Lerner Publishing Group

New eBooks!

noreply@blogger.com (Adriano Fruzzetti) — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:14:00 +0000

Hey everyone,

This week's digital update is a quick one. Working on a whole bunch of eBooks and iBooks. Wanna know which ones? Here's a sneak peek:

And now, your internet links of the week!

On Failure

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Hinz) — Tue, 21 May 2013 02:42:00 +0000

In early April, I spoke at a regional conference put on by the very impressive North/Central California chapter of SCBWI. I had a chance to sit in on a presentation by John Hendrix, and something he said has stuck with me: FAILURE IS REQUIRED.

I've been thinking recently about the creative process, and how taking risks means risking failure as well as success. Our existence as a company relies on the creative risks our authors and illustrators are willing to take. And while I hope not to acquire and publish very many books (or any, really) that would be considered utter failures, I also know that we learn at least as much from the things that don't succeed as we do from the successes.

So for everyone out there working at a creative endeavor of one sort or another, I wish you the very best sort of failure you can find!

STEM Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Karre) — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:49:00 +0000

Give this story a listen:

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Happy STEM Friday to all!

Free Book Friday!

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay Matvick) — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:51:00 +0000

Welcome to Free Book Friday! If this is the first time you've ever stopped by the Lerner Books Blog we hope you take a second to look through our previous posts which give great insight into the inner workings of Lerner and highlight interesting back stories on how our books come to life. We also hope you add us to your blog list and come back each week to check out our contests, special promotions, and giveaways including Free Book Friday where we give away new books every week!

Congratulations to United Christian Academy! You are the winners of Counterattack, a new series for reluctant readers from Darby Creek. Email us at publicityinfo@lernerbooks.com with the subject line "Free Book Friday" to tell us your mailing address and we'll get your books in the mail just in time for some fantastic summer reading.

This week we are honored to host Free Book Friday along with Teachingbooks.net! For this special promotion we will be hosting a two week-long Free Book Friday contest where two lucky readers will win Tillie Pierce: Teen Eyewitness to the Battle of Gettysburg.

Imagine being fifteen years old, facing the bloodiest battle ever to take place on U.S. soil: the Battle of Gettysburg. In July 1863, this is exactly what happened to Tillie Pierce, a normal teenager who became an unlikely heroine of the Civil War (1861-1865). Tillie and other women and girls like her found themselves trapped during this critical three-day battle in southern Pennsylvania. Without training, but with enormous courage and compassion, Tillie and other Gettysburg citizens helped save the lives of countless wounded Union and Confederate soldiers.

In gripping prose, Tillie Pierce: Teen Eyewitness to the Battle of Gettysburg takes readers behind the scenes. And through Tillie’s own words, the story of one of the Civil War’s most famous battles comes alive as the nation marks the 150th anniversary of the turning point of the Civil War.

To bring this book to life in your library or classroom, make sure to check out our fantastic Lerner eSource materials which are available as FREE downloads! Activities include a Common Core discussion guide, a Civil War timeline project, and Taking Tillie's Path: An Activity Using Google Earth which takes readers on tour of modern Gettysburg. To download these great Lerner eSource materials just login to www.lernerbooks.com.

If you'd like to win a copy of Tillie Pierce: Teen Eyewitness to the Battle of Gettysburg, leave a comment on this post (including your name), or Tweet this line: "Free Book Friday! RT to win the new TILLIE PIERCE from @LernerBooks. bit.ly/1OrSN."

We'll announce the two winners during Free Book Friday on May 31, so be sure to come back to the Lerner blog to see if you've won!

Good luck!

A Little Dose of Reality

noreply@blogger.com (Sara Hoffmann) — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

How many of you guys grew up reading teen lifestyle magazines? You know the kind I mean—they talked about fashion, health and beauty, and current stars. These magazines could be a lot of fun, but they could also leave you feeling like your life was somewhat lacking. They were full of articles about the "ideal teen girl." She was up on all the trends, she had a date every Friday night, she spent her Saturdays volunteering, and—of course—she had the perfect clothes, hair, and body.

Kids are still reading magazines like these. Believe me, I know! I read a lot of what's on offer for kids myself to stay on top of which stars to feature in our Pop Culture Bios series. They're still fun, but they also still promote ideals that are less than realistic.

That's why I think it's so important to have books on offer that satisfy the insatiable desire some of us (ahem, maybe me!) have to read about stuff like style and entertainment. These books present the same info as the magazines, but they aren't trying to sell products or a certain lifestyle. In fact, they show that celebs' lives are far from perfect and that it's crucial to think critically and ask questions in our consumer culture.

Here are just a few Lerner books that cover fun subjects in a thoughtful and objective way. Perhaps you’ll want to hand them to a young reader you know who can’t get enough of popular magazines and celebrity websites.

Liam Hemsworth: The Hunger Games’ Strong Survivor

Stay Clear!: What You Should Know about Skin Care

Relationship Smarts: How to Navigate Dating, Friendships, Family Relationships, and More

You're the Chef: Lerner eSource Freebies!

noreply@blogger.com (Ashley Kuehl) — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:30:00 +0000

Have you had a chance to check out You're the Chef, Millbrook's awesome new cookbook series? Filled with detailed instructions, down to diagrams of which tools to use for each technique, these books will help budding chefs make all kinds of delicious foods.

We've compiled a few helpful extras so you can take full advantage of these fantastic titles. I'll let you in on a little secret. The author offered us so many tasty recipes, we couldn't fit them all in the books! But we still want you to have them. So they're available from Lerner eSource, our online repository of fun, free, complementary content. Crunchy Tuna Salad, yum!

We also have other resources available. Maybe you want to figure out which food groups are represented in each recipe. Well, we can offer you that too. And maybe you could use a metric conversion chart while you're cooking? Or perhaps you'd like a link to an online video to show you a particular technique? Done and done.

Each season, our editorial staff puts our heads together to come up with great extras to help you get more out of our new series and titles. Today's featured Lerner eSource series is You're the Chef.

To download free resources for a book or series, visit a book's product page on our website: https://www.lernerbooks.com/products/t/11671/9780761366416/super-pasta-and-rice-dishes. If you haven't registered with us, please do so at the upper right corner of the page. On future visits, you'll need to sign in to download files. Then look in the right-hand column of the page for the eSource logo. Just under the Font Lens, you'll see the downloadable eSource files. Click on an individual file or on "download all."

Happy cooking!

A Death in the Family, Amazon's Virtual Currency, and Other Internet Junk

noreply@blogger.com (Adriano Fruzzetti) — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:59:00 +0000

On Thursday of last week, my wife met me at the door with a look on her face that I knew meant something had gone very, very wrong. "What is it? What happened??" I inquired. "It's...the TV." She shook her head, and I knew. For the sake of an entertaining blog post, you can now imagine her tear stained cheeks and me falling on both knees, arms to the sky, screaming "Noooo! MENDOOOZAAAA!"

Goodbye, Old Friend

I purchased my 50" Samsung DLP in 2002 with my first paycheck from my first "real job" out of college. The enormous screen was housed in a sleek, 3-foot deep silver cabinet, and sat upon an elegant matching base. The loud hum it produced was the soundtrack for countless make-out sessions on the loveseat (Okay, at least two. Come on!). It was a bachelor's dream, and it was all mine.

Sentiment aside, however, the reality is that I was happy that had suffered a natural death. By today's standards the TV was a behemoth, taking up too much space in the family room. The technology was outdated, and the picture was too dark to view with the shades up. I had been ready to replace the 11-year-old set for a couple years, but it's hard to justify spending money on a new TV when the old one is "just fine" (my wife's words).

The process of researching and bargain-hunting began before HLN507W's circuits were cool. Because, seriously, what am I going to do without a TV? Read a book? Haha, nope! Here are 5 tips I learned during the process:

Samsung is still regarded as the best TV manufacturer, but LG and Sony are good too.
LED is better than LCD and Plasma.
You do not need to pay more for 240hz. 120hz is plenty. The human eye can not see the difference.
"Contrast Ratio" is basically brightness. If your TV is in a sunroom or other bright location, you may opt for a higher contrast ratio.
Smart TVs are getting close, but are not yet worth the added price. If you want to use streaming services (Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc..) you're better off investing in a digital/streaming media player.

When I opened up Amazon.com to scrounge for TV deals, I was met with a splash page introducing their virtual currency called "Amazon Coins". These coins can be purchased and used to buy apps and games for the Kindle Fire. This type of virtual currency is not a new concept. Here is the summary of things that we (the internet) has learned regarding virtual currency: Virtual currency only benefits the issuer.

Why? The system is designed so the consumer will always struggle with their coin balance. For instance: if I have 500 coins, you better believe there's no chance of spending all 500 coins on any combination of purchases-- therefore, I'm always left with a balance. And if I don't have enough balance to purchase the app I want? Well, I need to buy another bundle of coins! Since I am not allowed to buy the specific number of coins I need (the minimum number is 500 for $4.80), I will always have extra. These extra coins are the crux of the problem.

There's a strong psychological urge to spend the coins I have rather than leave a balance in my account, so the cycle of purchasing apps and coins continues.
The coins are non-refundable. If I stop using the coins, then I've just given Amazon a micro-loan for as long as my balance sits.

To Amazon's credit, the virtual currency is optional. Unlike some other issuers, you can always buy what you want with cash. But they've given every new and existing Kindle Fire owner the "gateway drug" of 500 free coins. Well played, sirs.

Now some web gems!

$10 gadget contains "the entire English Wikipedia with 3 million topics" [boingboing]
David Arenberg Reflects on Being Jewish in State Prison [SPLC]
Two months aboard an Antarctic ice breaker, condensed to 5 minutes [boingboing]

If only the ice breaker was on lake Mille Lacs... [Caution: Annoying Minnesotans talking, and a four-letter word near the end of the video.] For those wondering, this is caused by strong wind, rising temperatures, and weak ice. The entire sheet of ice is being pushed off of the lake on to shore, and is splintering into shards. The force is clearly enough to break windows and force open doors.

Shaking the Foundation

noreply@blogger.com (Domenica Di Piazza) — Mon, 13 May 2013 11:00:00 +0000

Recognize the finch? It’s one of the famous Darwin finches, which he collected on his voyage to the Galapagos Islands in the 1830s. As a result of that voyage, and from observations of those birds and other animals on the islands, Charles Darwin began to put together a groundbreaking theory that would explain the scientific process by which species change. We call that theory evolution, and Sylvia A. Johnson tells the story of the development of the theory in brilliant detail in TFCB’s Shaking the Foundation: Charles Darwin and the Theory of Evolution. It’s fascinating to read how much the man struggled, not only with historical preconceptions about the origins of life but also with his own religious faith, to flesh out a dramatically new world view.

It’s worth noting that at the NSTA conference in Texas last month, presenters made it clear that evolution maintains a solid place in the science curriculum as part of the Next Generation Science Standards. Shaking the Foundation is a great book for introducing students to this key scientific concept, to the history of science, and to the debate that continues to swirl around evolution. Paired with Deborah Heiligman’s portrait of the Darwin marriage in Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith, and with Peter Sis’s amazing nonfiction picture book Tree of Life: Charles Darwin, Johnson’s Shaking the Foundation provides dramatic insight into how personal experience, science, and religious faith intersected in one man’s life.

Check in again in two weeks for more from TFCB!

Free Book Friday!

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay Matvick) — Fri, 10 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Congratulations, Beth! You've won our new Pop Culture Bios: Action Movie Stars series from Lerner Publications! Email us at publicityinfo@lernerbooks.com with the subject line "Free Book Friday" to tell us your mailing address and we'll get your books in the mail faster than the paparazzi can take a new picture of the Twilight cast!

This week we're hitting the field with Counterattack, a new series for reluctant readers from Darby Creek.

From torn ACLs to Division I college scouts to performance-enhancing drugs, this series of accessible novels for reluctant and struggling readers covers the real pressures and controversies of high-level girls’ soccer. Packed with the in-game and after-game drama of the Copperheads, an ethnically diverse, elite varsity girls’ soccer team in North Carolina, Counterattack is sure to appeal to sports-loving young adults looking for a high-intensity read.

For a chance to win this six book series, leave a comment on this post (including your name), or Tweet this line: "Free Book Friday! RT to win the new COUNTERATTACK series from @LernerBooks. bit.ly/1OrSN."

We'll announce the winner in next week's Free Book Friday post, so be sure to check the Lerner blog on May 17 to see if you've won!

On Springtime, Sports, and Carmelo Anthony

noreply@blogger.com (Sara Hoffmann) — Thu, 09 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

I’m pleased to introduce Jon Fishman, Lerner’s manager of reprints, on the Lerner blog today. Not only does Jon deftly deal with anything and everything on Lerner’s reprint list—he’s also a talented writer and our resident sports expert to boot! Here’s Jon.

In my opinion, this is the absolute best time of year to be a sports fan. The baseball season is underway, and athletes in sports such as tennis, golf, auto racing, and soccer are taking advantage of the nice weather that has finally arrived. You’ll have to forgive me for feeling a bit giddy about it all after an April that brought more snow showers than rain showers to Minnesota.

But for some sports fans, the most compelling events in May take place under roofs. The National Hockey League (NHL) and National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs are in full swing, and as usual, there are many interesting storylines to follow.

As the author of Carmelo Anthony (cover pictured), a soon-to-be-released Amazing Athletes title, I’m following the New York Knicks as they try to get back to the NBA Finals for the first time since the 1998–1999 season. They lost to the San Antonio Spurs that season. It's been a long time since the Knicks won the NBA championship. That last happened during the 1972–1973 season, when they took down the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals. Only one player on this year’s Knicks squad was alive when the team won the championship in May 1973: Jason Kidd, who was born about two months earlier.

Carmelo Anthony gives the Knicks genuine hope that their long championship drought could come to an end soon. He’s been a winner at every level. As a teenager, he played for one of the country’s most successful high school teams. Then he moved on to Syracuse University and helped his team win the national championship as a freshman starter before heading to the NBA after one season. Carmelo had a lot of success in parts of seven seasons with the Denver Nuggets before being traded to the Knicks in 2010–2011, but he has yet to win it all at the highest level.

As of this writing, the Knicks trail the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, one game to zero. The list of players who have won both the national championship in college and the NBA Finals is short and includes basketball legends such as Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. I’ll be watching to see if Carmelo can join them.

Conversations with her fake boyfriend

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Karre) — Wed, 08 May 2013 20:55:00 +0000

In addition to being the author of Sex & Violence, Carrie Mesrobian maintains a very funny Tumblr I’m not supposed to read:

But I do read it. I like the formula:

1. Find a picture of an attractive man. (The Internet haz these.)

2. Add a caption where he says something implausibly sensitive, solicitous, and/or witty about something you’ve done or that’s a source of consternation or whatever.

Even I can do it:

“Really. He made you watch that ugly old movie about freaks in nutcups beating up old men? Again? Forget about him. Tell me about those cowboy boots and Kenny Chesney’s mastery of the pentameter one more time?”

Except, apparently I failed on step one, because when I showed this to Carrie, she wrote, “Is that Kenneth Brannagh? Jesus.” (Maybe Dot Hutchison would have been more sympathetic.)

