The Tail End

Meowry’s wish for the holidays? The gift of family!  Adopt an abandoned cat, dog, or bird and receive a gift that truly keeps on giving!  Find your new furry or feathered friend at Petfinder. They’ve been fostering matchups and hookups since 1995.

Happy, holiday tails to you!!!

"But Darling, I Am Your Auntie..."

What would the holidays be without that special aunt?  Or any celebration for that matter?  Deep down, you always knew she's the “cooler” one.  And that, Tudygirls, has spelled a larger-than-life difference!

So this Christmas, jingle up a little holiday magic with the Kringles. Get to know Sophie Kringle and Tudy’s all time favorite aunt, Auntie Claus. Part Auntie Mame, Audrey Hepburn, and Coco Chanel, Auntie Claus is that lovable, eccentric aunt (oh, you know you have one! ) whose life choices have always befuddled you. After all, she never married, lives atop the Cherry Bing Hotel ( Penthouse 25C, mind you! ), and always disappears this time of year.

Written and illustrated by Elise Primavera,  Auntie Claus  is a treasure trove of holiday cheers! It’s a dress-up delight for the young, old, and every “tween” in between. Because amidst all the fur-trimmed outfits, mittens, shoes, and hats are wonderful life lessons about the true meaning of Christmas and family. Auntie Claus, after all, always abides by her “first and final rule”.

So here’s to all those great aunts out there!  From Auntie Mame to Auntie Claus, let’s hear it for the girls!

Seasons Treatings!!!

The Street Where You Live

It was brought to you by the letter S!

Now, more than 4000 episodes and 122 Emmy Awards later, the street that revolutionized educational TV hits prime time ( Check your local PBS listing! ). Sesame Street, home to Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Ernie, Bert, Kermit The Frog, Miss Piggy, The Count, and countless other household names, will celebrate its 40th anniversary this Tuesday, November 10. And because it continues to be one of television’s most successful and endearing series, we’re still counting. How lucky is that?  Sesame Street's multi and cross-cultural appeal endures!  "Sunny Days..."

Celebrate this milestone sesame style with Tudy's fave street finds:  Kermit's Before You Leap: A Frog's Eye View of Life's Greatest Lessons, Imagine, Play & Learn, and of course, Play With Me Sesame. They're all classic Sesame so you'll be learning your ABCs, numbers, songs, and life skills in such a fun and intuitive way!  Chances are these books and DVDs will even bring out the kid in Mom and Dad. ( There you go! Can't say I didn't warned you :) )  And you just might end up with more play dates than ever imagined.

So how do you get to 123 Sesame Street?

Look around you, Tudygirls.  "Who are the people in your neighborhood?"  That's the street where you live AND learn!

( This blog's for you, Kermit!  You're still my one and only frog prince!!!)

Serendipity!

I love this word!  (Do you know what it means?  I'm not blogging! Check it out at Merriam-Webster if you don't ;->)  So when I saw Penny Blubaugh's Serendipity Market on the shelf, I just had to grab it!  And guess what? Serendipity!!! It's a book of re-imagined fairy tales!  And you know that I just love that!  Mama Inez and Toby (her Woofy!) feel that things are not right with the world and that the only way to bring balance back is thru the magic of story-telling.  So she gathers the story tellers she's found and brings them to her market of tales - the Serendipity Market!

Blubaugh uses familiar fairy tale themes in her first book and adds a whole new spin to them.  So the princess and the pea and red riding hood aren't quite what you remember them to be!  There's a little sadness and darkness in some of the stories but a lot of light and love too!  And I guess that's what balance is all about!  My fave is Lost.  Read the Serendipity Market and tell me - which one is yours?

Pumpkin A La Mode

"Then on the day of Halloween

and not one day before,
Fiona gathers all her pumpkins
and begins her yearly chore."

She's a chef after my own heart and, like all master craftsmen, she's been ploughing her dough for years (rumor has it at 400!).  You can't judge a pie by its aroma but there's something totally amiss with  Miss Fiona's Stupendous Pumpkin Pies.

