Summer Reading List | Books that are Movies! | MapleSeeds Home Blog

I'm really trying hard to have some activities organized for my kids before summer starts. I'm not one of those people who believes they need structure all day every day, but with how much they squabbled last summer, I want to be prepared this summer! Last summer we read through The Chronicles of Narnia books, well at least the ones that had a movie that went a long with them. My oldest son is a reluctant reader, so attaching a movie to the book was something he thought was totally cool. So this summer I am creating a reading list of books that have been made into movies! I'm going to aim for 10 books, but there is a good chance we won't get through them all, but this can always carry over to next summer as well. My son will be heading into third grade this fall, so the books are for ages 7-12, some are classics, some are adventures some are fantasy themed. I will be reading the book aloud to all the kids. 

I browsed around on PINTEREST, and the WEB for some ideas of books that were movies and made a list of about 20 books, here is what I have narrowed it down to for this summer's list:

• OLD YELLER (Fred Gipson)    (book)    (movie)
• SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON (Johann D. Wyss)  (book)    (movie)
• WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE (Maurice Sendak)    (book)  
• WHITE FANG (Jack London)   (book)   
• THE NEVER ENDING STORY (Michael Ende) (book) (movie) 
• THE WIZARD OF OZ  (Franks Baum) (book)  (movie)  I'd love to take the kids to see the new animated OZ movie as well. 
• TREASURE ISLAND (Robert Louis Stevenson) this version is abridged (book) (movie)
• THE SECRET GARDEN (Frances Hodgson Burnett) (book)   (movie) 
• MARY POPPINS (Dr. P.L. Travers)  (book)  (movie) 
• THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAYWER (Mark Twain)  (book)   (movie) 

Most of the books I plan on buying, but the movies I will rent or borrow from our local library. 

Here are some other books that we have already read and watched:

The Chronicles of Narnia

Where the Red Fern Grows

Charlotte's Web

I also have younger boys and I may do a few books for them that are cartoon movies:

• The Jungle Book
• The Iron Man (The Iron Giant)
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant
• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 

I'd love to hear your suggestions for reading books that are movies! 

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Grilled Corn Guacamole | MapleSeeds Home Blog | Recipes

I'm the only one in my household that likes... LOVES guacamole! The other night my husband and I went out for dinner and I ordered some guacamole as my appetizer. My husband kept dipping into it,  so I said, "I thought you didn't like guacamole". To which he responded, "You never put corn in it." Hahaha, well I do now! Here is my copy cat version of Ch*lli's corn guac!

Ingredients:

1/4 large yellow onion diced

1 small tomato chopped 

1 jalapeño 

2 avocados

1 c frozen corn kernels

1 T cilantro

2-3 T lime juice

salt and pepper

olive oil (for cooking onion, corn)

1 T olive oil to drizzle over guacamole

In a HOT skillet, in olive oil sauté the onion, make sure you get a good char on it. Let cool. 

Repeat the same thing with the corn, get it nice and charred, YUM! 

 Chop tomato, jalapeño, and avocado.

Pour on olive oil, lime juice, salt, pepper and cilantro. Mix well and enjoy! If you like a less chunky guacamole use a fork to mash the avocado. 

Try not to eat it all at once!! 

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Printable Lunch Note Cards | MapleSeeds Home Blog

Anyone else get a little depressed this time of year?? How about a little pick me up, especially for the little people in your lives! I whipped up some printable lunch cards today. These would be great for your kids, but you could put them in your spouses's lunches also :)

Click HERE to get them!

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