Board Books for Presidents' Day with Craft & More Book Round-Ups

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Happy February!! With February comes so many different things from Valentine's Day to Presidents' Day and more! I thought we would kick February off by sharing two new board books that are perfect for Presidents' Day. When I was young, I remember getting both Abraham Lincoln's and George Washington's birthdays off. At some point they merged into Presidents' Day. Of course, if you look at the history of Presidents' Day it was begun to celebrate George Washington's birthday. Hmmm, somehow Abraham got forgotten there. Anyway, with both of their birthdays this month, I am going to share books about both of them. Both books are written by Patricia A. Pingry, and both are board books, so they are perfect for your youngest book lovers! Let's start with The Story of George Washington. These books are recommended for ages 2 to 5.

A New Book Perfect for Presidents Day

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

It is hard to believe that Monday is Presidents' Day. I am thinking back to last Presidents' Day and how much has changed including our President. Last Presidents' Day my family was getting ready for our big trip to Florida. Hazel had asked for Christmas and her birthday for a trip to Disney. We picked her February vacation to do it. That trip is the last time we were out of Massachusetts. When we returned we found a new school for Hazel. My car needed to be replaced and then the lockdown happened. Presidents' Day represents what was my normal life for me before this pandemic. And of course, the President and the election were BIG news this year. Well today I am going to share with you National Geographic's 2020 Edition of Our Country's Presidents: A Complete Encyclopedia of the U.S. Presidency by Ann Bausum. Every four years National Geographic Kids puts out a new edition.

Biographies & Non-Fiction Stories

Disclosure: We were sent copies of these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are our own. 

Today Hazel and I are writing a joint post. She is going to review half the books. All of the books we have put together are biographies and non-fiction stories. Two are novels of stories about war. Let's start with the two picture books. The first book is Doctor Esperanto and the Language of Hope by Mara Rockliff and illustrated by Zosia Dzierzawska. 

US History & State Information -- Reviews

Disclosure: I was sent these products free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the book for your convenience.

Ever since Hazel tied for third in the school Geography Bee last year, she has been even more interested in learning about the world and especially the other states. I also want her to know about her own country just like we look at different countries and cultures. Luckily her class is studying the states this year, but I also found some great resources to supplement her class lessons. I also have to include a bit of history and other fun.

50 Things You Should Know about American Presidents -- Book Review

Disclosure: I was sent this book to review free of charge from Quarto Books USA. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

With the United States preparing for the presidential election, Hazel has heard a bit about the campaigns. Steve and I do not usually see eye to eye when it comes to politics and he and his mother are much more interested in politics than I am. They also tend to talk about it much more than I do. As  result Hazel has had many questions about it all. She also heard a bit about it at school and will be learning more. She was really excited when I showed her 50 Things You Should Know about American Presidents by Tracey Kelly. She couldn't wait to start reading it and asks me to read more each night.

President Lincoln -- BookReview and Happy Birthday, President Lincoln!!

Disclosure: Wisdom Tales Press gave me a copy of this product free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Today I get to share a book with you about one of our amazing presidents of the past. Today would have been Abraham Lincoln's 207th birthday. So in honor of his birthday and President's Day on Monday, it is the perfect time to share Demi's new book, President Lincoln: From Log Cabin to White House. 

I Am Abraham Lincoln -- Ordinary People Change the World Series Review

Disclosure: Penguin Random House Books gave me a copy of this book free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation.  As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

February is always an exciting month. There is always so much going on. It is Black History Month and Valentine's Day and in our house a couple of birthdays. Plus Hazel always has a week off in February and this year and last my nephew is coming to visit for the week. Just a lot of exciting things going on. I was asked by Penguin Kids to participate in their Ordinary People Change the World Blog Tour. I jumped at the chance since Hazel LOVES this series. Brad Meltzer and Christopher Eliopoulos do an amazing job in these books. They are biographies for kids about famous people who made a difference in the world. The books are part picture book and part graphic novel. And there is often a little joke or theme going on through the book. We are starting the tour with I Am Abraham Lincoln. Seeing how President's Day and Lincoln's birthday are coming up it seems like a good one to kick off the month!

Sharing Saturday 15-7

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week! There were so many amazing ideas. I had a hard time limiting my features, but I came up with some Valentine's Day Features and Other Features. By the way with Valentine's Day tomorrow, I am going to write a bonus post about our Valentine Doll & Me Play Date. I hope you will come check it out. Then on Sunday I will co-host the monthly Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop (link live 2/15 at midnight). If you are sharing anything cultural/multicultural please come back and share again there! Now onto our features.

Presidents' Day -- Learning about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln

The third Monday of February is Presidents' Day in the United States. It is a day to honor all of the people who serve as the president of the United States. At one point Abraham Linclon's and George Washington's birthdays were each individually celebrated in February and then they got combined to be Presidents' Day. Now in New England, the schools usually close for the week of Presidents' Day.I believe it goes back to the days of one room schoolhouses and having to pay for heat. A week off in one of the coldest months saves money. As a former teacher I can also tell you often the illnesses were spreading and this week tended to help get the viruses out of the building.
 
 I had big plans to have Hazel do some crafts for the day, but she was not in a crafting mood today. Instead I made some peg dolls of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The idea came from Every Day's a Holiday by Heidi Kenney. I saw the idea on How- Tuesday: Mini President Figurines and then saw it came from the book which I own.

To learn more about the holiday and the men, we went to the library. Some books that helped Hazel and were mostly at her level  for Presidents' Day are Presidents' Day by Helen Frost and Presidents' Day by Robin Nelson.

Next we took some books out on George Washington. Now Hazel has some idea about Washington since she knows there is a state named after him and the capital of the United States is named for him (though she sometimes think they are the same thing). We took books out so she could learn more about the first president.

 

We also took books out to learn about Abraham Lincoln. With every book we learned that Lincoln became a lawyer and every time, Hazel asked me what a lawyer is. I must admit I found some of these books a bit hard to get through since she kept asking vocabulary questions, but I know this is how she will learn.

 

Maybe we will get to do the crafts tomorrow or next year. Though I am thinking about learning about other great presidents next year. Do you do anything for Presidents' Day?