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

Book Reading, Signing and Reef Fish Ornament Crafts at Kukuiula on Christmas Eve

Monika Mira will be reading and signing copies of Who Lives in the Sea? Ocean Animals of Hawaii on Christmas Eve from 3:30-4:30pm in conjunction with the Kauai Culinary Market. After the book reading a reef fish ornament making session will take place. Children of all ages are invited to come down and make special ornaments that they can take place on their tree.

This special event is hosted by Coldwell Banker Makai Properties and the Shops at Kukuiula.

Free Children's Holiday Reading Series at the Shops at Kukui'ula

Kauai Author, Mark Huff will be reading today at the Children's Holiday Reading Series, sponsored by Coldwell Banker Makai Properties and the Shops at Kukui'ula's. The Children’s Holiday Reading Series will coincide with the Shops at Kukuiʻula’s Kaua’i Culinary Market during the month of December. Starting at 3:30pm during market days, a local Kauai children’s author will read their books as well as their favorite holiday stories. There will be a time before and after the readings for book purchases and signings.


As a reminder, the Kaua'i Culinary Market and the Children's Reading Series will be held on Tuesday, December 24th next week, so both farmers and authors can spend Christmas with their families.

“CB Makai is excited to participate in this holiday season’s festivities at The Shops at Kukuiʻula. The holidays are a time to give and CB Makai has always supported child education and literacy. Our Children’s Holiday Reading Series allows us to give to back to our community and promote the humanitarian work of the Kauai Children’s Authors Guild,” remarked Roberta Charles, Broker-in-Charge at Coldwell Banker Makai Properties, “in exchange for the guild’s participation in our reading series, CB Makai will be making a contribution go towards their upcoming “Read Across Kauai Day.”

Schedule of Events
-  Wednesday, December 11th (3:30-4:45pm): Carol Peacock, author of “Benny the Beetle.”
-  Wednesday, December 18th (3:30-4:45pm): Mark Huff, author of “King of the Beach” and “The
Sheltering Place.”
-    *Tuesday, December 24th (3:30-4:30pm): Monika Mira, author of "Who Lives in the Sea? Ocean Animals of Hawaii" and “The Complete Hawaiian Reef Fish Coloring Book.” A special reef fish ornament decorating activity will follow reading. *Note that due to the XMAS holiday on Wednesday, the Kaua’i Culinary Market will move to Christmas Eve.

Kauai Author Carol Peacock-Williams Releases Two New Books

 One of our Guild Members, Carol A. Peacock-Williams had a wonderful time signing both of her new children's bedtime story books - Thwack Goes their Tails and My Kaua'i.  Both of these hard cover books are from a limited edition printing.  Thwack goes their tails was released to bookstores this summer in a cross country book tour from coast to coast on the U.S. mainland.  It was illustrated by Carol's mother over 50 years ago when Bessie M. Peacock was working as an illustrator in Downtown Memphis, TN.  One day she decided to do some illustrations for a couple of her own books, but did not know how to get these children's books published.  Bessie gave Carol her illustrations over 10 years ago to get them published in the U.S. as hard cover picture books.  This turned out to be a more challenging project than Carol ever imagined.  As a results, both sets of illustrations Carol's mother gave her have a very vintage look to them.  Teachers seem to be very drawn to Thwack Goes Their Tails  since it is about Beavers - an animal that some preschoolers have never learned about. 

My Kaua'i, which was released this past Oct. is filled with oil painting illustrations created by Carol of her favorite images around her home island of Kaua'i, HI along with the bedtime story which was edited by her daughter, Christy Jo Williams.  After many requests for a children's book that Carol had actually illustrated herself, she took the paintings she had done over the past couple of year in art classes taught by local artist Fred Tangalan and put them into a bedtime story book.  This book is about a mother and child talking about what they are going to do one day, starting on the North shore of Kaua'i and ending up on the West side watching the sun set and the moon rise.  The only oil painting created for this book is on the last page which is a map of the island of Kaua'i along with labels to show where each image is on the island.  Visitors and locals both seem to love this book.

Kauai Made Trade Show Features Books by Local Authors

Did you know that there are a number of local authors that participate in the Kauai Made Program including Pam Brown with Kauai Stories, Susan Dierker with Knuckles the Hound of Hanalei and Monika Mira with The Complete Hawaiian Reef Fish Coloring Book. Some of these great books will be featured at the annual Kauai Made Trade Show being held at the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall on Monday, November 18 from 3-6pm. Local shop owners are encouraged to support the Kauai Made program by carrying products that are made by Kauai people. Come check it out. 

