A large family, homeschooling, adoption, special needs, whatever strikes my fancy, sort of blog.

A large family, homeschooling, adoption, special needs, whatever strikes my fancy, sort of blog.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

The Sparkle Box review and GIVEAWAY

 

Today I'm reviewing The Sparkle Box, written by Jill Hardie and illustrated by Christine Kornacki.  This hardcover book with dust jacket from Ideals Books has a retail price of $19.99, which includes a folded Sparkle Box in the back of the book.


This book was right up my alley.  It's about a boy named Sam, who sees a shiny silver sparkle box on the mantle and wonders what is in it.

Christmas morning, his family opens the box, and Sam discovers that it is actually their birthday gift to Jesus!  Inside are slips of paper with the things their family has done to give to others during the Christmas season.

This very sweet book comes with a sparkle box that you can display in your own home to inspire members of your family to consider the less fortunate during the holidays.  Our family, for example, always purchases livestock from the World Vision catalog for a family overseas, and then adds the same Schleich animal figure to our ever growing Nativity Set.  You might participate in Operation Christmas Child or a food packing event or whatever best suits your family.

After setting up our sparkle box, I later snuck downstairs with a folded post-it note to put the first thing inside.  Last week on garbage day, while we were homeschooling, we heard a noise, and looking out the window, discovered a man digging in our recycling can.  He had a bag with him, and was collecting cans.  Brianna gave him a whole box full of Arizona and Monster cans she'd been saving in her room (don't ask me why).  He didn't speak English, so our communication was limited, but I thought it was awfully sweet of her to give when she didn't have to.

You can connect with Ideals Books on Facebook, and there's also a great activities and materials page where you can get ideas for continuing the lesson beyond the pages of this moving story.


The suggested ages for this book are 4-8, but Jack, who I read the story to initially, is 9, and I caught my 15 year old reading it, later that day.  I would say this is a family book that transcends the listed range.  

Ready for the giveaway?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I loved this book so much, I'm going to suggest you buy a copy, even if you entered the giveaway.  If you win, you can then bless someone you know with one of the books, maybe even anonymously, so they, too, can start a new family tradition!


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18 comments:

  1. What an absolutely beautiful family you have!!!!

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  2. Thanks for sharing your give away on my FB page! I love your question too, since my 8 year old is doing something that I'm very proud of! At Thanksgiving (we're in Canada, so our Thanksgiving was last month) we were talking about how thankful we are and how others aren't as fortunate as us and my 8 year old said she wanted to do something to help those less fortunate than us. Since then she has been collecting warm clothes to give away! We will be taking the women's and children's clothes to a Women's Transition House and the men's clothing will be going to a men's mission :) I love her big heart!

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  3. Thanks for the giveaway. I'm sure my kids would love it!

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  4. Our family donates toys to our local children charity.

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  5. help make food baskets so others will have christmas dinner

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    Replies
    1. That's a good one! Our church has done Thanksgiving boxes, too.

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  6. We pick names off a Jessie tree and buy gifts for our names! Then we help our church collect food and pack baskets for those in need for their holiday dinners :)

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    1. I don't think I've heard of a Jessie tree like that! I've seen the prison ministry one. You buy for the children of prisoners so their kids will have gifts at Christmas.

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  7. We donate food and gifts to our local food bank
    thanks

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    Replies
    1. How convenient that you can do both to one location!

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  8. We buy men's stuff and bring it to the local homeless shelter. We do this to remember Ron.

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    Replies
    1. That's so sweet. :( Most people think of the women and children.

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  9. We will be donating food to those in need and plan to continue even after the holiday season.

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    1. That's a great one. I love it when the mailman collects it, or the school does a food drive, because it is even easier not having to go drop it off.

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