TRUCKER KID: A Picture Book Review, Author Interview, and Giveaway!

TRUCKER KID  (Capstone, June 2023)

 From Amazon:

"Although Athena misses her truck-driving daddy when he's on the road, she thinks he has the most amazing job in the world. She loves showing off her love of all things trucking. But her classmates don't quite get her or why she calls herself Trucker Kid. Can Athena change their minds and show the other students that it's cool to be Trucker Kid?"

Written by Carol Gordon Ekster with lively illustrations by Russ Cox, this book teaches kids about the life of a trucker's family and is full of trucking similes and metaphors that both kids and adults will enjoy. 

REVIEW

Athena's got a problem. Her truck-driving dad is leaving for a week and she'll miss him!

"When she heads inside, she deflates like a flat tire."

She stays busy playing with her trucks, drawing trucks, and reading about trucks.

But at school, no one seems to understand her fascination with trucks. 

Her answer is simple:

After Athena tells her friends how she holds the mic for the CB radio and sleeps in the truck's cab, they decide they want to be trucker kids too.

Athena's dad is happy to bring his truck to the school and let everyone explore it.

The story ends perfectly on the playground with a "traffic jam of drivers" joining Athena.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

Carol B.: Can you tell us about your path to publication?

Carol E.: In March 2013 I visited my daughter in Taos, NM and we dined at our favorite restaurant. I couldn't help but overhear a family's conversation at a nearby table. Three-year-old Athena was discussing a trucking trip she took with her daddy. My writing brain ignited, and I immediately had my title, Trucker Girl. I told the family that I was a children's author, and how their discussion inspired a title, and I asked for their contact information.

 I came home and took out library books on trucks and trucking. I knew nothing! About one month later I started e-mailing the dad to ask some questions. A month after that I brought the manuscript to a critique group.

 

There have been so many critique buddies weighing too many revisions to count. It gathered close to one hundred rejections!  But then during COVID, I pulled it out again. I had seen how trucks and their drivers were during this difficult time. I added in back matter to show how we rely on trucks and tightened the manuscript. It ended up being one of three manuscripts that helped me secure my first agent.

That agent sent it out on a small round of submissions. Capstone editor, Chris Harbo, acquired it. He was a dream editor and included me in all aspects of the process. Capstone requested a title change from Trucker Girl to Trucker Kid, and of course, I said yes! Almost ten years after that night at the restaurant, I held the book in my hand. 

I love the mysteriousness of this writing life. What if we had not gone to that restaurant at that time or sat next to that family? Trucker Kid was meant to be! My illustrator, Russ Cox, has a son who happens to be a trucker!

CLASSROOM RESOURCE

Carol has a ton of activities on her website for your K-first grade classroom. Teachers could talk about the figurative language used throughout the story and ask students to create their own. In addition, students could look at trucking routes across the United States.

GIVEAWAY

Capstone is providing two copies for two different blog followers. Make sure if you are a librarian or educator to let me know in the comments; your name goes in twice. Please leave your email address if you are new to my blog. If you choose to follow my blog you'll also get an additional chance. U.S. addresses only. The giveaway ends February 21. 

Congratulations to Kathy O'Neill who won Rosie Woods in the Little Red Writing Hood. 

THE PIE THAT MOLLY GREW: A Picture Book Review and Mini-Author Interview

This must be the season for new picture books because my email box is full of books waiting to be reviewed. I'm happy to share one by author and self-proclaimed backyard explorer, Sue Heavenrich. 

The Pie That Molly Grew  (Sleeping Bear Press: 2023) combines the rhythm of the nursery rhyme, This is the House that Jack Built with the science of growing pumpkins. It ends with a yummy feast and STEM back matter (including directions for scooping out a pumpkin and a pie recipe) that every preK-first grade teacher will love. 

REVIEW

Here is the opening page which reflects the simple beginning of what becomes an enormous plant.

The lyrical book proceeds to show Molly planting the seed and watching it sprout. Next, she plants it in her garden:

         "to grow from the seed that Molly sowed."

(Are you starting to hear the rhythm?)

Next to arrive on the scene are leaves as "big as your head turning sunlight to food wherever they spread."

As Molly tends to her pumpkin plant, the vine grows and grows and begins to produce blossoms.

The author makes sure that her readers understand the important role that bees have in pollination.

Molly proudly displays her pumpkin "big and round" which is "sliced and diced and baked in a pan and left on the table till feasting began."

for the seed and the sprout,

for the vine and the leaves,

for the flowers that nourished the hardworking bees.

And the wonderful pie that Molly made.

Parents, grandparents, and educators-beware! Every child who hears this book will want to: 

a) scoop out a pumpkin and save the seeds

b) make a pie

c) plant pumpkin seeds next spring!

Chamisa Kellog's bright illustrations will grab young readers' attention as they are drawn into The Pie That Molly Grew. 

Mini-Author Interview

Carol: I’m curious about the different types of bees that you have seen pollinating your garden. Can you talk about that a bit?

 

Sue: I love watching the insects that share my garden and listening to their buzzing and humming. I started looking at them more closely when I became one of the community science volunteers at the Great Sunflower Project (https://www.greatsunflower.org), growing flowers for – and counting – the pollinators in my garden. And by “growing flowers” I mean that I allow flowers that some folks call weeds to grow in my garden bed: Queen Anne’s lace, yarrow, dead nettle, mullien, red clover – the bees love clover! I don’t know the names to all the bees that visit, but I’ll see common eastern bumble bees, tricolor bumble bees, yellow bumble bees, carpenter bees (they are the ones with shiny bee butts!), leafcutter bees, metallic green sweat bees, and squash bees. There are also a number of flower-pollinating flies, too.

A bee doing her job in Sue's garden.

Carol: Do you ever save your pumpkin seeds?

 

Sue: I do. Saving the seeds from a pumpkin is pretty easy: cut open the pumpkin (which you have to do whether you’re baking it for pie or making a jack-o-lantern) and scoop out the guts. Then I pull out bunches of seeds and rinse them in a strainer to get the strings off, and let them dry on a wax paper-lined cookie sheet for a few days. Pumpkins are related to other squashes,  cukes, and melons, and sometimes they can be cross-pollinated. So you might get a surprise when you plant your saved seeds – especially if your pumpkins were growing within flight distance of zucchinis. But hey! It’s science. 

                                            *****

To read Sue's answers to some commonly asked questions, check out Chamisa's interview on Sue's blog.

Here are more blogs that are featuring Molly this week and next:

Aug 15 - at Vivian Kirkfield's blog for a Book Birthday & giveaway

 

 Aug. 16 - we'll join the STEAMTeam at Maria Marshall’s blog, The Picture Book Buzz

Aug. 18 - at Carol Baldwin’s blog & a giveaway!

Aug. 23 - with Kathy Halsey on the GROG blog

Aug. 25 - over at Beth Anderson's blog

Aug 28 - with Lauri Fortino at Frog on a Blog

GIVEAWAY

Sleeping Bear Press is providing a giveaway copy. If you are interested in winning this informative and fun book, please leave me a comment by August 21. As usual, if you share this post on social media or are an educator or librarian, you get an extra chance. If you are new to my blog, please leave your email address. U.S. addresses only. If you prefer, email me to enter the giveaway.

A PLANET LIKE OURS: A Picture Book Review and Giveaway

 My long-time blog readers will recognize the author and illustrator of A PLANET like OURS. I have reviewed other books by author Frank Murphy that are illustrated by Kayla Harren and published by Sleeping Bear Press: A Boy like You, A Girl like You, A Friend like You, and A Teacher like You.  Like those other four books, A Planet like Ours includes curriculum-rich content that preK-first grade teachers can use in their classrooms. It is co-written with Charnaie Gordon.  Here are some sample illustrations and quotes from the text. 

We need a planet like ours

to nourish us, protect us, and give us life.

A place to call home.

Our planet. Our Earth.

That is one of the opening pages which succinctly states the theme of this informational picture book: respect our planet. The following pages mention six different resources which we must protect.

SOIL

It helps grow our food. 

Pollution and chemicals can ruin our soil and our groundwater.

Let's protect our soil

WATER

Without water there would be no plants... no animals...no people! 

 So we must take care of lakes, rivers, and streams.

I loved this illustration of a child fishing the litter out of the water--what a great message and perspective.

ALL LIVING THINGS

Taking care of creatures means taking care of their 

habitats. Let's protect all living things.

TREES 

Our trees help keep the atmosphere cool. 

They grow branches that grow leaves that give us shade.

AIR

Earth's atmosphere needs clean air.

Pollution comes from factories and energy power plants.

PEOPLE

Our cities, towns, and neighborhoods.

                    ...... 

We build communities, together.  

                    We learn new things, together. 

The back matter includes personal notes from the authors and illustrator as well as several easy-to-implement activities. Click this link for another Activity page. 

GIVEAWAY

If you're interested in winning this book, please leave a comment with your email address by October 6. Educators (home or school) and librarians get an extra chance as do new followers to my blog. Just let me know what you've done in the comments. U.S. addresses only.