Monday, November 2, 2015

23 Things to Do Before You are 11 1/2 and Other Great Book Titles

Quarto Children's Publishing USA is the place to look if you're shopping for children's books. Chock full of interesting and amazing titles, these hardcover selections are also gorgeous to look at and fun to read. We recently ordered a large selection of books from them, and I wanted to share them with you. One of the books, 23 Things to Do Before You are 11 1/2 (funny title, right?) instantly grabbed the attention of my 8yr. old, and we have been building and contemplating projects from that book every since. See the results of our first project below. 


This is the book. Besides loving the title, we also love the content. Inside there are all kinds of projects to do. Some are easy enough for the kids to do alone, others (like the Go Kart) require adult supervision.

We decided to attempt the Super Solar Oven, one of the easier but still very cool projects included in the book. The idea of this one was to show the kids how solar heat could be used to cook an egg.


We gathered our supplies, all supplies that we already had in the house, and went outside to get things going.


Here my son is gluing foil on the sides of the big box. You can see he's already cut and lined the smaller box with black construction paper (black absorbs the heat).


And here he is putting the final touches on it. He's crumbling up the newspaper to fit around the gaps between the big and the little box.


When the solar oven was ready, we cracked the egg, and covered it with the box top we made, complete with a plastic covering. Then we went to the park to play for an hour or so, while the egg was cooking.


When we came back, the sun had completely moved, leaving our eggie in the shade!! I was going to move the whole contraption over to get the hot sun on it again, but little man checked it...


by picking up the entire egg, lolol!!!  He ended up a gooey mess. And the egg did not get cooked. We could see, however, how the sun had started to cook it when it was still hot. We will be attempting this one again, earlier in the day when the sun isn't going to move so quickly. :)


That is just one of the many great books offered by Quarto Children's Publishing, USA (note, there are tons of adult sections too on the Quarto website). There are books for teaching, exploring, crafting and just flat out entertaining.


The selection on the Quarto website is extensive. There's sure to be something (or many somethings) to catch your eye.


My 8-year old was loving, How to Build a Car, a new release book that teaches not only mechanics, but also friendship and team work.


The illustrations are fun in this one too, and I think if this were 'The Outsiders' the mice would definitely be Greasers. ;)


He's also loving this big book, A Journey Through Space. This one includes a poster too, and it tells informative facts about each planet.


I wish I would have taken a picture of the funny little spacecraft that flies around on a lot of the pages. Every time my son saw it he would break out in peals of laughter. It's just a little boy in a spaceship, but my son thought it was hilarious that he kept turningshowing up as we were turning pages.

This is a good book for quizzing too. My son retained a lot from this book, and that makes me happy.


The World Famous Cheese Shop Break-In had a touch of humor as the mice kept trying to break into a cheese shop and ending up in other stores instead. The end was a surprise twist that gave us a good chuckle.


Daddypops was definitely a determined, if not successful cheese burgler. ;)


Spot the Reindeer at Christmas is a great winding-down book for the kids. It's a snuggle-time-on-the couch kind of book, as you huddle up together and try to find the reindeer on each of the pages.


This is a generously sized book too, so it would be amazing for gift giving.

We liked all of our books, and will absolutely be shopping Quarto Publishing in the future.

You can learn about these selections, and many of the other great books too over at Quarto Publishing, by visiting their website here. You can also follow them on Facebook and/or Twitter.

51 comments:

  1. How fun. That egg cooking one is awesome. Too bad you didn't have enough sun. Cool though. When you do it again, post the cooked egg.

    These are such great things to get the kids interested in the simplest things.

    Have a fabulous day. ☺

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  2. Both of my boys love doing experiments like this. I think they NEED this book.

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  3. Ok that solar oven is the best. I want to go make one now.

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  4. That's so awesome! My daughter is 6. And I know she'll want to read these things should do before 11. Me too!

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  5. Fun books. Sorry the oven didn't work the first time.
    What happens if he combines a couple of those and builds a rocket ship?

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  6. These look like great books and I think I need to get the first book for my 9 year old.

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  7. My nephew loves science and he'd enjoy this one. Sorry the sun hid from the egg. I'd love to see photos when/if that one works.
    Howdy, Rosey. Be well, my friend.

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  8. These book titles look so fun! My daughter would love the cheese shop one!

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  9. Great post dear! Have a wonderful day:)

    irenethayer.com

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  10. haha they sure sound like fun books. The title with the 11 and 1/2 really grabs you too. Great idea.

