Metaphysical #Giveaway!

As summer comes to an end I wanted to extend appreciation to everyone who has been a supporter of my Etsy Shop,  Readings by the Light, and to the lovely readers here at, New Age Mama. To enjoy our last few weeks of summer, I'll be giving away a metaphysical package to one lucky winner!

Prizes will include a reading of your choice from my shop, a large crystal healing package of ten intuitively selected crystals and stones, as well as a crystal necklace of your choice from my stock! 

Here's an example of some crystals you might find in your healing package. The way they are selected is by asking to be guided towards the ones you currently need the most in your life. You may find some rough labradorite, polished fluorite, amethyst clusters, rose quartz, black tourmaline, and more! Each is labeled in the package so you'll know what you got! The possibilities are endless!




















I cannot wait to see who the winner is! Once you are selected, I will reach out to you via email to discuss your prizes and to request an address to send your crystals. Good luck, everyone!

Enter Here:

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Sky Pony Swedish Fairy Tales Book Review

Every child loves a good fairy tale story, now you can have more than one with the Swedish Fairy Tales by Skyhorse Publishing!

These are stories filled with wicked magicians, troublesome trolls, teasing magpies, and solemn tomtar. In Swedish fairy tales, frogs become beautiful fairy girls, troll girls marry troll princes, kings transform into woodcutters, and little boys go searching for adventure in the forest. This collection of twenty-one marvelous tales includes:

The Seven Wishes

The Trolls and the Youngest Tomte

The Changelings

Leap the Elk and Little Princess Cottongrass

The Queen

And many more

These stories are clever and fun, full of adventure and magic. A world of wonder and mystery is brought to life by the spellbinding art of one of the world’s greatest illustrators of fairy tales, John Bauer. His big-nosed, good-natured trolls are sure to delight, while his heroes and heroines shine brightly, bringing hope and goodness to dark places.

Our Thoughts

Reading fairy tale stories is one of my favorite things to do as an adult, and I love that I can share that love with both of my daughters. Reading is clearly important to our learning capabilities and it's well known now that reading fairy tales are great for children's minds.

Each story takes about 15-20 minutes for my kids to get through so it works well for reading time during our homeschooling sessions. It's also cute to see my oldest sit and read the stories out loud to my youngest daughter too.

All the stories are great but The Queen is their favorite. It captivates them and they become completely lost in the story. It sparks their imagination and when they are playing I can tell that they have definitely used the Swedish Fairy Tales as inspiration for their make-believe!

There are many kid books out there and not all of them are interesting, but as a parent I feel it's my duty to do reading time with my daughter. I am so thankful I enjoy these stories as much as the children do!

The illustrations are also beautifully creepy. I say that because it has kind of a dark look to the pictures, but they aren't inappropriate for children, just very unique looking. I personally love that style a lot!!

Buy yours here  or on Amazon and don't forget to check them out on Facebook and Twitter!


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Reviewed by Jackie

The Moodsters Meter Review

Award-winning child development and parenting expert Denise Daniels has created The Moodsters, a new line of toys and books designed to help develop emotional intelligence (EQ) skills in young children. The Moodsters, featuring five lovable characters, each depicting a different emotion teaches simple strategies to build emotional intelligence skills.

This groundbreaking property is based on the curriculum taught at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.

Young children often don’t have the verbal skills to put their feelings into words. The Moodster Meter puts those tools in the child’s hands—literally! This interactive teaching toy gives children a basic vocabulary of feelings and helps them express themselves. The Meter has a special Power Up button enabling children to point the arrow to the Moodster that represents what they are feeling, opening doors for calm communication about emotions. Includes a full-color, 32 page storybook, “Meet the Moodsters”. Ages 3+

Our Thoughts

Children can often have a difficult time expressing themselves, especially when they're in their toddler years and just coming out of toddlerhood as well. The Moodster Meter is a fun, interactive way to teach children how to express themselves in a healthy manner. Many children feel intimidated by feelings they don't understand, but with the meter they have a fun outlet to express themselves.

