Perfect Picture Book Friday – Kate And Pippin: An Unlikely Love Story

14 Comments

Happy Perfect Picture Book Friday, Everyone!

And happy first day of May! 🙂

I have SUCH a cute book to share with you today!  You know me – I always love a good true animal story with a happy ending 🙂  I’ll just warn you in advance that I went hog wild with the photos 🙂  Enjoy!

Title: Kate And Pippin: An Unlikely Love Story
Written By: Martin Springett
Photographs By: Isobel Springett
Henry Holt & Co, February 2012, Nonfiction

Suitable For Ages: 4-8

Themes/Topics: Friendship, Love, Animals

Opening: “The fawn lay still and quiet.  She was alone and afraid as she waited for her mother to come back.
Every little deer needs its mother to protect it from the many dangers of the forest.
But her mother did not return, and three long days passed.“

Brief Synopsis: When a fawn is abandoned by her mother, a nearby couple takes her in, hoping to save her.  Their Great Dane, Kate, though she has never had puppies of her own, knows just what to do to raise a baby deer.

Links To Resources: talk about friendship – what qualities do you look for in a friend? what makes a good friend? who can be your friend?  Talk about family – what makes a family?  Talk about wild animals – what should you do if you see a baby animal by itself? when should you leave it alone and when is it a good idea to try to help it?  http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/resources/tips/injured_orphaned_wildlife.html
And here’s a bonus video of a mama cat who adopts an orphaned squirrel… and it learns to purr 🙂  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHT1nAX46dM

Why I Like This Book:  I love true animal stories.  And I love cute baby animal pictures 🙂  And I love happy endings.  This book has them all.  The story also serves as a lovely model for acceptance, tolerance, and different kinds of families, and allows for discussion about what makes a family and/or what are the important qualities in a friend.  The couple who took Pippin in make no effort to keep her.  She returns to the wild and lives a free and independent life.  But she comes back to visit 🙂

For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.

PPBF bloggers please be sure to leave your post-specific link in the list below so we can all come visit you!  I always look forward to each new week’s list of fabulous books!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

http://www.simply-linked.com/listwidget.aspx?l=15cb8c51-db46-4c68-b395-650055c2eeb2

Perfect Picture Book Friday – Mossy

39 Comments

Thank goodness for Perfect Picture Book Friday!  It gives me an excuse to sit in the library or bookstore and read picture books 🙂

Today’s choice is from one of my favorite author/illustrators.  And it’s loosely related to Earth Day (which was 2 days ago) because it’s about being kind to animals 🙂  I hope you like it 🙂

Mossy
Written & Illustrated By: Jan Brett
Putnam Juvenile, September 2012

Suitable For Ages: 3-8

Themes/Topics: consideration, kindness, animals in their natural habitat, perspective

Opening: “On a misty, moisty morning, a young turtle stood at the edge of Lilypad Pond.  Her name was Mossy.”

Brief Synopsis: Mossy loves her pond.  She spends so much time in the damp coolness that first moss and then a garden grow on her carapace.  One day, she meets a handsome turtle named Scoot who thinks she’s very beautiful, but just as they are on the verge of becoming friends, Dr. Carolina and Tory spot Mossy.  “She is perfect for the museum!” declares Dr. Carolina.  And so Mossy is carried away from her beloved pond and her new friend.  Dr Carolina gives her everything she thinks a turtle needs, but fails to understand that Mossy already had everything she needed.  It is Tory who sees that Mossy is sad.  So they come up with a way to keep Mossy at the museum but also give her what her heart desires.

Links To Resources:  The back jacket flap of the book tells about the real incident that inspired this story for Jan Brett.  The book provides a wonderful opportunity for discussion about animals in the wild vs. animals in captivity.  Why might it be good to take an animal out of its natural habitat?  Why might it be bad?  Have you ever captured anything (perhaps a caterpillar, a frog or toad, or a garter snake?) and kept it for a while?  How long did you keep it?  What happened to it?  Did you put it back where you found it?  A New York Times Q&A with Jan Brett about Mossy.  Jan Brett Coloring Pages (Mossy isn’t here yet, but she may show up!)  Jan Brett Activity Pages (also no Mossy yet, but lots of other fun things to choose from!)

