READ WITH MAX | VIVIAN KIRKFIELD – Writer for Children

Image via Wikipedia

This week is a little mixed up for me.

Does that ever happen to you?

I hosted the Read with Max Book Blog tour on Tuesday and that was kind of a book review which usually appears on my Wednesday post. To find out more information about Leader Dogs for the Blind or to follow Max on the rest of his book blog tour: http://readwithmax.com/blogbooktour.html

So I decided to use today’s post, which is usually Healthy Habit Thursday, to fill you in on several important events that are coming up in the next several weeks. And, since I didn’t have a chance to do Quotable Timeless Tuesday, I will add a few quotes to this post that are especially meaningful to me.

It makes sense to me…I hope it doesn’t confuse you too much. 🙂

First of all, this week (April 10 – April 16) is THE WEEK OF THE YOUNG CHILD. This is the NAEYC’s 40^th anniversary of this celebration that focuses on young children and their families. https://www.naeyc.org/

In honor of The Week of the Young Child, I’ve got a very special sale going on right now to help enable young families to purchase a copy of SHOW ME HOW! BUILD YOUR CHILD’S SELF-ESTEEM THROUGH READING, CRAFTING AND COOKING. You can check it out by going to my website…if you pay by check or money order, you can purchase the book for $14.95 (plus postage…U.S. only)…only one copy per address, no dealers, please. This is an amazing 66% off the cover price of $44.95. The book is a great resource for parents with young children and I am trying to make it available to as many parents as possible.

“IF YOU WANT TO BE IN YOUR CHILD’S MEMORIES TOMORROW, YOU NEED TO BE IN THEIR LIVES TODAY.”

The second item I’d like to share with you is that my book has been endorsed by the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) in their 2011 Winter Outreach Newsletter that is emailed to all of their chapters across the country. The Las Vegas, Nevada Chapter has already ordered 15 copies to keep at their headquarters for the use by families who have children with juvenile diabetes. Self-esteem can be fragile and children with disabilities and special needs or conditions often struggle with keeping a positive self-image. The JDRF believes that my book will help.

“WE ALL NEED A CHEERING COMMITTEE AND PARENTS ARE A CHILD’S MOST IMPORTANT FANS!”

The third thing I wanted to tell you is that I will be interviewed on Tuesday, May 24^th at 10am by Lisa Hein, host of Everyday Parenting on http://www.encountersouthbeach.com/REN_RadioEarNetwork.htm

I’m really excited about the opportunity to share how I feel about young children, positive parenting and using fun-filled activities to build self-esteem, develop pre-literacy skills and create a life-long parent-child bond. I was happy to discover that Lisa is originally from Colorado and will be here in June…we already have plans to connect over lunch.

And now for the final item of information: I will be taking part in the EASTER EGGSTRAVAGANZA GIVEAWAY BLOG HOP from April 20 – April 25. It will be the first time I will be giving away a copy of my book on my own blog, although it has been part of many reviews and several giveaways on other blog sites. The other really cool thing is that there are over 200 bloggers taking part…you will be able to hop from one to another…read their posts and enter their giveaways. So keep your eye on my posts for more information. http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com/p/giveaway-hop-page.html

Please stop by tomorrow for Follow-Me-Fridays: Where’s Miss Vivian?

Usually I review picture books on Wednesdays…but today is very special because I am hosting my first ever book tour for an amazing author duo…MAX THE DOG AND HIS PARTNER, ANTHONY MAJEWSKI.

Maximus, a.k.a. “Max” is an English Labrador who shares stories about his real life experiences.

“Dogs Work Too! From Max’s Point of View” is about the day that Max visits Leader Dogs For The Blind. The adventure first outlines how Leader Dogs for the Blind was founded in 1939 and has placed over 14,000 dogs in 39 countries. Amazing! These wonderful dogs help people who are visually impaired or blind.

