By: sylvandellpublishing,
on 3/19/2013
They’re here! Seven new titles from Sylvan Dell have finally hit shelves around the country. Over the next few weeks on the blog each book will be featured in depth with activities, author interviews and even giveaways.
We want to hear from you! Send us questions about the spring 2013 titles pictured above and we will answer them on our blog.
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By: sylvandellpublishing,
on 10/30/2012
It’s a scary time of year and kids are gearing up for costumes, trick or treating and scary movies. Here is a fun fall activities.
Carving Jack-o-Lanterns is a fun Halloween activity, but where do those pumpkins come from?
Who knew pumpkins are a fruit! Pumpkins need acres of room, rich soil and lots of sun so their vines can stretch out across the field. They don’t like the cold and should be planted late in spring. When we carve the pumpkin and remove all those seeds, they can be saved for planting next year, or eaten! Don’t worry you can’t grow a pumpkin in your belly, but here is a tasty way to enjoy the seeds.
Ranch Pumpkin Seeds
2 Tablespoons melted butter
Pinch of Salt
1 Tablespoon Ranch Dressing Mix
2 cups raw pumpkin seeds
Heat oven to 275° F. Toss butter, salt, dressing mix and pumpkin seeds in a shallow baking dish. Bake for 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes.
-For more fun facts about growing plants read The Tree That Bear Climbed, Sylvan Dell’s November free eBook of the Month. http://www.sylvandellpublishing.com/bookpage.php?id=TreeBear.
By: sylvandellpublishing,
on 9/13/2012
Solar System Forecast
By Kelly Kizer Whitt
Illustrated by Laurie Allen Klein
Solar System Forecast is full of surprises, from the crazy weather on Neptune, Venus and Pluto to the weather reported guiding you through your adventure in outer space.
Freezing temperatures, scorching heat and a storm bigger than planet Earth is just some of the wild weather you will encounter on your trip through our solar system! Get your fun facts along with your forecast for each major planet, as well as the weather on dwarf planet Pluto, and Saturn’s moon Titan. Any child with an interest in space is sure to love Solar System Forecast, and parents will love the educational “For Creative Minds” section in the back of the book. Get ready for some out of this world fun with Solar System Forecast!
Here is a behind the scenes look into the illustrations of Solar System Forecast with Laurie Allen Klein.
“Solar System Forecast was a difficult book to do because it wasn’t a traditional children’s book story. Consisting of a series of weather reports from different moons and planets there wasn’t a central character to follow and each page described a different, unique weather condition – on a non-earth surface. How, for example, do you illustrate “Spring” with no trees, flowers, grass, animals or even atmosphere to convey the image?
I immediately dove into research, looking up everything I could on meteorology and I found some amazing visual references of clouds and storms, but there was still the central difficulty of depicting any of this in an alien environment. And speaking of aliens – the most fun, reader-friendly surprise was the fact that the weather reporter was a real, live Alien, but I couldn’t reveal that until the very last page so I couldn’t even use any obvious alien references in any of the other illustrations. I was afraid it would just be pages of weird landscapes until the big finish at the end.
The only consistent link I had, that flowed through every page, was the weather report itself, and I immediately thought of The Weather Channel. Specifically all the modern technological ways one can get weather updates: TV, computer, laptop, iPad, smart phone, etc. so that became my visual theme. Showing each report on some different type of technology (some, like the Jupiter hologram being more sci fi) and in a few places the book page itself IS the screen.
The thing that brought it all together was the morning I noticed my husband getting ready for work. It was still dark, and he was in his uniform, looking at The Weather Channel on TV, with his coffee cup in hand. He was surrounded by this eerie blue glow and that’s when I thought of the astronaut on the first page, checking the weather before work – his coffee and Danish in hand, absurdly still having his helmet on and sealed. It just made me laugh so I took that little hint of silliness into the rest of the book.”
Pay close attention to Laurie’s silliness the weather alien pops up on various pages throughout the book. Can you find him?