Why I Like This Book: Well, to start with, it’s a Jan Brett 🙂  That means a good story and gorgeous art!  Add to that the fact that it’s about a turtle who is a walking garden and what’s not to like? 🙂  But the part I like best is how Tory realizes that Mossy isn’t happy in captivity and makes sure that she is returned to her beloved pond.  It’s a beautiful tale about doing what’s right for someone else, and realizing when you’ve made a mistake (even with good intentions.)

For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.

PPBF bloggers please be sure to leave your post-specific link in the list below so we can all come visit you!  I can’t wait to see what you all picked!

Have a great weekend, everyone!  And maybe I’ll see some of you at the SCBWI conference 🙂

http://www.simply-linked.com/listwidget.aspx?l=9bf4fcdc-d6de-4a66-8898-8d1690774adb

Perfect Picture Book Friday – Meet The Dullards

47 Comments

Happy Perfect Picture Book Friday, Everyone!

As you all know, I am behind (not even going to say how far!) in updating the Perfect Picture Book List.  One of my problems is that Blogger overloaded due to how much I was trying to put on that page.  I’m trying to sort out a better system.  Stacy, the wonderful and generous, put together a possible plan which I haven’t had time to figure out yet, but in the meantime, at the very least, I have two (2!) things to mention.

1.  I am experimenting with using Pinterest for the theme lists, so many Perfect Picture Books, grouped by theme, are on Pinterest HERE.

2.  The complete alphabetical list of books that have been done through April 10, 2015, is on another blog HERE.  It is grouped into titles A-H, I-P, and Q-Z.  Although all the titles are listed, the vast majority have yet to be linked to their reviews because I haven’t figured out how to get an eighth day into the week just for PPBF updating 🙂

There is a theme list on the new blog and it is complete – all the themes are listed alphabetically, and they connect to the Pinterest boards… but the Pinterest boards are only partially loaded.

There is a list of contributing bloggers on the right side of the new blog which I know is incomplete.  If you’re a contributing blogger whose site isn’t mentioned, please feel free to email me and I’ll add you in – I just couldn’t remember everything off the top of my head so have been adding slowly as I go along – and I apologize for not getting you up there already!

As I said, I’ve been experimenting, so things are a bit at sixes and sevens and this is a stop-gap measure until I can figure out what is going to work best for this amazing and impressive list.  In my dreams, I’d also like to list the books in a way that would be helpful to writers looking for mentor texts – examples of parallel stories, or wordless picture books, etc…  But like I said, I lack an eighth weekday… so we’ll see 🙂

As for today’s Perfect Picture Book, I have a fun one for you, because sometimes books should just be fun 🙂

Title: Meet The Dullards
Written By: Sara Pennypacker
Illustrated By: Daniel Salmieri
Balzer & Bray, March 2015, Fiction

Suitable For Ages: 4-8

Themes/Topics: humor, family

Opening: “One day, Mr. and Mrs. Dullard received quite a nasty surprise. [art: children are reading books: Becoming One With The Tightrope and The Nicest Way To Befriend A Lion]  The Dullards collected the books and handed their children some nice blank paper to read instead.  Then they left the room to discuss the problem in private.”

Brief Synopsis: Mr. and Mrs. Dullard are committed to raising a dull family, doing everything in their power to keep their children safe from the evils of applesauce cake, puppies, and thinking.  If only they knew… 🙂

Links To Resources: talk about family traditions: what are some things you do as a family? How are these things alike or different from what other people do with their families?  Do you think people are “weird” if they do things differently?  Discuss things to do together as a family.  In this book, the kids are completely focused on joining the circus while their parents concentrate on being dull – in a group or individually, think up and illustrate another Dullards story where the kids have a new plan and practice making the story say one thing while the pictures show another.  Why is this funny?

