Celebrate! MORE Easter Books for the Whole Family

Easter is now just a week away! Here are some more great Easter books to read.

FICTION

 Junie B., First Grader: Dumb Bunny  by Barbara Park, illustrated by Denise Brunkus

When her classmate invites everyone to an Easter egg hunt, Junie B. is very excited. When she won a special game, Junie B. was even more excited… until she learns what the prize is. You can’t help but laugh at Junie B.’s adventures.

 Wake Up, It’s Easter!  by James Krüss, illustrated by Frauke Weldin

Mr. Croak is a raven. He visits Vicki Vole to tell her that Easter is coming. She runs off to tell Rob Rabbit, who then tells the all the rabbits. This book energetically shows Easter as a time to be happy.

 Bunny’s Easter Egg  by Anne Mortimer

Bunny is tired after spending the night hiding Easter eggs. There is still one left, but she is too tired. She brings it into her basket and goes to sleep. When it starts to crack, Bunny decides to look for someplace quieter – not an easy task. Be sure to look for the Easter eggs hiding on each page.

 Who Hid the Easter Eggs?  by Pirkko Vainio

Harry the squirrel watches as a woman hides Easter eggs in her yard. But he’s not the only one watching. Jack, the jackdaw (a type of crow) is also watching and steals each of the eggs. Harry talks him into putting them back but they don’t remember where each one was found. No problem, they just help the kids as they look.

 Piggy Bunny    by Rachel Vail, illustrated by Jeremy Tankard

Liam the piglet is like any other piglet, except he wants to be the Easter Bunny. Even though most of his family thinks this is a crazy idea, Liam goes into training. Funny story and funny pictures!

The Easter Bunny’s Assistant  by Jan Thomas

The Easter Bunny has an assistant, Skunk. Things would go well, except Skunk gets excited by everything: boiling the eggs, making the dye, decorating the eggs… And when Skunk gets excited, he does what skunks do when they are excited. How will the Easter Bunny solve this problem?

 Chester’s Colorful Easter Eggs  by Theresa Smythe

Chester decorates 6 eggs – one for each of his friends. Then he hides each in a clever place. I like how Chester decorates the eggs in a different way for each friend.

NONFICTION

Easter  by Marc Tyler Nobleman

This book covers many aspects of Easter, including a brief history, the symbols of Easter and how it is observed in other countries. The last pages have a glossary, more facts and resources for more information.

 My Very First Easter Story  by Lois Rock, illustrated by Alex Ayliffe

The story of Easter is told simply, from Good Friday to Easter day. The attractive illustrations nicely support the story. The small size is perfectly suited for small hands.

 Usborne Easter Fun  by Fiona Watt, illustrated by Katie Lovell

There are 12 crafts in this spiral-bound book. There are cards, decorations, and art projects. The spiral is nice because it lets the heavy pages lay flat. Each craft is very clearly shown and looks fun to do.

 Easter Sweets and Treats  by Ruth Owen

This book is best for family cooking or an experienced older child. All the recipes are clearly written and look delicious. There 6 recipes: Easter Brunch Eggs, Easter Bunny Cookies, Carrot Cake, Easter Nest Cupcakes Homemade Easter Eggs and Deviled Easter Eggs. Enjoy!


I hope you have a wonderful Easter!
Gail

Celebrate! Easter Books for the Whole Family

Easter is March 31, just 2 weeks away. Of all the holidays, Easter is my favorite. For me, it’s a quiet holiday of church, family and chocolate. And then it’s spring. What’s not to like?

I have 2 weeks of books for you. Here is the first batch to get you started.

FICTION

 April Adventure by Ron Roy

This book is part of the Calendar Mysteries series, by the author of the A to Z Mysteries series. Bradley, Brian, Lucy, and Nate are the younger siblings of the characters in the A to Z series. They are on an Easter egg hunt. They easily find the 12 plastic eggs but finding the special golden eggs is when the real mystery starts.

 10 Easter Egg Hunters by Janet Schulman, illustrated by Linda Davick

The rhyming text tells of 10 kids on an Easter egg hunt. Each page gives a clue as to where the eggs are hiding. But look carefully at the illustrations and you’ll find the hidden eggs before the 10 kids do.

