BOOK SIGNING of Planting a Garden in Room 6 at ALA in SAN DIEGO, June 30th. SAVE THE DATE!

A week from today at 2pm I will be signing my book PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6 at the San Diego Convention Center in the Charlesbridge booth  (#1823) on the exhibits floor of the American Library Association annual conference. Planting a Garden in Room 6 and the other two Room 6 books, Hatching Chicks in Room 6 and Butterflies in Room 6 are newly published this year in paperback. If you are going to be at ALA that day, I hope to see you there!

Review of PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6 in Bayviews

This very nice review of PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6: From Seeds to Salad was published on the Bayviews blog of the Association of Children's Librarians of Northern Californis (ACL) last summer.

As school gardens increase in popularity, so too should the number of books about the topic. Arnold’s well-documented kindergarten classroom garden features lots of action-packed photographs and smooth, flowing narration about how a garden works. The engaging photos demonstrate how to prepare the soil, add worms, choose a variety of plants, and how the various plants grow, while the narration provides additional details and explanations. Useful for any school (or home) with gardens, or anyone curious to see what taking care of a garden involves.

Joshua Rees, Daly City PL

Creator Spotlight Interview with CAROLINE ARNOLD for Book It!

Pizza Hut has a program that promotes books and reading called Book It!, a free reading incentive program for PreK-6th grade classrooms, parents and homeschool families.

PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6: From Seeds to Salad is being featured this month at Book It! along with two other books celebrating new growth. I am in the Creator Spotlight for March. Check out the short video linked at the end of the interview to find out how to grow a bean in a cup.

Creator Spotlight Interview with CAROLINE ARNOLD for Book It!:

I never thought I would be an author when I was growing up, but I loved to read. When I was in the fifth grade I tried to read all the books in the library!

I began to write when my children were small. At the time, we had a big vegetable garden behind our house.  As we dug up the dirt for planting we saw wiggly worms. That gave me an idea for one of my first stories. Since then I have written 170 books for children, including my newest book about kindergarten children planting a school garden.

Writing a book is a little bit like growing a garden--planting the seed of an idea; nurturing it so it can reach its full potential; weeding to make sure it has room to grow; pruning when necessary to focus growth on the main stalk; and finally, harvesting the finished product and sharing it with others.

My favorite part of being an author is when the book is finished and I can hold it in my hand. I hope that as you turn the pages of my books you will learn something that you never knew before, just as I do every time I research and write a new book.

This VIDEO shows a project in my book--how you can grow a bean in a cup.

 

Best Stem Books of 2022 at the Nonfiction Detectives: PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6

With many thanks to two intrepid librarians, Louise Capizzo and Cathy Potter, for including my book PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6: From Seeds to Salad in their list of Best STEM Books for Kids 2022 at The Nonfiction Detectives (December 12, 2022). I am honored to have my book among the outstanding titles on this list. Louise retired as youth service manager in a public library; Cathy is a school librarian.

 

ACTIVITY: WRITE A POEM ABOUT YOUR SCHOOL GARDEN

School garden in Planting a Garden in Room 6: From Seeds to Salad (Charlesbridge, 2022)

The children in Room 6 planted a school garden. You can plant a garden too.. 

Let the plants in your school garden inspire a poem. You could write a haiku, a rhyming poem, free verse---or whatever you like.

Here is a new book that will give you some ideas:

BEHOLD OUR MAGICAL GARDEN: POEMS FRESH FROM A SCHOOL GARDEN by Allan Wolf, illus by Daniel Duncan (Candlewick, 2022)

THE PLANT CYCLE: Foldable Project Teaches the Plant Growth Cycle, by Debbie Gonzales at LitLinks

Project by Debbie Gonzales at LitLinks

I discovered this easy foldable project by guest blogger Debbie Gonzales at LitLinks (Patricia Newman's blog linking literature and STEM.) It is perfect to use in conjunction with my new book PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6: From Seeds to Salad. It introduces children to the stages of plant growth from seed to maturity in a simple folding paper project. https://www.patriciamnewman.com/litlinks-easy-foldable-activity-to-illustrate-the-plant-cycle/

Debbie's project was created for the new book  NIGHT BECOMES DAY: CHANGES IN NATURE, written by Cynthia Argentine . 

CHARLOTTE HUCK CHILDREN'S LITERATURE FESTIVAL, Redlands, CA

Book signing at the Charlotte Huck Children's Literature Festival

A week ago (March 11-12) I took part in the 25th anniversary Charlotte Huck Children's Literature Festival at the University of Redlands in Redlands, CA--my first in-person author event in two years! The speakers were all excellent and I am so glad that I was able to be part of it. Speakers included Ralph Fletcher, Salina Yoon, James Ransome, Rafael Lopez, Don Tate, In honor of Charlotte Huck, who started the festival, a memorial video was shown at the opening of the program. Dr. Charlotte S. Huck's (1922-1005) classic textbook, Children's Literature in the Elementary School, is now in its tenth edition.

Marjorie Arnett, the director of the festival, had paired me with Redlands kindergarten teacher Ellie Huynh, who was growing a garden with her students. Two weeks ago I did a zoom visit with her class and they gave me a video tour of the garden. She is a great teacher. Together we organized our presentation Planting the Seeds of Ideas: Hands-on Learning in a School Garden, which focused on my new book PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6 and on pictures of her class garden project. Our session went well and the participants really enjoyed seeing the photos of the garden she has planted with the children in her classroom. Many of the teachers I spoke to already had gardens at their schools or were in the process of planning them.

Book signing is always part of the festival and it was an opportunity for me to meet and chat with teachers and librarians who had bought my books.

As always, the festival was a stimulating two days, reminding us all of the excellence in children' literature. And brownies made from Charlotte's famous recipe were an extra treat at the opening luncheon!

With many thanks to the hardworking festival committee, who faced many obstacles in putting the festival together this year under Covid restrictions, and did such a terrific job.

SLJ Review of PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6

The first review is in for my book PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6 and it's a good one! It's from School Library Journal. I am so pleased! With many thanks to my wonderful editor, Alyssa Pusey, and to Cathleen Schaad for the terrific design of the book.

Arnold, Caroline. Planting a Garden in Rom 6: From Seeds to Salad. photos by Caroline Arnold. 40p. (Life Cycles in Room 6). Charlesbridge. Mar. 2022. Tr $16.99.

ISBN 9781623542405.

PreS-Gr 3–In a relatable tale that combines process and joy, the children of Mrs. Best’s real-life kindergarten class are growing a garden! Arnold has photographed and told their story from beginning seeds to finished salad. The children are taught how to prepare the soil, how to plant the seeds, and how to water and nurture the seedlings. They are taught to keep the strong seedlings and to either compost or feed to the chickens the weaker ones. Mrs. Best explains how ladybugs help keep damaging bugs under control. The children learn what plants need support and to be patient and give everything time to grow. After three months, they are ready to harvest and make a salad for all to enjoy. In the back of the book, readers will find a listing of what parts of plants are edible, what garden tools to use, and common gardening questions. There is a very effective garden vocabulary page, as well as a list of online sources and books for further information.  

VERDICT With photography to illustrate each step, this is a delightful and informative book.

 

PREVIEW OF NEW BOOK: PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6 From Seeds to Salad

HOORAY! My advance copy of PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6: From Seeds to Salad (Charlesbridge, 2022) just arrived in the mail. It looks beautiful! Many thanks to my editor, Alyssa Pusey, and Catherine Schaad, the designer of the book, for making this such a special book. The official publication date is not until March 15, 2022, so this is just a sneak peak.

This is my third book with Mrs. Best and her kindergarten students. During the three months of the growing cycle, the children planted flowers and vegetables in raised garden beds in the play yard outside their classroom, measuring, caring for, and observing the plants up close as they learned firsthand about the growth cycle. The children’s enthusiasm was contagious as they learned about the garden plants and watched them grow. I am extremely grateful to Jennifer Best for her cooperation with this project and for being my expert reader. I couldn’t have done this book without her.

PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6 is a Junior Library Guild Gold selection. Although you won’t be able to buy PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6 until March, you can preorder it on Amazon now. Meanwhile, you can look for the other two books in the series, HATCHING CHICKS IN ROOM 6 and BUTTERFLIES IN ROOM 6.