Happy Perfect Picture Book Friday, dear friends! And HAPPY INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIP DAY! We are so fortunate to be celebrating this day with a very special book- written by one of my Storm sisters, Sammie Vance. What makes this even more special is that Sammie is a kid! And because Sammie is my Storm sister and because it is International Friendship Day, I’m offering a giveaway of a copy of this fabulous book – make sure you leave a comment at the end of the blog post.

INSPIRE THE WORLD: A Kid’s Journey to Making a Difference

Written by Sammie Vance

Illustrated by Talitha Shipman

Published by Spork (August 24, 2021)

Ages: 8-12

Themes: Friendship, activism, making a difference

Synopsis from Amazon:

What started as 8-year-old Sammie Vance’s mission to get a buddy bench for her school to fight loneliness grew to be so much more. Now Sammie is making a difference beyond her hometown. In her first-ever book, Sammie shares how she’s encouraging others through recycling, community, giving, determination, bravery, helping, being herself, and celebrating. She wants to inspire the world one kid at a time.

Why I LOVE This Book:

1. I love that this is a book written by a kid to encourage other kids to take action to make the world a better place!
2. I love the format of the book and how we see Sammie grow up, right before our eyes as we turn the pages!
3. I love the photos and art…the illustrator did a fabulous job!

And we are really lucky because Sammie was able to stop by to chat with us – she’s going to share a bit about her path to publication. WELCOME, SAMMIE!!!!

SAMMIE: I actually wrote the first draft of this book when I was 9. It was going to be a picture book. But as I grew my book grew with me. I love how it turned out. I love how you can see me grow and I hope teachers, parents and kids will be inspired that you don’t have to be an adult to make a difference, you can be a kid to. At 12 I have been able to experience some pretty cool things and have received some prestigious awards. But the best part about my journey has been meeting new people and making new friends. I feel so excited to have my story published. 

Another tidbit is that the girl Talitha Shipman, who does the Sammie cartoons in this book was actually the one that encouraged me to write a book in the first place. It also turned out she lives only 5 minutes from us. We have become great friends throughout the process.

Here’s a little bit about Sammie: Sammie Vance is 12 years old and wants to write books to inspire others to be kind and make a difference.
She has gained worldwide attention through her project where she collected plastic caps and lids and had them recycled into buddy benches for her school and all around the country.
Sammie has been a guest on the Today Show, Nightly News with Lester Holt, covered by Martha Stewart Living, USA Today and many more. She has over 40 million views on numerous videos done on her. She has partnered with Walgreens and UPS who wanted to help her continue to spread kindness.
She has won multiple International Awards including and award named for her. Most recently she won the Diana Award, Gloria Barron Prize and named a top youth volunteer in the country.
From writing and her weekly podcast, to buddy benches and sending smiles, Sammie is spreading kindness wherever she goes.
You can find out more about Sammie on her website http://www.sammiesbuddybenchproject.com

And don’t forget that the best way to tell authors and illustrators that you love their books is to buy them, review them, tell friends about them, and ask your local library to purchase copies for their collection. Please do that for this book! It’s available for pre-order RIGHT NOW and launches August 24th.

RELATED ACTIVITIES

1. One obvious activity would be to organize a buddy bench building initiative – it could be started by a family, a school, or an entire community.
2. Ten amazing ideas for kid activists: https://coolmompicks.com/blog/2018/02/27/kids-and-activism-how-to-start/
3. More places to find areas where kids are making their voices heard: https://plan-international.org/youth-activism

Make sure you leave a comment to be entered in the giveaway. I will send a copy of INSPIRE THE WORLD to one lucky winner. Perhaps in your comment you can tell us if you or your children or your students have been involved in activism.

Have a wonderful weekend, dear friends! I hope you are staying safe and healthy.