Why Reading Aloud is so Important

Did you know that reading aloud to your child is one of the most important things you can do to help boost their literacy skills and their overall success in school?

Studies show that children who are read to regularly at home by an adult have an overall better success rate in school. Knowing this, you would think that all parents are reading at home to their children, but the fact is, only about half of all children ages 3-5 are read to on a daily basis.



Here some other benefits of reading aloud to your child:

• Reading with your child is a great way to bond.
• Reading on regular basis instills good reading habits and establishes reading as part of a routine.
• Reading to your child prepares them for school by increasing their vocabulary.
• Reading is part of language development. 
• Language development takes place during the early years of brain development, and 90% of brain development takes place before a child's 5th birthday.
• Reading together can help instill a lifelong love for reading and learning.
• Reading together builds all sorts of literacy skills.

The Kauai Children's Authors Guild recognizes the need to support literacy efforts right here on Kauai. Please Join us for our Read Across Kauai Day event to be held on February 28th, 2014.

If your business or organization would like to sponsor books for children for the Read Across Kauai Day event, please contact us.

The Kauai Children's Authors Guild interviews best-selling author, Noah St. John about his Book of Afformations

I recently had the chance to interview best-selling author and speaker, Noah St. John, about his new book, Afformations. I was introduced to Noah and his book shortly after the Kauai Children’s Authors Guild asked the Mayor of Kauai to designate a day for literacy on Kauai. Prior to Read Across Kauai Day being designated by the Mayor, the the Kauai Children’s Authors Guild members had been working on ways to help with literacy efforts on Kauai. First, we researched joining a national literacy organization and opening a Kauai Chapter, but Kauai is so small and special that the Guild members wanted to take a more personal approach to meet the needs of Kauai Students. It was at that time that I asked the Guild members, “What if we could get a day devoted to literacy right here on Kauai?”

Shortly after I asked this very important question, we requested a Proclamation from the Mayor and the things began to fall into place for Read Across Kauai Day including the receipt of a pledge for donations that will begin to make this event a reality. All the authors got fired up and began to come up with all kinds of ideas about making this day a success and we began to receive additional support. I was beginning to ask myself, “why was this so easy?”

Now you may be asking, “what does this have to do with Noah St. John and his new book?” Well, Noah is part of national group of authors that I also belong to and I had the pleasure of attending a webinar that was recently hosted for Noah by book marketing guru John Kremer. In the webinar, Noah was talking about how had used affirmations for years, but they never seemed to work and then one day he had an epiphany and he discovered what he calls “Afformations”.

What he found was that when you continue to write and say all these affirmations, like: “I am rich”, etc., you’re mind does not really believe it, but if you instead ask the right questions like: “What if I could?” then your brain automatically begins to search for the answers. This really struck me, because quite by accident, without knowing Noah or anything about Afformations, I had done just what he suggested. I had asked our the members of the Kauai Childrens Authors Guild, “what if we could?” Not only did I get my brain seeking answers, the whole group began to seek answers about how to help with literacy efforts on Kauai.

So, I wrote to Noah to tell him about my story and to ask him a few questions about why this had worked so well for our group and this is what he said:

Noah St. John- “What you did right was activate the embedded presupposition factor of your brain, which happens when you ask a question that the brain seeks an answer to.

This is the essential reason that Afformations are so powerful and so amazingly effective – because your brain is always asking and searching for answers to questions.”

Monika Mira- “If this worked so well for us, how can other folks here on Kauai use Afformations with their efforts to help the community or help their businesses succeed?”

Noah St. John- “Tell all of your friends in the community to go to www.Afformationsbook.com and share the teaching of Afformations with everyone they know – parents, teachers, and students.

Kids especially love Afformations because their brains aren’t filled with years of “head trash” like most adults. That’s why we have a mission to have every student in America be taught Afformations as part of their regular curriculum – because it will teach them how to use the most important tool they will ever have: their own mind."

Monika Mira- Well there you have it! A cool new tool to help you succeed. I have embedded a little video below where Noah talks about what Afformations are and how he discovered them, and folks from all over are getting results. Check it out, see what it can do for you or your efforts to help others. I sure hope that our group can continue to use Afformations to make Read Across Kauai Day a success!