friday's five

This week I'm switching things up a bit for a special travel edition of our friday's five. Taking the whole family on an airplane caused me to have major anxiety this past week, and I worked hard to create carry-on bag contents that would keep the kids entertained (and hopefully not becoming the target of hatred among the other passengers). Here are a few bookish items that accompanied us on the plane.

1. Eye Q Picture Puzzler by Downtown Bookworks -- I've received a couple of unsolicited books from this publisher in recent weeks, and this one looked perfect for our travel plans. Think I Spy with a dry erase marker to write on the wipe-off pages, and this goes beyond just being directed to find specific items. There are themes of matching colors and shapes, finding things that start with the same letter, and more to keep kids entertained and thinking. The photograph illustrations are colorful and fun and definitely appealing to kids-- this will probably come with us to many a restaurant in future months, too.

2. My Little Pony Coloring & Activity Book -- Can you guess who this one was for? Red is a true blue MLP fan, with several pony figures and small sets, as well as a regular habit of watching the show. This is your typical coloring/activity book-- pages to color and puzzles, mazes, tic tac toe, word searches, etc. Some of it is beyond Red's ability to do independently, but we knew she'd have a blast having something brand new to color in during the flight. The stickers were under strict orders to only adhere to the pages of the book, and nowhere else!

3. Book to Color Play Set: Dinosaurs -- While he's not necessarily a huge dinosaur fan, this was purchased for Pudge because things always need to be as even as possible between the two young ones. Stickers and coloring pages are here, too, and the novelty of the four plastic dinosaur figures was predicted to last for a significant enough time to be worth it.

4. Melissa & Doug Dance All Night Princess Magnetic Tin Set -- Okay, I know this one is a stretch for inclusion here, but I do have to say that when Red uses this, she becomes quite the storyteller, making up grand tales about the princesses magnificent time at the fancy ball. She received this as a birthday present from a friend, and I immediately thought it would be good to pack for the trip-- compact, portable, and full of potential for keeping my chatty little five year old daughter occupied for a good chunk of time. Perfect.

5. Tumtum and Nutmeg: Adventures Beyond Nutmouse Hall by Emily Bearn -- Now, I'm almost positive that I've mentioned this darling collection before, when we were reading the first of the stories included. We took a break for a while, but we're back into it in the second story now, and it was packed along with the other little toys and books so that we'd have the option of filling time by reading a chapter here and there as we waited in the airport, on the plane or during our trip. The quiet tone of Bearn's writing, even during the exciting parts, is perfect for the environments where you don't want to be too loud or demonstrative during a read-aloud session in public.

Alrighty, our travel edition has come to an end. We're due for a return to the library soon, so I'll be ransacking the shelves for new releases as well as focusing on a few key authors that we've enjoyed lately. Nexttime should see a whole new patch of picture book goodness!

Until next time,