 Fancy Nancy’s Elegant Easter by Jane O’Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser

Fancy Nancy and her best friend Bree are getting ready for an Easter party. Everything is, of course, fancy. This is a lift-the-flap book.

 Happy Easter, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond

Mouse, from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, finds Easter eggs all over the house. The color words (yellow, red…) in the text are the appropriate colors, making this a good book for early preschoolers.

  What am I? Easter by Anne Margaret Lewis, illustrated by Tom Mills

Each left page of this book has a riddle, such as, I am smooth and brown. The Easter Bunny leaves me in your basket. The right page shows a hint of the answer, covered mostly by a flap. Not terribly challenging, but fun.

 Easter Parade by Irving Berlin, illustrated by Lisa McCue

The text is based on the song from the 1930s. Anyone old enough to remember the song will have to sing it out. The illustrations, based on a bunny family, are charming and funny.

 There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick! by Lucille Colandro, illustrated by Jared Lee

I wonder how many books are based on the old song, There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly? This one has an old lady swallowing all things you might find in an Easter basket. The pictures perfectly match the foolishness of the text.

 Bently & Egg by William Joyce

Bently is a young and musical frog who gets roped into egg-sitting for his friend Kack Kack the duck. Bently is not very impressed by the plain white egg so he paints it with a beautiful design. This makes it look like an Easter egg, which causes a string of adventures. This picture storybook is very sweet.

NONFICTION

 Easter around the World by Shannon Knudsen, illustrated by David L. Erickson

Although I've often read of how Christmas is celebrated around the world, I’d never really thought of how Easter is celebrated in different countries. This book tells of the Easter customs in 8 different countries, including Sweden, Ethiopia and Mexico. I learned a lot!

 Fun-To-Make Crafts for Easter edited by Tom Daning

I had great fun looking through this book. There is a wide variety of cards, decorations, art projects and jewelry. The projects use all sorts of materials, lots of them one you’d have lying about the house.

The First Easter: The Story of Why We Celebrate Easter by Carol Heyer (sorry, no link)

Starting with Jesus'birth, this book is a simple retelling of Jesus' life and the events leading up to the first Easter. The painted illustrations beautifully support the text. It would make a terrific read-aloud.

Come back next week for more fun Easter books!

Gail

Science Rocks! MORE Books about All Sorts of Science

Time for more science books - questions, answers, a funny story and robots!

 A Place for Fish by Melissa Stewart, illustrated by Higgins Bond

Melissa Stewart is a science queen and writes wonderful books about science topics. A Place for Fish tells how human activities threaten fish. It also tells what humans can do, or change, to create places for fish to thrive. Each double page also gives more information for readers who want more. This is a beautiful and well written book. Other books in the series include:

A Place for Butterflies

A Place for Birds

A Place for Frogs

 Just a Second: A Different Way to Look at Time by Steve Jenkins
I have been a fan of Steve Jenkins' books for a long time. This book is one of his greatest. It has a simple concept: What can happen in a second? Well, a bat can make 200 high-pitched calls. A vulture in flight flaps its wings once. And what can happen in a minute? An hour? One day?... One year? Great stuff! 

 The Book of Why? 50Questions and All the Answers by Kath Grimshaw

Ever wonder why soap makes bubbles? Why leopards have spots? Why deserts are sandy? This book answers these questions and 47 more.

This Book Requires Safety Goggles: A Collection of Bizarre Science Trivia by Kristi Lew (sorry, no link)

Find out if lightning can knock your socks off. Find out about a mountain that grows. Find out about a liquid metal. Find out what the Magnus Effect has to do with baseball. This book has lots of interesting stuff!

 The Quest to Digest by Mary K. Corcoran, illustrated by Jef Czekaj

Somehow, this book’s author and illustrator manage to make the digestion process both easy to understand and funny. Sections include Chew on This, As the Stomach Churns, Give Me a Squeeze Please, and others. Quite fun!

 Why? by Catherine Ripley, illustrated by Scot Ritchie

Why do my fingers get so wrinkled in the tub? Why do my fingers stick to the frozen juice cans? Why can’t I see just after the lights go out? Why are peaches fuzzy? Why do horses sleep standing up? All good questions and there are 66 more!

