Good News Day Tuesday: An Interview with Novelty Book Author/ Illustrator Chiêu Anh Urban (And a Giveaway Too!)

Happy Good News Day Tuesday! Today I am excited to be celebrating with Chiêu Anh Uban. Chiêu's novelty board book, AWAY WE GO!, was recently published by Scholastic Cartwheel. What a clever concept!

Thanks so much to Chiêu for these very informative answers! And hope you enter for a chance to win a copy of Away We Go!. Details about the giveaway are at the end of this post!

Enjoy the interview!:

Go Outside the Rhymes: A Video With J.Patrick Lewis

My published (and soon-to-be-published) picture books are both written in rhyme. And I have published several rhyming poems in magazines as well. But when I was a teacher, I always encouraged my young writers NOT to write in rhyme. This is often good advice for beginning adult writers as well.

Rhyming is hard work. Especially if you want to do it well. And it is important to do it well. (As I have such fun teaching young readers and writers during my "Rhyme Crime Time" workshop where we investigate crimes of rhyme.)

So I absolutely loved this Reading Rockets video with the incredible children's poet, J. Patrick Lewis::


 


Hope you enjoyed it too!

p.s. Please make sure to visit my critique group's blog, The Paper Wait, for a cover reveal of Robin Constantine's upcoming YA novel, THE PROMISE OF AMAZING! And for a chance to win one of two advanced reader copies! Robin is an amazing author, so be sure to check it out!

And The Winner Is... (plus a pic from the book launch of THE EMERALD RING)

And the winner of a copy of WHERE DO DIGGERS SLEEP AT NIGHT? is Rachel Writes 4 Kids! Hope your nephew enjoys it Rachel!

Thanks so much to all for helping me to celebrate DIGGERS first birthday! (It seems like just yesterday she was a newborn. :o) )

This week I also had the pleasure of attending a wonderful book launch party for Dorine White's fantasy novel THE EMERALD RING.

Below is a picture of me Dorine and a very special attendee at the celebration. (At least he's very special to me!):

It was a pleasure to watch his face as he listened to Dorine read her book's exciting opening. Can't wait to read THE EMERALD RING together (once we are able to take a brief break from his beloved Boxcar Children)!

p.s. My comma key does not seem to be working. My apologies for any and all missing commas. :o)

KidLitCares for Oklahoma

Right now, we all want to do anything we can to help Oklahoma. And children's book author, Kate Messner has put together a special way for the kidlit community to help out.

There's an opportunity to help the people of Oklahoma through a donation to American Red Cross Disaster Relief. And a chance to win one of many awesome children's books (including "Where Do Diggers Sleep at Night?").


Information about how to participate is included in the link below. And, if you're an author with a published book, you can email Kate and let her know you would like to donate a copy.

Here is the link to Kate's post:

http://www.katemessner.com/lets-help-kidlitcares-for-oklahoma/

Please participate if you can!

WHERE DO DIGGERS SLEEP AT NIGHT? is Turning One! (A Book Giveaway!)

Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear DIGGERS! Happy birthday to you!

Yes, believe it or not, today is May 22nd and it is the first birthday of my debut picture book, WHERE DO DIGGERS SLEEP AT NIGHT?.

It has been quite a year for DIGGERS (and for me too)! She has been read by kids all over the country (and in many other countries too.) She has been read at loads of school visits and bookstore storytimes.She has helped me to do many, many truck slumber parties. And, she has become a bedtime favorite for many truck loving boys and girls.

To celebrate DIGGERS first birthday, I'm going to host a book giveaway. Entering is easy: