Heather Shumaker is doing a free giveaway for my award-winning books for children on her Fiction Friday youtube page today. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AduQkRWHPY
Here is more information about my two books, How the Moon Regained Her Shape and The Passover Surprise.
The Passover Surprise is a middle-grade fiction chapter book by Janet Ruth Heller, illustrated by Ronald Kauffman. Lisa and her little brother Jon enjoy collecting stamps. But when their father holds a contest to decide which child will get a new large stamp album, Lisa has to solve a difficult problem.
The story takes place around 1960 and includes details about Jewish soldiers’ experiences during World War II and early stages of the Civil Rights Movement. The Passover Surprise (Fictive Press, 2016) also portrays a Jewish family celebrating Sabbath and Passover. Parents and teachers can use the Discussion Guide to discuss issues raised in this book, such as sibling rivalry, bullying, discrimination, and Jewish traditions, with their children and students.
How the Moon Regained Her Shape (Arbordale, 2006; 6th edition 2018) is a fiction picture book that explains why the moon changes shape and helps children deal with bullies. The sun insults the moon, and the moon feels so badly hurt that she shrinks and leaves the sky. The moon turns to her comet friend and her many friends on earth to comfort her. Her friends include rabbits and Native Americans. Then she regains her full shape, happiness, and self-esteem, and she returns to her orbit. An educational appendix gives advice about bullying, scientific information about the moon, and ideas for related activities for children.
Illustrator Ben Hodson won a Benjamin Franklin Award for this book’s artwork in 2007. How the Moon Regained Her Shape also won a Book Sense Pick (2006), a Children’s Choices award (2007), and a Gold Medal in the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards (2007). The book was also a finalist for the Oregon Reading Association’s 2009 Patricia Gallagher Picture Book Award.
Best wishes for the spring!
Sincerely,
Janet Ruth Heller
Author of the poetry books Exodus (WordTech Editions, 2014), Folk Concert: Changing Times (Anaphora Literary Press, 2012) and Traffic Stop (Finishing Line Press, 2011), the scholarly book Coleridge, Lamb, Hazlitt, and the Reader of Drama (University of Missouri Press, 1990), the middle-grade chapter book for kids The Passover Surprise (Fictive Press, 2015, 2016), and the award-winning picture book for kids about bullying, How the Moon Regained Her Shape (Arbordale, 2006; sixth edition 2018).
My website is https://www.janetruthheller.com/
