Advent Activity Calendar

I really like the idea of Advent--the idea of building excitement for Christmas.  Growing up, we had the simple cardboard advent calendars... just the plain cardboard with picture windows.  I was envious of friends who had the sort with little chocolates already packaged in the calendar.  Sure, I knew it really was lame chocolate that tasted like wax, but that wasn't the point. 
I was further green not with holiday spirit, but true envy when I saw that my best friend had an advent elf holding 25 little boxes. Her mother lovingly selected some candies, toys and other cute little trinkets to fill 25 little gift boxes. I was sure I wanted something like this for my kids.
I searched high and low, and never really found the advent elf of my dreams (for the price I was willing to pay).  I decided I would make my own.

Initially, I saw a pinterest post using envelopes--that could be cute, but I'd have to remake each year.  Next, I saw these cute little magnetic tins--but there would be expense in 25 little favor tins, magnets, etc.  Next, I was going to use holiday fabric scraps and sew 25 little dated pouches for treats. But the more I thought about 25 little treats, the more I realized that my son didn't need extra sugar each night when I was attempting to put him to bed.   Based on the clutter in his room, he doesn't need 25 small toy trinkets that won't be played with that much either.  But I still LOVE advent calendars.  If the idea of Advent is to prepare for Christmas, then why not make a calendar of activities we do to get ready.

My solution, which as you can probably guess, went through several phases of development.  The finished calendar is a line of twine tied across the double doors in in our kitchen eating area.  My son and I decorated enough clothes pins.  We've added numbered "Countdown" tags.  Using lots of fonts, I made various colored circle shapes in Word, each containing a different Christmas prep activity.  I used a craft punch to cut out the circles--though I was a little disappointed in how this turned out---with the large circles you have to be close enough to get the whole circle punched, but if you cut away too much excess before punching, the cut doesn't come out clean.  I backed my computer prints with another circle from patterned scrapbook paper to add a little stiffness, but you could likely start with card stock in the first place and skip this step. The very crafty could probably do stickers and all sorts of embellishments to make this idea super cute. I even thought we could set up a second smaller tree and add the tags to the tree each day.  As the tree filled up, we would be closer and closer to Christmas.

Each day, we do one Christmas prep activity, then hang that circle on our line.  Some activities are more involved--like decorate the Christmas tree, make various holiday treats, etc.  Others I intentionally kept simple--like color a Christmas picture, or sing a Christmas Carol, so on busy days we can "do" something, even when the day is already pretty full.  I also have tried to get "giving" in the mind of my 4 year old, which really has not been the easiest task--but I keep trying and maybe some day it will register. 

The activity circles are premade and waiting in a basket.  They are in a random order, so we will do what we can when we can--I didn't want to "lock in" the order by hanging them up in advance (with our family, sometimes you just have to do what you can, when you can). I made plenty of extra blank circles so I could write in random activities that fit the bill, but weren't planned.  I also made more than we needed so we always had some options.

We've just recently started, but I find that the calendar is helping me pace myself a little.  We don't have to do every Christmas thing at once, but we can space it out and enjoy the holiday season.

If you'd like to make your own DIY Advent Activity Calendar, here are some of the activities I used.

Visit Santa

Write a letter to Santa

set up Christmas tree

Play in the snow

Take a walk (drive) to look at Christmas lights

Family movie night

Make cookies

Go Sledding

Decorate sugar cookies

Wrap presents

pick out a present for someone else

PJ day

String popcorn (to decorate the tree outside)

Make paper chains

Sing Christmas carols

Listen to Christmas music

Read Christmas books

Set up the Nativity

Watch Christmas specials

Have hot cocoa

Travel to grandma's house

Decorate the tree

Hang up the stockings

Make a Christmas ornament  (I made several tags of this, because I have a few ideas stashed away)

Give money to Salvation Army bell ringer

Snuggle by the fireplace

Make Marshmallows

Read The Polar Express, then watch the Movie

 

Give away one of your toys

Make chocolate covered pretzels (you can substitute with your standard holiday fare)

Make truffles

Make cherry cordials

Make peanut butter balls

Make toffee 

Color Christmas pictures

make roasted pecans

Make popcorn balls

Make snowflakes

Make felt ornaments

Make candy cane ornaments

Put up a wreath

Make something with jingle bells

Make a Christmas wish

Go skating

Call someone to wish them Merry Christmas

Record yourself singing a Christmas song.

