All posts tagged: imagination

Fun & FAB YOuTUBE DAD, WARREN NASH TALKS ABOUT HIS LEGO PASSION, CREATING WITH KIDS, PROBLEM-SOLVING & CRITCAL THINKING, plus, parent-child bonding in his new book, LEGO DAD

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By Leslie Lindsay  A fabulous resource for anyone–not just dads–who love LEGOs, the little people in their life, and time together inventing and being creative. ~APRAXIA MONDAY|ALWAYS WITH A BOOK~ Child’s Play + Book  It’s time to break out the bricks–the LEGO bricks, that is! LEGO WITH DAD: Creatively Awesome Brick Projectsfor Parents and Kids to Build Together by Warren Nash (October 2020, Rocky Nook) is a gorgeous, glossy, all-color guide to creating with LEGOs. It’s jam-packed with fabulous fun ideas, hints, tips, and ideas that will have you digging up all of those misplaced LEGOs you have around the house. Seriously, some cool stuff. Nash says you don’t need to run out and purchase sets and build them exactly as the directions say–you can create your own fun designs with just a few basic pieces you may already have at home. For years, LEGO has been an endless source of imagination and joy for kids of all ages–and for many of us, that goes back our own childhood, too. LEGO WITH DAD is a …

Chad Otis talks about his debut children’s book–OLIVER THE CURIOUS OWL–about his artistic process, living in a school bus as a kid, exploring the big wide world, curiosity, imagination, and being an over-caffeinated uncle.

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By Leslie Lindsay  Darling children’s picture book about a little owl who goes on an adventure far from his home, asking more that just whoo-whoo. ~BOOKS ON MONDAY|ALWAYS WITH A BOOK~ Every child–especially those around ages 2-4 love to ask ‘wh-‘ questions: who, what, when, where, and why. Especially why. Here, author/illustrator Chad Otis, brings to life the adorable owl, Oliver, in this charmingly sweet and funny tale of curiosity, OLIVER THE CURIOUS OWL (Little, Brown Young Readers, August 11 2020). Oliver lives in a tree in the woods with his mother and father and siblings…but they only ask ‘who?’ Oliver needs more. He wants to know: who lives in the faraway woods? Where does the river go? Why can’t I leave our tree? So one day, he and his little friend, Bug, go. They leave the safety of their nest and meet new friends–bats and beavers, alligators and seals, too. They try new things and eat new foods and maybe they get a little scared. But it all turns out okay in the end. OLIVER THE CURIOUS OWL is about getting …

Childhood Homelessness in America is on the rise–why–and how you can help, plus, resilience, writing, and imagination in this gorgeous and evocative novel from Rene Denfeld, THE BUTTERFLY GIRL

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By Leslie Lindsay Gorgeous companion to THE CHILD FINDER, this book stands on its own and is as stunning as harrowing. I loved Rene Denfeld’s previous book, THE CHILD FINDER (2017), but THE BUTTERFLY GIRL (October 1 2019) absolutely glimmers. It’s a gripping account of underprivileged, disadvantaged children and their circumstances . Naomi is an exceptional young woman who has a knack for finding missing or displaced children. Now, we continue with her story as she is wracked with the guilt and compulsion of finding her own sister, who disappeared years ago when both girls were in captivity. Naomi escaped, but her sister didn’t. Naomi has no picture, no idea even what her sister’s name is. She can’t remember; it was that traumatic. And she was just a kid when it all happened. All Naomi has is a vague sense of a strawberry field at night, black dirt rimming her nails, and bare feet. She ran for her life. Now, nearly twenty years later, Naomi is in Portland Oregon, amidst skid row, where scores of homeless children wander in and out of shelters, abandoned paint factories, and …

Wednesdays with Writers: Poetic and lyrical Rene Denfeld on our fascination with lost children, memory, imagination, the Oregon wilderness, and so much more in THE CHILD FINDER

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By Leslie Lindsay  An exquisitely written tale of s little girl lost, her striking imagination and how we often have to be lost in order to be found.  I found THE CHILD FINDER to be disturbing and haunting and I was absolutely spell-bound, not wanting to sit the book down. In fact, I didn’t; I read THE CHILD FINDER in one day. While the story is ultimately bleak (there’s hope, though), it’s dazzlingly written. It’s lush, melodic, while at the same time, stark. A bit about the plot: Maddie Culver goes missing in the Oregon wilderness while her family is cutting down their Christmas tree. It’s been three years. Her parents are beside themselves and insist she’s still alive. But three years is a long time. The Culvers turn to Naomi, a private investigator with an uncanny ability to find lost children. Diving into the icy, remote Skookum Forest, Naomi attempts to uncover all possibilities, unearthing old mines, digging up old homesteads, and stalking out the corner grocery.  And then another–unrelated case–presents itself. Naomi doesn’t like taking …

Veronica Henry talks about how books are really very comforting & nourishing in HOW TO FIND LOVE IN A BOOKSHOP

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By Leslie Lindsay  Now out in paperback, Veronica Henry is here chatting about imagination, saving bookstores, the Cotswolds, and so much more in HOW TO FIND LOVE IN A BOOKSHOP As an avid reader, there’s no feeling quite like exploring a beautiful old (or new) bookstore. In fact, many years ago before my husband was my husband, we were at the Grand Opening of a local Barnes & Noble, giddy and holding hands. It was an official date and solidified our love for books—and each other. When I came upon Veronica Henry’s HOW TO FIND LOVE IN A BOOKSHOP, I knew it would bring the same sense of whimsy and wonderment as that bookstore date nearly eighteen years ago. There’s something magical about browsing the shelves, touching the spines, turning the pages, and getting lost in the imaginary worlds of beloved authors. Emilia Nightingale is all grown up and grieving the loss of her father, who raised Emilia alone after her mother died during childbirth. Add in the charming English countryside town of Peasebrook, several …

A Little Literacy, Please: Alice Wonders about Science & Fiction

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By Leslie Lindsay You have probably heard of her, too.  Alison Gopnik, a world-renown developmental psychologist who studied at the University of Oxford and now teaches at the University of California-Berkeley has penned such parenting books as The Scientist in the Crib (Harper, 2000) and The Philosophical Baby: What Children’s Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life (Picador, 2010)   What you might not know is her favorite childhood books were Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll.  As an empirical developmental psychologist, it was no wonder  (ha) that Ms. Gopnik identified with Alice’s character.  “I was Alice”  I shared her name, long hair, and dreamy absentmindedness.  I had a preference for logic and imagination over common sense.  I too, was bewildered by the blindness of grown-ups, esxpecially their failure to recognize that children were smarter than they were.”  Alison Gopnik continues to explain in All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned from a Children’s Book (Roaring Book Press, 2009) that Alice in Wonderland is the link between logic …