Category: children’s literature

Posted on by cindyindigo

Picture Book Secrets


Today’s treat is courtesy of Margot Finke and her February Musings at Harold Underdown’s PURPLE CRAYON website. Click on the link below where you’ll discover Margot’s “Checklist for Writing Picture Books,” help on plotting, her “5 C’s of Compelling Fiction,” advice on choosing powerful verbs and adjectives, tips on tight writing, and so much more.
Margot has two other websites you’ll want to visit as well:

As Margot would say, “HAPPY WRITING, MATES!”
Posted on by cindyindigo

Congratulations to STORIES FOR CHILDREN

Congratulations to Virginia S. Grenier and her staff at the amazing children’s eZine, STORIES FOR CHILDREN (http://storiesforchildren.tripod.com/). They just won a top 10 spot in PREDITORS & EDITORS 2007 Readers Poll!!!(http://anotherealm.com/prededitors/votefictzine07.htm)

STORIES FOR CHILDREN ranked among the very best in 3 categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry. “I can’t believe it,” said Ms. Grenier. “This is our first year out and we actually placed in the Top Ten in many different categories. A dream come true for all of here at SFC.”
Look for my short story, “BF’s & Butterflies,” to be appearing in STORIES FOR CHILDREN’s April 2008 issue. Here’s a synopsis of my upcoming story:
Small town girl, Leya, wants to figure out a way to befriend Kari, the new girl, before Nasty Nona–self-crowned queen of fifth grade–claims her. Leya’s just lost her BF—Best Friend—Lucy, who’s moved all the way to Florida. Now as Leya struggles to find a new BF, as well as her place in her fifth grade class, she discovers that butterflies can lead to friendship.

So if you haven’t visited STORIES FOR CHILDREN yet, be sure and give yourself a treat and stop by soon. And remember to check back at SFC for my April story–which is only about a month away. Don’t worry…I’ll be sure and remind you again when it’s published.

Posted on by cindyindigo

Robin Falls

Today I’ve discovered a new children’s book author, April Robins, with a lovely website I’m sure you’ll want to visit.

There you’ll find a winter coloring page to download. Wouldn’t this wolf picture make a wonderful project to work on while the icy winds and snow keep you inside?

Posted on by cindyindigo

A Pair of International Reviews

Many thanks go out to Mayra Calvani–writer and reviewer in Brussels, Belguim–for her lovely reviews of GIFTS FROM GOD and KITTY KERPLUNKING. Read what she has to say:

Beautiful and spiritually inspiring, Gifts from God is a tribute to God and all the things that are pure in our lives–the innocence and laughter of our children, the tenderness of a newborn, the magnificence of a sunset, the ‘laughter’ of a waterfall. With a few simple lines, some taken from the Bible, some from her imagination, author Cynthia Reeg has created a lovely book for the entire family, one to be read not only at bedtime, but at any hour of the day. The photographs and imagery are, in one word, captivating. This is a must children’s book for your Christian fiction bookshelf.

In Kitty Kerplunking: Preposition Fun, Reeg teaches children, in a light and fun way, the uses of prepositions. How does she do this? With the help of one very cute Kitty and his antics about the house. Each page features an engaging, colorful illustration and a sentence showing a preposition. For instance…
“Preppy the kitty … pitter-pattered ON the piano keys.”
Each time the preposition in the sentence is capitalized. At the end of the book there’s a useful study guide as well as six pages of activities, including a criss-cross puzzle, word search, seek & find, and fill-in-the-blanks. This is the perfect book to introduce young children to prepositions.

To read more of Mayra’s reviews, visit her at Mayra’s Secret Bookcase http://mayrassecretbookcase.blogspot.com/2008/02/reviews-of-gifts-frm-god-and-kitty.html

There, you can also find out about her children’s picture book, THE MAGIC VIOLIN, and her soon-to-be-published book, THE SLIPPERY ART OF BOOK REVIEWING.

And if you’d like to find out even more about Mayra, journey to her other blog, THE FOUNTAIN PEN NEWLETTER at http://thefountainpennewsletter.blogspot.com/

Happy reading!