Go to Sawmill Creek to see lights

Go to the Zoo to see the lights

Go to a Christmas festival

Go to Bronners

Adventures in the ER

I am not a medical professional.  Please do not take any of my rambling opinions as sound advice.

I hate how I so often second guess whether it is right to take my son to the ER.  In the past, I have felt like I've waited and waited... tried to treat him at home, use home remedies to bring down the fever, put him in a steam filled bathroom to ease his breathing.  Only when it became painfully obvious that my efforts at nursing were failing did I take him in to the hospital, at which point they give you the "why didn't you bring this kid in three hours ago" look.  I'm sure medical professionals aren't nearly that judgemental, but as a mom, it's easy to feel guilty.

Yum. Homemade Ice cream

I've always had a sweet spot for ice cream.  Lately we've been making our own at home.  It's really pretty easy once you have an ice cream maker. We bought ours at the end of last summer when they are heavily discounted.  I think we only paid $15 for a 4 qt maker.   When you factor in the cost of cream, making ice cream at home probably isn't any cheaper than just buying it at the store.  But I prefer the taste of homemade, and feel slightly better knowing exactly what is in the ice cream without those unnesissary additives.

Over spring break we made Mint and Chip Ice Cream using this recipe from Allrecipes.com http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-mint-chocolate-chip-ice-cream/

Original recipe makes 2 quarts                   

Makes servings USMetricAdjust Recipe (Help)

•  2 cups 2% milk                                                                     
•  2 cups heavy cream                                                                     
• 1 cup sugar                                                                     
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract                                                                     
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract                                                                     
• 3 drops green food coloring (optional)                                         
• 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

 

The recipe is really simple, just put all the ingredients together, and process according to your machine's instructions. You should delay adding the chips.  We waited until about 15 minutes in to processing, but you could wait until the end too, probably.  It was so simple I had my two year old lend a hand.  He was super excited.  He liked the green food coloring part the best--well he liked the green food coloring second only to sampling our creation.

 

When we bought cream for the mint ice cream, I forgot what I needed and we ended up with too much.  Not a problem.  We just made an extra batch of ice cream.  This time, we tried Strawberry.

We used Emeril's recipe  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/fresh-strawberry-ice-cream-recipe/index.html

• 1 quart fresh strawberries, washed, stemmed and quartered
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 cups half-and-half
• 1/2 vanilla bean, split in half and scraped (we just used vanilla extract)
• 6 egg yolks (because I don't read carefully, we used the entire egg... not noticeably bad outcome)

Directions

 Food process the strawberries and 1/2 cup of the sugar. Process until smooth. In a saucepan, over medium heat, combine the half-and-half and sugar. Bring to a simmer. In a small mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth.  Temper eggs. Add the yolk mixture to the liquid and whisk. Bring the liquid back to simmer and continue to cook for 4 to 6 minutes or until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat and stir in the strawberries. Whisk until smooth. Pour the mixture into a glass bowl and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the mixture.  Cool the mixture completely. Process the mixture according your machines instructions

 .

Because of the cooking required for the eggs, this wasn't nearly as two year old friendly as the first recipe.  Cooking with the eggs results in a very cus

Spring Break: Getting ready for spring

Spring Break started Friday at the Toledo Zoo.  Little man had the day off from day care, so it was time for a family picnic at the zoo.  During the day, they had special Easter egg themed activities for the animals and story times for the kids.  We just liked that for a change, it was a sunny day to get out and walk around.
While at the zoo, we stopped at the polar bear exhibit; one of little man's favorite stops.  He really likes to point out that there is water in the exhibit.  There was a large crowd around the polar bears, as the two adult polar bears, in Little man's words were "wrestling."  They were playful, it was all very fun and cute.  That is, it was fun and cute until the two polar bears decided to do their part to keep the polar bears off the endangered species list.  Lets just say, the crowds around the polar bears dissipated quickly.
Later that night, Little Man and his cousin met at Grandma's house to color eggs.  This was an interesting experience.  The concept of gently placing eggs in the color was a little lost on them.  Splashing commenced and the newspaper below was very colorful when all was said and done.

