Taste Tests: Ebi-kun Eats and tastes tests - Food Book Review Special

Book Giving Day is here! Yes, this is the day where we trying and get as many books as possible into the hands of kids.

Ebi-kun wanted to do a book giving day special, he couldn't decide which idea to go with so it's in two parts, this is part one... His favourite foodie books reviewed just for you.

If you want to get involved with Book Giving Day, all the info is on the website
http://bookgivingday.com/

And pop over to mommys blog to enter the giveaway (Feb 14th - Feb 21st 2016)
http://www.my-organized-chaos.com/book-giving-day-giveaway/

Here are the links for the books I reviewed! I hope you enjoy them too...

Roald Dahls Revolting Recipes
Strange Foods
Incredible Edibles
Stone Soup
Pretend Soup
Honest Pretzels
Mission explore Food


I also made some of the recipes, you can check them out here...

Button muffins from pretend soup - these were easy and fun to make and they are tasty too!

My favourite recipe - Mac and Cheese from Honest Pretzels and don't believe what my mommy said, I didn't have a strop!!!!!

Zucchini Moons, I was only 5 years old here!

Here is my first ever Ebi-kun Eats - escargot when I was in Paris in the summer, quite tasty, very garlicy.

Are you getting ready? International Book Giving Day is coming up soon...

If you have been hanging out here for a while, you will know that I have been involved with International Book Giving Day from the start, as a big book lover I'm very much inspired to help get more books into the hands of kids.

Each year bloggers, authors and illustrators from around the world generously share their love of books and come up with great new ideas to help get more books out to those who need them. You can read more over on the official home at Book Giving Day.

I would love for you to get involved somehow, whether it be by donating books to a children's ward, raising money for one of the many charities that work to books to disadvantaged kids or even picking a few books from an Amazon wish list and sending them to someone you know will appreciate them. Each act of book giving is going to be touching a child somewhere.

And please help us get the word out, social media is a powerful tool and we know we can reach a lot more people with your help.

Please print out and/or share this poster, if you use it on social media, add the #bookgivingday

And isn't this years post great? It's by the super talented Ben Newman, check out more his work HERE

I'll be posting more soon with what jojoebi will be doing this year, so keep your eye out! Keep the date in your diary, it's an easy one to remember February 14th!

International Book Giving day is HERE

Hurrah! How are you celebrating?

We joined a book swap organized by Zoe from Playing By The Book. Our swap partner Anabel, from Anabel's Blog, is in Scotland so we decided to send a novel version or Totoro, I hope she loves it!

She sent Ebi-kun Attack Of The Giant Robot Chickens which is by the Scottish author Alex McCall and it has won various awards, and Anabel has met the author, looks like a fun read! We will do a review when he had read it.

Ebi-kun did well for book because I also bought him the National Geographic 5,000 Awesome Facts 2, that should keep him quiet for a while!

For more about International Book Giving day and how to get involved pop over HERE and if you haven't entered the book giveaway yet (what's wrong with you?) pop over HERE

Great New Book By Kristi Kremers

We have some book related posts this week for International Book Giving Day...

Yes,  I know you think February 14th is all about the romance, the roses and the chocolates but it should be about books too! Hands up if you'd prefer a good book rather than something that is going to add inches to your hips or die in a matter of days - see, not such a daft idea after all!

I have some good stuff lined up for you this week and I want to hear about your book giving escapades too!

So let's get things rolling, today we are reviewing Who Is A Leader by Kristi Kremers.

Who Is A Leader is like a traditional picture book, aimed at elementary aged children and filled with cute illustrations. It talks about 4 world leaders and the qualities that a leader has. Now, the clever part of this book is at the back where there are questions for teachers and parents so that you can expand on the conversation and dig deeper with the kids. I think this is especially useful for parents who, lets face it, most of which haven't done any kind of teacher training, so this kind of thing often doesn't come naturally. 

Who Is A leader will be free to download on Feb 10th & 11th (Amazon.com time, no idea which timezone that is!)

It would be a perfect book as a springboard for so many discussion or projects and I will be using it when we next study about a leader.

I also got to interview Kristi about the book and her fascinating story, pop over to My Organized Chaos to listen in.

PS - did you pop your name in the hat for the giveaway? It's over HERE

International Book Giving Day Giveaway 2015 - CLOSED

It's that time of year again, yep, International Book Giving Day!

There are lots of exciting things going on around the world, so make sure you are following on social media so that you don't miss out on any of the goodies! Bookgivingday.com is the central hub for all this excitement! Or you can use #giveabook on social media.

International Book Giving Day

Just in case you have absolutely NO idea what I'm talking about, International Book Giving Day was set up with the aim of getting more books into the hands of children. Those of us involved believe that chocolate and flowers are all very fine and dandy but books, well books are just magically and last much longer than a box of chocolates. So instead of giving the kids chocolates for valentines day (which will make them fat and their teeth fall out - maybe) why not give a book instead?

Want to do more? Here are some ideas...

+ Sort through your book shelves and donate unwanted books, you could give them to a children's hospital, a shelter, charity shop...

+ Get sneaky and leave a book in a public place like a waiting room, somewhere that kids get stuck and would love something to look through

+ Give a book to a friend or relative

+ Share the IBGD love online and help us get the word out!

