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What do John Dalton, Al Roker, and Punxsutawney Phil the Groundhog have in common? They’re all famous weathermen! Groundhogs, which also go by the name woodchucks, are ground squirrels related to chipmunks and prairie dogs. They live in the North East of the United States and in Canada, where they feed on wild grasses and insects and live in burrows they dig for themselves. Sometimes the tunnels that make up their homes can interfere with the homes of humans by making the ground under buildings unstable. Some farmers and homeowners get mad at Groundhogs for damaging their property. However, other people believe that Groundhogs provide a useful service for humans: they predict the weather!
In the 1800’s, German immigrants in Pennsylvania started a tradition where, every February 2nd, they watched the behavior of a special Groundhog to tell them how soon Spring would begin. They would gather around the weatherman-Groundhog’s burrow and watch as he emerged. If the day was sunny, the groundhog might see his shadow, become afraid, and retreat into his burrow. According to the tradition, this is his way of telling people that Winter will last for another six weeks. If the Groundhog doesn’t see his shadow and leaves his burrow, then Spring will come early! Instead of using graphs and images for his weather forecast, the Groundhog communicates with his emotions!
This tradition was “Candlemas” to the German immigrants, but now we know it as “Groundhog Day.” Every February 2nd, people still look to famous Weather-Groundhogs such as Punxsutawney Phil, Western Maryland Murray, and Chattanooga Chuck to tell them how soon spring will come. The weathermen-Groundhogs are never completely accurate with their predictions, but then again, neither are human weathermen!
Learn more about groundhogs in Prairie Storms by Darcy Pattison and click on the picture below to print this great coloring page by Kathleen Rietz.
0 Comments on Celebrate Groundhog Day! as of 2/1/2013 12:06:00 PM
……………………… Kathleen Rietz Illustrator, Desert Baths with author Darcy Pattison ……………….. Please welcome to Kid Lit Reviews a prolific children’s book illustrator and fine artist Kathleen Rietz. She is here to chat with us about herself and her new book with Darcy Pattison titled Desert Baths. Hi, Kathleen, let’s start off with what first interested [...]
Enjoy your FREE downloadable Groundhog's Day coloring page, featuring a scene from the book "Prairie Storms", written by Darcy Pattison, illustrated by me, and published by Sylvan Dell Publishing.
If you have not checked out my website in a while, click HERE. There, you can find more coloring pages and check out books I have illustrated, as well as new books coming out in 2012. You can also "like" the "Prairie Storms" fan page on Facebook.
1 Comments on Groundhog's Day Coloring Page, last added: 2/5/2012
by Darcy Pattison, illustrated by Kathleen Rietz
32 page picture book
hardcover ISBN: 978-1-60718-129-3
paperback ISBN: 978-1-60718-139-2
English eBook ISBN: 978-1-60718-149-1
Spanish eBook ISBN: 978-1-60718-159-0
Where the land is flat, the sky’s dome becomes a blank canvas for storms. In this lyrical book, experience a year of prairie storms from the point of view of native wild life who must shelter, hide, escape, disappear, endure and withstand those storms. Watch the sand hill cranes avoid the tornado, the red fox thrill to a soft evening shower, the earless lizard shimmy as it disappears beneath the burning sands of summer, the cougar dodge hail stones, the bald eagle shed sleet and the bison face into the teeth of a blizzard and stand defiant. Each month features a storm typical of that season and a prairie animal in its normal habitat. The prairie biome or ecosystem is explored through its weather, especially its storms. Told in lyrical prose, this story is a celebration of the grasslands that dominates the center of American lands.
Watch the vulture bask in the morning sun, the roadrunner kick up a cloud of dust, the javelina wallow, and the bobcat give her cub a licking with a rough tongue in Desert Baths. As the sun travels across the sky, learn how twelve different desert animals face the difficulties of staying clean in a dry and parched land. Explore the desert habitat through its animals and their habits of hygiene. Told in lyrical prose, this story is a celebration of the desert lands of the American Southwest. Read more about Desert Baths here.
Wisdom, the Midway Albatross is one of the featured books in this BookLinks article:
Classroom Connections: Taking Flight with Books about Birds.
Larson, Jeanette (author). First published May 2012 (Book Links).
Please Vote for Kitty Harvill.
Illustrator of Wisdom, the Midway Albatross, Kitty has entered three paintings in the 4th International Animal Art Contest. Winners are decided by popular vote, so please go and vote for Kitty’s cats or bird.
Welcome to my latest children's book giveaway! To celebrate the release of my 2 latest books, "Desert Baths" and "The Tree That Bear Climbed", I am having a fun coloring contest. This time I am giving away 4 of my children's books, published by Sylvan Dell Publishing!
1. Choose ONE of the coloring pages in this post to download and color. You may color it or have a child color it. Crayons are fun, but you can also use glitter, paint, etc. Use your imagination!
2. POST your finished coloring page on your blog, Facebook, Flickr or Instagram, with a LINK back to my blog. Then leave me a comment here with the link to YOUR coloring page so we can all see your lovely masterpiece. (You must do this step in order to qualify.)
3. You have until midnight Central Time Zone on Friday, October 12th, 2012 to post your coloring page link as a comment.
4. The winner will be drawn RANDOMLY from all entrants, and their name will be posted on my blog on Monday, October 15th, 2012. (Please be sure I have a way to contact you via email.)
5. This contest is open to residents of the continental US only.
Here are the coloring pages. Choose one:
HAVE FUN!
2 Comments on Join my HUGE, ginormous, fantastic BOOK giveaway!, last added: 9/29/2012
My picture book, PRAIRIE STORMS, comes out in August. The illustrator, Kathleen Rietz has done monthly coloring pages, and here’s the July page! Please LIKE the Prairie Storms Facebook Page for monthly coloring pages. And please let your friends with kids know about the monthly nature coloring pages.
Coloring Page for July, Prairie Storms. For monthly coloring pages LIKE www.facebook.com/PrairieStorms
The Wayfinder is reviewed this week on Susan Heim on Parenting blog. There’s a free giveaway, just leave a comment.
NonFiction BookBlast
Sunday, June 26, 2011. 8-10 am.
ALA Conference in NOLA.
What sounds does a ground hog make? An earless lizard? A burrowing owl? Six months ago, I had no idea!
August, 2011 Release
When I decided to create a book trailer for my forthcoming book, PRAIRIE STORMS, I knew I wanted something fun and useful for kids, parents and educators. We know the sounds of dogs, cats, horses, cows and goats. But do we know the sounds made by other common creatures? Skunks? For this trailer, I decided to focus on the sounds made by each animal in PRAIRIE STORMS. This post is about how I created that video.
But it’s also a celebration of a second book launch, Writing Young Adult Fiction for Dummies, which includes my sidebar, “Darcy Pattison talks Book Trailers”.
Written by Deborah Halverson, founder of the writer’s advice website DearEditor.com, it has great advice on writing and publishing a teen novel. Deborah edited young adult and children’s fiction with Harcourt Children’s Books before picking up a pen to write the award-winning teen novels Honk If You Hate Me and Big Mouth.
The book is filled with great features, including:
tips for targeting an audience, finding an angle that’ll make the story stand out, and writing a killer hook
an extensive chapter on self-marketing to help writers move boldly into the realm of self-promotion–including book trailers
techniques and exercises to shape plot, create teen-friendly characters, develop a convincingly youthful voice, write natural dialogue, and use setting to illuminate characters and plot
13 National Book Award winners and finalists, Newbery medalists and honorees, and other award-winning luminaries sharing their insights
self-editing tools to transform a first draft into a strong submission-ready final draft
insider tips for finding the right agent and/or editor and preparing a stand-out submission package
To anticipate the release of Prairie Storms and celebrate the release of Writing Young Adult Fiction for Dummies, I’m debuting the Prairie Storms book trailer here today.
As the author of The Book Trailer Manual, I had some simple ideas on where to find public domain sounds and inexpensive audio tracks.
Sound Track. First, I knew that I wanted a sound track to back up the
Watch this exciting book preview video of my new book, Prairie Storms, written by Darcy Pattison and illustrated by me. The book is just weeks away from its release date. I am so excited. Watch the video HERE! (Thanks to Darcy for putting together this video.)
0 Comments on Video Preview of "Prairie Storms" as of 1/1/1900
Feel free to click the pic to download my latestPrairie Storms coloring page! In this scene, we see a cougar taking refuge from a chilly, November hail storm.
3 Comments on New Coloring Page...FREE!, last added: 8/23/2011
I’m still celebrating the publication of my picture book, PRAIRIE STORMS, by creating another video. This time, I attended the AETN-PBS Family Day event in Conway, AR, where I talked with parents and kids about reading and books. I invited the kids to be “You Tube” Stars by answering a simple question: What is a Rainbow?
As you might imagine, we got a wide range of answers. See what observations these young scientists made!
If you can’t see the embedded video, view it here.
More Than One Book Trailer?
Excerpt from The Book Trailer Manual by Darcy Pattison
Most authors make a book trailer and stop. This is my third book trailer for PRAIRIE STORMS, and I plan more. This chapter explains why multiple videos are a great idea.
