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Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted
Alex, Marty, Melman, Gloria, Maurice, and, yes, the penguins are back in Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted! The animals have all escaped from the zoo, and Scholastic Kids Press Reporter Dani Bergman Chudnow got to escape school for a "press day" with all the actors who voice the characters in the movie. She met the actors in a hotel in New York City and videotaped her interviews with them. SO LUCKY!!!
My favorite part of the video is when she asks all the actors, "If you had to run away and join the circus, what would be your act?" Their answers are hilarious!
Read the Kids Press article and watch the video.
The 2012 International Latino Book Awards were once again held in New York City during BookExpo America. Read about all the finalists and winners here.
#11 Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes (1996)
89 points
I could make a top 10 list of Kevin Henkes titles. Love everything he does. But Lilly is one of the most unforgettable characters in children’s literature. And I believe many young girls may have been named after her. 
– DeAnn Okamura
It’s dramatic being a kid. People don’t always let you do what you want: Horrible people. Other times they do: Amazing people! Henkes’ story captures the highs and lows of childhood, from having a favorite teacher to feeling squelched at school. After all, how can Lilly possibly wait clear till sharing time to show off three shiny quarters, movie star sunglasses, and a new purple plastic purse that makes music when she opens it? Henkes’ ability to share Lilly’s facial expressions and moods with just a few lines are only matched by his power to write words that show us Lilly’s joy—and her wrath. Hell hath no fury like a kindergartner whose show and tell stuff gets confiscated! But there is forgiveness in the end, and cheesy snacks. Wow! – Kate Coombs
Henkes gets kids, and they get him right back. Lilly is so charming, and bold, and enchanting…and flawed. That’s why she’s so relatable. her emotions in this book – adoration, outrageous pride, fury, regret, guilt, relief – speak directly to the kids. Once I asked them why he drew her getting smaller (after she reads her teacher’s thoughtful note and realizes the horrid note she gave to him) and they had so much to say about her feelings and their own experiences…Henkes are the ultimate books for teaching text-to-self connections. And it’s a funny book, too! Not to mention what has become, for me, a bit of a mantra: “Today was a difficult day. Tomorrow will be better.” – Emily Myhr
I adore Lilly and almost everything she does. (Unless she was a student in my classroom. Then I’d have to alternate between finding her incredibly charming and witty, and wanting to smack her.) – Kristi Hazelrigg
Confession time. When I saw the staged production of three of the Lilly books performed at the Minneapolis Children’s Theatre and Lilly had to deal with the consequences of her actions in Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse I . . . I teared up. I did. I wept for Lilly. And I wept because of the line Emily quotes above . Because somehow Kevin Henkes pulls off a kid feeling really really bad about doing something wrong. How do you tap into that feeling? Do we adults even remember what it’s like? We have this weird grown-up version of it, but child guilt is its own beast. Its own presence. And the guilt of a child will only resonate in our hardened little grown-up souls if the author working on us is particularly skilled. Henkes is.
The plot from my review: “Lilly is mightily pleased with her life at the moment. She loves school and she adores her teacher Mr. Slinger. Mr. Slinger (undoubtedly a relation of Miss Twinkle from Chrysanthemum) is the coolest prof in the world. He wears crazy colored ties, refers to his students as “rodents”, provides yummy tasty snacks, and has a penchant for patterned shirts. Lilly is determined to someday be a teacher all thanks to Mr. Slinger. Unfortunately, Lilly’s Slinger-love takes a downward turn when she brings her new purple plastic purse to class. Noisily displaying it at an inappropriate time, Slinger confiscates the item until the end of the day.
#12 Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss (1960)
86 points
Because, “Try them, you may like them,” are words to live by. – DaNae Leu
One of the great questions of childhood is: What’s with parents putting bizarre items on your plate and expecting you to eat them? Dr. Seuss’s answer to the question is this book, in which a way-too-cheerful Sam-I-Am pursues our poor old sad sack in the battered hat all over tarnation trying to get him to try a weird-looking dish. (Aren’t green things, um, rotten?) In amongst all the madness, the book features a cumulative format and a refrain in the framing of the questions, all of which make the story particularly memorable and easy to chant. The absurdity of the places and dining companions Sam-I-Am proposes build slapstick hilarity with all the verve of a Loony Tunes cartoon until fox, goat, mouse, and all find themselves diving a train onto a boat and splashing around to provide a watery witness for Sam’s final plea—and for our guy’s shock when he takes a bite and the strange food turns out to be tasty. Don’t be fooled into thinking this book is propaganda, though. Seuss pokes fun of parent and child alike in the often-nutty battle of the dinner (or breakfast) table. – Kate Coombs
Yum! – Rose Marie Moore
There are only 50 words in this book. I write more words than that when I make up a shopping list. Now of all the Seuss easy reader titles in the world, I don’t think my money would have placed this puppy above dear old Cat in the Hat. Yet here we are! The Cat sits silently at a mere #36 and Green Eggs and Ham comes frighteningly close to the #1 spot.
The description from my library’s catalog is sort of weirdly fascinating. Check this out: “Sam-I-Am tries to persuade the narrow minded, stubborn patron to taste his green eggs and ham with all kinds of accommodations without success until he gives up his pushy style and lets his patron determine under what circumstances he will taste his green eggs and ham.” Okay. That was NOT necessarily the book that I was reading (is Sam a waiter that he has a “patron”?) and I love that the moral according to this isn’t “try them and you may like them” but rather “don’t be pushy”. Really?
Kate’s quote up above (and that odd description too) highlight one of the stranger problems associated with the book. We all know Sam I Am. We should considering how often his name is invoked. What we don’t know is the name of the other guy. He’s sometimes called Sam’s friend but that’s as close as he gets to a moniker.
At one point on this blog I sent out an all call and asked folks to create a piece of Dr. Seuss art in the style of another children’s picture book artist. The results were mildly brilliant, particularly those in the Green Eggs and Ham category. Observe Aaron Zenz’s take on Seuss-meets-Eric Carle:
And Mike Boldt blew us away with his Seuss-meets-Tomie de Paola:
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#13 Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney (1982)
79 points
This is such a great lesson book without being preachy. I remember my 20 year old son coming home and telling me all about this book after his teacher read it in class. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I knew all about this book and it was one of my favorite books too. Nothing would do but for us to go right to the store and buy lupine seeds to plant. Alas my thumb is not as green as Miss Rumphius’. My lupine seeds didn’t sprout, but it was okay I will never forget how excited my 9 year old son was to share that book with me. – Amy Miele
Was there ever any question that the Top 20 picture books would consist of titles that were deeply beloved? Never. But I admit to you that Miss Rumphius was a surprise to me. Yet if the quote above is any indication Cooney’s classic is very near and very dear to people’s hearts.
From the B&N plot synopsis: “As a child, Miss Rumphius dreams of traveling to faraway places. Her grandfather assures her that this is possible, but also advises her to do something to make the world more beautiful. As an old lady, Miss Rumphius returns to her home by the sea, but realizes she has yet to fulfill her grandfather’s wish. Inspired by her garden, Miss Rumphius creates a world of loveliness for those who live nearby.”
Finding background info on this book turned out to be mighty hard. Thank goodness for Anita Silvey’s Book-a-Day Almanac. In her Miss Rumphius post she says of the origins that, “By the time she worked on Miss Rumphius, she had over forty years of experience in children’s book illustrations. An autobiographical picture book, Cooney drew on the life of her great grandfather, who painted pictures and allowed his young daughter, Cooney’s grandmother, to help. ‘I see that little girl—painting away, making yards and yards of fluffy clouds and sunsets and storms with lightening and rainbows.’ Cooney also based the character of Alice Rumphius on an historical figure who traveled the world planting flower seeds.”
Now according to Ms. Cooney’s obituary, found on Carol Hurst’s Children’s Literature Site, “Barbara Cooney was born in Room 1127 of the Hotel Bossert in Brooklyn, New York in 1917 . . . ‘Of all the books I have done,’ she says, ‘Miss Rumphius (Viking, 1982), Island Boy (Viking, 1988), and Hattie and the Wild Waves (Viking, 1990), are the closest to my heart. These three are as near as I ever will come to an autobiography. There are, of course, many dissimilarities between me and Alice Rumphius, but, as I worked, she gradually seemed to become my alter ego. Perhaps she had been that right from the start.’ Barbara Cooney took her adopted state of Maine to her heart and Maine returned the affection. In 1989, the Maine Library Association created the Lupine Award, named for Miss Rumphius, to recognize outstanding children’s books by state residents or to honor authors whose chosen subjects were about Maine. Their opening ceremony honored Miss Rumphius and its creator.”
