As a parent of two little boys who love books, I know what an important part they play in their lives. From sparking their imagination to giving them the foundation to learn to read, everything about books is both fun and educational.  But I know we’ve all been there. We want to purchase a book for our child or grandchild but feel overwhelmed. We’ve been stuck while trying to pick out a gift for our best friend’s child or the birthday party from a boy at pre-school that your kid was invited to. Trying to pick through a sea of books can be daunting and even flipping through the book doesn’t always help. We’ve received books that at first glance I would have dismissed but have been fast favorites after reading them aloud to my children. Joan and Barney had the same frustration purchasing for their grandchildren so they created the online store, Little One Books.

Little One Books specializes in quality books, music and video for children from birth to five years of age. With their team of professionals they have personally reviewed and selected every single item available. You will find detailed information about why a particular product was chosen in the Why We Chose section of the product pages.

You can choose to sort by products and then by age or by age and then by product. The products are matched by the youngest appropriate age group so your selection can grow with the child. I decided that I wanted to get a new book for my almost four year old Lucian so I stared with books and narrowed it down to products for 4 years. I had a lot of fun going through all the options and reading more in depth about the books. I decided on When Dinosaurs Came with Everything because I was intrigued by the product description and my son really enjoys dinosaurs.

“Get a “WHAT?  Free WHAT? DINOSAURS?”

Just when a little boy thinks he’s going to die of boredom from running errands with his mom, the most remarkable, the most stupendous thing happens. He discovers that on this day, and this day only, stores everywhere are giving away a very special treat with any purchase. No, not the usual lollipop or sticker. Something bigger. Much, much bigger. It’s a dream come true, except…what exactly do you do with these Jurassic treats? And how do you convince Mom to let you keep them?

I had a blast reading this story to Lucian. The story is clever, unique and created some fun conversations as we read along.  I found myself laughing along with him as we followed the characters through some silly situations. I let him look at the book again after we were finished and these are just a few of the cool shots I got as he browsed the book.

The excitement as he talked just isn’t the same through pictures so I couldn’t resist recording some of his absolute glee to share with you. See what I mean?

I highly recommend this book and the service provided by Little One Books. Taking the guesswork out of shopping for the perfect present has never been easier. If you are looking for a larger gift set, browse through their gift bundles which feature books, music and video selection with a particular theme by age. They are packaged in a silver pouch, tied with ribbon and shipped in a box with colorful tissue. It doesn’t get any easier than this!

Buy it:

When Dinosaurs Came with Everything is available at Little One Books in hardcover for $16.99.

{ GIVEAWAY }

Little One Books would like to offer one of my lucky readers a $25 gift certificate to their online store!

MAIN ENTRY: Visit Little One Books and tell me something you’d love to get with your gift certificate if you won!

Want more entries? (Of course you do!) After answering my question do any of the following and leave a comment telling me what you did. Each is worth one entry unless otherwise noted. Your comment is your entry so please leave the appropriate number of comments for each extra entry.

-Like Little One Books on Facebook
-Leave a comment on their Facebook wall telling them what you think of this giveaway
-Follow Little One Books on twitter
-Subscribe to the Little One Books Blog
-Like Baby Loving Mama on Facebook
-Follow Baby Loving Mama publicly
-Subscribe to my feed in a reader or by email
-Follow BLM on twitter and tweet about this giveaway (You can do this daily!)

Win a $25 GC to @LittleOneBooks to purchase books, music & videos for your little one! @babylovingmama http://bit.ly/aSnxEh #giveaway PLS RT

-Add my button to your blog
-Blog about this contest (must be at least 50 words) with a link back here and to Little One Books (3 entries)

This contest will end on 8/24/10 at 11:59 pm CST. U.S.  residents 18+ only. The winner will be drawn via random.org and will have 72 hours to respond to winning notification email before I draw another winner or do a live giveaway.

Disclosure: I received a sample for the purpose of this review but no other type of compensation was received. This has no bearing on my completely honest review above. The opinions and experiences I’ve shared with these products are my own and yours may differ.

My children have definitely noticed a change in the season. Suddenly it is no longer necessary to wear winter coats, we are outside so much more often and all of our snow is gone. They have loved the transition that spring has brought them so far and are very curious. National Geographic Kids has a new book entitled, Everything Spring that gives young children the perfect opportunity to learn more about the world around them in this time of rebirth!

In Jill Esbaum’s beautifully photographed picture book, young children can see, hear, and feel the warmth of springtime by reading and learning all about chicks, bunnies, and the other baby animals that come out to play in springtime. Surround yourself in Everything Spring. Stunning photography and detailed imagery capture the uplifting spirit of our favorite season in this counterpart to the National Geographic bestseller A Tree for All Seasons.

Everything Spring has become an instant favorite. Both my boys adored the animals and vivid imagery in this book. So much in fact that they were both kissing the baby animals and commenting on how cute the they were. How could you resist bunnies, fawns and ducklings?