 Question Boy Meets LittleMiss Know-It-All by Peter Catalanotto

Question Boy (dressed as a super hero) asks questions, LOTS of questions. Enough questions to make grown-ups back away or drive off quickly. So what happens when he meets Miss Know-It-All (who knows LOTS of stuff)? They clash, but then… This book made me laugh LOTS of times.

 Island: A Story of the Galápagos by Jason Chin

This is an amazing book! In just 25 picture book pages, it tells the life story of an island over a span of 6 million years. It starts as a volcano, it cools, animals find it and it becomes a complete civilization. The text and pictures are so clear, you feel as though you really understand the life of this island: birth, childhood, adulthood and old age. I look forward to reading this author’s other books, Redwoods and Coral Reefs.

 Robot Experiments by Ed Sobey

Written for upper-elementary and middle school students, this book is stuffed with science projects about robots. It starts with some easier projects (such as taking apart motors) and works up to actually building a robot. Projects that would make good science fair projects are marked. This is part of the Cool Science Projects with Technology series. Other books:

Electric Motor Experiments

Radio-Controlled Car Experiments

Solar Cell and Renewable Energy Experiments

Please share your favorite science books - write them in the Comments box!

Gail 

Writing as a Family: Nimpentoad

Today’s guest post is by Henry Herz and his sons, Josh and Harrison. Henry’s love of the fantasy genre began in elementary school with “Where the Wild Things Are” and “The Lord of the Rings,” and continued by playing Dungeons & Dragons and Warhammer.

Josh Herz is a middle-school student whose hobbies include parkour, building with LEGOs, and painting Warhammer miniatures.

Harrison Herz is an elementary school student who loves basketball, WWE wrestling, and playing XBOX. Both are big fans of The Lord of the Rings, the annual Comic-Con convention, and have an entrepreneurial bent.

With design help from their dad, they started three web-based businesses selling LEGO party favors, custom cast bases for Warhammer, and painted concrete yard sculptures.

The Herzes are (distant) relatives of Madeleine L’Engle, whose book A Wrinkle in Time was ranked #3 on the top 100 children’s books of all time by Scholastic’s Parent & Child Magazine. Writing must be in the DNA!

Nimpentoad is the fantasy story of a courageous and resourceful little Nibling who leads his tribe through the perilous Grunwald forest, overcoming obstacles and encountering strange creatures along the way. This post is about the creative journey of Nimpentoad by a father and his two young sons.

NIMPENTOAD

When my sons were five and seven years old, I wanted to share my love of fantasy with them. Struck by inspiration one day, I came up with a way to share the joy of entering the magical realms of fantasy. I would write a fantasy book for them.

What I did not anticipate was that my boys would give me feedback on the story. They devised some of the character (Nimpentoad) and creature (Neebel) names, and made plot line suggestions. And who better to help make the story appealing to kids than other kids?

My sons also helped with the art direction. Our artist would give us a rough sketch, and we would provide feedback on details and color palette. My goal of interesting my sons in fantasy transformed into encouraging them to participate in the creative process.

Of course, collaborating with kids is a very different affair than collaborating with an adult. Their work ethic is, shall we say, less disciplined. This can be mitigated by making the working sessions more like play sessions - we're telling a story, not crafting a manuscript. And once we began creating the artwork, the boys' interest grew as they saw images of Nimpentoad and the other fantastic creatures come to life.

Eventually, we had a good book, but no readers - the challenge facing all self-published authors. So, we then embarked upon the most arduous part of our journey – promoting Nimpentoad. While I handled the web-based promotional activities, I wanted my sons to be involved in the live events.

Once again, I had to train and encourage them - this time to become good public speakers. By starting with small groups, like elementary school classes, they learned to be comfortable in front of a crowd, and to make eye contact and use voice inflection to enhance the reading experience for their audiences. They have also participated in several phone interviews for web radio shows.

Once they mastered public speaking, the next learning opportunity for my sons was mastering the sale. We've found selling our book at farmer's markets to be surprisingly successful. Imagine trying to coldly walk past two charismatic young booth operators who ask, "Would you like to see the book WE wrote?"