Miss Rumphius also happened to win the American Book Sellers National Book Award in 1983. So well done there.
And for the record, while you may find plenty of children’s literary blogs that make allusions to Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and other classics The Miss Rumphius Effect is one of the biggies out there that credits this book and this book alone in its title. A delightful choice.
0 Comments on Top 100 Picture Books #13: Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney as of 1/1/1900
#14 Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina (1947)
78 points
What I REALLY love about this book is that it is possibly the most fun book to read aloud to a kid (or many kids) ever. I can’t separate my feelings for the book itself from the experience of reading it interactively. What kid doesn’t make a great monkey? - Amy M. Weir
As a first-grade student of mine once whispered of this book in great anticipation, “It has monkeys!” Children are natural pranksters, and the disappearance of the caps delights them almost as much as the reason for that disappearance. Then the peddler has a little tantrum—just like they do! The monkeys copy him, which is even more funny, and then he throws his cap on the ground, so of course we get both a happy solution and a nice little twist. Carefully, the peddler puts his caps on his head once more, framing the narrative with tall stacks of colors. Like the third bowl of porridge Goldilocks ate, it’s just right. – Kate Coombs
By rights I should probably call this book by its proper title. Not merely a simple “Caps for Sale” the name of this book is actually Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business. *deep gasp of air* It’s a mouthful. A mouthful and one of the best readaloud picture books of all time. Of course, I’ve always been a little torn on how to pronounce the “tsz tsz tsz” that the monkeys are always saying. Any librarians out there have any Caps for Sale readaloud tips or tricks they’d like to share? Cause that part always kind of throws me for a loop. But if you stand in front of a group of kids and announce that you are going to read this book, inevitably hands will shoot into the air and the kids will start telling you how they love that book / have that book / have read that book / etc. It’s very rewarding.
The B&N encapsulation of the plot reads, “A cap peddler wakes from a nap to find all his caps are gone – a bunch of naughty monkeys have taken them up a tree. Angrily shaking his finger at the monkeys, the peddler demands his caps back, but the monkeys only shake their fingers and say ‘Tsz, tsz, tsz.’ No matter what the peddler does, the monkeys only imitate him. Finally, the peddler is so enraged he throws his cap on the ground-and all the monkeys follow suit!”
According to 100 Best Picture Books for Children, Slobodkina was a Russian immigrant to America who was part of the American Abstract Artists (some reports say she started it) and showed her work alongside Arshile Gorky, Stuart Davis, and Piet Mondrian. Picture books supplemented her income and when she decided to illustrate her own tale, this was one of the ones she settled on. Says 100 Best Picture Books, “The artwork for the first edition used only three primary colors. But in 1947 Slobodkina revised the book, adding in ocher, red, and robin’s-egg blue. Both the colors and the style of the art had been inspired by the work of the primitive painter Henri Rousseau.”
This 1947 construct should undoubtedly have dated itself by this point. So why hasn’t it? Maybe it has something to do with the construct. As Literature and the Child by Cullinan and Galda (5th edition) puts it, “the popular old favorite, Caps for Sale, has a cumulative sequence. Rhyme and rhythm help children predict through sound – the rhyming of words in a regular beat, or rhythm.” Doesn’t hurt matters any that the book’s a hoot to boot.
Caps for Sale? Unequivocal success. The sequel Circus
#15 Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel (1970)
74 points
I put a lot of thought into which Frog and Toad book to put on here. They are all brilliant, but I find Frog and Toad Together a bit trippy with Toad’s crazy dream sequence and the seriously snake in “Dragons and Giants.” Frog and Toad All Year is super lovely, but is almost a seasonal book. And I just find Days With Frog and Toad devastating. Is it me, or are those two seriously starting to grow apart by the end? I know Frog said he just wanted some alone time, but Toad took it really, really hard. I seriously worry that, if there had been a fifth book, they may have had a serious fight and Toad may have been irreparably damaged. I’m not joking. This is something I seriously think about. – Shannon Ozimy
The perfect friendship book, made even more amazing because it is an early reader. Quite frankly, I find most early chapter books and beginning readers to be sleep-inducers, but Lobel’s mastery of language make these a joy to read aloud and to listen to (if you happen to be a parent of a new reader!) – Heather Christensen
I don’t know if this quite counts as a picture book since it’s an easy reader, but I’ve always read it as a bedtime story to my girls. I adore this collection. Seriously. How can you not love Toad’s obsessivenes, and Frog’s Zen-like calm in the wake of Toad’s storm. There are probably some life lessons here, but much like Toad, I just want the cookies. – Melissa Fox
There’s something about the easy reader format that lends itself to tales of true friendship. Maybe the easy reader format coincides perfectly with the fact that kids of that reading level/age are making big social leaps. Whatever the case, whether it’s George & Martha, Houndsley & Catina, or the friendship to beat all friendship in Frog & Toad, these are two blokes worth remembering.