Saturday was spent with my family.  We took our bird nest treats (see this post) I also made a hot artichoke and spinach dip that was amazingly simple to make. Alton Brown's Artichoke and Spinach Dip Recipe. 
Little man and his cousin had a great day.  After nap time, they had a blast searching for Easter eggs in my parents back yard.  We did an Easter egg hunt last year too, but I was surprised by just how much he remembered.  He didn't need a reminder as to why he should go gather Easter eggs this year--he knew what was inside!  Little man had a zigzag method to searching that must have burned tons of energy.  He would spot an egg at the edge of the yard, then come back for one near the house, only to spot another at the far corner of the yard.  His cousin was far more methodic in her approach.  Surprisingly, they ended up with the same number of eggs. 
After eggs we played Frisbee and blew bubbles outside.  It could have been a little warmer, but we couldn't have asked for a better day at the rate nice days have been coming.

Easter was spent driving up to visit Little Man's other Grandma up north.  We hadn't planned to go because Grandma is recovering from surgery and we didn't want little man to cause her to "overdo it."  We decided to travel the night before, on the suggestion of my father who said that grandkids were probably the best medicine out there.  They still have snow up North, but it was totally worth it to surprise grandma. We sent little man in the house first, to a grandma who didn't even hear him come in.  It wasn't until she looked up from the deviled eggs she was making that she noticed he was standing there, smiling.  That may have been the best part of spring break.

When we arrived home, we noticed that our first crocus bloomed. This week we are tackling some major outside projects.  I know it's too early to plant outside, but I really can't wait for spring.  It wasn't a hard winter hear, but it just seems like winter won't let go quite yet.

New Year's Resolutions

I often make a mental list of things I'd like to do better in the new year. Naturally, I usually fail on some level not to meet all of my expectations.  Perhaps this is what makes New Year's Resolutions so cliche. Because it's a mental list, no one really knows if I disappoint myself by not fulfilling my obligations. So this year, I'm going to strive for a limited list.  There's a laundry list of improvements to be made, but the goal is to try to stick to at least these few.  Putting them in print some how makes it seem more binding.

1) I need to live a more healthy life.  Better diet, more exercise, fewer excuses about why I don't do either.  I will lose 50 pounds this year--that's an average of less than a pound a week, which somehow makes it seems like an attainable goal.  I want to try a new recipe at least once a month too.

2) One book completed in a month--no more of this putting off, reading 3 books at at time and finishing none--12 books this year minimum.  Look for more blogged book reviews.

3) More meaningful communication.  I never write people as often as I mean to.  Once upon a time I called friends weekly.  With Jack as my crutch, I've really slacked in this department and I can do better to foster the relationships which mean the most to me. I want to improve my blog writing too.  I have neglected to post many of the thoughts and experiences I would have liked to.  This year, I will do better.

4) Be more appreciative.  I will make a concious effort to let people know how much they are valued.  I will not take what I have for granted. I will be more generous and share my blessings with others.  
 

How about you?  Any resolutions you feel like sharing?

MMM.... Butter

It's official. Peanut is his grandmother's grandson.  His Paternal grandmother is a certified butter addict.  At dinner, the woman can go through multiple packs of butter on a single dinner roll.  Butter on steak, extra butter on the mashed potatoes... you get the idea.  In all fairness, my own family members are strong proponents of the creamy light yellow pats of heavenly delight as well. 
Little Man recently found two ways to express his fondness for this cholesterol inducing miracle food. Last week Jack learned to move and climb chairs.  While I was out of the kitchen, he moved the chair, climbed to the table and acquired a spatula from the counter top.  He proceeded to turn and attack the butter dish left on the table, which here to fore, had been beyond his grasp.  Next thing I know, I return to the kitchen to find Jack licking butter by the spatula full.
Last night Jack and I visited my parents where we partook in some of the first sweet corn of the season, which was surprisingly delightful for being so early in the year.   Anyway, Peanut doesn't do hot foods--so Grandpa gave him a half eaten half cob, that had previously been buttered and salted, while I pulled a hot cob to begin cooling.  Little Man is absolutely mad about his corn--on the cob any way.  He smashes in to the corn.  I'm not sure exactly how much he actually gets in his mouth, but he has the best time using all of his amazing teeth.  Anyway, when the second unflavored cob was cool, I offered it to Jack.  After just a few bites, he handed it back to me--a very odd occurrence, given how much the kid loves his corn.  Apparently his love of corn, is now second only to his love of butter, which he instantly began pointing at.  Once I'd slathered a light coating over the cob, he ferociously attacked his cob with the zest of a true victor.
 Unfortunately, not even butter will make him love broccoli.