First published in 2001, Miss Fiona's Stupendous Pumpkin Pies is that rare "trick AND treat" read that's just perfect for Halloween.  Double dip and you'll enter the wonderful, "fairest of the fair" world of noted children's author, Mark Kimball Moulton. There's an upbeat, rhythmic rhyme to his prose that makes reading Miss Fiona and other Moulton books (Twisted Sistahs is another Halloween fave!!!) fun and memorable.  And the current, whimsical illustrations by Karen Hillard Good take you back to a time when fairy tale books were just a joy to behold!

So what's the secret to Miss Fiona's wonderful, sumptuous pies?   I'm not blogging!!!  Maybe Miss Fiona's more than the butcher, baker, or pumpkin collector.  Remember, you mustn't judge her just 'cuz she's a stringy-haired, green-skinned spinster. Maybe she knows there are things best left unsaid.  But what can I say?  It's Halloween!  Time to eat, drink, and be scary.  And ghouls, well, Tudyghouls just wanna have fun!

Best Witches!!!

350!

It may just be the most important number of our lives!  No, it's not a shorter year or temperature for baking cookies!  It's the parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide (CO2) in our atmosphere that's safe for our planet and all of us!  Right now, we're at 387 ppm so we need to get moving to bring CO2 levels down to 350!  How do we do that?  Get involved on October 24 and beyond!  Check out the science, mission, and creative ideas at 350.org and spread the word!  Even if all we do is some sidewalk art, the important thing is to get people thinking 350! 

And even if you're a kid, it's not tough helping out! Walk or bike instead of ride.  Swap out all your lightbulbs with compact fluorescents.  Plant trees and grow a few garden crops.  And if you've got other good ideas share them by posting a comment right here!  Remember this is our home and if we don't take care of it, no one else will!

LOL

"Run, run, run as fast as you can!  You can't catch me!  I'm the stinky cheese man!"

Admit it.  Laughter is the best medicine. And if there's one thing kids do naturally, it's this:  they Laugh Out Loud!!!

We forget there are books that actually do this better than movies, video games, or TV. Here's the clincher:  if a book's funny, it's bound to be read time and time again.   And that, Tudygirls, is the whole point of the game.

So check out Tudy's must-laugh read for October:  Jon Scieszka's and Lane Smith's The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales. Think about it.  What if the Ugly Duckling grew up to be, well, really, really ugly?  Mr. Frog Prince?  A gooey, eeeyewy, slime ball.   And Little Red Riding Hood?  A triathalon running, "woman-in-red-shorts" superstar!!!

There are enough warped twists and turns in this fairy tale anthology to keep the hysterics coming.  You'll never view Aesop's world the same way ever.  And staid, predictable fairy tales become a thing of the past.

Enjoy the bounty!

OMdG!!!

Oh my demigod, that is!  Just in time for the release of the first movie, comes The Demigod Files.  Compiled by Camp Halfblood's "senior scribe" Rick Riordan, I was hoping to get the low-down on all things halfblood.  But The Demigod Files is more of an additional piece to the 5 volumes (ok, maybe a half addition!) and altho there are interviews with some of the more famous denizens of Camp Halfblood, I really wanted more!  Still, the 3 new adventures of Percy Jackson are worth the read!  And, since this is a Disney publication expect a lot of merchandise to follow!  Just take a look at Annabeth's trunk!

But I'm still hooked on all things Percy Jackson so I'm looking forward to The Lighning Thief, coming to a theater near you in 2010!

Claw On This

Bonjour!  My name is Meowry.  I'm a Tudypet lounging about.  Get to know moi and all things feline at Animal Planet Cat Guide! 

Are you purring yet?

Children Crossing

"Wayside School was accidentally built sideways.

It was suppose to be only one story high, with thirty classrooms all in a row.
Instead it is thirty stories high, with one classroom in each story.
The builder said he was very sorry."

Here's a gem of a book that'll lure you back into the school zone: Louis Sachar's Sideways Stories From Wayside School. 

