Bookscoops

The Scoop on Children & Adolescent Literature

Book Giveaway! Otto Grows Down by Michael Sussman illustrated by Scott Magoon

Posted by hollybookscoops on August 18, 2010

Otto Grows Down has wiggled its way right in to my heart. I have been loving on this book ever since I opened the front cover. I can’t keep it to myself any longer (big sigh) I think I will have to buy my own copy because this one has always been destined for a giveaway. Yeah for everyone else (see below for details on how to enter)! Children will love this humorous tale and beg for more. I can hardly wait to see what Sussman writes next!

How did Otto wiggle his way right into my heart? Well, first off, the mesmerizing illustrations remind me in a way of some of David Shannon’s work! (and I love David Shannon). Also, Otto Grows Down is a captivating tale of the consequences of our innermost selfish wishes. Otto’s childish innocence speaks right to that part inside me (and probably you too) that sometimes threatens to get in the way of peaceful family relationships. As many of you know, we at Bookscoops have added two (in Jen Robinson’s words) little ‘bookworms’ to our family this year. Which puts me in the perfect position to love Otto, having observed some of his characteristics in my very own children recently. I am happy to highly recommend Otto Grows Down as a great book to help with the new baby blues transition for older siblings. My four year old now emphatically says, “I do NOT want to take our baby back to the hospital!”

So, enough with the commentary, you want details, right?

Otto is a sweet little boy who has a new baby sister and on his 6th birthday, when he blows out the candles, he wishes that his sister had never been born. When he opens his eyes, his wish begins to come true, with unexpected consequences. Time begins to go backwards and Otto relives his life in reverse as he takes his baby sister back to the hospital, spits out his food at the dinner table, and slides up and climbs down all the playground equipment at school. Day after day, year after year, until Otto almost isn’t Otto anymore.

Hands down, my favorite line, and illustration?

“And going to the bathroom was downright disgusting.”

We laughed and laughed over this one at our house. Then we shared this book with everyone who visited and laughed and laughed some more. Otto Grows down will appeal to kids and adults of all ages. If you would like a chance to win this book, please enter the giveaway below. If you would like a chance to buy this book, it is available pretty much everywhere now, and is the perfect gift for a new older sibling. If I could go back in time, I would have given it to my older sister when I was born. No offense Cari, but maybe it would have saved me a special haircut or two.

Book Giveaway Details:

Bookscoops is giving away one hardback copy of Otto Grows Down, courtesy of Joanna Stampfel-Volpe at  Nancy Coffey Literary & Media Representation, to one lucky winner. You may enter the giveaway by linking  to this post, commenting on this post, sharing a tip of how to help kids adjust to new siblings, or a funny anecdote about new baby growing pains. Comments will close for the giveaway at midnight MST on August 26, 2010. I will be happy to ship the book to any winner within the continental United States. Thanks and happy commenting!

Check out Michael Sussman’s website and Scott Magoon’s for more information on their fantastic contributions to children’s literature.

Posted in Books for Boys, Books for Girls, Giveaways, Picture Books | 13 Comments »

The Doll Shop Downstairs by Yona Zeldis McDonough and Heather Maione

Posted by hollybookscoops on August 13, 2010

This was a fun, easy and educational read about a sweet family that lives above the doll-repair shop that they own. As immigrants, the family has adapted china repair skills they learned in their native country to fixing china dolls in America. The 3 Jewish sisters, enjoy playing with the ‘unfixable’ abandoned dolls who have not been claimed by their owners. When WWI begins, things become tense and difficult as doll parts are no longer available from Germany. Anna, the middle daughter decides she must find a way to help her family, and proposes the idea to make their own dolls. Nurse Nora, ’born’ after some trial and error is a big success and allows the Breittlemanns to survive the difficult economic times.

I really liked that this book is loosely based on the advent of Madame Alexander dolls, which I loved to play with and look at as a child. Any lover or former lover of dolls will find this story a fun addition to the fascinating world of dolls.

Posted in Books for Girls, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee by Chris Van Dusen

Posted by bookscoops on July 19, 2010

After taking a hiatus for a bit, our Double Scoops are back!!!! And we have several more in the works and can’t wait to get them up. So without further delay we bring you . . .

Many of our readers are on Summer vacation right now, and we here at Bookscoops think that A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee is the perfect  book to inspire you to enjoy one of summer’s many adventures- camping! Okay, so we sympathize with those of you who may not completely enjoy this form of vacationing, but it is one of America’s favorite past times, as it is the primary way our great nation was populated- you know those pioneers, who decided to walk all day and camp every night all summer long, until they found a new home to put down their roots? Just be glad that’s not the kind of camping we do today.

Holly: We found this adorable book a few years ago at our local school book fair. The illustrations just sucked us in. Especially since Mr. Magee is the spitting image of my father-in-law, who just so happens to have done a lot of camping in his days.

Cari: The illustrations are very detailed, I really like them.

Holly: There is actually another book starring Mr. Magee called Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee. It looks just as fun and full of magnificent gouache (sounds like squash) illustrations.

Cari: As I read this book I kept thinking that this is a style of art I wouldn’t mind in my own home.

Holly: You want your walls to be illustrated? That might be fun to feel like you were living in a book. . .

Cari: Yes, I would love for my walls to be illustrated! I actually looked on Chris Van Dusen’s website and he has prints for sale. It’s really great children’s art and I think it would be fun to have in a family room or in my dream home with a fabulous library.

Holly: Hmmm . . . or, if you can’t afford the actual prints, maybe you could buy an extra copy of the book to frame your favorite scenes. Am I going to get in trouble for this suggestion? I know people like big, beautiful art on their walls, but sometimes a big frame with a fun mat and a couple of coordinating scenes, is actually more attainable than an expensive print. I think that art in children’s literature is vastly underappreciated as well as underused. How often do you go to the library and see wonderful artwork framed on the walls in the children’s section of the library? You are lucky to have a mural, but for the most part, no art. I think we should start a movement to change this.

Cari: That is an interesting idea.

Holly: Yes, for many years illustrating children’s books has been overlooked as a quality art form. I think the emphasis has been on the author and the illustrator hasoften been an afterthought.

Cari: Don’t forget that there is the Caldecott award.

Holly: Yes, but that is for art in literature circles. I’m talking about art in art circles. I think illustrators deserve more credit- it takes a lot of hard work and talent to bring to life a picture book.

Cari: I think you’re right. I’ll have to give it some more thought. This art is very different from Mo Willems which is very minimalist in its nature. Van Dusen actually chooses to work in gouache so that he can be very detailed in his work. But, back to the story, are you and your family big campers?

Holly: We are not, but I am sure my husband would like us to become big campers. We occasionally go camping, and actually the first family reunion of my husband’s family (just think of me as Mr Magee’s new daughter-in-law) we ever had was a huge camping trip to the Redwoods of California. We had a lot of fun.

Cari: I first thought that this was an old book- you know the old library binding style threw me off and then with the camper actually looking like it came from the 50s, not to mention Mr. Magee and his converse shoes. . .

Holly: That’s what I like about it, because it seemed like it’s set in a simpler happy-go-lucky time.

Cari: I also like the rhyming in it. It introduces new vocabulary like ‘brook’ and trailer ‘hitch’- a great way to teach kids the definitions of words.  To write a whole book in rhyme is a lot of work. It reminded me of Doctor Seuss. Except that people might really consider putting Van Dusen’s illustrations on the wall. I probably wouldn’t with Dr. Seuss.

Holly: Yes, I remember when we reviewed Hiccupotomas and talked to Aaron Zenz- the rhyming text seems to be very difficult to pull off successfully. I really enjoyed the fun rhythm in this book. It almost seems like a talented song writer could put it to lyrics and we could all sing the story around a camp fire.

Cari: It’s a good lesson in why you don’t leave out food for bears. We have had family members encounter bears while camping and the root of it is food that is not properly stored. Bear encounters have been increasing, but I do like how the bear in the book rescues them because he thinks their hitch is a marshmallow.

