Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

BLOG TOUR AND GIVEAWAY! We Are One

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Two friends deliver a stirring message to all in this story of community and friendship, unconditional acceptance and support.

 

We Are One, by Jackie Azúa Kramer/Illustrated by Raissa Figueroa & Niña Mata,
(May 2023, Two Lions), $17.99, ISBN: 9781542016940

Ages 4-7

 

Two girls – one, living with her mom in the city; the other, living with her fathers and brother by the beach – delight in preparing for a lantern festival in a story that celebrates friendship and kindness. One girl’s dog runs away during the festival, uniting the two new friends, and they spend the remaining time together, joining their families in a new friendship. A diverse and inclusive group of individuals bring Azúa Kramer’s words to life as people play, enjoy a day at the beach, and celebrate together. Figueroa and Mata’s digital artwork create soft and colorful characters and settings; her deep purple skies provide a rich backdrop for the street lights and festival lights, and her expressive faces have fun, individual touches, like a child wearing a shark hat as they enjoy a popsicle, or a dad wearing a hot dog costume on the boardwalk. The morning fun of a day at the beach and the park build up to a celebratory atmosphere at the festival, giving readers a sense of excitement that comes with meeting a new friend at a party. Azúa Kramer’s spare, easy-to-read verse helps readers visualize community: “If you’re a seashell, / I’m a wave. / Together we play. / If you’re harmony, / I’m a chorus. / Together we sing”. Rich endpapers feature a variety of lanterns across a purple field of night. A wonderful choice for storytimes and bedtimes.

 

Jackie Azúa Kramer is the author of many books, including The Boy and the Gorilla, illustrated by Cindy Derby; I Wish You Knew, illustrated by Magdalena Mora; and The Green Umbrella, illustrated by Maral Sassouni. Her books have been named a Best of the Best Book by the Chicago Public Library and to Bank Street College of Education’s Best Children’s Books of the Year list. Jackie lives with her family in New York. Visit her at www.jackieazuakramer.com.

Niña Mata has illustrated many children’s books, including New York Times bestsellers She’s Got This by Laurie Hernandez and I Promise by LeBron James, and the Ty’s Travels series by Kelly Starling Lyons, for which she became a Theodor Seuss Geisel Award honoree. Niña lives in New Jersey with her family. Find her online at www.ninamata.com.

Raissa Figueroa is the illustrator of a number of children’s books, including We Wait for the Sun by Katie McCabe and Dovey Roundtree, a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor book; as well as the Oona series, written by Kelly DiPucchio; and Princess Unlimited by Jacob Sager Weinstein. She lives in California. You can visit her at www.rizzyfig.com.

One lucky winner will receive a copy of We Are One, courtesy of Two Lions (U.S. and Canada). Enter the Rafflecopter contest here!

 

Posted in Middle Grade, Non-fiction

BLOG TOUR: How to Survive in the Age of Dinosaurs!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Hello, folks! After a morning fraught with technical difficulties, I bring you the latest and greatest Blog Tour from NatGeo Kids! Introducing…

 

Welcome to the blog tour for

How to Survive in the Age of Dinosaurs,

part of National Geographic Kids’ DinoMAYnia – a month-long celebration of all things prehistoric!

All week blogs are hosting fun excerpts from this handy guide so you will know just what it takes to dodge deadly dinosaurs, ride out mega monsoons and escape other perils of the prehistoric!

How To Survive the World Before Dinosaurs

Before you can try your luck at surviving the age of dinosaurs, you have to make it through what came just before: the Permian. It’s home to animals so strange they seem like fictional monsters. They dominate Earth for millions of years, until nearly all are wiped out by the biggest extinction event in the history of our planet. This catastrophe clears the world of competitors, setting the stage for dinosaurs to rise up. Can you survive it?

  • The Permian: 299-252 million years ago
  • Known For: The most catastrophic extinction in history
  • Best Place for Home Base: Northern Pangea…but be prepared to sweat
  • Your Main Food Source: Mega-size insects
  • Try to avoid: Going extinct along with 90 percent of the planet’s species

BIG Bugs

Your stomach rumbles. If you’re going to last another day in the Permian, you need food. You glance around—nope, not a single restaurant or grocery store in sight. That’s when you hear a buzz near your ear. The Permian is crawling with insects—some of them mega-size. Could you make a meal out of these big bugs?

During the early Permian, insects reach enormous proportions. There are dragonflies that could do aerial combat with the largest modern birds and go head-to-head with millipedes as long as a human is tall. Never again in the history of Earth would insects be so large.

