Heat-beater books for readers of all ages, from Candlewick Press

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As sweltering summer temps currently scorch much of the United States, many folks — from babes to boomers and beyond — have staked out spots in the shade or indoors in front of the air conditioner (or fan, for poor souls like myself with no A/C) to while away the hours.

Candlewick Press offers a cool collection of compelling and creative books for readers of all ages to help beat the heat — and boredom — of these hottest days of summer.

Here are some of my recent favorites, courtesy Candlewick:

shaun the sheep 

Shaun the Sheep: Pranks A Lot! Tales from Mossy Bottom Farm by Martin Howard, illustrated by Andy Janes  ($4.99 paperback, ages 5-8) Shaun the Sheep gives Blitzer the Sheepdog a mustache, and Blitzer reciprocates the prank by painting Shaun pink. But the gags and giggles really get...

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Homestar Original Home Planetarium: Sega Toys moves stars from the sky to your ceiling

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When my daughters were young, my husband and I used to take them camping to a family spot far from the city, far from city lights. One of our favorite activities while out in the wilderness was to stare up at the night sky and look for constellations and shooting stars.

homestar original

The Homestar Original Home Planetarium (which I received free for review) provides the same experience. For the most part. We can't build a campfire indoors, and we thankfully don't hear packs of coyotes off in the not-too-far distance. We do, though, see 60,000 twinkling stars — some of them shooting, even — plus constellations galore, right on...

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ASUS MeMO Pad 7 LTE tablet: A super tool for Intel's Family Skill Swap and more

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Chances are your grandchildren know a whole lot more than you. At least about some high-tech gadgets and games and such.

You know a whole lot more than them, though, on other skills. Things like handicrafts and cooking crafts, playing musical instruments and more.

Considering the wealth of knowledge on their part and yours—albeit in different areas—how cool might it be to swap some of that knowledge, share those skills? Intel encourages grandparents to do exactly that by inviting a favorite youngster to swap skills between the generations.

Intel created an invitation for such swapping, something they call a Family Skill Swap. It looks like this:

Intel Family Skill Swap 

Click on that graphic for a PDF version you can print and pass along to a grandchild or two...

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Pick and Draw game: Artistic fun for all ages, with a group or on one's own

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A deck of cards plus a pencil (with an eraser) and paper are all that's needed for hours of fun — as long as the cards are from the Pick and Draw game.

The Pick and Draw game, created by picture book illustrator Rich Davis, makes me think of those painting places where a group of soon-to-be artists receive the very same instruction yet create fabulously unique paintings, each masterpiece just like the others... but different.

pick and draw game

That's the idea behind Pick and Draw, only, the creative result is a comical cartoon. Funky...

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'Lettuce Love One Another' — A VeggieTales DVD for Valentine's Day

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Beloved Bob and Larry from VeggieTales are off and running with a new DVD just in time for Valentine's Day, VeggieTales Lettuce Love One Another.

For this love-filled collection, the rotund tomato and perky cucumber characters share three favorite VeggieTales episodes plus five brand-new "Bible Bits."

VeggieTales episodes in the collection, presented by Bob the Tomato, include:

  • Tomato Sawyer and Huckleberry Larry's Big River

  • Abe & The Amazing Promise

  • King George & the Ducky

And Larry the Cucumber shares the five Bible Bits, each a lesson in and example of forgiving, helping, giving, praying, or sharing.

Bonus fun: Three silly songs, two story book tales, instructions on how to draw Abe and King George, and more.

Take a look:

VeggieTales offers up some fun printables to go along with Lettuce Love One Another. The Service Coupons make perfect last-minute Valentine's Day gifts for kids to give and get, and the Kindness Chart keeps kindness front of mind on a daily basis. And, of course, there's a VeggieTales Valentine's Day card for printing on cardstock, too. Click on the graphics thumbnails below for the full-sized printable pages (if you have trouble printing from the page, right-click the full-size image to save to your computer, then print from that).

Lettuce Love One Another Service Coupons

Lettuce Love One Another Kindness Chart

Lettuce Love One Another Valentine

VeggieTales Lettuce Love One Another, released Jan. 15, is available at all major retail outlets for SRP $12.99.

Disclosure: I received a copy of the DVD for review. Opinions are my own.