A double shout out to Janet Halfmann whose Animal Teachers has received the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio’s 2014 Best Books Gold Seal. Here’s a link to the announcement:
http://www.toyportfolio.com/SingleProduct.php?ProductID=8201. Here’s what the Toy Portfolio had this to say about Animal Teachers: “How do animals learn? They don’t go to school or have books. In a charming and informative book, they learn from their teachers, their mothers, fathers and sometimes the herd they live with in the great outdoor classroom of the world. Each new idea is followed with interactive questions that give children a chance to make the connections between their world and how they learn.”
Janet says her Eggs 1, 2, 3 won the same award a couple years ago.
Janet also reports that Animal Teachers appears in the latest newsletter of the Environmental Education Association of Illinois with this mention: “This book embodies the importance of sound science with the work that we do as interpreters/educators. The possibilities for having students bark like prairie dog pups and drink like elephant Moms are endless.”
Jessica Salyer‘s YA contemporary romance novel, Secret Catch, which she wrote with Cassie Mae is debuting October 7. To celebrate, she’s having a book launch party at Moe’s Irish Pub in Wauwatosa at 6 pm on October 17 and hopes friends, colleagues and other interested folks will join her there.
Valerie Biel (Johnson) says the official release of her YA novel Circle of Nine–Beltany is October 24, coincidentally the first day of the WISCBWI Fall Conference. Here’s the book’s back cover blurb: “Since I was a little girl I’ve been labeled a freak in my small town. There’s no blending in when your mom practices an ancient pagan religion and everyone believes she’s a witch. On my 15th birthday my secret wish is the same as always – to just be normal. But that’s not what I get. Not even close.” – Brigit Quinn
More info is at Valerie’s website at www.ValerieBiel.com, including book-giveaway contests from now until the 24th via her blog, Facebook page, and Twitter.