OM NOM NOM NOM NOM!

Ah, summer. I am pretty sure my ice cream consumption has gone up 275% since the warm weather arrived. I partly blame Karen, because last summer I was forced to concede to her that more people like ice cream than popsicles. The results still bum me out, so to cheer myself up, I just eat more ice cream and popsicles.

Ice cream isn’t just on my mind, apparently — over at the “On Our Minds” Scholastic blog, they came up with these cool suggestions for book-inspired ice cream flavors, and I’ve decided to add my own delicious Willy-Wonka-esque descriptions to them:

Dessert Menu

The Invention of Hugo Sorbet
The scoop of sorbet you receive is HUGE and every bite is a new flavor. Served by an automaton.

A Sprinkle in Time
The ratio of sprinkles to ice cream has been reversed: a tiny scoop of plain vanilla ice cream, with A LOT of sprinkles. But you’ll have to eat it fast, because the sprinkles rapidly disappear into thin air!

The Berrysitter’s Club: Crunchy’s Grape Idea
Low-fat raspberry ice cream with granola flakes and chopped bits of frozen grapes. (Healthy Option)

Oreo and Juliet
Oreo-flavored ice cream with crushed Oreo bits sprinkled on top. Served with a little plastic dagger instead of a spoon.

Pralines & Prejudice
Simple, creamy praline ice cream. After finishing a scoop, you’ll speak in a British accent for an hour.

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
Three scoops of ice cream, with either 1 scoop of strawberry and 2 scoops of blueberry, or 2 scoops of strawberry and 1 scoop of blueberry. Served with Swedish Fish.

Peppermint Longstocking
Peppermint ice cream served in a (clean) striped stocking. No spoons allowed.

Thanks to the brilliant brains who came up with these flavors for the “On Our Minds” blog! What book-inspired ice cream flavors would you concoct in your kitchen?

— Nancy

For inspiration, Nancy ate some root beer ice cream while writing this post.

More about Nancy »

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Ice cream photo courtesy of Swamibu on Flickr, Creative Commons License

OMG, it’s finally here! The second Kidsmomo podcast!

We know you’ve been dying to hear it. We bet you haven’t been able to think of anything else since we posted Podcast #1 last week. We understand how it goes: you dream about Mystery Book Theater, find yourself doodling your name + Kidsmomo in hearts. Don’t worry, we don’t think any less of you.

Lucky for you, your wait is finally over! Here’s Podcast 1, Part 2:

  (9:32)
Download the MP3 (6.5 MB)

And when you’re done listening, watch the next Mystery Book Theater segment and check out these books about dogs.)

— Karen and Nancy

What’s your favorite thing about summer?

Submitted by Cameron R., age 9, from Maryland

what i like best about summer is that every summer we go to orlando to see my grandparents and we go to disneyworld. it’s so much fun and i can’t wait until i’m allowed to go on all the rides, right now my mom says i can’t go on space mountain because it’s too scary. my favorite thing about disneyworls is the parades, we get to stay up late to watch the parades because my mom says it’s a special ocasion! also, my grandma tells funny stories about when my dad was my age and she has the most HILARIOUS pictures, lol! so that’s what i like best about the summer! ok, bye!!!!

In our first podcast, Nancy and Karen had a major disagreement about the best frozen treat. What do YOU think?
 

Summer camp. Flip flops. Ice cream. Popsicles. A dog named Turtle. A cat named Pinky. And a bull.

Those are just some of the topics we cover in our first ever Kidsmomo podcast!

So tune in to hear our picks for best summertime books, what we like best about the season, and why we were both really major dorks when we were kids. (As you can see, we totally grew out of it. Totally.)

  (10:30)
Download the MP3 (8.4 MB)

And when you’re done listening, keep the summer fun flowing: watch our first Mystery Book Theater and check out these books about summer!

— Karen and Nancy

Get it? These are hot books because it’s hot in the summer! We’re geniuses, right? Right?! Why are you shaking your head and burying your face in your hands?

Anyway… here are some recommended reads that take place during the summer (in no particular order). If you’re a fan of any of these, send in your review:

1. There’s a Bat in Bunk Five by Paula Danziger
2. Bummer Summer by Ann M. Martin
3. Hot and Cold Summer by Johanna Hurwitz
4. The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars
5. Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright
6. Absolutely Normal Chaos by Sharon Creech
7. Aquamarine by Alice Hoffman
8. A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck
9. Summer Reading is Killing Me (The Time Warp Trio) by Jon Scieszka
10. Half Magic by Edward Eager
11. Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee
12. Saving Grace by Mary Hoffman

Plus, check out:

• Fudge-a-mania by Judy Blume (Nancy’s pick)
• Pinky Pye by Eleanor Estes (Karen’s pick)
• The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall (our first Kidsmomo Mystery Book!)

This book trailer for The Penderwicks was originally the Mystery Book Theater video for our Summer theme. For more on The Penderwicks, check out our “Hot Fun in the Summertime” podcast. It’s fascinating, even if we do say so ourselves. (And obviously we just did.)

No summer vacation is complete without a bull attack. At least, that’s what happens in The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall!

Reviewed by: Julia L., age 11, from California

Rating:

This book is awesome!!!!!!!! It’s about Hailey and Claire who are best friends and Claire is going to move away forever at the end of the summer. They find a mermaid named Aquamarine in the pool and they have to ssave her but she won’t go back to the sea because she’s in love with a human named Raymond. Hailey and Claire set up a date for them and they pretend Aquamarine is in a wheelchair so they can hide her mermaid tail. Raymond falls in love with Aquamarine back and even when he finds out she’s a mermaid he still loves her but she has to go back to the sea or she’ll die. I won’t tell you what happens because you should read this book to find out!!! you won’t be disapointed!!!!