The following is by contributor Jennifer Brown.

Do you know Mike Mulligan? How about the Tortoise and the Hare or Casey at the Bat?  These classic children’s stories can now be part of your listening repertoire with the added benefit of introducing your children to classical music through a series called Maestro Classics that I recently had the opportunity to review.

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

 We love to listen to stories both at home and in the car, so when we got the chance to check out “Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel” with its own original score to enhance the story it seemed like the perfect mix for my music and machine loving boys.

The narration is fantastic and engaging, but the music brings a deeper element to the story.  Our family really enjoyed listening to the story, but even more we enjoyed listening to the story a second time after hearing the About the Music track which gave insight about how certain sounds were created.  My (almost) 2 year old excitedly began imitating the sound of the steam (created with a scuba tank) when we learned about its origin.  It’s now his signature sound for requesting a replay.

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The following review is by contributor Catherine Way of Adventures With Kids. It originally appeared in 2010, and with Easter around the corner I thought many of you might enjoy hearing about this lovely book. – Kara

For this Easter, being Australian, I have chosen to review Hunwick’s Egg by Mem Fox, illustrated by Pamela Lofts.

After a storm, Hunwick the bilby finds a wonderful egg.  When no-one claims the egg, Hunwick decides he will care for it.  He befriends the egg and takes good care of it.  But when the egg doesn’t hatch Hunwick’s friends worry.  But Hunwick is not upset, he knows the secret of the egg.

This charming story of explores the theme of friendship and unconditional love. Hunwick’s relationship with the egg reminds me of my son’s relationship with his teddy.  For my son, his teddy is someone who always loves him, listens to him and keeps him company.  And I think that is why my son loves this story, because the egg provides friendship for Hunwick and Hunwick loves the egg whether it hatches or not.

The story is accompanied by beautiful detailed illustrations of Australian desert plants and animals.

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The following post is by editor Kara Fleck.

This Friday, March 2nd, would be the 108th birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel, the beloved Dr. Seuss.   Born in Massachusetts  in 1904, Dr. Suess wrote 44 books that have been translated into more than 15 languages world-wide.

Those books have inspired cartoons, tv shows, movies, and plays.  Many of them are favorites at our house and I bet that some are favorites at your house, too.

We are looking forward to celebrating this special birthday with some Seuss inspired fun!

A Family Favorite

We’re all Dr. Suess fans at our house.  In fact, a quick family poll shows we each have our favorites:

• Daddy “watching The Grinch every year at Christmas and reading the book to the kids, doing my best Boris Karloff impression”
• Mommy “I love the book Green Eggs and Ham.  One of my favorite childhood memories is my Mom making us all green eggs and ham for breakfast.”
• Jillian, age 10 “I like to watch the Cat in the Hat tv show and also the Cat in the Hat cartoon movie.  Those Things remind me of my brother and little sister.  I’m excited for the Lorax to be made into a movie.  That is a good story, too.”
• Max, age 5 “I like the cartoon Grinch because because they have a cute Lucy (Cindy) Lou Who like my sister, Lucy.  And a dog Max, like me and a grumpy Grinch.”
• Lucy, age 3 “I just like Green Eggs and Ham and reading it.  Not eating it. I do not like them, Sam-I-Am.”

I’m sure that baby Mia will grow up and love Dr. Suess, too.  For now, she happily enjoys teething on our Mr. Brown Can Moo board book.

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The winners of last weekend’s Sparkle Stories giveaway are: