For fans of 39 CLUES…a contest

This just came into my mailbox…

Scholastic Media and Post Cereals Join Up Again for THE 39 CLUES®  “The Lost Pages” Promotion

Following the successful THE 39 CLUES® “Race to Win” sweepstakes earlier this year,  Scholastic and Post Foods LLC today announced the second wave of the 2010 promotion in conjunction with the release of the 10th and final book in the bestselling multi-media adventure series THE 39 CLUES®.

Beginning this month, “The 39 Clues: The Lost Pages” promotion will be featured on 4 million packages of Honeycomb, Alpha-bits, Golden Crisp and Waffle Crisp. The boxes – which will feature all ten books of The New York Times best-selling series – include an exclusive story about “The 39 Clues” protagonists Dan and Amy Cahill – and ask consumers to enter a secret code at www.The39Clues.com/mycards <http://www.the39clues.com/mycards> to get 6 free digital cards that jumpstart their own clue hunt.

The 39 Clues is a groundbreaking multi-media adventure series for children ages 8-12 that spans 10 adrenaline-charged books / audio books, hundreds of collectible game cards, and a website that allows readers to play a role in the story and compete for prizes.   There are more than 8.5 million copies in print – which has been on the New York Times series bestseller list for 55 weeks.  The online game has logged more than 1.1 million registered users to date – drawing readers and gamers from all 50 states and 191 countries worldwide.  Movie rights for The 39 Clues have been acquired by DreamWorks Studios with Steven Spielberg eyeing to direct and Deborah Forte of Scholastic to produce – and the series has been licensed for publication in 24 languages. Scholastic Media recently launched The 39 Clues Madrigal Maze App for the iPhone™ and iPod touch®, which has been ranked among the top “Paid Kids Games” on the App Store since release.

Talking Baseball…

Not sure what to do tonight without the World Series…sleep might be a good idea!  All of this baseball reminded me of one our Platinum Award winners, Testing the Ice, A True Story About Jackie Robinson written by his daughter Sharon (published by Scholastic) . Read our review.

Really? …Star Wars Death Star for Babies

I love Star Wars…and if you’ve noticed, Star Wars toys often find their way to our award list even though technically they violate our “no violent or aggressive toy” rules.  It’s fantasy after all.

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However, I have to draw the line at a board book  – marketed to babies and toddlers – STAR WARS Spaceships (Scholastic).  What could this possibly mean to children under the age of two?  Is knowing and naming the different parts of the Imperial fleet important?  How about more basic knowing and naming concepts like cup or banana?IMG_0883

Most outrageous really is the last page…here’s one you certainly will want to share with your baby on your lap….Let’s all say it together…

“Death Star ….This spaceship has a dangerous laser. BOOM!” IMG_0884

I certainly get mass merchandising as a concept…but this one goes too far.

Pure silliness!: Klutz's Invasion of the Bristlebots

This time of the year with all of the toys pouring in for review, it takes a really unique product to make me laugh out loud!  I just took a look at Klut’z new toy/book – Invasion of the Bristlebots.  Imagine an oversized head of a tooth brush–attach a motor– and then imagine that someone thought of lots of silly things you could do with two of these little creations.  You can paint, you can add cut outs, you can race…you get the idea.  We have not gotten a safety certificate yet on the toy portion of this toy…but I wanted to share.

Our favorite dogs…

Now that Bo has happily arrived at the White House…here are some of favorite toy dogs just in case bringing home the real thing isn’t in the cards…

Biscuit was on our Platinum List last year and still keeps us company in the office.  He’s extremely sweet but still pretty pricey.

New for Spring, from the same Furreal line is a smaller and much more affordable Lil’ Patter Pup.  If  the Gabor sisters were going to have a  toy dog, this would be it…of course that dates me…so if you’re Paris Hilton…you get the idea. There is a Shih-Tsu and a Pomeranian…both bark and unlike Biscuit, they do walk!  At $29.99 they are  a good buy.

We also still love Lucky–who is bigger than Lil’ Patter Pup and does many of the same tricks as Biscuit. Lucky is from Zizzle.

And if a low tech pup will do the trick, we love the new Spot from Kids Preferred. This oversized delicious doll is $29.99.

And if you’re looking for a great book on dogs…I’m biased but I highly recommend my mom’s Have You Seen Dogs?