I was given two beautiful David A. Carter pop-up books to review and it’s been a treat to read them!

White Noise: A Pop-up Book for Children of All Ages is the fifth and final installment in the author’s acclaimed color series. Each page features a special design that reaches high above the page.

From the press release: “Each spread features modern, elegant paper structures that fans and critics have both come to love, but this time with a twist! Each spread also creates a unique sound!”

Snow Bugs: A Wintery Pop-up Book (Bugs in a Box Books) is equally beautiful, but published in a smaller board-book design which appeals to younger readers. Children can open doors and flip pages to reveal colorful pop-ups and touchable surfaces that give loads of sensory input.

It’s a perfect gift for your favorite toddler or preschooler.

From the press release: “Carter’s wacky Bugs are also back, and snow days have never been so much fun! With hilarious text and pup-ups on each page, having a snowball of a good time with the Bugs is the perfect way to stay warm during the chilly days.”

I would consider each of these books a work of art, particularly White Noise. The full-size pages of the book make the pop-up artwork especially beautiful, and something that will tickle the senses of readers of all ages.

My daughter turned 13 last week and one of the many rites of passage that comes with teenager-hood, is the legal ability to open a Facebook account.

While I have many concerns about this as a parent, I also know that for the next several years I will have significantly more influence over my daughter than I will for the rest of her life after she graduates. And it occurs to me that it’s better to empower her to make good choices while on the Internet, than to ban her from those potentially dangerous opportunities. Since I wrote a book about youth empowerment, I suppose it would also be hypocritical to block her access to avenues, like Facebook, when done in the right way, its use can be a positive way to network and build relationships.

So I’ve written a contract for my new teenager, with guidance from a lot of my Facebook friends who have already established boundaries for their kids, or have thought about the guidelines they would use.

FACEBOOK (FB) GUIDELINES

I agree to abide by the Facebook guidelines above, and include parents in addressing FB concerns. All terms subject to change by mutual agreement. I understand that if I do not follow them, my Facebook privileges will be suspended.

Do you have any other suggestions? I hope this helps other parents out there who want to empower their teenagers to use Facebook in a positive way – please link to this post and share with all who might benefit!

The National Service Agency recently announced funding to engage students in service-learning and this could be a great opportunity to start research-based middle school programs, like SPARK Peer Tutoring. The grant funding totals $1 million dollars and will support innovative summer-time service-learning programs for students grades 6 through 9. GRANT PROPOSAL IS DUE DECEMBER 10.

The Corporation for National and Community Service announced the 2010 Learn and Serve America “Summer of Service” grants competition, implementing a new program authorized under the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act.

“These grants are geared to funding programs that will ignite the spark of civic engagement in students at a critical point in their lives,” said Nicola Goren, acting CEO of the Corporation. “Getting involved in service at a young age will start students on a path toward life-long service while at the same time, they address pressing needs in their own communities.”

According to the the press release, the Corporation anticipates awarding five to seven grants to support collaborative efforts to implement community-based service-learning projects during the summer months. To qualify for funding, projects will have to provide students with service-learning experiences that address environmental or disaster preparedness issues relevant to the community served and teach or reinforce academic, civic and leadership development for participants.

Participants must complete at least 100 hours of service through the summer program and are eligible to receive a $500 education award in return for their service that can be used to pay for post-secondary education expenses. .

Eligible applicants include state education agencies, state service commissions, U.S. territories, Indian tribes, institutions of higher education, public or private nonprofit organizations, faith-based organizations, public or private elementary or secondary schools, local education agencies, and consortia of such entities.

For more information, please visit Learn and Serve America. The deadline for applications is 5 p.m. EST, December 10.

Have you ever had a conversation with your child and seen him “light up” with enthusiasm? Maybe you were talking “rocks” or “math problems” or “starting a book club.” I wrote about one of my daughter’s sparks last week, as we prepared for the HCHY conference in Cincinnati.

Every child has “spark” — that thing that energizes him or her. Visit 5 Minutes for Mom to read this month’s Positively Speaking column, based on Peter Benson’s book, Sparks: How Parents Can Ignite the Hidden Strengths of Teenagers. I’m giving away a copy of this book, so be sure to enter the contest by commenting over there.

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This week, Darla and I are headed for Cincinnati, to the Healthy Communities/ Healthy Youth Conference. I’ve attended this conference many times over the years and have always been inspired and motivated after leaving it.

My kids have often come with me as well, usually helping with my exhibitor booth for Empowering Youth. In the photo below, Darla is only six, as she hands out brochures to conference attendees at the National Service Learning Conference in 2002.

And at last year’s HCHY conference, she even facilitated a breakout session with me (photo above), based on my book, Empowering Youth: How to Encourage Young Leaders to Do Great Things.

But for the first time, this year Darla is the headliner for our breakout session. She was named a Youth Leader for Literacy last year, and as a part of the project, she’s promoting her neighborhood book club idea, Bookworm Wednesday. She’ll present the ideas put forward in her article series, “How to Start a Book Club” and together we’ll facilitate small-group activities to help participants begin to visualize this kind of project in their own communities.

I remember a time about eight years ago when I had just started my company and was assembling SPARK Peer Tutoring Handbooks in our screened-in porch. As I laminated cards and collated papers, I watched my young children zip around the backyard in their battery-operated Jeep.

In my mind’s-eye, I had a vivid flash of those same kids in high school, traveling with me to speak at conferences and school districts around the country. I remember smiling to myself, thinking, “That would be so cool.”

And it is.