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.

Halloween Dance Party Countdown – The Halloweensie Contest

Posted on October 28, 2013 by viviankirkfield

Get ready!

Get set!

Go!

It’s time to have lots of fun with Susanna Leonard Hill’s Halloweensie Contest!

There is still plenty of time to enter – here are the rules from her website:

“The 3rd Annual HALLOWEENSIE CONTEST!!!!!

The Contest: write a 100 word Halloween story appropriate for children (title not included in the 100 words), using the words spooky, black cat, and cackle. Your story can be scary, funny or anything in between, poetry or prose, but it will only count for the contest if it includes those 3 words (you can count black cat as one word) and is 100 words (you can go under, but not over!) Get it? Halloweensie – because it’s not very long and it’s for little people 🙂

Post your story on your blog between now and Thursday October 31st by 11:59 PM EDT and add your post-specific link to the list below. There will be no Would You Read It or Perfect Picture Books this week, so the post and the list of links will stay up all week for everyone to enjoy. I hope everyone will visit everyone and you’ll all get your friends and relations to visit, read and enjoy too! If you don’t have a blog and would like to enter, you can simply copy and paste your entry in the comments section below. (If you have trouble, and alas, people sometimes do, just email your entry to susanna[at]susannahill[dot]com and I’ll post it in the comments for you!)”

It’s so much fun to read all of the creative entries – and the prizes are SPECTACULAR!!! Click here to enter and/or read the other entries.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Spooky Piggy (mikeallegra.com)
Cackle . . . the Spooky Black Cat (nrhatch.wordpress.com)

Hip Hop Hooray – An Author/Illustrator Blog Hop

Posted on October 26, 2013 by viviankirkfield

Are you ready for some fun?

It’s time to be hoppin’ happy!

It‘s time for THE CHILDREN’S AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR BLOG HOP!

I was tagged by Emily Lim, one of Singapore’s most popular and prolific picture book authors. We connected over a year ago through blogging – I linked one of my posts to one of her posts – she came to visit, left a comment – and the rest is history. What is so super cool is that this past May, I got to meet Emily in person when I went to Singapore for the Asian Festival of Children’s Content, a week long celebration of exceptional children content creators – with two days of SCBWI conferences and dozens of presentations by authors and illustrators from around the globe.

Her first book took the reader along on Emily’s journey as she coped with Continue reading →

Paw Prints on the Magic Sofa: Developing Imagination

Posted on October 24, 2013 by viviankirkfield

Do you remember the old Wrigley’s commercial – two, two, two mints in one? Two beautiful young women, obviously twins, represented the combination of flavors – spearmint and peppermint – found in the popular chewing gum.

Today, for Perfect Picture Book Friday, I’m showcasing a pair of books by Sarah Mounsey. I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely author of this dynamic duo at the 2013 AFCC in Singapore.

Purple Paw Prints and Paw Prints on the Magic Sofa

Written by Sarah Mounsey

Illustrated by Jade Fang

Publisher: Brindal Books (2012 and 2013)

Opening lines: Paw Prints: “Eddie knew as soon as he finished painting Oscar purple that it was a big mistake!”

Paw Prints on the Magic Sofa: “Eddie, stop jumping on my brand new sofa!” said Mum for the gazillionth time. “And get the dog off there too!” But when William came to play, strange Continue reading →