This is an organization that is privately funded (by donations from people like you and me) and it is near and dear to my heart. Many members of my own family (myself included) have serious eye conditions like glaucoma and macular degeneration and several have become blind because of those diseases. I truly understand the difficulties a blind person encounters in their day-to-day life…and how important a helper like a Leader Dog can be.

There is also a great giveaway that you will want to hear about, so make sure to read to the end. Also check out the Reading With Max blog as they have a whole tour schedule for each day.

With his buddy Co-Co by his side, the two explore the importance of training leader dogs and how the dedicated volunteers work so hard to provide well-trained leader dogs to people in need.

“Dogs Work Too! From Max’s Point of View” is a great book to read with your children and includes pictures on every page. It’s a great learning tool that will help young children understand how and why dogs work to help people…they can be more than just loving pets.

Reading picture books with young children engages them in the world between the pages, encourages them to observe what is happening to the characters in the story and allows them to relate those events to their own experiences. It is really important for us to teach our children to reach out to help others…and the books in this series are PERFECT for doing that! This book helps young children learn about people who are blind and the Leader Dogs who assist them. The book also gives encouragement to young children who are blind themselves.

Most children love dogs and this is a wonderful way to get them interested in guide dogs. It is an amazing sight to see a Leader Dog guiding his master (or mistress) down the street…equally amazing are the people who train Leader Dogs…they must be gentle, yet firm…sounds like good parenting advice, don’t you think? 🙂 You just might need to get your children this book. And, there is also a coloring book as well! You can purchase Max’s newest books, ask him questions, enter his contests, ask him for his paw-o-graph or tell him about your own adventures on his website.

And guess what? A portion of the proceeds from books sales will go to Leader Dogs for the Blind which is the non-profit organization that provides these well-trained dogs to blind or visually impaired people…FOR FREE! A wonderful cause and book to teach us the importance of dogs that work too!

“Dogs Work Too! From Max’s Point of View” CLICK HERE TO BUY

Visit READ WITH MAX to learn more! You’ll find books, coloring books and fun tattoos by Max.

Now, Max needs your help with something. He needs your vote!

Max’s video titled “Read With Max! Childrens Book “Dogs Work Too!” A Story About Leader Dogs for the Blind” has been selected to compete in the 2011 Peoples Telly Award. This competition is conducted online at the Official Telly Awards YouTube website. Voting started Monday, March 28th and continues for 4 weeks, so you still have lots of chances to vote for Max! Click On The Telly Awards Image To Give Us A “Thumbs Up” And Cast Your Vote!
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOUT LEADER DOGS FOR THE BLIND!

And here’s some great news! There is a contest for 2 $50 Visa gift cards!! One of you could be the winner! All you have to do is follow the blog tour…each day’s post has a word at the end. If you put all of the words together, it will make a sentence and the first one to post on Max’s blog with the whole sentence is the winner! So get busy and check out every blog stop (even the ones you might have missed) and get the word for the day. You can get the whole schedule list here.

THAT’S RIGHT…ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS FOLLOW THE BLOG TOUR AND YOU COULD WIN $50! So here are the instructions again:

Follow the tour and win a $50.00 Cash Gift Card Prize!

The tour will stop at a new site each day. Each site will display a “MAX” WORD OF THE DAY. Collect “Max’s Word” each day and complete the long sentence from Max by the end of the tour! My blog is the 14th stop on the tour, so word number 14 in the long sentence is: THEIR.

At the end of the tour on May 4th, be one of the first two people to post the sentence on:

Read With Max Blog Site

Winners will have to correctly write the entire sentence to qualify. So the word from today is: THEIR

For the full tour list, please go to Blog Book Tour.

Thank you so much for visiting today…I know Max and his partner, Anthony Majewski appreciate your interest and support. Don’t forget to view the YouTube video and give a thumbs up for Max!

If you have the time, please stop by my website: www.positiveparentalparticipation.com where there is a new special going on in honor of the 40th anniversary of the NAEYC’s The Week of the Young Child…April 10th through April 16 which focuses public attention on the needs of young children and their families.