📚 Homeschool: Our Top Resources for Keeping Kids Busy at Home

Kids at Home? Try Our Homeschool Resources

Are you trying to keep at-home kids busy and engaged thanks to COVID-19? We've consolidated our educational resources and activities all in one place. Turn your toilet paper rolls into Abi Cushman's adorable bear character from SOAKED! Try your hand at engineering design just like airplane designer Emma Lilian Todd (WOOD, WIRE, WINGS). Bake a blueberry pie with a recipe from Kelly Carey (HOW LONG IS FOREVER?, illos. by Qing Zhuang). Learn about 1920, the year women won the vote alongside THE VOICE THAT WON THE VOTE (Elisa Boxer). There's more to explore on our site. Click here!

Graphic by Abi Cushman

It's a bumper crop of spring releases this month. Hop on over to our website to learn more about these fabulous books and their creators.

We encourage you to subscribe to our blog, so you don't miss a single book birthday (or any other) post.

You're invited to celebrate THE ELEPHANTS' GUIDE TO HIDE-AND-SEEK (illos. Gladys Jose) with Kjersten Hayes on April 13. Find details and RSVP at Pen & Story. 

A Recipe for Sharing HOW LONG IS FOREVER? By Kelly Carey

How Long Is Forever? is celebrating its book birthday today and I’m thrilled to make my author debut alongside debut illustrator Qing Zhuang.

In How Long is Forever?, Mason is waiting for the first blueberry pie of the season and it’s taking forever. At least that’s what Mason thinks, until Grandpa asks him to prove it and sends Mason searching the family farm to find the meaning of forever. 

Read more here.

Book Birthday for TOO STICKY! in the Time of Coronavirus by Jen Malia

April 1 is my book birthday! It’s time to celebrate all of the hard work that went into making my debut children’s picture book, TOO STICKY! SENSORY ISSUES WITH AUTISM, illustrated by Joanne Lew-Vriethoff, for Albert Whitman & Co. The story is about an autistic girl with sensory issues who has to overcome her fear of sticky hands to participate in a slime experiment at school. I’m especially excited to raise autism awareness and acceptance with the launch of Too Sticky! on April 1, the first day of Autism Awareness Month.

Read more here.

Wanted: Humorous Picture Books During Dark Times by Melanie Ellsworth

There is nothing funny about a global pandemic. Uncertainty doesn’t lend itself to humor. However, these last few days, finding opportunities to smile or even laugh out loud have helped me face somber news with more clarity and perspective.

Read more here.

A bevy of new book covers...click on the covers to learn more

Don't forget, you can see all our covers and preorder on our website.

📣 New book deals 📚

Soaring '20s in the news and on the road

• Several Soaring '20s creators were featured on KidLit.TV. Tune in here.

• Fab Book reviews also hosted several of our spring creators here. 

• Many of the Soaring '20s team will appear at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) conference in November. Presentations include "Puzzling Together the Truth: Author-Tested Tricks for Sifting through Sources in the Digital Age" featuring Kirsten W. Larson, Lindsay H. Metcalf, Angela Burke Kunkel, Jen Malia, Saira Mir, Christina Soontornvat, and Colleen Paeff. Lindsay also will appear on Heroes of Their Own Stories; Narrative Nonfiction: Writing Un-Put-Down-able True Stories That Sing; and Looking In, Speaking Out: Poetic Biography, Social Justice, and Student Voice. Jen also will present Autistic Author and Author-Educator Tips for Promoting Autism Acceptance in Classrooms, while Rajani LaRocca will present Songs of Ourselves: First-Generation Writers on the Search for Home.

• Rajani LaRocca celebrated math with her ReFoReMo post. Her middle-grade book, MIDSUMMER'S MAYHEM, was nominated for the longlist for the Massachusetts Book Awards. And she's leading a free webinar for Highlights on writing picture books. It's not too late to sign up here.

• Kirkus Reviews called Vicky Fang's INVENT-A-PET "A delightful introduction to scientific experimentation—with impossibly cute pets." Full review here.

• KidLit illustrators like Julie Rowan-Zoch (LOUIS) are connecting with kids at home via #WSID and @DrawWhat on Twitter.

• Kelly Carey (HOW LONG IS FOREVER?) appeared on several blogs this month, including KidLit411, Writers Rumpus, and Grogg, as well as the Charlesbridge YouTube channel.

• Elisa Boxer has appeared on several blogs to promote THE VOICE THAT WON THE VOTE: CritterLit, Celebrate Picture Books, and Justin Colon Books. 

• Kirsten W. Larson (WOOD, WIRE, WINGS) shared 5 Tips for (un)Writing Nonfiction on the 12x12 blog, as well as an engineering design activity on LitLinks.

• Jen Malia has been busy launching TOO STICKY! on KidLit411, the Reading with Your Kids Podcast, Parent Map, We Need Diverse Books, Picture Books for Learning, and A Mighty Girl. One of Jen's essays has been reprinted in THE NEW YORK TIMES's "Understanding Autism," while her essay "Putting the Pieces into Place" was nominated for Best Shortform Science Writing.

• Kjersten Anna Hayes appeared on author Kirby Larson's blog. 

• Anna Crowley Redding's YA biography, Elon Musk: A Mission to Save the World was named a Best Children's Book by Bank Street College of Education! It was also named a BEST STEM book for 2020 by National Science Teachers Association (NSTA.) She recently received a good review for RESCUING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE from Publisher's Weekly, which said, "Redding (Google It) imbues her often-alliterative narration with a sense of urgency, echoed in the artwork, as Pleasanton works to save original manuscripts such as the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Nearly every spread features exigent motion, whether a galloping horse or Pleasonton running."

• NoNieqa Ramos is offering a live picture book webinar (for free!), Not Just Retelling -- TELLING IT FRESH. Sign up here.

• Abi Cushman, Joana Pastro, and Isabella Kung were featured on Storyteller Academy offering advice on querying agents. 

• Kirkus Reviews called Isabella Kung's NO FUZZBALL! "an endearing little chunk of well-meaning evil," and said, "the bright spot and full-bleed illustrations are entertaining from the first endpaper to the last.
  Hope for more soon from debut author/illustrator Kung." Read the full review here.

• Abi Cushman also received an outstanding Kirkus Review for SOAKED! which they called, "A charming and good-humored reminder that a little rain can’t truly spoil the merriment." Full review here!