LaRue Across America Book Review and Giveaway

Disclosure: I received a free copy of LaRue Across America in exchange for writing this review. Two readers will receive a copy of LaRue Across America in a giveaway sponsored by Scholastic. The review is my own.

From the Publisher
Ike’s plans for a peaceful cruise with Mrs. LaRue are thwarted when their neighbor, Mrs. Hibbins, falls suddenly ill. Mrs. LaRue suggests that she and Ike care for her cats while Mrs. Hibbins is in the hospital, inviting them along on the cruise. But cats aren't allowed, and Mrs. LaRue decides to take them all on a week's vacation of road-tripping. Ike is beside himself and quickly takes up his pen to tell us why!

Join award-winner Mark Teague on this romping road trip across America. Readers can follow along on the maps of the U.S. that span the endpapers. Teague drives us to the story’s satisfying conclusion, and we are left with one profound question: Can cats and dogs really be friends?



My Review
Grams is a little bit in love with Ike LaRue! Ike is a wire-hair fox terrier with a distaste for the neighbor's cats. (To be honest, he reminds me of Minnie, my grand-dog, who is a Jack Russell Terrier.)

When a neighbor falls ill, Mrs. LaRue volunteers to take care of her cats. This forces a change in vacation plan as Mrs. LaRue and Ike embark on a road trip across America with Mrs. Hibbins' cats. The road trip turns ugly fast as the group visits such traditional American vacation spots as the Empire State Building and the Grand Canyon. No matter how hard LaRue tries to make sure that the cats enjoy their trip, most of his actions seem more designed to make them miserable.

LaRue Across America charmed me. I like that the story is told in a series of postcards from Ike. The illustrations are reminiscent of the books I loved as a child of the 1950s. The combination of color and black and white illustrations and the endpaper map of the USA are both beautiful enhancements.  I particularly love Mrs. LaRue's pink station wagon.

I think this would be a great book to take along on summer vacation, especially if you're taking a road trip. You could easily use this book to get your kids interested in writing postcards to grandparents and friends while away on vacation.

Giveaway Instructions
Scholastic will be giving two of my readers a copy of LaRue Across America. To enter simply leave a comment on this post. Please be sure that your comment contains either an email address or a link to your Google profile so I can contact you if you win. Entries will remain open until midnight on Wednesday, May 23, 2010. Winners will be determined by random drawing.

Holiday Photo Cards ... So Many Choices

Christmas is coming! Whether Grams likes it or not, the truth of the matter is that the 2010 holiday season is upon us. Retailers stocked Christmas items right alongside Halloween items and grocers have had their Thanksgiving displays of baking items in place for several weeks already.

When I was younger, I was big on starting early to make the holidays "Norman Rockwell" perfect for my family. There were years when my Christmas shopping was well underway or sometimes finished by the time we sat down to Thanksgiving dinner.

When I worked full time, I worked in a job that was very busy during the fall of the year. Fall is prime season for nonprofit fund-raising and my life was scheduled around that for many years. Now, I'm able to be a little lot more relaxed about the whole holiday season. Working part time has a big impact on my budget, but the luxury of working only when I want to work makes the penny-pinching worthwhile. Honestly, these days I don't Christmas shop until the December sales and I don't usually decorate until the first weekend of December.

The one thing I still start early every year is my Christmas cards. I'm always excited to send and to get Christmas cards and I usually have them ready to go in the mail right after Thanksgiving. I have been known to hand-address all the envelopes in the car on the way to and from Thanksgiving dinner at my sister's home. And, some years every card gets a handwritten personal note.

I've always admired those people who send out an annual Christmas newsletter. I've never been able to bring myself to actually write one and send it out, but I absolutely adore them and love to see what has been going on in our friends' lives each year. A few years ago I switched from sending traditional pre-printed Christmas cards and started sending photo cards at Christmas. (Okay! Okay! I admit the urge to send photo cards didn't hit me until after I had gastric bypass surgery and lost 125 pounds.)

I've been browsing the cards available at Shutterfly for more than a week now. To say that they have a huge selection of cards available is an understatement. There are more than 700 to choose from. It's going to be very hard for me to choose. You can see the entire collection at Shutterfly Christmas Cards.

This is the first one that caught my eye. "It's the most wonderful time of the year" captures exactly how I feel about the holidays and I love the green stripes. Green is my favorite color.

"Sweet and Retro"

Then I saw this one. I really like the swirly design on this one.

Merry Merry Swirl

This one is great too! It's so simple and all tied up with a cute little bow.

Gorgeous Gift

This one would definitely work for us ... after all, we're from South Texas. I never choose cards that have snow and winter designs. My daughter says it's because I believe in "truth in advertising."

O Palm Tree

I think this one might be perfect with just the right picture of Our Little Princess. I like the way it features the beautiful face of a child.

Flourish Wreath

Seriously, there are so many to choose from it really is going to take me a while to decide. The really cool thing is that you can upload a few pictures and try each design out to see what looks best with your photos.

Another really nice touch is the availability of coordinating holiday address labels. For me, that kind of attention to detail makes my cards really special. 

Shutterfly also offers a wide variety of Thanksgiving cards and invitations, wall calendars, and party invitations.

Disclaimer
Grams received 50 free holiday cards for blogging about Shutterfly and passing their promotional information on to you. All opinions are my own. Bloggers, if you want 50 free holiday cards for yourself go here.