Sliding doors.  We’ve all slid in and out of one that led to one future versus another.  And we look back.  We all do.  It’s unavoidable.  No matter how truly happy we are, there’s always that element of WHAT IF. From a very young age, we’re forced to make choices.  Some are easier than others. Some we wonder about all of our lives.  Some we have daily reminders about that stare us in the eye.  Others we think about every now and then when a flashback of a time long ago returns in the shape of a memory, or in our dreams.

I’ve been carrying around The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer for a few weeks. Okay, maybe a few months.  I was going through a reading dry spell and was finding it hard to concentrate, particularly on this nearly 500-page book.  But I have read and loved Wolitzer’s work, most recently The Wife, which I read for book club, and was looking forward to this book yet wasn’t reading. Last week at the pool, someone asked me about it and I had hardly made a dent, embarrassingly.  I asked if she’d read it, to which she replied: “I’m afraid to read it.  I might start thinking about the roads I didn’t take. And I don’t want to.”

This was a book I wanted very much to read.  So why wasn’t I? Judy Blume loves it.  Jeffrey Eugenides loves it.  Oprah’s O Magazine recently included the title on a list of five books we, as in women, need to read before our next birthdays (yes, I still have my subscription – I haven’t given up on the Queen of Talk yet).

Flash forward to a long plane ride to Colorado.  Just me, the book and time, which I don’t get a lot of at home.  And I dived in…feet first.  Determined yet knowing I was in for a treat.  And a personal one, much like The Ten Year Nap, another Wolitzer novel, that I read during a break from work when the kids were in pre-school. It was another book about the choices we make that impact our lives, that one about motherhood in particular, and I remember not being able to put it down while in the throes of my own decisions about returning to an office and needing to come to terms with the decision I had made to stay at home.

The Interestings is about a group of teenagers who meet at an arts sleep away camp in the 1970s, build an unbreakable bond and continue through life with one another as integral parts 0f their universe.  We watch them grow up and see how the choices they make impact their futures and how their pasts determine much of what happens later in life. Some of them fall in love with each other…either from a distance, in real life or keep their feelings within and never end up with the person they could or should have ended up with. They achieve different levels of wealth, which the less wealthier part of the group has to come to terms with, while the wealthier part of the group makes every effort not to let the money weaken their friendships. The book also deals with marriage, birth, death, aging and it really zeroes on the decisions we make that can lead to success or failure.

And it also deals with feminism, particularly the evolution of women’s career and relationship trajectories over the last 30 years.  The female characters are smart and educated and each takes certain paths based on their career goals.  Jules, the protagonist, sets out to become an actress after being applauded for her skills at camp, but she ends up as a struggling therapist married to a sonogram technician, living paycheck to paycheck. Her best friend, Ash, becomes a theater director who works specifically in bringing women’s issues to the stage, yet depends on her wealthy husband for financial support and takes time out to raise her autistic son. One of their former friends from the Interestings at camp, Cathy, actually goes on to get her MBA and is quite successful financially but due to an event that happens early in their lives, one that actually impacts every member of the group, she is never truly happy, despite her wealth.

So the novel explores the question: what really makes us happy? We watch as the characters struggle to find happiness and Wolitzer takes us on the most interesting ride along with all of her characters. It all takes place mainly in NYC, the city I lived in for many years so it was easy to relate to the part of the book that takes place in the character’s lives as 20-somethings, when they are exploring life and identity. As a mother, a wife, a working woman, an arts professional who has struggled with my own career choices, and as a person with dark secrets about my own family and past, I found this book gripping. There is a lot to be learned about ourselves in her writing.  Wolitzer is a master of storytelling and a master of using story structure and plot twists to get inside her characters. As events unfold, and choices are made, the story takes turns you would never expect.

And so it goes.  Which of the characters are truly happy at the end of the book?  Some settle for what they have, some long for more, some live a very different way than ever expected, just like we all do in real life.  But as Jules, states at the very end of the book which could very well be her meaning of life.

“And didn’t it always go like that — body parts not quite lining up the way you wanted them to, all of it a little bit off, as if the world itself were an animated sequence of longing and envy and self-hatred and grandiosity and failure and success, a strange and endless cartoon loop that you couldn’t stop watching, because, despite all you knew by now, it was still so interesting.”

After reading this book, I actually feel like I have met Ethan, Ash, Jonah, Jules and Goodman, the core of the group called the Interestings.  And that is a skill for any author to master.

Disclosure: This is NOT a sponsored post.  Pick up a copy of the book today. Seriously. 

I feel like a ninny.  Two months ago I read one of the best books I’ve read in years and I neglected to write about it.  I’ve thought about the review several times but got distracted, I suppose. However, the book has not left my mind.  It was the kind of relatable read that left a long-lasting impression on me.

Then today I came across this fantastic review in the New York Times, and not only was I reminded that I missed an opportunity to promote something I genuinely loved, but I’m also thrilled for its author, Jami Attenberg.  I’ve actually tweeted my affection for her writing publicly several times and she has responded every single time with sincere gratitude.

I was lucky to receive a galley of the book late this summer because my contact said I would appreciate the story.  At first, I didn’t know what she meant until I started to read the book.  I don’t think she had a clue just HOW much I would relate to it. First of all, it’s about a Jewish family.  I’m Jewish. From talk about a B’nai Mitzvah to discussions (and struggles) of observance, I’ve been there. Secondly, it involves a family whose parents divorce after many years. So did mine. Third, it involves food obsessions, lots of them ,and lots of food.  Chinese food, Jewish food.  Eating at all times of day, including late at night, eating alone, eating publicly.  I grew up in a home full of obsessions and it led to a disorder of my own as a teenager. Lastly, the story involves parents dating after divorce.  Children having to care for their aging parents.  Children hoosing one parent over another after the divorce.  While these are not topics I typically discuss here on this blog, I have experienced them all.  I relish writers who delve into them so delicately, allowing me to both laugh and cry and helping me realize I’m not alone, whether it’s fiction or not.

The book is about the family matriarch, Edie, who weighs 300 pounds; Richard, her husband, who leaves her despite her ill health; Robin, their daughter, a teacher who has her own relationship and religion issues; and Benny, their son, who is married to a slightly psychotic woman and has two demanding children.

The book is written in the past and present, weaving in and out of time, to bring the reader into full comprehension of why things are the way they are. For example, here is a passage: As an adult, Robin found herself behaving exactly the same as her mother without even knowing it, always alone at meals, eating, reading, alone, while Benny married young and his doting wife, at home with the kids, had a hot, non-fast-food-related meal on the table every night. 

I’m not going to fully review the book now, I’m too late, and the New York Times review is pretty perfect. Go read it. It’s written by Julie Orringer, author of another novel I read last year and loved, The Invisible Bridge.  I’m just here to tell you to pick up a copy of the book TODAY and make it your next read. Then go tweet the author – I guarantee you’ll get a response.

Disclosure: I was sent a galley of the book by the publisher before its release date but all opinions are my own.

Join me  to chat about minivans, Costco, Midlife crises and more (that you never saw coming) as we celebrate Father’s Day and the launch of DAN GETS A MINIVAN: LIFE AT THE INTERSECTION OF DUDE AND DAD, the newest book by Dan Zevin.

Monday, June 11th, 2012

Join @theculturemom, BruceSallan and @DanZevin at 9pm EST, 6pm PST.

Sponsored by our friends at @MamaDramaNY.

Hashtag: #MiniVanDan

From instituting date night to joining Costco, from finding a nanny to using the word ‘playdate’ with a straight face, …he’s got every base about fatherhood–wait, make that familyhood–covered.

Maybe you’re a dude, a dad, or someone who’s married to either. Maybe you’re an uncle, an aunt, or a funny close friend. Fasten your seatbelts and prepare to crack up. When life hands you a minivan, you might as well enjoy the ride.

Join me for what is sure to be a night of laughter as we join to discuss the latest book by comedy writer, Dan Zevin.  It’s the true story of going from a Brooklyn hipster to a suburban minivan owner and everything that happened in between.  Zevin tells it like is.  From joining Costco to finding a nanny to using the word “play date” with a straight face, he’s got every base about fatherhood covered.  If you haven’t encountered Dan or his book, check out his YouTube videos and you’ll get the gist – he’s hilarious:

We’ll also be giving away FIVE copies of his book all throughout the party, just in time for Father’s Day.  If you’re looking for a good gift for a man you know, you can still order it with plenty of time to arrive on the big day.

@DanZevin himself will be live tweeting (and his first Twitter party, so this could be more even comical than I ever imagined).

In addition, we’ll have Bruce Sallan as our co-host.  Sallan is author of “A Dad’s Point-of-View: We ARE HALF the Equation” and radio host of “The Bruce Sallan Show- A Dad’s Point-of-View“.  He gave up a long-term showbiz career to become a stay-at-home-dad and has dedicated his life to becoming THE Dad advocate.  Join him on Facebook, Twitter and each Thursday for #DadChat from 6-7 PST, his own Tweet chat.

So whether you’re a dude, a dad, an uncle, a mom, an aunt, or someone who is married or knows either, and loves to laugh, fasten your seat belt and prepare to CRACK UP.

And if you can’t make it to our chat, pick up your copy of Dan Gets a Minivan today over on Amazon.

TO RSVP:

- Head over to Twtvite and leave your Twitter handle:

- RT on Twitter:

I’m going to #MiniVanDan Twitter Party on 6/11 at 9pm EST hosted by @theculturemom @BruceSallan http://twtvite.com/MinivanDan.#DadChat

-Join us on Tweetchat or Tweetgrid (#MiniVanDan) the night of the party.

-Tell your  Twitter Followers and Facebook fans!

I’ll start with the one I adored. I knew nothing about Cutting for Stone before I started it, I just knew that it was very, very long, over 700 pages and I was wondering how I’d get through such a ong book.  Once I got into it, the length became no problem.  As a matter of fact, I never wanted the book to end.  The descriptions and language are so beautifully crafted that the book reads like a piece of art. As someone who is forever intrigued by other cultures – how people live, how they practice medicine, how they are educated, this was the perfect book for me.  It’s about twin brothers, who we find out at the beginning of the book are born of a clandestine affair between a nun and a British surgeon.  Their heads had to be separated at birth by their own father, who ran away soon after and they were left orphans when she died on the delivery table.  The book explores their life long relationship and the one they had with both sets of parents, which endure many trails and tribulations, and travels from Ethiopia to NYC.  While we learn about the boys and follow their lives through the eyes and voice of only one of the brothers, the author quietly educates the reader about the country itself – not only about its revolution but its history of medicine and science.  I absolutely adored this book and really don’t want to give away too much, but it is really a must read.  I am still thinking about the ending and i finished it weeks ago.

The second book is A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick, which I  just chose for my own book club this month, so the story is quite fresh in my mind.  This is not a book I can whole-heartedly recommend, but I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy it either. Many members of my group compared it to a Harlequin novel as it does have elements of a trashy romance, but the writing is very interesting and quite intense so it’s hard to dis.  Plus, the story really takes you on quite a ride and has you gripped until the very end. As I told my book club, I neither loved or hated it, but I am hesitant to recommend it. As the story opens, it is fall 1907, and it’s freezing as Ralph, Truitt, an affluent business man from Wisconsin, is waiting to meet the woman who will be soon be his wife, what you would call a mail order bride.  When the woman who comes off the train is not the woman he ordered, he goes crazy with rage but eventually agrees to keep her.  The story that transpires is unlike anything you would ever imagine.  There are twists and turns and no one and nothing is what you think it is.  I would definitely have to call this book a page-turner, but one that I couldn’t wait to finish.  A girl in my book club who is from Wisconsin said that the book had nothing to do with the home she knows.  In her mind, people don’t go nuts from the cold. In this book, they do go crazy and it’s taken to an extreme.  If you’re going on vacation or want to distract your mind from reality for a few days, do read this book.  Just be sure to suspend every ounce of reality that you can.

