While all parents may not have an educational background in early childhood development, the material presented in this slim book is straightforward and relatively simple, yet truly powerful information for parents to have. A basic introduction to early literacy concepts and skills opens the book, and I was impressed with the authors’ ability to make the information wholly accessible and meaningfully related. In addition, an emphasis is placed on the importance of the connections made between children and their caregivers when they experience reading together. The social-emotional connection cannot be stressed strongly enough, in my opinion, and the authors also merge this idea with the developmental processes that are strengthened through experiences.

Not only is there solid information conveyed here, for the book also contains a large collection of suggested children’s titles, along with specific activities and ideas for extended reading experiences to go along with many well-known and beloved kids’ books. If you’re interested in learning even more on the topic, the authors provide a list of suggested readings, many written by the most respected names in early childhood education today. For parents, early childhood educators, child care providers, or basically anyone with young children in their lives, Help Me Get Ready to Read is a handy resource for understanding and implementing meaningful literacy experiences for the children they love.

Dawn spends her days in her classroom surrounded by wacky 3 & 4 year olds, only to meet up with her own home-grown wacky kids at the end of the day. When no one is wailing, “Mrs. Mooney!” or “MOMMY!” she tries to find a spare moment to blog away at my thoughts exactly.

After much research and soul-searching, they embark onto a journey towards international adoption. They find an agency, and are at first interested in Haiti, but due to that country’s lengthy adoption time, they switch to Ethiopia. Dina recounts in detail all the steps of the journey, the delays both necessary and unnecessary, the lapses in communication that cause mistrust and lots of stress to both her and Brian.

However, they persevere. Dina’s recounting of all the different facets of international adoption make this book a great resource to anyone who is considering walking the same path.

Dina hadn’t traveled much before going to Addis Ababa to pick up their daughter Aster. She was very nervous and had a difficult time dealing with all the lack of communication that led to her being told things would be one way, only to arrive and find things totally different. As someone who has lived overseas in developing countries, I wasn’t surprised that they found out, for example, that they were expected to make their own meals when they’d been told the guesthouse would provide them, or when they found out that their daughter’s birth mother was alive and well. She is very honest about her reactions, and I appreciated that. My favorite parts of the book are when they are in Ethiopia, meeting Aster for the first time.

Finding Aster is a great resource for those who want to learn more about an issue that is dominating headlines more and more. Dina advocates for ethical and moral practices, to ensure protection of our planet’s most vulnerable citizens.

Elizabeth is the only member of her family who has never been to Ethiopia. Learn more at her blog Planet Nomad.

I think that Amy McCready’s If I Have to Tell You One More Time. . .: The Revolutionary Program That Gets Your Kids To Listen Without Nagging, Reminding, or Yelling was tailor-made just for me! Unfortunately, my ugly yelling side rears its head quite often in parenting, and it’s usually because I’m tired of nagging and reminding.

Finish reading my review at 5 Minutes for Mom. You can enter to win a copy of If I Have to Tell You One More Time by leaving a comment on that post (U.S. shipping addresses only).

Jennifer Donovan blogs at Snapshot, manages and reviews right here at 5 Minutes for Books and parents her two kids in a Houston, Texas suburb.

Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott experience the same evening rush as the rest of us. For a while, Leslie served as a short-order cook in her own kitchen as she prepared separate items for different family members before shuttling them to various activities (sound familiar?). As a psychologist and family therapist, however, their research (and the research of countless others) has shown that families that share a dinnertime ritual with each other reap the rewards. In The Hour that Matters Most: The Surprising Power of the Family Meal the Parrotts discuss the secrets of a happy home and explain why the family meal plays such an important role.

