The Sneezy Wheezy Day (Talking Bird Books, January 1, 2012, $14.95) is a hardcover picture book that tells the tale of a brother and sister cub. One day after swimming in the crystalline pool, poor brother cub gets sick so sister takes him to see the animals in the forest. They in return offer silly home remedies.

One friend even tells brother cub, “Tickle your nose with the tail of a goose and do it before the next blue moon rise!” Although the recommendations help, the final remedy is a sibling’s love.

The story, written by Sharon Cramer, is in rhyme. If you have two kids who fight all the time, this is a good book to have them read.

Cramer wrote the first book in the series, Lost and Alone about sibling rivalry, when her youngest son was born 18 years ago. As a mom to two older sons at the time, Cramer says she felt like an expert on “brotherly love” already. The second installment in the series, I’m Just Like You addresses intolerance.

Cramer illustrates the Cougar Cub Tales books in watercolor, with each picture taking her between 18-24 hours to create. She chose cougar cubs because she wanted to create characters that spoke strongly of the Pacific Northwest, where she lives.

To learn more and hear audio of Cramer reading the books, please visit: www.talkingbirdbooks.com.

OVERALL: I like the vivid illustrations and the tale itself. It did hold my 3-year-old’s attention, and the book is so nicely done, it’s a keeper.

The story starts with Gracie getting ready for her birthday party. She gets frustrated when she sees a bow sitting next to her party dress.

Why must she always have these BOWS in her hair? Why does her mommy INSIST on them?

As the story unfolds, Gracie’s mother explains that you don’t see presents wrapped without BOWS. Gracie realizes that the special bows are to celebrate her mother’s love for her.

Gracie says, “For I’m so happy that God gave you to me!”

It’s a sweet tale by Andrea Trosclair who wrote the book and was diagnosed with multiple Sclerosis in 2005. In fact, a portion of the proceeds from the book go to the MS Association of America. Trosclair has two daughters and is a registered nurse.

You can buy it at trosclairtales.com for $16.95. You can also find more info about the book and the author.

OVERALL: This book is not glitzy or aiming to be on the New York Times bestseller list. It’s a simpy illustrated book about a mother and daughter’s love. I can see it as a nice Mother’s Day gift.  I also think it would be most appreciated by a family who are spiritual and perhaps wants to help the MSAA.

Do you know about Juno Baby? They have a line of products that bring the joy of music to children. Me and my daughter are big fans and have their DVDs, CDs and now book! With the DVDs,  a cast of lovable puppets created by the talented hands behind some of your favorite Muppet and Sesame Street characters will entertain children with the original music composed for and performed by live orchestral musicians.

The hardcover book, The Day The Music Stopped, also features Juno and her friends Rai Rai, Bunny, Buzz and Indie. The story tells of the gang being introduced to listen to Murphy’s new invention the “Shush Machine”. When Bunny presses the red button on the machine and silences the entire town of Harmonia Springs, chaos breaks out! Read along as the gang gets music back into their world again.

OVERALL: This book is not a short read, it’s very lengthy in my opinion, especially for a preschooler. However, I do like that the company has started to develop books and look forward to see what else they have in store. Now take advantage of this special offer!

In the spirit of the holiday season, The Juno Company is offering a special price reduction for those fans that go to Facebook and ‘like’ us, they will be able to purchase this beautiful book – The Day the Music Stopped for the low price of $9.99** on the SHOP NOW tab. (Available for purchase on Facebook for a limited time. Click here to like them now!

Like all Juno Company products, the Juno Jr. line is part of the One For All Program. For every Juno product purchased, the company donates a very special music education DVD to a child in need.  With the strong belief that beautiful music enriches lives, and the importance of instilling the value of giving to those less fortunate, The Juno Company has partnered with the National Head Start Association with the mission to bring beautiful, orchestral music to children in the U.S., with ultimate goal of giving 1 million DVDs to children in need.

For more information on Juno Baby, please visit www.JunoBaby.com. For more information on Juno Jr. please visit www.JunoJr.com.

The beloved story A Charlie Brown Christmas is now an interactive digital book app. There are 4 new scenes included and what’s really special is that the narrator is Peter Robbins, the original voice of Charlie Brown.

Touch the characters and objects and watch the TV show come to life. I grew up on this Christmas classic so am pleased to share it with my children. For them, it’s a whole new way to follow the story. My 3-year-old daughter especially likes this e-book. Yesterday while waiting at the dentist’s office, she read through the app on our iPad while other children in the room stood nearby and were mesmerized with it.

The digital book also features an innovative dialog system that allows users to move through the story at their own pace and hear actual character voices as each scene unfolds. The app features both “read to me” and “read it myself” modes and provides educational value by allowing any word in the book to be read aloud simply by tapping it.
Right now the 12 Days of Christmas contest is going on. Unlock certain tree decorations by solving a number of clues within the app. Winner will get an iPad2!

The PEANUTS interactive books from Loud Crow will be available across several digital channels. The company plans to make these book apps available on a number of mobile devices, including Apple’s iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android smartphones and tablets, Amazon Kindle Fire, and Barnes & Noble’s NOOK Color. “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is now available for download for $6.99 from various app markets including iTunes App Store and Android Market.

So basically, I love it and recommend A Charlie Brown Christmas for everyone. I’m really happy the people at Loud Crow decided to create this app! Now watch the video on the sidebar!

Here’s a really nice children’s picture book on animals that really stands out. Curious Critters ( $19.95 and published by Wild Iris Publishing) is filled with photographs of North American creatures by David FitzSimmons. The animals are common and can be found in your own backyard. Set against a white background, kids can really study the details of each subject.

Included is a red flat bark beetle, an Eastern spiny softshell turtle, and a spotted salamander. Along with each photo is a vignette, told from the critter’s perspective, that educates and entertains. For example, a bush katydid explains her bubblegum-pink color, a poetic opossum opines upon her often-shortened name, and a far-from-modest black swallowtail butterfly lets readers in on her secret for avoiding predators.

Just some of what kids will learn:
•    What turtles and humans have in common
•    Why black swallowtail butterflies impersonates their toxic cousins
•    How Eastern box turtles can live longer than humans (over 150 years!)
•    If squirrels can fly
•    Why crayfish grow new legs
•    How bats find food
•    Why frogs sing
•    How jumping spiders jump and why they never have to look over their shoulders.

The books website is www.curious-critters.com. There’s additional resources, including puzzles, coloring pages, e-cards. teachers aids and stories about making the book. Also click on the link to get the interactive view of the book.

Overall: This is a wonderful gift to give. It’s educational and filled with really striking photos that belong in an exhibit. Definitely a collector’s book.

Sesame Street just keeps on going. The Sesame Workshop has a fun selection of new items featuring the beloved Muppets. As a nonprofit organization, the proceeds from each purchase of a Sesame Street product goes towards creating more educational and engaging programs for children around the world.

Here are my fave picks for little ones:

Elmo’s Merry Christmas flap book - Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Big Bird, and all their friends get ready for Christmas on Sesame Street. Lift the flaps and countdown with the calendar at the end of the book. $10.99
Elmo Loves You

This interactive book has children pulling a tab and flipping a wheel. All the favorite Sesame Street characters are here: see Big Bird tote a teetering stack of books, Abby play peekaboo, the Count and Elmo. $19.99

B is for Baking – Offers 50 nutritious and fun recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus snack time and special occasions, that are perfect for getting kids involved in the kitchen.  Elmo, Cookie Monster, Abby Cadabby, and their friends provide educational tidbits on nutrition, math, and science so the kitchen isn’t just for cooking but for learning, too! Plus, each recipe includes one or more steps t are perfect for kids to do themselves.   B is for Baking is the perfect way to cook up some fun in the kitchen! $16.95

Elmo’s Music Magic – Elmo turns everyone into singing sensations with Abby’s wand! But what happens when everyone can’t stop singing? Music Magic is bursting with 13 great songs that you and 
your family will love! Features “One Small Voice” with Elmo! Also includes never-before-seen Cookie Monster song: “Come Back Cookie!” Featuring MUSICAL GUESTS Sugarland, John Legend, Adam Sandler, Diana Krall and many more! $14.98
Elmo Loves ABCs for iPad – Explore the alphabet and learn letters with Elmo in this immersive, kid-directed iPad app!  The iPad and Elmo are the perfect combination for little letter-learners. In Elmo Loves ABCs, every touch is immediately rewarded with more letter fun—videos, activities and games.  And of course, you can sing the alphabet song along with  $4.99.  Available on iTunes.

And finally….

The Delta Chair Desk – Includes a sliding fabric drawer. This is available at Walmart and Kmart. $49.99.

Now here’s a book that would make a great stocking stuffer. Introducing My Very Merry Christmas from iseeme.com. Have animal friends like Goose, Chipmunk, Bluebird, and Mouse help your child get ready for Santa’s arrival. Any child would be delighted to see their name throughout the pages of this 6″ x 6″ board book.

The illustrations are stylized and I can see babies being captivated with the colors.

Putting the order in is fast and quick. All they need is the child’s name, gender, date of birth, if it’s the child’s first Christmas and what you would like for the dedication.

Here’s a link to tour the book and check out and “like” their Facebook page.

Written by Jennifer Dewing and Mati Rose McDonough, My Very Merry Christmas is $24.95.

Overall: My daughter Summer  likes when we read it together. It’s helping her know how to spell her name! Here are photos of her book.

Purr-fect as a gift!

Zooborns Cats is a small hardcover book containing adorable photos of these newborn animals. Every picture really melts your heart. With each animal there is information given like the species, their names, which zoo they live in and when they were born.

Published by Simon & Schuster, who published the first Zooborns (a collection of newborn animal babies), this book is to be kept for years. I’m pretty sure many children and adults will really like this book and will learn something from it.

Get ready to go “oohhh” and “awwww” when you read it.

A portion of proceeds goes to benefit conservation efforts through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

Retails for $11.99.

The series includes eight 64-page workbooks designed to help preschool to first-grade students with handwriting, early reading skills, and math concepts in the new method of educating young people today: blending traditional pencil-and-paper skill-building activities with technology to build excitement about learning.

The series provides more than 200 colorful, engaging activities. Each workbook can be registered online, offering a collection of free digital games in addition to a downloadable version of the book that parents can access and print at their convenience. At the completion of the workbook, children can download a special certificate to honor their good work.

My son, who is in kindergarten, was eager to do the activities in the Curious George workbook. He was interested in each page and followed the directions himself. They’re very similar to what he’s learning in his classroom now.

Overall: Great practice for the kids who like to do school work. Also incorporating it with the computer is a clever way of getting them more interested.

Today’s giveaway is a wonderful interactive book called Razzle Dazzle Ruby. Read along as Ruby goes through her day enjoying the snow.

Each page will have you skating, rolling a snowball, sledding and creating snow angels with Ruby. It’s an enchanting picture book that you will want to keep reading over and over.

(Check out the video on the right column!)

The author is Masha D’yans who is an award-winning artist. If you recognize her drawings, she has a line of greeting cards, clothing, and home décor, which are sold at Target, Macy’s, Urban Outfitters, Nordstrom, as well as other major retailers and smaller specialty shops.  Originally from St. Petersburg, Russia, and classically trained at the St. Petersburg Academy of Art Lyceum and subsequently at Cooper Union in New York City, she now lives and works in Manhattan.  Razzle-Dazzle Ruby is her first book. Visit her at www.masha.com .

Overall: Love it! I think it’s dreamy. A really nice book for children of all ages. Retails for $17.99.

TO ENTER: Do any (or all) of the following and leave a comment for each entry

1. Tell me what dazzles you.

2. Become a Mogul Baby facebook fan

3. Follow, copy and paste on Twitter: @mrsmogul I want to win a copy of Razzle Dazzle Ruby! (you can tweet this once daily until Nov. 3)

Deadline: Thursday, November 3 at midnight EST. Giveaway open to U.S. mailing addresses only. The Three (3) winners’ names will be posted here. Good luck!

Thanks to Scholastic for supplying the books!

CONGRATS TO ANNETTE, SHANNON & DONNA!