MelissaStuff

Books . . . Books . . . Books . . . Everyone in my house (except my poor, sad husband) LOVES books. So in our opinion, you can't ever go wrong by giving books as a gift. But you do want to make sure you give a good book because bad books are, well, BAD. So here are some recommendations for this Christmas season:   Rick Brick and the Quest to Save Brickport: An Unofficial LEGO Novel $7.99 (as of 11/11/2015) This books tells of a brave LEGO man who shows courage and is willing to help his friends. I love that it teaches lessons that are really important for kids to learn. Rick Brick is an architect who remembers when the city of Brickport was gleaming and prosperous. Now his city is crumbling under corruption, poverty, and crime. But Rick has a chance to find the Golden Brick and bring back the good. Can he do it or will Brickport be permanently destroyed? Find out with this perfect book for reluctant readers who love everything LEGO-related. Belly Laugh Jokes for Kids...

Another one of "my" offers is live today - with this offer you get 2 large Disney books, either Cars or Princesses, and they're personalized with your child's name. This is especially nice if you have a child who doesn't have a common name and doesn't see their name on personalized items very often. If you order now, you can have these ready for Christmas! I personally purchased these for my boys. One great tip is that you can put a different name in each book, so you can buy the set of two and get one for each child . . . that's what I did and I can't wait for my boys to open them up on Christmas morning. In fact, I have a sneaky suspicion I have one child who is going to have his feelings hurt that he doesn't have one. $22 for Two Personalized Big Books: Disney Princess or Cars Characters BABY AND KIDS TIME REMAINING DAYS 3 : HOURS 11 : MINS 39 : SEC 47 Kids love reading books that star their most-love...

For the last two birthdays in our family, I have had the privilege of not only buying my boys books, but buying them very special books. When my littlest turned 2, we gave him a copy of this book: My Very Happy Birthday Personalized Board Book  $24.95 It's absolutely precious. It has his name in several places throughout the book and allows you to write a custom dedication for the front. Then, more recently, my middle son turned 5. His birthday was pirate themed and this book made parrfect sense: This was totally age appropriate because he's just learning to spell and the book spells out first and last name with fascinating sea creatures and a cute little story. This month at ISeeMe.com all Pirate items are 15% off with the code MATEY . They not only carry this book, but also have a personalized bandana and placemat or a convenient gift set with the book and another item. You can also win one of these books right here, right now: a Rafflecopter...

Lots of buzz about The Hunger Games right now. Thought I'd have a lot more chance to read than I would make it to the movies, so I was thrilled to see this deal. Just go to K obo and click to place The Hunger Games e-book in your cart. Use the code  HungerGamesDeal2 at checkout .

For Valentine's Day at our house, life is pretty low key. We say Happy Valentine's. We have parties at school. And if Momma remembers to grab something small for everyone then they might get a "Valentine" from me. But this year, I actually had planned ahead a bit and purchased two things for each boy.  The first was not the success I had hoped. Each boy got a Wii game specifically purchased to give them alternatives to the shoot 'em up (LEGO style) games they prefer.  Riley got a circus theme - out of everything on it, they found the cannon and shot it over and over. Colt got a Broadway dance game (I thought Broadway would be safe not masculine maybe, but safe!) - and the first song they chose said: Look at my a$$, Look at my thighs I'm catnip to the guys They chase my tail They drool and pant They wanna touch this but they can't. Seriously??? Broadway Wii game, people. What happened to Lion King, Mary Poppins, Wicked? So that one is a no-...

Half-Price Books is easily one of my favorite stores to begin with. I love books. I love discounted books. I love reusing stuff that could have easily been thrown away and treated as trash. And today they will have 20% off everything in the store. This sale is good December 26 – 30.

Get this I Like Book for just $2 right now on Plum District . Use this book to facilitate a sweet time of encouragement between you and your child. I know in my house we spend much more time focusing on correcting the negatives than we do encouraging the positives. I’m looking forward to using this book to prompt me to tell my kids exactly what ‘I like’ about them. This book is selling for $12 at Plum District , but you can use the ENJOY10 code to get $10 off this purchase and get this deal for just $2 and shipping is included! If you’re already a Plum District customer please use this link to make your purchase as a percentage of the cost will go to help support the MelissaStuff blog.

Totsy has an entire library of Disney books on sale today – prices starting at just $2.35 each . If you are a new member within the past 30 days (or you sign up today) you will also get FREE shipping . That means you could have one of these books shipped directly to your house for a total of just $2.35!

  If you’re not a fan of Francis Chan and his writings, you should be. I can’t recommend them highly enough. The best part is that right now you can get a FREE Francis Chan book here . One per household. Thanks Mitzi McBride !

The liquidation of Borders begins today. Don’t forget : #1 – If you have a gift card you need to redeem it immediately! When the company shuts its doors, the card will be worthless. #2 – As Borders liquidates its remaining stock, you may have the opportunity to get some incredible deals.

