Personalized Childrens Books

In an editorial several years ago, I described a tree house in the backyard of a local restaurant. I wrote, “The entire structure has been pieced together from recycled lumber, much of which still bears the paint, logos or posters of the original walls from whence it came. The generous platform is ringed by a sturdy fence that includes branches of the tree itself, random two-by-fours, wooden signs, and even a pair of moose antlers. The ‘house’ is more of a lean-to, tall enough for kids (but not adults) to stand up inside, with a screened door and two screened windows positioned so occupants can easily spy on the diners below or out over the adjacent parking lot. A green padded bench that looks like it had once belonged in a diner adequately furnishes the space. Underneath the tree house hangs a rope swing, from which kids can fling themselves into a thick layer of hay on the grass.”

Fast forward to this summer. The restaurant revamped their backyard, including the tree house. The railing now consists of uniform boards about three inches apart. The house is reached not by a ladder and trapdoor, but via a bona fide staircase. The screen door is gone, the windows are covered in glass, and several of the tree’s branches have been pruned back to discourage climbing. But the worst part, according to my 10-year-old, is that the rope swing has disappeared. Matthew declared the whole structure “boring.” In today’s world, kids have far less freedom than in previous generations. Their lives are more controlled-sometimes because of parents’ fears of an increasingly dangerous society, but often because we’ve somehow come to believe that to grow into successful adults, children’s activities must be channeled, scheduled and programmed from infancy.

Danger comes in many forms, from a stranger encountered on the way to school (who may be a neighbor out walking his dog, but you never know), to free time not filled with “enriching” activities. But, in my opinion, kids need a little danger in their lives. They need to test their boundaries, to learn how to climb a ladder and squeeze through a trapdoor. They need to hurl themselves into a pile of hay and learn it’s best not to land on your face. If grown-ups clean up their world too much, kids will never learn how to push themselves. They’ll never have the satisfaction of trying things that are a little scary, a little off their parents’ radar, and accomplishing something that belongs just to them.

One of the few places kids can still push their limits is with books. It’s possible to step outside your safe life with a story, or try new ideas on for size. But many adults want to clean up their kids’ reading choices as well. I know parents who abhor Barbara Park’s perennially popular Junie B. Jones chapter books because the spirited Junie isn’t a good role model, or won’t read Winnie the Pooh because Christopher Robin can’t spell very well. I also know a lot of authors who are afraid to write books that are slightly subversive because they worry editors won’t publish them. But for every parent who insists on only “safe” reading for their child (and it’s every parent’s right to do so), there are at least two parents who believe it’s okay for kids to wade into the danger zone through fiction. I’m not advocating murder mysteries for preschoolers here, just books that might be considered slightly uncivilized, or more entertaining than educational. Let’s look at some popular examples:

When I first saw Walter, the Farting Dog by William Kozwinkle and Glenn Murray, illustrated by Audrey Colman (a picture book whose plot needs no explanation), I was worried that children’s publishing might be sinking a little too low. But as it started winning awards and spawning sequels, I changed my opinion. Let’s face it: farting makes kids laugh. And if your child finds this book hysterical, you should be glad. In order to get the joke, kids need to know that noisy bodily functions are considered impolite. Laughing about them is one of the perks of childhood. Don’t worry, they’ll outgrow it.

A picture book coming out this December that’s already creating a buzz is 17 Things I’m Not Allowed to Do Anymore by Jenny Offill, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter. The heroine utters such statements as “I had an idea to staple my brother’s hair to his pillow. I am not allowed to use the stapler anymore.” She also glues her brother’s bunny slippers to the floor, and shows Joey Whipple her underpants. Both big No’s. This ingenious story should satisfy two camps of parents; those who want kids to see consequences for inappropriate behavior, and those who don’t mind letting their kids live vicariously through a curious, mischievous character. A pop-up book due out later this month from three publishing powerhouses-Maurice Sendak, Arthur Yorinks and Matthew Reinhart-lets young children face the monsters hiding in their closets and come out on top. In Mommy?, a young boy wanders into a haunted house looking for his mother and encounters creatures like a goblin, a mummy, and Frankenstein. Instead of running scared, the boy pulls pranks on each monster, deflating their power and showing how humor conquers fear every time.

