­
Blog — Kid Lit Frenzy
  • Home
  • About
  • Review Policy
  • Blog
  • Contact
Menu

Kid Lit Frenzy

kidlitfrenzy.com
From Picture Books to Young Adult Literature

Your Custom Text Here

Kid Lit Frenzy

  • Home
  • About
  • Review Policy
  • Blog
  • Contact

Blog Tour & Giveaway: The Full Moon of the Were-Hyena

August 17, 2016 Alyson Beecher

Thank you Bruce Hale for stopping by Kid Lit Frenzy and sharing about your favorite author visits. 

Author visits, to borrow a phrase, are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’ll get. But over and over again, as I’ve visited schools and libraries from New York to New Delhi, I’ve been surprised, charmed, and touched by the warm welcomes I’ve received.

Here, in no particular order, are some of my favorite author visit experiences:

1. Riding the float

One warm August, the Huxley Public Library invited me to present at that Iowa town’s Prairie Fest. And as a capper, they invited me to ride the library’s float in the Prairie Fest parade.

What a hoot! As the parade wound through town, I sat surrounded by kids with buckets of candy, waving to passersby and tossing sweets. The older boys competed to see who could throw Tootsie Pops hard enough to embed them in bystanders’ foreheads.

2. Red carpet memories

As I approached the cafeteria door of a Long Beach, California, school, two students unfurled a 20-foot-long roll of red construction paper, their version of a red carpet. Kids lined up on either side of it, and as I strolled down the “carpet,” each student told me something they particularly liked about my books.

3. I’m with the band

A Lamont, California, school librarian noticed on my bio that I sing jazz. She mentioned that the middle school jazz band would be playing for the family literacy night, and wondered if I’d like to sing with them? The student band swung hard as we did Route 66 and Well, Alright together, entertaining a crowd of pizza-eating parents and kids.

4. Which cookie rules?

Author visits aren’t usually fattening. But that changed when Crane School in Santa Barbara invited me to be a celebrity judge of their County Fair Day baking contest. As a major cookie hound, I never thought I could ever eat my fill of chocolate chip cookies. I was wrong. After sampling 22 different chocolate chip cookies from 22 different bakers, my student co-judge and I were desperate for something savory.

5. Gettin’ sharky with it

I love it when schools engage kids in projects relating to my books. The students express their creativity, and they end up getting much more out of the experience that way.

Many schools have drawing contests, but a Fort Thomas, Kentucky, school went even further. Not only did students create a Lego version of Clark the Shark and his world, but they turned the library door into a gigantic, open shark mouth. So they only way the students and I could enter the venue was by going down the gullet of a shark!

6. Meeting the bear

On a summer reading tour of Alaska libraries, I discovered that memorable experiences can occur even after the day’s presentation has concluded.

After speaking at Seward Library, I visited a glacier valley for a short hike before leaving town. The views were stunning, and on my way back down the trail, I spotted two bear cubs playing in a tree. Fascinated, I stopped to watch—and then spotted the 400-lb. mama bear at the base of the tree. For several long minutes, she stared at me, and I stared at her. And then, slowly-slowly, I went on my way and she went back to minding her cubs.

7. Hitting the Taj

For my first major international school trip, I began with the Cadillac of author visits. The American Embassy School of New Delhi invited Bruce Coville and me for five days’ worth of presentations to their kids. After treating us like visiting royalty and feeding us at fine restaurants every night, the school sent us on a side trip to the Taj Mahal. I suspect this will be the only time one of my visits involves a trip to a UNESCO World Heritage site, but over time, I’ve learned that with author visits, you never can tell.