Not too long ago Borders shut a good number of their stores, but now it is official they will be closing their remaining stores. There are two reasons this might be important to you : #1 – If you have a gift card you need to redeem it immediately! When the company shuts its doors, the card will be worthless. #2 – As Borders liquidates its remaining stock, you may have the opportunity to get some incredible deals.

Barnes and Noble has a discount available until June 26 – get $5 off $25 with the code T8N9D3C. They are also offering FREE shipping on purchases over $25. The discounts are NOT stackable, but you can make a purchase of $30, use the $5 discount code and get FREE shipping. That’s a pretty sweet deal.

If you are new to the blog, you may not know that the whole reason I work to help you save money is so that you have room in your budget to help others who need it. Frequently I post about worthy causes – from adoption to military families . For a long time I was completely ignorant about the fact that it was the church’s job to take care of orphans. I think somewhere along the way I heard it preached that orphans and widows was just a quaint cultural thing during Bible times, but it really meant those who had less than we do. Well, it’s true that we should reach out to anyone in need not just orphans and widows, but someone forgot to tell me that there were real live kids without parents and ladies who couldn’t support themselves after their husbands died. We’ve been blessed to be in a church and even more specifically a small group of believers who are doing life together – and they have completely reshaped the way I see this topic. Several of the families are adopting. Two fam...

A couple of years ago I picked up a heartwarming book from the Christian bookstore called The Unfinished Gift . Set in the era of World War II, it draws you into the world of a sad little boy whose mom has recently passed and whose father is missing in action. Living with a crotchety grandfather, the boy is left to figure out his emotions and his future on his own until his case worker decides to step in and make a difference in his life. Now, you can get the sequel to this book – The Homecoming - FREE for your Kindle . The author – Dan Walsh - has also written a a new book, Deepest Waters .

I was sent The Birdhouse by Kelly Simmons to review. It’s a little bit outside of the normal realm of what I read, but I thought it sounded interesting so I agreed to read it and review it. Here are some  of the things that have been said about this book: “Complex and poignant…”-- Publishers Weekly “Kelly Simmons is able to clearly capture the voice of an elderly woman and tell her story in such crisp, tight prose I was hooked from the very first page. The Bird House is more than a suspenseful story, though—it’s about secrets: family secrets. And those are always the best kept ones." --Chevy Stevens, New York Times bestselling author of Still Missing "There’s nothing I like better than a dark family secret, and Kelly Simmons really delivers in The Bird House …This is a beautifully paced novel that will keep you guessing right to the end." --Pam Lewis, author of Perfect Family But let me tell you that in the end I found this book to...

Bored yet? In an effort to help out all of those who are stuck in the house due to snow, Borders is offering FREE shipping on orders of any amount with the code SNOWBOX . Check out the bargain books or pick up that book you’ve been wanting to read for a long time. It’ll make you feel a little bit less stir crazy.

Recently, I’ve had the chance to review several kid’s books and thought they would make great Christmas gifts for the kids.   Charlie and Trike in the Grand Canyon Adventure is a book in the Green Notebook Series. It’s a great story that follows a monkey and rhinoceros through the Grand Canyon. They discover all kinds of scientific and historical facts about how the canyon was created, the layers of rock and fossils trapped in those layers. My boys LOVED this book. It’s interactive and they wanted to read it over and over. I would totally recommend this book for families with small children and I can’t wait to see what other books are included in the Green Notebook Series. Get it for $10.87   The Night Before Christmas in Africa takes the original ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas poem and adds in traditional South African elements. The “sleigh” is a donkey cart pulled by kudu – a native African animal similar to an antelope. This book is a great way to introduc...

Pre-order The Gift by James Patterson coming out on Dec. 13, 2010 for $11.39! One of my favorite authors, James Patterson writes books with intriguing story lines and leaves out most of the junk that plagues some other authors.

One of my favorite series is the Dreamhouse Kings series by Robert Liparulo. It’s technically a Young Adult series, but I read every book and was spellbound. Amazon is offering a FREE download of book #1 in the series – House of Dark Shadows – in Kindle version. Or if you are a more traditional reader, you can purchase the book for $6 or the series on Amazon.

Not really. It’s the name of a book I read recently. A cross between a true historical account and a fictional story, it was set in the Civil War era in the coal mines of Pennsylvania, this book opens a window into a world I didn’t know much about. When the draft was instituted during the Civil War, many of the poor immigrants could not afford the $300 fee to pay someone to fight for them. Once they left to serve in the Union army, their families were left without income or assistance. In response to these dire circumstances, resistance groups such as the Molly Maguires rose up to fight against the conscription of those who weren’t even citizens of the United States. Call Me Kate is a young adult novel and silver medal winner of the Mom’s Choice Award. While some of the story moved a little slower than most fiction, overall the story was interesting and quite educational. I would be glad for my children to read this book when they are older. Personally, I wish the characte...