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Perfect Picture Book Friday: OPERATION RESCUE DOG Plus GIVEAWAY
Friday is one of my favorite days and I’m sure you all know why. It’s the day I get to review a brand new picture book! Hurray!
And today’s selection is from one of my favorite kidlit authors, Maria Gianferrari, who is so generous and kind. She is offering a copy of OPERATION RESCUE DOG as a giveaway. Please make sure you leave a comment for a chance to win!
OPERATION RESCUE DOG
Written by Maria Gianferrari
Illustrated by Luisa Uribe
Published by Little Bee Books (September 2018)
Ages: 4-8
Themes:
Synopsis: From Amazon:
This sweet story about a girl named Alma and a stray dog named Lulu shows how a girl and a dog can rescue each other.
Lulu’s ears flap in the wind
as the rescue truck rolls into the lot.
Lulu’s tail thumps—
Everything smells . . . new.
Lulu sleeps under the moon, drinking from mud puddles and is covered in ticks until she is rescued. She waits for the Operation Rescue Dog truck, scared and uncertain.
Alma misses her Mami, who is far away in Iraq. Alma wears Mami’s scarf around her like a hug. She wonders: Can a dog feel like a hug?
Why I like this book:
- You’ve got a dog who needs a home and a little girl who needs a friend…that’s a formula for a book filled with heart…and I love books filled with heart.
- Wonderful illustrations will keep the kids wanting to turn the page to see the next one.
- Maria has such a wonderful understanding of dogs…and the relationship they have with people.
RELATED ACTIVITIES:
Photo courtesy: https://www.easypeasyandfun.com/dog-crafts-for-kids/
WOW…what a fabulous collection of dog crafts for young kids. If you’d like detailed instructions, please go here: https://www.easypeasyandfun.com/dog-crafts-for-kids/
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Autumn is definitely here…our leaves are already changing color and the temperature in the morning is decidedly crisp. I am fortunate to live in New England because the fall foliage is something many people travel here to see.
School is underway in just about every town and city…but this is a perfect season to do day or short weekend trips with the kiddos. Do you have any travel plans in the near future? My son is flying in from Chicago next week to participate in the Tough Mudder in Gilford, NH. What is a Tough Mudder you ask? Here a short video clip: https://toughmudder.com/events/2018-northeast
It’s a 10 mile race with 20 obstacles…like a slog through ice cold water (filled with ice cubes), a run between wires that have electricity going through them…and you…OUCH! As well as climbing up walls, swinging from rings and more! My daughter and I will definitely not be participating…only cheering him and her hubby on. And then the next day, we’ll be making a bittersweet drive to Connecticut to hold a tribute to my husband at the river where he fished for decades.
And my writer friends…how is your writing life going? We are in the last quarter of the year…are you working on anything new? Revising manuscripts? I just finished a new story and just need to polish the author’s note (it’s another nonfiction pb) befoe I send it to my agent. And then…a new story! YAY! I just came back from visiting a dear friend in New Jersey. We stayed up late…talking for hours and hours. In fact, her husband was sure we would lose our voices. But we didn’t! And I came home with TWO fabulous story ideas that I can’t wait to start researching and writing.
Please don’t forget to leave a comment to be entered into the giveaway for a copy of Maria Gianferrari’s brand new book: OPERATION RESCUE DOG…it’s available for preorder and launches in just a few days!!!!
PB Manuscript Critique Giveaway over at Sarah Hetu-Radney’s blog
Hello dear friends!
I’m so excited to invite you over to Sarah Hetu-Radney’s new website. She’s one of my in person SCBWI buddies and she kindly asked if I’d be willing to do a three-part interview for her new blog, EYE ON WRITING.
You’ll find out a couple of interesting facts about me from when I was a little girl.
PLUS, I’m giving away a Picture Book Manuscript Critique to one lucky winner who leaves a comment on Sarah’s blogpost: https://sarahheturadny.com/meet-vivian-kirkfield-part-i-friendship-justice-and-determination/
Please share on social media, because I’m sure that everyone wants to find out what happened on that picnic in the park with my best friend, Jane, when I was seven years-old. And it will be nice for Sarah to get to meet all of you!
I’m sure there will be no doubt as to which one is me and which one is Jane.
I hope you all have a beautiful weekend. I just finished the revisions for the big HMH compilation book – more news ahead as soon as they sign the illustrator. And I’ll soon be sharing information about my traveling plans for 2019…all I’ll say right now is that I’ll be traveling through FOUR continents! And hope to be hugging lots of kidlit friends in person!
Jen Betton: Will Write for Cookies PLUS Giveaway
WILL WRITE FOR COOKIES
INSIGHT – INSPIRATION – INFORMATION
FOR WRITERS
TODAY’S GUEST
JEN BETTON
I’ve always been a person who sees the silver lining in the storm cloud. My Sweet Dreams, Sarah may have been pushed from 2017 to 2018 and now to 2019, but I’m overjoyed to have connected with the debut picture book authors and illustrators of each of those years. Talented Jen Betton is one of the Epic Eighteens and I’m thrilled to know her and welcome her to Will Write for Cookies.
Jen Betton loves to draw and make up stories with her pictures. In Kindergarten she got into trouble for drawing presents on a picture of Santa, and she s been illustrating ever since. Her picture books include her debut as an author-illustrator, HEDGEHOG NEEDS A HUG, published with Putnam, and TWILIGHT CHANT, written by Holly Thompson, published with Clarion.
She has a BA in English, and a BFA and MFA in Illustration. She lives in Dallas with her husband and two children. You can see more of her work at www.jenbetton.com.
JEN: Favorite authors were C.S. Lewis, Louisa May Alcott, Madeline L’Engle; illustrators were Pauline Baynes (you can tell I love the Narnia Chronicles), Trina Schart Hyman, and N.C. Wyeth. I still love all these people and their work.
ME: What do you know now that you wish you knew when you first started writing?
JEN: How helpful it can be to pay attention to different book structures. Certain ideas fit better into different structures, and being aware of them makes it possible to play with the plot.
Also, when a certain bit of critique resonates with you, or even more when it doesn’t, think about the heart of your story. What is the underlying theme, the core of your story, and how does this suggested change align with that heart? This helps me a lot when figuring out what changes to make.
ME: Where do you like to write – inside, outside, special room, laptop, pen and paper?
JEN: I usually write on my computer, but I’ll also print out a copy of what I’m working on and make edits on the print out. That way I can work on little thumbnail drawings while I’m editing the text.
ME: When do you write – early morning, late in the day, middle of the night, on schedule, as the muse strikes?
JEN: Definitely not morning! Midday is my sweet spot (because it’s nap time and the kids are asleep!), but really any time of day (other than morning) when I get the time and an idea.
ME: Why do you write for children?
JEN: In part because those are the kind of stories that I love the most, and the kinds of stories I want to write. C.S. Lewis said he told stories for children because that was the best medium for the stories he had to tell, and Neil Gaiman and Maurice Sendak have made similar comments.
I also write children’s books because I’m an illustrator, and picture books allow me to tell stories visually, which I love to do. I tend to think of the story as separate from the medium in which it is told – it exists on its own and then takes form in either words or pictures, or both. The picture book is this wonderful alchemy where you share the story between two different languages – the verbal and the visual.
And finally I write picture books because I enjoy sharing them with kids!
ME: EXACTLY! I totally agree, Jen! Thank you so very much for sharing all of this. And I know you have a fabulous cookie recipe to share as well.
