TRUCKS On Tour – Fun With TRUCKS!

Hey, Everyone!

Sun’s up!  It’s morning!

Let’s get those diesel engines running!

TRUCKS On Tour is off to a mighty start!

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If you have little ones in your life, whether kids, grandkids, students, next-door-neighbors, baby-sittees, nieces, nephews… well, you get the idea, you will definitely not want to miss the first two posts that went up.

Julie at Little Red Story Shed posted a road and truck painting craft she did with her preschoolers that looks totally fun!

And Lynn at Polilla Writes posted a popsicle stick truck you can make at home or at school and involve as much paint, glitter, etc as you want to decorate with!

How fun is that?

Today is here (obviously!) and tomorrow the TRUCKS tour will continue with Lynn at Polilla Writes who has an interview with illustrator Erica Sirotich, and Friday with Angie Karcher at Rhyme Revolution with  a Q&A with me plus a giveaway, so you won’t want to miss those either!

(Especially if you’re hoping to qualify for the end-of-tour Special Prize that will be raffled off among people who have commented on every post in the TRUCKS tour! 🙂 )

Today, it is my pleasure to give you a little sneak peek at some TRUCK activities that will be available here on my site any minute now.

A coloring page for the bulldozer enthusiast at your house… (it’s okay if it’s you! 🙂 )

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copyright Erica Sirotich 2017

…and a Matching Game (memory cards)!!!

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copyright Erica Sirotich 2017

Seriously!  Between Julie’s craft and Lynn’s craft and the coloring page and the memory game you can have HOURS of fun!  And your little one can too 🙂

Look for these pages available to download soon!

Meanwhile, just to keep things as confusing as possible (it’s important to challenge your brain with puzzle-like complexities in order to stay sharp!), the WHEN YOUR BOOKS tour, though winding down, has not finished yet!  And there’s a Special Prize up for grabs there too for someone who has commented on every post.

Here is a list of the posts that have gone up so far so you can conveniently cruise through them:

7/1/17 – Susanna Leonard Hill – Blog Tour Kickoff

7/2/17 – Lauri Fortinos’s Frog On A Blog – Guest Post on Writing A Series PLUS a Giveaway!

7/3/17 – Jena Benton’s Of Tea And Mermaids Blog – Simply 7 Interviews with Susanna & Daniel PLUS a Giveaway!

7/4/17 – Lynn Davidson’s Polilla Writes Blog – LION book review and GAME

7/5/17 – Susanna Leonard Hill – Fun With LION – reveal of LION ACTIVITY KIT and LION BOOK TRAILER

7/6/17 – Lynn Davidson’s Polilla Writes Blog – Interview with Susanna PLUS a Giveaway

7/7/17 – Vivian Kirkfield’s Picture Books Help Kids Soar – LION/ELEPHANT Reviews and Crafts PLUS a Giveaway

7/8/17 – Vivian Kirkfield’s Picture Books Help Kids Soar – Will Write For Cookies With Susanna – Picture Book Writing Inspiration

7/9/17 – Susanna Leonard Hill – Fun With ELEPHANT – reveal of ELEPHANT ACTIVITY KIT

7/10/17 – Julie Abery’s Little Red Story Shed – 3 Posts!
WHEN YOUR ELEPHANT HAS THE SNIFFLES Plus Preschool- Friendly Elephant Ears Recipe!
WHEN YOUR ELEPHANT HAS THE SNIFFLES Plus Preschool Art Activity!
WHEN YOUR LION NEEDS A BATH Plus Preschool-Friendly Lion Pancake Recipe!

7/11/17 – PUBLICATION DAY!!! – 2 Posts
Lynn Davidson’s Polilla Writes Blog – ELEPHANT Review Plus Elephant Tightrope GAME
ReFoReMo Post by Keila Dawson – Mentor Text Author Study Susanna Hill

7/13/17 – Lynn Davidson’s Polilla Writes Blog – Interview with illustrator Daniel Wiseman Plus Giveaway!

7/14/17 – KidLit411 – Interview with Susanna, PLUS LION, ELEPHANT and TRUCK Giveaways

7/18/17 – Writer’s Rumpus – Interview with Susanna

Let’s see if I can at least post the blog tour schedules so you can go search on your own if you’re so inclined!

