TeachingBooks asks each author or illustrator to reflect on their journey from teaching to writing. Enjoy the following from Cheryl Kim.
by Cheryl Kim
Each year the 2nd graders at our school worked on a biography project. They chose and read a biography from our school library and then gave a presentation dressed up as the person they chose.
A few years into teaching this unit, I noticed something- The biography presentations didn’t reflect the diversity of the class. I thought there surely had to be a wider variety of global people to learn about! Especially if multiple students were reporting on the same person!
So, I googled “Asian American biographies for kids” and I stumbled upon Lee & Low’s website. One book by Paula Yoo caught my eye—Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds: The Sammy Lee Story (Lee & Low, 2005), the first Asian American to win a gold medal in the Olympics. The story won Lee & Low’s New Voices award. This sparked something in me and I decided that I also wanted to write stories featuring and celebrating Asian Americans.
Of course, it wouldn’t be that simple and while I entered Lee and Low’s New Voices Contest the following year (and made every rookie writer mistake!)
I realized that I, the teacher, had to become the student. As much as I enjoyed creative writing growing up, I still had SO MUCH to learn about the craft of writing for children.
I started by attending writing conferences and listening to other authors share their journey. I joined a critique group where every manuscript I drafted could receive honest feedback. Then, I spent a few more years taking classes from how to structure a picture book story to using lyrical language. I especially had to learn the valuable lesson of not giving up after each rejection and to keep going.
Growing up, I would often quit if something got hard. I remember showing up for basketball tryouts in 7th grade and not going back the second day. Back then, I would have rather given up than to feel the sting of rejection and not making the team. Yet, in this writing journey, I’ve learned that critique and rejection are part of the process and being able to accept and learn from it, is what helps authors cross the finish line for each of their book projects.
it wouldn’t be until 6 years after entering that first writing contest that I would be ready to enter that same contest again and have a different manuscript become a finalist. That connection led to writing Wat Takes His Shot and signing a book contract with Lee and Low another three years later!
Now, when I teach my students writing, I’m able to draw from my experience as an author by reminding them we’re all learning as we go and that if we continue to step forward, and not give up, we can create something wonderful. I love guiding my students through the writing process and for them to see how an idea that starts out in their mind can become a beautiful book they can hold in their hands.
So yes, I want to continue to write the stories that reflect the diversity of my classroom and our world. Meanwhile, I’m excited to continue raising up a future generation of writers who take courageous steps to create.
TeachingBooks personalizes connections to books and authors. Enjoy the following on Cheryl Kim and the books she’s created.
Listen to Cheryl Kim talking with TeachingBooks about the backstory for writing Wat Takes a Shot. You can click the player below or experience the recording on TeachingBooks, where you can read along as you listen, and also translate the text to another language.
Explore all of the For Teachers, By Teachers blog posts.
Special thanks to Cheryl Kim and Lee & Low for their support of this post. All text and images are courtesy of Cheryl Kim and Lee & Low and may not be used without expressed written consent.
]]>March Madness is here! Basketball is a fast-paced sport that makes for an exciting setting in books. How can we connect readers with basketball themed books during nail-biting tournament time? From the First Round to the National Championship start your own fast break with TeachingBooks resources.
Begin the First Four round of the tournament by listening to these four Meet-the-Author Recordings.
Get to know the TeachingBooks line-up with the entire Sports Collection. Start off with the Round of 64 by exploring the Physical Education Collection then filter down to the Round of 32 by searching for the subject heading “Basketball”.
Check out this slam dunk interview with Byron Graves, author of Rez Ball. He writes about his home community on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota. Rez Ball embodies the excitement of getting to the Sweet Sixteen!
Kwame Alexander’s Crossover Series is as exhilarating as the Elite Eight. There is also a related graphic novel edition and an exciting TV series adaptation.
Make it to the Final Four with these can’t-miss Book Guides, Activities & Lessons!
Test your own National Championship skills by playing interactive games under For Fun!
We’d love to hear how you’re using TeachingBooks resources in your classrooms and libraries! Leave your ideas in a comment below.