About the Author and Illustrator
Kelly Kizer Whitt (Solar System Forecast) has been an admirer of the universe since childhood. From the dark skies of her hometown of Sauk City, Wisconsin, she would gaze at the stars and wonder what was beyond them. Kelly majored in English and studied Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After college she spent three 
years in Nashville with her husband, Jeremy, before moving to the Milwaukee area. In 1998 she landed her dream job at Astronomy magazine, where she worked as copy editor, photo editor, and assistant editor. Kelly wrote the terrestrial planets section of The Collins Illustrated Encyclopedia of Space, published in 2001. She writes about space for the websites Suite101.com and AstronomyToday.com. She also has a weekly stargazing blog for the Sierra Club online. Besides writing about space, Kelly published a romance novel on Kindle in 2011 titled The Gathering Storm. Kelly’s hobbies include visiting the national parks, creating crossword puzzles, and reading. Kelly lives in Sussex, Wisconsin, with Jeremy, her son Kaden, her daughter Lucy, and their cat Perseus, named for the constellation.
Laurie Allen Klein has been a freelance artist for nearly 25 years. Over the last several years, she has worked as the on-staff artist for a marine park, where she does everything from painting life-size sea animal murals, to illustrating children’s activity books. As evident by the extras included in the art, she has combined her love and fascination with outer space (and science fiction) with children’s illustration in both Solar System Forecast and Meet the Planets. Laurie also illustrated Fur and Feathers, Where Should Turtle Be?, Little Skink’s Tail, and If a Dolphin Were a Fish for Sylvan Dell. Laurie lives in Florida. See more of her artwork at http://www.lauriekleinarts.com.
Leave a comment and enter to win a FREE Solar System Forecast eBook!
By: sylvandellpublishing,
on 9/14/2012
The Tree That Bear Climbed
By Marianne Berkes
Illustrated by Kathleen Rietz
In any given city on any given day, a bear climbs a tree. Have you ever wondered how that tree became so strong, or why did that bear choose to climb to the top of a tree? Marianne Berkes and Kathleen Rietz show you just why Bear decided to climb this tree! Have Fun with the coloring page at the 
bottom, click on the image for a full page to color.
Everyone knows about the house that Jack built, but this is The Tree That Bear Climbed. What makes this tree so fascinating to bear? Starting with the roots that anchor the tree, this chain of events story in cumulative verse explores many different things that help a tree stand tall. It also lends itself to further discussion with fun repetition and detailed picture clues, stimulating a child’s curiosity. Why does the bear climb the tree and what happens when he arrives at his goal?
About the author and illustrator
Award-winning author Marianne Berkes (pronounced Ber-kess with two syllables) is a retired teacher and librarian who turned her love of nature and teaching into writing informational picture books. In addition to The Tree That Bear Climbed and Animalogy for Sylvan Dell, some of Marianne’s other recent and award-winning titles include: Going Home, The Mystery of Animal Migration; Over in the Ocean, in a Coral Reef; Over in the Jungle, a Rainforest Rhyme; Going Around the Sun, Some Planetary Fun, and Marsh Morning. Visit her website at www.MarianneBerkes.com.
A lifelong artist and lover of nature, Kathleen Rietz was drawing and painting before she learned to write her name. Originally, from Peoria, IL, Kathleen received her formal training from the American Academy of Art in Chicago, IL. In addition, to illustrating Desert Baths, The Tree That Bear Climbed, Prairie Storms, and Champ’s Story: Dogs Get Cancer Too! for Sylvan Dell, Kathleen’s other books include Conce Tu Parque, Little Black Ant on Park Street, The ABC’s of Yoga for Kids, and Prayers for Children. She taught art to children and adults at the Community School of the Arts at historic Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL, and through a local home school program in her community. For more information about Kathleen, visit her website: http://www.kathleenrietz.com/.
Comment on this post to win a FREE The Tree That Bear Climbed eBook.
By: sylvandellpublishing,
on 9/15/2012
A Warm Winter Tail
By Carrie A. Pearson
Illustrated by Christina Wald
Finally, to wrap up the Sylvan Dell Launch Week we end With A Warm Winter Tail.
Sparked from walk in the woods Carrie Pearson wrote A Warm Winter Tail, a twist on staying warm in the long cold months of winter.
