About five years ago, I was at a Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) conference in Maryland and attended a breakout session on blogging, presented by local children's authors Wendie Old and Mary Bowman-Kruhm. I went into the session with a vague curiosity about blogging -- but definitely no desire to start doing it myself -- and left with the confidence to try it out, plus the specific idea of blogging about picture books and dance. So in many ways, Wendie Old and Mary Bowman-Kruhm were the impetus for the creation of Picture Books & Pirouettes!
When Jodie from Growing Book by Book asked me to join the
third annual Booking Across the USA project this year -- with the theme of celebrating authors or illustrators from each state -- I knew exactly what I had to do...feature Wendie Old and Mary Bowman-Kruhm! They actually collaborated to co-write a couple picture books for very young readers, which I'll feature a little later. But first, here's a bit more about Wendie and Mary as individual authors...
About the AuthorsWendie Old has been a storyteller and children's librarian in Maryland for more than 30 years, during which time she has published numerous short stories and magazine articles, four picture books, and seven middle-grade biographies. Among her picture books are
To Fly, which is a biography of the Wright brothers for elementary readers, and
Stacy Had a Little Sister, which deals with the serious subject of the death of a sibling. You can read more about Wendie and her books
here on her website.
Mary Bowman-Kruhm has written more than 30 books for children and teens, including many educational texts. Her latest book is
The Leakeys: A Biography, which explores the lives and scientific discoveries of the famous paleontologists Louis and Mary Leakey. In addition to writing, Mary works part-time at the Center for Technology in Education at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. You can read more about
Mary here on her website.
Picture Book Collaborations
Remember how I mentioned that Wendy and Mary collaborated on a couple picture books for very young readers? The first, called Busy Toes, has quite an interesting story behind it. It was actually a collaboration among three writers -- Wendy, Mary, and a freelance writer named Claudine C. Wirth. Rather than having all three of their names on the cover of the book, they decided to write under the pen name C.W. Bowie, and they wrote and polished much of the manuscript over email rather than in person!
The simple text, with illustrations by Fred Willingham, portrays young girls and boys using their toes in many creative ways. "Tippy toes and dancing toes" is my favorite line in the book, but there are many others, such as "BIG TOES, little toes. / Open toes and closed toes / Waving toes / Tickling toes / Doggy tummy rubbing toes."
The creative team of C.W. Bowie and Fred Willingham also went on to write a sequel -- Busy Fingers. Similar to its predecessor, the book is about all the many things that little fingers can do: "Fingers high / Fingers low. / Fingers reach to touch a toe. / Fingers say, 'I love you.' / Fingers wave good-bye, too."
Movement Activity
Part of the Booking Across the USA project is to share an activity to go with a featured book. Not surprisingly, I chose a movement activity -- and I created it to go with Busy Fingers. The book actually contains 23 different movements that can be done by little fingers, but I picked out the eight ones that seemed easiest to incorporate into an activity.
After reading the book out loud one time, I would go through the following phrases from the book and do the accompanying movements together with your little ones:
- High: Stretch your arms and fingers up high in the air. This can be done either standing up or sitting down.
- Low: Stretch your arms and fingers low to the ground. This can also be done in any position.
- Reach to touch a toe: If you are standing up, bend over and try to touch your feet with your fingertips. If you are sitting down, stretch your legs out in front of you and try to reach your toes.
- Say 'I love you': Practice saying "I love you" in sign language (see photo below).
- Wave good-bye: Ask the children to think of different ways you can wave hello or goodbye. You can wave your fingers so that they open and close, or wave them so all the fingers move together from side to side. You can also try using big movements and small movements to wave. Feel free to explore this concept even more and get creative with how you can wave!
- Count: Practice counting to ten using one finger at a time. If this is too easy, you can practice counting by twos with your fingers, or adding numbers with sums of 10 or less.
- Shadows on the wall: Experiment with making shadow puppets with your fingers. If you need some ideas, this YouTube video by professional puppeteer Corina Bona explains how to make some simple shapes like a rabbit, a dog, and a face.
- Blow a kiss goodnight: You and the little ones can blow kisses to each other and practice catching them different ways with your fingers or whole hand. This is a good way to end the main activity.