Holly: Although that’s what got them into trouble in the first place- who would have thought that a nearsighted bear with a penchant for marshmallows could cause such trouble?

Cari: Yes. Reading it aloud is so much fun.

Holly: This book has a dream like quality and those of our readers who actually don’t like camping will be inwardly pleased at the conclusion of the book.

And now for our Trip Down Memory Lane:

As the oldest two in a family of nine children, we have many experiences camping. One summer we actually drove in a big 12 seater Red Ford Club Wagon through as many states as feasible, stopping at KOA camp grounds each night on our way to a family reunion in Missouri. KOA, for those of you who may not know is an international group of full-service campgrounds and an affordable way to vacation. Our first stop was in Wyoming, where our tent was blown over in the middle of the night by a really bad windstorm sweeping across the plains. Legend has it that it was actually a twister that went unreported.

The worst part of our trip was that we camped in Missouri when it looked like a thunder storm was coming. Our tent was an old fashioned canvas monster, and we only had a tarp big enough to cover one side. Our Dad, anticipating the direction of the rain, covered the most important side and we all went to sleep. Unfortunately, the storm circled around and poured on us from the other direction and we woke up to six inches of water in our tent. Our parents were on an air mattress and remained relatively dry along with the baby in the play pen. One brother slept through the whole thing in his wet sleeping bag. But, the rest of us were soaked from head to toe and decided to sleep in the van.

We spent most of the next day drying our sleeping bags out in the camp laundry facilities. All of us kids were thrilled that the KOA supervisor provided us with complimentary donuts in the morning (kids can be so easy to please). But from then on, if there was a cloud in the sky, we skipped the KOA and went straight for the Motel 6 where we jumped all over the beds and fought over the cable television instead of experiencing the great outdoors.

Top 10 Lessons we Learned Camping from Idaho to Missouri:

10. Have everyone sleep on air mattresses not just mom & dad. So if it does flood, everybody has a raft!

9. Check to make sure your tarp covers your tent BEFORE leaving on a camping trip.

8. You can not bring enough mosquite repellent for the mosquitos in Missouri.

7. Rain storms in the mid-west are NOT like rain storms in Western Idaho.

6. 50 States license bingo will only entertain your kids for so long. Bribing your children to be quiet by offering to pay them a penny per windmill they see might empty you of gas money, but at least they will be quiet for a while.

5. Hotels are never TOO expensive when faced with a ‘tornado’.

4.  Sleeping bags work surprisingly well as sponges.

3. Warn your kids about the dangers of Lyme disease from ticks and then shout hysterically every time you see a bug.

2. Never let your kids have a water drinking contest en route to your camping destination or you may never get there.

1. Don’t send the 10 year old to get milk at the KOA grocery, because he will come back with goat’s milk.

What are your favorite camping stories or books about camping?

Posted in Double Scoops, Picture Books | 4 Comments »

Purple Day Challenge Report and Thank You!!!!

Posted by caribookscoops on July 14, 2010

First off Holly and I would like to say thank you to all who participated. We  feel that our first Purple Day Mini-Challenge was a success and we could not have done that without the help of some loyal readers, family and friends. Not everyone was comfortable making comments in a public forum and I received several emails telling me that people were participating. We would like to spotlight the blog posts, authors, book bloggers and others who participated this year.

As this post is a bit late, I also wanted to give you an update on my daughter. Although it seems like whenever I do an update she has another seizure so I am a bit nervous. We are almost 3 months seizure free. Her last seizure was in mid-April, during the night. We are cautiously optimistic that her medication is starting to work, but again we won’t really know for several more months. The goal is to go at least 6 months seizure free and then 12 months, and at that point we will be fairly confident that the medication is working. Other than that we have enjoyed the summer, including swimming, reading, violin lessons and waiting for baby #3 to make his debut. Thanks again for all your support we hope by raising awareness we can bring more light to this disease and contribute to a cure with a monetary donation. Here are the participants:

Blogposts

Jessica – A good friend of Cari’s, who did the photo of Cari’s daughter, if you live in Utah check our her photography website.

Cynthia in Northern Utah – Daughter Ashlyn recently diagnosed with epilepsy. She went all out even decorating her front door purple.

Cristina @ Being Bertrand, Overcoming Movement Disorder – Her son has epilepsy and an undiagonosed genetic disorder,  and Cari met her through Lynn @ Infant Bibliophile. Cristina invited her to attend the Epilepsy Conference in Utah, for which Cari is very grateful.

Book Bloggers

Natasha Maw @ Maw Books, real life friend of Cari. Our children play together. Here are the links to her post about Purple Day and her review of Little Skink’s Tail.

Kim @ Good Clean Reads – Whose 4 year old son has epilepsy. Go read her post Our Epilepsy Story.

Barbara @ On the Bookcase Has had epilepsy for 40 years.

Stephanie @ Stephanie’s Written Word Whose daughter, Leah has epilepsy and Stephanie reviewed Becky the Brave, A Story About Epilepsy.

Britt @ Confessions of a Book Habitue – Had a baby the week of Purple Day and still managed to participate. You go girl! Our daughters are good friends and love playing together.

Sharon @ SherMeree’s Musings

Authors

Laurel Snyder – Author of Any Which Wall, Up and  Down The Scratchy Mountains and many more fun sounding titles. She also has had epilepsy from childhood. She wrote a lovely post about having epilepsy. As many of you know seizures occur when the brain has abnormal electrical activity. My favorite quote from her blog post ‘We are all human. Electric. Some of us more electric than others…”

Janet Halfmann – Author of Little Skink’s Tail, a family favorite.

Friends & Family

  • Cynthia W.
  • Cari’s In-laws
  • Cari’s Grandparents
  • Lisa O
  • Jaron
  • Kelson
  • Cindy O’Neil
  • Tynan
  • Kelly
  • Ben
  • Kris, president of the Epilepsy Association of Utah
  • Numerous other cousins, aunts and uncles

Again we’d like to thank everyone who participated in Purple Day. We are excited to announce that we raised an even $50.00 to donate to Citizen’s United for Research in Epilepsy – CURE founded by Susan Axelrod.  I chose CURE because of their relenting efforts to unravel the mystery of epilepsy and ultimately find a cure. From an article written by Susan Axelrod entitled Agony, Hope and Resolve as part of a feature Newsweek did on Epilepsy called The Mystery of Epilepsy: Why We Must Find a Cure.

“We must accelerate research efforts in the field now and address this age-old problem with the urgency and intensity that it merits. Despite the broad public impression, seizures are not a trivial inconvenience. Each and every seizure carries with it the risk of brain damage, physical harm or even death. Until society accepts this and recognizes epilepsy as the serious health problem that it truly is, progress will continue to lag. Too many young brains will be forever affected. Too many lives will be lost.”

Thanks again for everyone who participated and we are deeply touched by those who participated. We plan to do this next year and hope to raise even more money to help find a CURE.

Posted in Challenges | Tagged: , | 2 Comments »

Summer Reading Is Here!

Posted by hollybookscoops on June 21, 2010

You may be wondering how to help your kids find great books to read. We get lots of requests for recommendations, and while we are happy to share what we know, there are many different books, and many different readers! So, following please find a few recommendations categorized by genre. Some of our recommendations are series, others are authors. As lovers of literature- especially for children and adolescents, we believe that there are books out there for everyone.

Graphic Novels

Many parents initially balk at the label on this genre, simply because of its name. Graphic does not mean obscene or violent, it means illustrated (like a comic book). Graphic Novels are a type of comic book, generally longer than a traditional comic book, and tell a story beginning to end. They are especially great for reluctant readers or children learning English as a second language. Following is a list of some of our favorites and others that we know about but haven’t necessarily read. Cari has used them a lot at the middle school level and can attest to the fact that kids love them.

