Front of the Class cast with Brad and Nancy Cohen

On the eve of Brad Cohen’s December 7, 2008 debut CBS Hallmark Hall of Fame original movie about his life with Tourette Syndrome, I decided to purchase his 2005 book, co-written with Lisa Wysocky, entitled: Front of the Class: How Tourette Syndrome Made Me the Teacher I Never Had to get a sneak peek into the wonderfully inspiring story. (more…)

Jax Peters Lowell, author.

The 2008 Gluten Free Expo in Oak Brook, Illinois hosted a Celiac kids’ Cup Cake Club party and book reading with author Jax Peters Lowell. The event took place on Saturday afternoon and included more than 30 eager participants, young and old.

I took my three boys. We arrived early, so my eldest, recently diagnosed with Celiac, hunkered down immediately with his newly autographed copy and began reading it on his own  while we waited for the party to start. He was riveted. He identified so clearly with little Izzie O’Brien and her struggle to find her way from chronic tummy aches to a return to good health, her struggles to belong and feel normal at school and at home were his own. (more…)

Our boys received a wonderful gift this year for the holidays- a beautiful hardcover copy of Zoolidays, Written by Bruce Glassman and illustrated by up and coming artist Rolandas Kiaulevicius, and if that wasn’t enough they also got tickets to a wonderful show about that book and more called GIRO.

This book is a wonderful read, and the show is a fabulous must see for any emergent reader and budding artist. My boys absolutely loved the book from cover to cover, and the show really delighted their imaginations in a way that the book alone couldn’t do. (more…)

You don’t need to rely on a future preschool teacher or the television set to teach your child literacy. Proactive parents can do quite a bit for their children at a very young age to set the stage for early reading and lifelong success at school. A child who feels successful has confidence, and as we all know, one who struggles with failure will often times develop poor coping skills and very low self-esteem. Don’t wait until your child is formally enrolled to start thinking about literacy. Start now. There are 10 very simple things parents can do with their toddlers that will ensure future success at school. (more…)

A twinkie isn’t just a cream filled cake made from milk, flour and eggs. When Hostess seals the little dessert treat into it’s individual plastic wrap it is a conglomeration of over 39 ingredients with a shelf-life of over 24 days. In Twinkie Deconstructed, Steve Ettlinger writes a road map for understanding the etiology of this familiar favorite Hostess snack. He chronicles his “Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated Into What America Eats.” (more…)

As a mother of three very young and inquisitive little boys I am guilty of hiring the electronic babysitter while doing laundry, making dinner, and talking on the phone. And I am sure if I did an informal telephone interview with other mothers I would find this to be true for most everyone. I know that excessive T.V. watching without adequate interaction will cause verbal delays. That’s just common sense. We don’t just plop our kids down in front of the television for hours on end and then just walk away. So in lieu of the recent Baby Einstein shake up I thought I would take a moment to jot down a few very successful non-television activities that my boys and I have done together this summer. They both have busy little minds and are often easily bored so I have to get creative quite often to keep them occupied.

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Long car trips with little children can bring stress levels to the brim, which is not something we need when we are taking a holiday from our hectic day-to-day home and work schedules. Kids need a holiday as much as their parents do, but that doesn’t mean abandoning their regular schedule and hitting the road like a band of hippies.

The most important thing to do is plan plenty of activities both in the car and along the way that will help pass the time. Simple car games like “I spy with my little Eye” and the “A, B, C” game are a great way to keep kids from getting bored and irritable after too many hours in the car.

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