NACHOS FOR DINNER

The football playoffs are here! For the next few weekends, I'm going to be hunkering down on the couch watching all the games while snacking with a plate full of nachos and cold bottle of beer in my hands. Why settle though with just plain tortilla chips and melted cheese though when you can get a bit more extravagant? NACHOS FOR DINNER by Dan Whalen, the culinary mad-genius creator of The Food in My Beard recipe blog, is a book from Workman Publishing that provides the five secrets for cooking up nacho success as well as more than 75 recipes from crafting up dishes ranging from unique appetizers to sheet pan meals to delicious deserts.

Detroiters love their Coney Island restaurants! Whalen has a recipe utilizing Coney Island style chili that I'm geeked to try out. Oh wow! I'm absolutely going to have to try out his Lobster Nachos recipe too! Pretzel Bratchos will go great with a bottle of Hofbrau while watching the big game on television. Apple pie nachos! It is like this chef read my mind for ideas while authoring this book!

From tips to making your own home-made cheese sauce and guac to step-by-step directions for cooking up a variety of interesting nacho style meals this book absolutely earns a Geek Daddy nod of approval. NACHOS FOR DINNER is 152 pages of cooking tips that will make you the champ of the kitchen when it comes to preparing snacks, meals and desserts for family and friends.

This post has affiliate links, which means this blog could earn advertising money if you buy something. This doesn't cost you anything extra, ageekdaddy.com just has to give you the heads up for legal reasons. Click away!

ORIGINAL SLOTHS WALL CALENDAR

I know we live in a digital world, but sometimes instead of keeping track of your life through an app it is nice to utilize an old school wall calendar. My middle school aged daughter likes to have a wall calendar hanging in her bedroom to markdown things like her schedule of activities, special events and people's birthdays. Plus, she LOVES sloths so in addition to being handy this calendar from Workman Publishing, The Original Sloths Calendar makes a nice decoration for her bedroom wall. 

There’s just something about sloths: their gentle expressions, their long, furry arms, their penchant for just hanging around. Not to mention how they set such a good example for the rest of us—slow down and bask in the moment! The Original Sloths Wall Calendar from Workman Publishing features a year of gorgeous, full-color images from photographer and sloth fanatic Lucy Cooke.  For example, one month highlights Sweet Darien, saying “hello” from upside down. Another month features best buddies Branston and Pickles, enjoying a tasty floral snack. And another month showcases an irresistible basketful of sleepy sloths. If you know someone who adores sloths, it is time to get a calendar for 2022!

The pictures in the Original Sloths Wall Calendar are accompanied by charming captions and fascinating sloth facts: Did you know sloths’ long claws are not made of keratin, like most animals’, but are actually long, protruding finger bones? Ok that fact might have just made you think ewww but the pictures in the calendar are sure to make you exclaim awww. And these Sloth themed calendars are printed on FSC-certified paper so you don't have to feel guilty about trees being cut down to produce the product. In fact, creating jobs through sustainable forestry helps people make a living in rural environments instead of doing activities to support their families that are more damaging to these habitats and dangerous to the animals the live there.

Interested in something that takes a bit less wall space? There is also a mini version of the Sloths calendar available from Workman Publishing. At 7" x 7" this useful calendar is a great way to add some charm to a fridge, locker or other small space. It also provides a year's worth of sloth photographs from Lucy Cooke to enjoy as well as contains fantastic stories, fascinating trivia and fun facts about these animals. The mini calendar is also printed on FSC-certified paper.

Time is ticking. Get your updated 2022 calendars before too much time goes by. You do want to get the most bang for your buck as there is much more value in a calendar getting it before New Year's Day rather than the Fourth of July after all. And if sloths aren't your thing Workman has numerous other calendar types and themes to choose from. Check them out at workman.com.

This post has affiliate links, which means this blog could earn advertising money if you buy something. This doesn't cost you anything extra, ageekdaddy.com just has to give you a heads up for legal reasons. Click away! 

MEGA MAZE AND SPACE ADVENTURE BOOKS

If you are looking for an interesting way to keep kids amused when there is some summer down time that doesn't involve screen time, check out these two books from Workman Publishing → MEGA-MAZE ADVENTURE! and PEEL + DISCOVER SPACE. Whether spending time traveling in the car, stuck inside because it is raining or just spending some quiet time these books are sure to entertain kids. What kids aren't geeked about having fun with mazes and stickers?!

MEGA-MAZE ADVENTURE!

This A-MAZE-ING book is not just full of mazes ... the book itself is a MAZE! Start your adventure through a portal on the front cover and the maze continues through every page making this THE WORLD'S LONGEST MAZE IN A BOOK! Each two page spread has its own theme including butterflies, caves, dragons, race cars and robots. There are 14 spreads in all that take you to the end of the world after you complete an astounding 607 feet of maze. That is four time the height of the Statue of Liberty!

