Author Archives: viviankirkfield

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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.

Top Ten Children’s Picture Books for 2010

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TOP TEN CHILDREN’S PICTURE BOOKS OF 2010

Every year, thousands of new picture books are published.  Many are excellent.  Some are outstanding.  And a few are in a category all their own…to be read and savored, over and over again, by adults and children alike.  These are the books that will be the classics in the decades to come.  These ten books are my choices for the must-read children’s picture books published in 2010.

1.     SHARK VS. TRAIN written by Chris Burton and illustrated by Tom Lichtenhedd

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers – ISBN9780316

           A boy with a toy shark faces off against his companion who is holding a toy train.  Awesome cartoon illustrations depict the distinct personalities of the two competitors and will have young children cheering from both sides.  In some of the battles, the shark has the upper hand and in others, the train.  And neither is very good at keeping quiet in the library.

2.     THE QUIET BOOK written by Deborah Underwood and illustrated by Renata Liwska

Houghton Mifflin Books for Young Children – ISBN9780547215679

               Exploring the many different kinds of quiet with understated text and subtle yet engaging illustrations, this book will soon become a favorite with little ones.  Various young animals – bears, rabbits, mice, owls and others – are placed in situations that will strike a chord of recognition with young children.  In the “first one awake quiet” a young rabbit is doing his morning stretches.  In “right before you yell, ‘Surprise’, quiet”, three animals hide behind a couch.  This is a book that will rank right beside GOODNIGHT MOON as a perfect book to read before bedtime.

3.     CITY DOG, COUNTRY FROG written by Mo Willems and illustrated by Jon Muth

Hyperion Books for Children – ISBN9781423103004

               This beautiful book is a journey through the seasons and through the natural cycle of the emotions of a friendship.  When City Dog ventures into the country one spring, he meets Country Frog who teaches him “jumping and splashing and croaking”.  Summer finds the two companions together with Frog learning “sniffing, fetching and barking”.  In the fall, because Frog is tired, they play remembering games, recalling all the things they did in the spring and summer.  When winter arrives, City Dog goes looking for Country Frog, but cannot find him.  When spring returns, City Dog meets a chipmunk who asks him the same question he had asked Frog – “What are you doing?”  And City Dog gives the same answer Frog had given him, “Waiting for a friend…but you’ll do.”

4.     ART AND MAX written and illustrated by David Wiesner

Clarion Books – ISBN9780618756636

               Max and Arthur are friends who share an interest in painting.  Although Arthur (Art) is an experienced painter, Max is just a beginner and his first attempt at painting has unexpected results.  This is a wonderful book for all young children who may question their ability as they grow up to master certain tasks and skills.

5.     THERE’S GOING TO BE A BABY written by John Burningham and illustrated by Helen Oxenbury

Candlewick Press – ISBN9780763649074

               A young boy learns that he will soon have a new brother or sister.  Young children will identify with his conflicting emotions over the next several months as he and his mother talk about the new baby while walking in the park, visiting the zoo and going to the bank.  The author and the illustrator are husband and wife in real life and have created a wonderful book for siblings-to-be.

6.     LITTLE  PINK PUP written by Johanna Kerby

G.P. Putnam’s Sons – ISBN9780399254352

               This is touching and true story of Pink, the runt of his litter and Tink, a new dachshund mom who adopts him as one of her pups and nurses him back to health.  Simple text and full-color photos will make this book a favorite with very young children.

7.     FARM written and illustrated by Elisha Cooper

Orchard Books – ISBN9780545070751

               The author brings a farm to life with lyrical writing and beautiful illustrations.  The book takes readers through a year of farm life with planting, chores and good and bad weather.  Young children will enjoy the involvement of the farm children in their daily tasks and perhaps gain an appreciation for the hard work that results in the food we eat every day.

