About viviankirkfield

Writer for children - Reader forever - Mom of 3, educator, author of FOUR OTTERS TOBOGGAN: AN ANIMAL COUNTING BOOK (PomegranateKids, PIPPA'S PASSOVER PLATE (Holiday House), SWEET DREAMS, SARAH (Creston Books); MAKING THEIR VOICES HEARD: THE INSPIRING FRIENDSHIP OF ELLA FITZGERALD AND MARILYN MONROE (Little Bee Books); FROM HERE TO THERE: INVENTIONS THAT CHANGED THE WAY THE WORLD MOVES (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Jan 19, 2021); PEDAL, BALANCE, STEER: Annie Londonderry, First Woman to Bike Around the World (Calkins Creek/Astra, Feb 20, 2024) picture book junkie, lover of travel, hiking, fly-fishing, cooking, and playing Monopoly with my grandson.

Perfect Picture Book Friday: COUNTING ELEPHANTS Plus Giveaway

Posted on September 11, 2020 by viviankirkfield

Happy Perfect Picture Book Friday, dear friends.

Today’s book is written by one of my favorite kidlit people. I met Dawn Young back in 2015 when she created a super cool video for Angie Karcher’s RhyPiBoMo (a rhyming challenge now called Rhyme Revolution). And now she has several picture books – and here is her newest that launched in March.

COUNTING ELEPHANTS

Written by Dawn Young

Illustrated by Fermin Solis

Published by Running Press Kids

Ages: 4-8

Themes: Counting book,

Synopsis: From Amazon:

Math + Magic = chaos. A zany book about counting elephants before they disappear!

Our poor counter just wants to count her ten elephants, but – POOF! – her magician friend is making it impossible. Ten, nine, eight… each time we get back to counting, one of the elephants has been changed into something unexpected. Puppies, frogs, peanut butter and jelly, and, of course, a rabbit and a hat appear and disappear in this funny, fast-paced story.

Why I love this book:

Filled with humor – kids will love the funny interaction between the kid who is counting elephants and the magician who keeps changing the number of elephants by turning them into something else.
Love the illustrations!
Great STEM element with the math.

RELATED ACTIVITIES

Photo courtesy: https://artsycraftsymom.com/20-enormously-cute-elephant-crafts-for-kids/

Look at all of these awesome elephant craft activities. For details, click on this link: https://artsycraftsymom.com/20-enormously-cute-elephant-crafts-for-kids/

And if you need a smile…and a chance to get up and exercise, here is that super cool video Dawn did:

Don’t forget to leave a comment to be entered in the giveaway of a copy of COUNTING ELEPHANTS.

And don’t forget that our favorite authors need our support. If you can, purchase a copy. If you read the book, please review it. If you love it, please tell your friends about it and ask your library to purchase copies for their collection.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend…and please stop by tomorrow for Will Write for Cookies when Kirsti Call visits to chat about her writing journey and her newest picture book: MOOTILLA’S BAD MOOD.

Happy Book Birthday: BESS THE BARN STANDS STRONG Plus Double Book Giveaway

Posted on September 8, 2020 by viviankirkfield

Hello dear friends! I hope you all had a lovely long Labor Day weekend and are well-rested – you are going to need to sing a strong Happy Book Birthday for this wonderful new picture book by Elizabeth Gilbert Bedia: BESS THE BARN STANDS STRONG.

Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday, dear BESS THE BARN! Happy Birthday to you!

Continue reading →

Perfect Picture Book Friday: THE GRUMPY PIRATE Plus Giveaway

Posted on September 4, 2020 by viviankirkfield

Happy Perfect Picture Book Friday, dear friends!

Has another week truly passed by? I can hardly believe it. I’ve been up to my ears in boxes and taking stuff to the dump and giving away books to the library and to friends…just how many books can a person accumulate over the years? And yet, with all of the hundreds of books I gave away, I still have more than a dozen boxes of books in the storage unit, waiting for October 1 when we move into our new house.

One of the books I will definitely be keeping is today’s Perfect Picture Book selection – I connected with the author, Corinne Demas, at my local NESCBWI conference last year…and I absolutely love her newest book that launched in June.

THE GRUMPY PIRATE

Written by Corinne Demas and Artemis Roehrig

Illustrated by Ashlyn Anstee

Published by Orchard Books/Scholastic (June 2020)

Ages: 4-7

Theme: Emotions, getting along with others, friendship

And getting along and friendship were definitely important factors in the creation of this story – here’s a picture of co-authors, Corinne Demas and Artemis Roehrig.

Synopsis: From Amazon

Gus the Pirate is always grumpy, but can the wise Pirate Queen convince him to change his ways?

There is one grumpy pirate.
They call him Grumpy Gus.
He grunts and gripes and grouses,
and always makes a fuss.

Gus the Pirate complains about everything — ARRRRRGH! Gus grumbles about his lumpy bed and his itchy clothes. He complains about the yucky food and doing his chores on the pirate ship. Even sailing toward buried treasure can’t make Gus happy! Finally, the other pirates have had enough! They ask the Pirate Queen to help.

So the Pirate Queen gives Grumpy Gus a pet parrot — but the parrot is grumpy, too! After Gus spends the day with a parrot who’s just as grumbly and grouchy as he is, Gus realizes his bad attitude might be a little hard to deal with. Can Gus turn his frown upside down before the other pirates make him walk the plank?

All kids can relate to feeling grumpy like Gus, and this swashbuckling pirate adventure teaches kids the importance of trying to have a positive attitude!

Why I love this book:

Starred review from Kirkus: The art is cartoony and appealing. It won’t take much searching for kids to recognize themselves (or their siblings) in Gus’ general poutiness… A paean to grouchy Guses everywhere presented with pouty piratical aplomb.”
Great rhythm and rhyme…a rollicking tale well-told about getting in touch with our emotions.
Wonderful illustrations full of fun that keep the reader engaged from first page to last.

RELATED ACTIVITIES

Photo courtesy:

Photo courtesy: https://kidsactivitiesblog.com/66927/25-pirate-crafts-kids-can-make/

Avast, me hearties! Here are 25 super cool pirate crafts to make with the kiddos. For detailed instructions: https://kidsactivitiesblog.com/66927/25-pirate-crafts-kids-can-make/

Please don’t forget to leave a comment to be entered in the generous giveaway from Corinne and her publisher of a copy of THE GRUMPY PIRATE. Maybe you can share what makes you grumpy.

I hope you all have a beautiful Labor Day weekend. And please come back next week when we have THREE blog posts…a book birthday for Liz Bedia’s BESS THE BARN STANDS STRONG, a Perfect Picture Book Friday for Dawn Young’s COUNTING ELEPHANTS, and a Will Write for Cookies with Kirsty Call who co-authored MOOTILLA’S BAD MOOD with Corey Rosen Schwartz.