photo by GraceFamily www.flickr.com At this time of the year, many teachers and parents are getting ready for teaching about holidays. The three most common holidays to teach and do holiday activities with are Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. But teaching Christmas around the world lesson plans and Hanukkah lessons can often cause controversy in the [...]

photo by Vadim Lavrusik www.flickr.com *Picture book for preschoolers through third graders, contemporary *Young boy as main character *Rating: Looking Like Me is a rhythmic self-esteem-builder journey for young children by father/son duo Walter Dean and Christopher Myers. Short, short summary: Looking Like Me is basically a list of all the things that a boy/girl [...]

photo by catnipstudio www.flickr.com What a beautiful picture book and one of the most delightful Thanksgiving books I’ve seen– An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving–text by Louisa May Alcott and illustrations by James Bernardin! HarperCollins Publishers have taken this classic tale by the author of Little Women, added Bernardin’s beautiful illustrations, and turned this into a picture book [...]

Around the holidays, you may have a writing activity such as this for your students or children: write the word, Thanksgiving, vertically on the left-hand side of your paper. Then write an acrostic poem–the first letter of each line should be a letter in Thanksgiving AND each line should focus on Thanksgiving. When you read [...]

*Picture book for preschoolers through third graders, contemporary fiction *Elementary-school-aged boy as main character *You will want to be-bop with Doo-Wop Pop over and over again! Short, short summary: Doo-Wop Pop by Roni Schotter tells the story of Elijah Earl, who is a shy kid who keeps to himself. He knows there are a few [...]

Thanksgiving at the Trolls photo by floodllama www.flickr.com Everyone’s writing about Thanksgiving lessons right now since we are just days away from one of the best holidays in the United States. It’s a time to celebrate our blessings, laugh with family, eat yummy food, and get ready for Black Friday. But it would be great [...]

I am so happy to announce the winner of The Secret of the Sacred Scarab! It is. . . Lisa W. (Comment number 4) Thank you, Lisa, for leaving a comment, and thank you to everyone else, too. It always means a lot to the author (and me!) to have your support! If you did [...]

photo by ahisgett www.flickr.com Chinese New Year February 14, 2010 *Picture book for preschoolers through second graders, contemporary, multicultural *Young girl as main character *A Gift is a good introduction to the Chinese New Year for young children with wonderful illustrations and a nice family message! Short, short summary: A Gift by Yong Chen tells [...]

I love Timeless Thursdays and not just because it is almost Friday. I love revisiting these books that I read when I was younger and that children or teens are still reading today. And how about this series that I thought about while perusing the shelves of the local library? Timeless Thursday is talking Little [...]

What could be better than two boys and an adventure in Egypt? It’s hard to think of anything! So, join me today with Fiona Ingram while she visits my blog on her WOW! Women On Writing blog tour to talk about her middle-grade novel, The Secret of the Sacred Scarab. **BOOK GIVEAWAY CONTEST: Please leave [...]