But maybe you can do better, and to incentivize you, I have five signed copies of Sex & Violence to give away to Carrie’s favorite entries. I’ll also give you a theme to focus your efforts:

Conversations with My Fake Boyfriend About
My Real (or Fake) Editor

My example above would work as an entry for Carrie if she acknowledged Mr. Brannagh as fake boyfriend material (which she apparently does not). Submit your entry here. Carrie will pick winners on June 1.

Free Book Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay Matvick) — Fri, 03 May 2013 18:16:00 +0000

Three cheers for GeoLibrarian! You've won Millbrook Press's You've Got Spirit: Cheers, Chants, Tips, and Tricks Every Cheerleader Needs to Know. Email us at publicityinfo@lernerbooks.com with the subject line "Free Book Friday" to tell us your mailing address, and you'll be cheering all the way to the mailbox!

This week's Free Book Friday is action packed as we giveaway our brand new Pop Culture Bios: Action Movie Stars series from Lerner Publications! If you're a fan of Jennifer Lawrence, Booboo Stewart, or Zoë Kravitz then these books are for you!

From the stars of The Hunger Games to the handsome men of Twilight, young readers will love learning all about their favorite action movie celebs. Fun tell-all sidebars and splashy photo spreads give this series a little extra dose of awesome!

For a chance to win this brand new series, leave a comment on this post (including your name), or Tweet this line: "Free Book Friday! RT to win POP CULTURE BIOS: ACTION MOVIE STARS from @LernerBooks. bit.ly/1OrSN."

We'll announce the winner in next week's Free Book Friday post, so be sure to check the Lerner blog on May 10 to see if you've won!

A Breathtaking View...of Science at its Most Spellbinding

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Fitzgerald) — Fri, 03 May 2013 14:15:00 +0000

Full disclosure: As a child, I was bored out of my mind by science. And math. And the computer classes I took in high school as my sole available alternative to Advanced Home Ec. Throughout the years of my primary and secondary education, these subjects didn’t simply go over my head: They never made me want to jump up and catch them.

Those early, uninspiring experiences with STEM subjects shaped my default attitude as an adult…until quite recently, when I picked up Tales from the Top of the World: Climbing Mount Everest with Pete Athans (Millbrook Press, ©2013).

Written by Sandra K. Athans (the sister of mountaineering legend Pete, aka “Mr. Everest”) for kids ages 9 and up, this book doesn’t read like a science text. It reads like an epic adventure story. Because it is. The inside scoop on Mount Everest offers everything a reader could want: action, suspense, deadly peril, incredible courage, and an unbeatable view…all intertwined with the magic of STEM.

When scaling Mount Everest, climbers need extensive scientific knowledge (and a solid grasp of math, engineering, and technology, for that matter) if they expect to…

recognize and treat frostbite before it turns someone’s face black. (By that point, it’s pretty easy to recognize.)
recognize and treat hyperthermia. That’s right: hyper. As in too much. Too much heat, on Mount Everest. Didn’t see that one coming, did you? Guess you don’t know enough science yet.
handle a variety of high-altitude illnesses with punchy acronyms.
assemble a makeshift kitchen to melt ice for drinking water. Suddenly that solar oven I built in sixth grade takes on new significance.
pilot a paraglider safely.
make an informed decision about whether yetis exist.

And let’s not forget that everything on this list is a matter of life and death. (Minus the yeti issue…probably….) Boring? Not so much. As I discovered far too late in life, science can be an adventure, and the greatest adventures are often deeply related to science.

So if I, cynical anti-STEM crone that I am, can be captivated and blown away by this book, then there’s hope for every kid who thinks science is boring. There’s a chance that, if the right book comes along, she’ll be inspired to jump up and climb a mountain.

It’s STEM Fridayyyyyyyyyyyy!

Learn from the Past, Embrace the Present

noreply@blogger.com (Sara Hoffmann) — Thu, 02 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Our intrepid (and history-loving!) intern, Eliza Leahy, is back with more thoughts to share. Take it away, Eliza!

I’ll admit it. I’ve been called an “old soul” once or twice in my life. Example one: Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books were great companions to me in my childhood. As I read them, I found myself clinging to any semblance of the past. I’d roam the woods by my house and imagine I was helping Laura gather kindling for the fireplace.

Example two: Ten years ago, Walkman CD players or MP3s were about as common an accessory for high school students as were backpacks. Yet when I boarded the bus each morning, I lugged along a clunky, old tape player (at the time, this was the high school equivalent of using a rolling suitcase to transport your textbooks). Yes, you heard it. A cassette player, not dissimilar from this one:

So when I happened upon Lerner’s Lightning Bolt Books series called Comparing Past and Present in our in-house library just a few weeks back, I knew I was in for a treat. Each of these books tackles one aspect of our society that has experienced significant changes over the past century or two. Historic photographs juxtaposed with modern images capture changes in the home, at the office, in how we we spend our free time, how we get from place to place, and more. Being the word nut I am, my favorite of the six was, of course, From Typewriters to Text Messages: How Communication has Changed:

While I will always have a place in my heart for power outages and woodstove fires, witnessing the progress that has been made across generations in so many different arenas is astounding. When I was a young reader, I don’t believe I ever came across a nonfiction book documenting societal changes like the ones featured in Lightning Bolt Books. Instead, I wandered around in the historic world of Laura Ingalls Wilder—which is just fine, I think. But this series, like so many Lightning Bolt Books titles, is really one of a kind. The books offer simplified, nonfiction accounts of important and timely issues facing our twenty-first century world. Not only do they inspire a fascination with our history, but they awaken appreciation for modern technology. Take, for example, From Washboards to Washing Machines: How Homes Have Changed:

I know I wouldn’t want to go back to doing laundry the old-fashioned way. Would you?

Coming out of Hibernation

noreply@blogger.com (Domenica Di Piazza) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:20:00 +0000

Aaaaaah, I have to admit I don’t have books and publishing trends on the brain today because of the, um, weather. We at Lerner Publishing Group are finally bidding a more than fond farewell to winter! With the recent sky-blue sunny days here, with temperatures well above freezing, we’ve all packed away our parkas and boots and scarves and gloves and hats--and donned our sunglasses! Remember them? Welcome spring.

Be sure to check in again in two weeks for more from TFCB! (That’s me with the scarf toward the back, in the company of some of my yes-I’m-game-for-it editorial and design colleagues.)

Three Cheers for Free Book Friday!

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Fitzgerald) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 15:03:00 +0000

Congratulations to LibraryLady! All six books from our new Do You Dig Earth Science? series now belong to you. Email us at publicityinfo@lernerbooks.com with the subject line "Free Book Friday" to tell us your mailing address, and soon the mysteries of soil and fossils will be within your grasp.

"You can examine me as soon as you tell Lerner where to mail me!"

Discoveries of a different kind await in Millbrook Press's You've Got Spirit: Cheers, Chants, Tips, and Tricks Every Cheerleader Needs to Know.

If the aspiring cheerleader in your life has been stumping you with questions like...

"Is cheerleading right for me?"

"What will tryouts be like?"

"Does this arm position look right?"

"How should I wear my hair during practice?"

"What kind of snacks can I bring to the competition?"

...then this book is for you! For a chance to win a free copy, leave a comment on this post (including your name), or Tweet this line: "Free Book Friday! RT to win YOU'VE GOT SPIRIT from @LernerBooks. bit.ly/1OrSN."

We'll announce the winner in next week's Free Book Friday post, so be sure to check the Lerner blog on May 3 to see if you've won!

Paired Texts, Close Readings, and IRA Inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (Patricia Stockland) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:45:00 +0000

Hello, hello!

It’s been a long while since I’ve contributed to our lovely blog here, and I’m glad to be back with news and tidings from the International Reading Association’s conference last weekend. It is so energizing to be around teachers who are excited about what they’re doing and excited about the sparks of reading—and also motivated about how they can leverage the many changes we’re in the midst of to get readers excited about the spark of good books.

The themes that kept striking me there were paired texts and close readings. I champion this, because it brings back one of my favorite things from school (of which a colleague on Monday reminded me the term): comparative literature. Comparative literature takes you to other literature and other learning. It’s a path of exploration and knowledge gathering. Although folks are currently taking this from the Common Core threads, the reality is that we’ve been doing this for a long while. Thinking critically about texts, asking questions of the book, the author, the ideas the reader brings to that text—it’s all part of moving to another level of questioning and involvement in what’s being read. I love it.

Another IRA moment that had me all fired up was Ellin Oliver Keene’s session, when she discussed connecting readers with books and witnessing that moment of empathy. When a young reader feels that connection with a book for the first time, it truly is magic. Do you remember the first time you felt that way about a book? A character? A piece of fantastic information you had just gained from reading?

The session “Using Paired Texts as Way-In Texts for Social Studies” was possibly my favorite of the conference, however. The presenters took award-winning books and showed us how, through simple H maps and other tools, you can really quickly start making connections between books and asking other questions around those stories. All of this has me wanting to throw some suggestions your way for paired texts to try on, either for yourself or for the young readers in your life. And I’d love to hear your thoughts on the connections you were able to make between these! Here’s a little starter list from our highly reviewed collection:

Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H. L. Hunley

Military Techonology (Cool Science series)

And a couple more:

Sarah Emma Edmonds Was a Great Pretender: The True Story of a Civil War Spy

Tillie Pierce: Teen Eyewitness to the Battle of Gettysburg

And some amphibian fun for spring:

Can You Tell a Frog from a Toad?

Salamander, Frog, and Polliwog: What Is an Amphibian?

The great thing about pairing texts for readers is that you have no limits. High school learners can use picture books for comparisons, nonfiction and fiction can be compared, biographies and historical fiction narratives are great things to parallel—try it on!

Happy Earth Day

noreply@blogger.com (Carol Hinz) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:05:00 +0000

Are you as shocked as I am that today is Earth Day? I suppose it depends on where you live. Here in Minnesota, we still have SNOW ON THE GROUND. And the forecast for tonight? Why, it’s another 3-5 inches of the white stuff! But I have heard rumors that spring might actually be headed our way late this week or early the following week.

All that being said, the point of this blog post is not to garner pity from you, our dear readers. Rather, I was looking back at some of our books and seeing that we have some nice offerings for Earth Day—and for any other day of the year in which you’re feeling ecologically inclined!