Do you ever wonder how animals stay warm in the winter? Well, they wonder how humans do too! In a twist of perspective, wild creatures question if humans use the same winter adaptation strategies that they do. Do they cuddle together in a tree or fly south to Mexico? Take a look through an animal’s eyes and discover the interesting ways animals cope with the cold in this rhythmic story.
Carrie A. Pearson is originally from Hillsdale, Michigan, and now lives in Marquette, Michigan on the sandy shore of 
Lake Superior. A former early elementary teacher, she is an active member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and is the winner of the coveted SCBWI-Michigan Picture Book Mentorship Award. Her nonfiction work has appeared in Michigan History Magazine. Currently she is working on several picture book manuscripts as well as an historical novel for middle grade readers set in an abandoned orphanage. Along with her husband and their three daughters (and their two Labradoodles), she hikes, bikes, runs, and skis in the woods, windsurfs, kayaks, stand-up paddles, and swims in the chilly water and writes about what she experiences around her. The idea for A Warm Winter Tail, her debut picture book, came from an encounter with a whitetail deer on a wintry day. Stop by Carrie’s website www.carriepearsonbooks.com to learn about her school and library visits.
In addition to illustrating A Warm Winter Tail, Habitat Spy, Little Red Bat, andHenry the Impatient Heron for Sylvan Dell, Christina Wald has illustrated for a wide variety of toys, games, books, and magazines. From a book 
that featured hundreds of animals on each page (Look, Find, and Learn: Animals of the World) to games including the Star Wars role playing game series, every assignment covers something new and exciting. In recent years, she has illustrated tons of different animals for books and other publications. Christina enjoys the research aspect of such projects, saying that each new book is a fascinating new learning experience. She often integrates travel to research for her illustrations. She lives in Ohio with her husband and three cats. Visit Christina’s website.
By: sylvandellpublishing,
on 9/27/2012
On Tuesday, September 25th, the Sylvan Dell offices hosted students from a South Carolina elementary school. The students came to learn about publishing and test their knowledge of five Sylvan Dell books they had been studying. Teacher’s created questions for the Classroom Jeopardy! and all the action was caught on tape by two of the students.
Enjoy the Video!
By: sylvandellpublishing,
on 7/20/2011
Both the Mom’s Choice Award Foundation and Tillywig have just awarded Sylvan Dell Publishing picture books some of their top awards. Astro: The Steller Sea Lion and Big Cat, Little Kitty received gold Mom’s Choice Awards for Excellence, and Habitat Spy received the Tillywig Brain Child Award.
The Mom’s Choice Awards is an awards program that recognizes authors, inventors, companies, parents and others for their efforts in creating quality family-friendly media, products and services. It is known for establishing a benchmark of excellence in family-friendly media, products, and services.
Tillywig’s mission is to provide retail buyers, news media, parents, and consumers with product information and reviews of superior children’s products available in today’s marketplace.
Sylvan Dell’s mission is to excite children’s imaginations with artistically spectacular science, math, and nature-themed stories. All Sylvan Dell titles are held to the highest standards of excellence and include a “For Creative Minds” educational section in the back of the book, and extensive resources including teaching activities, quizzes, related websites, and more free online at www.SylvanDellPublishing.com. Sylvan Dell titles have been honored as finalists or winners of over 70 book awards. Our Science and Math Through Literature Program integrates reading, science, math, geography, character skills, and language learning through fun, cross-curricular activities.
0 Comments on Three Sylvan Dell Titles Win Gold! as of 1/1/1900
By: sylvandellpublishing,
on 5/1/2012
Children’s Book Week 2012, sponsored by the Children’s Book Council, runs from May 7th through May 14th. In honor of this special week, Sylvan Dell will be offering our full eBook site license FREE on our website the entire week. Use this as a great opportunity to kick off a summer reading program for your students or children! Plus, the free teaching activities and quizzes included with every Sylvan Dell book make it an even better option for kick-starting a great summer! To participate, simply visit www.sylvandellpublishing.com from May 7th through May 13th, and click on the “Children’s Book Week” icon in the upper-right hand corner.
