Here we are about a month or so into summer vacation. How’s it going? Are you still excited to not have to drive your kids to school, pack their lunches, and drag them out of the bed in the morning so as not to be late? Good! OR are the days starting to feel really loooonng and never-ending? Like you have nothing to do all day but be the cruise director for your kids? If you feel like the former– awesome! If you feel like the latter, don’t worry. You are not alone. When my three kids were young, summers sometimes seemed to stretch forever.
What’s a parent to do? For one thing we got our kids BOOKS! Books are awesome! They are fun for reading, but also for doing activities. We bought each kid a math workbook and had them do problems to keep their skills up. (It was also a great incentive for them to get some videogame or TV time) 🙂 If you’re looking for some FUN ways to do that, check out these Big Fat Notebooks by Workman Publishing.
The BIG FAT NOTEBOOK™ series is built on a simple and irresistible conceit—borrowing the notes from the smartest kid in class. There are five books in all, and each is the only book you need for each main subject taught in middle school: Math, Science, American History, English Language Arts, and World History. Inside the reader will find every subject’s key concepts, easily digested and summarized: Critical ideas highlighted in neon colors. Definitions explained. Doodles that illuminate tricky concepts in marker. Mnemonics for memorable shortcuts. And quizzes to recap it all.
The best part is that they read as if they are written by a kid. Kids will LOVE them!
If Games, Puzzles, and Mazes are more your kid’s game, then check out this AWESOME new book by Mike Lowery, also by Workman Publishing.
Pure interactive fun between two covers A book that begs to be doodled in with 96 wacky prompts, games, and crafts, and adorable creatures to boot, The Kid’s Awesome Activity Book is packed with activities that take delightful twists and turns, inviting kids to design, draw, and dream–and encouraging creativity on and off the page. Enter an ancient cave to decode a mummy’s message. Find your way through a beehive maze. Write a song for a cat rock band. Design a personalized spaceship–and so much more. Plus, plenty of goodies to return to again and again for hands-on play: paper dolls, finger puppets, bonus stickers, and a giant pullout poster designed to kindle curious minds and active imaginations.
A great boredom-buster for travel or rainy days, and a fun birthday or holiday gift. From the author and illustrator of the Doodle Adventures(R) series and based on the Kid’s Awesome Activity Calendar, the book showcases Lowery’s inimitable quirky style and humor that clicks with all ages–get the whole family in on the fun.
This is TONS of fun for kids and it will keep them occupied for hours. (which means you get to dive into a book yourself!)
Want to win them all? Enter below.
(And hang in there, school is only a month or two away…) 🙂
This post created by Jennifer Swanson, award-winning author of 35 nonfiction books for kids. When not writing, Jennifer can be found reading about cool science facts. You can find her at 
Elizabeth: I don’t actively set out to write STEM books. I am drawn to important, compelling stories that have been overlooked – and it just so happens that many of those stories are in STEM fields. I love stories of invention because they are at their core stories of the human spirit and our quest to understand the world and solve problems we face. To me, inventing something is essentially an adventure requiring creativity and heroic effort in the face of daunting obstacles. A fun example is my recent book The Music of Life: Bartolomeo Cristofori and the Invention of the Piano. While it is a picture book biography about music and history, I was delighted to see it was named a Best STEM Trade Book by NSTA-CBC. So I guess what I’m saying is that to me STEM is just in integral part of the human story – and I love telling human stories.
Your host this week is 