The description from Kirkus reads, “A leggy green frog and a squat green toad do for friendship something of what Little Bear does for kinship. Come April Toad’s reluctance to end his long winter nap (“A little more sleep will not hurt me”) prompts lonesome Frog to pull off the calendar pages one by one until he reaches stay-awake May. Then there’s “The Story” Toad can’t think up when Frog is sick which becomes the story–of how Toad made himself sick standing on his head and hitting it against a wall trying–told him by a recovered Frog. “A Lost Button” turns up at home after Frog has found every button but for Toad (who makes suit-able amends). But the best is yet to come–in Toad’s anxiety that he looks funny in his bathing suit (which keeps him shivering in the water) and his brusque “Of course I do” when Frog and the others laugh. At the last, affectingly if more predictably, is “The Letter” that Frog writes to Toad so he’ll get some mail. . . and sends by snail.”
The origin story can be found in Anita Lobel’s 100 Best Books for Children. She says that on a summer vacation to Lake Bomoseen, Lobel’s children came in with “a large green shiny frog and two dour and dyspeptic toads.” Years later Lobel felt that “he had been writing at children, rather than for them.” So he put pen to paper and out came a story about a frog and a toad. Now at an exhibit at The Carle some years ago there was a great exhibit called Seeking a State of Grace: The Art of A
By: Katie Salo,
on 6/14/2012
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One of my favorite things to do for summer reading is art projects with my patrons. The past few years, I’ve been doubling up art projects with decorating for summer reading.
We have a mural program to kick-off summer reading so that my patrons can really take ownership of the program. At school visits, I have kids make something to help decorate the library. And of course, we do purchase a few items as well.
Today, I wanted to share what they have created for this year’s CSLP theme.
This year, the kids created two murals. The first mural was painted using foam stamps that I purchased ahead of time. I let the kids stamp to their hearts content, as well as painting swirls for our universe. The kids got very creative with their designs, and I think it came out beautifully. Our artists signed their names along the edges on the mural in black marker before I brought out the paint.
The second mural began as black butcher block paper and I mixed up some gray paint. The kids splattered, swirled, brushed it and sprinkled a ton of glitter onto the paper as they painted. After it was finally dry, I cut it into rough moon shapes and taped it up on the wall. My preschool storytime group LOVE this mural and it really helped explain the moon cycle during our “Moon and Stars” themed storytime.
Lastly, all of the classrooms that came to the library to hear about summer reading got to create a star to hang up in the library. (We have more strings of these in the Youth Room as well as our programming room.) We’ve had a lot of kids staring at our ceilings to find their star to show their families when they come in. I love when kids own a part of the library, it gives them such pride and the decorations make all the rooms brighter!
What kind of decorating has your library done for summer reading?
– Katie Salo
Youth Services Manager
Melrose Park Library
http://storytimekatie.com
There are all sorts of guides on how to write a great thriller. I’ve read some. I’ve learned a lot from writing my own novels and I’ve learned a lot from co-writing with James Patterson, someone you have heard of who knows a thing or two about drama. This is by no means an exhaustive list but some observations I’ve made over the years that I don’t necessarily see on the normal lists of writing advice.
Understand, what I’m talking about here is the pulse-pounding, ticking-clock thriller. Not simply a novel of suspense or a mystery. Some of this advice might apply to those novels, too, but the dynamic is different.
GIVEAWAY: David is excited to give away a free copy of her novel to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before.