While we’re on the subject of the WHEN YOUR BOOKS tour, if you’d care to check out the ELEPHANT book trailer, ta da!  Here it is!!!  Leave a comment to tell us how you liked it and give it a thumbs up if it earns your approval!

I hope you’ll enjoy the Coloring Page and Matching Game and the ELEPHANT Trailer!

Have a wonderful Wednesday, everyone!  And don’t forget to share LION & ELEPHANT relevant posts on social media with #whenyourbooks and TRUCKS relevant posts with #trucksontour for your chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Amazon or Merritt Bookstore (there will be three of each offered!)

Thank you all for being such enthusiastic supporters of these blog tours and all the amazing bloggers who are participating!!! ❤

 

When Your Books Go On A Blog Tour – Fun With ELEPHANT!

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Hi Everyone!

I know.

It’s Sunday!

You’re supposed to get a day off from the computer and laze in bed with the comics.

Oh, wait.  That was so last century.  Nowadays you laze in bed but require some form of computer to access the comics 🙂

But today is July 9!

Only 2 DAYS until publication day!!!

The blog tour is going along swimmingly – tons of fun at every port!  In case you might have missed any along the way, here’s a handy list to date 🙂

7/1/17 – Susanna Leonard Hill – Blog Tour Kickoff

7/2/17 – Lauri Fortinos’s Frog On A Blog – Guest Post on Writing A Series PLUS a Giveaway!

7/3/17 – Jena Benton’s Of Tea And Mermaids Blog – Simply 7 Interviews with Susanna & Daniel PLUS a Giveaway!

7/4/17 – Lynn Davidson’s Polilla Writes Blog – LION book review and GAME

7/5/17 – Susanna Leonard Hill – Fun With LION

7/6/17 – Lynn Davidson’s Polilla Writes Blog – Interview with Susanna PLUS a Giveaway

7/7/17 – Vivian Kirkfield’s Picture Books Help Kids Soar – LION/ELEPHANT Reviews and Crafts PLUS a Giveaway

7/8/17 – Vivian Kirkfield’s Picture Books Help Kids Soar – Will Write For Cookies With Susanna – Picture Book Writing Inspiration

I’d hate for you to miss any of the fabulous participating blogs so remember that if you comment on every post, you will earn yourself a chance toward the Special Prize Raffle at the end of the tour! (The goody bag and signed books described on the kickoff post.)  And if you share this, or any related post, item, photo, etc. on Social Media with the #whenyourbooks, each share will add to your chances to win Special Prize #2 at the end of the tour! (3 $25 Amazon gift cards up for grabs!)

Now, then!  Although I can’t exactly offer comics, I do have something almost like a comic for you today!

Are you ready?

It’s Elephant Fun!

Here’s a sneak peek at the ELEPHANT Activity Kit!

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copyright Daniel Wiseman 2017 all rights reserved

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copyright Daniel Wiseman 2017 all rights reserved

Like the LION Activity Kit, it will be up on my website any day now under For Teachers and Parents in the Coloring Pages & Activities section!

Plus you will no doubt be thrilled to know that the ELEPHANT book trailer is possibly finished and will possibly be revealed in the not-too-distant future!!!

And, if all that weren’t enough, if you’d like yet another shot at winning a signed copy of the book, you can hop on over to GoodReads and enter the giveaway!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

When Your Elephant Has the Sniffles by Susanna Leonard Hill

When Your Elephant Has the Sniffles

by Susanna Leonard Hill

Giveaway ends July 14, 2017.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Enjoy your lazy morning in bed visiting the other tour stops (since you have your computer or stand-in for the comics anyway 🙂 ), coloring, and entering the giveaway!

And be sure to continue with us tomorrow at Julie’s Little Red Story Shed where she will teach us to make Elephant Ears and Lion Pancakes… which will come in very useful NEXT Sunday when you’re making breakfast!  (Okay.  I guess there’s no point in pretending we’re going to wait for Sunday to eat pancakes.  Tuesday then… well, okay, tomorrow for dinner 🙂 )

Here’s the upcoming schedule:

Blog Tour Schedule

Don’t forget to share this post (or participating bloggers’ posts, or the LION book trailer, or the giveaway, or the book covers, or reviews, or a photo of your child or class reading one of the books, or anything clever and related you think up) using #whenyourbooks!  Every time you post with #whenyourbooks you get an entry in the end-of-tour raffle for 3 lucky people to win a $25 Amazon gift card! (Don’t forget the # – which I keep doing and have to go back and edit my posts! – because without it I may miss your post!)