Some popular titles:

  • Rapunzel’s Revenge and Calamity Jack by Shannon & Dean Hale, illustrated by Nathan Hale
  • Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
  • Twilight by Stephanie Meyer and Young Kim
  • Joey Fly Private Eye
  • Jellaby
  • Into the Volcano
  • Star Wars Clone Wars
  • There’s A Wolf At the Door by Zoe B. Alley, Illustrated by R.W. Alley
  • Chess Rumble
  • Captain Underpants

Formulaic Novels

Another great idea for beginner readers. They tend to be fun and predictable, which is very good for gaining confidence and good reading skills.  Kids usually outgrow them eventually, but in the meantime here are some great series to keep your beginning readers occupied for the duration:

  • The Magic Tree House series (early elementary)- by Mary Pope Osborne and Sal Murdocca, educational and fun- what more could you ask for?
  • The Secrets of Droon (early to mid elementary) by  Tony Abbott (Author) and  Tim Jessell (illustrator)
  • Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene
  • The Hardy Boys by Frank W. Dixon
  • Animorphs by K.A. Applegate
  • Cabin Creek Mysteries by Kristiana Gregory- elementary age

Timeless Classics

Often it’s great to find a favorite author, and search for every book they’ve ever written. How many people have ever read the Jane Austen books before watching the movies? It’s definitely worth the incentive if you have a lot of hours to set up a read/watch marathon.

  • Lucy Maud Montgomery- the Anne of Green Gables series, Emily of New Moon series and various others
  • Louisa May Alcott- Little Women et al
  • Jane Austen- Pride and Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, Emma, etc.
  • The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Fantasy

  • Shadow Children Series (7 books!) by Margaret Peterson Haddix- Haddix is a prolific writer with a great variety of other literature to choose from as well.
  • The Land of Elyon (4 great books + a prequel) by Patrick Carman – with great games and more found at Scholastic
  • A Long Way From Chicago, A Year Down Yonder & On Wings of Heroes all by Richard Peck, one of our favorite authors! (OWH is a great family car trip audio, by the way).
  • Gregor The Overlander (5 books) by Suzanne Collins- especially great for boys late elementary to junior high
  • Princess Academy (one of Holly’s favorites) and Goose Girl (The Books of Bayern series) and Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

Other Book Lists

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

Bubble Homes and Fish Farts by Fiona Bayrock illustrated by Carolyn Conahan

Posted by hollybookscoops on May 24, 2010

I saw this book on display at the library and it spoke to me. “Take me home, your kids will love me!” I paused for a moment and thought to myself, “Do I really need this book?” I recalled a dinner conversation (or should I say argument?) that we had once while my husband was out of town. It was all about farts and whether or not cows or horses do it (yes, they do) and whether or not lots of other animals do. We finally had to resort to good old internet sources (wikipedia, anyone?) to solve the argument because my two oldest boys were sure that they were each right and that I didn’t know what I was talking about. So, as they finished their dinner, I looked up farting on the internet. To make a long story short, we learned a lot about digestion that night.

Bubbles are very useful! In the animal kingdom they are used for fishing, keeping warm, breathing, sailing, running. . . it’s amazing how many different uses bubbles have. For Herring, FaRTs (Fast Repetitive Ticks) are just another way of communicating.

I enjoyed all the useful information in this book. Bubble Homes and Fish Farts would make a very fun classroom tool. Each page spread is focused on one animal and its use of bubbles so it could easily be read a page or two at a time over the length of a fun science unit. Fiona definitely knows how to write about one of her loves which is “way cool science”. You can find more out about her at www.fionabayrock.com and you can learn more about the great illustrations by Carolyn Conahan at www.carolyndigbyconahan.com.

www.fionabayrock.com

Posted in Books for Boys, Books for Girls, Books for teaching Math and Science, Non-Fiction, Picture Books, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Don’t Be Afraid Little Pip by Karma Wilson & Jane Chapman

Posted by hollybookscoops on May 3, 2010

Little Pip is an adorable penguin who yearns to fly. Children may well recognize themselves in her stubborn refusal to try swimming. A fun lyrical adventure about trying something new for the first time. Filled with beautiful illustrations that bring summer and swimming lessons to mind. You need to check this book out if you are planning swimming lessons for a reluctant swimmer. 