More than one book trailer? Does this question surprise you? You’re unsure about doing one video, much less a couple. Should you really think about more than one book trailer for your book? Yes. Here’s why.
Networking: Like every other social media, it’s your network that counts. And networks grow when you post regular content to keep them coming back. You may want a series of trailers spread out over several months, so viewers – and readers – have reasons to come back often.
Short Life of a Video: In May 2010, Jay Yarow and Kamelia Angelova reported that the shelf life of a video is very short. Half the viewers of a YouTube.com video come in the first six days. 75% of the viewers are within the first 20 days. Of course, there’s going to be a long tail, in which your video gets a few hits/day for a long time. But if you want a high level of sustained interest, you might want to consider a series of videos, distributed 1-3 weeks apart.
There is precedence in the online world for multiple marketing messages. Often marketers use an auto-responder to set up a series of messages which are automatically sent to an email list at specified intervals. For example, you might sign up for an camera site’s newsletter because they promise to send a series of three tutorials on taking portraits with a digital camera. You sign up and get your first issue of the newsletter right away, along with a second email that contains the first tutorial. The second and third tutorials turn up at one week intervals. These automated deliveries are via an auto-responder.
The idea behind auto-responder messages is to build your audience’s trust in your ability to offer something valuable on a long term basis.
Thank you to all of the wonderful friends who have visited my blog, come to my book signings and events, and bought my books this year. I am excited to have 2 new books coming out in 2012. But as a way of saying thanks for making 2011 such a fun and successful year, I am giving away signed copies of 2 of my books, "Champ's Story" and "Prairie Storms". Just leave a comment on my blog as to why you think you would like to win my books. I will draw a winner at RANDOM from all of the entries be sure I have a way to contact you. Contest ends Thursday, Dec. 15th at 7pm Central Time Zone. I will contact the winner on Friday.
21 Comments on Mad-Dash-Last-Minute-Holiday-Giveaway!, last added: 12/16/2011
How generous of you! I would love to win to share you lovely stories with my kids... and then selfishly, add your beautiful books to my collection of inspiring illustrators. Happy Holidays! Lisa :)
Thank you for offering your wonderful books. I think they look and sound wonderful. I believe they would make a great addition to our family and would be well loved and taken care of.
I have a grandson who is just starting to learn how to read and four nieces and one nephew who would inherit these books from my grandson. I love your illustrations and know that the pictures are a big hit with the kids. At my grandson's age of 5 years old, it makes a difference as to whether they are even interested in the book or not. I would very much love to win these two books.
I would like to win your books for many reasons. One: I've known you for awhile online and think your a talented artist. Two:I would like to let people here see your talent. Three:I have never owned any of your works just read about them online and I would absolutely love to have one. Four:I would like to take a copy of one of your books to the local Barnes and Noble store to ask them about you and suggest that they order your books for their shelves. *HUGS* Angela www.angelasartarea.com
I love your style, Kathleen - artistically & as a person. I know the preschoolers that I work with would love your books. Although I'm not quite sure I could read Champ's Story to them without bawling my eyes out. I love doggies so very much!!! Congratulations on your new books & I wish you continued success in 2012!
Congratulations on your new books, Kathleen! I'm a big fan of your style - artistically & as a person. I'm sure my preschool students would love your books, although I'm not quite sure I could read Champ's Story without bawling. (Gosh, I love doggies!!) Best wishes for continued success!
Oooo. Pick me, pick me! I will read them to my students and brag that I know the illustrator!!! And then I'll read them to my own little one and brag that I know the illustrator.
Thanks for the awesome giveaway! My son LOVES reading with me and looking at all the colorful pictures! These would make a gread addition to our family! tiffers77 (at) hotmail (dot) com
Hi Kathleen. I would love to share your talent with my kids. My son is a new reader and my daughter is showing interest in learning. I would love to show them your talented art work. My kids will also get a kick out of the fact we went to school together.
Hi Kathleen, I'd love to see what my old high school friend has been up to and I'm sure my boys would love some new books added to their library. Thanks!!
This is the spread I created for the month of September in the upcoming picture book "Prairie Storms", by Sylvan Dell Publishing, due for release in 2011. Kathleen Rietz - website Kathleen Rietz - blog
This is the spread I created for the month of September in the upcoming picture book "Prairie Storms", by Sylvan Dell Publishing. The book is due for release in 2011. I am enjoying illustrating this book IMMENSELY!