Speaking of scary, if you haven’t read any of the enormously popular Series of Unfortunate Events middle grade novels by Lemony Snicket, do so. With titles like The Bad Beginning, The Miserable Mill, and The Penultimate Peril, and cautions from the author such as, “If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book,” these are clearly stories where adults dare not tread. But children brave enough to venture between the covers will find hilarious plots full of nail-biting twists. The intelligent Baudelaire orphans have unusual skills (Violet for inventing, Klaus for reading and researching, and baby Sunny for biting) that make them admirable heroes.

Lauren Myracle enters the private world of teen girl talk in her young adult novels TTYL and TTFN. The titles alone might raise some parents’ suspicions because unless they’re well-versed at IM (instant messaging), they won’t know what the abbreviations stand for. In fact, the entire novels consist of conversations between three high school girls written in emails, text-messaging and IM’s, using the standard computer shorthand that includes abbreviated spelling and quirky syntax. If you’re not an IMer yourself, you’ll find the books somewhat difficult to read. But you and I aren’t the target audience here. And though the format might keep adults from examining the books too closely, the plots are standard upper young adult fare-relationships, family trauma, peer pressure, even drugs and alcohol-handled in a believable manner that conveys growth of character by the end of each story.

As an author, if you’re inspired to delve into the slightly dangerous, dark or subversive corners of childhood with your books, feel free to do so. Don’t limit yourself to all that’s bright, safe and up to code. Allow kids places where they can wander away from their parents’ watchful eyes and have an adventure. If the adventure’s in a book, they’ll always come home safe and sound. And if you’re still not convinced, consider this: In the backyard of the restaurant, the tree house now sits empty. But the books I’ve described above are flying off the shelves.

This article excerpted from Children’s Book Insider, The Newsletter for Children’s Writers. More information at http://write4kids.com

Laura Backes
http://www.articlesbase.com/careers-articles/writing-childrens-books-take-chances-to-get-published-70603.html

Audio books can be downloaded from the Internet, purchased in bookstores or borrowed from libraries. They come in a variety of formats: CD, cassette and as a download to a computer or MP3 player. There are free audio book sites, rental audio books sites and clubs where you need to be a member to download audio books.

Free Websites

The Website Audible.com is a membership site that offers many benefits. The members can choose 1 digital audio book each month for up to 75% savings from regular retail prices. They also receive a free audio download each week. Members are offered daily discounts and member only exclusive offers. The site boasts of World-class Customer Service. They have two plans to choose from: Platinum and Gold.

http://AudioBooksForFree.com is a MP3 file audio book site. Registration is free, but membership is $100 USD per year. Categories are children, animal, train tales, fairy tales, and serials, grown up books, science arts, Christian books, jokes, poetry and songs.

http://Audiobooks.org features free books such as Robinson Crusoe, A Tale Of Two Cities and a Christmas Carol. They also have free samples and links to other publishers and sellers and to itunes. You can download the iTunes player right on the site, should you need to do so.

http://LearnOutLoud.com is a Website where you can find free audio books for business, on religion, self-development, sports and hobbies, travel, technology, science, politics, literature, history and many other categories. They have a free audio book of the month, a main catalog page, a free directory of audio books, and they can offer recommendations based on your selection history and registration. They also list free resources on their site including a directory of other free audio and video learning sites.

Rental Sites

The http://simplyaudiobooks.com site is where you can rent audio books, download audio books or buy them right on the site. There is a DL club List, and audio book club, audio books on CD and Talking Books for Kids (a selection of audio books geared for young kids to entertain them and provide audible learning.

http://Rentbooksontape.com is a Audio Book Club Website.

http://Jiggerbug.com is another Audio Book Rental Club where you can enjoy unlimited audio book rentals every book with free shipping and awesome customer service.

Buying Audio Books Online

http://spokenalliance.com has just about everything you could want in audio book selection. They have free audio books, unabridged audio books, downloadable MP3 audio books, and free audio books. They have sections on featured audio books, new audio books, tv and film audio books and every category of audio book imaginable. This is not a membership site, so no member fee. They do have a Newsletter to keep customers informed of new additions to the site. They have a Buying Guide, and instructions on how to download to a MP3 player, how to burn a CD, and how to download to your iPod.

http://Blish.com is a huge audio book site that has a category for every book taste. The categories include: antiques, careers, children’s, classic literature, cooking and food, current events, crime, drama, economics, education, essays, fantasy, fiction, finance, folklore, foreign language, government, health and fitness just to name a few. Blish makes it easy for customers to download right from the site.

Buying audio books online is easy as most audio books are downloadable. A lot of the audio book sites have forums where users can share experiences and opinions on books they have listened to.

Johnny
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/ways-to-obtain-audio-books-online-106921.html

As a parent and former elementary school teacher, one of my favorite authors is Joe Hayes. And one of my favorite books is Tell Me A Cuento/Cuéntame Un Story, a collection of four of his most popular tales in both English and Spanish. If you are not familiar with Joe Hayes, he is the author of numerous bilingual folktales for children, and has earned a distinctive reputation as a master storyteller of southwestern tales.

In this 64 page paperback, Joe Hayes encourages children to interact with the stories through his colorful language, and teams up with illustrator Geronimo Garcia to provide vivid illustrations that brighten every page.

4 Stories in English and Spanish

The first tale, Mariposa, Mariposa is the story of the Butterfly who sews herself a fancy new dress and attracts attention from many suitors. Written in pattern so listeners can predict what comes next, it eventually explains why butteflies look and behave the way they do.

The second story, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Oh!, is similar in style to an Irish tale. The elves dance and sing in the forest at night, and when the kind-hearted poor woman helps them with their song, she is rewarded. This makes the rich woman jealous and you can see where this goes. A great story for exploring the common theme of kindness vs. greed and a lovely book for music and art curriculum connections as well.

Next, No Way, José! tells the story of a bossy rooster who wants to sing at the wedding of his Uncle Perico but he gets his handsome beak dirty eating a berry. He tries to tell others what to do but gets the same response from each one. This cumulative tale builds into a chant with each new encounter and allows all students to get involved and build language.

And finally, in The Terrible Tragadabas, we meet Little Bitty, Middle Size, and Great Big, three granddaughters who are sent to the store to buy little cakes and honey, only to find out about the Tragabadas. Reminiscent of the Three Billy Goats Gruff, this story takes a slightly scary turn. Children absolutely love it!

And… a bonus for all you parents and teachers out there. The publisher, Cinco Puntos Press, offers free teaching resources for each of the four stories. To purchase the book, go to www.sunriseimports.net/tellmeacuento.html. To download the accompanying teacher’s guide, go to www.cincopuntos.com/teachers_guides.html.

Tell Me A Cuento: Cuentame Un Story

Told by Joe Hayes, Illustrated by Geronimo Garcia

Recommended for 8 years and up

Sheila Hull-Summers
http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/childrens-books-tell-me-a-cuentocuntame-un-story-53380.html

There’s no denying the fact that most people hated reading as kids. Only a few kids enjoy reading, especially if there is an alternative.

Ironically, kids enjoy story telling and could remember stories if they heard it from someone.

Audio books have now made it possible for children to get better access to materials that they don’t like reading.

Of course they must still read, but reading any material and still hearing it makes the reading much more interesting.

Many schools have now taken audio books not just to the homes of their students but also in the classrooms.

Experts in the educational sector have agreed that audio books in the classrooms go a long way to help students more than normal books, especially those students who are just beginning to read or those who have difficulty in reading.

