I just finished reading an advance reader copy of Alienated, the first novel by acclaimed screenwriter and director David O. Russell who has teamed up with Andrew Auseon to deliver a hilarious, surprising alien adventure book designated for ages 8 – 12. It’s perfect for reluctant readers – particularly boys – but I am a woman in my mid-thirties and I loved it. Granted, I teach, and have always enjoyed teen fiction, but it’s a darn good book regardless.

In the book, best friends Gene and Vince come across freaky aliens like Arachnid boy, Mold Man, and Crumble Bun all the time as reporters for their homemade weekly tabloid, the Globe, a newsletter featuring stories on the aliens living quietly among humans in Santa Rosa, California. Their classmates, along with almost everyone else, think the stories are just that – stories. And who can blame them, really? A girl who turn everything she touches to crumbs? Right. Determined to find a way to end his geeky outsider status for good, Gene steps on some toes, his traitorous behaviour places he and Vince at the center of an intergalactic conflict, one that could be the death of the their friendship, or even themselves.

If you’ve got a young reluctant reader on your giving list, I’d highly recommend this book.

Win it! We’ve got five (advance reader) copies of Alienated to give away. To enter, leave a comment on this post before noon mst on December 28, 2009.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNERS EMAILED

Looking for a distraction? (ed: Aren’t we all?)

Be careful, because if you try out one of Pop Cap’s many seek and solve games, you may find yourself distracted for hours. Pop Cap games created Bejeweled – one my all time favourite puzzle games – so I was excited to experience these new ones. Pop Cap is the leading developer & publisher of G-rated, family-friendly word, puzzle and action games.

The first two that I tried were the Mystery P.I. games, Vegas Heist and The Lottery Ticket. Both are hidden object games in which you’re tasked with finding particular objects in an extremely cluttered scene. Once inside the game it is hard not to want to find all the clues and solve the game. Although a little repetitive at times, still allows the players hours of challenging fun.

Then I tried The Wizard’s Pen and Amazing Adventure: The Lost Tomb, which are very similar to the above games but with new challenges and more levels. Because they are so involved they are perfect to sit down for a couple of minutes, seek and solve then return to your housework.

Being that I get a little obsessive with puzzle games, these seek and solve games have been awesome to play, simple fun yet challenging! The games sell for just $20 each and a free trial is available for all of them at the Pop Cap site.

Pop Cap offers a large selection of both downloadable and online games, as well as games for your phone/iPod/iPhone and a shop full of goodies under $15. – by Chelle

Win it! We’ve got TWO copies of EACH of these games to give away. Each of two randomly selected winners will receive boxed copies of Vegas Heist, The Lottery Ticket, The Wizard’s Pen and Amazing Adventure: The Lost Tomb,. To enter, leave a comment on this post before noon mst on July 10, 2009.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

“Too old for toys, but too young for boys.” That’s what newly launched company Mia My has to say about tweens today. They need support as they deal with physical and emotional changes, and they need their voices to be heard. They also need to express themselves in ways that those of use who aren’t in their headspace find difficult to understand. Mia MY’s mission is to positively influence the lives of girls by creating stylish products that reinforce positive messages:education, creativity, empowerment, friendship, cooperation, and self-confidence.

The first product launched by Mia MY is their signature Mia MY jacket – a white jacket that comes with a package of write-on-wash-off markers so that your daughter can express themselves in their own way. As girls are wont to do, if they change their minds just toss it in the wash and start all over again! The jacket is made in the USA and is 97% cotton with just enough spandex for easy care and comfort. It comes in sizes 4-14 and sells for $49.99 at Mia MY dot com.

We gave a Mia MY jacket to a local grade one student to check out for us and here’s what she had to say (with her newly literate spelling left intact – I love it!):

Thank you very very very very very very mush for my awsum new jacket from Mia MY. It was a reelly nice jacket before I dezined it and it’s comfy but after I drew on it it was the nicest jacket in my hole scool. I did flowers and butterflies and my name ALL over it. Then my Mom washed it and now I’m going to write a message for my teacher on my back to surprise her on the last day of school. My friends can write on it too. I loooooooooove it!

So, there you go. Nicest jacket in the school, and certainly the most unique! She’s not even a tween and loved being able to express herself on her clothing, so imagine what that would do for an eleven year old? Wicked cool.

Win it! We’re giving away a Mia MY jacket to one of you! Comment with who you’d give it to (and what size you need) before noon mst on June 24, 2009 to be entered.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

About this time last year, we reviewed the first three games from the awesome Around the Table Games. They’ve since developed two new games, Buddy Talk and Teen Talk, which are designed for school aged children to use with their friends.