Disclosure: I was not paid for these reviews and all opinions expressed are my own.

So, you can only imagine my delight when we walked into a mini showroom, with thousands of dolls from their various collections lining the walls.  I do need to stop and tell here that as much as I adored dolls as a child, my daughter now?  Not so much.  For her, they are ornaments.  They sit on her bed.  They gather dust.  I urge her to use her imagination, I encourage doll parties like I used to have on my own as a child. I’d sit in my room alone with my dolls and treat them like human beings. We had tea parties, we talked about school.  My daughters? That’s not her thing, and you can only do so much convincing.  She’s not that way inclined and I can’t say that buying two American Girl Dolls are getting a lot of attention in her room.

But she came quite willingly to this event and became engrossed as soon as we walked in.  Britt Menzies, the author and another mom, stood behind a table full of dolls and explained the history behind the brand. It all started when her own daughter asked to be painted as a ballerina six years ago.  She conceptualized a multi-faceted brand that originated with the book, StinkyKids and the Runaway Scissors which featured 10 characters. The goal of the book was to teach children to learn from our choices and to remind them to be a “leader of good”.  Eventually they led to an adorable line of dolls, an app and even an off-Broadway show coming to NYC in Spring 2012.  There is a second book, StinkyKids See a Full Moon, that you can also order now.

The dolls are adorable.  You can order them at Target or from Madame Alexander.  These 12 inch soft dolls each have removable clothing, embroidered faces, and personalized tooshies, as well as their own interesting story.  You find out their hobbies, what they want to be when they grow up, special talents, favorite foods and more including what makes them a leader.  Your child, 10 and under, can discover their unique personalities, talents, and hobbies through their trading cards and bookmarks (included).

But what I really like about this brand is that a a portion of the proceeds from StinkyKids is donated directly to Books, Bears and Bonnets, a non-profit organization founded by Britt’s mother Merrily Ansell in memory of Britt’s aunt who died of uterine cancer. Books, Bears, and Bonnets provides whimsical gift boxes to courageous children and adults fighting cancer and other serious illnesses. Britt also organized the 1st Annual ‘Kids Cuts for Cancer’, speaks regularly at school career days, and continues to be the “best wife and mom I can be.” And as she reminds us, “Love Your StinkyKids!!!!…they’re so stinkin’ cute!!!!

Not that anyone needs to remind me of that, but I will tell you one thing.  My daughter was so enamored with these dolls that she came home, got down on the floor and played StinkyKids dolls with her brother.

Head over to their Facebook page to find out what they’re all about and check out the You Tube video I took of Britt herself talking more about the brand.  She told me she started everything six years ago.  I’m so impressed.

Disclosure: I was provided with dolls to facilitate this review, and a copy of the authors’s first book.

So, when given the opportunity to preview new fall/winter tween books published by Simon & Schuster arose, we jumped at the opportunity. She started with Rachel Renee Russell’s Dork Diaries: How to Dork Your Diary.   Following the tale of Nikki Maxwell and her search for her diary, my daughter learned how to keep her own diary in the pages with blanks and suggestions for her to write down her own thoughts.  She took great pride in collecting her thoughts and every time I’ve gone into her room recently, she has protected the book, telling me not to read her carefully recorded secrets.  She took the book on our recent trip to Atlanta and delved in to it with a heavy heart on the plane.  She’s really looking forward to reading Dork Diaries 2: Tales from a Not-So-Popular Party Girl, which, debuted at #4 on the June 27th New York Times Bestsellers List, continues with things looking up for Nikki as she adjusts to life at her new school and new friends Chloe and Zoey.  When I left my daughter tonight in bed, she was half-way through.