I enjoyed reading the book with my six year old, as she often has times where she is so frustrated that she doesn't know how to explain exactly what she is feeling. With the options of: Happy, Angry, Afraid, Loving, and Sad, she has a wide array to choose from when she's in a mood to not talk to me. It gives us both time to step back and assess whatever situation has caused the frustration and it makes her open to communicating with me when she's able to show me how she feels first and then speak. 

With the help of the book, she's found ways to use the lessons taught to her to express herself in creative ways that makes her voice feel heard and to better understand herself as well. This is a great book for classrooms and for your children. I love the Moodsters Meter and my daughter does too!

Check out their other amazing products too!

Feelings Flashlight

 Moodsters Mirror

Buy yours here and don't forget to check them out on Facebook, and Twitter!

Reviewed by Jackie

It's International Literacy Day

Around the world, 757 million adults, age 15 and older, can't read or write a simple sentence. Today is International Literacy Day, and this week Grammarly is working to raise awareness about the importance of literacy.




***Grammarly is donating $10 in my name to a literacy-promoting charity in exchange for sharing this post***

WriteReader Gives Your Kids a Head Start on Reading

I was always taught that you needed to learn to read before you'd be able to write, but WriteReader is changing the way we think about learning. This new Scandinavian app encourages children to learn to read by telling their own stories.  For two years, Scandavian scientists studied the Write to Read method, and they have taken what they learned and made it easy for everyone to access in the exciting WriteReader App.




The WriteReader app works by allowing children to create their very own books, turning them into authors instead of  just consumers. This opens up a whole new world of imagination and gives young children the encouragement they need to learn. First, the kids use the recording function to record the story they want to tell. WriteReader's speak to text feature will turn their story into words on the screen. When they see their spoken words turn to written words, it makes it easier for them to recognize written language.  There is also a phonetic keyboard and an interface allowing the parent, teacher, or older sibling to write the text in conventional writing below the child’s version.

The WriteReader App just launched in the United States a few weeks ago, and already it's a huge success.  If you have a child who's struggling with reading or if you simply want to give a preschooler a head start, this a great app to try. To learn more about WriteReader, you can visit their website or check them on their social. The app available to download now on iTunes 

Connect with WriteReader

Holiday Gift Guide - Sunrise Sunset - 52 Weeks of Awe & Gratitude Book Review

Much like life, the stage changes even when our vantage point doesn't. And so it is with the rising and setting sun, no two are ever the same. Every picture tells another color, shape and shadow story and thrive under the majesty of the sun.

Weiss offers all of this as a show of gratitude, a tribute to the awe of each new day. Sunrise Sunset is replete with glorious photographs of different days and different suns captured from the very same vantage point, the very same terrace. Complementing her photographs are meditations, passages, poetry, reflections and contemplations from some of the best known and loved inspirational leaders of our time: Jack Canfield, Marci Shimoff, Judith Orloff and many more. This is the ultimate gift book for saying 'thank you', sharing a blessing or offering an oasis for spiritual awakening. From sunrise to sunset, this will be a perennial bestseller. 

Our Thoughts

What a refreshing read. Obviously not like most other books, this is one you can digest piece by piece and really savor the meaning on each page. With my morning cup of coffee, it was nice to sit down and read a few pages of inspiration. Seeing how others appreciate their specific wolds and what they contemplate on was nice. Some of the passages weren't applicable to me, but you're not going to get something for everyone.  Mostly it was just an overall dump of happiness each morning that you could soak up and get started on your day.

The pictures are breathtaking. It's amazing, the entirety of it, looking at the same thing every day. It puts time and history into perspective. The bright colors bring on a joyous atmosphere to your daily routine. A great book to pick up when you're feeling down, just flip through the pages and read any of the passages and it will give you some inspiration to be grateful for something, even on a bleak day!