While the research encourages us to gather around the table, the question exists: How will I do it? After establishing the need for the family meal, the Parrotts include informative chapters on food preparation, talking with your family, listening to your children, curbing conflict, enjoying laughter, and other topics. The Parrotts also include recipes and advice from Stephanie Allen and Tina Kuna, two leaders in the meal-assembly industry. This book is a practical and useful tool to help jump start a meaningful tradition. I especially appreciated the assurance that not every dinner hour is magic. Food may be burned, kids may be cranky, and parents may be impatient, but the Parrotts encourage persistence. Over time, family meals create stability and meaningful relationships between parents and their children. The Parrotts assure us that time together at the dinner table softens hearts, builds connections, engenders laughter, and cultivates caring.

According to the Parrotts, “Countless studies have shown that if parents could take only one proactive and practical step to engender family commitment, appreciation, affection, positive communication, time together, and all the rest, it would be to establish a regular dinnertime around a common table without distraction. One hour a few times a week. That’s it.” I’m a realist, and I know we will not be able to have a family meal every night. But thanks to the information and ideas in The Hour that Matters Most, I am committed to bringing my family back to the table. I am sure I am not the only reader to be facing this challenge, and I encourage you to pick up a copy of this book. Our families are worth it!

5 Minutes for Mom has 12 copies to give away!

I’d love to hear your thoughts here on my review, but to enter to win a copy, you need to visit the main post at 5 Minutes for Mom and leave a comment over there. The giveaway closes October 13.

Lauren is a wife, mother-of-two, and an avid reader. She blogs at Baseballs and Bows.

I admit that I have grown soft when it comes to outdoor pursuits. I run for exercise, but I’m certainly not an outdoorsman. This summer, I paid for my daughter to have a week at nature camp so she could enjoy some of the childhood experiences that I remember so fondly, but I have room for improvement when it comes to spending time with my children outdoors. In his new book, Outdoor Parents Outdoor Kids, author Eugene Buchanan encourages parents to be more active with their children. As most of us are aware, we have a growing problem with obesity in the United States. According to Buchanan, 13% of our children are obese, and kids spend an aver of 44 hours a week in front of TVs, computers, and video games.

While he doesn’t claim to be the Dr. Ruth of Recreation, Buchanan has spent many hours with his family camping, hiking, biking, fishing, and rafting. He believes that these activities positively impact everyone by bringing families together and making them healthier. He admits that recreating with kids can be quite challenging: there will be moments times of crying, anger, and frustration. But good times far outweigh the bad, and his family cherishes the times they spend together outdoors.

Outdoor Parents Outdoor Kids reaches a wide audience. I admit that my outdoor skills are a bit rusty, and I appreciated the chapters dealing with more benign activities like hiking, biking, and swimming. For those families ready to tackle greater adventures, Buchanan shares information about snorkeling, climbing, backpacking, and surfing. Each chapter includes basic information about specific sports, but the most helpful information tells how to engage in these activities as a family. By sharing his own successes and failures, describing specific equipment designed for families, and suggesting locations and itineraries, Buchanan makes conquering recreational activities with children seem manageable and exciting.

Buchanan’s greatest asset is his experience, but the most enjoyable aspect of Outdoor Parents Outdoor Kids is Buchanan’s humor. Every chapter is filled with hilarious anecdotes that make this how-to book seem more like humorous memoir. He gives great advice for planning recreational activities, encourages families to expand their adventure repertoire, and keeps readers laughing from beginning to end. Our family has a lot to learn and much room for improvement, but the suggestions found in Outdoor Parents Outdoor Kids give us the information we need to get moving. As Buchanan states, the way to get kids involved in the outdoors is to take them there. When we as parents turn off the televisions, computers, and phones, we can encourage our children to do the same. By spending time together in nature, our families and our health will be stronger because of it.

Lauren is a wife, mother-of-two and an avid reader who is scared of camping. After reading this book, she knows she needs to face her fears. Lauren blogs at Baseballs and Bows.

While this book is directed at Young Adult readers, I think it can be most especially helpful for parents of young adults to read, because the depictions of the world of high school are realistic and meaningful for parents to understand. Please read my full review of Speaking Out: LGBTQ Youth Stand Up on the Kirkus Reviews blog today. As this is much more than just a simple read-for-pleasure kind of book, I’d love for you to pass along the link anyone who you think could benefit from such a book!