Why I Like This Book:  I have long been a fan of The Stupids and, more recently, The Dumb Bunnies.  The Dullards are full of tongue-in-cheek humor.  Mrs. Dullard faints at the sight of flowered wallpaper.  The Dullards’ idea of fun is (actually!) watching paint dry.  And when Mr. and Mrs. Dullard see a snail crossing the driveway they pack up their family and move away from such dangerous excitement.  Meanwhile, readers (young and old alike) will enjoy the illustrations which depict the elder Dullards picking out paint (gray or beige?) oblivious to their offspring juggling paintbrushes, climbing on clotheslines and befriending puppies.  The contradiction of the text and the deadpan illustrations is entertaining every time through the book!  This book is just plain fun! 🙂

For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.

PPBF bloggers please be sure to leave your post-specific link in the list below so we can all come visit you!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!! 🙂

http://www.simply-linked.com/listwidget.aspx?l=e238d3d1-cb31-401b-8553-7e4b283042bb

Perfect Picture Book Friday – High-Tailing It Out Of The State!

31 Comments

Happy Perfect Picture Book Friday, Everyone!

I’m just going to ‘fess up right away.

I don’t have a book today.

Not for lack of trying – I read a whole pile.  But none of the books in my pile particularly struck my fancy.  And my sister was visiting and there was a visit to the seamstress about prom dress alteration and college revisit planning and lameness diagnosis for Jemma who is very lame in the off fore (or at least that’s what you’d say if she were a horse) (and by “diagnosis” I mean everyone is scratching their heads because really we don’t know what’s wrong except maybe it’s her shoulder) and work, work, work, and etc. and I just flat out ran out of time.

And now, as you are sipping your coffee and happily anticipating loads of lovely Perfect Picture Books, I am high-tailing it out of the state!

That’s right.

Princess Blue Kitty and I are heading to the Green Mountains for the day so that I can hear one child present her honors history thesis at the symposium… after which I shall return home in time to hear another child sing at Arts Night.

That’s the plan.

Good lord willing and the creek don’t rise! 🙂

So please, share amongst yourselves, visit each other, enjoy all the picture books on offer this week… and I’ll catch up as soon as I can!

PPBF bloggers please be sure to leave your post-specific link in the list below so we can all come visit you!

For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.

Have a great weekend, everyone!!! 🙂

http://www.simply-linked.com/listwidget.aspx?l=e274ff94-b74f-40e2-a741-680386580cda

Perfect Picture Book Friday – Flap Your Wings

40 Comments

Happy Perfect Picture Book Friday, Everyone!

Since it’s technically Spring, and since Sunday is Easter, I chose a book about an egg 🙂  It is another older book – almost 20 years older than last week’s older book! – but it is one of my All Time Favorites!

Flap Your Wings
Written & Illustrated By: P.D. Eastman
Random House, 1969, Fiction
Suitable For: ages 3-8
Themes/Topics: assumptions, non-traditional family, unconditional love, responsibility
Opening: (this is actually the first three pages.)
“An egg lay in the path.
A boy came down the path.  He saw the egg.  “Someone might step on that egg and break it,” he said.
He looked around.
He saw flamingos and frogs, and turtles and alligators.  “Whose egg is this?” he called.  But no one answered.”

Brief Synopsis:  A little boy finds an egg.  He doesn’t want it to get damaged, so he looks around until he finds the nest and carefully puts it back.  When Mr. and Mrs. Bird come home, they are surprised to find an egg in their nest… it wasn’t there when they left!  But Mr. Bird says that if an egg is in their nest it must be their egg, so they must take care of it.  So they do… with very surprising results!

Links To Resources:  Ideas And Activities For Guided Reading, Incubation & Embryology Activities, use with An Egg Is Quiet (from PPBF link list), talk about what kind of animals, insects and reptiles lay eggs and how the eggs are the same and different.

Why I Like This Book:  This book is fun to read as a picture book, but is also an I Can Read type book that is very accessible to new readers.  The pictures are delightful – Mr. and Mrs. Bird’s expressions are very entertaining.  But I really love the story because it doesn’t go where you would expect.  It’s funny.  And it’s a great example of what agents, editors and reviewers mean when they talk about re-readability.  This book delighted me as a child, and delighted my children in their turn.  I’ve read it so many times that even now, years since I last read it to my kids, I can recite almost the whole book.  It’s fun every time 🙂

If you get a chance to read it, I hope you like it as much as I do!

For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.

Before we head off to our weekends, I just want to share a little housekeeping note for those of you who are new to Perfect Picture Book Fridays:

Perfect Picture Books are more than just reviews.

The thing that sets Perfect Picture Books apart is the resources.

It is our goal to make it easy for parents, teachers, and homeschoolers to expand on the use of picture books.

Essentially, we’re handing them a great picture book and one or more activities they can use with it ready-made.

The resources you provide may be online links, but they don’t have to be.  Many PPBF bloggers think up GREAT activities and discussion questions and recipes and games etc…

The crucial thing is that the book you post must have at least one good resource to expand on its use at home and/or in the classroom in order to be added to the comprehensive list.  And the resource must be ready to use – by which I mean, saying a book can be used for finger rhymes or a math activity doesn’t help a parent or teacher who doesn’t know any finger rhymes or math activities, so please tell us which finger rhyme and how to do it, or provide a specific math activity, etc.  Thank you so much!

PPBF bloggers please be sure to leave your post-specific link in the list below so we can all come visit you and see what terrific books you’ve chosen this week!

Have a lovely weekend, everyone, and Happy Easter and Happy Passover to those who celebrate!

http://www.simply-linked.com/listwidget.aspx?l=816913b6-6b51-4cd2-a5eb-45b4a2ff65f4

Perfect Picture Book Friday – The Baby Blue Cat Who Said No

33 Comments

My Perfect Picture Book is below – I promise! 🙂 – I just have a little explanation for it first.

As some of you may know, I teach an online picture book writing class.

This week, we got into a discussion about subjectivity.

As a writer, how do you know if your story will appeal to agents, editors, and readers (both the adults who will read your picture book aloud and the children who will listen)?

There are some basic rules of thumb: your story should have a beginning, middle and end (i.e. actually BE a story), it should have an engaging character and/or plot, it should strike an emotional note of some kind, and it’s best not to write about inappropriate subjects, use foul language, glorify violence etc… – pretty much common sense 🙂

But beyond a certain point, there’s really no way to tell for sure who is going to like what.  If it appeals to you, if it touches a chord in your heart, if it highlights a truth in your life, chances are it will do that for other people too.  But there will always be at least one person out there who can find something to criticize.  And I don’t mean that in a bad way. I mean it in a comforting way.  You can’t please everyone, so write the best story you can and likely you’ll please someone.  Probably lots of someones 🙂

My Perfect Picture Book choice for today is a case in point – an older book, beloved by many (me and my children included!) – that received the following review:

“Line drawings that look like doodles of cute kittens in gray, orange, white, and blue cannot save this lame tale of a contrary kitten… This is a story of manipulation at its worst. The language is flat, especially when read aloud. This reviewer says “NO!”” Marianne Pilla, formerly at Allard K. Lowenstein Library of Long Beach, N.Y. Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Ouch!

But I don’t find it manipulative.  I find it an endearing and true-to-life example of the way toddlers behave – naughty one moment, full of remorse the next, right back to their own agenda the minute after that, but not mean-spirited or malicious in their intent.

Subjectivity 🙂

I hope you like this book as much as the people in my house do! 🙂

Title: The Baby Blue Cat Who Said No
Written & Illustrated By: Ainslie Pryor
Re-issue March 1988, Viking Juvenile, Fiction

Suitable For Ages: 3-7

Themes/Topics: behavior (contrariness), humor

Opening: “Have you heard the story of the Baby Blue Cat who said No?
Once there was a Mama Cat and her four baby cats.
Baby Orange Cat,
Baby White Cat,
Baby Striped Cat, and
Baby Blue Cat.
Mama Cat loved all of her baby cats very much.“

Brief Synopsis: Baby Orange Cat, Baby White Cat and Baby Striped Cat all behave the way little kittens should, but Baby Blue Cat is feeling ornery.  No matter what his Mama asks, he says, “No!”  But when he pushes his Mama too far, he apologizes and behaves… until his contrariness gets the better of him again 🙂

Links To Resources: Teaching Children A VocabularyFor Emotions; make cards with different emotions pictured and/or written  – e.g. a smiley face and/or HAPPY – and play emotion charades by letting kids pick a card and act out the emotions for the rest of the class or family and see if the observers can guess; talk about behavior – have you ever refused to do something just to be difficult? Do you sometimes do bad things and then feel sorry? Talk about how to say you’re sorry – resource HERE.