]]>In this post, we feature Rand Burkert, an educator, organic farmer, musician, and author. His previous, award-winning title, Mouse & Lion, was illustrated by his mother, renowned artist Nancy Ekholm Burkert, and was named an ALA Notable Children’s Book, among many other honors. You can hear him speak about his recent picture book, Star Stuff, illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Chris Raschka, and try his “invitation to imagine” activity. You’ll also find other resources to explore. Thanks for joining us, and let us know what you think in the comments below!
This original, out-of-this-world fable introduces Giovanni, a farmer, and Lorenzo, a donkey. Together, they are Sky Repair Specialists, and it’s their job to fill the holes in the sky with stars. While working one night, Lorenzo gets a hoof stuck in a nebula, a swirling cloud of gas and dust. Giovanni tries to release his friend but soon realizes that they need more help. Luckily, when he calls out to the heavens, friendly stars come running: Orion the Hunter, Cancer the Crab, and Taurus the Bull. What will it take to rescue Lorenzo? Find out in this imaginative story of friendship, perseverance, and cosmic problem-solving, featuring Chris Raschka’s joyful and luminous illustrations.
Listen to Rand Burkert talking with TeachingBooks about creating Star Stuff. You can click the player below or experience the recording on TeachingBooks, where you can read along as you listen, and also translate the text to another language.
TeachingBooks asks each author or illustrator on our Virtual Book Tour to share a writing prompt, a drawing exercise, or just an interesting question to spark curiosity and creativity. Enjoy the following activity contributed by Rand Burkert.
Try to stretch the story of Star Stuff and make it your own. What can you imagine? Who else, or what other animal, could get stuck in something? Act it out. How many of your friends are needed to help free the friend who is stuck? Make some costumes out of paper or anything else that you can find! Feel what it’s like to jump in line and help out.
As part of our Virtual Book Tour, TeachingBooks asks authors and illustrators to complete short sentence prompts. Enjoy Rand Burkert’s response.
You may not know that I can “paint” in the soil with seeds. Many years ago, I apprenticed on farms in the Midwest (Wisconsin and Illinois), and then I became a farmer in Italy, in a region called Umbria.
I started saving seeds of all kinds. I found it was very easy. One year, I saved 20 different kinds of Oxheart tomato seeds and planted them, trying to find the best ones to grow where I lived. I grew many other varieties of tomato of all colors. My favorite was always “Cherokee Purple,” and also a small red cherry tomato called “Peacevine.” One summer, I grew different kinds of corn from the Hopi tribe, wonderful corn of amazing colors: blue-black, orange and white, yellow, lavender, and white.
Falling in love with seeds and plants, I started planting my gardens in circles, a little like galaxies. I liked the circle shape because it invited people in to stay and look at all the plants and enjoy themselves. Since I saved seeds, I had many and could spread them around very freely. Often, I would trace lines across the planting beds with a hoe, then let the seeds drop from my fingers in abundance. It felt like painting. When all the different plants sprung out of the ground, the circle filled with life, with bright green leaves and delicious food.
It was in Italy that I met the donkey Lorenzo while visiting a friend’s farm on the mountain called Subasio. The donkey would come close and nibble at things in my pocket. Sometimes Lorenzo would escape from that farm and go on night-journeys. Then we’d have to go look for him. I came to love the spirit of donkeys. That eventually inspired me to write this story.
My favorite books as a young reader were the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis, especially The Magician’s Nephew. Even as an adult, it makes me cry for joy when the lion, Aslan, creates the world by roaring. When I was younger, picture books I loved were Inch by Inch, by Leo Lionni; Caps for Sale, by Esphyr Slobodkina; the Babar books; and The Scroobious Pip, illustrated by my own mom, Nancy Ekholm Burkert.
I hope that my book may encourage kids to think about the unexpected places they might find help, or friends.
Author photo by Claire Burkert. All other text and images are courtesy of Rand Burkert, Chris Raschka, and HarperCollins, and may not be used without expressed written consent.
]]>Each month we feature free and fun book contests and giveaways. We hope you will enjoy the following opportunities as well as the author and book resources available via TeachingBooks.