Photo Credit: Jose Carpizo

Edgar-nominated author Bruce Hale is passionate about inspiring reluctant readers to read. He has written or illustrated more than 35 seriously funny books for children, including the popular School for S.P.I.E.S. and Chet Gecko Mysteries series; as well as picture books such as Clark the Shark, Snoring Beauty, and Big Bad Baby. His creeptastic new series, The Monstertown Mysteries, debuted last month with THE CURSE OF THE WERE-HYENA. An actor and a Fulbright Scholar in Storytelling, Bruce is in demand as a speaker, having presented at conferences, universities, and schools around the world. Bruce's book The Malted Falcon was an Edgar Award Finalist and Murder, My Tweet won the Little D Award for Humor Writing. He lives in Santa Barbara, California with his wife and dog. You can find him online at www.brucehale.com. 
Connect with him on Twitter | Facebook
Free Discussion Guide and Activities can be found here. 

The Full Moon of the Were-Hyena Howling Good Giveaway!
Ten winners will receive a copy of Bruce Hale’s The Curse of the Were-Hyena. Four Grand Prize winners will receive The Curse of the Were-Hyena plus an advance reading copy of the second book in the series, Mutant Mantis Lunch Ladies! And as a bonus, Grand Prize winners will also get a signed photo of Bruce Hale disguised as a were-wolf! Click here to enter.
 

In Author Guest Post, Blog Tours & Giveaways Tags Front Page

A Fire Truck Named RED Blog Tour & Guest Post with author, Randall De Séve

May 3, 2016 Alyson Beecher

A Fire Truck Named RED
by Randall De Séve; Illustrated by Bob Staake
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (May 3, 2016)
Fiction * Family * Special Toys
Audience: Ages 5 to 7
Indiebound | WorldCat

About the book: 
A young boy has his heart set on a brand-new toy fire truck, so he is disappointed when he gets his grandfather's rusty old fire truck, Red, instead. But working together, the boy and his grandfather patch Red right up whileGrandpa tells his grandson all about the adventures he had with Red when he was a boy.

Thank you Randall De Séve for stopping by Kid Lit Frenzy to celebrate the release of A Fire Truck Named RED with a special guest post.

The Birth of a Story:  A FIRE TRUCK NAMED RED

I love an assignment, a concrete goal, the focus that comes with subject and time parameters.  The focus that often eludes me because, really, as a picture book author, I can write about anything, any time.

So you can imagine how thrilled I was to receive the following email from my agent, Steven Malk, in September of 2012:

I mentioned to [Joy Peskin, editorial director of Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers] that I wanted to send her something by you and she commented on how much her son loves TOY BOAT. She wondered if you'd ever consider doing something similar but about a favorite train or car… I think it's a really interesting idea and one worth pursuing.  Let me know if you agree. I think she's very keen on it.

I agreed!

And then began the brainstorming process (aka obsessing).  Here’s a sample of what the next few weeks looked like for me:

Morning:
*Make breakfast for kids and have half-there conversations (while thinking of vehicles)
*Take kids to school (“Look at that police car!”)

9-4:
*Work time:  Vehicles, vehicles, vehicles…

Evening:
*Help with homework (while thinking of vehicles)
*Eat family dinner (“What’s cooler, a train or a car?”)
*Read goodnight story to younger daughter (“Is that a siren I hear?”)
*Snuggle with husband (“What do you think of dumptrucks?”)

Until one day my (exasperated) older daughter said, “Why don’t you write a book about a fire truck named Red.”

Bingo.

Now with a great title in mind, and a character worth exploring, I could do just that.  Since 9/11, I had wanted to write a firefighting story but found the subject too heavy for children and too sacred to lighten up.  (I should say that I live near a firehouse that lost many men that day.)  But here it was, 11 years later; I could fictionalize firefighting now.

There are many, many picture books about fire trucks.  I knew that if I wanted mine to stand out, it had to be about something more.  A toy fire truck, yes, but more than that.  Something personal.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about my dad.  He’s an old man—which I find difficult to say because we are very close; and in many ways, he’s quite youthful. He laughs easily; he takes long, vigorous walks (10 miles anybody?); and he thoroughly enjoys life in the moment.  But sadly, he doesn’t remember these moments even shortly after they happen.  So he can’t recount them the way he used to.  Instead, he tells stories from the past.  These he especially loves to share with my children.

A story-telling Papa and a toy fire truck…

Ok, what if the toy fire truck in my story was a grandfather’s old truck?  And what if he gave it as a birthday present to his grandchild, who really wanted a new truck instead?  What if this gift came with a promise to fix up the old truck “better than new”?  For a child, can an old toy ever be better than new?  What if that old toy and grandfather came with some very exciting stories?  Could a young child learn to appreciate the old…?

Voilà!  A FIRE TRUCK NAMED RED.

About the author: Randall de Seve is the New York Times bestselling author of Toy Boat, The Duchess of Whimsy, and Mathilda and the Orange Balloon. Her newest book, A Fire Truck Named Red, illustrated by Bob Staake, is on sale now. he lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband, two daughters and a very wicked dog named Henry Biscuit. Learn more about her at randalldeseve.com.

Enter to win a copy of A Fire Truck Named RED by completing the rafflecopter below. Winner must be 13 years old or older and have a US mailing address.

 

In Author Guest Post Tags Front Page

Lost.Found Blog Tour & Guest Post: Marsha Diane Arnold

November 4, 2015 Alyson Beecher

About the Book:
Bear loves his red scarf, but when he goes for a walk in the woods, the scarf becomes lost. The scarf is found by one animal after another, then lost again until...all the animals find the scarf at once! They all love that red scarf so much, they begin to fight over it, leaving the scarf unraveled and ruined. Bear comes upon the scene and sadly carries the yarn home with the animals helping. Will the scarf ever be whole again? Will the animals discover a way to share it, together?

Unraveling
aka A Frenzy in the Forest

Sometimes you feel as if your life is unraveling. I’ve had a year like that. Stitch by stitch, the life I’d knitted together seemed to be falling apart. From a move to a strange new place to health challenges to finances, I felt like the red scarf in Lost. Found., strewn across the ground. Some days I felt as if my life could never be knitted back together again. Over and over I had to tell myself that a new life, a better life, was possible. Over and over I had to assure myself that nothing is ever lost and there are always new things to be found.

In Lost. Found. Bear was so happy with his new red scarf, so proud. You may not know this from reading the book, but, you see, I know the story that happened before the book begins. When his precious scarf was lost, think how Bear must have felt. Devastated. Alone. Sad. And when he finally finds his scarf it’s not the same at all. It will never be the same. But maybe, in a way, it can be better.

What can we do when things become unraveled? Two things. We can stop and then we can move on. Stop and take a deep breath. Sit down, close our eyes, and be still. Then calmly move on, with perseverance and patience.

That’s what happens in Lost. Found. The animals stop. They take in the situation, considering what they have done. Then they move on, Bear in the lead, to do what needs doing. 

In the musical of The Secret Garden, the gardener Ben, Mary, and Dickon visit a long-neglected garden, which, in a way, has become unraveled. “It’s a Maze,” they sing, and the lyrics include, “Getting lost is how you learn.” This is often true. The red scarf was lost, neglected, unraveled, but by getting lost, much was learned and much was found.

That’s five paragraphs of pretty serious stuff and there are definitely meaningful themes in Lost. Found., like creativity, conflict resolution, recycling, losing things, and community.  But mostly the story is a fun romp that I hope will elicit lots of giggles from readers. 

Lost. Found. consists of only eighteen words. Two words repeated, nine times each. The story is told mostly through the talented Matthew Cordell’s illustrations. The animals build on the story through their different creative uses of the scarf. Oh, the spontaneous delight the creatures experience as they discover multiple ways to use a red scarf. What imaginative forest folk!  I look forward to leading Writing Funshops in schools where students brainstorm other ways to use a red scarf. 

One of the ways I envision is to “cast on” (knitting term, as well as fishing term, sailing term and more), at one school and knit a bit, then continue knitting the red scarf from school to school until we connect the whole world as one big community of cooperation and contentment. We may get lost, we may become unraveled from time to time, but if we’re calm and steady, we can find ourselves again in a circle of friendship, surrounded by a cozy red scarf.  Get your knitting needles ready, everyone!


Blog Tour Schedule
November 3: SharpRead and Nerdy Book Club
November 4: KidLitFrenzy
November 5: Read. Write. Reflect. 
November 6: Librarian in Cute Shoes
November 7: Watch. Connect. Read
 

About the Author: Marsha Diane Arnold is the award-winning author of books ranging from Heart of a Tiger to Quick, Quack, Quick to Roar of a Snore. Lost. Found., a Junior Library Guild Selection with two starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and School Library Journal, is her twelfth book.

Marsha has become unraveled in her home state of Kansas, in California where she lived for over forty years, and now in Florida near her daughter and family. But she’s sure she can always knit herself back together again.

Resources:
Lost. Found. Teacher’s Guide will soon be available on Marsha’s website, www.marshadianearnold.com, under Fun Activities. Meanwhile, you may contact Marsha at http://www.marshadianearnold.com/write-marsha and she’ll send it directly to you.

 

In Author Guest Post, Picture Books Tags Front Page

The Signs of The Cat Blog Tour: Guest Post by Author Lynne Jonell

June 9, 2015 Alyson Beecher

The Sign of the Cat
by Lynne Jonell
Henry Holt & Co. (June 16, 2015)
Fiction * Adventure * Cats
Audience: Ages 9 to 13 years old
IndieBound | WorldCat

Description of the book: 
Duncan is a very smart boy growing up in a fishing village. The problem is that his mother encourages him to be perfectly average: she insists that he only get mediocre grades and avoid extra attention. His special talent is the ability to talk to cats—but Duncan longs more than anything for academic success.

When Duncan rebels and succeeds on a standardized test, however, people start taking notice of him. And it turns out that some of those people may not have the best intentions . . . With echoes of Peter Pan and the Warriors series, Lynne Jonell tells an epic tale of bravery, adventure, and self-discovery as Duncan learns to embrace his true identity. 

Thank you Lynne Jonell for stopping by Kid Lit Frenzy and sharing a cat-themed list along with your drawings. 

1. This is Duncan and his cat, Grizel.  She’s the one who taught him to speak Cat.  Of course everyone would be able to speak Cat if they were taught at the right age, but since most cats can’t be bothered, the right age slips by for 999 out of 1000… Duncan was one in a thousand.

2. These cats are headed for a midnight council in a graveyard on the Island of Dulle.  (Duncan, who attends, doesn’t realize that the island won’t stay dull for long.)

3. This cat is called “Mr. Fluffers” by his mistress, and finds it humiliating.  His life’s ambition is to be called “Spike” instead.

4. Fia, a white kitten with one blue eye and one green, has trouble passing her kitten examinations, and hasn’t yet gotten her Explorer’s permit.  Her sisters and brother, Tibby, Tabby, and Tuff, mock her for this.

5.This does not look like a cat picture.  But you have to use your imagination; the crate is packed with abducted kittens, all mewing for their mothers.

6. You have to use your imagination here as well.  But I will give you a hint.  Note the little cat ears and furry tail garnish.

7. Fia has been tossed overboard.  Sometimes it doesn’t matter whether or not you have your Explorer’s permit yet—sometimes you just have to be brave anyway.

8. It’s a good thing that tigers also speak Cat, or Duncan would have been eaten.  He would have been eaten through a misunderstanding, of course, but he would be just as dead.

9. Brig, the military tiger, has a strong sense of justice and fair play. Unfortunately for him, not everyone else does.

10. There are cats in this picture—a small white kitten perched where the boom crosses the mast, and a tiger lying majestically on the raft.  They came along with Duncan because they want to help him restore justice to the kingdom of Arvidia.  Also, they like eating flying fish. 