Guest column by author David Ellis, whose most recent novel,
THE WRONG MAN, came out in June 2012 from G.P. Putnam’s Sons.
David won the Edgar Award in 2002 for his first novel, LINE OF VISION
and has most recently co-written GUILTY WIVES with James Patterson.
He is the author of several other highly acclaimed suspense novels as
well as the Jason Kolarich series. A graduate of Northwestern School
of Law, he went on to serve as the House Prosecutor who tried and
impeached Governor Rod Blagojevich before the Illinois Senate.
See his author website here.
1. The protagonist doesn’t have to be a superhero. In fact, some of the most appealing protagonists in thrillers aren’t. The everyday guy who is thrust into an agonizing position is often the best protagonist. But let them screw up. Let them be afraid. Let them have flaws. To me, the most important attribute for the normal-person-turned-hero is that he or she be brave in the face of danger. Scared to death, sure, but ultimately courageous. That’s believable and very appealing to a reader. But mistakes, and sweaty brows and shaky hands—incorporate them into your protagonist.
2. Write yourself into a corner and see what happens. “Writing into a corner,” for my purposes at least, is when we put a protagonist into a position from which he or she can’t emerge. So we usually back the car up and forge a new path. That’s the great thing about writing with a computer. But what I’m saying is, don’t back the car up. Instead, up the ante, put your character into a seemingly (even to you) inescapable bind … and then figure it the hell out. Take a few days if you h
Lots more at Contrariwise:
There has been a lot of conversation on listservs and social media recently about using music in programming, especially bilingual or multicultural programming. Music plays a big role in early literacy and language development and studies have shown that music activates a number of parts of the brain. It’s easier to learn some things when they are set to music–many of us learned the alphabet singing The Alphabet Song and to this day I sometimes find myself singing it when I need to remember whether Q comes before or after R.
While most of us recognize the importance of including music in our programs and storytimes, finding appropriate songs and music in other languages can be a real challenge. Some libraries bring in performers as part of their programming for El día de los niños/El día de los libros or another special event but of course that may be affordable only once or twice a year. To include music in everyday programs and storytimes librarians usually will have to do it themselves. There are not many songbooks available that include songs from other cultures and in languages other than English but there are a few. It’s a little easier to 
find books with songs in Spanish, like De Colores and Other Latin American Folksongs for Children by Jose-Luis Orozco or The Bilingual Book of Rhymes, Songs, Stories, and Fingerplays: Over 450 Spanish/English Selections by Pam Schiller. For other languages try Skip Across the Ocean: Nursery Rhymes from Around the World collected by Floella Benjamin. In spite of the title, the book includes some songs and lullabies in English and the original languages. Unfortunately there is no music provided so librarians still have to find another source to get the melody.
Websites like Songs for Teaching provide a nice selection of songs in French, German, Spanish, and Chinese as well as songs from around the world (in the multicultural and diversity section) like Hello ‘Round the World, that teaches singers how to say hello in languages ranging from Hawaiian to Finnish and more. You can view the lyrics and listen to a clip of music or purchase downloads or printed material. Mama Lisa’s World is the mother lode for international music. Lyrics are provided in English and the original language and many songs have MP3 files or sheet music. Songs are available from every continent (except Antarctica). Even if you don’t speak the language, you may be able to learn the words through practice and add to your bilingual programming.
Burnaby Public Library in British Columbia, Canada has started collecting songs and
rhymes in many languages as part of their project, Embracing Diversity: Sharing
Our Songs and Rhymes. This project includes videos created by native speakers of songs and rhymes in 15 languages. Often the singer or singers (which sometimes includes children) are in traditional or ceremonial dress so showing the videos during a program can provide a more authentic experience. The lyrics and other printed material and links to additional resources are included along with the video. The site is growing and the library is inviting people to add to the collection by creating their own videos so the selection and languages will continue to grow. (Instructions for submitting a video are available at http://www.bpl.bc.ca/kids/embracing-diversity/add-your-own-video.)
If you know of other resources please share them. We can all help keep music — and languages –alive!
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From The Bookseller:
Pan Macmillan is adding a further twist to the erotica trend, acquiring a racy re-telling of Charlotte Bronte's classic, Jane Eyre.
It's called Jane Eyre Laid Bare.
Jebus.
...did an AMA at reddit yesterday:
The most common problem's just lousy writing mechanics. Beyond that, there's the problem of inattention. As in, the author hasn't really observed the world well, or the writing feels lazy (which is to say many different things, like that there's a reliance on cliches, or much brushing of skirts...).
Dorothy Kunhardt's
Pat the Bunny is a classic. Published in 1940 by Simon & Schuster, I'd be willing to bet it is one of those books that has never gone out of print. We got it for our daughter when she was a baby and read it lots of times.
In early June, I learned that Dorothy Kunhardt also did
Brave Mr. Buckingham a book that Emily Temple of
Flavorwire listed in "
10 of the Most Terrifying Children's Books From Around The World."
"Terrifying" is right! Here's the cover:
And here's a page from inside the book:
Doesn't that illustration just creep you out?!
Temple wrote:
As a child, I knew her best as the craziest mothereffer on the planet. Mr. Buckingham is a Native American gentleman who just can’t win. He puts his FOOT NEXT TO A BUZZSAW because it gives him “a nice tickly feeling.” Bam! Bye-bye, foot. He goes to the aquarium to visit the fish, jumps in and BAM! A fish eats the other foot. You know. Like they do.
The pattern continues as Mr. B’s curiosity (or general lack of awareness) gets the better of him: he loses an arm to a gardener, gets sliced in two by a passing truck (while sunbathing, natch), and so on. After each and every accident, he smiles and says, “That didn’t hurt!” And in the end, when Brave Mr. Buckingham is nothing but a severed head–wearing a crudely drawn cartoon headdress because Ms. Kunhardt was not just a sadist but an enemy of cultural competence–still he is feeling just fine, thank you.
I'd love to have more info on this book! What was Kunhardt thinking? Why did she pick an Indian?! I've got lots of questions. The book is titled
Brave Mr. Buckingham. Is Mr. Buckingham a British gent? A British gent playing Indian?
Apparently, the story is one meant to prove to Billy that it won't hurt to pull on his loose front tooth. Such an odd way to persuade him, don't you think?
The
Kirkus review in 1935 was:
This doesn't measure up to her earlier books, Junket is Nice, etc. But on the sale of those, this will be in demand. A picture story book with a moral -- the story of the Indian who lost first a leg, then an arm, then
This week: The Grapes of Wrath & The Eleventh Plague. SYNC has promo materials for teachers & librarians who want to spread the word about this awesome way for teens & adults to build a collection of current favorites and classic literature – all totally FREE downloads. Visit the SYNC website for more information and be sure to sign up for text message alerts for each week’s new titles. Here’s the scoop on this week’s selections…
This week we have a Young Adult dystopian title by the riveting writer, Jeff Hirsch paired with the classic, The Grapes of Wrath. What theme unites this pairing? Well, the R.E.M. lyric, “It’s the end of the world as we know it…” comes to mind. Let us know what YOU think connects the two.
This Week’s Audiobooks:
Available to download free June 14 – June 20
The Eleventh Plague
Published by Scholastic Audio
In an America devastated by war and plague, the only way to survive is to keep moving.
“Each outburst, each emotional shutdown, each request for help is perfectly believable when presented in Bittner’s even but emotionally layered delivery…” –AudioFile Magazine
_____________________
The Grapes of Wrath
Published by L.A. Theatre Works
Drought and economic depression are driving thousands from Oklahoma.
“…bringing heart, soul, and tears to every line. A fine introduction to Steinbeck’s world.” –AudioFile Magazine
Thank you to Scholastic Audio and L.A. Theatre Works for this week’s titles.
Available for a Limited Time:
Remember–Grab these titles before they are replaced by a new pairing on 6/21/12! While the title availability is time-limited, your listening time is not. Once you have the resulting MP3, the audiobook is yours to listen to at your leisure.
Downloading Tips:
The OverDrive Media Console will deliver SYNC summer audiobooks to you via Overdrive Media Software installed on your computer (compatible with Windows and Mac) or through an Overdrive App on your mobile device (compatible with iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7). Visit the OverDrive website to download the App or Software.
A Mole Named Dee in Copic Markers with digital frame and text.
