for American children to learn about Israel, especially since I thought they were written for Israeli children. I loved that we watched them at camp, because I thought this was so much better than Hebrew School at home. (By the way, that Wikipedia article I linked to up there is interesting and explains a lot about how the shows were produced, etc. I didn't know that the show was actually known as Shalom SumSum in the edition that I watched. These DVDs are available, by the way, on Amazon.)

The new series came out just recently. Called Shalom Sesame, they are specifically designed for American children, bringing aspects of Jewish life, holiday stories, Hebrew alphabets, and Israeli culture. Lots of celebrities are slated to be involved in these episodes as well. (Publicity materials indicate that there will be games and activities on the website, but they're not live yet. *I received free copies of these DVDs for review purposes.)

The two episodes that we received were the first one, "Welcome to Israel" and the Chanukah program "The Missing Menorah." Both feature Grover and Anneliese van der Pol, an actress with whom I wasn't familiar. I plunked my children down in front of the TV, and they were very excited for a daytime television treat. It started well. We got through the opening credits/singing, which ends with children shouting "Shalom Sesame!" and Yael promptly responded "Shalom Sesame!" We were off to a good start, I thought.

Sidenote, with full disclosure: My children don't watch Sesame Street. I grew up on it, I love it, but for whatever reason, it doesn't hold my children in its thrall. Disappointing to me, but how can I force them to watch things they don't care to see? So they're not knowledgeable about Grover and his ways. Do your kids watch Sesame Street?

Things declined from there. Anneliese is on a plane going to Israel and she just wants felafel. My children know what felafel is. Do most American children? There's no explanation of it and many of the terms are completely undefined. I think I'd feel confused if I were someone who did not know much about Israel.

There were cute cartoon sketches reminiscent of all the Sesame Street episodes I've seen, and a number sketch with the Count at which the "number of the day" was chosen, with counting in both English and Hebrew - but not much reinforcement of the Hebrew words for the numbers. There was also a letter cartoon section, with some words that started with "yud."

Sam's favorite part (and he is the one who really didn't like the whole video) was when a little boy sleeps over at a friend's house. I thought it was particularly interesting that one little boy was dati and one little boy more secular. He talked about washing and about the friend's mom providing him with special food. How did these little boys get to be friends and why did the show spend so much time highlighting their differences? ("His mom got a special cup for me to wash my hands before I eat." - a statement like this is totally confusing to American (non-frum) children who are required...at least in my house...to wash their hands all the time before and after eating.)

Overall, Sam gave it a thumbs down and Yael gave it a thumbs up.

So when we went to watch the Chanukah video (a few days later), Sam preferred to play his handheld video game while Yael watched. This one was about the holiday of Chanukah, obviously, but only slightly explained what sufganiyot are. The "lost menorah" took about 45 seconds to find, during which the characters all sang a song that wasn't very memorable. The brachot weren't said, and the story of Chanukah was told in a pretty simple and often confusing way. The number of the day was 8, but I'm only now realizing why, since a direct connection wasn't made.Overall, even Yael was a little disappointed with this one.

So....on the upsides: the video quality is great. The colors are bright, the cartoons don't look dated, it's fun to watch and to have Hebrew on the TV in our house. But for learning something? I don't think that my kids got a lot out of these videos. The PR materials did call the series "edu-taining" and I think it's a little light on both education AND entertainment. Maybe this is why the regular Sesame Street show is 1 hour long - to enable them to have many different segments all in the same show. Perhaps they tried to do a little too much.

What worked for me in the original series was that even though they were technically driven toward small children, even the older kids (like me) could see them at Hebrew School or camp and enjoy them. I think these are too focused on the 3-6 year old crowd to be pleasing to older children. Some of the gags were definitely funnier for the parents than the kids. And Grover does do his waiter bit, which was always a favorite of mine. It went totally over my kids' heads.

Sigh. I really wanted to LOVE these videos but I didn't.

So I'll leave it to you...I'm giving away both DVDs, just leave me a comment here and you're entered to win!

I'll do a random drawing next week to pick the winners. You have until next Thursday night, October 21st. You can let me know what you think!

Winner of DonorsChoose Gift!

The winner of the DonorsChoose gift card is JaneTheWriter! {{{Waving}}} Hi Jane!!!!

But we can all be winners if we go and help students and teachers...so go check out some of the great projects that you can fund through DonorsChoose.

For everything there is a season....

For everything there is a season, 

and a time for every purpose under heaven. 

(Ecclesiastes 3:1)

Yes, today is the first day of school.

Sending off my (gulp) third-grader for the fourth time to his first day of school.

 (to see the other pics in this series check out this post here.)

Wow.

And what a blessing, to have a wonderful school to send him to.
To know that there will be pencils and pens, markers and paper.
To have the funds to buy school supplies.
To have the luxury of buying him a new lunchbox.
To have the comfort of knowing that his teeth was checked by a dentist, his health was checked by a doctor, and when he outgrows his shoes, there will be new ones to fit his growing feet.

I am so incredibly blessed.

In honor of the first day of school, I'm giving away one $10 giving card to Donors Choose.

Because there are schools, teachers, and students that are not as blessed as I am.

Leave me a comment telling me your favorite back-to-school tradition and you'll be entered to win. 

Tell a friend via Facebook or Twitter and I'll give you an extra entry.

If I hit 36 entries, I'll give out two $10 gifts.

Please help me out and leave a separate comment for each entry (comment, Twitter, Facebook).

Ends on Friday...

Yiddish for Babies - Review and Giveaway

Oy gevalt, stop kvetching and take a look at this hilarious and adorable book!

Yiddish for Babies: A Language Primer for Your Little Pitsel by Janet Perr arrived at my house last week and let me tell you, my kinder don't care so much (ima is meshugga) but I think it's awesome.

