Friday, February 11, 2011

Guest blogger Sonelina - Diary of a Wimpy Kid Review

 Please welcome Sonelina to our blog. She will be reviewing books and offering opinions in the months to come -
Sonelina with daughter Picorelli and son Preethom
Sonelina is a mother, avid reader, and a player with /lover of words.  She spends her time helping people improve their health, reading Georgette Heyer and Deepak Chopra voraciously  (vicariously?!) and convincing her son that his life will not end if he does some extra homework.  When she’s not holding down the fort in her sweltering tower aka apartment, she can be found dancing Indian style, guzzling down warm water and laughing with her friends. She loves people, really. And reads more authors as well. Long rambling walks clear her mind and helps her buckle down and get on with it.


The logo of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.

Diary Of A Wimpy Kid – The Down To Earth Truth

“has taken the word “reluctant” out of “reluctant readers”. US Post.
The series “Diary of a Wimpy kid has taken the world by storm. Almost. Not a phenomenon by the Twilight series standards, or by  the Harry Potter series standards, nevertheless, it has revolutionised the world of reluctant primary school readers who have found that reading a book is not so uncool after all.  A whole generation of teachers and parents have heaved a profound sigh of relief that here are books that they may happily allow children to read, and that children like. 
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
The cover of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw.
It is a look at life seen through the eyes of a tween - Greg Heffley. A run-of-the-mill boy. A boy whose distinction lies in his average-ness. And his wimpy-ness as he calls it. His tendency to tumble into trouble regularly, his impractical ideas which he tries to bring into fruition, his social problems and blossoming adolescence, all are readily identifiable, and instantly grips the reader. Greg is often selfish, kind of careless and very self centred. Hovering between juvenile delinquency and angelic perfect-ness, his escapades and philosophies are all the more believable as everyone has some memory of similar chaos in their lives. 


There is a ghost of a story sticking each journal (Not a Diary) into a book, and deals with topics like : summer holidays – “Dog Days”, or growing up - “The Ugly Truth” Discipline  - “The Last Straw”, Each book is 224 pages of a diary, with very expressive cartoon pictures drawn in by Greg, giving the books a distinction uniquely its own. 






Diary of a Wimpy Kid (film)

Originally envisaged as a comic strip for adults, then as a book for adults, as a nostalgic and humorous look at their childhood days, the books have a skeletal comic strip appearance to them, and to their contents. The author, Jeff Kinney’s original dream of being a syndicated comic strip author got modified into what rapidly became a popular book series and is now a movie by 20th Century Fox.

Jeff Kinney works as a virtual world designer. He is the design director of a Boston Based Internet Publishing company, where he created Poptropica.com. Visit either www.poptropica.com or www.funbrain.com to see many fun things for children to do, as well as the Diary of a Wimpy Kid online series. Then he comes home to spend “five hours under a doona” to construct  a single gag line for the books. 
The success and greatness of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series lies in the fact that children and especially boys, who I am told take to reading less easily than girls in general, can read them easily, and have a laugh. Not designed to be a role model, he gets into hilarious situations, often of his own making, often as a hapless victim, and does not always come out squeaky clean and victorious. But he learns little life lessons, and thus moves toward teenage and adulthood armed as well as the next average child.
Any reading is good reading in order to encourage the habit, and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid works really well. Reluctant readers find hilarity in the books, strong readers would like to race through them, budding artists and authors would have no problems sitting down with a “journal” of their own to get started on
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth
their own masterpiece complete with drawings and humour. The simplicity of the books make them a masterpiece.

I would not go so far as to say “Move over Harry Potter” along with Andrea Yeats, but the best seller lists definitely have Greg Heffley up there on a par with the boy wizard. I thoroughly recommend the books to children between 9 and 12.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Guest blogger Richelle

 Introducing Richelle!
Richelle is a full time mum of two girls aged 2 and 4 years and she's also a Stampin' Up!® Demonstrator. She runs regular card making classes and lives in the beautiful state of WA!
As you can see from her pic, she's pretty cute . . . 
This is the first blog Richelle has done for us, so please leave some feedback either here or her blog or facebook page.

I hope you find something fun to do from these blogs!
des :o)






One of our Favourite indoor craft activities.
Crafting has been runs in my family, between my Mum , Sister, Nana and Aunty and I, we are competent sewers, knitters, cardmakers, scrapbookers, folk artists and a few other things thrown into the mix. So as an extension of my love of craft (and wanting to keep my brain active and hopefully make some extra cash when I had my first child), I joined Stampin’ Up! I love it as I get to share my love of crafting with family, friends and also lots of new people I meet.  

One of the things about being a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator, you buy their products and for me, that includes a few of their punches. I love how easy they are to use and this activity revolves around getting your child to use them. Yes they are that easy! So here are some details about one of our favourite activities when it’s too hot or wet to play outside.

What you’ll need:
·        Craft punches in all sorts of shapes and sizes. If you don’t have any craft punches you can buy pre-cut shapes from most craft stores or el cheapo stores
·         Find some card or paper. Scraps are perfect! But you’ll also need 1-2 big pieces per child/project
·        Glue – I use blue gluesticks as then you and your child can see how much glue they are using
·        Textas, pencils or crayons

What to do:
1)      Punch out lots of shapes in all your card and papers. If you place them in a box as you go, you’ll have somewhere to store them if they aren’t all used. Miss 4 is able to use my punches, but Miss 2.5 doesn’t have the co-ordination just yet. Young kids get a thrill from picking up the shapes and putting them in a box – it gives them a job whilst you are punching out more shapes. 


2)     Today,  I’ve helped out by mounting 1 large piece of card on another contrasting piece of card to ‘frame’ their work (this can also be done right at the end).

3)      To help them out, I’ve drawn some flower stems for Miss 2.5 and a heart border and a flower outline for Miss 4. The idea is to glue inside the flower outline and for Miss2.5 to make flowers at the top of each stem.
4)      Let them draw any thing with the textas, crayons and pencils – do this before any glue is applied to the page.

5)      Hand you child a gluestick! Scary thought! But it’s ok, if it gets on the table, the glue will come off with some spray cleaner and a sponge (or babywipes are priceless!). Also, I try and remember to place some large paper on the table to protect it, or buy a plastic tablecloth from your local craft shop.

6)      Now you’ll just need to supervise and try not to interfere too much. Just watch and see where they need a hand. 

      Soon you’ll see the finished results and the look of sheer joy on your child’s face when they present their artwork to you!
For more details about Stampin’ Up! or to see any of my other work, please visit my blog here.

Take care,
Richelle
Related Posts with Thumbnails

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails