If you happen to live in Monsey, Lakewood, Passaic and Brooklyn there's a new weekly kids magazine being sold at Jewish bookstores or markets. The Buzz launched earlier this week, it contains a lot of news and history pieces and is geared for older kids. I'll be contributing two news columns each week--The National Buzz and The Buzz Out of Washington.
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This little yellow dynamo is the main character for my upcoming early-reader series from Menucha. Each Baylee book will be geared for emerging readers and have short text blocks and great art. The words and sentence structure will be appealing to kids who are just learning to read. Baylee's antics will keep them engaged. Baylee's first adventure will be "The Yellow Party." A publication date should be set soon. A second book is in the works. Baylee was drawn by artist Esti Saposh. I'll be joining a fantastic lineup of local writers at the Teaneck Public Library on Sunday, December 10! Books will be available for purchase.
Did you know that there is a worksheet available for you to use with your students or kids to see gauge their reading comprehension and encourage critical thinking after reading the book? You can download a copy of the worksheet here: Download File
As I have for the last few years, I am once again participating in picture book author Tara Lazar's STORYSTORM challenge. The goal is to come up with 30 story ideas over the 31 days of January. The ideas can be short or long, illustrated or written. The idea is to set up the writing year with a bucket of ideas to turn to when needed. I have never reached 30 ideas; some years I get only a handful of ideas, but the exercise forces me to let my brain wander and see what happens. There have been some very vague ideas such as "penny ante" and some very detailed ideas that have become a loose manuscript. Good luck to all who are participating!
I was interviewed recently by Yitty Falk, who edits The Frum Books Newsletter for readers of Orthodox Jewish books. She usually focuses on books for adults, but wanted to focus on younger readers and included me and my work as part of her middle-grade round up. As Yitty wrote in her introduction, "This collection features the best of Middle Grades for girls, primarily for 4th and 5th graders. Bestselling authors Miriam Walfish and Faygie Holt join me to give you context on their genre and something to think about when choosing books for your daughters." Yitty had some great questions including why tweens like to read about real-life problems and issues. It was a fun interview and discussion.
Here's a sample from the newsletter ... Recently, several publishers have released nonfiction books to help young readers understand the history, pain and consequences of discrimination against minorities. Despite the high level of antisemitism across the country and worldwide, none of the books to date have dealt with antisemitism. In response, I have launched a book imprint called "Jewish History Minute," which focuses (for now) on lesser-known moments in American Jewish history and how antisemitism and Jew-hatred occur amid larger national events. The first book in the series, "The Man Who Beat General Grant," is now available in paperback. It deals with the expulsion of the Jews from the town of Paducah, Kentucky during the Civil War. Book two, which is in the works, will deal with bombings in the South during the Civil Rights Movement. The book includes photos, illustrations, primary sources, a glossary, questions to think about and more, making it ideal for use in the classroom. The book is geared for older elementary school readers. CHAPTER LIST: INTRODUCTION COMING TO AMERICA GENERAL GRANT ARRIVES GENERAL'S ORDER NUMBER 11 CESAR TAKES ACTION VISITING THE WHITE HOUSE WHAT HAPPENED NEXT GLOSSARY THINK ABOUT IT TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE READ MORE ABOUT IT This is a completely fictional take on how news about a war may impact a child. The conversation is based on real tips. For actual advice on how to talk to kids about war, please check out this information from Chai Lifeline: https://blog.chailifeline.org/talking-to-your-children-about-war/
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