Everyone can use more positivity in their life, Sunrise Sunset - 52 Weeks of Awe & Gratitude is the perfect book for it!

Buy yours on Amazon and don't forget to check them out on Facebook!



Reviewed by Jackie

Book Review: A Place to Call Home: Toby's Tale

A Place to Call Home: Toby’s Tale By G. A. Whitmore

Every rescue dog has a tale to tell, a story uniquely their own. A Place to Call Home is Toby’s tale. His story takes you on a journey across the country from California to Connecticut and across the spectrum of life’s emotional and spiritual experience.

Born on a small farm in northern California, Toby narrowly escapes the death sentence imposed on him by his breeder. Through a series of events driven by good intentions, he finds himself in a Connecticut suburb where life with his new family soon collapses on him, and his new found happiness is brutally destroyed.

On his quest to find a place to call home, Toby encounters and endures the best and worst of humanity as he comes face to face with sorrow and joy, fear and courage, and ultimately, with the power of love.

Based on a true story, A Place to Call Home is a middle-grade novel for dog lovers of all ages.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of each book is donated to an organization of the author’s choice that promotes and advocates for the protection and welfare of dogs.

About the Author

Ms. Whitmore's passion for writing and her love of dogs come together in her series The Rescue Dog Tales.

The first book in the series, A Place to Call Home, is based on the true story of Toby, an abused dog the author adopted from the Connecticut Humane Society. Written as a young adult novel, this book can be enjoyed by dog and animal lovers of all ages. The second book is due to be released in the spring of 2015.

Ms. Whitmore currently lives in Connecticut with her two rescue dogs, Kadee and Zeus.

A Place to Call Home: Toby’s Tale
By G. A. Whitmore
Publisher: Outskirts Press
Published: February 2014
ISBN: 978-1478700739
ASIN: B00IX32I2Y
Genre: Middle Grade Fiction

Purchase A Place to Call Home on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  Visit G. A. Whitmore on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest.


Our Thoughts
Oh. My.  Tears!!!  I cried.  I don't care that A Place to Call Home was written for "middle grade"; it is a touching book for older readers, too.

Let me start by saying I really love dogs.  I don't think I can adequately explain the love I have for dogs, except to say I love dogs more than most humans.  Every dog we've had has been special needs, whether diet, behavior, or health.  We don't really find them - they find us.  Even if we didn't technically get all of them from a rescue, some of them I do feel we did "rescue".  Each dog takes us on a special journey never to be forgotten.

A Place to Call Home is about Toby the dog and his adventures, good and bad, on his journey to find his forever family as a rescue.  Rescued dogs will always have a special place in my heart.  We had our rescue Honey for a short 5 1/2 months before she succumbed to a previously contracted illness.  But what an amazing 5 1/2 months it was!  All the fun things she got to do, with humans that finally understood her need to run, run, run!  Honey and my husband had that instant connection upon meeting for the first time; she was HIS dog, period. We don't know what her backstory was, but thankfully she did not appear to have been abused.


Honey, our rescue (RIP)

My dog, Carl, wasn't technically a rescue, but he did have a tragic beginning like Toby in A Place to Call Home - except his abuse was from other dogs, not humans.  It took a lot of love,  patience, and understanding to give him to the best life we could.  I had the same kind of connection upon meeting Carl that the character Holly did upon meeting Toby  in the book - I was haunted by his eyes and knew I had to take care of him.  Our current girl Lola, interestingly enough had an instant connection with our son upon our first meeting - I was 6 months pregnant with him at the time!

I love that A Place to Call Home is written both from the perspective of dogs and humans.  Every bit of it is touching, and if you don't cry when Tara . . . (okay, no spoilers!) . . . The perspective of the dogs is enchanting - the family dynamic, story telling, conversations between animals. 

You can read the "real" Toby's story on G. A. Whitmore's website here; the inspiration behind this book.  And when you look at the picture of Whitmore and her dog Zeus in the About the Author part above, the love between them is obvious - you know the author loves her dogs!

A Place to Call Home would make a fantastic holiday gift for both kids and adults! I'm excited that A Place to Call Home is the first book in a planned series of books - the next one is due out in the spring of 2015, so keep watch here!

Book Review: Hard Luck Hank: Basketful of Crap by Steven Campbell

Hard Luck Hank

Basketful of Crap

by Steven Campbell

Hank was a dying breed on the space station Belvaille. The criminal gangs that had once made their homes there were forced out by the corporations that had taken over since the facility became an Independent Protectorate.

Instead of the gentlemanly gang wars that had once dominated the scene, and made Hank's services prized as a negotiator, the city was now plagued by the clash of corporate armies using heavy weapons. Even tanks roamed the streets regularly.

Most everyone from the olden days had either fled the station or was killed due to the organizational changes. Changes that Hank personally brought about when he had negotiated Belvaille's status with the Navy.

As Hank contemplates whether he can survive in this increasingly hostile environment, he realizes that things aren't as bad as they seem--they are quite a bit worse. The constant power plays among corporations might have further reach than just the alleys of a backwater space station at the edge of the galaxy.

NOTE: Sequel to Hard Luck Hank - Screw the Galaxy.

Hard Luck Hank: Basketful of Crap can be found on Amazon (Kindle Edition).

Check out http://www.belvaille.com/ for HARD LUCK HANK T-shirts, a 5 minute movie of Hard Luck Hank - Screw the Galaxy, and the making of the movie!

Our Thoughts
Hard Luck Hank: Basketful of Crap - Set 7 years after the events in Screw the Galaxy, much has changed on Belvaille. The days of mob bosses and gang wars are coming to an end because a new, much more sinister force is taking over: The Corporations.

With Belvaille no longer subject to Colmarian law, what better a place for big businesses to setup and move goods which are otherwise illegal?

The virtually indestructible Hank finds himself being pulled into multiple intrigues throughout the novel. Everything from waging war on a Corporation to settling a labor dispute.

Written as a sequel to Screw the Galaxy, Basketful of Crap is written to stand on its own. Some references are made to Screw the Galaxy, but the characters and multiple storylines (plans within plans within plans, to steal from Frank Herbert) in Basketful of Crap are fleshed out well enough that reading Screw the Galaxy is not a prerequisite (although recommended, because it’s a good story as well).

If anything, the characters have more depth in Basketful of Crap than Screw the Galaxy. Much is learned about Garm’s past, and as the story unfolds, one cannot help but develop a sense of empathy for Hank once the true cost of his mutation is revealed.

In the right hands and with the right cast, Basketful of Crap would make a fantastic movie. It’s very easy to picture Kate Beckinsale playing the role of Garm and Dwayne Johnson (a.k.a. The Rock) as Hank.

Fast-paced and perversely humourous Hard Luck Hank: Basketful of Crap will keep you turning pages and is a story that can be enjoyed time and time again.



Geronimo Stilton Volcano of Fire: Book Review

Reading is a past time that many kids and adults alike enjoy. As a parent, I understand how important it is for a child to read. An avid reader myself, I have tried to instill my children with the same love that I have for books. Reading helps foster imagination, and builds vocabulary, and with Scholastic, buying books is easy!

Having an eight year old boy, makes reading a challenge from time to time. I am lucky he enjoys to read for the most part, and loves for me to read with him and/or to him. With him, reading comes naturally, and for that my husband and I are both blessed and lucky. However, the best way to get him to read is to throw him into a fantasy- dragons, wizards and the like are a fool proof way to get him to read.

Geronimo Stilton. The mouse with a taste for adventure is at it again in the fifth installment of The Kingdom of Fantasy set. Geronimo goes back to the Kingdom of Fantasy to rescue the Princess of Fairies. With the Volcano of Fire reawakened time was of the essence. Through the help of an enchanted  medallion given to Princess Sproutness by Queen Blossom, Geronimo and his friends are able to get out of some sticky situations.