Why I Like This Book:  The “flat language” 🙂 is fun to read aloud.  (Years later, we still use the phrase “and here’s your delicious cupcake, YUM YUM” 🙂 )  The “line drawings that look like doodles” 🙂 are cute and engaging (right down to the smile on the fish sandwich :))  But mostly, anyone who has ever spent 3 minutes around a toddler will recognize and appreciate Baby Blue Cat’s desire to have some control, and some opportunity to be independent of his mother and siblings.  As I mentioned above, he’s naughty, but when he goes too far he’s genuinely remorseful.  Mama Cat loves her baby cats very much, and it is clear that Baby Blue Cat loves his Mama Cat too 🙂

For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.

PPBF bloggers please be sure to leave your post-specific link in the list below so we can all come visit you and see your fabulous picks for this week!

Oh, and P.S. The lovely Alayne Christian invited me to be part of her platform building series, so I will have a post on her blog tomorrow if anyone cares to stop by.  She deserves lots of visitors, and there are other (undoubtedly much better :)) posts in the platform building series already published from Julie Hedlund, Miranda Paul, and Tara Lazar, as well as more coming from Katie Davis and I think maybe KidLit411 – so definitely worth checking out the series!

https://alaynekaychristian.wordpress.com

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!!

http://www.simply-linked.com/listwidget.aspx?l=f112bc7e-1ecb-48b2-9060-10ffe66b5fa5

In Which Phyllis Bestows Prizes For Her Birthday Bonanza Winners!

54 Comments

Although it is neither George Washington’s nor Abraham Lincoln’s birthday today, we are nonetheless celebrating President’s Day.

I’m sure this makes sense to someone.

Possibly the person who thought up the plan to celebrate the birthdays of two presidents on a day that was no one’s birthday.

We don’t care though, because around here we’re just always glad of an excuse for a day off from school and/or work, and also of an excuse for cake!

Because I think George and Abe would like us to have some cake in their honor, don’t you?  Phyllis picked this one, very Abe and George!

[okay, so my internet is being very persnickety and won’t upload a photo tonight, so imagine, if you will, a luscious lemon layer cake with blueberry lavender buttercream icing in a vivid shade of purple that would definitely be right up George and Abe’s alley – and if you follow the link below you can see it!  Phyllis and I are thinking Spring!]

Lemon Layer Cake with Blueberry Lavender Buttercream http://thewholesomepursuit.com/2014/04/23/lemon-layer-cake-with-blueberry-lavender-buttercream/

Go ahead!  Dig in!

It is not Phyllis’s birthday either, although she is hoping that when she becomes President her birthday, which is also not on this day, will be included with George’s and Abe’s.  Phyllis feels that a little marmot in the White House would be a good thing, and I can’t disagree 🙂

So even though it is no one’s birthday today, we are having cake and celebrating the selection of the prize winners from Phyllis’s Birthday Bonanza!

Are you ready?

Let me start by saying that it was not easy to choose winners.

For starters, all the entries were amazing and marvelous and enrapturing.  In addition, Phyllis felt strongly that all 19 should receive 1st Prize.

“You can’t give 19 people first prize,” I said.

“Maybe YOU can’t,” said Phyllis, “but I can!”

“No, what I mean is that if you make a 19-way tie for first place then it’s like no one won!”

“No, it’s like 19 people won.”

“19 people can’t win!”

“Yes they CAN!”

“No they CAN’T!”

“I say they can and I’m giving them all the Punxsutawney Phyllis Pancake of Awesomeness!”

“Oh, well who wouldn’t want to win a Pancake of Awesomeness?!”

“No one,” said Phyllis smugly.  “That’s why it’s the perfect prize.”

Therefore let it be known on this 16th Day of February 2015 (which is not anyone’s birthday) that Julie A, Karen, Sarah C, Jilanne, Kathy, Stacy, Catherine, Julie R-Z, Wendy, Michelle, Heather, Erik & Josie, Donna, the Hoeft Family, Linda, Vivian, Suzy, Robyn, Sarah M, and Christie all get a pancake from Phyllis.

