Natasha Wing's Blog, page 18

Red Glass by Laura Resau

Red Glass by Laura Resau.

Fabulously written review of one of my writer friends’ books by an insightful teen.

Filed under: Natasha Wing

Tot-to-teen authors at Boulder Children’s Book Festival

From left to right: Claudia Mills, Phyllis Perry, Cathy Morrison, Lindsay Eland, Ingrid Law, Natasha Wing, Elaine Pease, Leslie Ann Clark

Filed under: Natasha Wing Tagged: Barnes & Noble, book festival, elaine pease, lindsay eland

Free Teacher Packet

School’s here! Are you ready?

I’d like to help teachers make it a little easier to dive into a new school year.

I have a teacher’s packet for the first elementary school teacher who can tell me which three of my Night Before books are on the Publishers Weekly bestsellers list for children’s books.

Here’s the link if you need a clue: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/nielsen/kidspicture.html

The packet includes: 3 classroom activities, a signed book, and a $50 off coupon for a Fall author visit to your school.

Enter by commenting below.

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Back to school signing in Boulder, CO!

This Saturday, a collection of children’s author who write for tots-to-teens, will be at the Boulder, Colorado Barnes & Noble to help get families and teachers ready for school. I’ll be there to read An Eye for Color: The Story of Josef Albers and to demonstrate some of the activities in the the end pages. This is a perfect book for art teachers, or teachers who want to incorporate more literature and art in their classrooms. The book is about an artist who spend 27 years of his life to study how colors react when put next to other colors. He called it the “interaction of color.”

So come by the Barnes & Noble at 2999 Pearl Street in Boulder. I’ll be there from 1-2:30 or so. The event lasts until 4 p.m.

My school-themed books in my Night Before series will be available for me to sign as well. This week I’m thrilled to announce that The Night Before Kindergarten, The Night Before Preschool, and The Night Before First Grade are #1, 2 and 4 on Publishers Weekly’s bestsellers list for children’s books.

Here’s a little write up that was published in Publishers Weekly:

A Brainstorm on the Subway

An overheard New York subway conversation doesn’t often lead to a million-copy bestseller—but that’s what happened to Jane O’Connor. The Grosset & Dunlap editor had been publishing a series of “night before” holiday books, such as The Night Before Halloween and The Night Before Easter, all by Natasha Wing. But when O’Connor sat next to a little girl who was telling her mother what she was going to do the night before starting kindergarten, something clicked. The Night Before Kindergarten, an 8×8 paperback, came out in 2001, written by Wing and illustrated by Julie Durrell, and has shipped over 1.4 million copies. “It was just a chance conversation,” O’Connor said. “I owe it all to the MTA.” Combined with its successors, The Night Before First Grade and The Night Before Preschool, and others for various holidays, more than 4.8 million copies of books in the 17-title series have shipped. In earlier years, Kindergarten, First Grade, and Preschool would show up on bestseller lists starting in July with the impending start of the school year, but these days, O’Connor said, “what’s interesting is that sales have ballooned, and the books sell all year round now.” The Night Before Your Birthday and The Night Before Hanukkah are due in 2014, as are paper-over-board hardcover editions of Kindergarten, First Grade, and Preschool.�—Diane Roback

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Interview with Colorado Author Amy Kathleen Ryan!

Interview with Colorado Author Amy Kathleen Ryan!.

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Online Children’s Bookstore

I love the fact that books are available in more places so that people can make choices of where they want to buy them, plus have added convenience. My books are now being carried by this online children’s bookstore. They take care in choosing the books they sell, plus have author interviews and bios so that you can get to know a little more about your favorite author. I like that personal touch. In my school visits one of my goals is reveal the person behind the byline. There’s more of a connection that way to the stories they read. So if you get a chance, visit this site and read my interview.

Happy summer reading!

Filed under: Natasha Wing

The Night Before Kindergarten Gift Set

 

So excited to see that my book, The Night Before Kindergarten, is now available as a gift set! There’s a first 100 days of school calendar, watercolors, stickers and of course the book. You can pre-order here so that your little ones getting ready to go to Kindergarten will have the summer to get ready in a fun way.

Filed under: Natasha Wing Tagged: get ready for school, gift sets, Kindergarten, school

Bookends Interview

http://epresence.psdschools.org/1/watch/1478.aspx

Fort Collins authors, Teresa Funke and Natasha Wing, are interviewed about their books and writing process.

Filed under: Natasha Wing Tagged: Bookends, Colorado writers, Natasha Wing, Poudre School District, Teresa Funke

National Children’s Book Week

 

Today National Children’s Book Week begins. Please help us celebrate by reading a picture book a day or gifting a book to a special child in your life. 

Filed under: Natasha Wing Tagged: 2013 National Children's Book Week

Spreading the Reading Love

 

Tomorrow night, 25,000 volunteers will be going out to 6,000 towns and cities across America to hand out free books in the name of spreading the love of reading, person to person. This is the second year of World Book Night U.S. and it so fittingly falls on Shakespeare’s birthday. 

The idea of World Book Night is to encourage light to non-readers to read more by literally putting a book in their hands. I’ll be in Old Town Fort Collins looking for teenage boys and girls to give them a copy of Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. 

Any time I can inspire a child or teen to read, I feel good knowing that a brain has been woken up to the written word, and that a spark may be ignited for the quest more knowledge. As an author, it’s my obligation to create new readers. Thank you World Book Night – and local book distributor Old Firehouse Books – for providing a simple way for me to participate in the literacy movement.

Filed under: Natasha Wing