Based on the author’s homesteading adventures, this book is sure to be a hit with nature-loving (and curious!) kids who are keen to learn about basic sustainable living practices. Readers follow siblings Finlay and Leo on a journey to collect colorful eggs, check on the pigs in the pasture, and find the tallest grasses where the cows wait to be milked.
Gnome Road Publishing is giving away two hardcover copies of From the Farm, to Our Table. Send an email to info@gnomeroadpublishing.com with the subject line: “FTFTOT -TeachingBooks.net Giveaway!” Include your name and an address in the email.
Deadline: April 15, 2024 (Open to U.S. Addresses)
Explore the educator resource guide!
“Teamwork and curiosity are the building blocks for success in this entertaining and informative STEAM chapter-book series opener” (Booklist). The Garden Surprise is the first in The Kaleidoscope Club series about two friends who dream up plans to build a treehouse and learn about nature, skill-building and community. A great classroom and summer read.
Blue Dot Press is giving away 5 copies of The Garden Surprise. Submit an entry for a chance to win!
Deadline: April 26, 2024 (Open to U.S. Addresses)
Engage with the teaching guide!
Dive in and explore with deep-sea diver Kai and her yellow submarine as she learns about squid sending secret messages, why fish are always in a rush, about what’s on the other side of the key forest and more. Perfect for nature-loving adventurers and ocean lovers.
Blue Dot Press is giving away 5 copies of Kai’s Ocean of Curiosities. Submit an entry for a chance to win!
Deadline: April 26, 2024 (Open to U.S. Addresses)
Engage with the teacher’s guide!
When the last delicia tree is in danger of extinction, a young girl creates a seed bank as a surprise for Old Otis, whose stories have inspired her. This tender story celebrates the connections between generations, emphasizing that small steps can have a big impact when one looks beyond the present. An author’s note about seed banks around the world is included.
Flyaway Books is giving away 5 copies of Saving Delicia. Submit an entry for a chance to win!
Deadline: April 26, 2024 (Open to U.S. Addresses)
Explore the author’s website!
This beautifully illustrated picture book tells the true story of a little elephant in the Belfast Zoo and her dedicated keeper, who snuck her out of the zoo and into her apartment each night to keep her little charge safe as WWII bombs fell.
Random House Studio is giving away 5 copies of The Secret Elephant. Submit an entry for a chance to win!
Deadline: April 26, 2024 (Open to U.S. Addresses)
Explore the author’s website!
From Newbery Honor author Kirby Larson and her daughter, debut author Quinn Wyatt, Gut Reaction is a poignant, sometimes silly, and always moving story of coming to grips with grief and finding the sweet filling inside every treat. Baking makes Tess feel close to the father’s she’s recently lost, but entering a baking competition while under so much stress might not have been the best idea. Tess’s stomach pains worsen and soon she can barely eat a thing. Author Quinn Wyatt’s personal struggle with Crohn’s disease resonates in this engaging middle grade novel about navigating life with a chronic illness.
Scholastic is giving away 5 copies of Gut Reaction. Submit an entry for a chance to win!
Deadline: April 26, 2024 (Open to U.S. Addresses)
Watch the book trailer!
A playful and punny illustrated poetry collection that’s perfect for middle grade readers. Includes quick tips about poetic forms and poetic devices that teachers can use in poetry lessons.
Lerner Publishing Group will be giving away 5 advanced review copies of Eating My Words. Submit an entry for a chance to win!
Deadline: April 30, 2024 (Open to U.S. Addresses)
Engage with the activity guide!
These gross and engrossing haiku highlight thirteen animals (and a few fungi) and the exceptionally icky things they do! Accompanied by bonus facts that will delight and disgust readers of all ages.
Lerner Publishing Group is giving away five copies of Haiku, Ew!. Submit an entry for a chance to win!
Deadline: April 30, 2024 (Open to U.S. Addresses)
Listen to a book reading!