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Hodgson Mills Grain Holiday Contest & Giveaway

Hodgson Mill® is a family-owned company with more than 125 years’ experience producing all-natural, delicious, healthy, stone-ground whole grain and organic foods made from premium quality ingredients and milled in small batches to retain each grain’s nutritional benefits. Hodgson Mill® products include: flours, corn meals, gluten-free flours, baking mixes, pastas, cereals, and more. Since 1882, Hodgson Mill®’s family of employees has been stone-grinding 100% whole grain to create wholesome, naturally healthy food – with no artificial preservatives, additives or colorings.

This weekend was one of many cookie weekends for my family.  From time in memorium, December means baking.  We must go through multiple batches of at least 6 different varieties of cookies--and trust me, this is pared down from what we used to make.  We used to make so many Christmas cookies, we had frozen cookies that would last well in to February.

This year, I'm trying to do something a little bit better.  I'm trying to bake with more whole grains.    I've had a few disasterous botches with whole wheat flour.  I've learned that it doesn't work just right in Spatzles or in our crepe recipe.  Inspired by the Hodgson Mill's "Have a  Grain Holiday" Contest, I attempted to make cookie with Whole Wheat flour.  Competing with 49 other bloggers, I've attempted to create a delicious and nutritious holiday recipe using Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Flour and/or Hodgson Mill Best For Bread Flour.  I'm competing for the chance to win exciting prizes including an iPad 2, gift certificates to Williams Sonoma, and gift certificates to the Hodgson Mill online store. 


Here's my recipe. I was amazingly pleased with the results.


Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies


1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon Cinnamon 
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Flour
2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)




1)Cream the sugar, butter, shortening, eggs and vanilla. Mix in Cinammon, baking soda, salt and flour until smooth.  Stir in Oats, chocolate chips and walnuts.  Works best if you allow dough to chill in fridge for a few hours or over night


2) Drop dough by the tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake in preheated 350 oven for 9-12 minutes until edges are slightly brown.


3) Cool slightly then remove from cookie sheet and place on cooling rack.
Makes about 4-5 dozen


Do you have lots of holiday baking to do? Wouldn't you love to give this recipe a try for yourself? If so, enter below for your chance to win a $25 gift certificate to the Hodgson Mill online store.

Until December 25th, you can also stop here: http://www.hodgsonmill.com/grainday-thank-you/ for a chance to win one of 50 Hodgson Mill gift packs containing $85 worth of Hodgson Mill products!





I received samples of Hodgson Mill products in exchange for my entry in "Have a Grain Holiday Contest." Official Contest Rules  from Hodgson Mill can be found here: bit.ly/sWjRtv
I received no additional compensation in exchange for this review.  All opinions expressed here in are my own. 

Something about Silver Review and Giveaway

I am so excited to be able to bring this opportunity to you!  I recently had the good fortune to review a handmade necklace from Something About Silver.  The necklace I received is from the "Little Gems" line.  It is quite possibly the cutest silver necklace customized with Peanut's name and birthstone.  It is a dainty 5/8th inch disc in diameter, which really works for me--anything much bigger would seem a little gaudy.  We only have peanut, but you could add as many discs if you wanted to.  It's absolutely gorgeous and I seriously love having a reminder of my little guy with me all day.

I'm very in to personalized gifts, and Something About Silver excels with personalization.  For example, I love this one  with a quote from "Guess How Much I love you?"  Peanut has three copy of this book, one from my shower, one from his grandma, and one of those recordable hallmark  books as read by my best friend.  Anyway, a very sentimental choice that I'd love to add to my jewelry box.


Or how about a grandmother's necklace?  I  know my mother always wanted one--one with her kids, and her grand kids.  This just might be the Christmas I finally get her one.

Speaking of Christmas, I absolutely LOVE this baby's first Christmas charm.  I wish we had found this last year instead of settling for something that was a little generic.  I love the little feet!

I know I showcased mostly necklaces, but they have bracelets and rings too---even a "something for him" category.

How much would you love your own "Something about Silver treasure? 

Buy it:  Visit www.somethingaboutsilver.com and use the coupon code kathrynmcgowan to earn 10% off your entire purchase.


Win it: Use the Rafflecopter form below for a chance to win a $40 gift code to customize your own special silver creation.


This product was provided by Something About Silver in exchange for my fair and honest review. No monetary compensation took place.  All opinions are my own.

