Children's Books, and Other Cool Stuff

The Holiday season is approaching fast, the streets of New York City all decorated in lights. I love this time of the year. A walk down 5 ave or Madison ave or anywhere in New York, you can see, feel, hear, smell and taste the holiday season. There are all kinds of fun things to do. What is the wonder of it all? Christmas celebrates Jesus's Birthday while Hanukkah celebrates a wonderful story about how a small amount of oil good for one day ended up burning for eight. This was the miracle of God. Both of these holidays are very different from each other. Then there Kwanzaa I am not sure what that celebrates but it also involves lights. What are these holidays about. I believe all three are about family, communication and a love for your religious beliefs.   There is lots of wonder in these holidays. They have been celebrated for many centuries but do people truly know there meaning? Our children see them as a way to get gifts. Doing this time shopping is encouraged by all stores

The Conference       I am a Jew this quote has been said many times over the years. Yesterday I spent a whole day in a book conference in Temple Emanu-El on east 65th street. It is a much smaller conference then SCBWI but it is very specific to the topic of Jewish books. The market is starting to rise now. This conference had many great speakers including agents, Editors, authors, publishers, the Sydney Taylor awards, Jewish Book  Council and PJ library All the speakers I listed above made wonderful speeches. They focused on the usual stuff. Everyone is looking for a fresh voice, great characters, wonderful dialog and Jewish themed books. What are Jewish themed books you ask. "Look at them as a table with five legs" one publisher said. Family, holidays, Community, Hebrew language and the leg of Israel. All these topics were covered and discussed closely. What does it mean to be a Jew?      I was born in Russia and was a Jewish refugee when Ronald Reagan made a deal with

We just finished celebrating Halloween. Your children dressed in wonderful costumes, you walked from house to house getting candy, your schools had parties and ton of candy was given away. This holiday was celebrated all over the country and probably in other countries as well. Last post I shared with you where Halloween came from and the folklore behind it but today I will take a larger step. I will look at how public libraries celebrated this holiday. A few days ago I did a massive survey on a list called pub lib and asked a very simple question How does your library celebrate Halloween. I got a massive response to this question and have decided to give a list of 10 most unique stories that came from this list. This post will not have any book reviews and lets say I will catalog this under Cool Stuff . Please enjoy my list of 10. 1)  The year we had the ground breaking for our building the same day as the Halloween parade so that as soon as that parade was over we had our par

        Where does Halloween comes from? Today I want to share a story with everyone that I used to tell the children when I worked in a private school. It always made them enjoy this holiday even more. Here it goes.    A long time ago both Spirits and living beings shared the earth. They lived side by side but there was trouble. they just could not get along and the planet was getting crowded. The dead had trouble communicating with the living except through a group called Spiritualist. They had the gift of talking to the dead. This went on for many years then one day both sides decided it was enough. The leaders that the Celts called the druids met with the leaders of the dead. The spiritualist acted as the communication force between the two parties.     After many days of discussion a deal was made. The two groups decided that if they put aside one day a year to celebrate the dead that they will go live in the after life. A deal was made with the druids and the dead. The next day

      It has been ten years since the attacks on New York, Pennsylvania and Washington DC. On that day evil destroyed our country. Today we remember all the heroes that died in the bombings. It was a beautiful crisp Tuesday mourning, the sky was almost clear blue, with a few clouds floating in the sky. That day almost 4000 people were killed just because they wanted to start work early. each one of them had a face and a family they just wanted to support. After 9-11-2001 the whole country joined together. People were proud to be Americans.  The red, white and blue flew high. Each one of them died as heroes for freedom. They died for this country.      Now once again we suffer and it is time we all joined together as one. Stop the politics, stop the fights and put your country first. USA will always be a great and powerful country but today we all cry for our future. It is time to honer being American and it is time to love our country. Get the jobs back, get the economy rolling and Go

( Note- I will post new book recommendations next update. I am still waiting to get an independent publisher's book, that I can review. If you want me to review your children's book, Please e-mail me to Spiritw74@yahoo.com  for further  directions. )         It took place in New York's  Javit's Center from Monday May 23 to Thursday May 26. I had the privilege to be a part of this experience. I helped out in one of the booths and had a book signing, which went great.     Let me tell a bit about this trade show and give you some wonderful news about children book publishing.  I spend three full days in the Expo. It is the second largest Book Expo in the world with 6000 plus booths. All the major book publishers were there and many unknown ones as well. It combined everyone in publishing industry. It included traditional publishers, bookstores, Self publishers, book sellers, librarians, teachers , editors, authors and many others.      Doing my stay I understood that w

