Congratulations to Connie Saunders who won the autographed copy of JUST BETWEEN SAM AND ME from last week's blog.
With the holidays coming up, I'm going to review and give away a few more books than usual. I know that many of you give these books to your children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. I enjoy passing them along and would love if you share pictures with their books on Facebook (please tag me and Sleeping Bear Press too) --as long as their parents don't mind!
Today I have another outstanding book written by Shana Keller and illustrated by Ramona Kaulitzki. Shana is no stranger to my blog but this is the first time I saw Ramona's evocative illustrations.
With a few pictures and quotes from this rhyming picture book, I hope you will glimpse the beauty and hear the music in this story.
REVIEW
to see the sea.
Attracted by bright lights in the ocean, the firefly ends up being whooshed out to sea.
A young woman and her niece see him sink.
The woman wades in and scoops him out from the wet sand. Her niece explains to the firefly he is seeing bioluminescenceswirling and twirling in the great sea.
Cradling him in her hand, she brings him back to the tree line.
"Trust us, you'll see. That glittering there is from the sea.
The glowing HERE is your own family.
CURRICULUM RESOURCE
This lovely picture book not only includes a message about the importance of "staying close" to one's family, but the back matter includes how Rachel Carson inspired this story and information about bioluminescence. Pre-kindergarten through second-grade teachers could use this book in their classrooms. See Shana's website for LOTS of ways to use this book as a resource.
GIVEAWAY
Leave me a comment if you wish to be entered in this giveaway. PLEASE leave your email if you are new to my blog. If you are a new follower, I'll enter your name twice--just let me know! The giveaway ends on Wednesday, December 9 at 6 PM.
Right from the beginning, the reader discovers the reason for the title. As Olivia opens a brand new journal and starts pouring out her feelings about sixth grade, she writes as if she is talking to her cat, Sam. At the end of the first chapter she writes, "Remember Sam, it's just between you and me."
On the first day of school, Olivia meets the new girl, Candace, who makes it clear that she thinks Olivia's town of Spring Hope should be re-named Spring Hopeless. Although Olivia is put off by Candace's spangly sequined jacket and fancy phone, she has more empathy for her when she discovers Candace's realtor father works all the time, her parents are divorced, and she recently lost her beloved grandmother.
But problems start. Olivia, Candace, and Isabella, Olivia's BFF, string bracelets that Olivia plans to sell to save money to buy a new halter for her horse, Star, at the next Spring Daze competition. Soon after Olivia consigns the bracelets, the ones which Candace made break. The weak ties of friendship between the two girls fall apart too.
The tension between the two girls escalates and Candace starts bullying Olivia. She begins doubting herself and her friendship with Isabella but refuses to confide her fears to anyone--except to Sam.
Springtime brings Spring Daze and an essay contest. When Candace makes fun of Olivia's essay, their teacher steps in. "We have zero tolerance in this school for children who make fun of others or who are cruel in any way." Although Olivia appreciates her teacher's kindness, she refuses to snitch and reveal all the ways Candace has been tormenting her.
She finally divulges Candace's bullying to Isabella. "I figured if I didn't talk about them [the mean notes she had received], it would be like they weren't real and never existed."
One of my favorite parts of the book is when Olivia finally confronts Candace. Although she feels like blowing up, she realizes that she would end up sounding as mean as Candace. Instead, she quietly tells her, "No more lying. No more bullying. I've had it with you, Candace. Everyone is on to you. You won't have any more friends in Spring Hope unless you stop."
It takes a tornado tearing through the town for Olivia to learn a lesson about priorities and for the truth to come out about Candace.
My other favorite part is the last chapter. But, no spoilers here. Buy this book for the 8-12-year-old reader in your life and read it with her. I think you'll agree that Sam is the real Star of the show.
CURRICULUM RESOURCE
The back matter not only includes directions for making friendship bracelets and a recipe for queso dip (mentioned in the book) but also excellent notes to the reader about ways to handle bullying and websites for more information.
GIVEAWAY
To enter this giveaway, please leave me a comment or send me an email. If you are new to my blog, make sure you leave me your email address. U.S. residents will receive an autographed copy; overseas residents will receive the e-book. Giveaway ends at 6 PM on Friday, December 4. For an extra chance to win the book, share my blog on social media or start following my blog. Just let me know which you do in the comments.
Today I'm sharing another unique book published by Sleeping Bear Press, Lions, & Cheetahs & Rhinos OH MY!. Sorry, no giveaway this time--I'm keeping this one for my grandkids.
HOW TO DRAW A LION
I love the concept behind this book. Each stellar drawing was made by a young African who participated in John Platt's non-profit program, How to Draw a Lion.