]]>TeachingBooks asks each author or illustrator to reflect on their journey from teaching to writing. Enjoy the following from Nashae Jones.
by Nashae Jones
Many people believe that teachers are magic. And there is a sort of logic to that. Teachers are not only connoisseurs of knowledge, they are many other vital things to students. And for some people, the teacher that stays up until midnight to grade essays before a deadline or who is up at six in the morning to put together an interactive lesson plan is made of something that defies logic. So, therefore magic. In a way, writers are considered to be wizards. It is easy to believe that writers sit down, write a manuscript, and court an agent and editor, and boom you’re published. On both accounts, though the end results might result in something similar to sorcery, magic is too simplistic and disingenuous a solution. Both teaching and writing are the result of hard work, perseverance, and a healthy will to never give up.
Teaching writing used to be one of my least favorite things to do, and it wasn’t because of the curriculum or the overall pedagogy. It was the lack of buy-in that I got from the students. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get eleventh graders interested in the writing process. It was too arduous and too steeped in the necessary component of revision. My students didn’t understand the need for revising, because they erroneously believed like many people that writing was supposed to be magic. They wanted to be able to write their paper, and then immediately turn it in. When students in my class figured out that this wasn’t how writing worked, they instantly became disengaged. This is the age of instant gratification after all.
So, I continued to teach writing to students who didn’t really want to write, and because of this it became my least favorite thing to teach. It wasn’t until I started writing my own book, Courtesy of Cupid, that I realized that my students weren’t the only ones who got frustrated with revisions. It was then that I realized that maybe my students needed to see that even teachers get stuck, and even though revisions can be painful they were necessary also. So, I decided to construct a lesson plan that integrated my own writing and revisions. Every Monday, I would project a piece of writing onto the board, and then I would walk the students through my revision goals. Afterwards we would talk through the revisions I would make. Of course, I’d modeled the revision process before, but this time I decided to make the students active participants in a continuous process. The students were invested in the writing that we were revising together, and in turn they became excited about writing and revising their own pieces.
I found that being honest and transparent with my own students about my own writing, had sparked their own interest and excitement with the writing process. And if that itself isn’t some type of magic, I don’t know what is.
TeachingBooks personalizes connections to books and authors. Enjoy the following on Nashae Jones and the books she’s created.
Listen to Nashae Jones talking with TeachingBooks about the backstory for writing Courtesy of Cupid. You can click the player below or experience the recording on TeachingBooks, where you can read along as you listen, and also translate the text to another language.
Explore all of the For Teachers, By Teachers blog posts.
Special thanks to Nashae Jones and Simon & Schuster for their support of this post. All text and images are courtesy of Nashae Jones and Simon & Schuster and may not be used without expressed written consent.
]]>Jo-Lynn Kirby, the main character of my YA feminist thriller Not Like Other Girls (Bloomsbury, 2024), is an unlikable narrator… or maybe she’s not. It depends on the reader, which is honestly what I hope for as an author: I want readers to engage with the book on their terms and come to their own conclusions. If a reader thinks Jo is unlikable or stressful or funny or loveable, then I think the reader is right.
But as an author, I know it’s still important how I talk about Jo, too. On the surface, Not Like Other Girls is about Jo investigating the disappearance of her ex-best friend, but it’s also about how we internalize the stories people tell about us. How they treat us. The names they call us. Lately I’ve been thinking about the story it tells when I call Jo an unlikable narrator.
From the earliest drafting stages, I had a feeling she’d get this label. After all, I titled the book after a very contentious trope, and Jo wholly embodies it from the first page. She’s the kind of girl who just gets along better with the guys and rolls her eyes at other girls, who talks out of turn too often, who acts like she’s so much cooler than everyone else. I knew Jo thinking she’s not like those other girls might make her hard to like, so in many ways, I felt like I had to warn readers in advance. I’d say, “She’s abrasive at first, but she gets better, I promise!” Even when I submitted this book to literary agents, I referred to Jo as “sometimes unlikable” in the query.
But what is it, really, that makes Jo unlikable? What are the qualities we identify in young women as bad, and why do I sometimes feel like I need to apologize for her?
Yes, Jo is prickly and messy and standoffish, but she’s been burned before. Yes, Jo is angry, but she has a lot to be angry about. Jo is complicated and real in a way that so many people in her life—peers, teachers, even her parents—fail to recognize because they’ve already made up their minds about her.
