It’s a crying shame that as a busy mother and business owner that I don’t have time like I used to to simply delve into books at my leisure. I spend so much time working and mothering that books far too often fall to tenth and eleventh place in my priority spectrum. That said, I want to let you know about two upcoming memoirs that just may move up to sixth or even fifth place.

Michele Norris, the beloved host of All Things Considered, has penned a memoir, The Grace of Silence, about race, but in doing her research she unearthed hidden secrets from her own family. It sounds like a great book. In fact, it has been heavily endorsed by Henry Louis Gates, Gwen Ifill, Tom Brokaw, Richard Wolf and Doris Kearns Goodwin. With their recommendations I know it’s good!

And, Condoleeza Rice is back in the limelight with a book about her family, Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family. I have been wondering where in the world she has been hiding. Apparently behind a computer screen like the rest of us.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Spring is just around the corner and for young ones who are just beginning to learn their colors, Raindrops: A Shower of Colors is an excellent board book to teach them about animals and the various hues of the rainbow.

More and more I judge toddler books primarily by their illustrations.When my daughters were quite young their little eyes feverishly gazed across the pages of vibrantly-colored books. And while their young ears heard the stories the illustrations really told the story. That said, the illustrations in Raindrops paints the entire story beautifully and the wording is ideal for young children whose brains are constantly learning new things.

What I love most about Raindrops is each page has a see-through raindrop of its respective color.

Why I love this book: Raindrops: A Shower of Colors is a perfect book for young children to read alone when they’re sitting on the floor using their tiny fingers to explore their piles and piles of board books. The illustrations in Raindrops are vibrant enough to capture and keep your child’s attention and the story is simple enough to teach them new insects, animals and colors without overwhelming them or taking away from their favorite things: pictures!

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I really, really, REALLY love my iPhone, but I can’t help but think the new Microsoft 7 Phone looks extremely appealing. I haven’t seen one in person. The only thing I know about it is what I have read and watched online, but I’m thoroughly intrigued.

Check it out at  www.windowsphone7series.com

I have been wanting to read “The Help” for about three months. A couple of weeks ago when I was in the airport on my way to Chicago I almost plunked down $24.95 for a hardcover copy, but couldn’t bear to do it because I knew I could get it somewhere, anyway cheaper. Then it dawned on me that I can read it as an ebook and save a lot of money and that’s what I’m currently doing. I’m reading “The Help” on my iPod Touch and it only cost me $8.55 from Barnes & Noble.

I took a few photos today to show you the Barnes & Noble eReader app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Please forgive my images. I am a horrible photographer.

The Barnes & Noble eReader coming on.

Here is my list of books in my eReader. Barnes & Noble starts you off with a few free classic books. You can also download excerpts of books to determine if you want to buy them or not.

The Barnes & Noble eReader app allows you to choose several settings for your reading convenience. You can choose the font size, font, line spacing, margins, justifications and you can also change your theme. For example, I like to the daylight theme which is white background and black text. Some people like it reversed. You can also turn pages with a simple swipe across the screen or by tapping.

One of the things I love the most about this app is as you’re reading you can bring up options such as highlighting text, adding notes, using the dictionary, and even searching Google and Wikipedia. And you can also bookmark where you are in your book.

This is the first time I am really using the Barnes & Noble eReader app. I’ve heard people talk about it, but I wanted to give it a try myself. So far, I really like it. Surprisingly I don’t have trouble reading books on my iPod Touch, even though I thought I would. But despite the convenience of the mobile app, it looks like it won’t be long before I must have this:

To download the mobile app or download it to your PC or Mac visit www.barnesandnoble.com/ebooks

Ain’t Nothing but a Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry by Scott Reynolds Nelson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Even though Ain’t Nothing But A Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry is a children’s book I had a real problem putting it down. That is certainly not to say the content will fly over the head of children. Rather, the content is so stellar it will keeps kids and adults alike riveted to the pages as the author recounts his quest to find the real John Henry. Read more after the jump.

TECH

On Christmas Eve I decided to take my TwitterPeek with me when I went shopping to see how it worked. I received the TwitterPeek to review and I wanted to take it out into the field, so to speak.

The TwitterPeek is a device that allows you to mobile tweet only. You can’t check your email and you cannot surf the Net. The only function of the TwitterPeek is to use Twitter.

Although I had some initial problems with it because apparently you can’t use the same email as the one that’s synched to your Peek ( if you have one), the TwitterPeek proved to be a great device, especially for those who can’t tweet from their phone.

The TwitterPeek allows you to see tweets come in, respond to tweets, write your own tweets and see your @ mentions. Additionally you can see images that people upload into their Twitter stream and read links.

The TwitterPeek is exceptional for people like me who refuse to pay for an iPhone or any other smart phone. I have an iPod Touch and Wi-Fi is not always available. The TwitterPeek does not need Wi-Fi in order to connect to Twitter and just like the Peek (its email-only counterpart), its range is very good. I never experience a spot where I cannot connect unless I’m in an underground subway or at baggage claim in an airport where it is way underground.

One of the things I don’t like about the TwitterPeek is it takes forever for tweets to load. I called customer service and they told me tweets update every 4-5 minutes, which is an eternity for people like me who are used to stellar Twitter apps like Tweetie 2 and TweetDeck.  And I also noticed that I didn’t receive all of my @ replies which is the most important feature to me. If someone @s me, I want to @ them back immediately.

In all, because the price and the service plan is very reasonable ($99.95 for the device and six months of service; $199.95 for the device and lifetime service) I recommend getting  the TwitterPeek especially if you’re the type who enjoys tweeting on the go and you don’t have or want a smart phone to do it with.

On the Net: www.twitterpeek.com

(book review continued) Even though Ain’t Nothing But A Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry is a children’s book I had a real problem putting it down. That is certainly not to say the content will fly over the head of children. Rather, the content is so stellar it will keeps kids and adults alike riveted to the pages as the author recounts his quest to find the real John Henry.

We’ve all heard of John Henry, most probably in a chapter sidebar in a US History textbook during our elementary years. Although John Henry is a mere footnote in history to most of us, John Henry was a person who deserved real recognition, not the hyperbolized remembrances of a made-up hero to Scott Nelson. If John Henry was indeed a true person as opposed to a fictional Americana character, Nelson was going to find out.

In Ain’t Nothing But A Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry, Nelson uses historic accounts to pinpoint who John Henry really was and he takes his readers along on the serendipitous journey.

One of Publishers Weekly 2008 Best Books of the Year, Ain’t Nothing But A Man is a must-read for children who love history and their parents who want to teach them the joy in discovering people in our nation’s past.

View all my reviews >>

TECH

If you are looking to tweet when you’re on the go, you might want to check out the TwitterPeek. It’s the first dedicated Twitter client, allowing you only to tweet from it. You can’t check your email or upload pictures, but you can tweet, read tweets, read your @ mentions and also reply to your Twitter followers.

I am currently reviewing the TwitterPeek. Look for a review next week during Books and Tech Wednesday.

On the Net: www.getpeek.com

Harriet Tubman, Secret Agent: How Daring Slaves and Free Blacks Spied for the Union During the Civil War by Thomas B. Allen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Children grow up learning about the miraculous journeys Harriet Tubman took time and time again to the south to rescue slaves, but as children grow older they need to understand more about her life aside from her keen ability to evade captors and living up to her reputation as the “Moses of her people”.

Harriet Tubman, Secret Agent is a phenomenal book to help introduce your children to Harriet Tubman as a historic person who changed the course of our country’s history instead of simply a character who is only important during Black History Month. This book takes children into the depths of the Civil War and helps them understand the historic situation that culminated to pop off the War Between the States.

I was especially thrilled to see historic context in this book such as the professional and abolitionist relationship Harriet Tubman shared with key Civil War figures such as John Brown and Frederick Douglass.

Harriet Tubman, Secret Agent, also imparts how skilled Harriet was as a spy for the north during the Civil War and explains how essential she was to the victory of the Union.

I like that this book utilizes maps and real photographs to ensure the historic implications of Harriet Tubman is adequately felt by the reader. For children who love history and for those who need a lesson on Harriet Tubman in more than a one-dimensional fashion, this book provides exceptional material for both.

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Each day will be dedicated to a different topic, so three months from now when you want to find that amazing maternity dress I featured or the infant product recall you heard about, it will be easier to do. You’ll also be able to go through the archives as well.

So, without further ado, here are the topics I will cover each weekday. I hope you join me!