The bond between mom and young child makes delightful fodder for picture books. As Mother’s Day approaches, Toni Buzzeo’s adorable new book Stay Close to Mama explores the theme with love and tenderness.

A young giraffe named Twiga (which actually means giraffe in Swahili), sees the big world from under the legs of his tall mama, and he longs to explore it. Mama is aware of some dangers and she wants to keep Twiga close. Twiga’s curiosity gets the best of him, so despite his mother’s warnings he ventures away from her a few times to see what he can see. As he goes, his mother keeps a watchful eye on him, but she doesn’t stop him outright from his investigations. When he gets too close to danger, Mama is there to rustle the grass to fend off a danger, and in the end, Twiga can always find comfort in his mother’s snuggles.

Young children know all about this experience, for their worlds are expanding just like Twiga’s, and we parents want to provide the reassurance to them that we’ll always be there when they’re ready to return from their adventures. The soft-toned illustrations by Mike Wohnoutka perfectly convey the warmth and love between Twiga and his mom. Cuddle up with your own little one this Mother’s Day for a shared reading of Stay Close to Mama!

We have one autographed copy of Stay Close to Mama to give away today. Please leave a comment here to be entered, U.S. and Canada addresses only. We will announce our winner in our May 14 column.

The winner of Girl Unmoored is #15 Lori.

Many of my Mother’s Day memories are not about a gift I received or special lunch out, but the special opportunity to reflect upon the gift motherhood is. On my 2nd Mother’s Day, my daughter was almost 2 — old enough to truly “celebrate” with me. We had enjoyed our season pass to our town’s zoo that Spring, and when I saw that they were having a Mother’s Day brunch, that’s where I wanted to go. I wanted to share the day with her.

A couple of years later, my mom, grandmother, sister, and I (and our families) had celebrated the big day together on Saturday night. Late that night, I realized my husband wasn’t in bed. He had been caring for daughter Amanda, who had been throwing up all night. I was weeks away from delivering my second child, and he didn’t want me to get sick. I relieved him on the couch outside her room at about 4:00 a.m. The worst had passed, but he was able to get some sleep. I stayed home from church  so that I could care for her, and though it was 8 years ago, it’s still the most meaningful Mother’s Day I’ve had. It somehow felt right.

I’m excited to be able to share this next Mother’s Day Giveaway with you, because I think it embodies this same spirit.

Because Your Mommy Loves You is a sweet picture book about a mother and son’s camping trip. She doesn’t coddle him, but as we moms know, sometimes that’s the best (though hardest way) to show our love. Throughout the story, the narrator says “She could have. . . . but she didn’t,” meaning she could have taken the easy way out, but instead she pushes him towards independence and allows him to enjoy everything that a fun camping trip has to offer.

Because we love our kids, we want to do special things with them, but we also take the time to train them.

Written by Andrew Clements (who you or your grade schoolers might know as the clever author of such novels as Frindle), and illustrated by R. W. Alley who created the image of Paddington Bear, Because Your Mommy Loves You is a read-aloud that would be great to share with a group, or to enjoy as a special mother-child book. If you are actually planning a camping trip (or enjoy camping as a family), it will be appreciated even more.

One lucky person (U.S. only) will win

• Copy of Because Your Mommy Loves You
• Customized photo frame engraved with “Because [insert child’s name] loves you!”
• $50 Visa Cash card to enjoy Mother’s Day together!

Enter to Win

Please use the rafflecopter entry form below to enter this giveaway. Remember that the more ways you enter, the better your odds are of winning.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Jennifer Donovan has been a part of the 5 Minutes for Mom team since 2007. She writes product reviews, covers events, and manages the 5 Minutes for Books weekly column and website. She lives in Houston and blogs at Snapshot about life with her family.

I cannot believe that tomorrow is Easter. Where did the Winter go?

(Please don’t mistake my disbelief for being upset. I am thrilled beyond measure that Spring is here)

One of my favorite holiday traditions with my kids is reading holiday-themed books with them, and I love finding book round ups of children’s story books that other parents (and children) have tested and loved.

Jennifer at 5 Minutes for Books included a fun round up of Spring stories this past week, and I thought it was too timely to pass by.

Bright, Colorful Easter Picture Books

Topical books are always a good place to start when you are trying to find some books to share with your preschooler or elementary student. Here are a few books to break out this Spring season that combine creative text and bright beautiful illustrations.