My son really enjoyed the lyrical poems that Little Pip’s mentors coached her with, which made this such a great read-aloud.  We had a nice little discussion afterwards about how sometimes we are afraid to try new things. Just like Pip was afraid to try swimming. Although Pip wasn’t afraid to try flying, but I think that was because flying was something more familiar to her- she’d seen birds flying around before, but it’s hard to see what goes on in the deep dark depths of the ocean unless you actually go down there. My little guy was sure Pip was afraid of octopuses and whales and sharks and that’s why she didn’t want to swim. That actually makes sense. Kids sure are smart!

How do you help your kids try new things?

Posted in Books for Boys, Books for Girls, Children's Literature, Picture Books, Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

Purple Day Celebration Report

Posted by caribookscoops on March 27, 2010

On Thursday night we picked out my daughter’s outfit for Friday and changed her earrings to purple ones so she would be already for the big day. Yesterday was a teacher work day at school for me, which means no students, but I work with some awesome teachers. They wore purple ribbons made by my niece to show support for my daughter and at least a half-dozen other staff members who have family members with epilepsy.

I also made arrangements with my daughter’s wonderful kindergarten teacher and school administration to come in and do some activities for Purple Day. Then feeling in the Purple Spirit, I also contacted the mayor’s office over a week ago about declaring Purple Day for our city. Long story short Mayor JoAnn Seghini called me back personally, apparently her son had childhood epilepsy that he outgrew. The best is that she came to my daughter’s class yesterday and read a book about epilepsy called Taking Seizures to School by Kim Gosselin and illustrated by Moss Friedman. I love promoting literacy and epilepsy awareness at the same time. Mayor Seghini is a former educator who loves reading and she did an awesome job! If I could send her to other classes to read out loud with kids, not just for the epilepsy awareness, I would. She’s that good. Hopefully we make it into our local monthly newspaper, but the city will do a proclamation next month for sure.

A cute story from the reading of Taking Epilepsy to School.  While the mayor was reading the book a little boy said, “You said a bad word!” She said, “Did I? We’ll talk about it when we get done with the book.” So she finishes the book and asked the boy what was the bad word he heard and he replied, “stupid.” She agreed with him that it is a bad word because it is a mean word she continued by saying I think the author of this book used that word so you would know not to use it with people who have epilepsy or with anyone else. It is a mean word and it’s a good thing you know not to say it to other people.

In addition, we invited parents to come to the class so they could learn more about epilepsy. Another story made short is that one of the adults who came was recently diagnosed with epilepsy and was not aware of Purple Day. Because I had been in contact with the Epilepsy Association of Utah, the vice-president Margo Thurman attended and we were able to give the young lady some information about support groups and other resources. This young lady also mentioned that she has some other children’s books about epilepsy and she could bring them to the teacher if I was interested in looking at them. Being the book lover I am, I said yes!!!

Our family had a great Purple Day. I’d like to say thank you to the staff at my school, my daughter’s school, my niece who made lots of purple ribbons, the school nurse who loaned us the book, Mayor Seghini, The Epilepsy Association of Utah and for Megan Cassidy the founder of Purple Day who all helped make my daughter’s experience with Purple Day wonderful.

Soon, hopefully tomorrow I will post links to the bloggers, authors and others who are participating I have been very impressed with the level of support we have gotten for Purple Day especially with such short notice. If you are still interested in participating there is still time the Mini-challenge for Purple Day ends on March 31st.

Posted in News | Tagged: , | 5 Comments »

Becky the Brave: A Story About Epilepsy by Laurie Lears, Illustrated by Gail Piazza

Posted by caribookscoops on March 24, 2010

Becky the Brave: A Story About Epilepsy by Laurie Lears and illustrated by Gail Piazza is the only book I could find at either public library system in my area. I of course had to get my hands on it and within a week of my daughter’s diagnosis we were able to check it out. Gratefully, Lears does an excellent job in this book and my daughter really liked it. I tend to turn to books in times of crisis. Actually that’s probably an understatement, I look to books all the time to deal with life events. When my husband and I would ask her if she had any questions she would say ‘no’. However, after reading Becky the Brave she asked question after, after question, after question. I believe what Becky the Brave did for her was give the vocabulary and a story back drop in which to place her own experience with epilepsy. My daughter does not remember her seizures, which we are grateful for, but it does make it difficult to understand why all the fuss. I am so glad that our library system had a copy of this book.