Here is how audio books can help engage children in their learning

1. Using audio books to teach children in school gives them “variety”. Instead of just listening to their teacher, they benefit from the change that comes with “another” teacher.

2. There are specific audio books prepared with children in mind that are not only educative but very entertaining. These types of audio books make learning much more fun than normal teaching.

3. Using audio books to teach kids in school will give the teachers more time to prepare for the next lesson. The teachers can play the audio book for the children while doing something else.

4. For children with reading difficulties, they can slowly follow the readings from audio books until it feels comfortable to read.

Simply following an audio book to read along while looking at the printed material in front of them can increase their learning skills by a very high percentage.

5. Audio books save money. Instead of buying dozens of books for a classroom, just one audio book can be played for all the students in the classroom.

There are certain audio book rental services on the Internet, such as Jiggerbug.com that allows teachers to rent as many audio books as possible at very low cost. This is much more cost effective than having to buy even a single audio book.

6. Audio books that tell interesting stories are very helpful in times when the children have become too tired to read and study.

Most importantly, popular stories that children love, will be very interesting for them to listen to.

7. Children don’t particularly like printed books as much as they do audio books. It feels much more comfortable for them to “listen” to an audio book than “read” a book.

8. Audio books also have children deal with the pronunciation of certain words that they would have difficulty with when merely reading them. By hearing the pronunciation and seeing it printed, they would better grasp it.

All in all, most children find it a great deal of fun listening to a lesson on audio, rather than having to read it. That is why children spend a lot of time watching movies, rather than reading.

No wonder more schools are embracing the technology of audio books for teaching their children. And with services available freely on the Internet now, it is now more cost effective than ever.

anonymous
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/how-audio-books-can-help-engage-children-in-their-learning-91172.html

It is always a challenge to get children to sit down quietly and read a book, especially kids who are just beginning to read or those who have difficulty in reading, audio books is a good way to integrate fun and interaction in learning.

Parents can now have an easier time in teaching their kids with audio books.

Educational experts have agreed that books with narration are easier for kids to absorb and remember. Kids enjoy story telling and could remember stories if they heard it from someone.

Many schools have now taken audio books not just to the homes of their students but also in the classrooms.

Here is how audio books can help engage children in their learning

1. Parents can have an ease of mind when they send their kids to school. Kids will no longer be crying their way to school. With audio books, children will enjoy going to school as audio books provide interesting books that arouse children’s interest and attention. Children tend to be more attentive if there is a third party talking and speaking to them. With narration and sound effects, it is sure to get children to remember information better.

2. Audio books can make learning more entertaining than conventional teaching. Your children will be excited and keen to learn more from exciting audio books.

3. Using audio books to teach kids in school allows teachers to have more time in planning more well-thought and interesting programs and teaching materials for your children

4. Children with reading difficulties can listen and follow the books simultaneously. This could promote their interest in reading and allow them to learn as they listen. Most importantly, popular stories that children love, will be very interesting for them to listen to.

5. Audio books save money for the parents and storage space for the school as teachers don’t have to buy and store up tons of books for a classroom, just one audio book can be played for all the students in the classroom.

6. Children don’t particularly like printed books as much as they do audio books. It feels much more comfortable for them to “listen” to an audio book than “read” a book.

7. Audio books can also help children deal with the pronunciation of certain words that they would have difficulty with when merely reading them. By hearing the pronunciation and seeing it printed, they are able to remember and pronounce it better.

No wonder, audio books is getting more popular among parents and teachers. They can easily assess children books at the popular audio bookstore like Merlion Audio Bookstore for a wide collection the all time classic stories such as Alice in Wonderland,Hans Christian Henderson’s Fairy Tales, a wide collections of Chronicles of Narnia and a series of fairy tales such as the Three Little Pigs, Tom Thumb, Goldilocks, The Emporer’s New Clothes, Hansel & Gretel and many more.

anonymous
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/how-audio-books-can-help-engage-your-children-in-their-learning-96472.html