There are thirty stories in this book and they all occur in that one room on the thirteenth floor.  They are all funny, scary, and, here's the kicker, totally relatable (oh, you know it!!! ). Each chapter showcases a character from Wayside School and, somehow, evolves into its own book (way cool!!! ). When you're done, you can flip thru the pages and reread your favorites. Like school, it's the kind of book that'll get you visiting (and hopefully reading! ) again and again.  I personally loved Chapter 1, Mrs. Gorf, and found kindred friends in D.J. and Calvin.

And for whatever its worth: watch 'em apples!!!

Tudy's take: A+

Dark Gold

Do your like fairy tales? Not just the "happily-ever-after" type, but stories about hidden and magical worlds? I guess, like me, a lot of people do! Look at how popular the Harry Potter series is!!! It's a kind of fairy tale, right?

So I've kept my eye out for fairy tale books and this is what I've found - Elizabeth C. Bunce's A Curse Dark As Gold! Ooooo! Sounds scary! But what got me hooked is that it's a re-telling of that old familiar fairy tale - Rumpelstiltskin! You know the one about the secretive fairy that spins a room-full of gold and asks for a priceless payment and only the quick wit of the heroine saves her in the end? In Bunce's suspenseful version, we get to meet Charlotte Miller, the "miller's daughter" in the fairy tale, and almost understand why she risks everything to save what she holds dear. We also meet Jack Spinner, the dark fairy in the tale, and almost understand his shadowed story! All that is set against a vivid description of a time gone by when water mills still spun cloth!

It's a bit of a difficult read but worth the time and effort. After all this is the first Morris Debut Award Winner for first-time authors writing for teens! So let A Curse Dark As Gold weave a little fairy magic as summer turns to autumn! It's dark gold!

From My BFF - ZMAN!

"I finished the book, A Gift to My Children, by Jim Rogers. It taught me a lot of lessons about life and investing. The book was wonderful. It was like reading through someone else's diary.

A Gift to My Children isn't just a gift to the author's daughters, but a gift to everyone who reads it, including boys!!! It teaches readers how to invest wisely and how to use history to influence your decisions. It also gives lessons on how to learn from your mistakes, to trust your own judgment, and to focus on what you like. He also tells several interesting stories: how he traveled the world on a motorcycle, how he saw China's potential when everyone else was skeptical, and how he sold empty bottles at baseball games when he was only five.

Of course, I don't agree with everything Mr. Rogers says. He says men will make false promises to girls in their 'frantic pursuit' for their hearts. OBJECTION!!! It could also work the other way around. And not all men are the same. Mr. Rogers also says that guys will need girls more than girls will need guys. OBJECTION!!! THIS IS A BLATANT CONTRADICTION!!! Again, I don't think all men are like that. It could work the other way around too. I hope to be a more secure and mature man."

.... And I'm sure you will, ZMan! Thanks a lot!

What's In A Name?

If it’s Chrysanthemum, it’s a lot! Thirteen letters to be exact! And if you’re starting summer camp or school, uh oh!!!

First published in 1991 by noted children’s author and illustrator, Kevin Henkes, Chrysanthemum is that rare, “instant classic” by any other name. Here's a book that lightheartedly deals with all the “name" calling so common among the kinder set ( and beyond! ). Best of all, it tackles all that nitpicking and consequent bullying with a whole lot of bloom!

How many of you just had bad "name" days? Just because your "name" was different? Then again, how many of you were lucky enough to have a teacher like Delphinium Twinkle, someone who inspired you to be who you are, name and all? It’s an ordeal for plenty but a rite of passage for many. Tudy's verdict: Chrysanthemum rocks!

So what’s in a name? Well, if it’s your name and you love it, then mums the word! Now go ... practice your signature. Make it your own.

Man on the Moon!

40 years ago, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong landed on the moon and delivered the famous line, "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind!" (That's the new "official" quote, TudyGirls!)

So celebrate all things spacey, moony, and out-of-this-world with a trip to a museum, planetarium, or space center near you! Or, if you're earth-bound nowadays, check out the NASA Website for some "infinity and beyond" fun!

