Review and Giveaway: If You're Groovy and You Know It, Hug a Friend! by Eric Litwin and Tom Lichtenheld

9780545883801

$9.99

You are looking at an instant story time hit here! Set to the tune and pattern of "If You're Happy and You Know It," this book will have both kids and parents singing - and moving - along from the first page. 

Song rewrites can get a little stale, but Litwin's changes and Lichtenheld's smiling critters add a freshness and whimsy that are just right. Beginning with, "If you're groovy and you know it, greet the day," the duo then invite us to laugh and play, go explore...and of course read a book!

The natural extension is to ask your audience (as Joe does on the last page), "What makes your day groovy?"

So, that's my question for you! What makes your day groovy? Grabbing coffee with a friend? Playing board games with your kids? Scaling Mt. Everest? I want to hear it! Add your answer in the comments, and you will automatically be entered into a random drawing for a copy of the book, signed by Mr. Eric himself!

Winner will be drawn and announced back here on Friday, September 21. While you are waiting, grab yourself a bunch of kiddos and let them make up their own verses to add to the song. Then get out and see how many of them you can cram into a day!

***The randomly selected winner was post #2, "Watching kids get excited about new books"! I will be e-mailing you for an address! Thank-you everyone!

Review - Groovy Joe: Dance Party Countdown by Eric Litwin and Tom Lichtenheld

I am always happy to get a new title from Eric Litwin in my hands, but sad that this time I did not have time to interview him. (Beginning bloggers, Litwin is one of the easiest people in the world to interview! Just set up a tape recorder and let him start talking: you'll never be able to keep up taking notes by hand!) If you would like to check out some earlier interviews with him, all about early literacy and working with Lichtenheld, click here and here.

9780545883795

$17.99

Groovy Joe first appeared with Ice Cream and Dinosaurs, which has quickly become one of our story time staples. I even used it in a recent workshop for reading mentors, as an example of giving kids a chance to participate and predict during a read-aloud. Dance Party Countdown continues with the same predictable (in a good way!) patterns, catchy phrases, and a danceable refrain (In disco style this time! Bonus, I can show off my moves!)

New to this title is the inclusion of a little math. The size of the crowd keeps doubling, but does that upset Joe? If you have read the first title, you know the answer to that! We also have the appearance of various musical instruments. Not sure I've ever seen a tuba used in disco music, but, to each his own! 

Lichtenheld's whimsy is again a perfect match to Litwin's sense of fun. The chipmunk in shades is back, and doggie band members range from an Elvis-like dalmatian to dachshund in a beret, all clearly having a great time.

A fun extension would be to have the kids name the pictured instruments they know, and look up the others. Have a musical instrument tasting party, where kids can hear the sounds each one makes and see how they are played. What type of music might include a tuba? A cello? An electric guitar? Play different types of music and see what instruments kids can pick out. I see this one getting a lot of mileage in the 2018 summer reading program, "Libraries Rock"!

The math of course offers more extensions. How far can your kids go in doubling the numbers? Try out the old story of the man who agrees to work for a penny on his first day, 2 cents the next, 4 cents the third, and so forth - how much would he have made in a week? A month? A year?

You'll want at least one copy of this one, probably more if you are going with the music theme this summer!

Deadline Approaching - and a Giveaway!

Saturday is the LAST DAY to nominate children's and YA books for the Cybils Award in any categories. As a little extra motivation, we are offering a free copy of one of the titles that has already been nominated in the Fiction Picture Book category:

9780545883788

$17.99

You can read our review here, and an interview with Eric Litwin here. 

All you have to do to be entered to win a copy of this book is 1) Go to this link and nominate at least one title in any category, then 2) Come back here and leave a comment telling us what you nominated, along with contact information in the event that you win. Already submitted your nomination? Totally counts, just let us know in the comments!