I worry I might be doing the same thing when I call Jo “unlikable.” So much of Jo’s character arc centers around her learning that “girls like her” have voices that matter, and the language I use when I talk about Not Like Other Girls matters, too. I think there are so many teen readers who will see themselves in Jo. I think, too, that there are readers who need to see themselves reflected in a complex, flawed girl trying to find herself again. It isn’t until Jo sees that she is no less deserving of compassion and grace and empathy than anyone else, despite what people say, that she can really reclaim her own story—and what’s not to like about that?
Hear Meredith Adamo’s Audio Name Pronunciation
Listen to a Meet-the-Author Recording for Not Like Other Girls
Explore Meredith Adamo’s author page on TeachingBooks
Text and images are courtesy of Meredith Adamo and may not be used without express written consent.
TeachingBooks asks each author or illustrator to reflect on their journey from teaching to writing. Enjoy the following from Sheryl Haft.
by Sheryl Haft
“I need to take these papers home,” I say in my Let’s Engineer workshop for ages 4-8. I hold a stack of loose papers and stride around the classroom, swinging my arms. Of course, papers spray everywhere. Kids giggle.
“I have a PROBLEM!” I say. “How can I hold these papers together?”
“I know!” says one girl. “A stapler.”
I grab a stapler. “Someone invented this little machine,” I point out, fastening the papers with a click. “Problem solved!”
“WOW,” the kids say as if seeing the magic of a stapler for the first time.
Kids now understand that an invention solves a problem.
Reading my new picture book MAZIE’S AMAZING MACHINES together, we discover more problems…
“It’s hard for Mom to carry a stack of heavy boxes,” says the superhero inventor and kid engineer, Mazie McGear. “That’s a problem!”
“Engineering to the rescue!”
THINK BLINK! Mazie turns on her imagination.
RIBBLE SCRIBBLE! She draws.
BING BANG BOOM! She builds!
“Wheels and ramps help move things,” Mazie explains to Mom. Her Roly-Ramp invention whooshes Mom’s heavy boxes right down the stairs. PUSH WHOOSH!
We find more problems around Mazie’s house.
Mazie’s big brother Jake can’t wake up in the morning. SNOOOORE!
“I’m going to invent a special alarm clock, just for Jake.” Mazie cheers. “The Waker-Upper Rocket Machine!”
By the climax of the book, the kids are riveted by Mazie’s biggest problem of all. How will Mazie get her dog, Doodle, down from the top of the roof!? “Yip!” Doodle cries.
Finishing the story with Mazie’s family “Hug-A-Love Machine”, we then explore the glossary of Mazie’s 6 Simple Machines: The Pulley, Lever, Inclined Plane, Screw, Wheels and Axels and Wedge. Now students are ready to take on a problem of their own.
I point to a bowl on the floor: “Doodle’s bowl needs to be filled up with food so that he can eat. But the dog food box up on the table is too heavy to lift.”
“What kind of “Dog Bowl Filler-Up Machine” can you invent that will allow some dog food to travel down and fill up the bowl—without spilling all over the floor?” “Let’s engineer!”
THINK BLINK the kids imagine.
RIBBLE SCRIBBLE they draw their ideas.
BING BANG BOOM they build.
Students string, fold and tape materials together to create pulleys and inclined planes. They try-out and iterate their designs – prototyping in real time. And while working in pairs or teams they are developing collaboration, communication, and critical thinking skills.
Towards the end of class, we visit everyone’s Filler-Up Machine. Teams demonstrate how their machine works. Or partially works. Or even fails: One pulley-system machine zips only halfway down and dog food falls to the floor.
“Which part of the invention is working well?” I ask, encouraging the ‘growth-mindset’. “Which part is not working well?” “What can you do to improve your machine tomorrow?” Engineers know that to IMPROVE on one’s idea is an important part of inventing. We applaud each team’s effort.
Gathered back on the rug, I ask: “Are there problems at home that you’d like to solve with an invention?” Students’ hands pop up.
