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Part of the back matter in Angry Birds Playground:  Animals was to be a double-page spread filled with activities meant to assist parents in helping their children take learning beyond the pages of the book. I'd need 20 or so activities. I tried to think of this task as little as possible while I wrote the rest of the book's text. Eventually, though, the writing of those pages could no longer be ignored. But, hey. There were dozens of animals in the book. Surely I could think of 20 activities that kinda-sorta had something to do with featured animals, or find some on the internet I could adapt to my purposes.

The first one I thought up was for kids to balance a ball atop their feet, similar to the way penguin parents keep an egg up off the ice. Was that even physically possible for little kids? It's been awhile (a long while) since my own kids were in the target age group (4-6 year olds). I needed help. I needed beta testers.

I immediately though of Jacob and Joshua, sons of my Iowa author friend, Becky (I'd be happy to send you details about Becky's fabulous books if you want to e-mail me privately, but I'm not including her last name here in order to protect the boys' privacy on the sometimes creepy internet).

The boys were up for it, so I flooded Becky's e-mail inbox with activities as I wrote them. Jacob and Joshua gamely tried SO many. The ball balancing didn't make the cut, but here they are (along with their sister, Anna), testing the milk carton boats they made....

For months, their mom kept a secret. A couple of weekends ago, I saw the family at a book festival and was finally able to hand Jacob and Joshua copies of "our book" and watch their reactions when they saw their names on the dedication page. Jacob turned to hide a smile. Joshua clasped the book to his chest and jumped in stompy circles.

Could anything be better than that? Well, maybe. Toss in a little serendipity....

The pandas on the cover are adorable. But since there were no pandas inside (long story), I was feeling a little "meh" about it. Until Becky saw the book and instantly went melty over the cover. See, her entire family traveled to China in 2010 to adopt Joshua. In her own words:  "Before we met Joshua, we were able to send him one package [orig e-mail included photos]. Do you see the stuffed panda? It was one of our first gifts to Joshua. He slept with it, and carried it all the way home to Iowa. His brother Jacob loved the panda so much, he picked one of his own to be his special souvenir. When our family first saw the two pandas on the cover of Angry Birds Playground, we all had the same thought. 'Look, it's Jacob and Joshua!' My mother even commented on the pandas when she first saw the book. Pandas remind us of Joshua's birth country, and both Jacob and Joshua love them."

Suddenly, two little pandas were exactly right.


Remember to enter our giveaway to win an autographed copy of Angry Birds Playground:  Animals. For contest details, see Monday's post. The deadline is 11pm (CST) tomorrow (Thursday), and the winner will be announced Friday.

Jill Esbaum

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A few years ago, I fell into one of those "right time, right place" opportunities – a picture book manuscript my agent submitted to National Geographic Kids miraculously brought an offer to author a series of softcover nonfiction books for 4-6 year olds. I had great fun writing five Picture the Seasons books before the series was discontinued.

Luckily, my editor thought of me again this past April, asking if I'd be interested in a project that required a steep learning curve and called for somebody who a) was comfortable writing both fiction and nonfiction, b) could devote a month or two to this project (during which there'd likely be no time for a personal life), and c) could write quickly.

I replied, "Sure, I can do that!"

(Note:  "Sure, I can do that!" is my standard answer to most any editorial request. Whether or not I'm actually confident that I'm able to do what they're asking is irrelevant. A willing attitude and an internet connection make it possible to teach yourself just about anything, right?)

A week later I learned project details. The book would be a *takes a deep breath* 128-page hardcover fiction/nonfiction mashup featuring the Angry Birds on an around-the-world adventure, during which they'd meet and learn about dozens of real animals as they searched five distinct habitats for their eggs, which their pig enemies had stolen, with back matter the likes of which I'd never tackled before. I'd be choosing the habitat locations and about 40 animals, writing nonfiction info about each, funny dialogue for the Angry Birds - each with their own personalities, chapter intros, and the general storyline launching the birds on their adventure, recapping their trip at the end, then wrapping up their story.

I was in over my head, and I knew it. Sheesh, just reading the above paragraph again now makes my heart rate rise. This was a massive project, and I had no idea where on earth (literally) to begin.

But then I remembered the anecdote Anne Lamott tells of her childhood, the one in which her father gave writing advice to her brother, who was struggling to write a school report:  "Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird." Couldn't be much more appropriate in this case!

By one week into the six it took to research and write the book, I was having the time of my life. This book stretched me as a writer, taught me how much work (from so many people!) goes into a project like this, and pushed me into places I hadn't imagined I could go. And what writer wouldn't love knowing the project she's working on in May and June is scheduled for release six months later?! (I waited five years for my last picture book, Tom's Tweet. Totally worth it, but still.)

Which brings me to today. I'm happy to announce that my newest publication, Angry Birds Playground:  Animals (National Geographic) has hit bookstore shelves. I hope you'll take a look. It's targeted to kids 4-6 years old, but fun for older readers, too. The book follows the Angry Birds through the Amazon rainforest, the Mojave desert, across the Pacific Ocean, to the grasslands of Tasmania and Tanzania (thanks to a confused sea turtle, the Birds have to visit both), and both the Arctic and Antarctic (thanks to a confused Angry Bird, who is certain that penguins live in the Arctic). They meet caimans and sloths, lizards and bats, otters and whales, black swans and Tasmanian devils, lions and elephants, seals and penguins. Pandas? Um, no. I'll tell you about that Wednesday.

To win an autographed copy, all you have to do is enter our drawing.

Entry Rules

You may enter the contest one of two ways:  1) by posting a comment below OR 2) by sending an email to teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com with "Book Giveaway" in the subject line.