This book is not only well written and entertaining but even as an adult I love the adventure! Twist and turns, you never know what that silly mouse will get himself into, AND out of! We cannot wait to read the rest of the books, and are so excited to have found a new series for our son!

Find Scholastic:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Scholastic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/scholastic
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/scholastic/
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/TheScholasticChannel

Review: Parragon Books: Muddypaws and the Birthday Party and Bunny Loves to Write

*** Product was received for free in exchange for an honest review. ***

PARRAGON BOOKS

It’s time to start thinking about Back-to-School!  Parragon Books eases the summer break transition and gives children a head start on the new school year with a wide variety of children’s books including storybooks, chapter books, educational workbooks, activity books and more! Children can get ready for back-to-school by practicing their reading skills with these select Muddypaws and Bunny Loves titles.

Muddypaws and the Birthday Party: Ben and his puppy Muddypaws do everything together. On Ben's sixth birthday, Muddypaws gets in trouble and can't understand why they put him outside!

This beautifully illustrated and heartwarming tale of a boy and his sidekick is fun for children of all ages. Early readers will love reading along as Ben and Muddypaws learn a few lessons about friendship and understanding.

Click Muddypaws and the Birthday Party to purchase on Amazon.

Bunny Loves to Write: Buster Bunny loves to read. And when hes given a notebook and pencil, he discovers that he loves to write, too! Children are encouraged to use their imagination and creativity in this exciting picture book with a story and doodles by Buster himself.

Click Bunny Loves to Write to purchase on Amazon.

More about Parragon Books: We publish a wide variety of children’s books including board books, storybooks, novelty books, chapter books, reference books, educational workbooks, activity books and picture books. These books are published under a range of brands including Parragon, Goldstars™, Just Josie, Will Solvit™, Bright Sparks ™ and retailers’ own proprietary brands.

We publish books licensed from a number of well-known brands in various markets around the world. Brands we’ve collaborated with include: Disney, Dora the Explorer, Ben 10, Discovery Kids, Power Rangers, Barbie, Sesame Street, Marvel and Squinkies. Titles featured on our website - and many more! - are available at all major book retailers.

Today Parragon operates in over 35 markets around the world, has offices in 10 countries, and 2000 titles are published every year covering 26 languages.

For more titles from Parragon Books, please visit http://www.parragon.com/us/books/category/kids.  You can also keep up with Parragon Books on Facebook and Twitter.


Our Thoughts
My son loves his books, and at age 4 he wants books for his age range.  The Muddypaws and Bunny Loves books are perfect for ages 3 - 8.  While he has always loved books, it used to take him awhile to warm up to any new book.  Not so anymore!  As soon as he saw the books arrive he wanted them read to him.  Since we were leaving on vacation the day the books arrived, I packed them to take with us.  They were both the most-read books on our vacation!  In fact, he loved them SO much I've already had to tape a few pages back together . . .

Bunny Loves to Write is a cute, imaginative book about Buster the Bunny writing his own story.  I loved that Buster's friends were so many different animals, and that they helped him along the way.  The pictures are nice, colorful, and bright - important for keeping any child's attention!

Out of both titles, Muddypaws and the Birthday Party was our favorite!  I have a special love for dogs and the author certainly must have had at least one well loved puppy to capture the thoughts and feelings of Muddypaws so well.  I really appreciated the subtle details that make Muddypaws such an adorable character!  The funny thing is, I think what *really* made the story for me was the ending, that Muddypaws gets his yummy sausage instead of being fed birthday cake.  My dog has a wheat allergy, so that means a bit more to me. ;-)

Big thumbs up from me and my son! :) Especially, I know if I see another Muddypaws title when I'm shopping, I won't hesitate to pick it up!


***Please note that I received no form of monetary compensation for this post. The opinions expressed in the review are my own and were not influenced in any way.***