What is it about the ancient world that allows these creatures to become supersize? Part of the answer is oxygen. At this time, the atmosphere contains far more oxygen than it has in the modern age—over 10 percent more. This allows Permian-era insects to fuel up more efficiently, freeing them to grow large. Then, there’s the second reason: Birds haven’t evolved yet. With no birds around, large, slow-moving insects have one fewer predator to worry about — and one fewer critter competing with them for meals. This also allows them to get big.

Those enormous insects would have made a great food source. Most insects are rich in protein, healthy fats, iron, and calcium. In modern times, about two billion people worldwide eat insects regularly. But it takes a lot to make a meal: If you were to snack on ants in modern times—say, red ants, for example—you’d need to eat more than 30 pounds (14 kg) of them a day to get the calories you’d need to stay healthy. Even if you spent all your time hunting and eating small, modern insects, you still might not gather enough to survive.

That’s not a problem in the time of giant insects. A single dragonfly-like Meganeuropsis would be enough to fuel you for several meals. Giant insects can even be dried and packed for eating on the go, like insect jerky. So big bugs would have been good eating.

Did You Know?

Spiders, scorpions, millipedes, centipedes, and some beetles survived the Permian extinction!

Buy | Buy on Bookshop.org

 

How to Survive in the Age of Dinosaurs:

A Handy Guide to Dodging Deadly Predators, Riding Out Mega-Monsoons and Escaping Other Perils of the Prehistoric

(ages 8-12, Paperback, National Geographic Kids Books)

Boom, boom, BOOM … Look out! That’s a T. rex coming your way!? You’ve been transported back in time to the age of the dinosaurs. What do you do?!

Test your chops and discover if you have what it takes to survive at a time when Earth looked, well, a tad different in this ultimate survival guide to the prehistoric age.

Find out how to make it through exploding volcanoes and mega monsoons—while dodging giant Permian bugs! See how to fend off an angry pterosaur and learn what to do if you’re caught in a stampede of enormous titanosaurs. Discover what you could eat (spoiler alert: You better like the taste of insects!), and find out which hungry creatures just might try to eat you!

Packed with tips, tricks, and helpful maps, this is the ultimate handbook for dinosaur fans who want to know what life on Earth was really like when dinos ruled. Could you survive in the age of dinosaurs?

 

About the Author

Stephanie Warren Drimmer is an award winning science writer based in Los Angeles, California. She writes books and magazine features for kids about everything from the strangest places in space, to the chemistry of cookies, to the mysteries of the human brain. She has a degree in science journalism from New York University…but she thinks she likes writing for kids because she’s secretly still one herself.

Website

 

About the Expert Contributor

Dr. Steve Brusatte vertebrate paleontologist and evolutionary biologist and professor at the University of Edinburgh who specializes in the anatomy, genealogy, and evolution of dinosaurs and other fossil organisms. He has written over 110 scientific papers, published six books (including the adult pop science book The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, the textbook Dinosaur Paleobiology, and the coffee table book Dinosaurs), and has described over 15 new species of fossil animals. He has done fieldwork in Brazil, Britain, China, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and the United States. His research is profiled often in the popular press and he is a “resident paleontologist” and scientific consultant for the BBC’s Walking With Dinosaurs team.

Website | Twitter

GIVEAWAY

 

  • One (1) winner will receive a copy of How to Survive in the Age of Dinosaurs!
  • US/Can only
  • Ends 6/3 at 11:59 pm ET
  • Enter via the form below

Visit the other stops on the tour for more chances to win

 

Blog Tour Schedule:

May 22nd— Mom Read It

May 23rd— Ms. Yingling Reads

May 24th – From the Mixed-Up Files of Middle Grade Authors

May 25th — Log Cabin Library

May 26th— Mrs. Book Dragon

 

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Blog Tour and Giveaway: Turkey’s Sandtastic Beach Day!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Turkey and friends are back in their latest romp, and there are more silly costumes and hilarious moments to love!

Turkey’s Sandtastic Beach Day, by Wendi Silvano/Illustrated by Lee Harper,
(May 2023, Two Lions), $17.99, ISBN: 9781662508356

Ages 4-7

It’s summertime, and Farmer Jake and friends head to the boardwalk for the Summer Children’s Festival! Turkey wants to enjoy the beach so badly, but Farmer Jake needs him at the boardwalk’s petting zoo. What’s a beach-loving turkey to do? Get a disguise, naturally! Loaded with farm and beach puns and sight gags, Turkey’s Sandtastic Beach Day is a perfect readaloud to welcome Summer Reading. Endpapers are part of the story here: front endpapers show Farmer Jake loading everyone (including a scuba-outfitted Turkey) onto the petting zoo wagon, and back endpapers conclude the story. Harper’s watercolor and pencil illustrations are colorful and filled with cartoony animals and people, with Turkey taking center stage (as it should be).

