PPBF: The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes

Posted on April 3, 2015 by viviankirkfield

Today is Perfect Picture Book Friday where I link up with Susannah Leonard Hill’s fantastic group of picture book writers, illustrators, librarians and others who contribute a picture book review and related resources for parents, teachers and children.

Some picture book points to remember:

Having picture books available for young children to look at and listen to is almost as important as having air to breathe and food to eat.
Set up a bookshelf for your child’s collection.
Books can be expensive…check out used book stores and consignment shops for discounted picture books.
The library is an amazing resource for children’s books. You can speak to the librarian about recommendations and story programs.
Read to your child every day.

National Library Week is April 12-18. To help celebrate, visit the library with your children at least one day that week if you can…and make it a habit to go often. Does your child have a library card yet? Find out how old your child has to be…if he doesn’t have one yet and is old enough, help celebrate National Library Week by signing him up. A child’s library card is a passport to learning about the world.

In honor of National Library Week, I’m donating 5 copies of Show Me How! Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem Through Reading, Crafting and Cooking. Wouldn’t it be awesome to present a copy of this valuable parent/teacher resource to your children’s librarian? Just subscribe to my mailing list. Five names will be chosen by Random.org at the end of the month.

Many libraries are very limited in what new materials they can buy for their collections because of reduced revenues. Help your library receive a resource that will be used by parents and teachers for their kids. Just click on this link and subscribe to my mailing list. Five libraries will be winners! Continue reading →

Sunday Post: Easter

Posted on April 19, 2014 by viviankirkfield

Family and love

Joy and happiness

Happy Easter!

For more Sunday Posts, please join Jake: http://jakesprinters.wordpress.com/2014/04/20/easter/

Sunday Post: Entrance…Easter Sunday

Posted on March 31, 2013 by viviankirkfield

Cropped screenshot of Charlton Heston from the trailer for the film The Ten Commandments. (Photo cr

Jake, over at Time after Time, has a Sunday Post challenge…today’s theme is ENTRANCE.

The past few weeks have been filled with holidays, for people of both the Christian and Jewish faiths. Today is Easter Sunday and last week was Passover.

Many people will be attending services today to hear about the how Jesus spoke of the ENTRANCE into heaven…”But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult and only a few ever find it”. (Matthew 7:14)

Have you seen the Ten Commandments?

The networks usually air it during these holidays and it was on TV last night…ALL NIGHT…it’s such a long movie, but, in my opinion, well worth the time invested.

One of the most dramatic moments is when Charleton Heston lifts his arms, holding the staff that God had given him and creates an ENTRANCE into the Red Sea.

Of course, I had to watch it…although I’ve seen it many time before and actually own a copy that my dad had purchased and then had sent it to me as a gift. My dad LOVED watching movies and had an enormous collection of them. He was very eclectic in his movie viewing and enjoyed comedies, action/adventures, westerns, romances and thrillers.

As a young child, I would watch television on Saturday mornings with my father…this was before Saturday mornings were flooded with cartoons for kids and cooking shows for adults. There was always a movie…The Thief of Baghdad, a 1940 film starring the Indian child-star Sabu, was one of our favorites. Perhaps it was the idea of having three wishes or maybe it was the fact that Sabu was such a little boy and the genie was SO HUGE…my dad was only 5’4” tall and quite sensitive about his lack of height. It must have made him feel better about himself to see this tiny person triumph. My dad also loved James Cagney movies…perhaps for the same reason, as the famous actor was only about 5’5” tall.

I’m always encouraging parents to spend “quality” time with their young children – reading, crafting and cooking – because participating positively with a child in these activities really does build self-esteem, develops their pre-reading skills, and creates a life-long parent-child bond. I don’t remember ever reading, crafting or cooking with my dad (my mom was the one who did those things with me)…but the time my dad spent with me, watching old movies on the television, was his way of participating positively…and it certainly worked!

How do you like to spend time with your kids?!

Reading with young children is one of the best things…and I do it every chance I get. But writing for them is a joy and a pleasure as well. Since it is the last day of the month, I need to post that I have completed my 12×12 picture book draft for the month of March. It’s the story that I submitted for Susanna’s In Just Spring Contest. I’ve already run it by my local critique group…and in April, I will let my fantastic online critique group have a go at it. I’m excited to get it polished because I plan to submit this story to Susan Hawk from The Bent Agency who has graciously agreed to look at Golden Book 12×12 member picture book manuscripts in April.

If you’d like to join in on Jake’s Sunday Post fun, you can find out all about it here