And finally, if you want to incorporate art into your exploration of this book, there is a perfect stanza that you can re-read to set the children up for some finger painting and cleanup...
Fingers red, fingers green
You can put red paint on one hand and green paint on the other and explore how different finger movements -- pressing, smearing, drawing -- can create different designs. Throughout the activity, be creative, have fun, and discover all the amazing things that your fingers can do!
Click here to access all the posts from the third annual Booking across the USA project.
Our Discover Your World Summer Reading Extravaganza is rolling right along and I am truly hoping that our Summer Reading Extravaganza has shown reading families some amazing and fresh summer reading ideas thanks to the many book bloggers who have graced the pages of this blog over the last month and a half.
Today is no exception and I am pleased to have Jodie Rodriguez from Growing Book by Book with us to share a multicultural children’s book that is a family favorite. Welcome Jodie!
Cooking with Books: Lucky Birthday Noodles
As a former classroom teacher and now parent, I diligently look for books that will expose my kids to the world. Luckily, it has become easier to do this over the years with more and more choices (although the publishing world still has a long way to go). I also have a love of books that involve food or cooking. The book I’m sharing with you today fits with both of these passions!
Mei-Mei’s Lucky Birthday Noodles by Shan-Shan Chen and Heidi Goodman is a loving story of adoption, Chinese culture and a special birthday treat. This brand-new book published by Tuttle Publishing has been read several times in our house. Mei-Mei is Chinese. She was adopted by a family who flew across the world to get her. It’s important for Mei-Mei’s family to help her learn about her roots and culture. So, on her birthday, Mei-Mei’s mom makes the traditional Chinese dish- long noodles which represent a happy long life. This year Mei-Mei is old enough to help in the dinner preparation. Readers are taken through the day of this birthday celebration. And, the book even includes a recipe for Lucky Birthday Noodles at the end.
I love that the Goodman’s illustrations compliment the text beautifully. And, Mei-Mei’s 6th birthday cake looks as yummy as the noodle dish! This is a book that children of all ages will appreciate.
Author Shan-Shan Chen comes from a long line of restauranteurs. She is often a guest on television where she shows viewers how to prepare Chinese dishes. Chen is fluent in Mandarin Chinese. She loves to share Chinese traditions with her family and the public. Chen hopes that this new book will help children learn and celebrate a culture through food.
This book is perfect for encouraging families to get in the kitchen and cook together. My boys enjoyed making and eating the Lucky Birthday Noodle recipe in the back of the book. The kids tried some new foods including bamboo shoots and bok choy. There were also lots of familiar ingredients too! I’ve found that if kids help to prepare or even grow the meal, they are more likely to eat it. We planted a large garden with our neighbor this year. My kids are learning so much about how food grows.
There are so many literacy benefits to having kids work with you in the kitchen. Children work on following directions, reading, listening, developing vocabulary and developing oral communication skills. I aim to have my kids cook or bake at least one recipe a week with me.
I really love the idea of exploring cultures through food. I think we will try to find a book each month that inspires us to explore another culture and cook a native cuisine.
Do you have a favorite book that has inspired you to try a new dish? I’d love to hear your recommendations!
Jodie Rodriguez has a passion for helping caregivers nurture our youngest readers. As a former National Board Certified early-childhood and elementary teacher and administrator she has worked with thousands of families and educators providing best literacy practices. She now stays home with home with her two young sons (ages 2 and 3) and is the creator/founder of Growing Book by Book.
Visit Jodie’s blog, Growing Book by Book. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Google +.
The post Cooking with Books: Lucky Birthday Noodles {Guest Post by Jodie from Growing Book by Book} appeared first on Jump Into A Book.
Wolves are a very popular animal in my space. This sounds like a great book to add to our list for animal books where we actually learn about the animal and it's habitat.
I'm glad this book will work in your environment. There's a lot of information in the back about the way wolves communicate, their life cycle, and some other interesting things. We don't have wolves here in Maryland, but I just found out we have coyotes!
I love that you were able to find a book related to your state AND tie it in to dance and movement! The illustrations look beautiful. Thank you for participating in the Booking Across the USA project!
Thanks, Jodie. This has been a wonderful project to be a part of. Thanks again for including me!