2 Comments on Preview of my latest illustrated work for the book "Prairie Storms", last added: 12/1/2010
This is the spread I created for the month of September in the upcoming picture book "Prairie Storms", by Sylvan Dell Publishing. The book is due for release in 2011. I am enjoying illustrating this book IMMENSELY!
3 Comments on Preview of "Prairie Storms" by Sylvan Dell Publishing, last added: 12/1/2010
Beautifully rendered, Kathleen. I can tell that you spent a lot of time on this spread rendering the birds and foliage. I'm glad you're enjoying working on it...books are always a long haul to get through.
Two different illustrations for the topic "Chicken".
The first illustration is for the current children's book I am illustrating for Sylvan Dell, titled "Prairie Storms" (2011). It is a prairie chicken, also known as a prairie grouse.
The second is a coloring page I created, called"Chicken Dance".
10 Comments on Illustration Friday: "Chicken", last added: 1/20/2011
The more I see of Prairie Storms, The more I’m convinced it is a collection of Kathleen Rietz masterpieces! Fantastic Kate! Love the chicken dance too :o)
The doe and her fawn heeded the warning of the violent lightning and explosive thunder that a destructive thunderstorm was on its way.
This illustration is from the children's book I just illustrated, called "Prairie Storms", written by Darcy Pattison and published by Sylvan Dell. The book is scheduled for release in August.
12 Comments on Illustration Friday ~ "Warning", last added: 3/8/2011
To help launch the August release of my new picture book "Prairie Storms", written by Darcy Pattison and published by Sylvan Dell Publishing, I will be making available FREE coloring pages drawn by me! Each coloring page features a month with a scene which coordinates with a scene from the book. Just click the image, then either download the coloring page, or drag and drop it to your desk top. Be sure to print the image in a "landscape" format on your printer. The image size is 8.5" X 11". I would love to see your child's finished, colored page when they have finished coloring it.
0 Comments on "Prairie Storms": New Book Release Coloring Pages! as of 1/1/1900
To help launch the August release of my new picture book "Prairie Storms", written by Darcy Pattison and published by Sylvan Dell Publishing, I will be making available FREE coloring pages drawn by me! Each coloring page features a month with a scene which coordinates with a scene from the book. Just click the image, then either download the coloring page, or drag and drop it to your desk top. Be sure to print the image in a "landscape" format on your printer. The image size is 8.5" X 11". I would love to see your child's finished, colored page when they have finished coloring it.
This week I am featuring the coloring page for the month of February: a prairie dog peeks out of his snow-capped burrow on a foggy morning. Will he see his shadow in the snow?
0 Comments on "Prairie Storms": February coloring page as of 1/1/1900
Here is a preview illustration from my latest book, Prairie Storms, set for release in just a couple of weeks. The book was written by Darcy Pattison, and published by Sylvan Dell. We have a follow-up book, called Desert Baths, which will be coming in 2012. It has been wonderful working with both Darcy and Sylvan Dell. In this illustration, an earless lizard shimmies to find shelter from a dry, crackling lightning storm in the middle of an August night. You can download a free coloring page version of this illustration here.
6 Comments on Illustration Friday: "Midsummer Night", last added: 6/27/2011
{{{{{KATE}}}}} I know the dedication that goes into your paintings. This is awesome. I know your books will always be on the top of any child's list. Just beautiful!
What do John Dalton, Al Roker, and Punxsutawney Phil the Groundhog have in common? They’re all famous weathermen! Groundhogs, which also go by the name woodchucks, are ground squirrels related to chipmunks and prairie dogs. They live in the North East of the United States and in Canada, where they feed on wild grasses and insects and live in burrows they dig for themselves. Sometimes the tunnels that make up their homes can interfere with the homes of humans by making the ground under buildings unstable. Some farmers and homeowners get mad at Groundhogs for damaging their property. However, other people believe that Groundhogs provide a useful service for humans: they predict the weather!
Where the land is flat, the sky’s dome becomes a blank canvas for storms. In this lyrical book, experience a year of prairie storms from the point of view of native wild life who must shelter, hide, escape, disappear, endure and withstand those storms. Watch the sand hill cranes avoid the tornado, the red fox thrill to a soft evening shower, the earless lizard shimmy as it disappears beneath the burning sands of summer, the cougar dodge hail stones, the bald eagle shed sleet and the bison face into the teeth of a blizzard and stand defiant. Each month features a storm typical of that season and a prairie animal in its normal habitat. The prairie biome or ecosystem is explored through its weather, especially its storms. Told in lyrical prose, this story is a celebration of the grasslands that dominates the center of American lands.
I am always so impressed by your spot on compositions. This guy is such a cutie. Thanks for sharing the coloring book pages!