Heidi Heckelbeck Has a Secret by Wanda Coven is about a little girl much like my daughter herself.  She’s also 8 years -old and has a little brother who annoys her.  Heidi is starting a new school and has to deal with a bully who turns her first day into a nightmare.  With a little bit of carefully concealed magic, Heidi might be able to give Melanie a taste of her own medicine and decides to use her “special powers” (she thinks she’s a witch, I have been led to believe from what my daughter said about the book).  I like the fact that my daughter  is reading a fictionalized account about how to deal with bullies as we’ve yet to encounter bullies ourselves (knock on wood).

Other soon-to-be-released  books on our shelf from the Simon & Schuster collection include Odd Girl In by Joe Whittemore, Katie and the Cupcake Cure by Coco Simon, Candy Fairies Caramel Moon by Helen Perelman, Goddess Girls Aphrodite the Beauty by Joan Halub, Confessions of a Wannabe Cheerleader by Zoe Evans, Trading Faces by Julia DeVillers.  My daughter will be reading all season!

A little about Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, one of the leading children’s book publishers in the world, is comprised of the following imprints: Aladdin, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Libros para niños, Little Simon, Little Simon Inspirations, Margaret K. McElderry Books, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Simon Pulse, Simon Scribbles, and Simon Spotlight. While maintaining an extensive award-winning backlist, the division continues to publish acclaimed and bestselling books for children of all ages. In addition to numerous Caldecott, Newbery, and National Book Award winners, Simon & Schuster publishes such high-profile properties and series as Eloise, Olivia, Raggedy Ann & Andy™, Henry & Mudge®, The Hardy Boys®, Nancy Drew®, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Nickelodeon’s® Dora the Explorer^TM, Blue’s Clues^TM and SpongeBob SquarePants^TM, and Mirage studios’ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles™.

Disclosure: These books were provided to me to facilitate this review.

I had a feeling I’d like this movie.  I read the book by Kathryn Stockett last year and finished it in 2 or 3 days.  I couldn’t put it down.  Born and bred in the south, I’ve always had a keen interest in racial relations.  I related strongly to the character of Skeeter.  When I was growing up, there were still remnants of this period lurking around Atlanta.  I rebelled against anyone who had racist tendencies.  I remember being glued to the mini-series Roots: The Saga of an American Family.  

But I admit I was queasy about seeing a film where black women play maids.  It’s a stereotype we don’t need to perpetuate.  But the film is much more than that.  It addresses civil rights, female equality, being a mom, infertility, domestic violence, class issues, gender relations and most of all, it’s about an important part of history that we can’t ignore.

In the book, the maids do everything for the white women – they cook and serve meals, change diapers, wash clothes, clean the house, clean up shit.  What in the world were they doing, you have to wonder?  Going to Junior League meetings, making sure their maids don’t sit on their toilets and ignoring their own children.  The maids are basically raising the children, and the mothers could care less.

Skeeter is the character I remember most in the book.  She’s played by Emma Stone.  Right out of college, she takes a job at the Jackson Journal. She has dreams to become a journalist and writer, at a time when most women got married and had children.  Her mother, played by Allison Janney, tells her, “Your eggs are dying.  Would it kill you go on a date?” But she’s not interested in following her friends’s footsteps, and she comes up with the idea to interview the maids her friends are employing.  She pitches her story to a publisher in NYC, played by Mary Steenburgen, and sets her goal to make writing about a novel happen.  Her first interview request goes to Aibileen, played expertly by Viola Davis, who then sets her sights on Minny, played by Octavia Spencer.  I read that Spencer is a newcomer, and I find that hard to believe.  Her performance shoots through your heart.