Here are some Fiction Picture Book titles that have yet to make the list, but which might be worth a look:

Dirt + Water = Mud by Katherine Hannigan 9780062345172

A Squiggly Story by Andrew Larsen 9781771380164

A Child of Books by Oliver Jeffers 9780763690779

Snapsy the Alligator Did Not Ask to Be in This Book by Julie Falatko 9780451469458

This is Not a Picture Book by Sergio Ruzzier 9781452129075

Bear & Hare Share by Emily Gravett 9781481462174
Mervin the Sloth is About to Do the Best Thing in the World by Venable 9780062338471
Home at Last by Vera B. Williams 9780061349737
Can I Tell You a Secret? by Anna Kang 9780062396846
Otter Goes to School by Sam Garton 9780062352255


For Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction:

The Poet's Dog by Patricia Maclachlan 9780062292629

For Middle Grade Fiction:

Six Kids and a Stuffed Cat by Gary Paulsen 9781481452236

But, hurry! Nominations close in just a few days, and I will be picking a winner at random from the comments Sunday evening!

(U.S. addresses only, please!)

Author Interview: the Very Groovy Eric Litwin!

Last week I had the privilege of speaking with Eric Litwin, author of the first four Pete the Cat books, the Nut Family series, and now the new Groovy Joe books. I spoke with Eric once before, last fall.

In that blog post we spoke about his experience as a teacher, and how that shapes his writing. He told me he discovered early on that approximately a third of his students were not on grade level, or simply didn't like reading. Something needed to change. Rather than rely on phonics and sight words alone, Litwin started adding music and movement to reading lessons, and saw things begin to click with his students.

Twelve months after that interview, Litwin is still passionate about using a variety of tools to teach kids to read, saying, "I see my books as launch pads." His books include limited vocabulary, call and response, rhythm and rhyme, repetition - things that enable all children to decode, "offering many roads to success".

These elements also make them great read-alouds, which of course is a huge draw to teachers and librarians alike! Litwin told me his books are written as performance pieces. "The performance aspect generated because I realized these things were good for the emergent reader." Each book is a year or two in the making, with Litwin telling it a hundred times or more in front of live audiences, getting everything just right.

For Groovy Joe, illustrator Tom Lichtenheld attended one of the later performances, noting where Litwin paused and where students chimed in. This in turn affected the page breaks - giving listeners a chance to jump ahead of the reader and shout out, "a spoon!" We know predicting is an important reading skill, and any time kids feel like they figured something out before the grown-up, they are going to be engaged and excited!

The next Groovy Joe title, Disco Party Bow-Wow, is slated for release in Fall of 2017, and Litwin played a bit of the song for me. He describes it as "ABBA-esque", which I know will make my 6yo dancing queen very happy. As in every Groovy Joe book, Joe will face an obstacle, he will stay positive about it, and of course he will sing about it! In this title there will even be some simple math to stretch the listeners' brains and - again - give them a chance to 'beat' the reader to the next line.

Joe is also available in Spanish. I was curious about how the translating was done, as when I lived in Ukraine I saw some truly horrible (and often hilarious) word-for-word translations. Litwin called it a very interesting process, pointing out that the Spanish language can differ from country to country, and even region to region, making a word like "groovy" less than universal. After much thought and research, we have:


9781338044010
$17.99

The Nut Family will also be back with a Spring 2017 release, The Nuts: Keep Rolling.


9780316322515
$17.99, April 2017

I'll just tell you there is mud involved, which will again make said dancing queen happy. When I interviewed Litwin last year, he told me The Nuts: Sing and Dance in Your Polka Dot Pants was "probably the best book I have ever written." I asked him where that put Groovy Joe. He paused for a moment (he does not pause often, btw, so if you ever interview him, have a tape recorder ready), and told me "I try not compare my books to each other in a better or worse way. So I don't really have a favorite. But I do feel genuine excitement when a new book is written and goes out into the world."

The Nut Family books are a little more complex, with more words. Feedback from teachers and reviewers was mixed. The stories were fun, but not as instantly catchy as Pete. While the basic message was positive, with a positive outcome, some weren't crazy about the response of "not a chance". As a sometimes too-busy Mom, I noted the guilt feeling too. Litwin took that into account, and readers will be much happier with the repeated phrase "keep rolling". 

We had loads of fun with the Polka Dot Pants Dance Contest, so we were happy to hear Groovy Joe will be holding his own contest in February. In the meantime, Scholastic has a drawing contest (deadline November 1) for kids to enter, as well as a contest for grown-ups who are running book fairs. (2,000 Scholastic dollars? Yes, please!)

As Pete says, It's all good!

Review: Groovy Joe - Ice Cream and Dinosaurs, by Eric Litwin

In the beginning, there was Pete the Cat

and he loved his white shoes

and it was good.

