THE MANHATTAN TOY COMPANY E-GIFT CARD GIVEAWAY

For years The Manhattan Toy Company has been amusing and delighting babies and toddlers with their Dr. Seuss,Groovy Girls, Winkel, Whoozit and Skwish products.  They are especially proud of a new toy collection just released in 2016 meant for children age 3 and up called MiO which has been getting some rave reviews. For those of you holiday shopping for a child between the ages of 1 month and 5 years old I'd strongly advise swinging by manhattantoy.com to check out what they've got. If you are a fan of Jim Henson like I am, make sure to take a peek at Manhattan Toy Company's Fraggle Rock Collection.

MiO toys combine whimsical beanbag dolls with classic building blocks and sturdy wooden vehicles or structures to help preschoolers develop motor skills and engage in imaginative play.  MiO toys range from a $10 pair of beanbag animals or people to $24 for a school bus + 2 people to $100 for the MiO Playing Eating Sleeping Working playset. The MiO collection is really starting to get some noteworthy attention with PARENTS MAGAZINE naming them one of the Best Toys for 2016!  Plus the PARENTS CHOICE, the gold standard when it comes to toy critics -- almost as prestigious as A GEEK DADDY -- awarded the MiO Playing Eating Sleeping Working playset a rare Gold Award for being "dazzling in design and function. Plus MiO has earned A GEEK DADDY nod of approval for its endearing, sturdy, simplicity that encourages young minds to embark on fun, creative, imaginary adventures.

To share A GEEK DADDY's enthusiasm for The Manhattan Toy Company's products we're giving away a $25 e-gift card redeemable at manhattantoy.com to one lucky blog reader or social media follower. To be eligible for this giveaway you must follow @Geekdad248 on Twitter and retweet our original contest tweet embedded below before November 11, 2016 @ 11:59 pm EST.

Follow @GeekDad248 & RT before 11/12/16 for a chance to win a $25 e-gift card redeemable at https://t.co/8TAQ2wOcyh -- @ManhattanToy #ad pic.twitter.com/ncK0ezdLvH

— A Geek Daddy (@GeekDad248) November 5, 2016

A Geek Daddy has not been financially compensated for this endorsement or hosting the giveaway.  The prize is provided by The Manhattan Toy Company and A Geek Daddy is hosting the promotion as a benefit to our readers. Must be a US  resident over the age of 18 to participate.  One entry per person and winner will be randomly selected from all eligible entries. Winner when notified by DM to their Twitter account has 48 hours to reply by providing a valid email to accept the prize. The provided Email address will only be utilized for providing the e-gift card to the winner. By participating in this promotion you waive any liability of any kind against the publisher of this blog. 

Horton and the Kwuggerbug - the Video Game

Seussville.com is featuring a brand new video game to celebrate the publication of Dr. Seuss's newest book: HORTON AND THE KWUGGERBUG.  While Dr. Seuss passed away in 1991, Random House is still publishing new books that are compilations of short stories that were originally published in the magazine REDBOOK between 1950 and 1955 and than were never seen again.  The newest of these books, HORTON AND THE KWUGGERBUG, was released this month featuring 4 short stories with original writings and artwork by Dr. Seuss.  One of these short stories, "Horton and the Kwuggerbug,"  which is also the title of the newest book, tells the tale of how Dr. Seuss's popular elephant character, Horton, confronts a crafty and manipulative insect known as the Kwuggerbug.  These two characters are also highlighted in a video game bearing their names that is embedded in the official Doctor Seuss website and is playable on PCs, tablets, and mobile phones.

I often find that games embedded in websites don't work well on my iPhone or iPad and really need to have their own independent apps to download for the games to work well so my kids and I tried out this Horton and the Kwuggerbug game on all three platforms to see how well it worked.  I have to give the game a lot of credit in that it worked very well on all three and there was seamless integration when accessing the website from my iPad and iPhone on Internet browsers (we used Chrome and Safari) to play the game.  Thumbs up to the development team that is managing the Seussville.com website for doing an exceptional job.