Filled with vibrant bright swirling colored designs every page is its own adventure filled with hidden surprises and fun MEGA facts. Each themed spread also will have picture finding games mixed in with the pages. For example in Robot World you are tasked with finding 9 missing wrenches hidden among the maze needed to repair the robots. Discover A-MAZE-ING facts, games and illustrations as you find your way through this MEGA-MAZE ADVENTURE!

PEEL + DISCOVER SPACE

Learn about space exploration while having fun with hundreds of stickers that highlight astronauts, planets, rocket ships and lots of other out of this world things. There are six sheets of space stickers that compliment twenty pages of activity sheets full of history, science, and trivia about astronomy and space travel. Plus when you peel off each sticker, there is a cool fact about space underneath it!

This book is meant to be customized with the stickers so that it personalized for every kid. Place the stickers around the book as well as draw, color, complete puzzles and write in notes throughout its activity pages. This book is both educational and entertaining making it a great way for kids to pass some time when complaining about being bored around the house or during a family road trip.

HEART OF A BOY

THE HEART OF A BOY is a coffee table book by Katie T. Parker that engages in the national conversation of about how to raise sons to be good people. Through interviewing boys 5 to 19 years old and showcasing candid photographs of them, THE HEART OF A BOY highlights the individuality and uniqueness of each child and highlights that there is no cookie cutter approach when it comes to parenting. This book with nearly 200 photographs, celebrate the strength, honesty and vulnerability of boyhood and reflects upon a myriad of other qualities that make every boy unique.

Published by Workman, THE HEART OF A BOY can be purchased from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million (BAM), and the IndieBound network of independent book stores. From the picture of a little boy running across a beach holding sea gull feathers while pretending he is flying to one of a teenager warming up for a ballet performance this book provides a wide look at casual moments of fun and times of focused concentration in the lives of boys. A boy demonstrates creating an artistic masterpiece while another shares his struggles with overcoming disabilities. Inspirational and eye opening quotes by youth from across the social spectrum of America combine with photographs to provide a picture of how today's generation of boys are growing up in an era when traditional notions of masculinity are evolving.

Kate T. Parker and Workman Publishing sent ageekdaddy.com a copy of the book to look over. Flipping through the pages of THE HEART OF A BOY is a heart-warming and thought provoking experience which illuminates the fragility and perseverance of childhood. This book is also a vibrant reminder about how fleeting a time youth is yet how lasting an impact it has on a lifetime.

They also provided ageekdaddy.com with a camera for me to take some photos of my son to capture some images of what his boyhood looks like from our family's perspective. This FUJIFILM instax mini 9 camera is really handy! It prints out instant pictures for you right after you click them.

I wanted to share some moments that captured his creativity and playfulness. So I captured the heart of this boy by photographing him spending time playing with our dog. There is just something very special about the bond between a boy and his dog.

Feel free to share your own pictures capturing the essence of boyhood with the rest of us by posting them on Twitter with #HEARTOFABOY and tagging @GEEKDAD248 + @KATETPARKER. I'm glad to give out retweets! And if you aren't following ageekdaddy.com on social media please take a look at our Twitter, Instagram and Facebook feeds. The more the merrier so join on in!

For more information about this author and photographer, visit katetparker.com. THE HEART OF A BOY is available now at booksellers. Head over to workman.com to find out where to pick up a copy of the book for yourself.

ROCKET

Rocket your preschooler off to bedtime with this great book created by Mike Vago and illustrated by Matt Rockefeller from Workman Publishing. ROCKET: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE PAGES has kids soar, sail and swoop a three-dimensional plastic spacecraft through the pages of the book as it explores our solar system.  This toy rocket never leaves the book as it moves over and through pages soaring up from its launching pad and flying past asteroids, comets, moons, planets and more.

Kudos to Rockefeller for filling the book with eye catching views that parents will appreciate as much as kids. The book highlights just how bright and colorful outer space can be through its wonderful illustrations.  The included space ship, that for me brought back childhood memories of the USS Swinetrek from The Muppet Show's "Pigs in Space" segments, provides an enticing interactive element that children are sure to have fun with.  Vago's rhythmic verse that navigates readers through their solar system adventure is a nice way to lull kids to sleep.  A great bedtime story for parents to read to their future astronauts before everyone goes nighty night.

For its originality and impressive imagery, ROCKET: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE PAGES gets A Geek Daddy nod of approval. This 14-page picture book is recommended for preschool through 3rd grade aged children.  It is available through Workman Publishing's website or at Barnes & Noble or Books-A-Million retail locations.