Oh, the critics didn't think it was good, but what do critics know? The children and the teachers knew better.

Then there were Pete's buttons, and his school shoes, and last but not least, Christmas. And it was all good.

But some changes came to Pete, and there was sorrow in the land.

But lo! There came the Nut Family!



And they were good, in their own right - but something was still missing.

Until now.

Introducing Groovy Joe! Everything you loved about the original Pete the Cat; the humor, the cadence, the personality, the instant I-must-use-this-in-a-story-time, all with a scruffy goatee (illustrated by none other than Tom Lichtenheld, who has also illustrated books by...well, just about everybody.)

I stopped and read the first pages aloud to my coworkers before I even got to the rest of it myself: "Groovy Joe saw something yummy. Groovy Joe started rubbing his tummy. Groovy Joe was living the dream. He had a spoon and a tub of doggy ice cream." Obviously, Groovy Joe has the right priorities in life. And can you feel the rhythm already? I want to tap my hand or foot as I'm reading it.

My first real test audience was two brothers, around 5 and 7, who were in looking for Pete the Cat books. I read Groovy Joe out loud to them, and right away they were predicting, saying lines with me, singing the chorus, and even dancing with me a little at the end. Nailed it! All those pre-reading and reading skills that teachers and librarians obsess over?

- phonemic awareness? check!
- vocabulary? check!
- narrative skills? check!
- making inferences? check!
- predicting? check!
- text clues for expression? check!
- print motivation? check and check!

True to Litwin's interest in early literacy and music, there are also numerous resources for readers and teachers alike on his web site and over at Scholastic. Remember the Polka Dot Pants Dance? Music for the Groovy Dance is already up, with a video coming soon...and what's this about a contest in the future??

Lichtenheld's illustrations bring the story to life, with a sense of fun and whimsy that match Litwin's writing perfectly. (Chipmunk in shades playing a spoon. Must. make. reappearance. in future books.)

Because there will be future books, hopefully many!

And there was much rejoicing in the land*.

*Srsly folks. Librarian sites going crazy right now.

Stay tuned for an interview with Eric Litwin, including news about his upcoming titles, dance contest, and more!

***This book has been nominated for the Cybils Awards, and I am a first-round panelist in this category. There are many other panelists, and many MANY other great nominees, so a good or bad review here does not necessarily predict placement on the shortlist. 

Sing and Dance in Your Polka Dot Pants - and win a book while you're at it!

Last week I shared part of an interview with Eric Litwin, author of the first four Pete the Cat books, and now the new Nut Family series. Today is the official release date of the second book in that series, Sing and Dance in Your Polka Dot Pants.

With Pete the Cat being such a huge hit, I couldn't help but take note when Litwin - twice - called this book "probably the best thing I have ever written." Better than the instant story time classic, Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes? This I had to see.

The Nut Family books are illustrated by Scott Magoon (Spoon, Mostly Monsterly, The Boy Who Cried Bigfoot, etc.) Bright colors, large characters that work well when holding the book up for a crowd during story time, plus plenty of smaller details to pick out when reading with a little one on your lap. Magoon is...a very punny guy. Teachers could do an entire series of lessons just on the nut references he works into the illustrations! (My favorite is the nutellaphone).

As I shared last week, Litwin writes with beginning readers in mind. A former teacher, he says, "I found that my students learned to read more effectively when my content/books had music and was engaging. So I set out to create books where music and literacy come together." The result was the first four Pete the Cat books published by HarperCollins, and now the Nut Family series from Little, Brown.

In Sing and Dance in Your Polka Dot Pants, the musical part takes center stage. Like most kids, Hazel loves to sing and dance, and she loves her polka dot pants - but, like many families, everyone is just too busy to join her. (As I told Eric, I am very grateful neither parent was occupied on Facebook, because I feel guilty enough). Not a heavy message, though - Hazel doesn't give up, she just keeps on enjoying herself. Finally, she is joined by super cool disco dancing Grandma - who has her own polka dot pants!

Soon everyone is joining in...including the readers. Litwin and his crew (including an entire team of Nutty Complimenters) are hosting a dance video contest. Learn the moves on the web site, or make up your own (and you have to check out this ADORABLE video of the first entry, on Youtube or on Litwin's Facebook page.)