Click here to see the list of books that Jennifer recommends!

Jennifer also suggests that everyone checks out Dawn’s review of the HOP DVD here at 5 Minutes for Mom, where you can enter to win a prize pack worth almost $170, including the DVD and a Blu-Ray player.

If your kids are a little too old for picture books, then you’ll probably love I’ve Had it Up to Here with Teenagers. We’re giving that away, too!

Checking in with the Sisters recap is written by Lolli. You can find me blogging at Better in Bulk and tweeting at @1momof5.

Your kids may be familiar with the names of some baby animals, like kittens and piglets. Sure, those are easy. Bonus points if they know calf or foal. But I’m willing to bet that they (and probably you, too!) have no idea what kind of animal young’un is called a leveret, or a puggle, or my favorite of the bunch, a cheeper. Thanks to Aaron Zenz’ latest picture book Chuckling Ducklings and Baby Animal Friends, my kids and I are newly informed and still giggling over the cuteness of these little ones.

With each page turn, young readers are introduced to a new baby animal, starting off with some that will probably be familiar. Giggles will likely ensue when multiple animals share the same name, as it did with my kids when we read the word “cub” four times on one page featuring a raccoon, a bear, a panda, and a tiger. Silly, right? Zenz even gets a little tricky when he shows both a baby female and male horse, which technically are both referred to as foals, but each has its own gender-specific name, too. (Do you know them?)

My kids have been long interested in birds, and the two-page spread that features a whopping eight baby birds, each sitting atop a parent, introduced several new words to all of us. (I’ll tell you that the cheeper is featured on this page, but I’m not giving away what it is!)

The text consists of only a few words on each page, introducing over 50 different animals, but the true delight is found in the illustrations. The animals ooze adorableness, and Zenz’s colored pencil artwork has total kid appeal. For families looking for a little giggly reading fun that introduces new words, and possibly even a few new animals, be sure to check out Chuckling Ducklings and Baby Animal Friends. And for you avid book blog readers, Aaron Zenz and his children regularly post at Bookie Woogie, where they have delightful conversations about children’s literature.

**The 5 Minutes for Books team are happy to be a part of Scholastic’s Parent Circle. Each month, one of our reviewers will select a book from that month’s Scholastic Book Club flyers. I selected Chuckling Ducklings and Baby Animal Friends from April’s Honeybee flyer.

We are happy to offer a paperback copy of this cute picture book as featured in the Scholastic book club flyer to one lucky reader. Leave a comment to enter, and we’ll announce our winner in our book column on 4/9.

The winner of How Not to Kill Your Baby is #49 Eileen.

5 Minutes for Books reviewer Dawn spends her days surrounded by her preschool students, and her evenings catching up with her own three kids. When she gets the chance, she blogs away at my thoughts exactly.

If your children are anything like mine, they always want to play with whatever device I have my hands on. Whether it’s the family desktop, dad’s laptop, mom’s iPad2, or the iPhone, your child will want it. Once they reach out and get their hands on your device, your best bet is to just give in. Seriously, your child knows how much fun you have with your device and they want to have as much fun as you.

But, what about the games and apps on your device? Are they designed for little kids and toddlers, or are they geared more towards older kids and adults? Many apps for kids these days are not designed with small children in mind. However, your toddlers and little kids want to play with your device. . .so what are you to do?

My advice to you is to check out the app — Chipper’s Rainy Day Adventure. It was created by Invent-a-Tale and launched at the end of January.

Invent-a-Tale is in the business of “planting the seeds of imagination in our future readers and writers” …that means your toddlers and little kids. Because little ones spend much of their time absorbing and processing the world around them. From a very early age, little ones start to act out stories using their hands, dolls, blocks, a pair of spoons, or anything they can lay their hands on.

Invent-a-Tale creates e-books and apps for young minds who are learning and exploring their own world of imagination. Invent-A-Tale delights the reader in this tale with playful interactions allowing the child to control Chipper. Your child is very firmly the at the helm of this book app. He can be the author! Your child can create an an ever-evolving story with endless possibilities. Let your child’s imagination soar!

Invent-a-Tale’s new release of Chipper’s Rainy Day Adventure is a new iPad app. The app requires the iPad with iOS 4.0 or later. Chipper’s Rainy Day Adventure sells for a very reasonable $1.99.