Our Cloverleaf Books Planet Protectors 7-book set is a nice introduction to environmental topics for grades PreK-2. The books feature an engaging picture book format, spunky narrators, and great illustrations.

If you’re ready to get your hands dirty (literally!), check out Garbage Helps Our Garden Grow: A Compost Story. This wonderful book by Linda Glaser follows a family as they create a compost pile and then use the compost in their own garden the following spring.

The Cloverleaf titles would actually pair well with this book, and I think it would be fun for kids to see two different approaches to how they can do their part in helping to make our planet a cleaner place!

Free Book Friday!

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Fitzgerald) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 18:41:00 +0000

Congratulations to Kerri Quinn! You've won a free copy of Your Pajamas Are Showing!, the first book in the new Where's Leopold? series from Graphic Universe. Email us at publicityinfo@lernerbooks.com with the subject line "Free Book Friday" and send us your mailing address so we can mail you your free book before it disappears (just like Leopold)!

This week we're taking readers on an Earth Science adventure and giving away our brand new Do You Dig Earth Science? series from Lerner Publications! As part of the Searchlight Books™ collection, this series sheds light on Earth Science topics for readers who really dig it! Useful diagrams, eye-catching photos, and caption call-outs will help you find the answers you crave.

Readers will have a blast Marveling at Minerals, Figuring Out Fossils, Uncovering Earth's Crust, and more! For a chance to win this great new series, leave a comment on this post (including your name), or Tweet this line: "Free Book Friday! RT to win DO YOU DIG EARTH SCIENCE? from @LernerBooks. bit.ly/1OrSN."

We'll announce the winner in next week's Free Book Friday post, so be sure to check the Lerner blog on April 26 to find out if that winner is you!

Books to Combat Bullying

noreply@blogger.com (Sara Hoffmann) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 13:00:00 +0000

I’ve waxed rhapsodic on here before about Lerner’s Pop Culture Bios. I'm going to do so unapologetically once again. Because not only are these books a lot of fun. And not only do they have the potential to inspire a love of reading in kids who might not otherwise have found a book that speaks to them. They are also—quite surprisingly—one of the single best resources that I’ve encountered for kids who are facing bullying.

How so? Well, one thing that a lot of the Pop Culture Bio subjects have in common—in addition to being famous, talented, and beautiful—is that they were bullied. A lot of this bullying was unendurably cruel—the sort that caused the bullying victim to withdraw from school. So many of these stars (like Selena Gomez, cover pictured) have traits that made them stick out among their peers. They have an unusual passion for acting or singing. They have vivid imaginations. They are sensitive and wear their emotions on their sleeves. They are driven in a way that most other young kids couldn’t relate to. All of these things made the stars prime targets for getting teased and bullied.

For a kid who’s living through bullying, life can feel extremely lonely. Hearing that they’re not alone can make a world of difference. One of my greatest wishes when I edit our Pop Culture Bios is that a kid who’s facing bullying might pick one up and find hope between its covers. That it might help a kid envision a day when the very traits he’s bullied for could lead to his success.

Making AMERICAN R & B

noreply@blogger.com (Greg) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:38:00 +0000

Aaron Mendelson is the author of American R & B: Gospel Grooves, Funky Drummers and Soul Power, one of the books in TFCB’s American Music Milestones series, a Booklist Top 10 Series Nonfiction selection. American R & B also received a starred review from Booklist in 2012. Aaron writes about music for Rockaliser.com, which he co-founded, and samples of his work in journalism can be found at AaronMendelson.org. When news arrived of the Booklist Top 10 selection, I asked Aaron to describe his experience exploring the the winding, eclectic tradition of R & B music. —Greg Hunter, Associate Ed.

When I began working on a book about R & B, the last thing I actually did was sit down and start writing. Instead, I decided to immerse myself in the world of rhythm and blues by listening, reading, and watching.

That began with the music. I like listening to vinyl records, so I scoured my neighborhood record store for Stax, quiet storm, and neo-soul. I also loaded up my iPod with old and new soul. While I was researching the book, I discovered some of the most incredible music I’ve ever heard, from Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” to Usher’s “Climax,” from Janet Jackson’s “Escapade” to Aaliyah’s “We Need A Resolution.” I discovered gems from every era of soul, from the 1920s gospel and blues that inspired Ray Charles to invent R & B to the futuristic songs that The-Dream and Solange make today. The universe of R & B is so vast that you could spend a lifetime there.

I also went to the library and checked out every book about R & B that I could find. The ones they didn’t have, I went and bought. My favorite is probably Peter Guralnick’s Sweet Soul Music, which is about the incredible soul music that came out of the Southern U.S. in the 1960s. The book has hilarious and harrowing stories about legends like Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke, and Aretha Franklin. But Guralnick also writes about the world those musicians lived in, including the racial segregation that forced black artists to do things for themselves.

There are a lot of other great books about R & B—the writer and filmmaker Nelson George alone has written several. Some of the best books are about specific kinds of soul, including Gerald Early’s One Nation Under a Groove (on Berry Gordy and Motown), Rickey Vincent’s Funk: The Music, The People, and the Rhythm of the One (tracing the funk and its mutations), and John A. Jackson’s A House On Fire (about the smooth sounds of Philly Soul).