We are sad to announce that this is our last column over for the Kirkus Reviews blog, since they are closing down the Lifestyles department.

When she’s not reviewing books on 5 Minutes for Books, Dawn Mooney (and her online alter ego, morninglight mama) can be found blogging at my thoughts exactly, pondering parenthood on her local Patch, and being a twit @mteblogmama.

There are 4 books in the series, each focusing on a different aspect of learning difficulties and disabilities. They are aimed at second and third graders, and scenes from some of the books can be seen in others. While reading one of the books my son jumped up, grabbed another book, and pointed to the scene that was common among the two books.

In If you’re so Smart, How Come You Can’t Spell Mississippi, Katie discovers that her dad, a prominent lawyer, is dyslexic. This book hits home for us because my husband also has dyslexia, so it helped explain to my kids why it is that Daddy has trouble reading aloud to them.

Elementary school kids are known to be squirmy and fidgety, so Mrs. Gorski, I Think I Have the Wiggle Fidgets will ring true for any child who can’t sit still. David’s teacher encourages him to come up with solutions to his case of the wiggle fidgets, and he implements a stress ball and note cards to help keep him on task.

I’ve been watching my own third-grader struggle with practicing his cursive letters, so Stacy Coolidge’s Fancy-Smancy Cursive Handwriting couldn’t have come at a better time. In this book Carolyn is envious of Stacy’s perfect cursive letters until her teacher encourages her by tell her that ideas and emotions are more important than slants and curves.

Last to Finish – A Story about the Smartest Boy in Math Class is the story of Max, a third-grader who is unable to finish timed multiplication tests. It turns out Max is unable to memorize the math facts, but he understands the fundamentals of how numbers works, and has actually been doing his older brother’s algebra work.

The illustrations in the book convey the emotions felt by the children as they’re struggling, and the text explains why they’re struggling in a context kids can understand. These are good books for a parent or educator to read together with kids, and those that can identify with the characters will better comprehend how they learn and come up with solutions to problems they may be having. Each book has parent and educator resources in the back.

We have a set of all 4 books to give away to 1 winner, U.S. addresses only please. Tell us which of these books most hits home for you or your kids. The winner will be announced on October 5. This giveaway is closed.

• The winner of Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self is #12 Christina.

Check out our current giveaways. Subscribe to our feed. Follow us @5M4B on Twitter or on Facebook.

Nancy could use a book like this geared at adults that explains this new math stuff. She writes about her 2 boys, books and life in Colorado at Life With My Boys and Books.

Overall, though, we have a good relationship. We share a similar sense of humour, and we enjoy doing many of the same things. She has even started demanding coffee in the mornings! She is currently reading Jane Eyre for the first time, and I’m having lots of fun refusing to tell her what happens, but dropping all sorts of maddening hints.

I heard a lot of horror stories about the teen years. So far, I’d have to say that there are elements of truth to the stories, but it’s not all bad. In fact, I remain awfully fond of her.

Arden Greenspan-Goldberg, a family and marriage psychotherapist, agrees. The teen years don’t have to be terrible. Her new book offers lots of practical suggestions for moms and teens in the thick of adolescence. What Do You Expect? She’s a Teenager offers help and hope to those of us with tween or teenaged daughters, all eye-rolling and “whatevers” aside.

Please read the rest of my review and more of my thoughts about parenting a teenaged daughter, at our Kirkus Reviews Blog column. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this subject, so please leave a comment over there!

We are proud to be a part of the Kirkus Bloggers Network. You can subscribe to the Kirkus Book Blogger Network feed. Go to the home page, and then click the subscribe button to get the feed in your favorite feed reader.

Elizabeth has three teens, one of whom is a girl. Read more about her family on her blog, Planet Nomad.