WHERE DO SPEEDBOATS SLEEP AT NIGHT? sails into the world-- Today!!

Ahoy, Mateys! So sorry it has been so long since I posted, but today is a very good news day and I wanted to make sure to share.

My picture book, WHERE DO SPEEDBOATS SLEEP AT NIGHT?, illustrated by the absolutely amazing Christian Slade sails into the world today. So very excited for you all to get a chance to see Christian's illustrations in this book!

(When my 12-year-old saw the f&g's he had to look at every picture. And it is a bedtime book about boats. And he is 12! Suffice to say, I think that Christian's illustrations keep on getting more and more amazing with every book in our vehicle bedtime series.)

So I hope those of you with little ones who like boats have a fun time reading SPEEDBOATS, and looking at the beautiful summer weather outside today, I hope we all soon get a chance to enjoy some super-fun summer boating!

Thanks for letting me share my "book birthday" good news!!

Good News Day Tuesday: Pictures from Last Week's Launch

Last week's launch party for WHERE DO STEAM TRAINS SLEEP AT NIGHT? was so very, very fun! Thanks so very much to Mockingbird Books for hosting this wonderful event! And thank you so very much to who attended and to all who sent their virtual good wishes!

Here are a few fun pics from the party:

And we had a green screen at the party! So everyone got to take their picture with their favorite train:

And I had the wonderful privilege of being interviewed by the Little Engineer from the amazing Play Trains website. (If you have little ones who like trains, you should definitely check this website out. It is sooooo cool!) And I am so looking forward to hearing my interview when it is all ready! Here is a picture of me being interviewed by the amazing Little Engineer (who asked me 6 great questions!):

Thanks so much for letting me toot my own good news! Do you have good news to share? Please toot-toot it with a comment below! :) 

Good News Day Tuesday: A Book Birthday and Two Launch Parties!

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted on here! Excited to get back to blogging!

And so excited that today's "Good News Day Tuesday" is a very special one for me! Today is the book birthday for my third picture book, WHERE DO STEAM TRAINS SLEEP AT NIGHT?

Picture books take along time to come into the world (much longer than babies :) )! So I am so very excited that you can all finally see Christian Slade's amazing illustrations of train moms and train dads getting their little boy and girl trains ready for bed!

In honor of my launch day, I would love to invite you all to two special launch parties:

If you are in the Seattle area (or will be this Thursday night): You are cordially invited to my in-person launch party at the fantabulous, Mockingbird Books! I hope to see you there!!

And if you are not in the Seattle area (or even if you are but you just want to check this out too): You are cordially invited to my online Train Station Book Launch party on  my website. Just chug on over to
the party for a freight-load of train and picture book fun!

All aboard!

Why My New Web Site Animations Have Me So Excited!

If you had visited my website (www.briannacaplansayres.com) yesterday (or any day before then), you would have seen a beautiful blue sky with two lovely trees and one yellow digger busily digging away.

But if you visit my website now, you will see a beautiful blue sky with two lovely trees and one yellow digger busily digging away PLUS one fierce T-Rex putting her tiara on and off and one sweet steam train puff-puff puffing away. (Huge thanks to Jeffrey Duckworth  for these awesome new animations!)

The addition of these two new animated gifs means a lot to me. It all goes back to my initial vision for my website...

The Power of Reading Games

Happy Monday, or, as I like to call it, "Keep Reading Fun Day"! Today I want to talk about the power of reading games.

So often learning to read can feel like very serious business, and this "serious business" can lead to loads of stress for both parent and child. Of course, feeling stressed does not help good learning... or good teaching. In fact, it pretty much makes both impossible. :(

So, how can we get past this sometimes miserable situation?

The Importance of Writing Badly

I used to write very, very slowly. At the time, I thought that was the only way to write. Each word had to be perfect before I moved on.

There is nothing wrong with writing this way, if it works for you. I am a huge believer that each writer has her own writing process. But for me, it wasn't working. I was worried too much about perfection and not creating anywhere near enough writing.

Recently I was working on a first draft of a new manuscript, and I kept reminding myself...

Hippity Hop on the Children's Author Blog Hop

This week I am excited to be participating in the Children's Author Blog Hop! For the hop, participating authors answer four identical questions and then invite three more authors to join in the hop. I was thrilled to be invited to participate in the hop by children's book author, Laura Sassi.

Laura’s poems, stories, articles and crafts have appeared in many publications including Highlights for Children, Cricket, Ladybug, Spider, Focus on the Family’s Clubhouse and Clubhouse Jr., FamilyFun, and Pack-O-Fun. She has a passion for playing with words and rhyming. Her first (awesome!) picture book, GOODNIGHT, ARK,  is now published by Zonderkidz, a HarperCollins Company. And Laura has a second book, GOODNIGHT, MANGER, slated for publication soon. Laura is represented by Lara Perkins of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Laura writes from her century-old home in New Jersey where she lives with her awesome husband, two adorable kids, and a black cockapoo named Sophie.

Thanks so very much, Laura, for inviting me to join in the hop!  And now for my answers to those four questions: