Guardian Angel Publishing Champions Multi-Cultural Books for Kids

Several weeks ago, I wrote a blog post on Guardian Angel Publishing and protagonists of color.  The publisher, Lynda Burch and many of the authors are dedicated to this policy. 

Thank You, Author/Artist Margot Finke

In this post, I am  showcasing authors who write books featuring multicultural children as protagonists.  I hope you will find them inspiring and useful for your young ones, classroom or library.

A list, alphabetically by author is as follows:  (Please click on the author's name for all pertinent information.)

Barbara Arbo   Scripture for Kids 

A book packed with Scripture promises along with color visuals to apply God's word to their lives.



Penelope Cole     Magical Mea

Matthew's little sister is a trickster.  Mea got her magic when Matthew lost his.  Matthew tries to guide Mea to use hers for good.  But she wants to do it her way.  Will she get in trouble?

In the words of Lynda S. Burch, publisher of Guardian Angel Publishing:

Guardian Angel is proud to offer a mixed variety of children's books for all ethnicities and also multiple language platforms.  We have been aware of the needs for a broader base of stories for kids from around the globe and in our own backyards and have extended our efforts to produce quality children's books that kids can identify with-no matter their skin color or ethnicity.  Many of our books include multicultural characters that gently teach acceptance for all children of the world.  We believe in cultural diversity is a literary portal from which we can embrace our global community with our books.

Janet Ann Collins           Signs of Trouble

Children with learning disabilities get separated from their Special Education class on a field trip and use what they’ve learned to get reunited with them. The included activities can help children learn safety rules, understanding of people with special needs, basic reading skills, and creative writing skills.  They, of course, are the heroes!

Andi Houdak    Stop That  Pudding!

Passing up fruits and veggies for an afternoon snack, Kevin grabs a chocolate pudding and heads out the door. His adventure begins as he opens up his pudding cup and watches it spring to life! Find out if Kevin and his spoon are fast enough to catch his quick snack!

Mary Jean Kelso       The Christmas Angel

Melissa is a young girl who moves with her family to Oregon via The Oregon Trail. She has been allowed to bring one prized possession and she struggles to see that the porcelain angel that has topped the family Christmas tree makes the journey safely. This adventure on the Oregon Trail has added educational tools including a map, lists of supplies, info on the trail, links to sites and games about the Oregon trail. Five extra pages of activities.

Donna McDine     Hockey Agony

Peer Pressure and Honesty many times go hand-in-hand. What is Larry to do when his teammate asks him to cheat when he is given the responsibility to run the clock during the big hockey game? Outwardly, it may seem he will follow suit, but his conscious tells him otherwise at the moment of truth.

Mary Esparza Vela 

A tiny burro shows up at a little boy’s house and becomes a real asset to the family. The day he disappears, they never expect to see him again until he prances in one dark spooky night.  Ms. Vela's books are written in Spanish as well as English.

 

Colleen L. Reece         God Loves You Whoever You Are

Young or old, big or small, fat or thin, God loves each of us. We may have blue eyes, or brown eyes, gold, green or grey. Our skin may be colored any shade. God loves  us.

 

Cynthia Reeg     Gifts from God 

Gifts from God celebrates God’s loving gifts to each child. Glorious color photographs highlighting children and nature accompany each gift. Every double-page spread has an easy reader sentence on the right and a scripture quotation on the left making this an enjoyable and uplifting book for both children and adults.

 Kristen Zajek       Ebeneezer's Cousin

Maria Jimenez and her dad share many things including a passion for going to see the monkeys at their local primate sanctuary.  But when Maria’s father returns home from military service with an injury, how will she find a way to help him recapture his spirit and independence?

 

Children's and YA eBook Revenues Down Nearly Forty Six Percent

It is amazing how one book or a series or the film such as The Hunger Games is able to drive the statistics of a whole industry.  Have a look at the stats below.  It is interesting stuff.

According to the Association of American Publishers (AAP) StatShot report for the first half of 2013, publishers saw total trade sales take a six percent drop.

YA and children’s publishing saw steep declines as sales from 2012′s The Hunger Games blockbuster movie recede. Children’s and YA hardcover sales dipped nearly 32 percent and eBook sales dipped nearly 46 percent in the same category.

The AAP chart embedded above shows how the different young adult and children’s categories were affected from January to June 2013.

This dramatic readjustment in the Children’s/YA category is slowing, however. Compared to the same period last year, children’s and YA declined 22 percent. In June, sales only declined 8.8 percent. Catching Fire comes out in November, so we may see some big sales once again for the sequel.

Below, we’ve collected the overall totals for all trade formats. This Stat Shot report used data collected from 1,196 publishers.

New Adult FictionTargets Readers From 18 to 25

What in the world is the new genre of books called New Adult?  Let's talk about it. 

 The label was first used in 2009 when St. Martin’s Press hosted a contest looking for stories that could be marketed to both YA readers and adult readers. The contest described for new adult fiction as books “with protagonists who are slightly older than YA and can appeal to an adult audience.”  That audience is the 18 to 25 year old group.