It's got photos of really cute babies illustrating various words in Yiddish. Then the words are used in sentences. (and it's a little bit of an alphabet book, too.)

Example:

KVELLING: proud, bursting with joy. Baby made in the potty and mommy is kvelling.

SHMUTZ: dirt. Oy, fill up the tub. Baby has shmutz on his foot.

(and there's a picture of a cute baby with a dirty foot)

I think my favorite:

TRAIF: non-kosher food. Baby, why are you carrying around that traif?

(and there's a picture of a baby carrying a LOBSTER!)

Huh-la-ree-us!!!!!

It's a book for the whole mishpocha to enjoy, but I think the imas and abbas will get the most out of it.

For a real Yiddish dictionary online, try this one. 

And, Simon and Schuster was kind enough to give me one of these books to give away to one of you, my lucky and wonderful readers!

Leave me a comment telling me YOUR favorite Yiddish word or expression. I'll choose one lucky reader to win their very own copy of Yiddish for Babies.

Extra entry for tweeting, but you MUST come back here and leave me a separate comment or it doesn't count.

Ends Thursday, December 24th....

(And throw me a little Facebook love, would ya?)

P.S. Don't forget that I'm also giving away Julie Silver's new CD, Reunion. Ends Tuesday!

Total disclosure: Simon and Schuster sent me TWO copies, one to keep and one to give. While I might give the second one away to a friend, I might also keep it! I was not obligated to do anything...

Reunion by Julie Silver - Review & Giveaway

I just want to start off by saying that I earned this CD.

Julie Silver, a sweet-voiced gem of a singer, is also pretty lively on Twitter and Facebook these days. And during a presenation I made at the recent URJ Biennial, she dared me to pinch the cheek of one of my co-presenters. She told me she'd give me a CD if I did it. How could I refuse!? After all, it was for you, my dear readers, so I could offer up this giveaway. So, in the spirit of full disclosure: I earned this CD and now I'm giving it away to one of you, lucky readers. See below for how to be entered to win.

 

Julie's CD is lovely. It's a pleasant and heart-warming mixture of liturgical music and what other reviews call "story-songs" (I just love the sound of that phrase....I want to tell story-songs!).

My favorite track is Halleluyah, a rendering of Psalm 150, is singable and lively - definitely a new favorite for me! I love how she mixes personal words in English with the prayerful words of Yih'yu l'ratzon and looks for shelter in a re-telling of part of the Hashkivenu prayer.

One of the most interesting songs on the album is Where Am I? This song puts into words the struggle that so many women feel when they read Torah - how can I find myself in these stories that for generations have left me out? How can I respond to statements that the Torah makes like "If a man should make a promise, his word must never fail/if a woman makes a vow to God, the same does not hold true/Her husband or her father must decide what she should do..."? Julie asks the question but doesn't really give an answer - and as she says at the end of the song - "surely this is what our tradition's all about" - we seek answers that we haven't yet found.

Each time I listen to the album, I find a new treasure in Julie's words and music.

It's available to buy here at SoundsWrite but it's a smidge less expensive to download from Amazon.

So...you know you want this CD. Of course you can buy it somewhere else, but you can also WIN IT here!

Leave a comment and make sure I know how to get a hold of you if you win.

Winner will be chosen on Tuesday, December 22nd. Tell your friends!
Extra entry for tweeting but YOU MUST LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT to tell me about your tweets, pretty please?
Wouldn't it be nice if you shared it on Facebook too? I'd appreciate it. You know you love me. Thanks, y'all!

Lighting Their Fires - Review & Giveaway

I was blessed to receive a review copy of Lighting Their Fires: Raising Extraordinary Children in a Mixed-up, Muddled-up, Shook-up World by Rafe Esquith.

The title alone is a pretty awesome thing to unpack. We do live in a pretty crazy world these days, and every parent I know is trying to make it work for them. But something that I seem to notice a lot is a lack of "fire" in kids - there is a lack of passion and a loss of the sense of wonder that I would wish for my children. So the very title got me excited to read this book.

I have not read Esquith's first book, Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire (the guy has a penchant for well-titled books!), so I was unfamiliar with his classroom and his unique teaching methods. But that didn't really matter, even though I now would like to go and read his first book.

Using a class trip to a baseball game to frame his story is an excellent technique. As the innings pass by, the readers are drawn into the real-life weaving of Esquith's teaching, parenting, and enriching tools. He doesn't hesitate to use examples from movies and books to illustrate his point, and he's not afraid to say that he thinks television is a real danger to young minds. I love the way he focuses his goals on things like punctuality, focus, confidence, selflessness, humility - beautiful values that create little human beings, rather than little robots or college applicants.

It's not preachy, and I want to go back and re-read this book. I actually took a really long time to write this review because I wanted my husband to read this book too, but he's been busy so I finally gave up and decided to write it - and also give it away to one of you, my lucky readers!

By the way, may I also recommend Mitten Strings for God and The Gift of an Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison. I just finished reading the second (the first I read many years ago) and in some ways it was a beautiful coda to Rafe Esquith's book, her writing is lyric and calm even as it seems that her world is being turned upside down as her sons grow and change (and apply to college). 

But I digress.

One lucky commenter will win a copy of this book. And if you don't win it, you must go and get it and read it.
Leave a comment telling me your favorite parenting book. 
Tweet for an extra entry, but leave me a separate comment to let me know, okay?
I'll pick a winner on Wednesday.

Disclosure: In case you haven't figure it out, I received a review copy of this book from the publisher.

Winner of the Holy Ground CD

And the winner is Leah Magid! I'm so happy to send this off to Alaska....
Mazel tov, Leah!

Everyone else - come back soon since I'll be giving away a CD by Julie Silver next....and a children's book....and some other stuff.