When we first heard about PlainTales we were intrigued. PlainTales is an independent publisher of kid audio books based right here, locally in Des Moines, Iowa!

Audio books for kids is something that’s new to us. It’s also a category that we hadn’t plan on adding to our store. But after meeting with Brian Keairns, the owner of PlainTales, we decided to give it a try.

Our kids loved it! When we played Selected Just So Stories on our drive home from the mall one day, they listened intently. The whining and the crankiness went away immediately. When we got home, they insisted on finishing the story. So we sat in the van parked in the driveway and waited for the story to finish.

On a recent trip to the Omaha Zoo we played the Gingerbread Boy & Other First Tales. It’s a 2 hour drive. To entertain the kids we typically sing, play “I spy” or the “animal guessing game,” but that can only last so long. So, we were glad to be able to play an audio book for them when they got bored.

Our oldest just turned 6 and our little girl will be turning 4 soon. Their favorite titles:

• Selected Just So Stories – Both like The Elephant’s Child
• The Gingerbread Boy & Other First Tales – These are classic children’s tales. Stories they’ve read and heard before and are familiar with.
• Animal Tales – In the words of our 6 year old: “When I listen to this, I think about the animals, the baby raccoon that’s looking for ants and fish to eat.”

We decided to add PlainTales. Not only did we add PlainTales audio books to our selection at KangarooBoo, we also added features to our website to offer MP3 versions of these audio books.

Try it out. Download Animal Tales for FREE. And get 40% OFF PlainTales audio book CDs with the code TALES during checkout. This offer expires on September 6, 2009.

Plus, for a limited time all MP3 versions of the audio books are 41% off! It doesn’t get any better than this.

Shop PlainTales now!

SIGG bottles are known to be eco-friendly and BPA free. When confronted by consumer advocates about BPA, SIGG has always claimed that their bottles do not leach BPA but never admitted that they do not contains this endocrine disrupting chemical.

That is, until now. SIGG had been manufacturing bottles that contains BPA prior to August of 2008. Bottles manufactured after August, 2008 use a new “EcoCare” liner that is 100% BPA free.

It is important to note that test results by third party labs show that the old liner does not leach BPA. They are safe.

If you own a SIGG bottle and want to find out if yours contains the old liner just look inside. The old liner is bronze in color. The picture below shows a bottle with the old liner.

The second picture below shows a bottle with the new “EcoCare” liner. Notice that the liner is a light cream color:

What to do:

If you own a bottle with the old liner and are concerned, you can exchange your old bottle with a new one that uses the new liner. Send an email to liners@mysigg.com to ask about getting a replacement.

Our stand:

• We carry SIGG water bottles and will continue to do so. We are very disappointed in the way they’ve handled their public relations regarding the old liner & BPA questions from consumers. However, we believe that SIGG aluminum bottles are safe with the new liner. Published test results shows that they do not contain BPA.
• We have verified that all SIGG aluminum bottles offered at our stores uses the new liner. We found one batch of bottles that was from the old design and have discontinued it.
• Our own kids will continue to use their SIGG bottles. We do not plan on replacing them.

More information:

For further reading, we highly recommend the following:

We're building a city

Slowly coming together now

Road leading to the tower

One of the towers

The Little Amsterdam wooden building blocks by HABA is a lot fun.