• You can like the Invent-a-Tale app on Facebook.
• Buy the Invent-a-Tale app — Chipper’s Rainy Day Adventure — for iPad on iTunes.
• Find out more on InventaTale.com.
• Designed for little ones 18 months to 5 years old.

I was compensated for writing this post for 5 Minutes for Mom. The views expressed in this post are my own. I follow the tenets of Blog With Integrity.

Jill Berry @MusingsfromMe is a writer who stays at home or a SAHM who writes…it depends on the day and her mood. While playing a writer on the internet, Jill has the gray hair AND blogposts from raising a kid, a preteen, and a teen. When not blogging at Musings from Me, Jill seizes family time whenever she can…dinner as a family, movie night, marathon family game sessions, traveling…you name it she wants to do it.
While by no means an expert on kids, parenting, or being a mom, Jill shares her expertise and knowledge on several national, such as, TypeAParent, Technorati Women’s Channel, and AboutOne’s blog as well as a couple of hyperlocal sites, The Baltimore Examiner, The DC Moms, and the Ellicott City Patch.

Give a child a book and a whole world opens up to that child.

I’m paraphrasing something I have heard from others. Books are treasures. Books open up new worlds for children and adults. In our family, books are an integral part of the learning process. Learning never stops does it?

From time to time one of my children will become enraptured by a book. My daughter would not put down a series of books about a funny bunny. She read those books over and over again. She acted out the stories from the books. She drew pictures based on what she heard as I read to the books to her or from what she saw in the pictures. Simply put, she lived, ate, and breathed in these books.

As a parent, I want to pass on my love of books to my children. One fun way of extending the learning process with your children is to build on a favorite story with outside activities. For instance, if you are reading “The Wheels on the Bus” to your child, sing the song to your child, act out the song, talk about buses, or find another book from the library about transportation. Kids love when learning spills from books to all parts of their world.

Recently, I was sent a selection of products to review. The Kidz Entertainment Inc. sells books with companion toys and games. For instance, my daughter loved the Show Cat Package. This set comes with the oh-so-elegant white furry Show Cat. This adorable cat comes in a see-through carrying case with a brightly illustrated picture book, an award-winning CD, and a companion coloring book. This set is the perfect vehicle for allowing your child to explore on a multisensory level. part of the appeal of the books is that the author has included facts and figures about the breeds of cats. Can’t you see your child groooving to the tunes on the CD? Coloring a picture of a kitty for Grandma? Begging to read the book at bedtime? Swinging and twirling with the kitty purse on her shoulder? My children love to do this!

Kidz Entertainment produces plush animals, picture books, and other gifts that combine the worlds of children, animals, and music. The books and associated products are recommended for ages 3 through 8. Kidz Entertainment products:

• Are both educational and interactive
• Reach children on many sensory levels
• Entertain the imagination with bright and beautiful illustrations.
• Contain factual information about various breeds of dog or cats, which adds an educational dimension.
• Include a music sheet with an awardwinning CD attached to the back cove for an interactive sing along facet at home.
• Have a unique variety of beautifully made muff or handbag  or plush animals with necklaces, which can be coupled with some of the other offerings.
• Make ideal birthday or holiday or special occasion or even just-because gifts.

Other Kidz Inc. products include:

• “I Can’t Seem To Find My Tail” — Pansie the Piglet book — $19.95
• Pansie the Piglet Book Package — picture book, plush piglet purse with bling necklace(!), CD, and music sheet — $29.95
• Pansie the Piglet Coloring Book — $4.95
• Show Dog Book Package for Boys — picture book, Show Dog puzzle, Show Dog coloring book, CD, and music sheet — $29.95
• Show Dog Book Package for Girls — picture book; choice of Show Dog handbag, muff or plush animal; Show Dog Coloring Book, CD, and music sheet — $29.95
• Show Dog Coloring Book — $4.95
• and more!

Kidz Entertainment products can be found on their site — KidzEntertainmentInc.com. For a complete list of Kidz Inc. products, go here. Prices range from $4.95 to around $29.95 plus shipping and handling.

I was sent a selection of Kids Entertainment Inc. products to facilitate my review for 5 Minutes for Mom. The opinions expressed in this post are my own. I follow the tenets of Blog With Integrity.

