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Look for my latest books:
City Doodles - CHICAGO  Gibbs Smith 2013
WOMEN OF STEEL AND STONE   Chicago Review Press January 2014

☼ Summer is for Nonfiction Reading

Sharing my article on INK: Interesting Nonfiction for Kids for June 24, 2011. Enjoy!

☼ Summer is for Nonfiction Reading

Summer is now officially upon us.  
It’s time for playing in swimming pools, and catching lightning bugs. 
It’s time for family vacations and summer camps. 
It’s time for popsicles and s’mores.
But, hopefully for our children, it’s not time for the… Summer Slide. 

Best described by President Barack Obama, in his proclamation for National Summer Learning Day in 2009,  Obama said, "A child who takes long breaks from learning can face academic setbacks. This problem is especially prominent during the summer, when students may lose more than two months of progress."
In a 2002 report from Johns Hopkins Center for Summer Learning, they outlined, "A conservative estimate of lost instructional time is approximately two months or roughly 22 percent of the school year...It's common for teachers to spend at least a month re-teaching material students have forgotten over the summer. That month of re-teaching could have been spent on teaching new information and skills."
One highly recommended way to help avoid the Summer Slide is summer reading, fiction AND nonfiction.
This past month at Weber State University at the first day of a two-day conference for educators, the 27th annual Reading and Writing Conference, Terrell A. Young, a literacy education professor at Washington State University, further explained the benefits of nonfiction reading. Young said, "Children who are mainly nonfiction readers will do well reading fiction, but fiction readers will not do as well reading nonfiction.” Some examples of how reading nonfiction benefits the student includes: helps in learning to decode such visual clues as charts, graphs, diagrams, sidebars with specialized information and even the meaning of parentheses, learning to use an index and glossary, and learning that bold or italic words in text are of greater significance.

Don’t know about you, but I was so excited by all the support for Nonfiction books. While researching online, I found many libraries and schools, from around the country, with recommended summer books lists that contained a 50/50 ratio of fiction and nonfiction.

Let’s hear a huge “YAY” for Interesting Nonfiction books for Kids!

And, while we’re talking about nonfiction reading for this summer, I have to mention magazines for kids. Well, actually, I have to point out only one magazine: the July/August 2011 issue of Appleseeds (Carus) Magazine ~ “Let’s Play!"

Consulting Editor: Anna M. Lewis
"10 Ways to Play with Nothing but Your Imagination" by Anna M. Lewis

*I just got these delivered by the UPS guy, so I had to announce. 


So, as we set off to enjoy this summer, Let’s Play. And, I wish to you and your families lots of swinging on swings and sliding on slides – the playground kind, of course. 

Monster Books for Kids - Oh, My!

Last week for my monthly post on the group blog: INK Interesting Nonfiction for Kids, the topic that I chose to write about was on Monster Books for Kids.
Here's the article:

Monster Nonfiction for Kids - Oh, my!

One of my current super secret projects has a little something to do with monsters. (Oh, my!) In a quest to hunt out a vast array of curious creatures, I scurried over to my local library to find some fact-filled nonfiction books on the subject of monsters. While ravaging the bookshelves, I pondered a few things about monsters and books about them. (By the way, I didn't ravage the bookshelves --- just a little too into the theme.)

1.  Are monsters fiction or nonfiction? If they can be found in the nonfiction shelves, does that make monsters real? At my library, I found one title shelved in fiction, and, in another library, the same book was shelved in nonfiction. One of my favorite monster books is Everything I Know About Monsters by Tom Lichtenheld. Tom writes "The most important thing I know about monsters is that there really are no such things!... But, monsters DO exist in our imaginations." Don't you just love our imaginations?

2.  How scary is too scary for kids? I don't have an answer - just a thought. So, I'm wondering if this wise group of INK contributors and readers of this blog have some comments to share. From my experience, I think some of the nonfiction books about monsters would have scared the heck out of my daughter, now a graduating senior. Of course, the picture book that all three of my kids had to have read to them every night was The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone (author) and Michael Smollin (illustrator). 
And, in writing this, I discovered that there's a new book:

Another Monster at the End of This Book   
by Jon Stone (author) and Michael Smollin (illustrator)
(I think I found a great addition to add to my favorite "new baby" gift, aka basket full o' books.) 



(Sorry, back to the subject at claw... I mean, hand.)
 
3. Where does a green-haired 1,000 pound three-eyed monster sleep?*


A few good general reference nonfiction books I found were:
Encyclopedia horrifica : the terrifying truth! about vampires, ghosts, monsters, and more  
Scholastic 2007
by Joshua Gee
Monster hunt : the guide to cryptozoology
Sterling 2008
by Rory Storm
What a beast! : a look-it-up guide to the monsters and mutants of mythology! 
Franklin Watts/ Scholastic 2010
by Sophia Kelly
Monsterology: The Complete Book of Monstrous Beasts
Candlewick 2009
by Dr. Ernest Drake
I found this book shelved in both fiction and nonfiction.

*Answer to question #3: Anywhere he wants to!

In writing this post, I think I answered my own questions. Adding humor to books about monsters might make them seem just a little less scary. But, you still might need some monster spray at night --- a spritz under the bed and a sprinkle into the closet should do the trick... at least it did in my house.

Avatar toys: Action figure line for girls

New article on my National Children's Toys Examiner page:

Avatar toys: Action figure line for girls

Here's part of the article:
Like most of the nation, my family went to see Avatar the first week it opened. Per my fifteen-year-old’s “seeing Avatar was a life changing experience” recommendation, we pre-ordered tickets for the Imax theater. Even though, we tried to get to the theater early, only five seats in the third row were available. Not a big fan of 3D glasses or the third row, surprisingly, I was not uncomfortable for one second during the movie. Totally captivated by the movie experience, for over two and a half hours, I was lost in the world that James Cameron created. Only for one fleeting second. I thought outside that realm. My epiphany: Toys are a perfect pairing with the movie. Finally, a movie that isn’t made for a toy line. Avatar action figures and the ensuing play patterns are made for this movie.

James Cameron's Avatar Na'vi Neytiri Action Figure  Currently the top selling Avatar action figure on Amazon.
James Cameron's Avatar Na'vi Leonopteryx Collectible Figure

James Cameron's Avatar Na'vi Dire Horse Creature

For the entire article go here:

Avatar toys: Action figure line for girls

Smithsonian Channel: Original Programming in HD and On Demand: All Dolled Up: Collectible Dolls

Smithsonian Channel: Original Programming in HD and On Demand: All Dolled Up: Collectible Dolls

Can't wait for this!

Great new books out this week!
Check 'em out! 


Children’s Book Reviews: 1/11/2010
New picture books this week from Ashley Bryan, Cynthia Lord and Derek Anderson, Bob Shea, and Jonah Winter and Red Nose Studio. Plus: fiction from Caroline B. Cooney, Walter Dean Myers, Francisco X. Stork, Melina Marchetta, and more.

CL!CK: A LEGO Short Film

Fantastic new video from LEGO in conjunction with their new community: LEGO CLICK

Very creative!