Friendship Bracelets: All Grown Up

Author:  Jo Packham

Interest level:  Ages 8-14

Summary:

This interesting book teaches kid how to take traditional craft to a new level of sophistication.  It contains more than 50 projects of easy-to-make bracelets and necklaces.  All girls, even grown-up will want to wear and share these fabulous friendship bracelets with a high-style twist.  The book starts out with the basics and then gets more advanced and creative with many variations.  You can make a one-of-kind mark by pairing your choice of beads, fibers, and trims with distinctive clasps and closures.  This book also teaches you how to string, knot, and embellish.

Review:

This book is for beginners as well as intermediate.  It has many great photos and easy to follow instructions.  You can let your imagination get to work and the end-product will be rewarding.  I highly recommend this book to everyone.  Friendship Bracelets All Grown Up is an excellent bracelet production guide crafters will enjoy.

Funky knits: Knitting know-how for hip young things

Author:  Carol Meldrum & Julie Marchington

Interest Level:  Ages 9 and up

Summary:

This book has more than 30 patterns for knitter to learn how to knit easy, simple, everyday things like sweaters, key chains, scarves, and hats.  There is an introduction chapter that teaches beginners the basic knitting patterns and techniques. The book also has different themed sections to take handcrafters from an “Urban Playground” to “Home Comforts”.  A variety of yarns are used, fueling mix-and-match creativity, and there is even a market tote to knit from old plastic grocery bags. Always unpredictable and never square, the new projects in this book will help knitters to get creative in their projects.

Reviews:

I love this book because it has so many new patterns for me as an experienced knitter.  Beginners can also benefit from the introductory chapter as well and it is so simple and easy to understand their instruction and so on.  This book has pictures and show different types of yarn to choose from.  I think tweens and teens should learn how to knit and will benefit a lot from this book because it shows how to knit a lot of day-to-day things like cell phone covers, tote, pillow and blankets.  They can save money by knitting these accessories for themselves or give it away as gifts to their families and friend.   

CNA Magazine

"A perfect addition to a knitting circle-with plenty of items for male knitters, too!"

Spindlicity.com

"Successfully introduces to the adventurous newbie the wide variety that makes up the knitting world from simple stockinette to intarsia."

Knitter's Magazine

"If you are looking for unusual, 'look-at-me' hats, Vicki Square has just the design for you."

BellaOnline

"The knitting instructions and how-to lessons are very well written and easy to understand."

The Princess Diaries, the Movie

Audience: Rated G

Summary:

Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway) is a frizzy-haired, dorky, glasses-wearing 15-year-old girl whose two highest ambitions are to become invisible and to get a few smooches from the slickly attractive school heartthrob. As a girl who can't stand being the center of attention so much that she throws up during debate class, she's stunned and horrified when her coolly continental grandmother (Julie Andrews) shows up and informs her that she's the crown princess of the European principality Genovia. Soon enough, Mia has to undertake "princess lessons" from her queenly grandmother, and eventually she blossoms into a confident, radiant girl--despite the worries and pressure that her newfound status brings. What makes The Princess Diaries work is director Garry Marshall's guileless, irony-free approach to the material (based on Meg Cabot's novel).

Reviews:

The Princess Diaries is refreshing and enjoyable movie to watch. Hathaway is a charismatic, appealing role model with a sharp sense of comic timing, and Andrews--who came to stardom as the object of a makeover supreme in My Fair Lady on Broadway--is at her regal best whether teaching Mia the proper royal wave or learning how to eat a corndog. Both leading ladies are complemented by a finely tuned cast, including Hector Elizondo as Genovia's head of security (and romantic counterpart to Andrews), Heather Matarazzo as Mia's best pal, and Robert Schwartzman as the good guy who ultimately wins Mia's heart. This is a very cute, heartwarming, positive and uplifting movie. There is a good reason why this movie is so good-because it's funny and classic and a good movie about a young girl who finds herself. I like Anne Hathaway’s acting and she is beautiful to watch.

THE SUITE LIFE ON DECK

Audience:  Age 9 and up

Summary:

In THE SUITE LIFE ON DECK, twins Zack and Cody Martin (played by Dylan and Cole Sprouse, respectively) leave the luxurious confines of the Tipton Hotel for the equally swanky S.S. Tipton to set sail on a study-abroad program called Seven Seas High. Joined by spoiled heiress London Tipton (Brenda Song) and long-suffering hotel manager-turned-ship supervisor Mr. Moseby (Phill Lewis), Zack and Cody are primed for adventure -- and with new friends by their side, there's no shortage of fun or mischief to be had at sea.

Reviews:

I wouldn’t recommend this show to anyone because I think it is a joke.  It has a lot of back talking and the characters pull rude pranks to each other.  I don’t understand why parents would allow their kids to watch this show. The characters are undisciplined, obnoxious, and shallow. There are no messages in this show and it’s not entertaining to watch at all.  Stay away!

Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide

   Audience:  Age 10 and up

Summary:

This is every interesting TV show about Ned Bigby who is just an ordinary boy trying to survive junior high.  He is challenged every day in class with crazy teachers and bullied kids who rough him up.  He has to come up with strategy to get by these tough situations like having friends helping him, keeping an upbeat attitude and most of all a good imagination. His two friends Cookie, and Moze back him up all the time.  The audience will have a chance to see how he cope with his middle-school angst and tips which mights help other kids who face some of Ned’s challenges in school.

Reviews:

           

            This is one of my favorite Nickelodeon shows.  It is humorous and entertaining and the main character is so great.  His acting is so fine I think he will definitely become a pro actor when he grows up. The content of the show is highly educational and the lines are terrific. It shows  us how the kids are going through school years and how to cope with problem in school. Overall, I definitely think this show is a must-watch for everybody, not just kids.

Zoey 101- People Audition

Audience: Age 9 and up

Summary:  This TV show talks about Zoey and her girlfriends who are the first females to get into the boys; school. The setting of this show is in the California coastline on sunny days so tweens and teens are going to love this show.  This show talks about friendships and problem solving situations and the characters come from privileged family. 

Reviews:

My ten-year old nephew loves watching Zoey 101.  I think this is a good show too because it portrayed good students who make good grades, are popular in school and are well-mannered.  This sometimes makes the characters look unrealistic and not depicting what it’s really like to be a teenager. With that said, I think this is a good and entertaining TV series for kids.

Corwin's Quest, Aninal Planet

Audience: Age 6 and up

Summary:

In this TV show, viewers get to see Jeff in an exciting new program, Corwin's Quest. In this adventurous series, Jeff explores animal behavior including sound, smell, diet, defense, attack and survival.  This addictive series is filmed over many months in five continents.  Watching this series, viewers can see that Corwin really cares about the world's animals, enough to wrestle them. 

Reviews

This series is totally educational and fun for everyone in the family.  However, parents need to tell their children that not everything Corwin does in the series is ok for them to do. I like the fact that Corwin uses many high-tech equipments to capture moments about the animals.  In doing this, he teaches and demonstrates animals’ abilities and behaviors.  Again, he is a professional so please tell your children not to repeat what they see on the show with an wild animals they encounter in real life.

SpongeBob SquarePants

Audience:  Age 6 and up

Summary:

Originally created for kids ages 6-11, the cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants became a pop culture phenomenon. According to Nickelodeon, the show has been the number one animated kids' show on television for over five years (as of 2007), but millions of viewers in every age category tune in to watch the cartoon every month.
SpongeBob is a sea sponge who lives in the deep-sea town of Bikini Bottom. SpongeBob's house looks like a giant pineapple.  His closest friends and neighbors include Patrick the Starfish, Sandy Cheeks the squirrel and Spidward.  SpongeBob works in a fast food restaurant owns by the Krysty Krab as a fry cook.  The cartoon talks about silly situations in SpongeBob’s and his friends’ lives.  The characters in this cartoon are very humorous and childlike.

Reviews:

SpongeBob SquarePants was originally created for kids ages 6-11, and yet I can remember me watching the show all the time when I was in college. I think kids all age love this cartoon and I still watch it time to time.  The show is very imaginative, clever, and funny most of the time. However, there are some language concerns that I wouldn’t want my two year old boy to pick up like “stupid”, “jerk” or “mad”.  Overall, I think this is still a better show for kids to watch than any other ones because it has some messages about friendship that kids could learn from. I highly recommend watching this cartoon.

JONAS

Audience:  Age 9 and up

Summary:
The title is in all caps because it was conceived as a spy show, with the letters standing for Junior Operatives Networking as Spies. But it ended up being about teen superstars who try to live a normal life at school.
This TV show is about three teenage brothers  Kevin, Joe and Nick.  On the show, the three teenage brothers make up the band named JONAS, after Jonas Street in New Jersey, where they live with their family consisting of their dad, mom, and little brother.  The little brother is played by the Jonas brothers' real life little brother, Frankie.  The brothers attend a private school named Horace Mantis Academy.  Pretty weird name eh?  In school, they usually hang out with Stella Malone and her best friend Macy Misa.  In this series, the boys try to live normal life as kids going to school and at the same time having adoring fans evolve around them.  They have to deal with going on concert tours and school at the same time despite their successful careers and busy schedules.  Nick, Joe and Kevin find themselves in all kinds of quirky situations as they deal with family life, school life, and pop stardom.
Reviews:

I like this TV show because it contains fun entertainment like music, comedy, and family values. Sometimes it does have a little romance, but that’s ok because having romance lights up the scene time to time.  The most important aspect about this show is family values.  The boys in this series are very respectful to their parents.  They have good and healthy relationship and treated each other as best friends.  I think this point alone is good enough to watch this show because many teenager todays do not like to spend time or communicate with their parents.  This is a very educated show for tweens and teens and is awesome for most ages as well.