“My dog always spills water all over the floor,” says one boy. “I want to invent a water-picker upper machine.”
“I HATE making my bed every morning,” says a girl. “I’m going to invent a bed-maker machine!”
Kids are acting on what most inventors know: Problems are opportunities to invent solutions.
Renowned Psychologist and Author, Carol Dweck affirms: “When we give students the freedom to tinker and try new things, they are more likely to develop a growth mindset and become resilient problem-solvers.” Later that evening, a student’s parent sends me a note that illuminates this point:
“We just finished dinner and Sam started pushing James around the apartment in a big cardboard box. He was having some trouble pushing him. It wasn’t going as fast as he wanted, so he turned to me and said, “Mom, we need to put it on wheels.”
“Sam went around collecting round things that could be wheels and taped his toy trucks to the bottom of the box. Now he is rolling James all over the apartment!”
Engineering is an action-oriented and practical approach to problem solving that can apply to any challenge. By empowering kids with hands-on learning, it’s exciting to imagine what other problems in their lives – and in the world—they will be emboldened to solve.
“Let’s engineer!”
TeachingBooks personalizes connections to books and authors. Enjoy the following on Sheryl Haft and the books she’s created.
Listen to Sheryl Haft talking with TeachingBooks about the backstory for writing Mazie’s Amazing Machines. You can click the player below or experience the recording on TeachingBooks, where you can read along as you listen, and also translate the text to another language.
Explore all of the For Teachers, By Teachers blog posts.
Special thanks to Sheryl Haft and Penguin Young Readers Group for their support of this post. All text and images are courtesy of Sheryl Haft and Penguin Young Readers Group and may not be used without expressed written consent.
]]>Experience the joy of Reader’s Theater as words leap from the script and take center stage. Consider these five ways to use scripts in classrooms and library programming.
Celebrate diverse cultural experiences by exploring stories, folk tales, and fairytales from around the world.
Build background knowledge using nonfiction scripts to construct context and deepen understanding.
Develop fluency, vocabulary and comprehension through repeated reading.
Put on a show and take your Reader’s Theater scripts to a full production! Listen to actress and author Julie Andrews Edwards explain the connections between books and performance.
Learn from Sharon Creech as she joins forces with Avi, Walter Dean Myers, and Sarah Weeks to share insights and strategies for using reader’s theater in the classroom. Then extend their experience by having students create their own reader’s theater scripts!
Explore the entire Reader’s Theater Collection on TeachingBooks and view this short video to find additional Reader’s Theater resources on TeachingBooks.
We’d love to hear how you’re using TeachingBooks resources in your classrooms and libraries! Leave your ideas in a comment below.
]]>Each month we feature free and fun book contests and giveaways. We hope you will enjoy the following opportunities as well as the author and book resources available via TeachingBooks.
When an otherwise harmless apple becomes the instrument for losing a tooth, a young girl is ready to retire her smile. That is . . . until she discovers teeth can give us all a lot to smile about.
Gnome Road Publishing is giving away three hardcover copies of Sea Smiles. Send an email to info@gnomeroadpublishing.com with the subject line: “Sea Smiles -TeachingBooks.net Giveaway!” Include your name and an address in the body of the email.
Deadline: March 15, 2024 (Open to U.S. Addresses)
Explore the resource guide!
When the family flour sack is emptied, Nancy Bess remakes it into a dress. But little girls grow as little girls do, and soon that dress is too small. Bit by bit, Nancy Bess fashions the material into new creations, until finally, all that is left of the flour sack are a few tattered pieces. Peering into the family scrap basket, Nancy Bess comes up with a plan to use the material once more, sewing something special to last for generations.
Gnome Road Publishing is giving away three hardcover copies of Nancy Bess Had a Dress. Send an email to info@gnomeroadpublishing.com with the subject line: “Nancy Bess Had a Dress -TeachingBooks.net Giveaway!” Include your name and an address in the body of the email.
Deadline: March 18, 2024 (Open to U.S. Addresses)
Engage with the resource guide!
