early readers and chapter books

coming soon to a blog near you!

~ jama ~ 13 Comments

T&P1BLOGTOURBANNER

Five . . . four . . .  three . . . two . . . one —

It’s almost lift off time for Erik Weibel’s very first blog tour for his very first book!!

If you’re a cool reader in the know, you’ve probably been following Erik’s insanely awesome blog, This Kid Reviews Books, which he started when he was just nine. He’s still going strong and defying all expectations at age 11 by publishing The Adventures of Tomato and Pea, Book 1: A Bad Idea, a chapter book for ages 7-10. It’s currently available in both paperback and ebook formats.

Come September 8, Erik will kick off The Official Adventures of Tomato and Pea Blog Tour at This Kid Reviews Books, the first of 15, count ’em, 15 (!) crash landings stops at various blogs in the kidlitosphere.

Here’s a synopsis of Erik’s book:

For years the evil villain Wintergreen had tried to destroy super crime-stopper, Tomato and his sidekick, Pea, and take over planet Oarg. In a plan gone wrong, Wintergreen traps himself along with his arch-nemesis in a runaway rocket ship that crashes on a strange planet called “EAR-TH”. Now these perennial enemies must learn to work together to survive the dangers on this strange world. Hungry birds, enormous snakes and the giant inhabitants of EAR-TH stand between this brawling bunch of aliens and finding a way home.

BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE

September 8:  This Kid Reviews Books – Cover Reveal and Announcements

September 9:  Michelle Isenhoff’s Blog – Book Review

September 10:  KidLit Reviews – Book Review

September 11:  Mother Daughter Book Reviews – Book Review

The Story Reading Ape – Guest Post by Erik

September 12:  Catherine Johnson’s Blog – Book Review

September 13:  Julie Grasso’s Blog – Book Review

By Word of Beth – Book Review and Giveaway

September 14:  The Patient Dreamer (Diane Tulloch’s Blog) – Book Review

September 15:  Picture Books Help Kids Soar – Book Review

September 16:  Susanna Leonard Hill’s Blog – Interview and Q&A with Commenters and Giveaway

September 17:  Reading with Rhythm – Book Review

September 18:  Julie Rowan-Zoch’s blog – Interview

September 19:  Dr. Nana Plum’s (AKA Dr. Niamh Clune)  – Book Review in Rhyme

September 20:  S.W. Lothian’s blog – Book Review

* * *

Erik1
The one and only Erik the Great, whose future plans include taking over the world.

BUCKLE UP AND GET READY FOR A BLAST!!

PLEASE HELP SPREAD THE WORD!!

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Copyright © 2013 Jama Rattigan of Jama’s Alphabet Soup. All rights reserved.

cornelius discovers iva honeysuckle

~ jama ~ 16 Comments

While we were busy Poetry Potlucking last month, Candice Ransom’s brand new chapter book,  Iva Honeysuckle Discovers the World (Disney/Hyperion, 2012), was released into the wild.

With her loyal canine companion Sweetlips, Iva embarked on her very first adventure — to find buried treasure right in her own little hometown of Uncertain, Virginia. Cornelius loved the book so much he read it three times in a row and was thrilled when we told him we were going to surprise Candice at her Book Launch Party. He was hoping he might get to eat some Preacher Cookies like Iva did in the book.

So, on a beautiful sunny Saturday, we headed down to the bbgb Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia — “bbgb” standing for “bring back good books,” “buy a book give a book,” or whatever else you like (Cornelius says, “bears believe in good books”).

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judy palaferro dishes about horace’s big hat!

~ jama ~ 8 Comments

Hats On, Hats Off — to Judy Palaferro for creating this brand new uber cool emerging reader picture book!

You may remember how much the alphabet soup kitchen helpers loved her Color Bears board book that came out last year. Well, ever since Horace’s Big Hat (Umbrage Books, 2011) arrived, they’ve been oohing and ahhing over all the delightful spreads and trying on every hat in the house.

In this exuberant riff on the “What do I want to be when I grow up?”  theme, our boy Horace tries on 12 different hats — yes, BIG ones, as he imagines himself in various professions (construction worker, baker, referee, fireman, cowboy, and artist, to name a few).

In each scenario, he’s surrounded by the “tools of the trade,” a colorful, endlessly vibrant, highly detailed smorgasbord of discovery. His adventures take him to a prairie, India, London, even the high seas. Whether he dons an artist’s beret, a turban or hard hat, he has loads of fun exercising his imagination, while the objects in each spread provide valuable visual clues to help the emergent reader figure out the words in the text.

Judy’s here to tell us a bit more about Horace and the fun she had working on this book. We thank her for sharing some finished art as well as early drafts.

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chatting with hallie durand about no room for dessert

~ jama ~ 11 Comments

Put on your favorite bibs, Hallie Durand is here!

Those of you familiar with the indescribably delicious early chapter books featuring the irrepressible Dessert Schneider (who is synonymous with fun, surprises, a little mischief, lotsa spunk and –*wait for it* — fondue), are in for a treat.

You may remember when I featured Dessert First, where we first met this enterprising third grader who loves all things sweet and tries to convince her parents (who own a fondue restaurant) that they should eat dessert before dinner. Remember how she scarfed down an entire pan of double decker chocolate bars?  Clearly a book with my name written all over it. In Just Desserts, Dessert forms the Annoying Siblings Club, since as the eldest of four kids, she’s more than qualified to lead the charge against pesky brothers and sisters.

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soup of the day: ling & ting: not exactly the same! by grace lin

~ jama ~ 2 Comments


 photo credit: Alexandre Ferron.

Polka dot polka dot. Hip hip hooray!!

Guess who’s got a brand new book officially out today?

Two clues:

  1. She’s one of my all-time favorite children’s author/illustrators.
  2. She likes to bake cupcakes.

Yes, Newbery Honor winner Grace Lin has done it again! Her new early reader, Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same! (Little, Brown, 2010), packs a double wallop because it’s all about twins. If it’s possible to love a book twice as much as I should, I’m guilty times two.

How could I possibly resist these adorable imps? Everyone tells Ling and Ting they are exactly the same, but in six interconnected vignettes, they show us just how different they are — in personality and abilities.

In the first story, the girls get a haircut. Ling sits still and gets a nice clip, but Ting’s a bit of a wriggle worm, sneezing when hair falls on her nose. “Oh no!” She ends up sporting a cutting edge (giggle) set of bangs for the rest of the book. An ingenious way to set the stage, making us want to read more of their amusing antics.

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