Something Sweet about the Holidays

Listening to the radio on the way to work, I heard both inspiring and depressing news about those wonderfully sweet holiday favorites.  They were running down a list of the holiday treats that are the absolute worst for you.  Topping the list were my favorites egg nog and pecan pie. 
Where's the upside?  One of the radio co-hosts mentioned his personal philosophy for surviving the holidays.  He made a pact to ignore calories from November 1-Jan 1.  They simply don't count.  That way he can enjoy the holidays.  After that, it's back to health conscious business as usual. 
I don't know that I need that excuse, but seriously, for my family, the holidays equal food and lots of it.  I try to be good, but some of these food are only made once a year.  So although I will probably hate myself in January, I don't think I'm going to be able to make it through the holidays without sampling my favorites.  Perhaps portion control is a more realistic strategy?  One cookie instead of three....

One of my all time favorites has always been pecan pie.  It's so sweet a gooey and crunchy and wonderful.  I only make it once a year, but it is sooooo good.
This is the recipe I follow:
1 cup light corn syryp
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons soft butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups pecans
1 9 inch unbaked pie shell

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 
2. In large bowl, mix corn syrup, eggs, sugar, butter vanilla, and salt. Fold in pecans. Pour filling into pie crust. 
3. Place foil around crust edge to keep from burning.  Bake for 60 to 70 minutes. Top should be golden and carmel color.  Center should spring back slightly when touched. Cool before serving.  Serve with a cup of hot coffee!

Do you have a favorite sweet recipe, especially one using Karo syrup?  Would you love to win a trip to Chicago?  If so, head over to their facebook page and enter the Karo Syrup "Tis the Season" sweepstakes by entering your favorite recipe.  The winner and a guest will spend New Years eve at the Wit Hotel, dine at Mastro's Steakhouse and take a chocolate tour featuring Sarah's Pasteries and Candies. 

Disclosure: I was entered for a chance to win a Karo Syrup prize package in exchange for this post.  No monetary exchange took place. All opinions are my own.

Endorse!

I've been trying Endorse! for well over a month.  It sounds promising, and has potential, but I haven't seen it work well for me yet.

In case you don't know, Endorse is an application through Facebook that encourages you to shop at your normal stores and buy your favorite brands.  In theory, they will pay you for it --anywhere from 2-10% back.  If you share with your friends (the store or brand) and they follow along, you can earn even more. Once you reach $25 in your Endorse account, you’ll be mailed a check.

The way it works is you click the “endorse” button on your favorite things, buy them as you normally do in the real world, and then send in your receipts as your “proof of purchase.” (They provide a free return envelope!)  I returned an envelope a month ago--and still nothing.

You can also get your endorsed and purchased products for FREE by getting 5 others to do the same. After you endorse a store, you can then share it to your friends. When they click on the link, endorse, and buy, you get the “credit” for their purchases. If 5 do so, you will be reimbursed for your ENTIRE trip.  

However, when it sounds too good to be true, it likely is.  I mean, what's in it for them?  I sent in my receipts, but still no progress.  I'm starting to worry that this is just some sort of scam.  Maybe these stores feel that if they have our receipts, we won't be able to return holiday merchandise.  That might be worth 2% to a store, right? 

Has anyone actually tried this?  Does it really work?  I even thought maybe I should try endorsing other folks things, in hopes of building them up the magic five.  I hope this helps someone, because I'm not as wowed and amazed as I hoped to be when I first signed up.

If you are still among the Endorse faithful or are interested in giving Endorse a try, simply follow the links below and “Endorse” the stores you regularly shop at:

 Target

Kroger

Whole Foods

Gymboree

Meijer

Walmart

If you'd like me to endorse any of your items, I'd be glad to reciprocate the favor. 

Oral-B Stages Party! #OralBStages

Kat's Adventure Book was super excited to get to host an Oral-B mommy (and daddy) party! We've hosted a sponsored house party before, but never a mommy party--so we were all super excited. We invited cousins, family, friends, and co-workers with little ones.  There were tons of kids with there moms and some dads too.  We had a blast.

The party kit provided  the Winnie the Pooh DVD.  Before the movie, we played a few games with the kids, especially a super fun flashcard game that helped get the kids excited for the movie and reinforced the idea of good oral hygiene.  We talked about the toothbrush, and toothpaste, and even the dentist.  