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  11. Great Book .. I like the Illustrations . These are all great things to do at 11 1/2

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  12. What if you're a little older than 11-1/2?

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  13. Those are some great books. My son is about to turn 11 in just a few weeks so I'm sure he would love that book. He's also a big reader.

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  14. Wow, this looks like a fantastic selection of books! There are no better gifts for kids (or anyone) than books.

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  15. My niece loves books like Spot the Reindeer at Christmas. She has a bunch of them!

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  16. It's really cool that you were able to do one of the activities with household items. I hope the experiment goes more smoothly next time!

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  17. Kids love hands on activities like this. I bet this book would make a great Christmas present!

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  18. These books all sound terrific. I especially like the idea of the learning projects. Sounds like the sort of things I used to do with our son's cub scout den when I was den mother. (I had as much fun as they did!)

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  19. That's a great title! I remember making one of those solar type ovens to roast hot dogs in my 2nd grade class. I think I should try that project with my girls next summer!

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  20. 23 Things to Do Before You are 11 1/2 would be a great book to have. My kids have to do a project for a Science Fair every year, so we're always on a hunt for something to do. I love the visuals to.

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  21. We made solar ovens with my students! How fun and great books too

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  22. Fun books - perfect for stocking stuffers. Davey would love to make a car.

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  23. Oh these are definitely library worthy!
    I love especially the 23 Things to do before you are 11 1/2 :)

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  24. I'm too late.

    http://joycelansky.blogspot.com/2015/11/ww-never-too-old.html

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  25. What a great looking selection of books!!! Wow, I want the 11 and 1/2 one for us :)

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  26. These sound like great books. It's books like these that can really get kids hooked on reading.

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  27. This is the kind of things that my kids would love to do. My daughter will be eleven next year and this is perfect for her.

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  28. This looks like a amazing book collection! My boys are 4 and 8 we read together every night! I will have to check some of these out for them :)

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  29. Oh yay! I can't wait until my daughter can read these kinds of books. I am pinning this to a books board i have on pinterest so i can remember!!

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  30. This would be perfect for us. We are always trying to find new science experiments to do. We love to see what will happen.

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  31. oh my gosh. that 11 1/2 book is so awesome. My eldest is turning 11 in just TWO weeks! I'll have to get it for her!

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  32. Those look like fun books. I have a nephew who would love these books.

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  33. My son would love these! These are going on my buy list for Christmas!

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  34. What a great book! Kiddo is going to be 11 in January and this would be the perfect Christmas gift for her. How cute.

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  35. These books look awesome! My girls will love them. They are always wanting to do science experiments.

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  36. These would be great for my twins who are nearing 10. They love hands on projects and such!

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  37. These books look like a lot of fun. Perfect Christmas gifts for all of the little ones for sure!

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  38. I bet my son would love that book about how to build a car and that book about space. He has always been fascinated by those two. Those would be great Christmas gifts for him :)

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  39. What fun books! My sons would really love them, they're into experiments and whatnot.

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  40. How fun, these book titles look pretty great. My kids love to read and love doing experiments and making/building things! This would be cool! - Jeanine

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  41. Too bad there wasn't enough sun to fully cook the egg, was he super disappointed?

    Tracy @ Ascending Butterfly

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    1. No, he wasn't. We knew when we were walking back to it that the sun had moved. The whole area was shady, so we suspected. Next time we will stay close by and go when the sun is at its hottest. :)

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  42. My daugher is almost 12 so that book would be perfect! PLus, who doesn't like doing experiments?

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  43. Those are some cute books. I bet my daughter would love them.

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  44. Those are some good books! I love the "How to Build A Car" one, I'm pretty sure my boys would love it.

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  45. These books look like a lot of fun. I know my nieces kids would love doing some of these projects. Books make for a great socking stuffer too.

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  46. What a fun books! My son would totally love doing some of those projects for sure. My son loves dinosaurs so I bet he would enjoy a book all about them.

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  47. The 23 things to do before your are 11 1/2 is such a cute title, and my nephew is 10...maybe I should get him this! I also like the Find the Reindeer book. We like titles like that.

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  48. Aw this is such a great idea! I love the books! Cant wait until my kids are older!

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  49. What a fabulous and informative post! Homeschooling four boys, so many of these would come in handy! Thanks for sharing!

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  50. I am always on the look out for great books! I have a son that just turned 11. The 23 Things To Do Before you Are 11 1/2 sounds like the perfect Christmas present for him. I can't wait to get it. Thank you for the great idea!

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