I’m not really sure what to say about that.

I hope you like it?!

“Now that we’ve got that pancake business out of the way,” I said to Phyllis, “who were really your favorites?  There must have been some among that talented pack that really stood out to you.”

“Well, now that you mention it,” said Phyllis, “there were a few!”

So, without further ado, here are Phyllis’s selections for top placement in her Birthday Bonanza!  She is uncomfortable labeling them 1st, 2nd, etc. because she loved them all so much!

The Hoeft Family – for their beautifully written, illustrated, performed, and videoed Happy Birthday Wish.

Stacy – for her amazing quilling which Phyllis had never heard of before but thinks made her look beautiful and also was fabulously videoed.

Robyn – because Mr. Ed said, “you mean the world to me Phyll” in such an endearing way and had a whole Phyllis wall of wonder in his stall – what’s not to love about a video with a horse in it?!

Julie A – for her amazing poem that included not only Phyllis but all her literary brothers and sisters… and trains and airplanes.

Erik & Josie – for their awesome video which included singing AND costumes and was just an all-out funkadellic performance – and Phyllis wants it to be known that she is Super Funky!

So Bekah, Stacy, Robyn, Julie A, and Erik & Josie, please Email Me to sort out your prizes.

Up for grabs are:

 – a generously donated signed copy of SUBSTITUTE GROUNDHOG by Pat Miller along with an audio recording!

 – a signed copy of PUNXSUTAWNEY PHYLLIS (should there happen to be anyone among you who wants one and doesn’t already have one)

 – any picture book of your choice (recent titles I have enjoyed and would recommend include Blue On Blue, The Most Magnificent Thing, and Gaston.)

 – any MG or YA book of your choice should you happen to be a winner who would find something more at your reading and interest level more to your liking 🙂

Congratulations to all our entrants!  You all did such a wonderful job, and Phyllis and I enjoyed your efforts SO MUCH!!!  Thank you ALL for making Phyllis’s birthday and 10th Anniversary SO MUCH FUN!!!

Have a marvelous Monday, everyone!  And those of you who have the day off – celebrate like no one’s watching! 🙂

Would You Read It Wednesday #161 – Son Of Boogie (PB)

88 Comments

In case you are wondering (now that it’s February 11) I have NOT forgotten about picking winners for Phyllis’s Birthday Bonanza!

I’ve just been highly distracted from work by people in this house having snow days – which is absolutely lovely! – but allows me to watch back-to-back episodes of Say Yes To The Dress and/or the entire Star Wars saga out of the corner of my eye when I’m supposed to be focusing on whose Ode To Phyllis is the best.

Phyllis thinks everyone should win because she loved them all.

I also loved them all, but I said that if everyone won then no one would FEEL like they won.

Phyllis said that was horsehockey and didn’t even make sense and was I going to eat the last strawberry pancake or could she have it?

So you can see it was a very productive conversation.

The easy route would be to make YOU guys pick.  But I’m always making you vote for things, and I still don’t have an “I Voted” sticker to tempt you with, so I don’t know if that would be asking too much.  Do you guys want to vote?  Or do you want Phyllis me to pick?  Let me know in the comments along with your thoughts for today’s pitcher and then, weather depending :), we’ll try to get around to one or the other before Spring actually arrives 🙂

Oh!  And before we get to today’s pitch, we have a winner for the December/January Pitch Pick from last week!

Drum roll please….. rata-tat-tata-tat-rata-tat-tata-tat-etc….

The winner is MICHELE! with her pitch for Hoot & Holly!!!

Congratulations, Michele!  Your pitch has been sent to editor Erin Molta for her comments, and I’m sure you’ll hear from her soon.

And congratulations to all our other fine and brave pitchers!  You all did an excellent job – it was a tough choice! – and I hope you all feel good about bravely putting yourselves out there to test your pitches and that you found the feedback from our wonderful and generous readers helpful and constructive!

Now, then, onto today’s Would You Read It!