Submit your entry by November 2, and you have a chance to win a copy of the book, poster, or even a visit to your school by Eric Litwin himself! If you are local, you are more than welcome to join us at the Alamogordo Public Library this Saturday at 10AM, while we film our attempt.

So, was this the best thing he has written so far? You decide: Litwin has sent us an autographed copy to give away to one lucky reader. All you have to do is comment below with an example of how YOUR family is nutty. (Don't deny it -  here is a whole year's worth of our family's nuttiness for inspiration. Or commiseration. Something like that.) I will announce a random winner Thursday, October 1, so don't wait too long!

"But wait!" (she says in her best infomercial voice) "There's more!"

Just in case you missed the announcement a couple weeks back, the Nut Family is not the only new thing Litwin has up his sleeve. Scholastic has picked up the rights to the Groovy Joe series - at least three picture books, plus board and novelty books. Tom Lichtenheld (E-Mergency, Yes Day, Everything I Know About Pirates, etc., etc.) will be illustrating, and Litwin says, "I love the kind of ragamuffin image he has created." Judge for yourself:



Litwin has already recorded a song for the first book, in which Groovy Joe brings back the Watusi (Check it out here, or ask your grandmother). In this case, of course, it's the WAGtusi. I am guessing the puns won't be limited to the Nut Family. Something to look forward to for the fall!

In the meantime, get your disco groove on, and let's start seeing those comments and videos!


***Two quick notes on the book giveaway: I can only ship to the US, and if you choose to comment anonymously, you'll need to give me some way of getting in touch with you if you win!***

Polka Dots, Reviewers, Video Stars, Nutty Families, and Eric Litwin!

As a blogger/reviewer/librarian, I get my share of form e-mails sent by publicists trying to sound personal. Earlier this week I got one from a "local teacher" who thought I should order this great poetry book that all the teachers in her school loved. Here's the thing - while I don't know every teacher in the district, I do know a lot of them, and I know how to Google. No teachers in this district by that name...BUT, the same publishing company has a book they are promoting whose main character has that exact name...and someone with that name has been writing glowing reviews of that publisher's books.

So, no, I won't be buying that particular paperback poetry collection.

On the other hand, a few weeks ago I received an e-mail that started like this: 

"Are you the Ami that does, "A Mom's Spare Time?"  I wasn't able to find an e-mail address for you on your website, but a quick search for a librarian in New Mexico with the name "Ami" turned you up! "

Huh...I don't think this was a form letter.

 It was, in fact, a very nice e-mail from a very nice lady named Becky, who happens to be the Executive Assistant to Eric Litwin - yes, the author of the four original Pete the Cat books - that Eric Litwin! 

She wanted to let me know about the new series he has out, The Nut Family, and wondered if I might be interested in interviewing him.

Well, let me just think about that for approximately .2 seconds.

Teachers and librarians have loved Pete the Cat since he was first self-published by Litwin and illustrator James Dean.

The call-and-response, easy sing-along lines, and humor make the first four books great read-alouds - and adults get a kick out of lines like, "No matter what you step in, keep walking along and singing your song...because its all good."

The critics? The big name reviewers? Hated it. From School Library Journal: "there's not much here to get excited about." From Kirkus: "awfully hard to relate to."

Fortunately, children don't read Kirkus or SLJ. Neither do many bloggers, myself included. The Pete the Cat books authored by Litwin have received an impressive 18 awards for literacy between them, and - this part makes me giggle - not long after that terrible review from SLJ, I Love My White Shoes was named #20 on SLJ's Top 100 Picture Books. 

I was sad when the authorship changed, and remember reading something about Litwin being a musician - I assumed he had gone off to pursue a career in music instead. This brings us back to that e-mail from the nice lady named Becky, and why it took me only .2 seconds to type back a resounding "YES!!!"

In the first book of his new series, Bedtime at the Nut House, we meet Mama,  Wally and Hazel Nut.  

Mama says it's time for bed, but Wally and Hazel would rather play, jumping on their trampraline (yes, the puns are everywhere), or going down the slide from their window to a giant ball pit. (Note to self: install slide and ball pit soon, because that looks like loads of fun.) Bedtime struggles are pretty universal - my kids are masters at the art of stalling - so I don't think anyone will be able to say these are hard to relate to.

