Project: LITERACY CHAIN

On one of my school visits, I went into the library and found it festooned with paper chains.  When I looked closer, I saw that each link had the name of a book and the name of a child written on it.  The chains were a clever way of keeping track of all the books the children had read during the year.

Here's how you can make your own literacy chain:

• Cut strips of paper 1 inch wide and 8 ½ inches long.  When you finish reading a book, write the name of the book on a strip of paper.  Glue or tape the ends of the strip together to make a circle.  Do this with every book you read, connecting the circles to make a chain.  This is a good class or family project. You can use the chains to decorate a bulletin board, your room, the library, or at holiday time.

Author of the Month at UNABRIDGED

 Check out the Charlesbridge Publishing blog, Unabridged, where I am the Author of the Month for December!  I write about the background for my upcoming book Too Hot? Too Cold? and offer three cool activities that kids can do as extensions of the book:

• Hot Rocks

• Making a Wingspan Tape

• Cooling Thermometers. 

You can also see a photo of me and my brothers in the snow taken when I was ten years old.  My mother wrote on the back of the picture that the temperature that day was minus 14 degrees!

A WARMER WORLD, NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book

I was delighted to learn that A Warmer World is on the National Science Teachers Association Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 for 2013.  It is an honor to be on this select list and a reward for all the hard work by my editors and everyone at Charlesbridge.  Thank you!

The OSTB list now includes a wider range of books than ever before.  NSTA says: "Our vision of what we call science has broadened. The practices we use to explore the natural world and to create new products now include mathematics and engineering. We also recognize the importance of the arts, history, and human perspectives in these explorations. Science is not just one “way of knowing,” but many."

Here is a link to the list and the entry for A Warmer World:

http://www.nsta.org/publications/ostb/ostb2013.aspx?print=true

A Warmer World. Caroline Arnold. Charlesbridge.

Beautiful book with two levels: story line and facts about an important current issue and its effect on animals.

Art Auction and Banned Books Week

Boxing Kangaroos from A Kangaroo's World, pages 18-19

Update December 4:

Chris Finan reports a that over $7,500 has been raised in the holiday auction—a 50 per cent increase over last year.  It was clearly a very successful event!  I'm happy that I could be part of it.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) is holding a children’s art auction on eBay in support of the freedom to read.
The auction begins on eBay at noon, November 27 Eastern Standard Time, and will run through Dec. 3.  The auction homepage is http://myworld.ebay.com/abffe
I have contributed a giclee print from my book A Kangaroo’s World.  The art contributed to the auction doesn’t just raise money for ABFFE and the defense of the free speech rights of young readers--it also helps draw attention to Banned Books Week, held annually in September, which is the only national celebration of the freedom to read. ABFFE President Chris Finan says, “The Holiday Children’s Art Auction gives the public a rare opportunity to bid on art from some of the book industry’s leading artists and illustrators.  At the same time, they will be supporting the free speech rights of kids.”  ABFFE is a co-founder of the Kids’ Right to Read Project and a sponsor of Banned Books Week.
Check out the site and help contribute to this good cause!

Young Authors at LA's Best

Card made by Young Authors at Knox School

I recently visited three schools in Los Angeles to talk to children in the Young Authors Club program which is part of the LA's Best after school enrichment program.  Through the year, the children are learning about writing and illustrating and making their own books.  It was a delight to talk with them and share my creative process and to have them share their writing projects with me.

I Am Strong by student at Wilshire Crest School

The students begin by making books about themselves.  Of course, this guarantees that everyone has plenty to write about and that each book will be original!  Some of their titles included I Am Strong, I Am Pretty, I Am Mommy's Girl, I Am Happy and I Am Smart.  And every one had wonderful original illustrations too!


The author visits to LA's Best Young Authors clubs are funded by Target and coordinated through California Readers.

Cards for the Holidays at My Etsy Site

Need cards for the holidays?  To send?  To give as gifts? I continue to sell cards and prints based on the illustrations from my animal books at my Etsy site.  I have expanded my card collection and am now offering cards in a rectangular format, which allows me to show more of the image from my illustrations. Check out my site and see what’s new!  www.etsy.com/shop/CarolineArnoldArt

Playful Wild Goats: Writing Activity

"The two baby goats scampered across the rocky wall, their tiny feet clinging to the rough stone surface."  That's the beginning of my book WILD GOAT, now available as a digital book in the StarWalk Kids collection and at Amazon.  Visit Seymour Simon's Science Blog for more about the book and the opportunity to do a short writing activity.  Seymour posts a new activity each week on Wednesday.
Note: This exercise is designed to use in support of CCSS Reading/Informational Standard #6: Distinguish between information provided by pictures or other illustrations and information provided by the words in a text.
Review from SLJ of the 1990 print edition of WILD GOAT:  A beautiful, comprehensive text describes wild goats worldwide: history, life cycle, how they differ from other animals, and conservation efforts. The photos are touching, capturing the character and magnificence of these animals; the story is further personalized by focusing on two young Nubian ibex goats at the Los Angeles Zoo. ... The text is clearly written with exquisite photographs [by Richard Hewett.]