This game is designed for preschoolers with a focus on helping with color identification, counting and sorting skills.  Players must shoot over to both Horton and the Kwuggerbug equal amounts of the same colored beezlenuts through the spring loaded sling shot on the screen so they must sort out and count the appropriate number to give each character to win a level.  While this game was way too simplistic for my 5 (soon to be 6) year old twins to have much interest in and enjoy when we were monkeying around with it, I'm sure they would have loved it when they were younger.  I would recommend this game for children 2 to 4 years old who will enjoy the Dr. Seuss theme and get some benefit from the basic skills incorporated in the game that assist with dexterity (players have to aim the sling shot), problem solving (players have to sort and think out how they are going to deliver the beezlenuts to finish each level) and math (players must count out the appropriate number of beezlenuts to deliver to both Horton and the Kwuggerbug).

CLICK HERE to play HORTON AND THE KWUGGERBUG on SEUSSVILLE.COM

This website also has an overview of the catalog of Dr. Seuss's work, an interactive gallery that lets you explore Dr. Seuss' office to learn more about the author, a hall of characters to explore, and a variety of other activities and games to play with.  If you haven't made a trip to Seussville, A Geek Daddy recommends you give it a visit.

Dr. Seuss is Back with a Brand New Book of Original Stories

While we lost a national treasure when acclaimed children's book author Theodor Seuss Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) died in 1991 at the age of 87 children and parents still treasure the 43 illustrated books for kids that he authored.  Actually you can make that 44 as Random House is releasing a brand new book of original stories from Dr. Seuss on September 9, 2014 titled HORTON AND THE KWUGGERBUG AND OTHER LOST STORIES.  Horton and the Kwuggerbug and Other Lost Stories is a compilation of short stories feature beloved characters and settings that many of us will remember from other classic Dr. Seuss children's books that were originally published in during the 1950s in the magazine Redbook and than forgotten about.  Random House recently rediscovered these magazine features that were written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss and is sharing them with the world through the publication of this new book.

Horton and the Kwuggerbug and Other Lost Stories is a compilation of four short stories that were originally published in Redbook magazine and than largely forgotten about:  "The Hoobub and the Grinch", "How Officer Pat Saved the Whole Town", "Marco Comes Late", plus "Horton and the Kwuggerbug." 

 TM & copyright © by Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P. 2014 from Horton and the Kwuggerbug by Dr. Seuss

Marco Comes Late is based on the imaginative child from And To Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street, which was Dr. Seuss's first children's book published in 1937.  This short story explains why Marco ends up being late for school one day.

Photo: TM & copyright © by Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P. 2014 from Marco Comes Late by Dr. Seuss

Mulberry Street is featured in another of the short stories collected in this new book How Officer Pat Saved the Whole Town.  This story about a vigilant police officer takes place on Mulberry Street.

The Hoobub and the Grinch is a precursor to the 1957 book Grinch Who Stole Christmas that was published after this short story had already been circulated by Redbook.  It isn't the same Grinch that we are all familiar with from the holiday story but the two grinches share some thoughts about a hatred for mindless consumerism.

Horton and the Kwuggerbug tells the tale of how Dr. Seuss's popular elephant character confronts a crafty and manipulative insect.

We've read Dr. Seuss more times than I can count to our children and it will be nice to add some new content to our children's library with some brand new stories to read at bed time now.  It is nice that these are original works from Dr. Seuss and not someone writing an "inspired by" Dr. Seuss story.  Horton and the Kwuggerbug and Other Lost Stories are obviously a must-read if you have young children in your house. The book is available through Random House's website for $15.00.

Dr. Seuss apparently had features appear regularly in Redbook between 1950 and 1955 and Random House in 2011 already published seven of these short stories in a book titled The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories.  So you may want to keep your eyes out in the near future as there may be additional collections of Dr. Seuss stories rediscovered from this Redbook treasure trove and published by Random House for people to enjoy.