Los Angeles – South Bay

Bellina’s Adventures All Choked Up teaches children the Heimlich maneuver through a little girl who finds that learning a valuable skill allows her to save her uncle from choking.

“I told a funny joke as Uncle Rick was taking a GREAT BIG BITE of his hot dog. All of a sudden, he stopped laughing. He was not making a sound! I saw him reach for his throat. I asked if he was okay. He shook his head no! I was scared but I remembered what Mommy told me…”
Excerpt from Bellina’s Adventures All Choked Up

Bellina is a special little girl who, like many children, hates it when her mommy cuts her hot dog up into teeny weeny pieces. Also like many other children, Bellina is often told that she is too small to do many things, but there’s a big exception – Bellina knows that she is big enough to help others if she knows what to do!

Thus in Bellina’s Adventures All Choked Up, written by Stephanie M. Dentoni, M.D. and Alvie Floyd, young Bellina learns from her mommy exactly how food and air are carried into her body – and exactly how, sometimes, they get mixed up and go the wrong way.

Accompanied by child-friendly illustrations that show children how food and air travel to the stomach and lungs, Bellina’s Adventures All Choked Up shows how Bellina learns what to do if someone is choking. This knowledge comes in pretty handy one day when her uncle chokes on a piece of his hot dog and no one but Bellina is available to help.

Bellina stays calm, as her mommy has taught her, and though she is small, she is able to execute the Heimlich maneuver and save her uncle’s life. Proudly, Bellina exclaims, “I was stronger than I ever imagined!”

Alvie comments, “Our hope is that Bellina’s Adventures All Choked Up will teach children that they can help those who are choking. We also hope this book will remind parents of how vital it is to be aware of common choking hazards.”

To emphasize this point, the book concludes with an illustrated cornucopia of common choking hazards including chunks of cheese, balloons, coins, hard candy, grapes, popcorn, and the like.

For more information, visit www.bellinasadventures.com.

Authors: Stephanie M. Dentoni is a medical doctor and Alive Floyd is a retired building contractor. What other adventures will they think up next?

With the fast pace of the world today, it is important to make sure your child has every advantage you can. You may or may not know all of the benefits of reading to your child early and often. But the truth is that reading to your child is critical for their later success. When you learn about all the benefits of reading to your child, you will realize that it is one of the most important things you can to improve your child’s chances for success later in life.

Reading to your child will help build the following skills:

• Basic Speech Skills The early years of your child’s life are critical for developing speech skills. Reading to your child will begin to put together speech patterns and begin on the path to speaking on his or her own. You should read to your child out loud at least once a day.
• Communication Skills The stories you read to your child will teach them about proper interactions and social patterns. If you choose the right books, these lessons are built in under all the silly and funny stories that your child connects with. This will teach your child proper communication skills that will be vital when he or she must navigate our social world later on.
• Improved Language Skills Building an early understanding of the fundamental building blocks of language will help your child to master language later on. The better grasp your child has on language, the better their performance will be in all aspects of their academic life.
• Enhanced Logical Thinking Reading allows your child a chance to do abstract thinking and make associations between ideas. This skill will help them understand concepts such as cause and effect, and the relationships between concepts and reality. This skill will be a great benefit to their later academic and adult life.
• Better Concentration Reading to your child regularly will help them learn to concentrate and give them a longer attention span. This is so important as we all know the problems that short attentions spans are causing for the youth of today. Building this skill early will make it that much stronger later.
• Improved Academic Performance All of the above will lead to stronger academic performance. Your child will read faster and comprehend more thoroughly than his or her less read peers.

In addition to the above, reading with your child also provides an opportunity for you to bond and later share a hobby in common. This helps
strengthen your relationship with your child. Make reading a daily activity and set aside some time each day for reading to your child. When your child begins to learn to read on his or her own, take turns reading to them and letting them read. When your child no longer needs you to read to them, you can read books at the same time. Get an extra copy of books your child is reading in school and discuss the themes and story lines with them each day. It is clear that reading to and with your child is a crucial part of giving them the tools they need to survive and thrive in the world today. So make reading a priority in your house, and you will be surprised at the results.

Guest Writer – Zach Ball

Zach is a children’s book enthusiast and loves writing about children and child care. I work with www.childrensbookstore.com.

Wondertree Kids will present a special program for parents – How to Select a Preschool!

Finding the perfect preschool can seem as stressful as searching for college. This FREE informative presentation will cover:

• How to know if the Preschool is developmentally appropriate for your child – Overview of a Co-Op Preschool
• A parent’s perspective on the Importance of Preschool.

The speaker is Sandra Rojas, Director of Sand Tots Preschool. The event will be held Wednesday, February 22 at Wondertree Kids, 710-A S. Allied Way in El Segundo from 1pm – 2:30pm.
Please RSVP to Wondertree Kids
info@wondertreekids.com
(310) 535.0001
Children Welcome!