I love that today’s pitcher volunteered her own Something Chocolate… and boy does it look good!  Can I offer you a cup of coffee or a glass of milk to go with that?

Kusina Master Recipe’s Peanut Butter Fudge Cake
Recipe HERE (feel free not to watch the shocking presentation
on how to remove dark spots from your hands :))

I also REALLY love that today’s pitcher is using Would You Read It in a way I hoped people would (at least some of the time) but which seldom happens.  She’s using her pitch, and your feedback, to help her figure out her story! (as you’ll read below.)

So without further ado, today’s pitch comes to us from Kathy.  Kathy Halsey has been writing picture books and nonfiction stories for two years. In a prior life she taught English and served as a K-12 school librarian. Since she has an agent, Jodell Sadler at Sadler Children’s Literary, the purpose of her pitch is to guide her plot and focus her manuscript.

Here is her pitch:

Working Title: Son Of Boogie
Age/Genre: Picture Book (ages 4-8)
The Pitch: Conquering the boards–skateboards, surf boards snowboards­–that’s Lil Boogie’s dream. He and his Pops head off the Half Pipe Park to skate, but his flips flop. Lil Boogie heads for the beach, but the waves bury him. And on the snowboard, an ice storm stops him cold. Back at the ski lodge, he finds his board–the CHESS BOARD. Lil Boogie rules and rocks this board like a king. SON OF BOOGIE is a 453 word picture book for PreK-2nd grade that champions perseverance and the father-son bond.

So what do you think?  Would You Read It?  YES, MAYBE or NO?

If your answer is YES, please feel free to tell us what you particularly liked and why the pitch piqued your interest.  If your answer is MAYBE or NO, please feel free to tell us what you think could be better in the spirit of helping Kathy improve her pitch.  Helpful examples of possible alternate wordings are welcome.  (However, I must ask that comments be constructive and respectful.  I reserve the right not to publish comments that are mean because that is not what this is about.)
Please send YOUR pitches for the coming weeks!  For rules and where to submit, click on this link Would You Read It or on the Would You Read It tab in the bar above.  There are openings in July so you’ve got a little time to polish up your pitches and send yours for your chance to be read by editor Erin Molta!

Kathy is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch!  I am looking forward to writing a new story. I don’t know when it will happen – I haven’t had an idea I feel really excited about in a while – but it could be today!  Why not?! 🙂

Have a wonderful Wednesday, everyone! 🙂

Perfect Picture Book Friday – Lost Cat

59 Comments

Well, I don’t know where the week went, but here we are at Friday again!

Friday is a really excellent day.  It means we’re about to get a weekend, and it means a list of Perfect Picture Books to enjoy over that weekend – an unbeatable combination!  All we need to make it true perfection is a nice chocolatey snack to go along with our picture books and our weekend 🙂

I had another book in mind for today.  Based on the jacket copy I thought I’d love it.  But when I read it my reaction could only be described as meh (not what you want for a Perfect Picture Book!) and then I read this one and loved it start to finish, so there was really no contest.  Preconceived idea out, awesome surprise book in 🙂  I hope you like it too 🙂

Title: Lost Cat
Written & Illustrated By: C. Roger Mader
Houghton Mifflin Books For Children, October 2013, Fiction

Suitable For Ages: 4-8

Themes/Topics: journey, pets, love (person/pet)

Opening: “Ever since Slipper was a tiny kitten, she’d lived with a little old lady in a little old house in a little old town.”

Brief Synopsis: Slipper has always lived happily with Mrs. Fluffy Slippers, but when Mrs. Fluffy Slippers moves, Slipper accidentally gets left behind in the commotion.  Slippers searches for a new home, but not just any home will do – it has to be the right one.  Will she find a new family she can adopt?

Links To Resources: Washington Children’s Choice Award Activities (scroll about 1/2 way down the pdf); Fun Facts About Cats; How To Draw A Cat video; learn to draw a cat step-by-step guide.