Have a lovely Sunday, everyone!!! 🙂

When Your Books Go On A Blog Tour – Fun With LION!

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Hi Everyone!

It’s July 5!

Only 6 days til Publication Day!!!

That’s less than a week!

(I’m just a teensy bit excited… can you tell?! 🙂 )

To keep myself from bouncing off the ceiling, I’ve got something fun to share with you today . . .

When your books go on a blog tour, you’re going to need a little entertainment!  After all, there’s only so much “Are we there yet?” you want to endure!

To keep boredom from creeping in on the long trip, you can take side tours to the wonderful sites listed below and visit with the locals 🙂  You might even learn something fun while you’re there!  If you comment on every post, you will definitely earn yourself a chance toward the Special Prize Raffle at the end of the tour! (The goody bag and signed books described on the kickoff post.)  And if you share this, or any related post, item, photo, etc. on Social Media with the #whenyourbooks, each share will add to your chances to win Special Prize #2 at the end of the tour! (3 $25 Amazon gift cards up for grabs!)

7/1/17 – Susanna Leonard Hill – Blog Tour Kickoff

7/2/17 – Lauri Fortinos’s Frog On A Blog – Guest Post on Writing A Series PLUS a Giveaway!

7/3/17 – Jena Benton’s Of Tea And Mermaids Blog – Simply 7 Interviews with Susanna & Daniel PLUS a Giveaway!

7/4/17 – Lynn Davidson’s Polilla Writes Blog – LION book review and GAME

After the visits, you’ll probably need a snack!  I always recommend a midmorning break for some sustaining chocolate, so help yourself!

Deep-Dish Double-Chocolate Breakfast Cookies

Deep-Dish-Double-Chocolate-Breakfast-Cookies

Recipe HERE at RunningWithSpoons

After that delicious and extremely healthful pick-me-up, you’ll probably want to watch a video!

So check out the World Premiere of the WHEN YOUR LION NEEDS A BATH Book Trailer!  (And if you like it, give it a thumbs up! 🙂 )

Once the video is over, you’ll probably want to watch it again.

And again. . .

. . . and again . . . 🙂

But eventually you’ll want to try something new.  And boy do I have something fun!  A whole pack of LION activities!  Coloring! A maze! A matching game!  More coloring!

Here’s a sneak peek!

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copyright Daniel Wiseman 2017 all rights reserved

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Copyright Daniel Wiseman 2017 all rights reserved

The activity pages will be on my website soon… but I asked my brilliant web manager to wait to put them up until after today’s reveal.

All that fun coloring will make you wish you had a copy of the book!  So hop on over to GoodReads and enter the giveaway for a signed copy!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

When Your Lion Needs a Bath by Susanna Leonard Hill

When Your Lion Needs a Bath

by Susanna Leonard Hill

Giveaway ends July 14, 2017.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

 

Have fun visiting the other tour stops, watching the video, coloring, entering the giveaway, and eating chocolate cookies!  And be sure to continue with us tomorrow for an author interview and giveaway at Lynn Davidson’s Polilla Writes, and on Friday and Saturday at Vivian Kirkfield’s Picture Books Help Kids Soar for reviews, giveaways, and a special Will Write For Cookies episode which you KNOW will include a delicious recipe! 🙂

Here’s the upcoming schedule:

Blog Tour Schedule

Don’t forget to share this post (or participating bloggers’ posts, or the book trailer, or the giveaway, or the book covers, or reviews, or a photo of your child or class reading one of the books, or anything clever and related you think up) using #whenyourbooks!  Every time you post with #whenyourbooks you get an entry in the end-of-tour raffle for 3 lucky people to win a $25 Amazon gift card!

Have a wonderful Wednesday, everyone!!! 🙂

When Your Books Go On A Blog Tour – Kickoff!

It’s July!!!

And you know what THAT means…!

It’s National Lasagna Awareness Month!

