Lucid Publishing is proud to announce the release of their new children’s title, Day of the Dead Sugar Skull Coloring Book

Lucid Publishing is proud to announce the release of their new children’s title, Day of the Dead Sugar Skull Coloring Book by award-winning Kauai illustrator, and member of the Kauai Children's Authors Guild, Monika Mira. The book comes just in time for the fall season, when kids and parents are getting ready for Halloween and Dia de los Muertos. The coloring sheets have been available for a while on teacher’s websites like Teacher’s Notebook and Teachers Pay Teachers, but because of their popularity, Lucid Publishing decided to offer this title in a book format.

The Day of the Dead Coloring Book features ten original sugar skulls designs that can be colored in and used to string banners, decorate an alter, make masks, or for a cultural activities in the classroom. A blank skull template is provided for artists who want to create their own designs. Intricately designed sugar skulls are not all that the book has to offer. Also included is a 4’ child life-sized skeleton. The skeleton takes up about ten pages of the book and can be colored in, cut out and assembled by a child. The life-sized skeleton is perfect for Halloween decorations, party games, or even an anatomy lesson.

Teachers who want to use the book as a classroom resource will find that they can cover lessons in social studies, world cultures, art, and anatomy. Additionally, coloring and assembling the skeleton as a class is a great team-building activity. Students absolutely love creating their own sugar skulls and building the skeleton. Rave reviews have been pouring in from teachers who use this activity in their classrooms. Mom’s who home school are also enjoying the Day of the Dead Sugar Skull Coloring Book.

According to the author and illustrator, Monika Mira, the book started as party game that she put together for a group of kids a couple of years ago. The collection of sugar skull illustration began to grow, and the children looked forward to coming over for the annual Dia de los Muertos party. Each year, Mira would add new designs and new features. Last year, she added the life-size skeleton, which she buried in a mock graveyard outside. She had the kids dig through piles of leaves in the yard to find the pieces of the skeleton. Then the kids brought the pieces inside to assemble the skeleton.

The game was so much fun for the kids that she decided to share it with some teachers and friends. The word got out and the requests began to come in, so Mira organized the coloring sheets into a usable download for teachers, and most recently Lucid Publishing decided to make it available as a book.

Now families and classrooms, can enjoy these fun activities in the Day of the Dead Sugar Skull Coloring Book. If you are a teacher, you may prefer to license the coloring sheets through TeachersPayTeachers or Teachers Notebook.

Currently, the Day of the Dead Sugar Skull Coloring Book is only available on Amazon. For more information about the book, please visit Lucid Publishing’s website: www.lucid-hawaii.com.

American Academy of Pediatrics Recommends Reading Daily to your Child

It comes as no surprise to those of us who have been advocating this for years, but now the American Academy of Pediatrics has solid studies with proven results and has recommended that children be read to daily from birth. (Read the original article here)

From our standpoint at the Kauai Children’s Authors Guild and as parents ourselves, we realize that a lot is going on when you read to your children. Everyone gets so focused on academic success, which is valuable, but what about the quality time that you can spend with your child? Having your child seated in your lap makes them feel safe, it offers an opportunity for parent child bonding and it helps boost your child’s self esteem. It is no wonder that when these things are in place, learning can then occur.

Reading daily to your child sends them a very strong message. The message is that reading is something we do everyday, like brushing teeth, taking a bath, and eating dinner. It becomes part of life-long routine.

Hearing words and pointing to pictures forges new connections in your child’s brain and prepares them for academic success.

The statement by the American Academy of  Pediatrics, will allow for strong partnerships between child advocacy groups and government. Organizations will begin to partner and work with pediatricians to get the information to the most vulnerable groups and put books in the hands of parents and children that may not otherwise have access to them.

The Kauai Children’s Authors Guild will hold a planning meeting to respond to this statement and will continue the work that they have been doing with Read Across Kauai. This year, we would like to hold a special event at one of the hospitals, but that remains to be organized.

The Kauai Children’s Authors Guild is a volunteer organization that works in partnership with the Storybook Theatre of Hawaii. If your organization would like to partner with us to provide channels to better serve our children or to help fund our book giveaway on Read Across Kauai Day, please contact us. To learn more about our Read Across Kauai Day Literacy Event and the work that we do to help promote literacy on Kauai, please check out the articles on the Kauai Children’s Authors Guild Blog.

Summer Reading by Kauai Authors

It's that time where the kids get out of school and you start looking for activities to keep them busy all summer. Besides swimming classes, soccer camp and summer trips to far away places, reading is an important part of a child's summer. If you live in Hawaii, or are taking a trip there, you might consider choosing some books by Kauai Authors. Here is a good place to start.