Jill Berry @MusingsfromMe is a writer who stays at home or a SAHM who writes…it depends on the day and her mood. While playing a writer on the internet, Jill has the gray hair AND blogposts from raising a kid, a preteen, and a teen. When not blogging at Musings from Me, Jill seizes family time whenever she can…dinner as a family, movie night, marathon family game sessions, traveling…you name it she wants to do it.
While by no means an expert on kids, parenting, or being a mom, Jill shares her expertise and knowledge on several national, such as, TypeAParent, Technorati Women’s Channel, and AboutOne’s blog as well as a couple of hyperlocal sites, The Baltimore Examiner, The DC Moms, and the Ellicott City Patch.

When I Woke Up I Was a Hippopotamus, written by Tom MacRae and illustrated by Ross Collins, is the charming story of a little boy who wakes up one morning feeling like a big hippopotamus who can hardly move and just doesn’t want to get out of bed. As the day goes on, he always seems to be a bit out of step with how he should be feeling in that moment, and each feeling is represented by a different animal or object.

This book is aimed at children 4 and up, and my son is almost 10, so you might wonder why I chose this book.** Well, the main reason is that it deals with identifying emotions, which is an area of difficulty for my son, who has high-functioning autism. Also, although he reads at a much higher level, he still enjoys picture books, especially at bedtime.

At first, I was disappointed because the concept of the boy seeing himself as a hippopotamus or a monkey was too abstract for Michael, even after we read the book a couple of times and talked about what was happening. He liked the illustrations and the rhyming text, but he was still confused by the idea that people weren’t actually seeing a robot or a rocket ship when they looked at the boy.

He did ask me to read him the book again the next day, however. Then he surprised me by coming to me later in the week and asking me if I remembered the “hippo book.” I said yes, and he proceeded to tell me that he had figured it out and that the different scenes were examples of metaphors. I asked, as I usually do in these situations, what that word meant, and he explained that a metaphor is “when you describe something by talking about something it is like.” They have apparently been learning about metaphors at school, and he remembered the book and realized that’s how the story was written.

So, in the end, this turned out to be a great choice for my son, helping him explore how different situations can make us feel, as well as reinforcing something he was learning at school. For those who aren’t in our unique situation, I think this would be an ideal book for any young child who is experiencing a lot of different emotions and isn’t sure how to respond when he or she is a bit out of sorts.

One thing I really loved about the book is how the boy’s mom and dad help him find a way to feel like himself again and to enjoy their activities together. It is so nice to see parents being shown giving direction and help to their kids and how that can turn a difficult day around.

**The 5 Minutes for Books team are happy to be a part of Scholastic’s Parent Circle. Each month, one of our reviewers will select a book from that month’s Scholastic Book Club flyers. I selected When I Woke Up I Was a Hippopotamus from March’s SeeSaw flyer.

We are happy to offer one of you a copy of this book (U.S. shipping only), as featured in the Scholastic book club flyer. Leave a comment to enter. We’ll announce the winner in our book column on March 12.

The winner of From Blah to Awe is #1 Zsa Zsa.

5 Minutes for Books staff book blogger Trish is glad her son still loves to cuddle up for a bedtime story. She blogs at In So Many Words.

Barbara Houghteling is co-partner of Birthday Keepsakes, an online baby keepsakes website. When she came up with the idea for a personalized storybook, her daughter Jana, then a senior in high school, read her mom’s verses and decided she could do better. The Houghtelings worked with an artist to create the illustrations that accompany the rhymes, and recently The Perfect Name For You was published.

I received a copy of The Perfect Name For You for my 5 year old son, assuming he’d like it, but I wasn’t expecting him to completely fall in love with the book. Like most kids his age he just loves seeing his name on just about anything, and to have it printed on his own picture book is the best thing that’s ever happened to him.

Having read a multitude of alphabet books, many of them using animals for each letter, it’s always refreshing to see a new twist on the genre. To celebrate the child’s birth, each animal brings something for each letter in their name – the moose brings an A for antlers, the lion brings an M for mane, the ant brings a P for picnic. There are multiple animals for each letter, so even though my son’s full name has 5 As in it — first, middle and last are all used — there were no repeats. Adding to the fun is a ladybug that can be found in each picture, and at the end is each letter of the alphabet brought by a different animal. My son loves to go through that list and point out the ones included in his book.

The Perfect Name For You is a wonderful gift for a new baby or preschool-aged child that will be cherished for years.

Birthday Keepsakes is offering a free personalized storybook to 1 winner, US or Canada only. Please leave a comment below and the winner will be announced on in this weekly book giveaway column on Monday February 6.

