PPBF: The William Hoy Story PLUS Winners

Posted on February 26, 2016 by viviankirkfield

I looked at the calendar and realized that we are just about at the end of the month. Didn’t I promise a couple of giveaways would happen then?

You bet I did! I hope you all love jam…because this is going to be a jam-packed post. First I want to congratulate the winners of Susanna Hill’s First Annual Almost World Famous Valentiny Writing Contest. Did you vote? It was pretty hard to decide…I hope all of those wonderful writers will take their stories and turn them into picture books. Writing contests are a great way to exercise your writing muscle.

Talking about writing muscle, both of the books we are giving away are full of writing muscle…Dianna Aston’s An Egg is Quiet and Doris Burn’s Andrew Henry’s Meadow. Both are classics and are books that can be read over and over again…for the text, for the illustrations, for the messages that will constantly be uncovered each time you turn the pages.

We’ll get to announcing the winners shortly, but first we should talk about our Perfect Picture Book Friday pick. One of the really neat things about being in this kidlit community is that I get to connect with lots of writers. And those writers write books. And those books get published! How cool is it to hold a book in your hands that was written by a friend? Totally cool!

The William Hoy Story: How a Deaf Baseball Player Changed the Game

Written by Nancy Churnin

Illustrated by Jez Tuya Continue reading →

Perfect Picture Book Friday: Miss Moore Thought Otherwise

Posted on January 22, 2016 by viviankirkfield

We interrupt this regularly scheduled program for an announcement!

Marissa Moss of Creston Books has bought Vivian Kirkfield‘s debut picture book, Sweet Dreams, Sarah, the story of Sarah E. Goode, the first African-American woman to own a U.S. patent; Chris Ewald will illustrate. The story showcases not only the invention but the spirit and determination of the inventor herself. Publication is set for spring 2017; Essie White of Storm Literary Agency represented the author and Liza Fleissig of Liza Royce Agency represented the illustrator in the deal for world rights.

As you can imagine, I am over the moon about this. Sweet Dreams, Sarah will one day sit on library shelves and be heard by young kids. Now that is a sweet dream come true!

Nonfiction picture books are fun for me to write…I love researching and finding little gems of history that time has forgotten. And they are fun for me to read, for myself and with kids. Here’s today’s Perfect Picture Book Friday selection:

Miss Moore Thought Otherwise:

How Anne Carroll Moore Created Libraries for Children

Written by Jan Pinborough

Illustrated by Debby Atwell

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2013)

Age: 6-9

Themes: Mighty girls, libraries, following your dream

First lines:

“Once in a big house in Limerick, Maine, there lived a little girl names Annie Carroll Moore. She had large gray eyes, seven older brothers, and ideas of her own.”

Synopsis:

From Amazon: “Once upon a time, American children couldn’t borrow library books. Reading wasn’t all that important for children, many thought. Luckily Miss Anne Carroll Moore thought otherwise! This is the true story of how Miss Moore created the first children’s room at the New York Public Library, a bright, warm room filled with artwork, window seats, and most important of all, borrowing privileges to the world’s best children’s books in many different languages.”

Why I love this book:

First of all, I love libraries and have used them since I was a little girl. I was fascinated to find out that children were not allowed in libraries originally. And it was Miss Moore who campaigned for them to be able to take books out when they finally were admitted.
This is a gentle story…a beautiful read aloud. It shows how a person can follow their dream and get things done.
The illustrations are detailed, colorful, and perfect.

How parents can use this book:

Wonderful story to enjoy with your children -lots of history woven into the pages.
If your child doesn’t have a library card yet, PLEASE help them get one…libraries are one of the last and best free resources we have.
Check out the various programs that are available at your local library…there are often story hours, activity programs, and even presentations and classes for aduts.

Related Activities

Visit your local library
Make a reading goal chart and let your child earn stickers for every book he reads. Plan activities, like a craft or cooking project, around the stories to enrich the learning experience.
You can find the ALA’s Most Notable Children’s Books here.

Parents and teachers…are you looking for more picture book recommendations? Head over to Susanna HIll’s Perfect Picture Book Friday link up.

Have a wonderful weekend, dear friends. I know there is bad weather and big snowstorms in some part of the country…stay safe and stay warm!

PPBF: Peter Panda Has a Meltdown – Six Quick Ways to Deal with Temper Tantrums

Posted on December 18, 2015 by viviankirkfield

Today is Friday. But before I share our Perfect Picture Book Friday review, I wanted to tell you about Susanna Hill’s 5^th Annual Holiday Contest. Today is the day she reveals the winners of this much celebrated, highly thought of, exceedingly popular event. If you’d like find out who all the winners are, go here. As of 10:30am, she hadn’t posted yet.

Thank you so much to everyone who visited and read and commented and voted for my story, The Christmas Seed. I’m thrilled and honored that it won 2nd place!

The talented and ever-so-funny Artie Bennett will be here tomorrow as our Will Write for Cookies guest. So I’m sharing one of his many books that I reviewed earlier last year.

Artie Bennett writes funny books that kids love. If you are looking for GREAT read aloud stories that kids will want to hear over and over again, I highly recommend all of them. Here’s one of my favorites.