A friend recently told me "It seems that you love children's books as much as I love chocolate!" And it is true - my love for children's books is close to an addiction. Every time I walk into a children's bookstore, I can't walk out empty-handed and I certainly can't walk the aisles without peeking at every new cover.

So when I recently picked up a copy of Feeding Penny Pig, I was hooked on the concept and knew that I wanted a copy for my own daughter. Filled with beautiful illustrations and bright, crispy pages, Feeding Penny Pig is the story of a little girl, Laney, who learns about the importance of responsibility and earning money. Laney receives a very special piggy bank as a gift from her grandmother, and she learns that her piggy bank is very hungry for coins. Through taking care of the piggy bank, doing chores and earning money, Laney begins to understand the concept of responsibility at a young age.

The book is ideal for children three years and older who are ready to learn about money, doing chores and earning an allowance.

I contacted the author, Jeannine Fox (or "Mimi" as her grandchildren call her) to inquire about her inspiration for the story.

Annie: What inspired you to write about a book about understanding money and its related responsibilities for young children?

Jeannine: One of the first things I bought for my first grandchild when she was born was a $5 piggy bank. It sat on her dresser for three years hoping people would put coins in it. The book just came to me one day as I was thinking about Laney's fourth birthday coming up. I wrote it in 30 minutes and there has been very little changed. It seems to have taken on a life of its own and I realize now that, even though my life has seemed to push me into finance, my heart has always been to be a mother, and now a grandmother which is so much more fun. I'm hoping to do other books, all focusing on responsibility - it can be fun!

I feel like I'm being given the opportunity to do what I was born to do: Teach kids about being good, responsible citizens. Part of that is learning how to handle money.

Today, the future for our kids doesn't look as bright as it did for my kids.

We can't do a lot about what has happened to the finances of our country, but we can prepare our children to accept responsibility for their own lives and prepare for their futures. The JumpStart Coalition is working on high school students, and even Warren Buffett has indicated that he intends to do some things there. However, while I think that's great and needs to be done, habits which are started when a child is in preschool and elementary school seem to last and be easier to instill. That's what I'm hoping to do.

Annie: What is your best piece of advice for give parents raising young children?

Jeannine: Best piece of advice: This is more as a grandmother - When your grandchildren are around, don't plan anything else. Play with them - puzzles, games, tea parties, etc. As a mother: Forgive yourself for not being perfect, love your kids unconditionally and listen more than you talk (my biggest challenge).

To purchase this fabulous book or Mimi's other educational products, visit her website. In addition to stocking Mimi's book, the site is chock full of adorable piggy banks, educational DVDs, puzzles, books, games, toys and responsibility charts. It also has a very creative sections on fun food recipes to make with kids!

I hope you enjoy Mimi's books and activities as much as we have!

And just to let readers know, this will be my final post for the Tranquil Parent. I recently started a private practice in Denver, CO, and I am busier than I ever imagined, so I will be spending more time with my blossoming practice! I have really enjoyed blogging for the website and interacting with my readers, so thank you so much for your support and interest.

We have a lot of children's books. Jeremiah and I are each borderline bibliophiles. When we moved to Texas from San Francisco we shipped back 37 boxes of books. Thirty-seven. We've since pared down our personal collection to books that we love and absolutely must own but they still over-fill a wall-sized bookshelf.

We seem to be passing on our love of books to Z. Through a combination of books collected from library sales ($20 for a paper bag full!), used book stores, and gifts, we've filled a bookcase for Z. The great majority of these books are actually age-appropriate for her now - we do have limited space so we tend to not buy books that she isn't yet ready to read. As freeschoolers (we homeschool Z but don't use a curriculum), we want our daughter to have access to a wide variety of books and these books have basically replaced our curriculum purchase. (And yes, we do make heavy use of our local library as well.)

About a month ago, we cleaned our her bookcase and got rid of books she's too old for now or that ended up not holding any of our attention. While we were doing this, we started to try to organize her books. We wanted a way to easily find a few broad categories of books, with a visual cue that made it easy to select a book based on a broad type of book Z or we wanted to read or look at, particularly for narrow-spined paperbacks that can easily get lost on a bookshelf. We had an interesting time figuring out what those categories might be for a five-year-old and the way they use books. Ultimately, we selected categories based not on traditional topic categories but on the kinds of books we'd like for her and us to be able to quickly access when we're looking for something to read together or when she is browsing alone. We ended up with four functional categories to label, with the remaining books left unmarked. This required some discipline, because I've always had a fetish for book organization. But we didn't want to create a system that existed for its own sake, or that built up walls between areas of exploration. The categories we selected are:

• Science books: Nonfiction books dealing with science topics, at varying levels of complexity. Many of the Let's Read and Find Out series here.