Actually, they're crossover books that older readers favor as well. Because they're "new adults," the characters are dealing with adult issues for the first time: first job, first home, first relationship. Therefore, New Adult fiction focuses on young people, college age, late teens to early twenties, transitioning into the modern adult world.

Some examples? 

 Gayle Forman's Just One Day and Just One Year are companion books that track the same event and its consequences from two points of view. 

Maureen Johnson's The Madness Underneath (Putnam) is the second in the Shades of London series.  

Of course, the question on everyone's lips is, "Isn't there lots of sex in these books?"  The answer is, "Yes, some.  But that's not all there is to them."  This genre reflects young people of today and, I suspect, of yesterday as well.  After all, human nature hasn't changed in millennia.  What has changed are expectations of young people.  But that is a different topic for a different day.

more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/08/23/4258598/new-adult-fiction-targets-readers.html#storylink=cpy

Bridge Books Transport Kids into New Adventures

It’s a big leap from beginning readers to chapter books for most kids, and it’s often helpful to point them to “bridge” books — shorter books with shorter chapters, larger type and more illustrations than is the case with most children’s novels.  

Series books can be invaluable as bridge books because they are short, filled with action and illustrations, and allow young readers to become invested in specific characters.  Recently, there’s been an explosion in the number of bridge books as publishers seek to fill this niche. Here’s a look at some of these new books:

■Seven-year-old Violet Mackerel is the youngest in her family, and lately that hasn’t been much fun.  Her older brother Dylan is “in a phase” and her even-older sister Nicola is always grumpy, telling Violet to “buzz off.”

Yet it’s Violet who eventually comes up with the perfect solution to Nicola’s problem of what to do for her science-fair project in “Violet Mackerel’s Natural Habitat” (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster, $15.99 hardcover, $5.99 paperback, ages 6-9).

Author Anna Branford does a marvelous job of conveying the world through Violet’s eyes. Young readers, even those who aren’t the youngest in their families, will readily identify with her travails and triumphs.

■Three children named Gemma, Meera and Karl may live in the city, but they are true farm-animal lovers. With help from a farm lover named Flora MacDonald, they’ve found a way to create the Silver Street Farm in their city by taking over an abandoned railway station that has enough surrounding land for grazing animals.

Yet, things don’t necessarily go smoothly when you mix city and country, as author Nicola Davies shows in “Escape From Silver Street Farm” (Candlewick Press, $12.99, ages 7-10). In this latest book in the “Silver Street Farm” series, the three children and Flora cope with runaway turkeys and sheep, and end up with some surprising discoveries.

Davies clearly is a farm lover herself and so makes it totally plausible that three city kids would be so besotted with cows, sheep, turkeys, etc., that they would come up with a way to open an urban farm.

■ Claude is a hound dog with style. He wears a red beret, a red sweater and has a best friend — Sir Bobblysock — a red-and-white-striped sock and who gets around on his own power.

Together, these good friends have some hilarious adventures in “Claude in the City” (Peachtree, $12.95, ages 5-8). Author/illustrator Alex T. Smith readily convinces young readers to suspend their disbelief and just enjoy the wacky adventures of a black-and-white hound dog accompanied by his best friend, a sock.

The book’s text is minimalist, letting the illustrations convey much of the action. It’s a great combination that will keep young readers turning the pages and awaiting Claude’s next adventure, “Claude at the Circus,” which is scheduled to be published this fall.

■It’s 2120, and Zack Nelson and his family have moved from Earth to planet Nebulon. Zack isn’t exactly thrilled about leaving his friends behind on Earth, but he has to admit that there’s some cool things about Nebulon.  The robot serves Zack exactly what he wants to eat and makes sure he’s up in time for school.

Pleasure Reading Significantly Improves a Child’s School Performance.

Here is an interesting study from GalleyCat, written by Jason Boorg.

The University of London’s Institute of Education Children has released a study showing that reading for pleasure can “significantly” improve a child’s school performance.

Most dramatically, the researchers ruled that “reading for pleasure was found to be more important for children’s cognitive development between ages 10 and 16 than their parents’ level of education.”

Dr. Alice Sullivan and Matt Brown led the study, examining the performance of 6,000 young people in the 1970 British Cohort Study. They measured test score performance at five, 10 and 16 years old.

Reading for pleasure improved math, spelling and vocabulary performance in children between 10 and 16-years-old–comparing their progress to kids who don’t read regularly. Here’s more from the release:

The researchers, who are based in the IOE’s Centre for Longitudinal Studies, compared children from the same social backgrounds who had achieved the same test scores as each other both at ages 5 and 10.

They discovered that those who read books often at age 10 and more than once a week at age 16 gained higher results in all three tests at age 16 than those who read less regularly. The combined effect on children’s progress of reading books often, going to the library regularly and reading newspapers at 16 was four times greater than the advantage children gained from having a parent with a degree.

 Children who were read to regularly by their parents at age 5 performed better in all three tests at age 16 than those who were not helped in this way.

