Have you seen these awesome and intricate pop-up books? Robert Sabuda it a flippin' genius.

There are 3 in this series, but these are the 2 we have:

Encyclopedia Prehistorica Dinosaurs: The Definitive Pop-Up





and

Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Sharks and Other Sea Monsters




There is no way to describe how incredible these are. They are serious pop-up books. You as an adult will be amazed. Each book has over 30 pop-ups and I swear they are amazing.

These are top-shelf books, figuratively and literally. They are not for little hands or they will be ripped before you can blink an eye. But as a lap read, it kicks butt. Greyson actually screamed and laughed when I got to the page where the T-Rex jump right out at you and chomps its jaws.

While we're on the topic of rockin' pop-up books, I can't neglect to mention Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: A Pop-up Adaptation





Good god this is cool. Awesome collectible gift and let's be honest - any college student you know would love this one. (What? You know it's true, you goody-two-shoes!)

Have I said that these are awesome? They blow my mind. The biggest problem for you is that the library (if they even have copies) probably have ripped up ones. The bookstore likely has them plastic wrapped.

OMGOMGOMG! I just saw that there's a Wizard of Oz one, too!!!

Okay, I wish I had never looked at all the books he has because I will now be even more broke than I am now.

Totally worth it.

Peaceful Piggy

I have found another book to LOVE. It is the only one that I went a little psycho-librarian to get to at the library conference (hey, they only had TWO!).
Peaceful Piggy Yoga by Kerry Lee MacLean



Can this book be any cuter? I think not. It talks about how you may already be doing yoga and how you can use yoga to help you. Stressed out at school? Try the lotus position right at your desk. The coolest thing about the book is that it shows how to do some basic poses. Even my toddler likes to give them a shot. This would be priceless to use with young elementary kids who are maybe scared about school or find themselves nervous.

The author also has Peaceful Piggy Meditation.



This book is also AWESOME. It has great concrete suggestions that will help the preschool or school age child to cope with frustration and stress. For example it says to imagine a jar of muddy water all shaken up. Then imagine all of the mud and dirt particles slooowly settling to the bottom of the jar. Relaxing, huh?

I love that the author speaks directly to the children in a way that they can understand but at the same time is not condecending.

One of my favorite things about surfing on Amazon is seeing what other books people who looked at this bought. On the bottom of these pages, I saw Baby Buddhas: A guide for teaching meditation to children



I haven't read this (YET), and I had never really thought about starting to teach this skill now. But it really does make sense to start instilling the foundation in our toddlers to help them cope with that part of their little lives. You can bet your butt that I'm adding this book to my reading list!

Go forth and relax!