Buddy Talk is intended for kids aged 7+ and is perfect right through the tween years. It would be an awesome gift for a group of girls for a sleepover night, and I can just imagine giggle little girls making a tradition of pulling out their cards each sleepover night as the parents head off to bed and the kids are just beginning. Teen Talk is, obviously, for teens, and is a great way for them to really get to know the people they talk to all the time. With “deeper” questions, these cards actually make kids think while they’re hanging out – a much better alternative than the latest version of Grand Theft Auto.

Both of these games were created BY kids FOR kids, and would make awesome, unique and very affordable (only $8!) birthday gifts for your children’s friends.

Win it! We’re giving away one of each of these games to one randomly selected reader. To enter, leave a comment on this post before noon mst on June 15, 2009.

1. Blog about this contest using one of the top three images found here. Leave a comment with the direct link to your post (not to your main page, and in a separate comment from your other entry).

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Leave an additional comment to let us know that you did this for your extra entry. Be sure to leave a valid email address so we can confirm your subscription. Current subscriptions count too! Just let us know how you subscribe…Bloglines? Google reader? Email? They all work.

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3. Place our button in your sidebar or add us to your blogroll. Leave an additional comment to let us know that you did this for your extra entry. Be sure to leave a valid url so we can confirm the addition. If we’ve been there all along, that counts too!

Maximum four entries total per person.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

I have never met a mom of a little girl who has never felt the exasperation of trying to keep up with their ever changing tastes. Mag-Tagz, a new line of magnetic interchangeable jewelry is perfect for the tween set because it allows them to change their jewelry to match their outfit or their mood without having to break the bank buying a bunch of new necklaces.

Mag-Tagz necklaces come with a standard magnetic pendant base (which is cute enough to wear alone, actually) and the tagz charms can be easily interchanged at any time. New & limited edition tags are released every few months so there’s always something different to try and they’re a great thing to trade & share amongst girlfriends. Who needs hockey cards?

Invented by mom Anita Worth, Mag-Tagz involve young girls in every step of their business. Her daughter and her friends shared their input right from the start, and now the site includes several interactive features. They can play “Tag, You’re It!” where they can enter a code found on the back of each tag to get a clue. The goal is to collect four clues and decipher the common trait. Once they’ve solved it, they can submit their answer and be entered to win awesome prizes. (Wii!) And it’s not just a grab to get your kids to buy more Tagz. Girls are actually encouraged to share codes with each other and trade their Tagz in order to learn more clues. Though if it were, at only $3.99 – $4.99 most girls could afford to buy them with their own money. The necklace base sells for $9.99, and a starter pack with a base and 3 tagz goes for $19.99 (small) or $23.99 (large).

Girls (and, I suppose, boys, if they’re into that kind of thing) are also encouraged to design their own Tag and enter it into the Mag-Tagz design contest where they’ll be voted on by blog readers. If they win, their design will be produced as a limited edition Tag and their name is even engraved on the back! How thrilling would that be?

Use the code blogger20 to save 20% on purchase of $20 or more.

Win it! A necklace base and either the Green Earth Tag or the Bee Tag is up for grabs. Take a look at the design winners page and then come back to comment with your choice to be entered to win.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED (Congrats Terra!)

Over the last few years, I’ve invested in a cupboard full of glass containers for freezing & storing food and ditched 90% of the plastic that we used to use. It’s costly, but totally worth it for the health of my family. I consider it an investment. They’re endlessly reusable which means I save money, the earth, and the bodies of the people I love most.

My husband and I often take leftovers for lunch in glass, but I’m not about to send glass with my three year old. Even if he didn’t smash it on purpose, he’d surely do it accidentally by the end of the first week. Since he mostly eats dry snackies, fresh produce & cheese all day long, I was thrilled to discover LunchBots. Made from the highest quality 18/8 stainless steel, LunchBots won’t leach chemicals into foods like plastic does.

The LunchBots uno (blue lid) is perfect for sandwiches or a larger quantity of the same snack. My kids love it for trail mix or cookies. The LunchBots duo (orange lid) is the same container but with a divider welded in to hold two portions of snacks. The divider is not water tight so LunchBots are not intended for wet foods, but if you pack fresh like we do then you’ll be very happy with these. For extras like dips & yogurts, you’ll need to supplement with another type of container. We love the duo for cheese & crackers, raisins & cucumbers, fresh fruit salad & veggies sticks and so much more. Both measure 6.5″x4.5″ and fit easily in lunch bags, diaper bags & most purses. I recommend buying both because no matter which one you choose, you’ll wish you had the other one as soon as you start packing lunches! They’re both great, and used daily in our home.

US readers can purchase directly from LunchBots ($14.99). Canadian readers can purchase from Parenting by Nature ($22.98).

Win it! We’ve got a LunchBots uno AND a LunchBots duo to give away to one lucky reader. To enter, leave a comment on this post before noon mst on May 12, 2009. Feel free to share your great “dry lunch” ideas!

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

In the dead of the cold Canadian winter, nobody in their right mind takes their kids to the park. Sure, we’re tough up here. We can get bundled up in balaclavas and down skidoo suits, with nothing showing but two squinting eyeballs, but once we get outside we can barely walk for the bundling and the kids sure couldn’t get up on any playground we were crazy enough to take them to. (And if they did, how long do you think it would take before someone’s tongue was stuck to the slide?)

Enter Toronto based DreamGYM Inc., the first company in Canada to produce indoor jungle gyms for home use. Company founder Marina Mironov has created an ingenious product which allows children to stay physically active all year round, regardless of the weather. DreamGYM Indoor Jungle Gyms and wide variety of accessories can be installed in almost any space of the home: a kids’ room, basement, or a spare bedroom. Children have a blast climbing ladders, scaling monkey bars, swinging on a trapeze bar, or doing flips on gym rings right inside their homes.

We tried out a few of the DreamGYM accessories with a local preschool group. The gym rings, trapeze/ring combo and disc swing all mounted very easily & safely in a room with exposed rafters and were a huge hit with all of the children. They’re obviously well made and feel very solid – almost industrial. The accessories are very affordable, especially for such high quality equipment. They range from just $15 for the trapeze bar to just under $200 for the four sided rope ladder. The basic model of the jungle gym sells for $950 (pine) or $1270 (maple), and all prices are in Canadian dollars so Americans get even better prices than that! Obesity prevention and health benefits aside, we all know that an exercised child is a happier child, which equals a calmer and quieter child. You’re welcome.

All DreamGYM Inc. products are available from their online store.

Win it! DreamGYM is giving away an accessory pack (gym rings, trapeze/ring combo and disc swing, an $80 value) to one randomly selected winner. To enter, pay a visit to the DreamGYM Inc. site and come back here to comment with what other items not mentioned in this review that you would love to have in your home. Contest closes at noon mst on March 25, 2009.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

Please visit our sponsor:

“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.”

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

PLEASE NOTE – This giveaway was never received by the winner and the owner of this company chose not to respond to our many attempts to contact her. WE DO NOT RECOMMEND THAT YOU SHOP HERE.

One thing around my house that almost can NEVER be found is my keys! No matter how hard I try, they always seem to be MIA when I need them. Most often, after turning the house upside-down and blaming my toddler, I end up finding them in the abyss I call my purse! Does this sound familiar to anyone else? Well, I have to say that I think a lot of my problem is that I don’t really have a distinguishable keychain.  Just a ring of keys…But not for long!

WholesaleKeychain.com offers SO many awesome choices when it comes to adding some “Bling” to your keys! From \Digital Photo Keychains to Sports Keychains, to Automotive keychains in every imaginable brand, WholesaleKeychain.com has got you covered! They even have Flashlight keychains….Think safety, ladies! And how nifty would a USB keychain be?

Many of the keychains can even be personalized with anything you’d like!

Bottom line, when it comes to keychains, WholesaleKeychain.com ROCKS! - by Sara

Win it! Want to win a keychain of your own? The generous folks at WholesaleKeychain.com have given us nine to give away!

That’s 3 Digital Photo Keychains, 3 LED Flashlight n keychains , and 3 Carabiner Keychains!!! Wow, right? To enter, just go to WholesaleKeychain.com and tell us what your favorite keychain of these three is and what colour you’d choose…You never know, you might just win it!

Contest closes at 9 pm mst on December 8, 2008.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNERS EMAILED

Some of our long time readers may remember my review of the Wrap N Mat from February 2007. With the shift toward green living becoming larger (yay!) every day, it’s time to revisit this great invention which is now available from the new-ish Vancouver-based Canadian boutique Lavish and Lime.

Lavish and Lime carries only the Wrap-N-Mats with the phthalate-free LDPE lining (the same material as plastic sandwich bags but a thicker grade to ensure re-usability) and carries a selection of the nicest available fabrics. I’m especially digging the dots fabric (pictured at right) for it’s decidedly not bright and ugly style. These fabulously green reusable sandwich wraps are not only great for sandwiches but also for muffins, crackers and other snacks. When opened they provide a clean place to eat that can be brought home, washed in warm water and re-used for an entire school year. At a price of $7.50, you’ll not only be doing your part to save the earth but you may even be saving money if you’re not buying as many costly ziploc bags.

Save 10% at Lavish and Lime with the code TOP