Great books for summer reading with your 3-8 year olds:

1.) Who Lives in the Sea? Ocean Animals of Hawaii (ages 2-6) available on Amazon in paperback, Kindle format or Book App for Kindle or iBooks.
2.) Knuckles, The Hound of Hanalei (ages 2-7) available at Done by Dogs Publishing
3.) The Magic Ukulele (ages 3-8) available on Amazon or at Banana Patch Press
4.) Sabrina The Girl with a Hole in her Heart (ages 5-8) available on Amazon
5.) Mele the Crab (ages 2-6) available on Amazon
7.) King of the Beach (ages 4-8) available on Amazon
8.) Knuckles the Hound of Hanalei Book 2 (ages 2-7) available at Done by Dogs Publishing
9.) Benny the Beetle (ages 2-7) available on Amazon
10.) The Eye of the Lion, The Story of my First Hurricane (ages 5-8) available on Amazon

Self Publishing Workshop sponsored by Storybook Theatre and the Kauai Chidlren's Authors Guild

On Wednesday, March 26th, 2014 the Kauai Children's Authors Guild and the Storybook Theatre of Hawaii are sponsoring a self publishing workshop that will be held at the Storybook Theatre in Hanapepe from 12p-3p.

This workshop will walk you through the basics of self-publishing. Topics include: Where to start, how to get your files into the right format, the pros and cons of traditional publishing, POD, vanity press, ebooks, book apps, and self-publishing, and book printing, ISBN numbers, working with different genres, and marketing basics. Storybook Theatre, Hanapepe. There is no charge but a donation is recommended. Contact the Kauai Children's Authors Guild or the Storybook Theatre from more information or to register.

Kauai Authors Volunteer to Read to Hundreds of Children on Read Across Kauai Day

North Shore Lions Club issues check to support Literacy

February 28th, 2014 is Read Across Kauai Day. Members of the Kauai Children’s Authors Guild will be hitting the road to promote the importance of literacy by reading to hundreds of children across the Garden Island. The guild members have spent the last few months raising funds for the event and scheduling book readings at various schools across the island. With the help of the following sponsors, guild members will be able to distribute over 400 books to children across Kauai. Thanks goes out to: Plantation Gardens Restaurant, the North Shore Lions Club, the East Kauai Lions Club, Coldwell Banker Makai Properties, J. Lohr Winery, Gerald Nakashima, the KART Foundation, Terry and Helene Kamen, Janice Bond, Mokihana Pest Control and many other individual donors who made this event possible.

The event was modeled after the national event, Read Across America Day, but Kauai is such a special place that guild members designed Read Across Kauai Day to be a little more personal, a little more “Kauai Style”. The event provides an opportunity for children to interact with local authors and establish a personal connection with the books being read to them. The authors will also be able to share their experiences about writing and publishing books in order to inspire children to become writers if that is their dream. The authors also hope to reinforce the importance of reading by encouraging creativity through writing and artistic expression.

One of the most important components of the project is the distribution of an information sheet that will be sent home to parents about the importance of reading aloud to their children. Since Read Across Kauai Day is devoted to literacy, guild members wanted to make sure that this significant information be disseminated to the children’s parents. Why? Because statistics show that nearly 40% of children struggle with learning how to read and reading aloud is one of the most important things parents can do to prepare their children for long-term learning success.

 Authors who are participating in this event include: Susan Dierker, author of Knuckles the Hound of Hanalei who will be reading to over 200 students at Hanalei, Kilauea, and Kanuikapono Elementary Schools, Monika Mira, author of Who Lives in the Sea? Ocean Animals of Hawaii who will be reading at Kalaheo Elementary School and Haloalaunuiakea Early Learning Center, Mark Jeffers, author of Eye of the Lion, the Story of my First Hurricane who will be reading at Kahili Adventist School, Mark Huff, author of The Sheltering Place who will be reading at St. Catherine’s School, Carol Peacock author of Benny the Beetle who will read at Island School, and Wendy Lewis author of Sabrina, the Girl with a Hole in her Heart, who will read at Koloa School.

Best Books to Read to Toddlers

Reading to your child is one of the most important things you can do. There are countless benefits including bonding with your child and spending precious time cuddling. Don't know where to start? The slideshow below includes twenty classic children's books that are perfect for reading aloud to your toddler.

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Dine out for Literacy at Plantation Gardens on February 6th, 2014

Invite your friends to dine out for literacy. A portion of the proceeds from you dinner purchase will go to buy books for preschool and kindergarten students right here on Kauai!

Join us For Read Across Kauai Day, February 28th, 2014