To their credit, some kids did watch the movie.  Most, like my son, are super active kids.  They alternated between video watching and game playing. The kids had the best time getting together to play.  Having so many kids together, they were able to entertain themselves, which meant more time for the parents to talk.    

As parents we talked brainstormed ideas for taking care of our kids teeth.  Some said their pediatrician say they should see the dentist when the first tooth comes in, other said their dentist didn't want to see kids until they were at least 3.  My cousin said that she was encouraged to bring her daughter to her cleanings, to help her get used to the dentist by seeing Mommy do it. We haven't yet taken peanut to the dentist, but we have used a clean wet cloth or finger brush to clean up after he eats (we should probably be more consistent than we are).  

Lately we've been having trouble getting peanut to cooperate with brushing.  I was relieved that some of the other parents had the same problem too.  They recommended turning brushing time into a game.  They sing special brushing songs.  They also recommend modeling good brushing behavior by brushing with your kids.  Finally, many agree that having age appropriate brushes like the Oral B stages with characters that their kids love helps to make the time a pleasurable activity and not a chore.

What movie would be complete without concessions.  We had popcorn--which in no way came close to Cadillac 5 movie theatre popcorn, but we made due.  We also had Rabbit's Favorite Carrot sticks, Piglet's Parfaits--yogurt and fresh sliced berries layered in clear cups, Pooh Bear's Bagel Pizzas  and Peanut's favorite, Eeyor's Cheerios--served in paper cups with Eeyore stickers.  In short, we all ate our fill and still had plenty of left overs!

When the movie ended, it was definately getting toward nap time for some of our youngest guests.  Each kid received an amazing goodie bag to take home.  I was so thankful I had taken the time to prepare the bags in advance.  Each bag contained an Oral-B toothbrush (either Stage I or Stage II depending upon the child's age), a tube of Oral-B toothpaste featuring Disney Princesses or Pixar Cars or Toy Story characters, Winne the Pooh lavender scented baby wash, coupons, a fact sheet, and a balloon.  The kids all seemed to really love these pre-Christmas presents!

Personally, our favorite item in the goody bag has been the bottle of Lavendar Disney Daily Renewal Baby Wash---it just smells so good.  The first few days we used it, we couldn't stop sniffing peanut's hair.  We also love the Stages toothbrush--it really is perfect for his small hands.

We all had a great time and would love to thank Oral B, Disney, and MomSelect and MommyParties for providing us with this wonderful opportunity!

 
Be sure to follow Oral-B on Facebook and twitter, and Crest on Twitter too to keep up with their latest news and updates!

 If you would like to learn more about MommyParties, please visit their Facebook page.

*I was chosen by MomSelect and Oral-B to host this party. I received free products to keep and to distribute to my guests. All opinions expressed are honest and my own.  They were not influence in anyway.  No form of monetary compensation was provided.

Book Review: Forge

Forge is the sequel to author Laurie Halse Anderson's acclaimed Chains  and the second inThe Seeds of America trilogy. In Chains, we meet Isabel and Curzon, two slaves struggling for freedom.  While Chains focuses on Isabel's tale, Forge is told through the eyes of Curzon.  Set in Revolutionary America, we follow Curzon as he again finds himself a private in the continental army.  Through battling the British at Saratoga, to fighting to survive the elements during the winter at Valley Forge, Curzon becomes a well-research character of historical fiction. 

Compounding their struggles, the runaways Curzon and Isabel find themselves again under the ownership of Master Bellingham, providing a new meaning to the fight for independence. One must acknowledge that the tale of slavery during the revolutionary era is one that is sorely underrepresented in history and literature as a whole and especially true of works for younger audiences.  Particularly compelling  for young readers are the arguments between Curzon and his contemporaries as they debate the issues of race, and what a war for independence really means for all american patriots. 

In her storytelling, Anderson strives for authenticity.  The characters are careful to describe their living conditions, food, etc.  One has the feeling that Anderson is writing a "living history" in disguise.  Without patience, the reader is liable to become annoyed with the repetitive use of 1776 style slang.  As a former history teacher,  I find the concept good, but the execution contrived.  Too often, the reader looses sight of the real drama behind the story the author is neglecting to tell when she focuses too much on the the history lecture. As a book that will tie in to historical studies of the revolutionary era, Forge outdoes itself.  However, valued strictly for its enjoyability as an independent read, Forge fails to  make its mark.
Overall Grade: B-