Se7en’s Fabulous Friday Fun #276

The week that simply flew by… when you start a new school year and schedules re-adjust and you live in the land of load shedding, and every time you sit down to write a blog post the power goes off… then a blogging mum has to give herself a bit of a break and say “c’es la vie.”

So I have a new rule if there is no electricity when I sit down to write at the end of the day then I just get some sleep instead of staying up and waiting for the power to come back on. I have a heap of posts in my drafts box and I am hoping that in our busy weekend that I find a little quiet time to finish them all and line them up for you… in the meantime there is always time for a Fabulous Fun Post full of links and goodies for you all to enjoy…

1. Looking for lists of lovely books to read then look no further than Jump into a Book: Great Book Lists That Are Just in Time for Summer.
2. You know how we love kids cooking, well the Gourmet Girlfriend has a Kool Kids in the Kitchen Challenge… and it is world wide!!!
3. And Mommikin had a cool collection of all things space…
4. 10 Unforgettable Lessons of Fatherhood
5. These books, reviewed on Playing by the Book: Revisiting the Kingdom of Silk, look like a wonderful way to deal with all sorts of difficult issues that are usually left to adults to cope with… but lets face it children have to deal with these issues all the time too and isn’t wonderful to find books that can support them through that.
6. Alisa Burke has heaps of new summer classes out… you may want to treat yourself and take a peek!!! She makes making stepping stones look so very easy… and if you are looking for a weekend project, then look no further!!!
7. Need any help to read To Kill A Mocking Bird Again… going the whole world with the schedule right here. Here is post #1… and #2…

And the se7en + 1th link:

8. A Blast From the Past:
   • 2009: How to Make Miniature Skateboards in Se7en Steps.
   • 2010: Se7en Discover Flour in the River Cottage Family CookBook.
   • 2011: Se7en Ways to Love Your Husband.
   • 2012: Se7en Discover the Great Artists, Marc Chagall.
   • 2013: Se7en + 1 At School: What’s Working for us Right Now.
   • 2014: Se7en + 1 Questions About Getting to the Library…

Stories Gogo Told Me by Lisa Grainger published by Penguin Random House South Africa: We are always on the hunt for good locally grown stories to tell our children in order to pass on the baton of cultural literacy… Well we have the book. This book only landed in our house a couple of days ago and already it is a firm favourite. I believe that cultural literacy is a big deal and locally grown stories are fundamental in providing that for our children. For the longest time the choice of good story books of the locally grown variety were very few and far between… but look no further, this is a fabulous book, packed with dozens of stories from our region. The author spent several months journeying from village to village, all over southern Africa. She was looking for the village storyteller and asking them to tell her their stories in their own language in their own way. Someone who has taken the time to stop and listen, with intention to the oral history that belongs to our children and future generation. The result is this book packed with fables and folktales, legends, myths and well, magical stories. Many of the stories are much larger than life, many display the all too human, and often terribly foolish, characteristics in the world of animals. Something of the stories display a gentleness and others a life lesson that is best learnt from a story. Many of the stories answer questions that we have all wondered about, for instance, do you know: Why lightening strikes; Why the frog cannot sing… these and other questions are answered in the pages of this book. The stories are illustrated by Celia von Poncet, and she is clearly very talented at drawing African wildlife. I love that the words in this book are not “dumbed down” for the younger reader, keeping the stories interesting and engaging. This a great book for a chapter book reader, or for family reading at bedtime. The stories are short, about three to four pages each and just enough to peak a young listener’s curiosity before a satisfying finish.

And from family read aloud to another great read…

Phoenix by S.F. Said published by Penguin Random House South Africa: This is a book for someone who is dying to launch out of easy chapter books into the real thing. It’s fat and feels like an achievement but it is fairly easy and gripping reading. It is also packed with wondrous illustrations by Dave McKean that makes it a fairly rapid page turner. This is a space type story about a boy called Lucky, who leaves his home planet of Phoenix to find his father all in the midst of an intergalactic war. Lucky of course has special qualities that he only begins to realise well into the story. Lucky is on a quest to master his powers in order to save the galaxy. This is a beautiful and inspiring book and would make a great gift. We will definitely be looking for more books by this author. You can read more about the book on the author’s website.

That’s us… Hope your weekend has been a fabulous one and we are so looking forward to another week of blogging with you all… not to mention a GiveAway or Two…

This is not a sponsored post the books we reviewed were given to us by Penguin Random House South Africa for review purposes and we were not paid for the reviews. The opinions expressed were as usual our very own.