The best thing about a new Turkey book? The chance to bring out more of those Turkey disguises! There are free templates and costumes all over TeachersPayTeachers. Add some beachy ideas to give your turkeys shark fins, crab pincers, and whatever else you can think of.

 

“Beachgoers will appreciate this funny, punny day by the shore.” ―Kirkus Reviews

Wendi Silvano was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has lived in Oregon, Colorado, and Peru. The author of the Turkey Trouble series, she has a BA in early childhood education and taught preschool and elementary school for eleven years. She is the mother of five children and the owner of an assortment of odd pets that are not nearly as clever as Turkey. She now writes from her home in Colorado, where she enjoys hiking, reading, and playing the piano. Visit her online at wendisilvano.com.

Lee Harper is the author-illustrator of the books Coyote, The Emperor’s Cool Clothes, and Snow! Snow! Snow! In addition to the Turkey Trouble series, Lee is also the illustrator of Looking for the Easy Life by Walter Dean Myers and the Woolbur series, written by Leslie Helakoski. Lee has four children, a German shepherd, two barn cats, two pigs, eleven chickens, and four sheep . . . but still no turkeys. Yet. He lives with his wife in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Visit him online at leeharperart.com.

To celebrate this seventh installment in the Turkey Trouble series, Two Lions is offering a copy of Turkey’s Sandtastic Beach Day to one lucky winner (U.S. and Canada). Click here to enter the Rafflecopter contest!

Posted in Non-Fiction, picture books, Preschool Reads

The Secret Life of Bugs: A kid-friendly close-up

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Secret Life of Bugs and Other Little Critters, by Emanuelle Figueras/Illustrated by Alexander Vidal, (Apr 2023, Twirl Books), $18.99, ISBN: 9782408042547

Ages 4-7

If it’s Spring and Summer, my bug books are going out like crazy. In every library community I’ve worked, kids are fascinated by bugs of all sorts. The Secret Life of Bugs and Other Critters is a unique new look at the hidden worlds that bugs inhabit, with laser-cut pages revealing the inner workings of a bee hive; a look at a spider’s web; leaves providing shelter for stick bugs, and more. Every spread has a laser cut page, adding dimension to the colorful pages. Factual text is interesting and short sentences are great for emerging readers. The laser cuts are delicate, so consider keeping a copy in your STEM reference; pages like the honeycomb and spider web may tear quickly. Originally published in French in 2019, the translation reads smoothly. The artwork shows movement and creates interest: butterflies fly from leaf to leaf in search of nectar while a spider waits in her web; bees actively gather nectar and pollen and protect their hive, and ants create their underground cities. There is something here for everyone.

 

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads, Toddler Reads, Uncategorized

Big books for little ones: board books and more!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

You know I love a board book bonanza, but I’ve got other interactive books to crow about, too! Let’s go right to it!

Ultimate Spotlight: Caring for Earth, by Sandra Laboucarie & Sarah Reynard/Illustrated by Julie Mercier, (March 2023, Twirl Books), $16.99, ISBN: 9791036353239

Ages 4-6

Twirl’s Ultimate Spotlight series is such fun for pre-readers and emerging readers. Loaded with interactive devices like lift-the-flaps, pull tabs, and spinners, each book is like a little adventure. Caring for Earth, the newest book in the series, is a fun and informative look into conservation and preservation. Spreads on respecting nature, creating gardens, eco-friendly living inform grown-ups and children about the many easy ways we can take action to keep our Earth green: create and support a seed library; compost food waste; switch from liquid soap to bar soap, and take a healthy walk when you can! Spreads on gardening show readers the different layers helpful in creating a layered ecosystem. Translated from the original French, the verbiage runs smoothly and is easy to read to younger learners. Flaps and pulls are sturdy and hold up to use (but I always suggest keeping an extra in your reference collection if you want to hold one for storytime and STEM programming). A good addition to a very fun series.