But as before, they needed guidance. They had to be coached about engaging effectively with passersby - smile, sit up, and speak to them. My sons learned how to answer commonly asked questions about the book and their participation in its creation. And how to change a twenty dollar bill, or deal with someone who tries to haggle on price.

At the risk of infringing on child labor laws, I booked my sons as much as their school schedules would allow. We’ve done readings, giveaways and signings at San Diego libraries, elementary schools, farmer's markets, La Jolla YMCA, the New Children’s Museum, the San Diego Comic-Con, Mysterious Galaxy Books, Readers Books, Warwick’s Books, and Barnes & Noble. We will be signing our book at the upcoming Orange County Children's Book Festival - one of the largest of its kind in the US.

At the San Diego Public Library 46th Annual Local Author’s Exhibit, my sons asked for autographs from Chris Ryall (of IDW Publishing) and famed graphic novelist Eric Shanower. Both of these gentlemen then graciously asked for my boys’ autographs. First class!

At the La Mesa Centennial Readers & Writers Festival, we shared a booth with Ron Noble, animator of Rugrats, Rocket Power, and Wild Thornberry’s. He was very kind, and my boys left that day with personalized Wild Thornberry sketches. First class!

All these experiences have further enriched the journey for my sons. They understand some of the aspects of running a business and publishing. They are now comfortable meeting new people, doing public speaking, and rubbing elbows with famous authors. It has been a great ride.

The Nimpentoad authors have been written about in Entrepreneur Magazine and Wired Geekdad. The book's artwork was a semifinalist in an art contest sponsored by Warner Brothers (and judged by The Hobbit movie staff). Nimpentoad recently received its 72nd Amazon 5-star rating. The book is available in paperback and Kindle format. Our website is http://www.nimpentoad.com

Thank you, Henry, Josh and Harrison! Your story is an inspiration!

Gail

Science Rocks! Books about All Sorts of Science

Science is great for so many reasons. It answers questions. It creates questions. It comes up with cool things to observe and think about. Sometimes, it just stops you in your tracks with amazingness. And it is at the base of all this week's and next week's books.

A Rock is Lively by Dianna Hutts Aston, illustrated by Sylvia Long

I like this book for so many reasons. It’s all about rocks, a fascinating topic, I think. The pictures are fantastic, showing all the colors and textures of rocks. The information is clearly presented in easy chunks. And the ideas are neat: A rock is lively. A rock is mixed up. A rock is creative…

First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

First the egg then the chicken. Cause and effect is all around us. As I read this book the first time, I tried to guess all the cause and effect pairs. Some are not too hard (tadpole-frog) but some downright unguessable (at least for me). I love everything about this book – its simplicity, its cut-out pages and its cleverness.

How We Learned the Earth Is Round by Patricia Lauber, illustrated by Megan Lloyd

It’s not too surprising that early people thought Earth was flat. If you look across a field or ocean, it certainly looks flat. But then people wondered about why ships seemed to sink as they sailed away, instead of just getting smaller and smaller. This book tells about how people used their observations to come to the conclusion that Earth is round.

Hello! Hello! by Matthew Cordell

A girl is bored with her electronics. She tries to get her family’s attention but they are distracted by their electronics. She goes outside and Whoa! there is a whole WORLD of interesting things. This book makes me smile.

 Metamorphosis: Changing Bodies by Bobbie Kalman

Metamorphosis is one of those things that just proves that life is very cool. Such changes! This book shows the stages of life of a butterfly, a frog, a dragonfly, and a grasshopper. Great pictures!

The Case of the Vanishing Golden Frogs: A Scientific Mystery by Sandra Markle (sorry, no link)

If you want to learn about scientific process, this is a terrific book to read. It closely follows scientist Karen Lips as she works to figure out why the golden frogs of Panama are vanishing. She looks at many possible sources – pollution, climate change and others. Although there is a lot of text here, it is written clearly. And there are also lots of pictures. I look forward to reading more of Sandra Markle’s books.

Ocean Sunlight by Molly Bang and Penny Chisholm

This book is a marvel. It takes complex subjects – photosynthesis, the food chain, phytoplankton, marine snow (this one was news to me!) and lots of other stuff and makes them crystal clear. And it’s perfectly illustrated. There are other sunlight books by Molly Bang I look forward to reading:
My Light

Living Sunlight

Of course, I can't stop here - next week there will be more amazing science books!