8.     THE CHICKEN THIEF written and illustrated by Beatrice Rodriguez

Enchanted Lion Books – ISBN978159700929

               When a fox runs off with one of the hens, bear and rabbit interrupt their peaceful lunch in the garden to join rooster in his chase to recover hen.  The fox seems always to be a step ahead, tenderly clutching the pretty white hen.  Is the fox intending to eat the hen or does he have something else in mind?  This wordless book will be enjoyed by children and adults alike, especially the surprise ending.

9.     OLIVIA GOES TO VENICE written and illustrated by Ian Falconer

Atheneum Books for Young Readers – 9781416996743

               Olivia is back – on a trip to Venice.  She has to dodge pigeons in the Piazza San Marco and barely stays afloat on a gondola ride.  Full of curiosity, Olivia appeals to the very young, but even parents will appreciate the comic ending when Olivia finds the perfect souvenir – a stone – and a bell tower collapses.

10.    BIBIOBURRO: A TRUE STORY FROM COLUMBIA written and illustrated by Jeanette Winter

Beach Lane Books – ISBN9781416997788

               Luis, a schoolteacher with a passion for reading, shares his over-abundance of books with the children in the remote villages of Columbia.  With two burros, he makes the trek across mountainous terrain and perseveres, even when challenged by bandits along the way.  Spreading literacy one child at a time, Luis reminds all of us of the pleasures books bring and the difference one individual can make.

Do you agree?  Any favorites from 2010 that I missed?  As soon as I can, I’ll post my choices for the top ten all-time favorite children’s picture books.  What would be your top choice…the book you loved as a child and want to read to your children and grandchildren?

Avoiding holiday shopping temper tantrums

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We’ll all be shopping more in the next few weeks.  If we take our preschoolers, there is always a possibility of a temper tantrum.  WHAT!  NOT MY CHILD!  NO, NO, NOT EVER!…STAMPING MY FEET WITH STEAM COMING OUT OF MY EARS 🙂

Realistically speaking though, here are three easy discipline tricks that really work.

  1. Make a game out of what must be done: Sing a silly song, make funny faces, say the ABC’s in a high/low voice.  This works for things like buckling up the seat belt of the car seat (don’t all children hate that), leaving the toy store, putting on a jacket or hat.
  2. Be matter-of-fact: Don’t ask, “Do you want to put on your jacket?” or “Shall we put that toy down because we are ready to leave?”  Just say, “We are ready to leave and we are putting on our jackets.” (and maybe start singing a song about now we are putting our jackets on, jackets on, jackets on, etc.)  Or, “It’s time to leave the store and put the toy back…which shelf are we putting it back on, the top shelf or the bottom shelf?” (always make sure that when you give your child a choice, BOTH choices will lead to the goal YOU have in mind)
  3. Warn, distract, and then proceed with what needs to be done: Children like to know what the plan is…and they need to realize that what you say goes and that there is no discussion or negotiation.  It helps, if possible, to give a warning.  For example, when you need to leave the store, give your child a warning in a friendly upbeat tone of voice, “One more hug for mister bear and then we will put him back on his shelf and go and get a drink at the water fountain on our way to the car.”  After the hug, help your child put the bear back, scoop him up, head towards the water fountain, singing a song about bears or water or whatever.  Or, if you are at the library, you might say, “You can turn two more pages and then we will take our books to the librarian to check out so we can go home and read one of them.  Again, scoop up your child (if there is any question he disagrees about your plan to leave), and head towards the library checkout.  Let your child know you understand how he is feeling, “I bet you wish you could stay in the library all day, but it’s time to check out.  You can hold the library card and give it to the librarian.”

