Books

School's about to start and getting organized both for yourself and the kids is a must. Our favorite organizer is the BusyBodyBook! The BusyBodyBook is a stylish and easy-to-use family organizer that allows you to keep track of the entire family's schedules, and it's something I can't live without. BusyBodyBooks are available for both 2008-2009 academic year (August '08–September '09) and traditional 2009 calendar year versions.

To help you get organized, we're giving away a free BusyBodyBook to a lucky Marin Mommies reader! Send an e-mail with BUSYBODYBOOK in the subject line to contests@marinmommies.com by midnight PST on Friday, August 15, 2008. One winner will be selected at random, and we'll announce the winner on Saturday. Good luck!

read more »

Looking for a good read this summer? Jane Porter, the award-winning author of Flirting With Forty and Odd Mom Out, shared 10 of her favorite titles for moms on View From the Bay. Listed below are a few of the books. To get the complete list, go to their website.

read more »

One-of-a-kind personalized gifts are always treasured keepsakes. We recently received a sample of a new personalized children's book, The First Adventures of Incredible You, by Sarah Riley Headrick and Sarah Foreman Rivers, with whimsical illustrations by Jill Dryer Bartolucci. The full color, hardbound book is a playful look at the fun and exciting adventures of small child, all personalized with details for your child. When ordering you fill in a variety of different fields with names of your child's family, friends, pets, and favorite activities, which results in a truly unique personalized book.
read more »

Now that summer's around the corner and school is over, I like to plan out different and funs things to do with my kids. A few summers ago, we discovered the reading game program at the South Novato Library, which my son loved being a part of. Participants were awarded prizes based on the number of books they read. This year the Marin County Public Library will be sponsoring the “Catch the Reading Bug!” reading program from June 16 to August 14. Check with your local library for details.

read more »

Fairy tales are very popular in our house. I'm not sure why, but my 4-year-old son is really into them. Maybe it's the timeless stories, or perhaps it's the element of fantasy involved (he's an imaginative little boy), but regardless of the reason, he's very drawn to them. For that reason, The Barefoot Book of Fairy Tales has been getting a lot of mileage with us.

read more »

Some of the best loved books in our house are those published by Barefoot Books. Founded by mompreneurs in the UK in the 1990s, Barefoot Books has become a successful childrens' book publisher through a winning formula of great stories accompanied by beautiful art and illustrations. Many of their books, like Whole World pictured above, come with sing-along or read-along CDs, many narrated by well known award-winning actors. Stories presented in Barefoot Books are both timeless and timely, and include tales from a variety of the world's cultures.

read more »

The New Year is here and it's not too late to get organized in your busy life. One of the tools that I have to do that, which I absolutely love, is my BusyBodyBook! The BusyBodyBook is a stylish and easy-to-use family organizer that allows you to keep track of the entire family's schedules. My BusyBodyBook is for the 2007–2008 academic year, but they also offer a traditional 2008 calendar year version which could definitely come in handy right now at the start of the year.

read more »

While dueling cookbooks Deceptively Delicious and The Sneaky Chef have been grabbing the headlines lately, we recently got our hands on a fantastic little book that relies not on sneaking vegetable purees into your unsuspecting kids' food, but rather making delicious and nutritious meals that children love. The Baby Bistro Cookbook by Joohee Muromcew, a Marin mom and a frequent contributor to Town & Country and San Francisco magazines. The book, which gets kudos from food world heavy hitters like Mario Batali and Alice Waters, has great recipes that are often simplified but no less delicious versions of grown-up favorites. We like the chicken and white bean chili and peanut sesame noodles, but there are many more good things from simple dishes like toasted cheese sandwiches to shepherd's pie. Highly recommended!