My favorite part of this book, besides the obviously gorgeous photography, is way the author gives the reader an easy way to engage children. Within the story are auditory words such as Splish Splash!, PEEP, PEEP, PEEP and Plip-Plop-Plip as well as emphasis on certain words to make this a very interesting and fun read! I also like how changes in plants as well as animals are shown, including the metamorphosis of a tadpole into a frog. This creates the perfect opportunity to teach my children.

The recommend age range for this book is 4-8 but my two year old loves it just as much as my 3 1/2 year old. Since the story is 16 pages and doesn’t include more than a couple of lines on each page, it is the perfect length for his short attention span.

This is one book that I highly recommend and I will definitely look to get the other titles in the Picture the Seasons series. It is simply a delightful read.

BUY IT: Everything Spring retails for only $5.95 can be purchased from Amazon with free super saver shipping or from the National Geographic Store!

{ Giveaway }

I have THREE copies of Everything Spring to give my readers!

MAIN ENTRY: Visit the National Geographic Store and tell me another book that caught your eye!

Want more entries? (Isn’t this the cutest book ever?) After answering my question do any of the following and leave a comment telling me what you did. Each is worth one entry unless otherwise noted. Your comment is your entry so please leave the appropriate number of comments for each extra entry.

-Spring into Spring! Enter the Hey Rabbit! giveaway at The Shopping Mama & tell me below!
-Tell me why you’d like to win this book and who it would be for
-Become a fan of Baby Loving Mama on Facebook
-Follow my blog publicly
-Subscribe to my feed in a reader or by email
-Follow me on twitter and tweet about this giveaway (You can do this daily!)

Win the stunning book, Everything Spring from National Geographic Kids @babylovingmama http://bit.ly/cnXl6P #giveaway PLS RT!

-Add my button to your blog
-Add my Spring into Spring event button to your blog
-Blog about this contest and link back here and to the National Geographic Store (3 entries)

This contest will end on 4/25/10 at 11:59 pm CST. U.S. residents only. The winner will be drawn via random.org and will have 72 hours to respond to winning notification email before I draw another winner or do a live giveaway.

Disclosure: I received a sample for the purpose of this review but no other type of compensation was received. This has no bearing on my completely honest review above. The opinions and experiences I’ve shared with these products are my own and yours may differ.

Babalu, the company behind Felt Tales, recently acquired WJ Fantasy and the two companies will be officially joined in 2010. WJ Fantasy has been around for 25 years and specializes in nesting blocks, advent calendars, children’s books and toys.

WJ Fantasy has fabulous gift options for the little ones in your life! Just a few include this adorable My Tool Box set for $20 which includes four board books,  tool box, tool belt and of course plastic tools!

You will also find many nesting block options, perfect for the tiny builder in your life! Just a couple available include these ABC Blocks  for $18 and

this My Busy Day block set for $20!

We had the opportunity to try out one of their Shadow Books, Camping Out which retails for $15. Other titles include Time for Bed and Forest Fairies.  These books add a new dimension to story telling. With the small flashlight (included), cutout scenes and back drop you can create shadow scenes seamlessly with your story telling.  Everyday images are used to show that while shadows can look scary, they aren’t to be feared.I had a lot of fun turning off our hallway lights and sitting down with both of my boys to read the story. With 26 pages, these stories are longer and perfect for the attention span of my three year old Lucian, although not so much for my 21 month old, Warren. He got distracted easily and wanted to play with the images versus sitting back and listening to the story unfold. I love this overall concept of not only teaching that shadows are nothing to be afraid of, but also having a new and exciting way to tell a story. Lucian loved holding the flashlight so this a unique way to get your children involved as well.

My only complaint is that sometimes the die cut pages move/fall down. It is critical that you are on a flat surface or else the pages and sides of the backdrop aren’t very stable. I would recommend using the floor or a table in which to tell your story.

Here is just a short reading of Camping Out to give you a feel for how the shadows look.

You can purchase any of these items directly from the WJ Fantasy website or on Amazon.

{ Giveaway }

Babalu and WJ Fantasy would like to give one of my readers their choice of any of the items featured above! (This includes any of the three shadow books available.)

MAIN ENTRY: Tell me which item you would choose if you won!

Want more entries? (I know you must!) After answering my question do any of the following and leave a comment telling me what you did. Each is worth one entry unless otherwise noted. Your comment is your entry so please leave the appropriate number of comments for each extra entry.

-Visit WJ Fantasy and tell me another item not mentioned in my post that caught your eye!
-Follow my blog publicly
-Subscribe to my feed in a reader or by email
-Follow me on twitter and tweet about this giveaway

Win your choice of nesting blocks, shadow book or tool box set from WJ Fantasy @babylovingmama http://tinyurl.com/yfa96d6 #giveaway PLS RT!

-Add my button to your blog
-Add my Holiday Splurge event button to your blog
-Blog about this contest and link back here and to Babalu (3 entries)

This contest will end on 12/10/09 at 11:59 pm CST. U.S. residents only. The winner will be drawn via random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning notification email before I draw another winner or do a live giveaway.

Disclosure: I received a sample for the purpose of this review . This has no bearing on my completely honest review above and was not influenced by any type of monetary compensation. The opinions and experiences I’ve shared with these products are my own and yours may differ.