The basic story is about two sisters, Becky the older one who has epilepsy and who is brave. They have recently moved and are attending a new school, which Sarah is not excited about. It is told from the point-of-view of her little sister Sarah who obviously adores her big sister. Becky is brave and not shy and even stands down a vicious dog when they are walking to school. Sarah also describes how brave Becky is in dealing with epilepsy and describes what happens then Becky has a seizure. One day Becky has a seizure at school and doesn’t want to return because she is afraid people will make fun of her. Sarah however turns out to be just as brave as her sister when she goes to get Becky’s homework and then talks to Becky’s classmates about epilepsy and how it just one part of her sister. Becky’s classmates, like a lot of people did not understand what was happening and needed some explanation of what epilepsy is and how to deal with it.

I would highly recommend this book for use with children with epilepsy or in a classroom to help other children (and adults) understand what epilepsy is about. I read this book to her class at school as well our church’s children’s group to help other children understand and be prepared in the event of a seizure. Lears does an excellent job with the research and I feel her portrayal of epilepsy is accurate. Gail Piazza’s illustrations definitely added to the text and helped add to the understanding of the whole story line. My daughter spent a lot of time studying the pictures and I think she does a good job of portraying a seizure without making it seem scary.

Visit Gail Piazza’s Website.

What other books to people recommend for children that deal with epilepsy or other issues?

This post is part of Bookscoops efforts to raise epilepsy awareness and is included in our Purple Day Challenge.

Posted in Picture Books | Tagged: | 1 Comment »

A Mini Challenge for Purple Day: Supporting Epilepsy Awareness Around the World on March 26

Posted by caribookscoops on March 21, 2010

Bookscoops is thrilled to announce that our blue theme is going purple this week!!!! My sister, Holly, and I are excited to host a Purple Day challenge. I recently learned about Purple Day, an international day to promote epilepsy awareness held on March 26th. Purple Day was started by a 9 year old girl in Canada named Cassidy Megan. Cassidy wanted to let other people with epilepsy, especially children, know that they are not alone. My daughter was very excited to learn that other children have epilepsy and our whole family plans to wear purple that day. We even went out and picked out a purple shirt for Dad. Holly and I decided to host a Purple Day challenge on our blog to join in Cassidy’s efforts to increase epilepsy awareness world wide.

Why is Bookscoops going Purple for Epilepsy?

My oldest daughter was diagnosed almost 5 months ago with epilepsy. She has Generalized Seizure Disorder and experiences Tonic-Clonic Seizures, formerly known as Grand Mal. This has been a painful journey as I have watched my daughter struggle with this disorder. She is very bright and full of potential. Epilepsy is only part of her as a human being as she loves to read, spend time with friends, swim and play violin. One of my biggest frustrations is the lack of information and misconceptions surrounding this disorder and particularly the lack of funding it receives. I feel that one of the best ways to help her deal with this is to raise awareness. Her life with epilepsy can be made easier and safer as more people know about this common disorder and learn how to respond with appropriate first aid.

Cari's Daughter in Purple - Photo by Jessie Lynne Photography click on photo for current giveaway

In addition, we wanted to raise awareness about epilepsy because it is the second most common reason people see a neurologist behind migraine. Epilepsy affects 50 million people world wide and about 3 million people living in the United States have epilepsy. More people have this condition than multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and Parkinson’s disease combined. Unfortunately, a lot of myths and false ideas are still being perpetuated about epilepsy (such as it is a mental condition or that epilepsy is contagious). Some of these misconceptions have caused many people to become isolated and live in fear and shame that someone will find out about their condition and many people have faced discrimination based on their medical diagnosis.

Who Can Participate and How to Participate?

