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Showing posts with label children's publishers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label children's publishers. Show all posts
This email I recently received may be the merriest holiday gift of all to would-be writers. As a lover of printed books, I find it quite encouraging as well. Dear writers, dreamers, and artists,
The market is saturated. Picture books are dead. Publishing is for optimistic fools.
And yet... There are still stories to be told. And we know how to do it.
In the coming year, we’ll be publishing The Forest of Ancestors, an outstanding series of chapter books with a fantasy twist that makes history personal. And we’re getting great early feedback on our upcoming Wormholes series that features parallel universes and bizarre new worlds.
As we approach 2011, I am preparing my list for 2013. I’ll be looking at fiction and non-fiction titles for children of all ages. I would love to hear from you as I consider new series concepts, titles, and submissions.
What stories do our kids need to read? What amazing adventures can we take them on? What wild people can we introduce them to?
So what’s your big dream? What book do you wish you could have read when you were small and full of wonder? How can we work together?
In January I’ll be reviewing concepts and writing samples, so if you have a piece you’ve been working on and would like feedback, now is the time. If an idea has been brewing for a bit and you’re ready to share it, I would love to hear from you.
Thank you!
Can’t wait to hear all your brilliant ideas!
Heidi
PS
Please share this message with anyone who may be interested.
I wrote about book trailers at my How to Teach a Novel blog, and the response from teachers was extremely positive. Like a movie trailer (aka movie preview), a book trailer provides just a glimpse of the overall story, with plenty of visuals and just enough hook to draw in the viewer (or, in this case, the reader). Dr. Mark Geary has collected a terrific list of picture book trailers to get you started. You'll find lots of new and old favorites there (for example, Tuesday by David Wiesner; Diary of a Worm and Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin; Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan, and The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman). If you dig these and want more, YouTube has several, searchable by name and (not as often) by author or publisher. Publishing houses offer them as well, and most publishers provide search functions to help find them. The Scholastic site, for example, has over sixty terrific, professionally published videos. You can also check out my recent series on Publishers' Resources: parts I, II, III, and IV to see which children's publishers provide videos. The video below shows how music, movement, and selected text can create anticipation for Farmer George Plants a Nation, written by Peggy Thomas and illustrated by Layne Johnson.
If you're a middle grade or high school teacher, definitely check out the Scholastic site, and also take a look at 60 Second Recap, a hip new site which breathes life into high school classics. Suggested Uses for Book Trailers So how can classroom teachers make the best use of these videos?
Book trailers can create a sense of anticipation for an upcoming novel or even picture book. A teacher can whet appetites for the next day's reading by showing a book trailer at the end of each day.
By their short nature, book trailers provide a clear model of summarizing. Trailers may additionally provide models of other literary techniques including cliffhangers, foreshadowing, mood, pacing, and tone.
Prior to the introduction of a novel, the trailer is an alternative way to provide a general story outline, apart the back cover blurb. This allows students to focus less on the overall "story line" and to concentrate more intently on literary elements. After seeing a preview for a movie, we often feel that we can predict the entire movie's story line, yet we go to see it anyway. Why? Because we want to fill in the gaps that the preview intentionally created. We also want to enjoy the visual elements, the witty banter, the twists and turns that the trailer only hinted at.
When using a novel as a mentor text, a trailer can scaffold the overall story line. How is that different than the idea above? When teaching my students the importance of using alternatives to "said," for example, I assigned pairs of students two chapters from Gordon Korman's Swindle. Korman is a master at crafting realistic dialogue, and in one chapter alone a student found thirty speaking words other than said, and the word said itself was used just five times (and most often with an adverb). Although students only skimmed to collect the words, they still wanted to get an idea of the overall plot (some students, after all, were assigned Chapters 15 and 16, pretty deep in the action!). The Swindle trailer not only helped students see how their chapters tied into the overall story, it also encouraged over a dozen of them to sign out the book that day.
Trailers can be used to build critical thinking skills. Allow students to compare the books to their trailers, guiding the discussion with questions such as Did the trailer give you the same feeling as the book itself? Do you feel that the narrator was right for the video, and why or why not? What did the trailer leave out? Why do you suppose those elements were chosen? For what audience is this trailer intended: teachers, librarians, parents, students, booksellers, others? How do you know? What would you change in this trailer and why?
In some cases, students can even compare one trailer to another for the same book. This alternative book trailer for Swindle can be found on YouTube. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? Which segments from each could be combined to make a new trailer that's even better than either of the originals?
Have your own source for book trailers, or other ideas for using them in the classroom? Email me or leave a comment below. UPDATE: My new Twitter friend Tara Lazar (@taralazar) pointed out that there's now a Kids' Lit Book Trailer Ning. How cool is that? Thanks, Tara. See? Twitter is a good thing!
This is my fourth, but probably not the last, post focusing on free resources from children's publishers. If you're just arriving, you'll want to check out the older posts to see parts one, two, and three. If you know of a publisher I've missed, drop me a line!
I also mentioned the Walker US site and the Walker Australia site, only to find out that there's an equally impressive Walker UK site. The Kids Den presents the user with the option to explore several minisites devoted to specific titles and characters (such as Judy Moody, Alex Rider, and Anthony Horowitz's Power of Five). A page for grown-ups features short yet comprehensive articles on topics such as Learning at Home, Reading Aloud, and Rereading. One resource I highly recommend you download right now is a poster titled The Rights of the Reader (see thumbnail to the right), written by Daniel Pennac and illustrated by the quirky Quentin Blake. A must-have for any classroom or library. Other cool resources they offer directly (posters, teaching guides, podcasts, videos, etc.) are available from a single page where they're organized by age group. Additional literacy links which will take you off the Walker site are also provided at Links We Like.
Abrams' most famous titles for children come from their Amulet Books imprint. Leading the way is The Diary of a Wimpy Kid, now a best-selling series (visit the minisite here). Gaining ground, however, is the The Sisters Grimm, which appeals to a slightly different demographic. This title has its own minisite where teachers can download a teaching guide, allowing them to make natural connections to the fairy tale genre. Coming in third place is NERDS (National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society), also by Michael Buckley, author of The Sisters Grimm. This site, again, features its own minisite, author video, and first chapter online preview.
Abdo Publishing Group incorporates a number of imprints at its site, and it's worth a look. The printable activities change often, and offer seasonal connections to many of its titles. One handout which teachers might find useful is the Create Your Own Superhero Handout. This is a terrific page to accompany the Hero Factory online activity which appeared in one of my previous posts on heroes in picture books (you can also check out Marvel Comic's cool Create Your Own Superhero interactive site). Teachers interested in making a case for using comics and graphic novels in the classroom may also appreciate the two page pdf Comic Books and Literacy Studies (also required reading if you need some convincing yourself). In that document some notable folks, such as Bishop Desmond Tutu and Jim Trelease, make a case for reading comics as a part of their own character development.
While we're briefly on the topic of graphic novels, another terrific resource for librarians and teachers is a pdf created by Scholastic and Bone series author Jeff Smith. Using Graphic Novels in the Classroom is a straight forward guide written in Q and A format which answers many questions and counters many arguments about comics in school curriculum and libraries. Kane/Miller Book Publishers shares ideas (teacher to teacher) in single page Teaching Tips sheets (they download as Word documents). You'll find a decent list here to many favorites, including one of mine: Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox (see my dedicated post for this book). The Fun Page features printable games, coloring pages, bookmarks, etc.
Nomad Press seems to specialize in nonfiction books, particularly those focused on history and the people who made it. Their Activity Pages contain crafts and explorations from their titles, and you'll find about four or five dozen to explore (all available as pdfs from Scribd). Each featured book also has a full-page layout, featuring not only a summary, list of references, and information about the authors and illustrators, but also web links, downloadable Facts and Q and A sheets, plus a link to the activity sheet for that title (see Tools of Ancient Romans for a sample). Pictured activity is Make Your Own Tabletop Victory Garden from Great World War II Projects You Can Build Yourself.
Peachtree Publishers allows you to see all teacher's guides on a single page, and they're accessible by clicking on any book's cover (this one page includes picture books, middle school novels, and YA lit). I was pleased to see a teaching guide for The Yellow Star: The Legend of Christian X of Denmark, one of my favorite picture books for discussing the Holocaust (see others at a previous post). Peachtree is also creating a collection of story kits, meant for teachers of lower grades, which contain many more activities, templates, and picture resources than the above teaching guides. Although I mentioned Harper Collins in the first installment of this Resources series, a reader suggested I also point teachers and students to the Harper Collins Children's Video Player, which offers snippets and full video versions of books from this publisher. Are there more resources out there available from publishers? Absolutely! Let's find them together. Email me or leave a comment below if I've neglected to mention some great resources available from a publisher, not only here in the states but anywhere in the world!
For those of you just joining us, this is Part III of an unofficial and unprecedented look at free online resources from children's publishers. I recommend you also check out Part I and Part II for some terrific links. A disclaimer: This is not meant in any way to be a list of the "Best Children's Publishers." Frankly, some exceptional presses are not mentioned in any of these three posts. Instead, this is a summary of those publishers offering teachers, parents, and students a little extra: teaching guides, reading group guides, printables, downloads, games, audio, video, or related links.
August House is a publisher best known for its storytelling and world folktales titles such as Storyteller's Start-Up Book, Ready-To-Tell Tales, and Wisdom Tales from Around the World. I've used these titles in summer camp settings with great success. What's most exciting on this publisher's site, however, is Story Cove. Story Cove is an interactive portal where students can either hear or view dozens of tales from around the world (which are also available in hard copy). Beneath the book covers on the index page you'll find links to Story Activities (such as Anansi and the Tug o' War) which typically include pdf teaching guides at four different levels (adaptable to higher levels as well). From August House's main site also check out the storytelling links for additional resources, information, and events.
Capstone Kids is a child-centered portal offering games and activities, mostly related to Capstone's graphic titles. But students can also check out chapter book characters such as Claudia Cristina Cortez from Capstone's numerous imprints. Downloads of stationery, stickers, wallpaper, journal pages, and a vacation packing list accompany a list of titles in that series. Other titles offer more generic downloads which could be used with titles of similar genre, such as How to Lift Fingerprints from the Field Trip Mysteries series. If you've ever considered using graphic novels, Capstone offers several resources on graphic novels that are safe for the classroom, including several downloads and the opportunity to receive a graphic novel teaching kit through the mail.
Kids Can Press offers several resources through their US and Canadian sites. Both sites, for example, offer electronic advance copies of new titles on their homepage. From that same homepage you can access the Resource Room which requires free but instant registration, and offers organized access to all the "good stuff" on the site. Clicking on individual titles throughout the site will also provide links to teaching guide downloads, such as this one for No Girls Allowed: Tales of Daring Women Dressed as Men for Love, Freedom and Adventure. Other popular books from this publisher include One Hen, Adventures in Ancient Greece (and other books from that series, which I blogged on previously), and If the World Were a Village. Lobster Press is a small independent publishing house with a number of quality titles. Their Kids' Zone has a number of activities for print out, as well as a handful of kid-friendly links. From a single page you'll find free teachers' guides, quizzes, and lesson plans to use with Lobster Press books.
Another small publisher is Turtle Books in Connecticut. Choose Lesson Plans from their homepage to find teaching guide pdfs to several books including the award winning Prairie Dog Pioneers (Willa Cather Literary Award for the Best Children’s Book of 1999). NorthSouth's most popular title is The Rainbow Fish, but you'll see more diverse titles as well, along with the resources to support them. One popular download is Once Upon a Time: A teacher’s guide for using fairy tales in the classroom. Harcourt Trade Publishers has a number of free resources for teachers, including downloadable kits for Pirates, Chet Gecko, and National Poetry Month. On a different page you'll find a jumping off point called Teacher Tools, which provides access to numerous teaching guides, reading guides, theme lists, and related sites. Some features are presently off-line, but keep the page bookmarked and check back! I saw some guides before they went AWOL, and they're pretty good (such as the download for How I Became a Pirate.
Pelican Publishing Company lists a number of teaching guides for their picture books titles. Most promising is a series of original tales by Virginia Walton Pilegard which blend Chinese history and customs with mathematics. The Warlord's Beads (see the study guide), The Warlord's Kites, and The Warlord's Fish are three of the five titles in this series. Most readers know Andersen Press from their Elmer the Elephant books. The publisher boasts many other popular characters as well, and many are featured in kid-friendly microsites full of cool activities. The Grown Ups Section features Teachers' Guides, Activity Downloads, and Book Discussions (essentially, a thematic grouping of their books). Oxford University Press (UK) sounded a little too uptight and stuffy for me to even bother investigating, but I'm really glad I did. The Dinosaur Cove minisite and the The Death Defying Pepper Roux minisite are worth the visit, and would help to get students psyched about these titles. Many individual titles on this site contain excerpts and related links.
Bloomsbury Children's Books (UK) is one of those publishers whose books you'll recognize before the publisher's name. Their site features a very cool Historical Fiction Timeline, which organizes their titles in that genre by historical period (some of my homeschooling friends would find this to be very cool). You can also find their titles organized by theme as well. Their kids' site features videos, online games, and a few coloring sheets. If you're looking for teaching and readers' guides, you'll find them at the Bloomsbury US site. Ladybird Books (UK) resources page is misleading; it seems to offer just a few resources. But after checking out the two primary games (bottom), you'll notice that there's also a link at the top of the page to Things to Do, and there you'll find more: activity sheets, downloads, and some cool "Madabout" posters for downloading (whales, sharks, space, knights, and more). There's not a lot for the over-primary crowd, but what's here is very good (and if you dig the titles, most are available in the US). Little Tiger Press likewise is created with the younger crowd in mind. From the main page, click on For Parents, For Teachers, or Free Stuff from menu bar on left. Beautiful illustrations (screensavers, wallpapers) and activity sheets for downloads. Puffin Books (UK) features activity downloads and teachers' notes for many popular Roald Dahl books, as well as links to book related websites and author sites. You'll also find a helpful resource called Ask the Teacher, where the publisher has listed many questions commonly asked of reading teachers, along with the answers. But wait, there's more... Really. This list represents only half of the newly uncovered resource sites I've found to share. So follow me on Twitter and be on the lookout for Part IV! And as always, let me know if I missed some!
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