But interviewing the maids is not as easy as it sounds.  During the time of the Jim Crow Laws, which Skeeter studies, black people can’t talk to white people honestly.  The punishment could be too severe. But after several incidents that make their blood crawl, the maids start to speak.  When they have had enough of being bullied by Hilly, played by Bryce Dallas Howard, they let their secrets out.  Hilly is responsible for having her friends put colored bathrooms behind their homes.  She’s mean.  She’s a nightmare, but she’s not the only one.  All the white maid owners are bullies.  Some are influenced by Hilly to be bullish but nonetheless they are guilty.

Aibileen and Milly share lives of pain.  Milly has an abusive husband and a house full of children who can’t escape his torture, and Aibileen’s son was killed several years earlier.  The white women they work for don’t help at all and they are made to feel small and worthless.  With Skeeter, they laugh, they share, they hope for a brighter future.  What they are doing is dangerous, and we are not sure whether more maids will come tell their story until well into the film.

I cried a lot, I have to admit, but I also laughed.  Sissy Spacek plays Hilly’s less snobby mother who mocks her repeatedly in front of the maids and provides relief from their sadness. Cicely Tyson’s performance as Skeeter’s former nanny, brought a smile to my face, though her scene is very brief and very sad.

I have to recommend this film to you.  For one thing, it’s a faithful adaptation of the book.  For another, it’s a film FOR and ABOUT women and it stars amazing women.   Every member of the cast clearly cared about this story and put their heart into their performance.  My advice: bring tissues and prepare for a well acted and well told story, and a heart-wrenching two hours.

Disclosure: I was a guest of Dreamworks for a preview of  The Help but all opinions expressed are my own.

Like Sarah’s Key, which my book club read last year, this is a Holocaust novel, and it also weaves in and out of the past to the present to show the effects of the experience on survivors and their family members.  Only this book isn’t necessarily about the Jewish victims of WWII; it’s about the Germans and how they not only survived but how they have dealt with the past.  I have to admit that this was an interesting perspective for me to read about.  I have long struggled with the reality of the Holocaust, that 6,000,000 Jews died for no reason.  But I have seldom thought about the German citizens who took part in the experience, some willing and some not so willing, and I admit to not always having sympathy for them.  Those Who Saved Us offers a new perspective: that of  an ordinary German citizen during World War II.  Many risked their lives to hide Jews, many didn’t.  Some joined the resistance. Some did what they could to survive.  This book tells us about one of these women.

Her name was Anna.  She lived in Weimar, Germany.  Right before the Nazi invasion, she started a relationship with a Jewish doctor named Max Stern.  She was young and being raised by a cruel strict father who she couldn’t tell about her relationship.  When she finds out that Max is associated with the Jewish resistance, she hides him in her father’s home.  The experience is quite thrilling for her as that is when their relationship becomes romantic.

One night, while a group of Nazi soldiers are in the house, they hear a “mouse” (which is Max sneezing from a dreadful cold), and the next day, her father turns him into the Gestapo. Anna, pregnant with Max’s child, leaves home and flees to another member of the resistance who Max had put her in touch with her before his disappearance.  Deeply in love with Max, she lives each day praying for his safety but the reality slowly unveils itself and what transpires after that is a story of torture and survival.  She was definitely one woman who despised the Nazis but had to bite her lip and suffer through some excruciating circumstances for many years until the war ended.  Her daughter, Trudie, is also a victim of the times.

Fast forward 50 years later and Anna and Trudie are living in Minnesota.  Anna has never spoken of her past to Trudie, and Trudie has never understood her past nor knew the truth about her father.  Now a Professor of German history, Trudie is working on a project (much like the Shoah Foundation) to record stories of Germans living in the area that survived WW2. She is also trying to understand her own past as her mother is marching toward the end of her life.

While the ending is somewhat contrived and predictable, I have to say that I didn’t mind.  The story ended the way it needed to.  This book is further proof that the Holocaust is a period of history we must never forget.

I am so impressed with Blum’s writing abilities.  I read that she created this story on a trip to Weimer and dreamed of the character for 10 years before she wrote this book.  What a superb job she did.  I was truly transported back in time, and the story made me ask myself so many questions about this difficult time period that I think of all too often.

Yes, I recommend this book.  It’s riveting, thought-provoking, disturbing at times, but ultimately, rewarding.

Now I need to choose my next book.  What is on your bedside table this summer?

Source: Entertainment Weekly

I always take several novels when we go on holiday.  It used to be impossible to get much reading done, but now that the kids are slightly older, it’s getting easier.  One of the novels I took on our recent trip was A Visit from the Goon Squad, the 2011 Pulitzer Prize winner, by Jennifer Egan.  My book club actually chose it for our next meeting in September (August is a vacation month for most people), but it was pure coincidence that they chose it as I was already midway through the book when they made the selection.  As much as I enjoyed the book, I’m slightly afraid that I’ll have forgotten much of the story by the time September rolls around.  I may read it again before the meeting date arrives.

The book is a study in time travel, and I can easily see how Egan took home the Pulitzer. Through a collection of short stories, she connects every character to one another and provides a resolution to each story as the book continues with explanations to how characters turn out at various chapters of their lives.  She does it quite skillfully, even using a powerpoint presentation in one chapter to explain the dynamics amongst characters.

Each story is related in some way to Bennie Salazar, who has a teen ager loved punk music and was in a band, or to Sasha, his troubled assistant with a kleptomaniac problem.  They reveal something about a chapter in their lives, through the eyes of someone who intersected with them in the past or future.  It’s basically six degrees of separation as characters either know each other or pass each other by at some point in their lives.

All in all, I enjoyed the book and definitely was eager to pick up on our many train journeys and plane rides.  I would have liked more of the book focused on Sasha.  I really enjoyed the chapters that related to her much more than the ones that related to the egotistical Bennie.

I may follow up this post in September after we have our group discussion.  When we discussed Egan’s The Keep, I recall not many people liking it but The Goon Squad is a very different book.

What is your summer travel read?  Please tell me in the comments below.

Disclosure: I paid for this book and all opinions expressed are my own.

How can you combine reading, advocacy, kids and fun?  The Culture Mom is about giving back, and this is a perfect example, especially when your kids are involved., and this event is a terrific example.

Barnes and Noble and Book for Kids, a non-profit organization that promotes literacy among children, with a special emphasis on low-income and at-risk preschool-aged kids, would like to invite you to attend A Storytime Fitness Event, a fun-filled day of readings, fitness, and games at Barnes and Noble on the Upper East Side, TOMORROW on Sunday, July 24^th, 2011 at 11am.

Books for Kids (booksforkids.org) creates libraries, donates books and partners with literacy programs to help young children develop the critical early foundation and skills they will need to be successful in life. A portion of all sales at the store on July 24^th will go directly to Books for Kids, when customers mention the organization at the register or enter Bookfair code 10523678 online at bn.com.  

The event will feature a reading of Award Winning children’s book Wallie Exercises by Steve Ettinger, Q&A, book signing, and kid friendly fitness activity led by Ettinger, a certified strength and conditioning specialist, coach, and highly notable personal trainer. The event will also include a reading of Where’s Walrus? by author Stephen Savage, pin the hat on the Walrus game, and more!

About Wallie Exercises

 Wallie Exercises takes parents and kids on a fun and whimsical adventure, as they soak up lessons about fitness, friendship, and staying active. The story follows Wallie, a loyal but lazy dog and his best friend who convinces the lethargic pup to get out of the house and get moving. Beautifully illustrated and impeccably told, this book helps teach kids important fitness concepts while following Wallie on his hilarious journey to get in shape.

The book also includes a special section with original exercises (performed by Wallie) and kid-friendly fitness information at the end of the book that will get every child (and pup) excited about exercise. For more details on Wallie Exercises visit: http://wallieexercises.com.

Disclosure: I was not compensated to provide this information.