Here is the program's mission statement from their website:
How to Draw a Lion is a program founded to provide art classes for children, raise money for their education with shows around the world, and to create awareness about child welfare and conservation. The program has taken shape around art classes for under-resourced youth in sub-Saharan Africa, and now the US. Each piece brings with it the spirit and personality of the artist who created it and the sale of the work raises funds for the organizations that support their education. All proceeds from the book are donated to the program to support these and future artists.
REVIEW
Do you like wild animals? Would you like to paint one? How about a LION?
Young readers are invited into this gorgeous book with information about this ferocious hunter.
Each page leads naturally to the next. Maybe the reader won't want to get too near to a lion to draw her, so he might want to draw a gentler animal, like a zebra.
The text provides interesting information about each animal. Did you know that you can tell zebras apart because the pattern of each zebra's stripes is different, like fingerprints?
Cheetahs with all their spots are FAST! You better draw a cheetah before it dashes away...It can race at 65 miles per hour.
[Giraffes] are covered in spots too. Like the zebra's stripes, the pattern of posts on the giraffe's fur is special to each animal.
Like the giraffe, here's another animal that loves to eat vegetables.
An animal that spends its day in the water and feeds on the grass at night is pictured here.
An elephant can drink 50 gallons a day--that's 800 glasses of water!
Female lions raise the cubs and are the primary hunters for the pride.
An animal this majestic inspires everyone. Let's all draw a lion and then paint it!
Other facts I learned reading this book:
Impalas are a type of antelope.
Leopards are shy.
Some gorillas live in tropical forests but others hang out in the mountains.
CURRICULUM RESOURCE
How to Draw a Lion concludes with information about endangered animals and habitat loss. By learning about African animals and their endangered status, you can help protect them.
Of course, this book would not be complete without directions on how to draw a lion; and these are included. If you don't get a copy for your child, grandchild, or classroom, you can follow this tutorial instead.
A cross-curriculum book, students in grades K-4th grade will enjoy the artwork and information about African animals. I hope many readers will be inspired by the art of other young people and attempt to draw animals also.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go draw a lion.
Congratulations to Danielle Hammelef who won The Voice that Won the Vote from last week's blog.
Memoirs of a Tortoise(Sleeping Bear Press, 2020) is a clever and heart-warming book written by Devin Scillian and beautifully illustrated by Tim Bowers. Young readers will follow a year in the life of Oliver, an 80-year-old tortoise, whose "pet" is his fellow senior citizen, Ike. It is a book about friendship, aging, and taking time to enjoy the world around us.
REVIEW
April
It's a glorious day and Ike just brought me a plate of lettuce and dandelions and a bright, crunchy apple.
Ike is my pet. I love Ike. And Ike loves me. He runs his hand across my shell and tells me so.
This, this is life and it's beautiful.
May
Ike throws a stick and says, "Oliver, fetch!" But we just laugh because we both know I'm not chasing a silly stick. We do this every day.
Oliver ambles across the garden to enjoy the hibiscus. He remembers his mother telling him, "The whole world is in a hurry. They miss so much."
July
"... this is my favorite time of all, just me and Ike and this beautiful garden. How long can we sit here? How about forever?"
October
Everything about life has slowed down--including Ike. When the baby pool and garden hose aren't put away, Oliver beings to wonder. Where is Ike?
When Oliver sees sad people come to Ike's home, he realizes that Ike is gone and decides to visit his 137-year-old mother. But it's a long walk to her garden and Oliver has to cross ten gardens to get to her. Finally, he sees her wide smile and sparkly eyes.
February
"Why do we have to lose people? Why couldn't Ike stay with me?"
Mother smiles. She closes her eyes and raises her head to the sun.
"We only get to have pets in our lives for a little while, she says. They don't live as long as we do. So we have to enjoy them every day."
April
Oliver is glad to be back home, but when the door to the house opens, he looks for Ike. But he isn't there. Instead, his son Ted greets Oliver.
"I'm so glad you came home, Oliver. It's you and me now."
Parents and grandparents will enjoy reading this sweet story to their children and grandchildren.
GIVEAWAY
Leave a comment by 6 PM on Friday, November 27 to enter the giveaway. Please leave me your email address if you are new to my blog.
The book opens by showing contemporary women lined up at a polling booth.
Very quickly, the author turns the clock back to 1920 when women were denied the right to vote. Boxer tells the reader about Febb Burn, a woman in East Tennessee who studied, went to college, became a teacher, and had a farm.
Every year on election day the men on her farm would head to town hall to cast their votes.
And every year, Febb Burn would watch them go.
She was sick and tired of staying home, shut out of the process.
So, she sat on her front porch and wrote a letter.