About the author: 
Lynne Jonell is the author of four novels, four chapter books, and seven picture books for children, published by Henry Holt, Random House, and Penguin/Putnam. Her first novel, Emmy & the Incredible Shrinking Rat, won the Minnesota Book Award, and  her third novel, The Secret of Zoom, is a Junior Library Guild Selection. Her books are frequently selected for the Junior Library Guild, have received starred reviews in Horn Book, Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Sesame Street Parents, and have been published in nine languages. She teaches writing at the Loft Literary Center, is married and has two sons, and lives in Plymouth, Minnesota. For more information about Lynne, check out her website. 

 



In Author Guest Post Tags Front Page

OMG: The Spell Bind - Guest Post & Giveaway

October 14, 2014 Alyson Beecher

For fans of Lacey Unger-Ware, the wait for the third book in the Oh My Godmother series will be over soon.   Those of us at Kid Lit Frenzy are fans of the books and their creators, James Iver Mattson and Barbara Brauner and we are glad to host them, well James' cat Fred on the blog today.

Hi. I’m Fred. It’s time for the world to know the truth: even though my name isn’t on the cover of the Oh My Godmother books, there wouldn’t be a series at all except for me.

      I’ve been here since the beginning. OMG’s main character, Lacey Unger-Ware, has an orange cat named Julius. Barbara and James deny it, but that cat is really me! Julius starts the whole story when he eats the fairy godmother, Katarina. I’ve never eaten a fairy, but I do eat a lot of bugs, and that’s where they got the eating idea. Don’t believe me? Have you ever seen them eat bugs?

Now there’s a third Oh My Godmother book called OMG: The Spell Bind. This time, Lacey has to help a boy named Martin Shembly who wants to invent a jet pack. That was my idea, too. One time I tried to jump up on top of a bookcase, and James said I was trying to fly. Then, bam! The very next book has a flying jet pack in it. Pretty suspicious, if you ask me.

Artwork by Abigail Halpern

Artwork by Abigail Halpern

I think the book turned out pretty well. There’s a funny part where Katarina accidentally gets turned into a little bear. (I like books about tiny animals, because they remind me of mice and mice are the best.) There’s a crazy part where Martin Shembly knocks over the water tower at his school and almost washes the cafeteria away. And at the end, Lacey creates a magic carnival where everything is about pickles: pickle rides and pickle games and pickle cotton candy. It would have been better if everything was about mice, but pickles are pretty funny, too.

I’m including a picture of me yelling at Barbara and James. If I don’t stay on the table and supervise, they just watch funny videos on YouTube instead of working. In fact, that’s what they’re doing right now, so I better stop being such a chattercat and tell them to get busy. But it’s been nice talking to you, and I do hope you like The Spell Bind, even if it doesn’t have enough mice in it.

About James and Barbara:
Barbara Brauner and James Iver Mattson have worked together ever since they sold a feature film script about a very, very, bad cat, “Fluffy,” to Disney’s Hollywood Pictures. Their romantic comedy film script, “Deliver Us From Eva,” was produced by Focus Features. “Oh My Godmother: the Glitter Trap,” is their first book.

Barbara grew up in a house that had so many books her father had to brace the floors. After she moved to Los Angeles to work in the movie business, she met James, who’s been her writing partner ever since. Barbara lives with her bite-y, scratchy, and yet still oddly lovable rescue cat Jeeves.

Before he started writing with Barbara, James worked in motion picture special effects, which, just like Oh My Godmother, often involved a lot of sparkles. James’ cat is named Fred, who is Jeeves’ sweeter-natured brother.

Giveaway: One lucky reader will have a chance to win a copy of OMG: The Spell Bind by entering the rafflecopter below. You must be 13 years old and have a US mailing address. 