I've been remiss in letting you know about the 2012 fairy garden contest hosted by Donni of The Magic Onions. Among the prizes offered is a little orange Alkelda Dolls fairy. The contest runs until August 1, so you've got time to plant, decorate, set your fairy traps and gather cunning little objects. Speaking of gardens, I wrote a blog post for the Natural Kids Team as part of the Toys on a Walk series: Springtime Wanderer in Seattle
I've closed up shop for a week, and am heading to Orcas Island (located in the San Juan Islands of Washington State). I plan to visit the farmer's market stand of Bossy's Feltworks. This cascading sheep mobile is on my cousin-in-law's wishlist for her future baby... though let us be clear, pretty mobiles are really made to delight weary new parents.
In other news, I've signed up to run my first 10k this August. My plan is to work up to a new personal record and then increase my speed to run the Beat the Bridge 8k next May, in which I will need to run the first 2 miles in under 20 minutes before the University Bridge goes up. The FAQ says, "Getting caught at the bridge is actually a fun experience! There is a band playing music and a fun party atmosphere. The bridge is raised for 5 minutes, then let down so all runners may continue." I'm not fast, but I have relatively good endurance at this point, so the 8k will be more of a challenge than the 10k despite the smaller distance. Clydesdale Jogger likes to remind me that for years I stated emphatically, "I Do.Not. Run." I never thought I would run, but I got to the point where I wanted to go faster. I'll be working on running with my daughter this summer. She is frustrated with being the slowest runner in class, and I'm going to give her the help, encouragement, and proper shoes I wish I'd had when I was younger.
Last but not least, Lone Star Ma sends out her call for submissions for issue #11 of Lone Star Ma: The Magazine of Progressive Texas Parenting And Children's Issues.
By: Elizabeth Kennedy,
on 6/14/2012
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If you are looking for a last minute gift for a dad who has always enjoyed reading to his kids, I recommend Reading With Dad (ISBN: 9780931674419). While written in verse and designed in picture book format, this is a gift book for adults rather than a children's book. The text by Richard Jorgensen and the loving illustrations by Warren Hanson celebrate the love between a father and a daughter that is experienced through the act of reading together. Beginning with the father reading to his young daughter and the two of them enjoying The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss together, the book continues through her growing up years to the daughter reading aloud to her own children while still continuing to read with her dad. The book ends with her reminiscing,
"The best of the best times I've ever had
are all of the times I've spent reading with dad."
I also recommend
Reading With Dad as a gift for a new father since it so beautifully portrays the importance of a father's love and the importance of reading aloud to your children. For more Father's Day gift ideas, see my Top Picks of
Children's Books As Fathers Day Gifts.
(Cover art courtesy of Waldman House Press)
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A Father's Day Gift for a Dad Who Reads to His Kids originally appeared on About.com Children's Books on Friday, June 15th, 2012 at 00:01:55.
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He began writing for children in 1955. In 1998, he became the first
Moldovan to be nominated in either category of the Hans Christian
Andersen Awards, and, so far, is the only such nominee.
In 2012, he was nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.
"Meet Guguze," (1977), a Moldavan folk tale. was translated by Miriam
My personal favorite is the way-awkward picture of Renesmee and Jacob:
Heh.
See 'em all at The Mary Sue.
For today's installment of the Summer Blog Blast Tour, we're thrilled to welcome back Robin LaFevers, aka R.L. LaFevers, author of a plethora of enjoyably adventuresome books for MG and YA readers, including the Theodosia series, the Nathaniel... Read the rest of this post
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Fancy Nancy is growing up and so are her readers. Kids who are growing out of the Fancy Nancy picture books and leveled readers will be thrilled to see this new series of chapter books featuring all of the characters from the previous books by Jane O’Connor. O’Connor’s sweet, funny text is paired well with Robin Preiss-Glasser’s illustrations once again in this story.
I HATED The Cat in the Hat as a kid, and LOVED this book. So it’s no surprise to me that this one comes out so much higher. And yes, as a parent, I am guilty of using this book to persuade my children to try a new dish which they are CERTAIN they will hate. Most of the time, they’re right, but once in a while, I get to be the triumphant Sam-I-Am.
I used to frequent a certain natural parenting site/discussion board, and this would come up as an example of a book parents *wouldn’t* read to their children. Some complaints: “So negative! We have a rule that you *have* to try new foods! We don’t say ‘I won’t’ in our home!” Sigh. Misses the point entirely…
Lord defend the children of the humorless.
Amen to that.