A few days later that letter arrived on her son Harry's desk. He was the youngest lawmaker in Tennessee and a witness to history in the making.
Thirty-five states wanted women to vote, but the country needed thirty-six to make it law.
It all came down to Tennessee, the last state left to vote.
But the lawmakers in Tennessee were divided. Half wanted to allow women to vote, half didn't. After the first vote was tied, the lawmakers had to vote a second time.
It was a soul-searching moment for Harry Burn. Previously he had voted against women's suffrage. Most of the people he represented hated the idea of women voting and many of them were in the audience that day. I imagine he thought about the note he had received from his mother:
(Image of the back cover.)
He surprised the other legislators and broke the tie by saying, "Yes."
When Harry was asked why he changed his vote, he replied,
"I know that a mother's advice is always safest for a boy to follow."
The people who elected Harry were shocked and angry. Harry understood that his decision probably cost him his political career. But, he told reporters:
"I am happy simply because I followed my conscience. It kept telling me women are people."
It took courage for Harry to stand up for his beliefs. At the next election, he and his mother were probably worried what the results would be. But when the votes were counted, they were thrilled when Harry was re-elected to the Tennessee legislature.
And no one was prouder than the woman who, without speaking a word, gave all women a voice.
The book ends with a long author's note about the pressure both Febb and Harry faced after his historic vote. It includes how the women's suffrage movement was linked to the anti-slavery movement. A pictorial timeline of significant events is also provided.
This book will be useful in second-fifth grade classrooms. You can download the teaching guide if you search for the book using this link.
THE BACKSTORY
Since I love knowing the story behind a story, I reached out to author Elisa Boxer to find out how she discovered this little-known story of Febb Burn. Here is what she wrote:
"As a journalist, I've always been drawn to researching unsung heroes. So a couple of years ago, when I decided to write a book about the upcoming 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, I searched online for little-known women in the suffrage movement. When I came across the story of Febb Burn, and learned how she helped save suffrage by writing a letter to her son at a time when society was trying to keep women small and voiceless, I knew hers was a story I wanted to tell. Especially because there were no books about her!"
GIVEAWAY
Leave me a comment by 5 PM on November 20 and I'll enter your name. Make sure you leave your email address if you are new to my blog.
Congratulations to Jana Leah who won T is for Thor from last week's blog.
Today I'm happy to share a new picture book by author/illustrator, Katia Wish. Raccoon's Perfect Snowman (Sleeping Bear Press, 2020) will delight the young reader in your life even as it communicates an important message.
REVIEW
Raccoon was very serious about building snowmen.
He practiced rolling, stacking, and decorating and knew that his friends would want his help making their snowmen.
But things didn't go as Raccoon expected.
Raccoon took out all of his snowman-building tools.
When it was time to decorate their snowmen, Mouse wasn't left with much to choose from.
Raccoon loved his snowman but was very disappointed in what his friends' produced. None of them got it right! With shoulders slumped, Rabbitt, Fox, and Mouse left him alone... and miserable.
Before they were out of sight, Raccoon called them back. He had an idea for a truly perfect snowman. Working together, they used whatever snow they found, stacked it however they wanted to and lastly, Raccoon told them,
The new snowman wasn't very clean.
It didn't stand up straight.
And the decorations didn't match.
But it was perfect.
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
CAROL: What role does SCBWI have in your life as a writer/illustrator?
KATIA: SCBWI is huge! All of my contacts, connections, classes, critique groups, and knowledge came from SCBWI. With every new workshop and conference, I gained more and more understanding of what I needed to do to develop my portfolio and improve my writing.
KATIA: Winning the 2011 Tomie DePaola Award so early in my career was amazing. Art directors and editors respect and appreciate Tomie’s work so much, so his recognition meant a stamp of approval for my work. Industry professionals noticed and started to pay close attention to the development of my work. It gave me confidence and encouragement to continue working on my illustrations and dummies.
CAROL: What gave you the idea for the story?
KATIA: The book is about friendship and rethinking what “perfect” means. The book is about my childhood memories of building a snowman. It’s such a sensory experience: how the snow changes color in the light, the warmth of the hat, the coldness of the snow, the sounds of the wind, the crunchiness of the snow.
CAROL: What was your publishing journey?
KATIA: When you start from a character, it’s quite a challenging experience. You try different stories on, try different directions. What you are doing at that stage is not developing the story yet, but getting to know your character.
This is something my wonderful agent coached me on through all the years I have worked with him. If the story comes from the character, the character is strong, alive, and believable. It doesn’t matter what kind of story the character will live in, it will still be true and relatable and honest.
We went through many many many drafts getting closer to the heart of the story. The first 5-7 drafts were not even close to the final book at all! But with each draft, the true character was revealed.
It’s an exhausting experience to build stories this way, but it’s worth it. If the story relies on one joke or one trick, it will not have re-readability.
When we were ready to submit, we found a great publisher for the story – Sleeping Bear Press. The editor and art director had more suggestions on how to improve the story and the artwork. They came up with the most brilliant solution to the ending of the book. Even though their solution was so obvious and so undeniably best, I didn’t see that solution even through so many drafts of the story. The fresh set of eyes makes a difference for any creative project or any situation in life!
CAROL: What medium did you use and why did you choose that particular medium?
KATIA: At this point, I work primarily with watercolor and pencil. I start with idea generation, loose doodles, color studies.
Then I transfer the sketch on watercolor paper and have a lot of washes and build up layers in watercolor. Things still look very ambiguous and not promising. So I have to stay in this uncomfortable stage for a very long time.
But then in the last 20% of the process, I start adding linework and everything comes to life - characters’ expressions, details, depth. It’s sort of magic how things transform.
GIVEAWAY
I'm happy to give away this book to one fortunate reader. Please leave me a comment with your email address if you are new to my blog. A winner will be drawn after 6 PM on November 13.
Congratulations to Danielle Hammerlef who won Little Thief! Chota Chor! from last week's blog.
This week I'm reviewing two new alphabet books from Sleeping Bear Press. Giveaway details are below. True to other books in this series, each letter has a short poem for young readers and a sidebar with more detailed information for older kids.
"Apis mellifera, otherwise known as the honey bee,is one of the most important insects on the planet." Written by beekeeper, Robbyn Smith van Frankenhuyzen, and illustrated by Eileen Ryan Ewen, this book would be a great curriculum resource for grades K-4.
Here are a few of the poems and illustrations which interested me and I shared with my third-grade granddaughter.
C is for Communication
With their bottoms in the air
as they dance the comb,
it's the bees' way of saying,
"Hey, this is our home."
E is for Egypt
G is for Guard
They keep their hive safe
from robbers and thieves
like skunks, birds, or bears.
Only family members, please!
K is for Keeper
P is for Propolis
Propolis is a mixture of plant resins, wax, oils, pollen, and bee saliva. Ancient Greeks and Egyptians used this bee glue as an antiseptic to kill germs and it is still used in toothpaste!
U is for Urban Beekeeping
Whether or not your young reader wants to be a beekeeper, this book presents a lot of information about the history of honey and beekeeping, honey's medicinal properties, and the science of bees. Habitat loss, pesticides, and climate change are threatening bee colonies around the world. The end matter provides information on helping bees, fun facts, and how to become a beekeeper. Illustrator Eileen Ryan Ewen's pastel color palette amplifies the book's contents.
"Norse refers to areas in Northern Europe, including Norway, Sweden, and Iceland. Ancient Norse people believed that powerful gods and goddesses ruled over them all." This book, written by Dr. Virginia Loh-Hagan and illustrated by Torstein Nordstrand, shows everything you might meet in the Norse world: realms, halls, beings, gods, giants, monsters, humans, landmarks, and weapons.
Here's a peek at a few things I learned:
A is for Asgard
Filled with fields of green
and castles of gold,
Asgard was home
to the strong and the bold.
E is for Elivagar
Elivagar rivers were filled
with venomous snakes.
To swim in these waters
would be a deadly mistake.
F is for Freya and Frey
I is for Idunn
J is for the Journey of Life and Death
After starting one's journey
to the realm of the dead,
Norse afterlife was based
on the life one had led.
P is for Prose Edda and Poetic Edda
Q is for Queen of Asgard
T is for Thor
Of all the Norse gods,
Thor is the most known;
nothing can stop him
once his hammer is thrown.
If you know readers who enjoy myths and Scandanavian folklore, then this would be a book for them. It would be a good classroom resource for a discussion of the Vikings, who were devoted to the Norse gods. A comprehensive glossary in the front and a list of Norse connections in the back complete this book. For example, every day of the week is named after a different Norse god. Which one isn't?
The illustrations in this book are somber and dark (except for Ildun) and are markedly different than those in H is for Honey. Since I can barely draw a stick figure, it is interesting to see how different artists reflect the tone and content of the books they illustrate.
I recently listened to a webinar by author-illustrator Elizabeth Dulemba who spoke about focusing the reader's attention. She pointed out that illustrators accomplish this by contrasting light with dark. I was aware of that as I paged through this book; the illustrator effectively focuses the reader's attention exactly where he wants by the use of shades of gold and white.
GIVEAWAY
My grandkids will be the fortunate recipients of H is for Honey Bee, but I am giving away my copy of T is for Thor. Please leave your name and email address (if you are new to my blog) by 6 PM on November 6 when a winner will be drawn.
