Posted on August 31, 2015 by Cynthia Reeg

An Evening with Author/Illustrator DAV PILKEY

TRA-LA-LAAAA!

How does an evening with children’s author Dav Pilkey begin? (well,after waiting in a looooong line wrapping all the way around Headquarters library…)

Waiting for Captain Underpants

With, of course, a loud “Tra-la-laaaa!” yelled in unison by all the kids (and many of the parents) in the audience. It’s Captain Underpants’ typical call to action.

I had the fun opportunity to be part of this attentive and rambunctious crowd last night at the St. Louis County Library’s Author Event, celebrating the release of CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS AND THE SENSATIONAL SAGA OF SIR STINKS-A-LOT. (# 12 in the series)

Screen Saver for Captain Underpants

MAKING READING FUN

Dav Pilkey, who will have 60 books to his credit with 2016’s THE ADVENTURES OF DOG MAN, has revolutionized reading for boys especially. USA Today called him the “savior of the reluctant reader.” His short, graphic chapter books with their silliness, fast pace, and bathroom humor are a perfect fit for young readers. The kid-friendly author creates his tales based on his own elementary school experiences.

The Adventures of Dog Man

As a child who suffered from ADHD and dyslexia, he understood the power of pictures to tell a story. Even though he often found himself doing hallway detention for drawing in class, he couldn’t resist making more clever comics—to the delight of his fellow students and the dismay of his teachers.

“Underwear is not funny!” said Mr. Pilkey’s second grade teacher. “Grow up!” she cautioned him. “You can’t spend the rest of your life making silly books!”

Drawing favorite characters

Oh, how little she knew, and how very far Mr. Pilkey has enriched young readers with the delights of his underwear crew.

Some of his other titles include:

The Ricky Ricotta Series

Dog Breath

Paper Boy

The Adventures of Ook and Gluk

Super Diaper Baby

Dogzilla!

Nowadays, the author prefers drawing in more natural spots, like along the beach in Japan when visiting his wife’s family. But even there, he still suffers criticism—from some monkeys that is. Mr. Pilkey shared a video of himself at work sketching, while several monkeys attempted to confiscate his pens and offer vocal commentary on his work-in-progress.

Dav Pilkey Attempts to Draw Despite Monkey Antics

HANG IN THERE!

At the end of his presentation last night, Mr. Pilkey made a point about perseverance. He showed a picture of a scowling egg and a happy potato in boiling water. “Don’t let adversities overcome you,” he said. “Rather use them to build on. In boiling water, a potato softens but an egg becomes hard.”

READING POWER

Many young readers in the crowd wore red capes, similar to Captain Underpants. On back of the capes was the message, “Reading is Power!” Thanks, Mr. Pilkey, for enhancing children’s literature with your comic characters and delightful illustrations and proving that strong reading muscles really do rock!

Posted on August 12, 2010 by cindyindigo

Raising a Reader

It is always a mission of mine to stress the importance of reading to, with, and by children to help them be successful in school and in life. RAISING A READER is a national nonprofit organization whose goal is the same, and it is meeting with great success in locations across the U. S.

One such location is the Seattle Public Library, where young readers experience the joys of reading and libraries.

My hat is off to Raising A Reader and all the libraries across the U.S. who have helped make summer reading possible for so many children!

Posted on July 6, 2009 by cindyindigo

ZeBee’s Virtual Summer Zoo Camp for Children

Too Dog-Gone Good to Miss

and

Just in time to beat summertime boredom–

ZEBEE’S Virtual SUMMER ZOO CAMP

An online cybercamp for children 5-8

Fun, educational activities–starting TODAY!!!

Eight weeks of zoo animal adventures

Prizes, games, animal trivia, arts & crafts, puzzles

July 6-August 28

Posted on April 30, 2008 by cindyindigo

The BIG READ and WRITE

St. Louis Writers Guild and Build-a-Bear Workshop Foundation are sponsoring THE BIG WRITE, a writing contest for both elementary and middle school students. This contest will be a part of THE BIG READ literary festival in Clayton, Missouri on October 11, 2008.
Six winners–three in each of two grade levels for 4th & 5th and 6th through 8th. Student should enter the contest as the grade they will be in for the fall of 2008. Prizes for the contest include: cash, award certificates, and Build-a-Bear merchandise. Winners will be announced at the festival, and the winning stories will be published on The Big Read website. There is no limit on the number of entries. For more information: Contest Guidelines. The deadline is September 12.

Posted on March 18, 2008 by cindyindigo

READING MAGIC by Mem Fox

If you don’t know by now, I am passionate about instilling a love for reading in children. Apparently Australian author and Literary Studies professor, Mem Fox, and I share the same passion. She is the author of several nonfiction books for adults–as well as many wonderful children’s picture books. I’d like to share some of her insights offered in READING MAGIC: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever.

The secret to fostering reading (and the love for literature) is quite simple: reading aloud to children from birth onward. Experts suggest 1,000 stories read aloud before the child begins to read.
Only 25% of a child’s brain is developed at birth, but within the first year, a child learns all the sounds in her native language.
Passive sounds/words (such as those heard from a television) don’t work as well as conversation to help foster language development. To encourage language and reading skills “for life,” children need to “talk back” to someone.
The day a baby is born is the time to start reading aloud to him. Try to have a routine for reading aloud built into the child’s day—but also make books & reading available whenever the opportunity arises. The more a child has access to books, magazines, newspapers, etc. and sees his parents using them the more likely he will become a good reader.

That’s enough reading secrets for today. I’ll share some more tomorrow. But I’d encourage you to visit Mem’s online site as well. Here’s a link to her “Ten Read Aloud Commandments: http://www.memfox.net/ten-read-aloud-commandments.html

Posted on February 29, 2008 by cindyindigo

A Morning with Constance Levy, Poet Extraordinaire

I had the great fortune to attend a workshop today given by Constance Levy, St. Louis’ own children’s poet guru. She spoke to OASIS reading tutors for the Rockwood School District on ways to interact with children using poetry.
“Poems don’t have to rhyme,” she said. “But they do need to flow and to have rhythm.” She explained that children should be encouraged to “write in a natural way.” She cautioned that teachers and tutors shouldn’t “squeeze the juice out of creativity” by restricting children’s poetry to a set subject or style.

“William Stafford (another Midwest poet) said a poem was ‘talk with a little luck in it’,” Ms. Levy said. She suggested reading several poems to children and asking them which one they liked best and why. Discuss with the children “who is talking in this poem, and who are they speaking to?”
Ms. Levy encouraged the OASIS tutors to help children take chances in poetry by using wild and crazy words–to have fun. And for elementary students, she talked about helping them learn “to break lines.” At school children are taught to write sentences and fill up each line, only breaking for paragraphs. But when writing poetry, the children must be re-taught to listen for phrasing and how to construct a poem.

Ms. Levy had all of us brainstorm for a few minutes on FOG, jotting down words and phrases which came to our minds. We were encouraged to be inventive, to think in colors and metaphors. To be open to the senses. Later after briefly discussing haikus, we were encouraged to try one–but not necessarily strictly limited to the 5, 7, 5 syllables in each of the three lines if that didn’t quite work for our poem.
Here is my morning haiku created with help from the earlier brainstorming session

FOG
A shrouded ghost mist
swallows me up as I walk
into its mystery.

Give yourself a treat and visit your local library where you’ll find copies of Constance Levy’s poetry books: A TREE PLACE,
WHEN WHALES EXHALE
A CRACK IN THE CLOUDS
SPLASH!
I’M GOING TO PET A WORM TODAY
THE STORY OF RED RUBBER BALL

To find out more about Ms. Levy, you may visit this biography link at Pennsylvania State University, compiled by Pam Goldberg. http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Levy__Constance.html

Posted on February 7, 2008 by cindyindigo

Every Day Can Be A Snowy Day!

A PAPER snowflake day, I mean!

Here’s a link to Paper Snowflakes for Children where there are directions for making all types of paper snowflakes: http://www.papersnowflakes.com/

This next link takes you to a page with the photograph of Snowflake Bentley, the first man to photograph snowflakes. http://usasearch.gov/search?v%3aproject=firstgov-noaa-images&v%3afile=viv_898%4024%3aoFpMHb&v%3aframe=viewimage&v%3astate=%28root%29%7croot&id=Ndoc0&rpaid=&

Here at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration you’ll find page after page of Snowflake Bentley’s snowflake photographs. You won’t believe your eyes at all the different designs. http://usasearch.gov/search?v%3Aproject=firstgov-noaa-images&query=snowflake+bentley

You can also check out my speedy snowflake directions here on my website: https://www.cynthiareeg.com/kids/snowflake.html

Two great books to go along with your paper snowflakes are The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
and Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin.

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

Cynthia Reeg

Children's Book Author

Category: children