New Guardian Angel Publishing Books for Early Autumn

It is always my pleasure to feature new books from Guardian Angel Publishing.  Today is no exception.  Please have a look at the offerings.  You just may want one or more of them!

Andy & Spirit in Search & Rescue Academic Wings hardcover edition

by Mary Jean Kelso, art KC Snider

http://www.guardianangelpublishing.com/andy&spirit-search-rescue.htm

Great Gobs of Gustation: The Sum of Our Parts  Book 8 Academic Wings

by Bill Kirk, art by Eugene Ruble

http://www.guardianangelpublishing.com/gustation-tsoop.htm

A rhyme which describes the sense of taste and how it works to help you tell what you like to eat and what you don’t. Book 8 of the Sum of our Parts anatomical educational series

Just Too Little  Littlest Angel

by Judith J. Miller, art Sonal Panse

http://www.guardianangelpublishing.com/just-too-little.htm

At her grandparents farm Pam is too little to help with the chores.

Michael’s Safari Littlest Angel

by JennaKay Francis art by Craig Howarth

http://www.guardianangelpublishing.com/michaels-safari.htm

Michael takes an imaginary journey.

The New Puppy Animals & Pets

by Raelene Hall art by Kevin Collier, Gisele LaBlanc

http://www.guardianangelpublishing.com/new-puppy.htm

After a day of fun

 These books may be purchased from Guardian Angel Publishing and Amazon.

George the Gay Lion: New Children’s Picture Book Deals With Gay Iissues

California’s Proposition 8 is the inspiration behind author Paul Waring’s latest children’s picture book, George the Gay Lion.  The new book is featured in the Gay Literature Examiner by Tarringo Vaughn.

 In a August 28 press release, the book is described as a coming out story that allows readers to follow the main character on his journey towards acceptance and individuals just like himself.

George the lion, the main character of the book, was developed in hopes of dissolving the negative connotations associated with the word “gay”. In fact, Waring uses the word in the book to show empowerment. He refuses to avoid the word as "these types of books depicting gay characters have become the most banned books in America."

Photo courtesy of Author Facebook Page

Waring also wants the book to be used for educational purposes as it relays messages of diversity. He hopes it will create a platform towards future acceptances of difference backgrounds which includes sexual orientation.

In all, “George the Gay Lion” is a book that emphasizes the complexities and stresses of coming out and embracing individuality.

Camilla Ring, illustrator of the book, was inspired and influenced by Waring’s creation of a voice speaking out against LGBT inequality. And the narrator of the book, Jake Shears, shared a similar sentiment:

As soon as I read this book, I knew I wanted to narrate it.

New Kids' Books for the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah

Here are a few new books from which to pick for your young readers during Rosh Hashanah or the Jewish New Year.  The holiday begins on Thursday, September 5 and continues until the 6th.  I hope you enjoy the books and the holiday if it pertains!

Award-winning author Jacqueline Jules’ What a Way to Start a New Year! is a lighthearted and authentic story for Rosh Hashanah that reflects the diversity of today’s Jewish families and the hustle and bustle of daily life.

This family, a young girl and her two younger brothers, have just moved to a new town.  While her dad isn't Jewish, he loves celebrating the High Holy Days.  But how will they observe the New Year our storyteller wonders?  Everything's new, including all the people!

Things begin to look up when one of dad’s co-workers invites them to synagogue services. The prayers and songs are familiar, but the kids still feel out of place because they don’t recognize anyone.  Will they make friends and begin to feel at home?

Another book you may find fun is Sam and Charlie (and Sam Too!)  Again, this story visits meeting new neighbors.   Author Keslie Kimmelman tells five stories about two Jewish friends and a younger sibling.  Family and friend fun.

In Vivian Newman’s Tikkun Olam Ted, a small boy named Ted spends the days from Sunday to Friday doing some big things to make the world a kinder, better place. On Shabbat he rests, dreaming of tikkun olam, the repair of the world.

 

 Tikkun Olam Ted is a lively toddler book with colorful illustrations that will engage younger kids. Older children may be inspired by simple, fun ways to help around the house or out in the world. 

In Sylvia A. and Shannon Rouss' A Watermelon in the Sukkah, decorating a Jewish school's sukkah is a challenge when Michael wants to hang a watermelon, his favorite fruit, from the roof!  How can they do it?  Read the book, and find out!

What a Way to Start a New Year! A Rosh Hashanah Story” by Jacqueline Jules, illustrated by Judy Stead (Kar-Ben, $16.95 hardcover, $7.95 paperback, ages 3-8)

“A Watermelon in the Sukkah” by Sylvia A. Rouss and Shannan Rouss, illustrated by Ann Iosa 
(Kar-Ben, $17.95 hardcover, $7.95 paper, ages 3-8)

“Sam and Charlie (and Sam Too!)”  by Leslie Kimmelman, illustrated by Stefano Tambellini 
(Albert Whitman, $13.99, also available on Kindle, ages 6 to 8)

“Tikkun Olam Ted” by Vivian Newman, illustrated by Steve Mack (Kar-Ben, $5.95 board book, also available as eBook, ages 1-4)