Gail

Tornado! Hurricane! Survival! Books to Make Your Heart Race

Do you like exciting stories based on serious weather? Do you like to read about tornadoes and hurricanes? Then this bunch of books is for you. 

FICTION

 Storm Runners  by Roland Smith

Chase and his father live on the road, traveling to natural disasters. His father works making repairs for people who have been devastated by the storms. In Florida, they wind up at the winter quarters of a circus just as a monster hurricane bears down. When the storm strikes, Chase's school bus is swept off the road. This is a fast moving story that I couldn't put down. At first, I was disappointed to learn the adventure didn't wrap up by the end of the book.  But then I realized it just gave me 2 more books to look forward to:

Storm Runners #2: The Surge

Storm Runners #3: Eruption

 Can You Survive Storm Chasing? An Interactive Survival Adventure  by Elizabeth Raum

By reading this book, you experience a tornado, a hurricane and a flood. Every few pages you’ll be asked to decide what to do next. Warning: not every choice turns out well!

 Saint Louis Armstrong Beach  by Brenda Woods

Saint Louis Armstrong Beach is the name of an almost-12-year-old boy. He is a skilled clarinet player and makes money playing for people on the streets of New Orleans. Told in first person, he tells about his experiences before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina. It’s a terrific story that is very well told.

Another story similar to this one and also terrific: Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes

 A Storm Called Katrina  by Myron Uhlberg, illustrated by Colin Bootman

10-year-old Louis Daniel thinks the worst of the storm is over when the wind and rain of Hurricane Katrina stops. But then the water starts to rise in his neighborhood. Daniel and his parents make their way to shelter – with Daniel and his mother sitting on the top of a broken-off porch as his father pushes them through the chest-high water. This picture book shows the flooding and the chaos without being too frightening.

NONFICTION

 Tornadoes: The Science behind Terrible Twisters  by Alvin and Virginia Silverstein and Laura Silverstein Nunn

This book gives just what the title says: information about what tornadoes can do and why they happen. There are lots of pictures to show the impact of tornadoes, plus clear diagrams to explain the science. Also in this series:

Hurricanes: The Science behind Killer Storms

Earthquakes: The Science behind Seismic Shocks and Tsunamis

 Tornado! The Story behind These Twisting, Turning, Spinning, and Spiraling Storms  by Judith Bloom Fradin and Dennis Brindell Fradin

This is a National Geographic Kids book and includes many excellent pictures of tornadoes in action and the damage they create. It’s well constructed so if you want lots of information, you can read it all. But it also works if you just want to see the pictures, read the captions and the boxes of interesting tornado facts.

Saving Animals from Hurricanes by Stephen Person (sorry, no link)

When New Orleans flooded after Hurricane Katrina, people weren’t the only ones who were in danger. Their pets were in danger, too. The rescue teams in this book searched the flood waters to find cat, dogs, hamsters and other pets and brought them to safety. This book is part of the Rescuing Animal from Disasters series from Bearport Publishing.

Some of you may have experienced a hurricane or a tornado. I bet it was very difficult and I hope everything turned out well for you and your family.

Gail

Fun Author Websites

This week and last I told you about lots of picture books. Many of the authors and illustrators have their own websites. Here are 4 of them.

Louise Yates (A Small Surprise) 

This website has lots of information about Louise Yates books and her artwork. For activities, click on Activities and Events and then on Activities.

Laura Vaccaro Seeger (Green) 

This site has information about Laura Vaccaro Seeger, her books and a couple of cool book trailers.

Henry Cole (Unspoken)

Henry Cole has written lots of books and illustrated a ton more. I’m pleased to see I have lots more Henry Cole books to discover! The Games button has puzzles, a memory game and a painting activity. Henry’s Gallery has lots of Henry Cole’s artwork.

Olivia the Pig (Olivia and the Fairy Princesses)

This site has crafts, recipes, coloring and other fun stuff. Click on the Fun with Olivia button.

What are some of your favorite authors and illustrators? You can Google their names and see if they have their own websites.

Gail