I also sought out films about soul, like the documentaries Wattstax, Standing in the Shadows of Motown, and Soul Power. R & B musicians have starred in some good films, like Prince’s Purple Rain and Beyoncé in Cadillac Records. And, every time I needed my mind blown, I’d cue up James Brown dancing like he’s on fire in The T.A.M.I. Show.

Finally I sat down and actually started writing the book. After absorbing so much information about R & B, it was tough to decide what belonged in the book and what didn’t. I wanted to include the whole history of R & B, which meant discussing some topics, such as the Civil Rights Movement and the racist practices of the record industry, which weren't directly about music. But since those things helped me understand R & B, I thought they would help readers too.

I wanted to include information about every style and era of soul. Since there’s so many, that wasn’t easy. And I don’t love them all equally, even though there’s amazing music from throughout the genre’s history. But I wanted to show the evolution of R & B, how the influence of a singer like Nina Simone can show up decades later in radically different contexts but still be obvious, as with Erykah Badu or Lauryn Hill.

So I sketched out an outline of my book—there would be five chapters, and they’d go in chronological order. And I started writing.

I listened to music whenever I wrote. I like high-energy sounds when I’m writing, so I played to a lot of James Brown, Parliament and Fela Kuti. Their music was an inspiration to me the entire time I was writing American R & B: Gospel Grooves, Funky Drummers and Soul Power, and it still is.

After I wrote a draft of my book, I looked at it and realized it was way too long. I had to go through the entire book and make sure to leave only the most important stuff. That meant getting rid of some sections that took a lot of work. But at least I got to keep my favorite detail about James Brown: that legend had it he would sweat off seven pounds at each show.

After I pared my book down to a good length, I sent it in to my editor, Greg. He pointed out places where he thought it was confusing or where the writing needed work. Greg ended up going through my book several times, and his notes were really helpful.

After I had finished writing American R & B, a team at Lerner laid it out. All the great images in the book today—there’s one I really love of Aretha Franklin and her producer Jerry Wexler—are the result of their hard work. And that was it. The book was done after that, and they started printing out copies. Maybe you’ve read one.

Writing American R & B: Gospel Grooves, Funky Drummers, and Soul Power took a lot of hard work, researching and writing. But I’m proud of how it turned out. My one regret is that I couldn’t write about all the amazing R & B that’s come out since the book was published. My favorite album that came out last year was R. Kelly’s Write Me Back. My favorite song of the year was Miguel’s “Adorn,” which sounds like suave, old-school Marvin Gaye. And other artists, like Dawn Richard, Frank Ocean and The Weeknd are transforming R & B as I write. I can’t wait to see where they take it.

NSTA 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Domenica Di Piazza) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:00:00 +0000

Hmmm, somewhere in the country it's actually sunny and warm! Make that San Antonio, Texas, host of this year's National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) convention, which I attended last week. (I took a stroll through the city's historic King William district one evening, with its gorgeous nineteenth-century homes and blooming gardens just like in this photo. Such a great break from snow in the Midwest!)

The focus of this year's convention was the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), just released last Tuesday. Lots of great sessions helped unwrap the standards. The key principle of the new standards is practices, which basically means a hands-on approach to learning. Activities and experimentation are the name of the game, and paired with nonfiction writing, you're off to the races.

Below are some great suggestions from the conference for basic reading and links to become more familiar with the new standards and related issues:

RECOMMENDED READING LIST

"Common Science Standards Make Formal Debut"--this is a concise overview of the new standards from Education Week

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/04/09/28science_ep.h32.html?tkn=MNRFfFHQkhlEGl9Nb7fCNjDPZXx34QVP%2FORf&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1

Council of State Science Supervisors (CSSS)--among other goals, the organization is devoted to providing quality science curriculum, teaching strategies, and assessment tools on a state level. Check the link to find out who your state science supervisor team is.
http://www.csss-science.org/

Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas-- this NRC publication focuses on the three foundational principles of NGSS
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13165&utm_medium=etmail&utm_source=National

High Performance in High Poverty Schools: 90/90/90 and Beyond--by Douglas Reeves, this study, though a few years old, was referred to more than once in discussions of improved performance in high poverty schools; it shows that developing nonfiction writing skills works, especially with underachieving boys
http://www.gvsu.edu/cms3/assets/8D75A61E-920B-A470-F74EFFF5D49C6AC0/forms/boardmembers/resources/high_performance_in_high_poverty_schools.pdf

NASA Wavelength Digital Library--this online library offers digital resources for Earth and space science education at all levels, K-college. Earth and space science are key areas of growth in NGSS.
http://nasawavelength.org/

NGSS--Next Generation Science Standards home page
http://www.nextgenscience.org/

NGSS--electronic version of the standards (note that certain key elements of the standards are still to come; mostly this includes appendices, publisher guidelines, and assessment tools)

http://www.nextgenscience.org/print/121

NGSS--print edition (via National Academies Press, under $50)
http://www.nap.edu/NGSS/

The Science Teacher--the January and March 2013 issues of this NSTA publication are geared toward helping teachers make sense of NGSS and to start thinking about how to align curriculum with the new standards
http://learningcenter.nsta.org/browse_journals.aspx?journal=tst

Let us know what you think about the new standards, and don't forget to check in again for more from TFCB in two weeks!