In Blog Tours & Giveaways, Author Guest Post Tags Front Page
← Newer Posts
Follow on Bloglovin

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Recent Posts
Brave in the Woods Tracy Holczer Blog Tour.png
May 16, 2021
BRAVE IN THE WOODS Blog Tour and Giveaway
May 16, 2021
May 16, 2021
Oct 14, 2020
Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge: Joey The Story of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris Rooted in Justice
Oct 14, 2020
Oct 14, 2020
Sep 30, 2020
Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge: Who Gives a Poop? Surprising Science From One End to the Other
Sep 30, 2020
Sep 30, 2020
beatrixpotter.jpg
Sep 23, 2020
Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge: September New Release Part II
Sep 23, 2020
Sep 23, 2020
equalitycall.jpg
Sep 16, 2020
Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge: New Releases August & September
Sep 16, 2020
Sep 16, 2020
shortsweet.jpg
Sep 10, 2020
Blog Tour: Short & Sweet (Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast #4) by Josh Funk
Sep 10, 2020
Sep 10, 2020
abovetherim.jpg
Sep 9, 2020
Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge: Above the Rim How Elgin Baylor Changed Basketball
Sep 9, 2020
Sep 9, 2020
thanksfrances.jpg
Aug 12, 2020
Blog Tour: Thanks to Frances Perkins Fighter for Workers' Rights
Aug 12, 2020
Aug 12, 2020

Looking for older posts? Mouse-over the date on the calendar below, or type something in the search bar above.

Category Cloud

  • Miscellaneous
  • Early Readers
  • Conferences
  • Author Interviews
  • Classroom Ideas
  • Teachers Write
  • Celebrate This Week
  • #GNCelebration
  • Road2Reading Challenge
  • Picture Books
  • Cover Reveal
  • Book Trailers
  • Indie Bookstores
  • Author Events
  • Read Alouds
  • Movie Review
  • YA Lit
  • Happy Holidays
  • Educational Apps and Tech
  • Common Core IRL
  • 30 Days of Gratitude
  • End of the Year Favorites
  • NFforKids
  • Giveaway
  • Early Chapter Books
  • Kids Comics
  • SOL2016
  • Author Guest Post
  • NFPBChallenge
  • Guest Post
  • MG Lit
  • book birthdays
  • IMWAYR
  • Book Reviews
  • slice2014
  • GN Celebration
  • Movie Trailers
  • Blog Tours & Giveaways
  • YA Friday
  • Poetry Friday
  • Books in Action

Tweet @alybee930

  • Alyson Beecher
    RT @mstewartscience: ICYMI: "One of the reasons I write picture book biographies is to shine light on women whose scientific contributio… https://t.co/qZps9G5W1x
    Jun 6, 2019, 6:06 AM
  • Alyson Beecher
    RT @LBaie: #nfpb19 Celebrating #PrideMonth - sharing 'Stonewall' by Rob Porter & Jamey Christoph - Good to know the history!… https://t.co/JVmhqqFVx4
    Jun 5, 2019, 3:08 PM
  • Alyson Beecher
    RT @donalynbooks: It's time for my annual summer #bookaday challenge! If you're interested in discovering new books to read, celebrat… https://t.co/1UdT4JNXuN
    Jun 3, 2019, 11:11 PM

Friends' Book Blogs

100 Scope Notes
The Book Whisperer
The Brain Lair
Foodie Bibliophile
The Goddess of YA Literature
GooD ReaDs with Ronna
Great Kid Books
Librarian in Cute Shoes
Librarian's Quest
Nerdy Book Club
The Nonfiction Detectives
Read Now Sleep Later
Read, Write, and Reflect
SharpRead
Teach Mentor Texts
The Show Me Librarian
Unleashing Readers
Watch Connect Read

Disclaimer

All reviews are our own opinion. No harm or infringement is intended. Links leading to Indiebound or Amazon do not result in any revenues for this blog (we are not affiliated with them in any way).

Our system has encountered an error. This exception has been automatically logged and reported. JWN6JTXC35PSYMMCMBSX

© 2010-2020 Alyson Beecher. Powered by Squarespace