There is nothing better than a shady spot, a comfortable chair, an icy cold lemonade and a good book. In fact it has just been proven that reading is good for your health. According to an article in Thursday’s Globe and Mail, Literacy Key to Longevity, by Andre Picard, the single best predictor of good health and longevity is being able to read.

New research published this week by the journal of Health Affairs has found people with a post-secondary education increase their life expectancy by about seven years. It seems that being able to read is the foundation of a good education, and educational achievement is a good predictor of income. The study found three factors - literacy, education, income are powerful determinants of health.

Did you know British Columbian’s are the healthiest people in Canada? Think it’s from going around hugging all those trees or chowing down on granola? No. Apparently it’s because we have the highest number of educated people.

In view of these recent findings, it’s only fitting that today’s blog be devoted to kids’ books and my mother, a primary reading specialist, who devoted her life to teaching kids to read.

For today’s picks, I have gone to my two favourite sources, Kid’s Books and Ruth Flannigan - a youth pastor, for their favourite kids books (ages 7 to teen).

Here are their recommendations:

7 - 10- year-olds:

• Danny, Champion of the World - Ronald Dahl
• Ella Enchanted - Gail Carson Levine
• The Sarah Plain and Tall Series by Sarah MacLachlan
  • Sarah Plain and Tall, Skylark, Caleb’s Story, More Perfect than the Moon, Grandfather’s Dance
• Because of Winn- Dixie
• Tales of Despereaux and The Miraculous Journey - Edward Tulane
• The Tail of Emily Windsnap
• The Game - Diana Wynne Jones
• Nim’s Island - Wendy Orr
• The Diary of Wimpy Kids -Jeff Kinney
• Spiderwick Chronicles

10 - 13-year-olds:

• Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer
• The Lost, The Dark Ground - Gillian Cross
• The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters - Rick Riordan

13 - 16-year-olds

• Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy - Ally Carter
• Right Behind You - Gail Giles
• Ring Master - Julia Golding
• Cathy’s Book (very cool interactive book complete with phone numbers and web addresses)
• Snake Head - Anthony Horowitz
• When Irish Eyes are Smiling - Suzanne Supplee
• Leonardo’s Shadow - Christopher Grey
• Mad Dogs, The Sleep Walker - Robert Muchamore
• The Clique Series - Bratfest at Tiffany’s - Lisi Harrison

My favourite adult book this year is Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. This is one book that both my husband and I loved and found incredibly inspirational. A must read.

Do you have a favourite you’d like to add to our list? Just leave us a comment. I’d love to know what you’re reading.

Here’s to your health,

Julie

If you are still trying to figure out what to do with all those pictures you took this summer, you may want to consider making a photobook or a calendar, and here’s why.

Last Wednesday’s blog, Picture This, talked about putting together photobook. A representative from Chapters Indigo saw the posting and is offering the first three readers a $10 coupon to try their service. Actually he offered them to me, but I am giving them to you, so you can try their service and tell me what you think about it. Send me an email at julie@cottagedaily.com if you are interested.

Calendars

If your family, like ours, is into making calendars with your digital prints, you may be interested in the following offer from Future Shop. This promo is only available to new Future Photo members. Go to www.futureshop.ca to enroll, membership is free, and you can make a calendar for free, a savings worth $19.95. Shipping may cost extra. The only stipulation is, you have to make the calendar within 60 days of signing up.

I like these calendars because I can personalized them with family member’s birthdays and anniversaries.

Fall CottageLife Show

One other item I would like to bring your attention to is, the Fall Cottage Life Show, taking place November 2 - 4, 2007 at the International Centre in Toronto. For those of you who live on the west coast, you may wonder why I am promoting this show. If you are thinking of doing major cottage renovations or are building a new one, the fall show focuses on building, renovating and decorating. It’s the only show of it’s kind in North America, and unlike other home shows, this one is geared to cottage and cabin owners. You can get a coupon for $2.00 off admission in this month’s issue. Besides, spending a weekend in Toronto really isn’t that bad.

Cheers,

Julie

It’s the end of the summer and like most people, I have 100’s of photos trapped on my digital camera and even more on my computer’s hard drive. I like the instant gratification I get from my digital cameras; I no longer need to print off pictures to see what they look like, but if my hard drive crashes, so do all our family memories.

Organizing my family photos has become an onerous task. I am really good at emailing them, but when it comes to printing them off and actually placing them in an album, I am at least five years behind.

Fortunately, there are some really great online solutions for preserving our cottage holiday.

Photo Books are hard cover photo albums that you design online. I can transfer my digital copies directly to the book all from the comfort of my home. I can insert captions or comments, design the layout and chose the theme. It’s kinda like on-line scrap booking, only you end up with a nice coffee table style photo album. I can even put a title on the front of the book, i.e. Horne Lake 2007’s Summer Adventures. The best part - I can order as many of these as I like. One for my collection, one for the kid’s and their grandparents (a nice Christmas present).

The cost to create an 8X8 book starts at $29.99 US. Soft cover ones are cheaper and start at $24.99 Cdn. I would like to do one of these at the end of every summer for our cabin and include all the events and visitors for that season.

There are a number of companies who provide this service: Future Shop Photo, Chapters.Indigo.Photobook, but my favourite company is Shutterfly. They are based in the US but they offer a greater variety of photo books, and I prefer their style selections.

Another option for my photos other than the traditional album is a calendar. Traditionally calendars go from January to December, but I can design one that starts anytime and include lots of cottage photos.

I can also set up my photo album online Flickr.com is probably the best known and most popular online photo sharing site.

I am excited about creating a photo book of our family. If anyone has done one, or has other ideas for storing your digital pictures I would love to hear from you.

Cheers,

Julie