 

Hello Hummingbirds: Read and play in the tree!, by Hannah Rogge/Illustrated by Emily Dove, (May 2023, Chronicle Books), $12.99, ISBN: 9781797210094

Ages 2-4

This adorable book comes with two hummingbirds, attached to ribbons, that readers can use to swoop and play with the hummingbird narrator. A friendly hummingbird greets readers and takes them through a day in the life: swooping and flying, enjoying flower nectar, sheltering and building a nest. Quick, fun facts thread through the narrative, while the colorful artwork and playful fonts engage readers. The book stands up and pages open to become a tree. The pages are sturdy and the ribbons seem to hold up to extra tugging, making this a good storytime/playtime choice.

Let’s Go to Color Camp!: Beginning Baby, by Nicola Slater, (June 2023, Twirl Books), $12.99, ISBN: 9781797218724

Ages 0-3

The Beginning Baby friends return on a trip to Color Camp – and they need help identifying colors! Tabbed flaps with colors help children turn to a favorite color, or they can page through the story where they’re invited to identify colors in the camp surroundings as the Beginning Baby friends paint, eat lunch, go swimming, and enjoy a day at camp. The retro art and expressive, friendly animals are eye-catching, and the sturdy pages will hold up to multiple readings. Great for a read-aloud and quiet skill-building, this is a fun addition to a fun series.

 

Posted in Intermediate, Non-Fiction

Birds Everywhere! For the burgeoning birder in your life!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Birds Everywhere, by Camilla de la Bedoyere/Illustrated by Britta Teckentrup, (March 2023, Big Picture Press), $17.99, ISBN: 9781536229738

Ages 6-9

The latest in the “Animals Everywhere” series has gone to the birds! Birds Everywhere features birds from all over the world, from prehistoric birds like the archaeopteryx to the more modern-day birds like parrots and finches. Teckentrup’s colorful digital artwork introduces a nonstop parade of avians, all labeled to acquaint readers with new flying feathered friends. de le Bedoyere’s factual text is engaging and informative, with thought-provoking questions and fun facts throughout. Birds Everywhere looks at bird biology and evolution; habitats and eating habits, and more. Sections on penguins and barn owls give readers a spotlight of sorts on some favorites. Endpapers feature penguins, with a fun challenge at the close. The foil-embellished cover will draw eyes right away. Fun and informative, this is perfect for a quick reference and introduction to birds for emerging readers.

 

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

I Want to Be Big! – but what happens if you get TOO big?

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

I Want to Be Big, by Tiffany Golden/Illustrated by Sawyer Cloud, (Apr. 2023, Page Street Kids), $18.99, ISBN: 9781645676300

Ages 4-8

A brown-skinned young boy wants to be big: “Bigger than Big Brother. Bigger than Big Sister. Bigger than Mom. Bigger than Dad”. Being big comes with perks, after all: being able to reach the cookie jar; swimming with sharks and being best friends with Bigfoot, all sorts of cool things. His wish is magically granted, and he’s delighted! He’s bigger than everyone! Unsatisfied, he wants to be even bigger, and that’s where things go a little haywire. The boy is simply TOO big. Too big for his favorite pants. Too big to go down the slide. Too big to play with his siblings and cuddle with his parents. Will he be able to reverse his wish and be small again? And will he be happy if he does? A gently funny “be careful what you wish for” story, I Want to Be Big is the refrain many a parent, caregiver, or educator has heard, making this an amusing and relatable story that reminds kids the best parts about being small. Colorful digital artwork plays with size, showing the boy’s giant shoe making an appearance at a family barbecue and a close-up of the boy with a tiny, tiny pair of pants on his nose. The story touches on realistic problem-solving, and how size isn’t always an issue if you can figure out how to use your environment as a workaround (no workarounds for being friends with Bigfoot, sadly). A fun readaloud choice for collections.

Posted in picture books, Preschool Reads

Bondi and Poppy Help Heal the Planet: Make Earth Day Every Day!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Bondi and Poppy Help Heal the Planet, by Judith A. Proffer/Illustrated by Yoko Matsuoka, (Apr. 2023, Juju Press), $19.99, ISBN: 9781088113431 

Ages 3-6

This sweet rhyming story stars two friends: Bondi, an Australian koala and Poppy, a California bear, who come together to raise awareness about the havoc wreaked by wildfires on their homes and how climate change plays a part in it. The two friends meet in Hawaii – the middle ground between their homes – where they spend time together and think of ways to help keep their homes – our home, Earth – safe. Kids will love the friendly-faced animals, colorful art, and playful rhyme. By outlining ways that everyone can pitch in and take responsibility for helping the environment – creating a family plan,; reduce, reuse, recycle, and compost; use less water and paper,  and rely less on gasoline and more on our own  bodies to get around – Proffer involves the whole family and empowers everyone from adults to kids. Initially published in time for Earth Day, Bondi and Poppy share a message worth repeating as Poppy’s part of the world heads into summer, when we rely on our air conditioners and prefer less walking over air-conditioned vehicles. A cute additional purchase for collections.