Olive loves her Mr. Snuggles more than anything else in the world. He’s cuddly. Reliable. Perfect. And unfortunately . . . lost! When Mr. Snuggles mysteriously reappears, Olive couldn’t be more excited. They are back on track to being best friends forever. Except, something doesn’t feel quite right. Mr. Snuggles is a little too clean and a little too fluffy. He’s an imposter! And when Olive finds the shiny new box, the proof is undeniable. Now Olive must make room for more than one Mr. Snuggles in her heart or find a way to rid the Imposter from her life for good.
Gnome Road Publishing is giving away three hardcover copies of The Imposter. Send an email to info@gnomeroadpublishing.com with the subject line: “The Imposter -TeachingBooks.net Giveaway!” Include your name and an address in the body of the email.
Deadline: March 18, 2024 (Open to U.S. Addresses)
Engage with the resource guide!
The Wonderful Wisdom of Ants (Crown Books, 2024) introduces young readers to the amazing world of the tiny but mighty ant. A delightful blend of nonfiction and inspirational humor, this engaging book is filled with fascinating details about the inner workings of life in an ant colony.
Crown Books for Young Readers is giving away 5 copies of The Wonderful Wisdom of Ants. Submit an entry for a chance to win!
Deadline: March 19, 2024 (Open to U.S. Addresses)
Explore the author’s website!
Miss MacDonald Has a Farm (Doubleday Books, 2024) is a rollicking, rhyming read-aloud that puts a feminine spin on the beloved song. This charming picture book celebrates the positive themes of healthy eating, plant-based meals, local produce, gardening, seasons, and female farmers.
Doubleday Books for Young Readers is giving away 5 copies of Miss MacDonald Has a Farm. Submit an entry for a chance to win!
Deadline: March 19, 2024 (Open to U.S. Addresses)
Watch the book trailer!
Best friends Duck and Cat have a problem—Cat makes Duck sneeze! “I think—achoo!—I’m allergic to you,” Duck declares. Hilarity ensues as Cat keeps trying to solve the problem—but Duck keeps sneezing! Is Duck really allergic to Cat or is something else going on?
Astra Books for Young Readers will be giving away 10 free copies of You Make Me Sneeze!. Submit an entry for a chance to win!
Deadline: March 30, 2024 (Open to U.S. Addresses)
Share the coloring sheets!
A young adult fantasy story that follows four teenagers who discover a piece of advanced technology while on vacation in South Dakota that sweeps them up into an otherworldly adventure.
The author is giving away four signed copies of Beneath Storm Mountain. Send a brief message to klsturde@hotmail.com with your name and the address where you would like your book sent.
Deadline: March 31, 2024 (Open to U.S. Addresses)
Engage with the lesson plan!
It’s wild out there for baby animals, but nature’s superdads can handle it all. A great horned owl dad brings home tasty prey to his nest, while a sandgrouse dad carries precious water on his feathers across the desert for his thirsty chicks. Wolf dads love a game of tug-of-war with their rambunctious pups, glass frog dads protect their eggs from predators with powerful kicks, and kiwi dads sit on their eggs for eighty days, keeping them safe and warm. And did you know that giant water bug dads can tote a whopping 150 eggs on their backs while doing push-ups? The team behind Supermoms! delivers another humorous and fascinating look into wild parenting, highlighting how superdads from seahorses to gorillas feed, protect, nurture, and even incubate their babies. The comics-panel format, with its lively art and cheeky comments from offspring, makes for an engaging read. Back matter includes bonus super facts about each animal and recommendations for more children’s books, websites, and episodes to explore.
Candlewick Press is giving away 5 copies of Superdads!: Animal Heroes. To enter, send an email to Anne.Irza-Leggat@candlewick.com with the subject line “Superdads” and please include your mailing address.
Deadline: March 31, 2024 (Open to U.S. and Canadian Addresses)
Explore the book guide for the first book in the Animal Heroes series!