There are number of ways to participate in our first annual Purple Day Challenge and because we love to promote literacy we are combining both reading and Purple Day starting on March 21st and ending on March 31st. While our blog focuses on children and adolescent literature we are inviting anyone to go purple!!!! So that means any person, book blogger or blogger who wants to promote Purple Day may participate. To make this easy on you (and us) choose any or all of the following.

  1. Post the Purple Day Button on your blog starting on Sunday March 21st through Saturday March 27th and write a post promoting Purple Day. Please note we have received permission to use the Purple Day logo as part of this challenge. If you choose this option you must read and agree to the copyright notice on the Purple Day website by using the logo you are stating that you have read and agree to their terms of use. Two sizes of buttons are at the bottom of this post.
  2. Read a book about epilepsy and post a review. For a list of books for children go to Epilepsy.Com.
  3. Read a book by or about a famous person with epilepsy and post a review. Cari’s daughter’s favorite so far is The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story Behind Bob and Joe Switzer’s Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors, which also is a Cybils winner for 2009. Some names you might know are Harriet Tubman, Alfred Nobel and Charles Dickens and more recently actor Danny Glover, football player Alan Faneca and track star, Florence Griffin Joyner known as Flo Jo. For a more complete list visit The Epilepsy Foundation or if you’re a fan of Wikipedia see the List of Famous people with Epilepsy, which to be honest seems to be the best documented list we’ve found so far.
  4. Read a book that promotes self-confidence and acceptance in children and post a review. Suggested books so far with a very appropriate title, Purplicious by Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann and Little Skink’s Tail by Janet Halfmann, illustrated by Laurie Allen Klein.
  5. If you or a family has dealt with epilepsy write a post sharing your experience.
  6. Wear purple on March 26th and tell people why you are wearing purple.
  7. Click on the link to watch the 60 Minute Special on Epilepsy and write about what the things that you learned you in a blog post, or if you don’t have a blog put it in the comments for this post.
  8. Have an idea not listed above submit it and we’ll give you another entry. Cari’s niece is making 600+ purple ribbons for her school. So if you think of something put a comment in the comments below.

For every entry we receive, Cari will donate 25¢ per entry for a total of fifty dollars to a non-profit organization that works towards epilepsy awareness and/or research and Holly will match Cari’s donation. Multiple entries are possible. One entry equals doing one of the seven items listed above.

Our Goals for this Challenge

Our goal is three-fold 1) to promote Purple Day and raise epilepsy awareness, 2) to dispel myths surrounding epilepsy and 3) to compile a more comprehensive list of books that portray epilepsy and/or people with epilepsy accurately, especially for children. Finally we do hope to raise some money for epilepsy awareness.

How to Enter and When Does it End?

Sign-up in the comments below telling us who you are and what you are planning on doing to participate. Make sure you leave a link to your blog. If you post about this challenge please leave us a link in the comments to your post and we will put together a list of everyone who participated with links to their blog posts as the week progresses. The Purple Day mini-challenge begins on March 21st and ends March 31st, midnight MST.

Rewards for this Challenge:

We would love to offer prizes, but at this point we don’t have anything to offer except the good feeling that you are helping other people become aware of a disorder that affects millions of people world wide. We might consider it for future years. However, remember Cari is willing to donate .25¢  up to a total of fifty dollars and Holly will match her donation to a non-profit organization that works towards epilepsy awareness and/or research for each person who commits to participate by doing any of the 8 options above. See above for details of how to enter and participate.

Non-profit Groups that promote Epilepsy Awareness, Education and Fund Research

Consider donating to one of the groups below:

Purple Day – Founded by nine-year old Cassidy Megan to promote global epilepsy awareness.

CURE Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy – raises money for epilepsy research.

Epilepsy Foundation an organization dedicated to advocacy, education and research.

Epilepsy Association of Utah – The group in Cari’s state dedicated to educating the public and supporting persons and their families with epilepsy.

Anita Kaufman Foundation – Dedicated to educating the public to not fear epilepsy.

Purple Day Button

We have provided two sizes for the button. If you would like to use the Purple Day Button you must read and agree to the copyright notice on the Purple Day website by using the logo you are stating that you have read and agree to their terms of use.

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