(It IS actually – I am not making that up!  It also happens to be National Blueberries Month and National Doghouse Repairs Month… so many things appropriate to life on Blueberry Hill!  But that is not actually why we are here… 🙂 )

At long last the much-anticipated, eagerly-awaited BOOK BIRTHDAY MONTH has arrived!

I am thrilled beyond measure to introduce you all to WHEN YOUR LION NEEDS A BATH and WHEN YOUR ELEPHANT HAS THE SNIFFLES, coming to a bookseller near you on July 11! (to be followed by a third book birthday a couple weeks after…but we’ll get to that later 🙂 )

For now . . .

Woo hoo!  Strike up the band!  Shower down the confetti!  Release the balloons!

It’s time for . . .

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Thanks to a group of kind, generous, kidlit-enthusiast bloggers who are absolutely lovely in every way, we have a fun-filled couple of weeks in store for you all, full of interviews with the author (me 🙂 ) and illustrator (the amazing Daniel Wiseman!), book trailer reveals, activity and coloring page reveals, recipes, crafts, and games, articles on different aspects of writing, as well as giveaways and prizes!  It’ll be almost like all of you are celebrating your birthdays too! 🙂

Let’s have a look at the line up, shall we?

Blog Tour Schedule

* one small note: Sue of KidLit Reviews may not be able to post.*

I hope you will all join us as we welcome these two brand new books into the world!  All the participating bloggers have worked hard to make this fun, and I’d hate for you to miss anything.  And I’d love as many people as possible to come visit!

So I am offering two special prizes to be awarded after the close of this blog tour.

One prize will be given to a randomly-selected person who visits and comments on every single post in the blog tour!  All 19 listed here! (18 if Sue is unable to post.)

That special prize will be personalized signed copies of WHEN YOUR LION NEEDS A BATH and WHEN YOUR ELEPHANT HAS THE SNIFFLES, a “goody bag” containing items relating to both books – stickers, bookmarks, orange-scented kid-friendly lion soap, an elephant memory game, lion bubbles…plus a couple surprises! (and I’m not saying there will be chocolate, but if you’ve spent any time around this blog at all you should know that’s a distinct possibility…) :), PLUS your choice of any one of my other books personalized and signed.

The other prize will be given for sharing on social media.  The hashtag we are using to promote the books is #whenyourbooks.  Every time you share a post on Face Book, Twitter or Instagram using #whenyourbooks you will get an entry into a raffle where 3 winners will each get a $25 Amazon gift card.

Did you read a blog post you thought was so great all your friends should read it too?  Share it with #whenyourbooks

Do you have a photo of a child reading WHEN YOUR LION NEEDS A BATH or WHEN YOUR ELEPHANT HAS THE SNIFFLES?  Share it with #whenyourbooks

Did you try an activity, craft or recipe that was included in one of the posts with your child or class? Or one you thought up related to these books?  Share the results and/or a photo with #whenyourbooks

Live video footage of you bathing a lion? 🙂  Definitely share THAT with #whenyourbooks  🙂

Although the tour ends on August 3, I’ll give you a couple days to comment on that last post, and announce the winners on Monday August 7.

So, are you ready to join the high jinx and shenanigans?

Comment below to start your eligibility for prize #1, and share today’s post with #whenyourbooks to start earning points toward prize #2!  Then tune in to Frog On A Blog tomorrow, when Lauri Fortino will have a guest article from yours truly on writing a series!

Let’s get this blog tour underway! 🙂

 

illustration copyright (C) Daniel Wiseman 2017

P.S.  Since the Blog Tour Schedule is a photoshop-made graphic that can’t have live links (plus when I made it none of the posts were actually posted yet so no one had urls) I will list the links to the ones that have gone up below for your convenience.

7/1/17 – Susanna Leonard Hill – Blog Tour Kickoff – well, you’re already here 🙂

7/2/17 – Lauri Fortinos’s Frog On A Blog – Guest Post on Writing A Series PLUS a Giveaway!

7/3/17 – Jena Benton’s Of Tea And Mermaids Blog – Simply 7 Interviews with Susanna & Daniel PLUS a Giveaway!

7/4/17 – Lynn Davidson’s Polilla Writes Blog – LION book review and GAME