• Math books: Fiction and nonfiction that introduces simple math concepts, ranging from counting and numbers to books about addition, multiplication, and money.


• First readers: Z is rapidly learning to read and we identified books she might have the most success with during reading sessions and solo attempts over the next several months.


• Seasonal books: Books that are steeped in a particular season of the year. A lot of the early grade science we currently do revolves around observing and interacting with the natural world, and the seasons play a large and obvious role in that, so we try to keep relevant seasonal books in the mix for our family reading. Geography and the earth-sun relationship are also natural topics to explore in this area.

We know ourselves well enough to know that we won't put them back in the proper section if we tried to divide them by areas of the bookshelves (and what happens when a book is too large to fit in a particular section?) so we decided to put colored stickers on the spine. I wasn't thrilled about the idea of marking a book this way but Jeremiah convinced me it was okay because most of them aren't collectibles.


Notice how well the stickers help identify book categories in narrow paperbacks!


Tiny books were placed in a box of their own and tall books are on top of the shelf with bookends.

The problem now, which you may have noticed in some of the above photos, is that the stickers that we used - simple round stickers from the office supply store are peeling up and then they come off or stick to other books and have the potential to create chaos in our system. We may tape them down or we may seek out stickier stickers. But we're pleased with the overall concept and think it will help Z as she begins to explore books more and more on her own, in addition to the daily reading we do together.


If you have a large collection of children's books, do you organize them in any way? How do you keep them organized, or otherwise make sure that in a large collection, good books get noticed and children have access to what they want to read?

If you have watched Oprah, walked into a bookstore or read the New York Times in the past year, then you have probably heard about the latest trend in cooking: sneaking pureed fruits and vegetables into kids’ favorite meals such as casseroles, pizzas, muffins and desserts. The introduction of two new cookbooks, The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals by Missy Chase Lapine, and Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Foodby Jessica Seinfeld, have recently popularized this concept for many American families.

However, these books carry a lot of controversy along with them! Health professionals and parents have argued that we should not be "tricking" our children, but many mothers and doctors point out the recipes simply add a nutritional boost to kids’ favorite foods. I have a two-year-old daughter who loves her raw fruits and veggies, but my vegetable-averse husband acts like he is allergic to anything green or orange! So, I tried both of these cookbooks for our household, and here are my pros and cons from the perspective both of a mother and wife and of a dietitian.

Pros:

• Both authors encourage the use of highly nutritious ingredients such as whole wheat flour (instead of white flour), wheat germ, healthy nuts and cooking oils.


• The cookbooks provide educational information such as the nutrient analysis of popular fruits and veggies and the top 12 most important foods to buy organic.


• In every completed recipe, the nutritional value of each meal is improved, even if only slightly, in fiber, vitamins and minerals.


• Many of the recipes appeal to stubborn adults (e.g. my husband) who are guided to eat based on taste and eye appeal rather than nutritional content.


• You don't have to be sneaky to your family about the recipes - feel free to be honest and tell them the truth about the hidden blueberries in the tacos!


• It doesn't have to be a permanent way of life; consider making 1-2 meals per week by using pureed fruits and vegetables.

Cons:

• The amount of pureed fruits and vegetables in each recipe may not significantly increase the nutritional content of the final product. Some recipes call for only half a cup of pureed vegetables for four servings of food - the equivalent of only two extra tablespoons of veggies per person.


• It is extremely important to keep children exposed to the beautiful and bright colors of fruits and vegetables, so they will know that fresh broccoli is bright green and carrots are deep orange.


• Let’s be honest - lying to your children should be discouraged.

My final advice: I would suggest adding pureed sweet potatoes to mac n' cheese and carrots to your spaghetti pie, but please consider serving a side portion of sweet potatoes and zucchini in their true natural and beautiful form. And if you are going to make French toast for breakfast tomorrow morning, why NOT add a spoonful of pureed pumpkin or sweet potato to boost the vitamin A content of an otherwise low vitamin A meal?

Also, if you don't want to spend the time pureeing fruits and vegetables, consider high-quality frozen purees. Homemade Baby is one excellent brand - I've been a consultant on dietary matters for the company for a while.

Have tried these recipes at home? How did your kids or spouses react to the modified meals? How do your kids feel about "real" vegetables, and how do you encourage them to eat enough of them? Share your story with us!