Much like the original Pete the Cat books, we have repeating lines (Then Big Mama Nut in her Mama voice said, "all little nuts need to go off to bed!") that will have kids in a story time automatically 'reading' along. My kids love books like this at home as well, because they increase their confidence in their own reading skills - and that is exactly what Litwin is going for.

"Everything I do is done with an intention," he told me. As a teacher, Litwin was dismayed to see students react to a new book, or to learning to read, with very little enthusiasm. They were frustrated, and many already felt like reading was something they just couldn't do.

He sees an over-reliance on limited methods as part of the problem. "For many years, our toolbox has had two tools in it: sight word recognition and phonetic awareness." Those are good tools, he says, but compares it to thinking we can fix everything with just a hammer and a screwdriver. Children also learn to read through prediction, rhyme, rhythm. He incorporates all of those things into his books, and while he says getting good reviews and selling a lot of books is nice, it is more important to him that they become a staple in the classrooms.

I have to admit, I was excited to hear him say all this. In our college education classes (and Litwin has a Masters degree in education), we learn that all of these things are important to reading development. Google "Pre Reading Skills", and it's right there. Children's books need to be more than just putting some silly words with brightly colored pictures, and story time is more than just sitting in front of a group of kids, reading a book out loud. Teachers know it, librarians know it, parents know it. Publishers...well, we're going to say that someone at both Scholastic and Little, Brown knows it, because they were smart enough to snap Litwin up!

If you look at the covers of Litwin's books, you'll see that they all have a note such as "link to downloadable song". He says, "I found that my students learned to read more effectively when my content/books had music and was engaging. So I set out to create books where music and literacy come together."

 That makes sense. I still know my different types of dinosaurs thanks to the songs I learned in Barb Smith's 4th grade class...um...several years ago. Songs are catchy. Songs are fun. Songs have rhythm and rhyme, which help with both reading AND math skills. Why don't we use music more than we do? Okay, why don't "I" use music more than I do? Is it because I can't sing? (I really can't). Kids don't care! Any of Litwin's books can be read straight through, but they are so much more fun sung. You can make up your own tunes, or hear any of them on his web site. I have a two word warning for you, though:

Ear. Worm.

These songs are so catchy and rhythmic and fun, they will stay in your head all. day. long. Ohmigosh, what an idea - teaching kids in a way that sticks with them! We read I Love My White Shoes in story time last week, and all weekend I caught myself putting everything to the same tune. "I love my chocolate...I love my chocolate..." Awesome, I'm practicing reading skills myself! Then I listened to the first Nut Family book on line, and was dancing the 1-year-old around, singing, "You're nuts! You're nuts! You're nuts! You're nuts!" Those pale in comparison, however, to Litwin's latest...

The book isn't even out yet, and my kids already know the song. It's fun, it's catchy, and it is never going to leave my head.

I did get a preview of the text yesterday (okay, you know it's going to be a good day when an author is reading his newest, unreleased book to you over the phone). It's a great simple story, just as universal in theme as the bedtime struggle. And look at the cover. There's a disco ball. And a downloadable disco dance. Do I really need to go on?

Of course I do, because there's also a contest! 

Hazel Nut wants to sing and dance, but everyone is too busy to join her. Super-hip, disco dancing Grandma Nut to the rescue! Soon everyone can't help but join in...and you can, too!

Litwin and his team are inviting anyone, young or old, alone or in a crowd of a thousand, to submit a video of themselves doing the Polka Dot Pants Dance. Full contest information can be found here. You can also find the (super easy) movements to the dance at that web site, or Litwin says you can make up your own. Personally, I think the disco point is a must, though! 

If you are local, I have even better news for you: a gentleman with a bit more technological know-how than I have has agreed to help us put together a video here at the library! Just check out the moves online, then show up here at 10:00 AM Saturday, September 26. Wear polka-dots or bright colors, and be ready to get your groove on!

Possible prizes include:

• A limited edition Polka-Dot Pants Dance Poster
• The book The Nuts, Sing and Dance in Your Polka-Dot Pants
• Wonderful and plentiful compliments from our own Nutty Complimenters Team
• A live performance, at your school, from author Eric Litwin.

If you would like to pre-order the second book (or order the first), check out this link. In the meantime, check back here on Tuesday, September 22 for more from my interview with Litwin, more on what he has coming up, and another contest you can enter!