Many Sylvan Dell authors and illustrators are also participating in Children’s Book Week including:
By: sylvandellpublishing,
on 6/4/2012
The Sylvan Dell offices are buzzing with excitement today! June kicks off Summer Reading. We are offering two free movie tickets with the purchase of an eLibrary, and rewarding reading by giving away prizes each week.
Over the course of the next two months go on a road trip with Sylvan Dell from the depths of the ocean then blast into outer space. Every two weeks we will be featuring a new free eBook. For the first two weeks, we are offering Animals are Sleeping for the new reader, and in coordination with the American Library Association theme of the month. Then explore the ocean with Ocean Hide and Seek, seek out where animals live in Habitat Spy, climb into the clouds with A Day on the Mountain and finally blast into space with Solar System Forecast, a Sylvan Dell new release.
With this exciting news, we have also developed a new Sylvan Dell iPad app available for purchase in the iTunes store. Now you can read your favorite Sylvan Dell books on the go. Just like our website the iPad app has auto-flip features audio available in English and Spanish as well as access to our quizzes and For Creative Minds sections.
As you know at Sylvan Dell, we are committed to make learning adventurous, especially when nature is in full bloom. To prevent the “summer-slide” make reading fun with activities, and keep checking with Sylvan Dell for great rewards throughout the summer. Click here and send us a short story about which Sylvan Dell books is your favorite and what makes this books so special. You will win three of Sylvan Dell’s latest books.
By: sylvandellpublishing,
on 6/20/2012
Have you ever wondered how an illustrator begins the pages of a picture book? Erin Hunter illustrator of The Great Divide, Multiply on the Fly and A Day on the Mountain gives us a sneak peek into her next project for Sylvan Dell A Day in the Deep – A Story of the animals that live in the depths of the ocean. Here Erin shows us how her paintings come to life, and the process she uses to create the detail of each creature.
By: sylvandellpublishing,
on 8/22/2012
New Books are on their way and we couldn’t be more excited to get them into little hands for science fun. Our authors and illustrators will be out and about in their communities and holding launch parties for their titles, we wanted to get in on the fun at Sylvan Dell and will be holding a virtual launch week September 10th-14th. Join Sylvandell on Goodreads, Facebook and Twitter for contests and giveaways! For a sneak preview of the six new titles visit www.sylvandellpublishing.com.
Back to School with Begin with Books… It’s always a great experience to really experience the joy a children gets from reading, and we did just that this weekend with a local organization Begin with Books. While passing out books from Sylvan Dell we collaborated with this local affiliate of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library to help gain interest in reading. Begin with Books is a fantastic organization that provides children with a book a month until the age of four. This early exposure to reading why we do what we do every day and it’s important to take time out and experience that excitement. Sylvan Dell will continue to work with this organization and others throughout our community to promote literacy. To learn more about begin with books visit their website http://beginwithbooks.org/
For teachers and librarians only! Planning for the upcoming year or looking for some impactful presentations to your school or classroom, Sylvan Dell authors or illustrators love to talk about their work to children. An author or illustrator visit is very inspiring to young minds and may just spark a budding talent. Contact us if you are interested in learning more! If an author can’t travel to your local area Skype visits are fun and check out TeacherTube for exciting and fun new videos!
By: sylvandellpublishing,
on 9/11/2012
DESERT BATHS
by Darcy Pattison
Illustrated by Kathleen Rietz
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.
After reading Desert Baths, get into the spirit with a great coloring page below by Kathleen Rietz, or visit www.sylvandellpublishing.com to take the quiz to see what you learned about desert animals.
Darcy Pattison is published in eght languages. In addition to Desert Baths and Prairie Storms with Sylvan Dell, other recent titles include Wisdom: The Midway Albatross and 11 Ways to Ruin a Photograph. She also authored the ebook, How to Write a Children’s Book and the teacher resource book, Paper Lightning: Prewriting Activities to Spark Creativity and Help Students Write Effectively. Darcy is the 2007 recipient of the Arkansas Governor’s Arts Award, Individual Artist Award for her work in children’s literature. As a writing teacher, Darcy is in demand nationwide to teach her Novel Revision Retreat. She is currently the Co-Chair of the Children’s Program for the Arkansas Literary Festival.