]]>Reading and writing and more reading were my favorite things to do growing up in Queens, NY. I practically lived at the library and checked out a towering stack of books during each visit. My family used to go on vacation in Vermont every summer and my favorite thing to do was explore the numerous antique shops to find old books. So, when I found out that people actually got paid to help create them, what I wanted to be when I grew up immediately switched from ballerina to book editor. I somehow ended up in children’s books, which turned out to be exactly where I wanted to be. While I would occasionally get to edit a non-fiction book, most of the titles I worked on were fiction, which I loved.
Many years later, after my daughter was born, I decided to make the move from working in an office to writing and editing from home. (That means I get to spend a lot of time with my Boston Terrier, Jack. But the only time he shows interest in my work is during Zoom calls when he insists on sitting on my lap.) That’s when I started writing for Kane Press on their Makers Make It Work and Math Matters series and later, Dollars to Doughnuts. At first, I was a little worried (I was an English major, not a scientist, mathematician, or financial expert!) but I soon discovered that this was a combination that really spoke to and worked for me. Why exactly, you may ask? Because…
I Get to Use My Brain in a Different Way
Writing a made-up story and writing a fictional situation that revolves around a specific concept are very different. I have to come up with a premise that conveys the concept in a fun and interesting way. It gives me a structure to follow, but limits the stories I can write, always an interesting challenge!
I Get to Write About Things That Interest Me
Like many kids, I had a healthy appreciation of money! Earning it from doing chores. Receiving it in birthday cards from my Grandma. Saving it in my Raggedy Andy bank and then when I had enough, opening up my very first savings account. In fact, I kept close tabs on my bank book which got updated by the bankteller after each deposit. I always knew my balance down to the penny just like Julian in Cash Stash. I would have loved to have found a series like Dollars to Doughnuts to teach me all about money matters.
My Makers Make it Work book, Slime King (Astra Books for Young Readers, 2019), came into being because my daughter and all her friends were completely caught in the slime craze and we were curious about the chemistry of the slime we were always making at home. And my family’s love of medieval fairs made that the perfect setting for Think Positive, Pippa! (Astra Books for Young Readers, 2022) and its living board game which taught the concept of negative numbers.
I Get to Do Research
While I own a credit card, have a savings account, and know the importance of sticking to a budget, I did still have to do some research on the finer points of each for the Dollars to Doughnuts books. Like how old does a kid have to be to get a debit card? What’s the correct terminology for explaining how a budget works? Do you need to have a parent’s permission to open a bank account? For Double or Nothing (Astra Books for Young Readers, 2018) a Makers Make It Work title, I got to take a field trip to a 3D Printer in Brooklyn for a lesson on how the machines work. And we just had to go to another Medieval Fair so I could get more details to accurately set the scene in Think Positive, Pippa! (not really, we were going anyway!)
I Get to Use My Experiences, Good and Bad
When I was young, I loved bedazzling my clothes with rhinestones, so that’s where the Blinginator in Birthday Bling (Astra Books for Young Readers, 2024) the first book in the Dollars to Doughnuts series, comes from. And I used my experience selling Girl Scout cookies (I’ll be honest, I didn’t earn any badges for my cookie selling skills!) to write the opening scene in the third book, Cash Stash (Astra Books for Young Readers, 2024). In book four, All That Glitters (Astra Books for Young Readers, 2025), I used a disappointing visit to a pop-up experience with my daughter and her best friend as the basis for an event the characters want to attend called SugarFest.
And Best of All, I Get to Help Make Learning Fun
It’s a challenge to come up with a fun, engaging story while also teaching readers subjects that might be considered dry. The scene in Cash Stash where Julian’s little sisters force him to play a game of Hot or Cold to find his missing piggy bank was so much fun to write. He was just so annoyed and they were so silly. I had so much fun writing that chapter! My hope is that readers will remember the important information I’m trying to convey because I made it extra entertaining.
Currently, I am finishing up the fourth book in the Dollars to Doughnuts series, working on a series of early chapter books featuring an iconic character from my childhood, and collaborating on an original graphic novel with my 16-year-old daughter. I can’t tell you how much fun it is to sit across from a writing partner after all those years of working alone. (Don’t tell Jack. He is great company, but truth be told he’s not very helpful with the brainstorming!)
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Text and images are courtesy of Catherine R. Daly and may not be used without express written consent.