• The winner of House of Secrets is #26 Christina Gould.

 
Nancy is happy her son loves his name as much as she does. She writes about her 2 boys, books and life in Colorado at Life With My Boys and Books.

Sometimes when I’m doing things online, like research, shopping or paying bills, I see something that I want to share with someone else. But I don’t need them to have to sift through the entire web page to try to find what I want them to see. Up until now, my choice has been to use the “print screen” key and then either use Photoshop or MS Paint to try to crop and erase all the irrelevant information from the page, then paste what was left into another document. I know…the process is just as long and tedious as the explanation I just gave you!

Thankfully there are people in the world who are always looking for faster and easier ways to do things! The good people at TechSmith are those kind of folks and they have come up with a great screen capture software called Snagit.

Snagit is an easy and fun to use screen capture software that lets you capture, edit and share images on your computer screen. Their cute little video will give you a quick overview of a few things you can do with the software:

So how did I use Snagit? I made a quick little Christmas list for The Man to give him some very specific ideas of items I might want to find under the tree this year!

It’s simple and easy to use Snagit

It was simple to use the Snagit capture button to grab an image, then I just switched over to the Snagit Editor to add comments and effects to give my hubby some hints about where to find these items. The whole thing took about 15 minutes from start to finish. Easy-peasy!!

My efforts were a little rudimentary compared to some of the examples I saw on the Snagit website, but with time, I’m sure I can do something more than a small Christmas tree and some “snagged” clips with callouts. Maybe something more like this sample:

I love that Snagit is so user friendly! The Snagit website has a library of short, easy to understand videos to assist beginners with screen capture and editing techniques. I was able to create my Christmas list in a few short minutes using basic tools after watching the “Introduction for New Users” video. By the time you’ve watched them all, you’ll know how to:

• Take a photo of your computer screen, including long webpages
• Enhance your image with arrows, text, and effects in the Snagit editor
• Share your creation – to documents, email, social media sites, and more!
• Organize your captures with easy auto-storing and tagging features

The cost for the software is $49.95, but Snagit offers a free 30 day trial so you can try it before you buy it. It’s available for both Windows and Mac users. I’m pretty excited to experiment with Snagit to see what kinds of fun things I can create.

How will you use Snagit?

Enter to win a subscription to Snagit

One lucky winner will be getting their very own subscription to Snagit. . . just in time for the Christmas holiday! To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment here letting us know how Snagit will help you plan those special Christmas lists.

This giveaway will end on December 27thth, 2011 at midnight ET and a winner will be chosen at random and announced shortly after. Please see our site’s terms and conditions for more information.

Written by 5 Minutes for Mom contributing reviewer, Geri. When I’m not busy picking up Legos and army guys, you can find me blogging at I Am Boymom.

Disclosure: This is part of a promotional campaign with Snagit.

One of the things I am most glad that my children got from me is my love of books. I absolutely love to read. I can pick up a book and just get lost in the story. I’ve been buying books for both kids from the time I found out I was pregnant. They have a massive amount of books. Sometimes they seem to take over the playroom.

So that’s one thing I love about digital books, They take up very little room. I know a lot of people want to say that digital books don’t hold the allure of a real book in your hands and maybe they’re right …. but they also might not have a book collection like I do. And honestly as long as you have a good story I don’t care how I read it.

I found out about an awesome site with a large collection of digital picture books for kids by authors worldwide that I really think you’ll want to check out.

Utales.com offers free sign up with a 15 days of unlimited access. Afterwards a full subscription is only $9.99. They also have apps for your iPad or iPhone. Now you can have your stories on the go!

Both children really liked the books available and it was quite hard to get Gracie away from the computer. She wanted to read all the books. Matthew liked the pictures best I think. They are so bright and inviting that you can’t help but want to look at each book.

This is a great way to get children interested in books and inspire them to read. Reading with your children will be something they remember forever.

Enter to win a full year subscription

10 lucky winners are going to receive a full year subscription to Utales.com. To enter the giveaway, simply tell us what your child’s favorite book was when they were little.

This giveaway will end on December 23, 2011 at midnight ET and a winner will be chosen at random and announced on Sunday in the weekly Around The Blogosphere. Please see our site’s terms and conditions for more information.

I was provided a free trial of Utales.com for review. All thoughts and opinions stated above are my own and were in no way influenced.