A lifelong artist and lover of nature, Kathleen Rietz was drawing and painting before she learned to write her name. Originally from Peoria, IL, Kathleen received her formal training from the American Academy of Art in Chicago, IL. In addition to illustrating Desert Baths, The Tree That Bear Climbed, Prairie Storms, and Champ’s Story: Dogs Get Cancer Too! for Sylvan Dell, Kathleen’s other books include Conce Tu Parque, Little Black Ant on Park Street, The ABC’s of Yoga for Kids, and Prayers for Children. She taught art to children and adults at the Community School of the Arts at historic Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL, and through a local home school program in her community.
Write a comment and you could win an eBook of Desert Baths!
* Winners in the past 6 months are not eligible for contests.
By: sylvandellpublishing,
on 9/12/2012
What do The Most Dangerous and news reports of West Nile virus have in common, the mosquito. When Terri Fields wrote the story of a ferocious animal contest, she had no idea how topical the book would become at the release date.
With more than 1,000 cases reported in 38 states this outbreak is the largest in U.S. history according to the Center for Disease Control. Not all mosquitoes carry the West Nile virus and not everyone will show symptoms of the disease if bitten. However, it is important to protect yourself from mosquito bites, as they are proven to transmit several different diseases to humans and animals all over the world.
Even if a non West Nile mosquito bites you, they leave behind an itchy and uncomfortable bump. The best way to protect yourself from a bite is use bug spray with Deet, wear long sleeves and long pants when you are outside and eliminate any standing water in your yard.
In The Most Dangerous, children will be excited by the parade of scary animals, but they will be surprised when the tiny mosquito shows up to the contest. Although the disease is not mentioned in the book, it is a great way to kick off a conversation about West Nile and mosquitoes with kids.
Learn more about The Most Dangerous!
Dangerous animals from all over the world gather for the Most Dangerous Animal of All Contest. Snakes, spiders, sharks . . . who will the winner be? Deadly poison, huge teeth, razor -sharp horns, and fearsome feet are just a few of the ways that animals kill. Predators mean to kill. Prey simply defend themselves. And yet, the unexpected most deadly animal doesn’t mean to harm at all!
Terri Fields (Burro’s Tortillas, The Most Dangerous) has written nineteen books which have garnered a number of awards including the Maud Hart Lovelace Award for Middle Grades Fiction, the Georgia Children’s Choice Award, being named to the Recommended Reading List for Chicago Public Schools, the TAYSHAS (Texas) Reading List, the Southwest Books of the Year List, and as one of the 100 Top Kid Picks in Children’s Books in Arizona. A long time desert-dweller, Ms Fields has enjoyed sharing her books with children all over the world. In addition to writing, Ms. Fields is also a educator who has been named Arizona Teacher of the Year, ING Education Innovator for Arizona, and been selected as one of the twenty teachers on the All-USA Teacher Team of the nation’s top educators. Terri Fields has worked with students in first through twelfth grades. Ms. Fields sees the world around her in terms of the wonderful stories it reveals. Visit Terri’s website http://www.terrifields.com/.
Award-winning illustrator Laura Jacques is passionate about illustrating children’s books that focus on natural history, wildlife, and environmental awareness for children. In addition to illustrating The Most Dangerous, Baby Owl’s Rescue and Whistling Wings for Sylvan Dell, she has also illustrated For the Birds: The Life of Roger Tory Peterson, Squirrel Assist, At Home in the Rain Forest, and Wildlife Refuge: A Classroom Adventure. Her books have won several honors and awards, including “NSTA-CBC Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children” sponsored by the Children’s Book Council and the “KIND Children’s Book Award” sponsored by the Association for Humane and Environmental Education, a division of the Humane Society of the United States. For more information, visit Laura’s website: http://www.laurajacques.com.
September’s Book of the Month read The Most Dangerous here http://www.sylvandellpublishing.com/index.php!
The stories are complete in their facts and the art is illuminous.
Congratulations Darcy, Kathleen, and Sylvan Dell. What a great book!
Thank you!!!