Visits from Grandma and Grandpa are always full of excitement and fun! Tonight there will be a slumber party with sleeping bags and everyone brushing their teeth! Share the lighthearted side of keeping teeth clean as her grandchildren help Grandma clean her pretend teeth. Join author Elaine Van Ackeren in showing Grandma how special her teeth are and how much she is loved.

Includes statements, stories, poetry, and illustrations created by children about their grandparents.

"A grandma is old on the outside andf young on the inside" John Wright Age 7.

“[Halima Bashir’s] mesmerizing tale of against-all-odds endurance is a piercing lament—and a clear-eyed call to action.”—Vogue “This memoir helps keep the Darfur tragedy open as a wound not yet healed.”—Elie Wiesel, author of Night Born into the Zaghawa tribe in the Sudanese desert, Halima Bashir received a good education away from her rural surroundings (thanks to her doting, politically astute father) and at twenty-four became her village’s first formal doctor. Yet not even Bashir’s degree could protect her from the encroaching conflict that would consume her homeland. Janjaweed Arab militias savagely assaulted the Zaghawa, often with the backing of the Sudanese military. Then, in early 2004, the Janjaweed attacked Bashir’s village and surrounding areas, raping forty-two schoolgirls and their teachers. Bashir, who treated the traumatized victims, some as young as eight years old, could no longer remain quiet. But breaking her silence ignited a horrifying turn of events. Raw and riveting, Tears of the Desert is the first memoir ever written by a woman caught up in the war in Darfur. It is a survivor’s tale of a conflicted country, a resilient people, and an uncompromising spirit. Praise for Tears of the Desert “This is a brave book. And a valuable one. Halima’s story of the atrocities and immeasurable losses she has endured must be told.”—Mia Farrow, actor and advocate “Vivid, poignant and brutally candid . . . Tears of the Desert is that rarest of literary endeavors, not just a book you read but a book you experience.”—The Washington Post Book World “An extraordinary memoir . . . Halima Bashir’s bravery contrasts with the world’s fecklessness and failures.”—Nicholas D. Kristof, The New York Times “Searing . . . Tears of the Desert gives voice to the unspeakable.”—USA Today “Powerful, harrowing and brave.”—The Economist “A luminous tale of growing up in rural Darfur . . . a wonderful and moving African memoir.”—The New York Review of Books

To most people, the very word grandma conjures up images of old, blue-haired women in a flower-print apron and wearing sensible shoes in the kitchen, baking cookies. But times have changed. In her book Don't Call Me Grandma! A Guide for the 21st-Century Grandmother, author Ilene Leventhal dispels the stereotype of the so-called typical grandmother. Today's grandmother is so much more. They are socially active and even text and e-mail. They bring a whole new definition of cool, proving once and for all that some things never go out of style. Don't Call Me Grandma! is a handbook for the new generation of grandmothers, as well as mothers and even mothers-in-law. Blue hair has been traded for younger cuts, our baking for trips for fun fast food, and the flower-print aprons for tennis skirts, matching tops, and cute boots. Don't Call Me Grandma! A Guide for the 21st-Century Grandmother shows how to break out of that "old" image, and still bake cookies if you want. You can become someone who knows how to relate to her grandchildren. Your grandchildren will never think of you simply as "grandma" ever again.

This book is about the ability to just close your eyes and be here with me. No more pain from being in a wheelchair, chemo, abused, or just lonely. Children will be safe in my book. It will teach them to use their imaginations. I hope it helps all the children who read it or have it read to them. It is for all colors of children, no matter the race. We all have a guardian angel, and most have their own beliefs. Not trying to change anyone's beliefs, just to have fun and kindness. No special religion in my book.