While you're at it, here's a spacial Tudy To Do: play a little Astronaut Dress Up and go dancing in space!

It's always a good time to stargaze, TudyGirls, and reach for the moon!

Dig This!

Louis Sachar's 1998 Newbery Award Winning HOLES is just the book we all need right now! When Stanley Yelnats's bad luck leads him to Camp Green Lake, a detention center for boys, he is forced by the frightening warden to dig holes to "build character." Little does Stanley know that the forces of fate and destiny are finally working on his side, and his most important tasks will be to dig up the truth and fill in the holes of his family's history. But it all depends on the choices he makes!

Full of wonderful twists and turns that are sometimes sad and funny, HOLES is the kind of book that gets you cheering for its hero, and its Zero.

Made into a movie in 2003, read the book, then rent the movie (Shia Labeouf stars!), then read the book again! I read HOLES twice and loved it both times!

A Penny For Your Thoughts

You’ve probably heard it time and time again: it’s never too early to $ave! It sounds simple enough 'til you realize even the big banks can’t do it. And neither can Uncle $am! OMG… what’s a girl to do???

Ca$h in on summer, Tudygirls! Read all about it. If there’s one subject they don’t teach you in school, it’s money. And it totally works against you. So do your pocketbook a favor. Brush up on your dollar$ and cent$ with a Tudy Mu$t-Have: The Everything Kids' Money Book.

From piggybank$ to money market$ and the Federal Re$erve Bank, The Everything Kids' Money Book will cover all these vast subjects.  It's Economics 101 written in such an entertaining, imaginative way!  Read it and you’ll soon be cruising down Wall $treet as easily as you do Main $treet.

$peaking of Main $treet... if you find yourself in Disney World's Main $treet this summer, take the train to The Great Piggy Bank Adventure at Epcot. I know, I know… the Disney fairies beckon but, believe me, so does this hands-on $avings adventure. Here’s your first promi$$ory note: you’ll be glad you did!

Can’t make it to Disney World? No sweat! Just click on these virtual treats: thegreatpiggybankadventure.com and kids'money.org. Then set your own dream goals and see how much of a finance smarty pants you can be. It's all here, so no more excuses, y'hear?

Put in the time now, Tudygirl$. Consider your$elf your best investment. ‘Cuz it takes more than an allowance to break the piggy bank. It take$ a whole lot of common cent$!

Chew On This

Hi, I'm Kawaii (that's right, repeat after me!). I'm a Tudypet grazing for treats (squawk... especially anything nutty!). Get to know me and all things avian. Click on the link: Parrot Tricks 101. Then track me on Tudydoll.com. Go ahead, ruffle my feathers.

The course is set, Tudygirls. Twitter in... it's a "bird" brainer!!!

The Chase is On!

What do art and math have in common? Not much, you'd think. But in Blue Balliett's Chasing Vermeer, these two subjects come together to create a truly intriguing puzzle Petra and Calder have to solve! And as always, there's not much time to do it!

Set in the windy city of Chicago (one of my fave cities!), involving a Vermeer painting (one of my fave painters!) and lots of pentominoes (ok, NOT one of my fave puzzles!), Chasing Vermeer is one of those "interactive" books that gets your mind thinking and imagination flying!

While you're reading, create your own puzzle of pentominoes, check out the Art Institute of Chicago , or marvel at Vermeer's A Lady Writing and other paintings! It's all just a click away! And with "puzzling" illustrations by Brett Helquist (solve them while you're reading the book too!), this is one worthwhile summer read!

Sniff on This

Hi, I'm Woofy. I'm a TudyPet waiting for treats (and, who "nose", maybe a home?).

Get to know me and all things canine. Click on this "back-to-the-pack" fun course: Animal Planet Dogs 101. Then track me on TudyDoll.com. Go ahead, hound me.

The chase is on, TudyGirls! It's doggone fun so dig in!!!

The Best for Last!