Free Book Friday!

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Fitzgerald) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 14:09:00 +0000

Congratulations to Lela Nargi! You've won a free copy of The Long, Long Journey: The Godwit's Amazing Migration. Email us at publicityinfo@lernerbooks.com with the subject line "Free Book Friday" and tell us your mailing address so this charming little bird can start flying your way.

"FLY, MY PRETTIES! TO THE WINNER'S HOUSE!"

Our next giveaway is an adventure of a different sort. In Your Pajamas Are Showing!, the first book in the new Where's Leopold? series from Graphic Universe. six-year-old Leopold doesn’t want to go to school one morning. Luckily, it’s also the morning he discovers he can turn invisible! The only problem is that he hasn't figured out how to turn his clothes invisible too....

Every superpower has a catch...

Young readers (grades 2-4) will relish Leopold's super-powered hijinks. For a chance to win this short but side-splitting graphic novel, leave a comment on this post (including your name), or Tweet this line: "Free Book Friday! RT to win YOUR PAJAMAS ARE SHOWING from @LernerBooks. bit.ly/1OrSN."

We'll announce the winner in next week's Free Book Friday post, so be sure to check the Lerner blog on April 19 to find out if that winner is you!

Dispatches from the Newbie Editor's Desk

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Fitzgerald) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:12:00 +0000

Over the past couple of weeks, one of my friends has taken to introducing me thus: "This is Amy. She has a 401(k)." Which, as of the past couple of weeks, is true. But I've gained more than just a retirement plan recently. I've also made several exciting discoveries about the realm of publishing. Including....

-There are jobs in it. Actual jobs. To an outsider, the publishing industry can too easily seem like a sinking ship, whose limited deck space can accommodate only a few stalwart officers and a rotating crew of unpaid interns wielding bailing buckets. Having done my stint as an intern without ever being handed a bailing bucket, I've come to realize that while we may be storm-tossed, we're not going under just yet. And while I know as well as anybody that finding full-time employment in this field (or any field, really) is as much a matter of luck and timing as it is of hard work, I'm also glad that I didn't entirely believe everyone who told me it was a lost cause.

Long shot ≠ lost cause

-Editing is about relationships. With people. If you picture an editor as someone who sits front of a computer, or with a stack of papers on her desk, poring over a manuscript and jotting notes in the margins, your picture is not wrong. But it is incomplete. Disclaimer: I've been an editor for, officially, three days. But even in those three days, I've noticed the crucial role that personal interactions play in this job. Much of the excellent advice my colleagues have given me so far has been about how to build productive, trust-based relationships with authors. It's clear that they've taken the time to get to know their authors, that they respect each author's vision for his or her work, and that they know how to coax the best work out of him or her with a customized combination of honesty and diplomacy. So not only do I have a fresh appreciation for the editor-author relationship, but I'm also immensely grateful for the relationships among Lerner coworkers. My fellow editors, who are kind enough to share their wisdom with me, remind me that creating books is a collaborative effort at every step and from every angle.

lo, the joys of teamwork

-Nothing is perfect. Everything can be improved. This goes for my office (where previous occupants apparently really loved pushpins; it looks like a firing squad of those green plastic mini-soldiers went to town on my wall). It goes for the manuscripts I'm working on. It goes for my skills, my understanding of the field that is now my professional home, my choice of extended metaphors, my final score on Board Game Friday (brought to you by the indomitable Adriano Fruzzetti of the marketing department, who needs to start writing his own digital publishing blog posts again). My 401(k)? One can hope.

There's always more to learn, but...

I think I'm off to a pretty good start. Until next time, this is Amy. She has an awesome job.

Free Book Friday!

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Fitzgerald) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 14:24:00 +0000

Congratulations to Melanie Fields! You've won our copy of Something to Prove from Carolrhoda Books. Send us an email at publicityinfo@lernerbooks.com,with the subject line "Free Book Friday." Include your mailing address in the body of the email so that we can send you your free book!

"Step up to the plate and claim your prize!" Bad puns included.

And never fear, our supply of picture books is not yet exhausted! Our next giveaway, The Long, Long Journey: The Godwit's Amazing Migration from Millbrook Press, introduces young readers (grades K-3) to a young bar-tailed godwit. This little bird spends the summer in Alaska learning to fly, find her own food, and escape from scary predators. Then, in October, she takes off for New Zealand. This 7,000-mile flight is the longest nonstop bird migration ever recorded.

"We're flying 7,000 miles! Without stopping! CHECK IT OUT."

For a chance to win a copy of The Long, Long Journey, leave a comment on this post (including your name, or any name that's more distinguishing than "anonymous") or Tweet this line: "Free Book Friday! RT to win THE LONG, LONG JOURNEY from @LernerBooks. bit.ly/1OrSN."

The winner will be announced in next week's Free Book Friday post, so be sure to check the blog on April 12 to see if you've won a free ticket to the godwit's flight.