Whichever way you enter, you MUST give us your first and last name AND tell us how you follow us. If you enter via a comment, you MUST include a valid email address (formatted this way:  youremail [at] gmail [dot] com) in your comment.

Contest open only to residents of the United States. Incomplete entries will be discarded. Entry deadline is 11 pm (CST) Thursday, November 15, 2012 (yes, this is a short one!). Winners will be announced Friday, November 16, 2012. Good luck!

Jill Esbaum

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Aside from videos of cats playing the piano and laughing babies, YouTube has a lot of educational material to offer (which is now easier for teachers and students to access with YouTube for Schools. The educational hub curates content from YouTube... Read the rest of this post

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Get ready for Hunger Games the, uh, game… (Lionsgate is teaming up with Funtactix to build a social game that takes place in the world of Panem. Debuting the same day as the movie, it will give us the first official map of the futuristic... Read the rest of this post

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Nickelodeon hosted the 25th annual Kids’ Choice Awards this weekend (where the top stars in the youth world went home with orange blimps and slime covered clothes. It’s no surprise that Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez were among the big... Read the rest of this post

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Angry Birds as seen on the ID Network. Feel free to share if you'd like.

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Facebook is about to become even more addicting (with a photo sharing application for iPhones. As sending images via mobile devices becomes increasingly popular, it’s no surprise that Facebook wants to expand its technology. The social network... Read the rest of this post

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All that talk about the movie industry being in trouble (seems to have vanished over the weekend with news that “Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” became the eighth movie ever to pass the $1 billion worldwide box office mark.... Read the rest of this post

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Cartoon found on imagefave.com

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This is what I dream about at night...

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The battle between Google+ and Facebook heats up and this time it’s over games! (Google+ launched a game feature yesterday where users can play within the social network and with other Google+ users. But hours later, Facebook expanded its... Read the rest of this post

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Angry birds — and especially smart, angry birds — aren’t just the subject of my latest NYT Mag mini-column. Because my mom collected and bred parrots, they’re something I’ve spent far too much time pondering.

Did you know that crows develop grudges against people and can impart them to their flocks? Or that African Greys are capable of labeling and counting objects and grasping the concept of zero? Or that birdsong appears to be in some sense grammatical? Often parrots use their powers for good, and not evil, of course. As far as we know.

Daphne du Maurier (above), who wrote “The Birds,” about an avian apocalypse, said the idea came to her after she saw a farmer ploughing a field while seagulls dived above him, and she imagined the birds “becoming hostile and attacking.” Evidently she disapproved of Hitchcock’s also harrowing, more famous adaptation.

If you click through to the BBC interview, you can watch her talking about her life and work for almost 50 minutes. The clip opens at her typewriter, “the standard ‘the author at work’ establishing shot except for du Maurier’s super-strong finger-punching technique on the keys.” Though du Maurier made her living as a writer, she also dabbled in painting.

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Spotify just got even cooler with an enhanced version of Spotify Radio (which lets users create unlimited stations by artist, track, or genre, receive recommendations with an improved feature, and skip as many songs as they wish. This should make... Read the rest of this post

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For what certainly won’t be the last time, a successful iPhone game is attempting to make the leap into animated features and series. We’ve reported before about artists who have developed animation show pitches into iPhone games, but in this instance, the creators of the iPhone game Angry Birds already have a hit on their hands. Variety reports that they’re currently shopping the property for movies and TV shows.

The article doesn’t actually say that anybody in Hollywood is interested—just that they’re pitching the idea around—but they already have a toy deal in place. The game has sold over $7 million worth of downloads through the Apple store and the “cinematic trailer” above has topped 5.5 milllion views on YouTube. Mikael Hed, the CEO of Rovio Mobile, the Finnish company behind the game, isn’t being modest and thinks he just might be the next Pixar: “Time and time again, they take an unknown brand and make it big,” he said. Good luck with that.

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Tony Hawk to host 'Hall of Game Awards' on Cartoon Network (The latest entry in an increasingly crowded award space will honor viewer-voted sports stars and sports moments from the past year. Also, ratings are in for the "Hannah Montana" series... Read the rest of this post

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Dear YALSA:

The teens in my library are app-crazy! They are asking hard questions like, “I’ve made this app for my droid, but I need help getting the bugs out.” Then I’ve got the adults who don’t know an app from their, well, you know. Can you help me and my patrons sort out the ins and outs of apps? Tell me more about the app marketplace and how the web is being overtaken by the entirely more
convenient app world!

Sincerely,

App-Wary

First of all, an App is just a program that you can run on a device. Some you can download for free. Others require payment. For example, database companies such as Gale are creating apps that allow your patrons to search your databases from their phones or other devices. Apps are available from company websites or at app stores like the Google Apps Marketplace or the Apple App Store.

So what apps should you be investigating as a librarian?

Check out Joyce Valenza’s post on top research apps.  These aren’t just for your use – encourage your teens to load and use them. It’s the perfect example of meeting them where they are: your library resources on their omnipresent phone.

If you still aren’t convinced that apps are for you, go back and read Linda Braun’s post from Day 2. She makes a great case for why you should be paying attention to apps.

What your teens might want to know about apps is how to design them and get them out into the world. Maybe they’re inspired by the fourteen year-old whose Bubble Ball game app beat out Angry Birds for the top spot in the app store in January.

A scan of the web finds some great how-to articles like Popular Science’s How to Make an iPhone App or The Developer’s Guide for Android. But let’s draw on our collective wisdom. How do you use apps in your library? Have you helped a patron make an app and put it up for sale? Have you created an app just for your library? Share your expertise!

Thanks to Jake Rundle of the Hastings Public Library for suggesting questions about apps. If you have a topic you’d like to see covered, please email Megan Blakemore.