One of the hardest things about dealing with preschoolers is that they are easily distracted and often cannot stick with one thing for very long.  This distractibility is a blessing in disguise, however.  No matter what they are involved in: looking at a book, playing with a toy, having a temper tantrum…they can almost always be distracted from it if your are able to turn their attention to something else.  I am not really a very good singer, but when my children where little, I sang ALL the time…when I buttoned up their jackets, put them in the stroller, washed their hair.  Silly songs, happy songs, high songs, low songs…it really worked!   I can remember only one temper tantrum…one of my children (I won’t say which one) wanted a candy bar as we were checking out at the grocery store (don’t you LOVE how they put all those tempting sweets right at child-level?) and, being busy putting up the food on the counter and trying to watch the register read-out as the items were being scanned, I “ignored” my child’s rising whine of “I want a candy” and soon I had a 2 year old laying flat on the floor, kicking his feet.  Had I been paying attention and intervened at the start of this candy demand, I think I could have distracted him and avoided the temper tantrum altogether.

For more parenting help during the holidays, you can check out Katherine Lewis’ blog carnival:

How to Eat Healthy This Holiday Season

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This is a diagram depicting the rise of overwe...

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We’re coming into that dangerous season of overeating, oversnacking and going overboard when it comes to what we put in our mouths.  As parents, not only should we oversee what our children are eating…we should also try to be good role models.  I actually LOVE junk food…and work really hard to keep most of it out of the house because I know that if it is easily available, it will be eaten by me.   There are a few suggestions I have that work for me…I hope they work for you also.

  • Plan your weekly menus ahead of time…when we get busy as most of us are, failing to plan in this area is almost guaranteed to equal planning to fail.  Fast-food, take-out or frozen TV dinners may have their place on occasion…but if you put aside 30 minutes a week to plan some basic well-balanced meals, your family will be eating more healthfully most of the time.  This also allows you to maximize on weekly specials at your local stores.  And, it gives you more time for other things…like time to read a book or take a bubble bath.
  • Choose one morning or one afternoon or one evening a week to turn on your oven and use it to prepare casseroles, a roast chicken, baked potatoes, healthy cookies/cakes/muffins.  If you are able to put aside several hours on one day for this task, the rest of the week will be a breeze.  Refrigerate or freeze what you have prepared and you will have healthy, ready-made meals for most of the week.
  • Include your family in the planning and preparing…picky or fussy eaters often eat what they help prepare.  Children LOVE helping in the kitchen…it builds their confidence and self-esteem.
  • Think about portions…I truly believe that the large, super-sized meals that many of us eat, at home and in restaurants, are one of the largest contributing factors of childhood obesity.  Just because the cereal bowl can hold 2 or 3 cups of cereal doesn’t mean we should fill it to the top…if you read the portion size on the box of cereal, you’ll see it says 1/2 to 1 cup, depending on the type of cereal.  Dinner plates are really large…maybe you can use smaller plates when serving.
  • Remember to keep hydrated…I know that when I get busy, I forget to drink enough water…and then I think I am hungry and eat a couple of cookies, at 100 calories each, when what my body really wants is a glass of water.  With NO calories!  Also, try to nix the soda…full of empty calories and not much else except a college education for your dentist’s children.
  • Plan to have healthy snacks ready for hungry children and yourself between meals like carrot sticks and humus or apple slices and almond butter.  Again, if we don’t plan ahead, we will probably grab the first thing we see…and that might be cookies or chips.
  • If it works with your schedule, try eating 6 smaller meals, instead of the traditional 3.  When we are REALLY hungry, we tend to eat more than we should because we eat quickly and our internal hunger regulator doesn’t have time to kick in to tell us we are full.  And, on the subject of full, try to stop eating BEFORE you feel full…if you feel full, you’ve had too much.  This always happens to me when I go to an all-you-can-eat buffet…and I am never a happy camper afterwards.
  • Make sure you do allow yourself and your family some special food treats that are part of your holiday traditions or customs…denying oneself EVERYTHING we love is a sure way to feel deprived…and that often leads to overeating, oversnacking and going overboard.  I actually have a small ice-cream (made with fat-free frozen yogurt, a handful of homemade granola and a few almonds) every night after dinner.  I look forward to it and enjoy it immensely…it is my reward to myself for a good day’s work…and, so far, I haven’t had to hide the scale.