Book 1 3 out 5 Stars

Reviews   Picture Books Wild About Books - This picture book is written by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Marc Brown. It won the E.B White Read Aloud Award in 2005. It was published by A lfred A. Knopf in August 2004. It is a great book to read aloud both in the classroom and at bed time. What happens when librarian Molly McGrew by mistake drove her bookmobile into the zoo. All the animals end up having fun borrowing her books. The illustrations are wonderful and the story brings your child into a world where animals read books and the adventures they have doing so. The animals also discover reading. This is probably one of my favorite books. It will be a great read for any child or adult. I highly recommend it to be available in any school library.  Flotsam-   This book was illustrated by David Wiesner. It won the Caldecott Medal in 2007. It was published by Clarion Books in 2006. This book uses only illustrations to tell a wonderful story. The main character is a boy spending time

Fantasy Book Reviews Picture Books 1) Where The Wild Things Are - This picture book by Maurice Sendak and  a very popular book. I highly recommend it if you did not read it yet. The book is a classic and has been for years.  It was published originally in 1963 and won the 1964 Caldecott Medal for most distinguished picture book of the year. When a boy named Max misbehaves his mother sends him to his room where his fantastic journey begins. After his journey he comes home to discover that barely any time had passed even though his trip seemed to take place a very long time. This book is a wonderful read not only for children but adults as well. It explores the possibilities of other worlds and so much more. 2 ) The Egg - This picture book by M.P Robertson is less known, but also a great read. It was published in 2001 by Dial books. It is about a boy named George, who one day discovers a huge egg under one of his barn chickens. When the egg is warmed and hatches a dragon is born.

Week 3      I want to start by sending a prayer to Japan and all the other people hurt by the earthquake that hit today. God bless everyone and may you spark of hope glow brighter always.  Love and light to everyone who have gone and who have suffered on this day.          Today I finished my three week stay in Hippocrates Health Institute. I want to write this blog especially about People. It is them who create this world we live in. Here in the center it is all about men and women who came to change their lives. The healing that takes place and the love you feel  around you everyday. It is all about support for each other. People come here for two reasons to be saved or enlightened. Each one is treated with love not only from the staff, but from the others staying here. It is a community where you meet so many amazing people with fantastic stories of how they were saved. They were saved from cancer, diabetes, heart disease and so many other illnesses. It is a hard journey that e

Book Reviews    Hello again my friends, I am now reading my forth children's book. In April I will dedicate my whole blog post to lots of books suggestions for teachers, children and parents. It will be a list divided into categories each with three to four books on it. Until then I will continue with my experience here in Hippocrates.

Children Book Reviews          Hello everyone for the next three posts I will not do any reviews. I am reading many children books that will be recommended for everyone in about a month. I will be blogging to everyone about a very special place I am visiting right now. I will tell you about miracles that went on here. I will also share my experience. I am doing lots of reading and when I update in April I will have more children book suggestions for librarians, children and parents. I will also add my first book review. Enjoy these posts.

Great books to read The Adventures of Huck Finn - This book written by Mark Twain is a great example of an all time classic. It is about a young boy who never went school and who spends days at time just doing noting but having fun. Ain't this a dream of many boys. The book has lots of bad grammer and language. It was written in the 19 century just after the civil war. The author is a genis in many ways. The book really takes of when Huck Finn meets a slave named Jim. He helps this man escape. That is when the real adventure begins. They build a raft and go on a dangerous journey on the Mississippi River the heart of the south. This book is a classic American boy tale. The language is hard but it will be the perfect book for your middle grade or young adult reader. Please incourage your children to read this classic american novel and do not forget about The Adventures of Tom Sawyer . I really loved both these books and did a research paper on them. I bet you kids will love them t

Book Suggestions The Hunger Games Trilogy - These three books are wonderful fanatsy stories for Young adults. Imgine a world divided into 13 Distracts that are run by a place called The Capital. In these three books by Suzanne Collins, the author brings this world to life. She combines love, Action, survival and fantasy together. The Three books are called " The Hunger Games.", "Catching Fire." and "Mocking Jay." The books are written so well that your teen will not put them down. Knuffle Bunny Free- This is the last picture book in a trilogy by Mo Williams. Trixie loves her stuffed bunny, but she always seems to lose him somewhere. The other two books are called " Knuffle Bunny" and "Knuffle Bunny Too ." They both got Caldecott Honers. The illustratuions combine drawings with photos. I bet your children will want you read these books over and over again. I bet you remember the stuffed animal that you loved as child. I had a large ye

     Hello folks and welcome to my new blog. let me tell everyone a little about me and then I will add a few wonderful  books for the teachers and parents out there.      I was born in Moscow Hospital in the mid seventies and left Russia to find religious freedom in the USA. When we applied to leave my parents lost their jobs right away. We had to wait three years until America opened her doors to us.     We came here in 1981 invited by a local temple to a city in New York called Mount Vernon. I learned the language in just under six months, because my sister and I got invited to sleep away camp within one month when we arrived in the States. I was six and she was eight. All I can say it was the most horrible sleep away experience I ever had. Everyone made fun of me and I was almost forced to eat a live frog, it tasted a little salty. I can look back at this and laugh now but imagine how a little boy would feel.      The years went by and I went through the American School system a