Posted in Intermediate, Non-Fiction, picture books

New in the Nature Book series: A Shell is Cozy

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

A Shell is Cozy, by Dianna Hutts Aston/Illustrated by Sylvia Long, (May 2023, Chronicle Books), $18.99, ISBN: 9781797212470

Ages 5-8

Enjoy a study on the world of shells in the newest entry in Aston and Long’s Nature Books series. Ink and watercolor illustrations bring the many types of shells to life; Aston moves between brief and meaningful observations – “A shell is cozy”; “A shell is everywhere”; “A shell is athletic” – and more informative explanations to explain her observations. Cursive font poses the initial observations; smaller, print text the explanations. Each shell is labeled, helping facilitate understanding and knowledge. Aston writes to educate and to delight, including facts like jazz musician Steve Turre using “the same shell instrument… as his Aztec ancestors did…”, or that sea scallops “clap” their shells to swim away from predators. A great addition to a long-standing, popular natural world series.

Create an activity pack with a seek and find sheet from Education.com, a set of seashell identification cards from Cara Ratner on TeachersPayTeachers, and this field journal from the American Museum of Natural History.

 

 

A Beetle is Shy, by Dianna Hutts Aston/Illustrated by Sylvia Long, (May 2023, Chronicle Books), $7.99, ISBN: 9781797215877

Ages 5-8

The softcover edition of the 2016 book, A Beetle is Shy, hits shelves this week and is a good choice for libraries that need a backup or whose budgets are facing some challenges. Here, Aston and Long introduce readers to the many types of beetles: their life cycles, their sizes, where and how they live. They touch on the beetle’s prehistoric origins, with a beautiful rendering of beetles preserved in amber, and discuss the many areas of the world where beetles are on the menu! The ink and watercolor art is breathtaking, with vibrant colors truly showing off beetle’s jewel-like appearances. Scripted verse observations, like “A beetle is tasty”; “A beetle is prehistoric”; “A beetle is a digger… a runner… a hopper… or a swimmer” lead to brief informational text to explain. A great addition to your nature, STEM, and insect collection.

Do you have bug fans, or want to do a program on insects? You can put together a fun learning activity pack with this Beetle Mania activity from Education.com, a beetle coloring sheet, also from Education.com, a Build a Stag Beetle activity from Teaching Resources by AJ, and a beetle lifecycle activity sheet from itsMamaMiller, both from TeachersPayTeachers. DK has a good Beetle Facts for Kids webpage, and NatGeo Kids has fact pages on both the stag beetle and the dung beetle.

Posted in Fantasy, Horror, Teen, Tween Reads, Young Adult/New Adult

Excellent Speculative Fiction: The Hitherto Secret Experiments of Marie Curie

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Hitherto Secret Experiments of Marie Curie, edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt, (March 2023, Blackstone Publishing), $18.99, ISBN: 9781665047036

Ages 12-17

An anthology that puts the science in science fiction, The Hitherto Secret Experiments of Marie Curie brings together 20 stories by standout names – Jane Yolen, Scott Sigler, and Jonathan Maberry, to name a few – who spin dark stories about Nobel Prize winning physicist Marie Curie. Driven largely by the childhood losses of her mother and sister, the stories and poetry in Hitherto dream of scenarios that formed Curie. Set in her young adolescence, there are dark tales, supernatural tales, and straight-up unnerving tales, with several mainstays: Curie’s break with religion, the Russian occupation of her beloved Poland, and her dedication to science and learning. Stories are rooted in science, and many include Science Notes to clarify the divergence of fact and fiction. Run from the whimsical, like Alethea Kontis’s “Marya’s Monster”, where Curie confronts the literal monster under her bed with level-headedness, to the bittersweet, as with Seanan McGuire’s “Uncrowned Kings”, where Curie battles the disease-carrying beast that’s infected her town. Stories like Henry Herz’s “Cheating Death” take a turn into horror, where Curie’s obsession with halting Death leads her to disturbing experimentation, and Christine Taylor-Butler’s “Retribution” is a science murder mystery (minus the mystery).

Every single story here is an excellent read, with something for dark fantasy, horror, and thriller fans alike. Science fans will rejoice at having Marie Curie front and center in her own adventures (I know I did), and resources for further reading keeps the momentum going, with books about Curie, women in STEM, and websites to explore. An excellent choice for YA collections.