It's the last book in Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, fittingly and ominously titled The Last Olympian! I read this book in one go and still wanted more! Camp Half-blood's heroes are really put to the test when they're left to defend Olympus from the monster armies of Kronos. And since Olympus is on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building, that means the battle is waged right in the middle of Manhattan! So much for a sweet sixteen party for Percy (although the Party Ponies do crash his birthday battle!)!

Brush up on your mythology (this is seriously a great series to read if you're studying Greek myths in school!), find a really comfy chair, and read The Last Olympian! Like I've said before, it's all Greek to me and it's all Good!

Green is IN!

Everyone's talking GREEN and I'm loving it! So here's a Tudy Was Framed photo frame to capture that environmental and ecological feel! You know the drill - download, resize and cut out (be careful!)! Get your photo albums and scrapbooks into the Green Groove!

What's YOUR Savvy?

Meet the Beaumonts in Ingrid Law's Newbery Honor book Savvy and learn about the extra-special abilities that make turning 13 in their amazing family extraordinary... and dangerous! It's Mibs's dreaded 13th birthday and instead of the usual birthday party, she's off on a bus-ride of an adventure with a strange bus-load of passengers, including her stormy brother Fish!

I can almost see the movie - Ingrid Law's prose is as clear as the air after an electrical storm! And Mibs is such a character - she really speaks to me!

Ok, ok, enough with the puns! Read the book and find out what a Savvy really is. You just might find your own... and start your own amazing adventure with or without a bus!

It's a Closet-FULL of FUN!

It's my best dress-up game EVER!

I'm launching an all-new TudyDoll Dress-up Game! I'm bringing back some of my fave Tudy outfits, adding lots of new ones, and spicing up the dress-up game a little! You've got to go thru 3 closets (that's right, TudyGirls - 3 closets!), find that perfect piece of clothing (some are hanging, some are folded, some are hidden in my closet!), or even go shopping in The Tudy Shop or The Tudy Boutique (that's 2 stores with more than 4 racks of clothes!), to make THE perfect Tudy Outfit. Perfection needs work, TudyGirls!

So what are you waiting for? Log on to TudyDoll.com! Dig in for a closet-full of fun!

A "Trembling Pleasure"

That's how the Times of London described the first appearance of this "great story" in 1972! Richard Adam's Watership Down is one of my fave books of all time and it's a perfect Easter read!

Follow Hazel's band of rabbits (you got that right!) as they flee the heart-breaking destruction of their home, venture into the beautiful-but-dangerous downs of England, and courageously search for a new sanctuary. Richard Adams makes you believe in his fantastic world of rabbits, makes you feel their sadness and cheer for their triumphs. That's because he takes you with them on an adventure you won't soon forget! It'll make you think about how important it is to live with all the creatures on this planet. And how believing in your goals, in your friends, and most importantly, in yourself, gets you where you need to go - your own Watership Down!

It's Time for a Bubblebration!

Welcome Spring with National Bubble Week ! In the year 2000, Oddzon, makers of Koosh Bubbles, started the first "bubblebration" on the first day of spring, and there's been a special bubble-blowing week ever since!

I think bubbles are fascinating! Not only are they magical to look at, easy to make, and fun to play around with, but the science behind a bubble is absolutely intriguing! Did you know a sphere - the shape of the classic bubble - has the smallest possible surface tension for any volume? It's so small, it's used to solve mathematical problems relating to time and space (talk about a science project!)!

For over 400 years, children all over the world have been blowing these irridescent globes of air and water and I don't think we'll be stopping anytime soon. So pull out your bubble blowers, or go get some new ones! Better yet, raid your kitchen or bathroom and make your own bubble solution, ask a grownup to make a bubble wand for you, and start blowing some magic!

She's 50!

