Review & Giveaway : Adventures at Walnut Grove

GIVEAWAY CLOSED!

What great timing! These two books, “Adventures at Walnut Grove : A lesson about Teasing” and “I Double Dare You!” by Lehman Publishing, came through the mail when we were running out of books to read at bedtime. We started off with “Adventures at Walnut Grove” and it’s about Sammy the Squirrel, who looks different from other squirrels. He has two visible black patches over his eyes, making him look like a raccoon!

This book came at a time when I was looking for literature about showing kids how making fun of others, is really very hurtful. Not only that, just by pointing out their differences, is already very very painful. Often, kids don’t realise how much it hurts unless they are in that person’s shoes.

See, recently, one of my kids, saw another boy with a very visibly different face, and he started pointing at him and asking me, why didn’t that kid have a nose!

I turned beetred there and honestly wanted to disappear quickly. Unfortunately, no such luck as his mother heard my son as well. I had to apologize and reprimand my kid at the same time. But as I reflect back, my son, has only just turned 4, and it is obvious he hasn’t seen much of the world and he wasn’t so much as teasing, but rather curious. So, I have made it my mission to teach him that while there are differences in how people look and behave, we still have the same feelings inside ~ hurt, anger, love, happy, sadness.

Like I said earlier, this book came at the right time.

The second book called, “I Double Dare You!”, has Sammy’s cousins, “Silly” and “Sassy” visit Walnut Grove over the holidays. “Silly” and “Sassy” are all about playing and getting into heaps of trouble, with their dares and double dares! This book relates to kids on how we must be responsible for our own actions. In other words, we can’t play the blame game, by saying, “It wasn’t my fault, he dared me to do it!”.

I guess, in life, it’s so much easier to blame others, but we’d still feel guilty for doing it. This books teaches kids, that even if you do own up, while you might receive some disciplinary action, it’s far better than feeling guilty.

It also aims to teach kids to think on their own feet, and not blindly follow their friends. Of course, it may seem a bit too early to teach my pre-schooler that, but not for my 7 year old son. I think this book reinforces the message that if he feels uneasy doing something wrong, then he should not, even if it may seem to be an unpopular decision.

About Lehman Publishing :

My name is Dana Lehman, and I am the author of Adventures at Walnut Grove. I am also the owner of Lehman Publishing. I graduated with my Associates Degree in general studies from Macomb Community College. I have always enjoyed creative writing. I currently reside in Allenton, Michigan with my husband, Brian, and our two sons, Danny and Joey. I am a stay at home mom, and I feel privileged to spend so much time with my children. As my children play and interact with each other, and other children, I discover new ideas for my books.

Buy It : Both these books are the 2009 Silver Award Recipients at the coveted Mom’s Choice Awards! I believe these are great books to read to your kids, imparting good sense, values and teaching them good social skills. You’ll be able to purchase both books here and they have a third book coming out soon!

Win It : Lehman Publishing was kind enough to let two lucky readers win their preferred title from these two books, and here’s how:

One mandatory entry – Visit www.lehmanpublishing.com and let us know which book you’d like to win.
Three additional entries – Tweet this post (leave your twitter id in our comment section)
Three additional entries – If you Subscribe to Parent Reviewers
Entry is open to everyone.
Giveaway closes on 9th November 2009 and a winner will be picked using Random.org. We will not be emailing winners, so please make sure you subscribe to our feed or check back here for the winner announcement post.