Why I Like This Book: First and foremost, I love the art!  Soft pastels that render that beautiful kitty so life-like!  Her expressions are perfect, especially her fright at High Tops, her polite pleading with Miss Shiny Shoes, and her bliss on the last two pages.  And the cat’s-eye-view perspective is wonderful.  The story is a sweet one with both humorous and poignant moments.  I love that all the people in the story are named for their footwear – which is what Slippers sees of them first 🙂  And most of all, I love that this lost cat story has a happy ending 🙂

For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.

PPBF bloggers please be sure to leave your post-specific link in the list below so we can all come visit you and see what wonderful books you’ve chosen this week!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!! 🙂

Very Inspiring Blogger – Who Me?!

10 Comments

Look at me, sneakily sliding in a blog post on a Thursday afternoon!

Probably no one will see it, but I really had to post this.  I’ve let too much time go by already!

Anyone who has spent much time around my blog knows that I am full of ideas and hare-brained schemes and always busy with about 47 more things than I actually have time for because there are just always so many interesting things to do!

This would work out fine if I was one of those hyper-organized types, but alas, I am not.

In my case, creativity comes with chaos 🙂

And although I can generally pretty much manage the chaos, occasionally things (and when I say things I mean my horrifying email inbox) get the better of me, and something slips through the cracks.

I was going through said horrifying inbox and discovered these lovely gems in the cracks!

In the past month or so, I was very kindly nominated for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award by Rachel Tey over at Reading Rachel, Dayne Sislen at Dayne Sislen Designs, and Linda Eve Diamond at The Beauty Of The Picture Book!  Imagine that!  ME!  A Very Inspiring Blogger!

I am so touched!  And I thank you all so much!  It means a great deal to me that you would bestow such an award on me.

One of the nicest things is that these lovely people have been reading (and apparently enjoying) my blog very quietly in the background and I didn’t even know it!  Now I’ve had the opportunity to meet 3 bloggers I didn’t know before 🙂

Of course as always with these awards there are all kinds of rules.  I’m supposed to tell 7 facts, and nominate 15 more bloggers, and you all know how I feel about that: I can never think of 7 interesting things to say, and I never like to single out just 15 of the many, many bloggers I know and love because I feel like everyone deserves the award.  So if you want it, please help yourself and know that I find you all Very Inspiring!

As for the 7 facts, hmmm….

How about some current stuff?  I don’t promise to be interesting 🙂

1.  I am currently reading Just One Evil Act by Elizabeth George.  It is good, but very long, and I never have enough time to read, so it’s taking me a while to get through.  Next on my list is First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen.

2.  My brother gave me a year of Audible for Christmas (awesome present!!!), and the first book I listened to in the car (no trouble finding time for THAT because I am ALWAYS in the car!) was The Baker’s Daughter by Sarah McCoy which I loved and highly recommend.  I especially loved the narrator because she did all the voices and accents so well.  If I’d read the book to myself, I would have gotten the names of all those German baked goods completely wrong! 🙂

3.  I recently discovered that I like avocados – not necessarily plain, but in stuff.  Who knew?

4.  I should never be put in charge of taking care of house plants.  They are way too quiet and fail to tell me when they need attention… which spells their imminent demise.  (And yes, this is unfortunately current.  There’s some kind of plant with pink flowers next to the kitchen table which is not looking at all well.  But since it happened to catch my eye, I did just water it.  Maybe I have brought it back from the brink.  There’s always hope :))

5.  The most recent movie I watched was Non-Stop starring Liam Neeson.  On DVD of course because it’s probably ancient by now.  I literally cannot remember the last time I went to a movie.  It may have been July when I saw The 100 Foot Journey, which I really liked.

6.  I haven’t written a new manuscript I like enough to call finished in way too long.

7.  I am ready for Spring.  Right now.  Today! Maybe because the temperature is dropping steadily and is expected to be between -5 and -10 by tonight 🙂

7.5  Because I just thought of this… 🙂  I’ve got a couple of ideas in the works which I’m hoping to share with you all soon… maybe by the end of February?  But one never knows… 🙂

Many, many thanks to Rachel, Dayne, and Linda for the awards, and to all of you who show up and read faithfully, whether you comment or not.  Knowing you’re out there reading makes it all worth while and I appreciate each and every one of you!

Have a happy rest of Thursday, and if you live in my neck of the woods, STAY WARM! 🙂