She’s 50 and still fabulous! She’s every fashionista’s dream. She’s a one-name wonder who’s been there and done it all! And it may be hard to imagine, much less count, but Barbie Millicent Roberts turns half a century today, March 9, 2009!
First introduced at the 1959 New York Toy Fair and invented by Mattel’s co-founder, Ruth Handler, Barbie has since captured the hearts Y and imaginations of girls everywhere. And why not? At 11.5 inches, Barbie has represented at least 45 nationalities and spanned 80 careers. Just last month, 50 designers from Vera Wang to Calvin Klein and Betsy Johnson paid tribute to toy land’s top doll by designing one-of-a kind, signature looks for Runway Barbie. Talk about power dressing!!!

So celebrate Barbie’s 50th birthday in vintage style! Take a catwalk down memory lane with a Tudy Treasure: Vintage Barbie Dolls and Fashions. It’s a fashion-filled picture book of 1960's and 70's Barbie dolls, creations, and prized accessories. It's a testimony to Barbie's enduring legacy and appeal. Barbie has always been and will always be all about creativity, imagination, self-expression, and play!

Here's to the portable, plastic icon m that started it all: Happy Birthdey, Doll!

Heart-felt Heart-frame

Here's my Y-felt Tudy Frame for the month of Ys! You know the drill - download the image, resize to fit your pic, and cut out (be careful!). I just Y it!

A Merry Museum Mix-Up!

Okay, I'm not actually suggesting it (!!!) but if you ever imagined running off somewhere, where would you go? Forget the circus! I would run off to a museum and live there (!!!) and that's exactly what Claudia does in E. L. Konigsburg's From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler! Written in 1967 and winner of the Newbery Medal, this book made my "museum dream" come true! Armed with a few dollars but lots of imagination, Claudia and her brother, Jamie, carefully plan to run off and live in the wondrous and wonderful Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. And along the way, they discover the secrets of the museum and a few things about themselves as well.

What a place for imagining! My favorite place in the Met? Where Claudia and Jamie hide from their classmates, ofcourse!! Where would you niche out? Get the book, visit the museum, and map it out yourself!

But just in case you can't wait, here's an on-line book you can read right now about another museum adventure, Aaron's Awesome Adventure!

And to get you going on your own adventure, here's a colorful lesson in imagination from one of the greatest museums in the world!

Buttons and Boo Redo!

This February, Coraline, the movie, is haunting theaters near you! Last year, I told you about Neil Gaiman's bootiful book and warned you'd never look at buttons the same way ever! Now, I'm afraid, I'm actually looking thru buttons! Help! Where'd my eyes go!?!

Well, you've got to read the book, watch the movie (in that order!) and explore the fantastic world of Henry Selick's Coraline and find out for yourself!

Here's lnnking at you...

So You Want To Be President?

Well, it certainly isn't for the faint of heart! But for those aspiring wannabes and presidential hopefuls, here's a hilarious LyyK book on the Presidency of the United States. Full of comical anecdotes and dead-on caricatures, So You Want To Be President?, just might make a presidential candidate out of you.

And why not? The job may be stressful but there are advantages to living in the White House. For one: you never ever have to make your own bed! Excuse me, but there's always room for a pet menagerie! And sleepovers? You'll be an instant hit with friends and family! (Imagine your very own movie theater and bowling alley, Tudygirls. And that's just for starters!!!) But what really makes Judith St. George's book sooo presidential is this: you'll view world history from a lofty pedestal. From George Washington to Abraham Lincoln to Bill Clinton, there are enough political facts and foibles to keep the curious reading and the pundits gasping! So on this Inauguration Day, be the belle of the Washington ball! Brush up on your history with this nonpartisan, political round-up.

Quack!

Paris has Madeline, New York has Eloise and Boston has... Mrs. Mallard! Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey is a picture book that will warm your heart like a down comforter! In her search for a perfect home for her ducklings - Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack (Phew, are you with me?!). Mrs. Mallard will brave Beantown's traffic to get to the right place. But will she and her brood make it?!?

Filled with heart-warming illustrations by the author and based on an actually observed scene of travelling ducks, Make Way for Ducklings is truly an oldie but goodie!

And if you ever find yourself in Boston, check out the beautiful Public Garden! You just might run into Mrs. Mallard and her ducklings (in bronze, that is)!