+ Run a giveaway - just like this one, on your blog

Which brings me to todays giveaway!

For your chance to win one of the books, just fill in the form below.
There will be 2 winners, one of each to win Kids Around The World Cook and Kids Around The World Celebrate.

T&C

By entering your name in the draw you are also agreeing to be added to the My Organized Chaos Weekly newsletter - if it's not your cup of tea you can unsubscribe at any time.
The competition is open worldwide
The draw will close Sunday, February 16th, 9am JST
The winners will be notified by email, if the winner does not respond in 5 days a new winner will be selected.
Winners will be chosen at random.

International Book Giving Day Freebies

International book giving day is coming soon, over on the official site there are some great book plates and book marks, pop over and download until your hearts content, just click the image...

Book plate Angus Mackinnon

Book Plate Gus Gordon

Bookmark by Anna Walker

Stay tuned, there is more coming up! 

International Book Giving Day Big Reveal

As one of the hosts I was really excited to see the fab artwork for next years International Book Giving Day. It will the 4th year that it has run and people across the globe are encouraged to give books on Valentines day, getting as many books as possible into the hands of kids around the world.

The talented and award winning Chris Haughton has designed the poster, isn't it great ? You can download the poster HERE

I will be organising something fun nearer the day but if you want to get on board right now, Zoe from Playing By The Book is hosting a book swap, sign up over HERE. And for more info about International Book Giving day, click HERE.

There are some great freebies to be had soon, so keep posted...

Win A Book…

Last chance to win a book, pop over to My Organized Chaos to put your name in the hat!

International Book Giving day is coming up…

February 14th is International Book Giving Day, yes I know the 14th is usually about giving chocolates and roses but why not give something that will last a bit longer. It could even be a book about chocolate or roses!

International Book Giving Day is a grass routes initiative aimed at getting as many books as possible in to the hands of children. Run on a purely voluntary basis by a team of dedicated children’s book enthusiasts from around the world, International Book Giving Day continues to spread the love of reading on a most auspicious day, whilst highlighting the importance of books for children.

There are some great authors and illustrators who get involved each year donating their time and work to the fun cause!

Here are some ways that you can get involved…

1. Giving a Book to a Friend or Relative

Gift a book to a child who would enjoy receiving a book on February 14th. A perfect alternative to overpriced chocolate and roses ... although chocolates still make a good present!

2. Leaving a Book somewhere ...

Choose a waiting room where kids are stuck waiting. Purchase a good book, and deposit your book covertly or overtly in your waiting room of choice. 

Try leaving them in playgrounds with our downloadable bookplates or bookmarks tucked inside!

The goal here is to spread the love of reading to kids.

3. Donating a Book

Donate books to a school library, children’s hospital, or nonprofit organisation working to ensure that all kids have access to books. A list of some of these organizations can be found on the website.

Action:

Participants are encouraged to let us know they are participating at http://bookgivingday.com and share your book giving fun on social media using the hashtag #giveabook.

Make sure you pop back on the 14th to see what we are up to…

International Book Giving Day Blog Hop

As I mentioned before, February was International book giving day. It is an initive set up By Amy and Zoe basically to get more books into the hands of children, a worthy cause I feel! As part of the celebration they have organized a blog hop - and you can jump right in here! 

If you have given a book in anyway to a child in the last couple of weeks and blogged about it then pop your blog information in the widget below, this is a great way to share what you have been doing and get some more exposure for your blog!

If you didn't blog about it yet, do so in the next couple of days and come back and share.

What if you don't blog? No problem, leave a comment instead and share with us what you did for International Book Giving day. Did you leave a book in a waiting room, send an anonymous book to a friend? Donate books to a charity? Whatever you did, tell us about it before March 21st.

It is a great way to get kids involved with giving books to others. We recently had a big sort out of all our books to make room for the new ones we got at Christmas. Most of the Japanese books went to Books for Japan, (the site is in Japanese). You can call the number provided and arrange for Kuruneko to come and pick up the box of books for free. They then get sent to Books For Japan where they sort them, some get sold and the money goes towards the running of the charity and some get distributed to places that need them. The books need to be in good condition and have an ISBN number.

We also gave some books to a favourite little friend of ours.

Just click on the button below and add your blog info! Can't wait to read what you have been up to!

International book giving day is coming up...

Do you know about the International Book Giving Day?

It a volunteer initiative to try and get books into the hands of more children. It is easy to get involved you can...

1. Give a book to a friend or family member

2. Secretly leave a book in a waiting room for children to read

3. Donate books to a charity, hospital, shelter or an organisation that distributes used books.

It is a great way to get kids involved with giving books to others. We recently had a big sort out of all our books to make room for the new ones we got at Christmas. Most of the Japanese books went to Books for Japan, (the site is in Japanese). You can call the number provided and arrange for Kuruneko to come and pick up the box of books for free. They then get sent to Books For Japan where they sort them, some get sold and the money goes towards the running of the charity and some get distributed to places that need them. The books need to be in good condition and have an ISBN number.

We also gave some books to a favourite little friend of ours.

If you want to get involved, find a way to give a book and then write a blog post about it. On Feb 21st we will have a post where you can add your URL and share what you did to participate. If you want more information, pop over to Book Giving Day.