Small Words are Better-- Lunchpail Books!

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Thanks,
Johnnie Lunchpail
http://www.lunchpailbooks.com

Toast on my Tie

Children as Teachers!
Lunchpail Books
Being a parent can be a humbling experience… the special spirits that are under  your care and stewardship change your life forever.  Not only do you learn to let go of your natural selfishness- you learn to be humble.  One time years ago, when the kids were very young– I headed off to work early in the morning, giving hugs and heading out the door.   Half-way through the day someone pointed out something stuck to my tie.   And there it was, a small piece of toast– solidly affixed to my neck-tie via peanut butter and jelly.  It must have been transferred to me via a morning hug.  It was stuck there just like a tie-tack… about 1/2 inch square.  At first, I was horrified– all those meetings I went to, all those folks I interacted that never said a word.   Did they think toast was a fashion statement?  After the horror subsided, I removed the toast, wiped down my tie and laughed to myself… I realized then how lucky I was to express such a fashion statement… it said “Loving Dad”.   Kids are grown now, so I have to put my own toast on.

Here are some lessons that kids have taught us:

Great Truths About Life That Little Children Have Learned

• No matter how hard you try, you can’t baptize cats.
• When your mom is mad at your dad, don’t let her brush your hair.
• If your sister hits you, don’t hit her back. They always catch the second person.
• Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato.
• You can’t trust dogs to watch your food.
• Reading what people write on desks can teach you a lot.
• Don’t sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.
• Puppies still have bad breath even after eating a tic tac.
• Never hold a dustbuster and a cat at the same time.
• School lunches stick to the wall.
• You can’t hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
• Don’t wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.
• The best place to be when you are sad is in Grandma’s lap.

Very Bizarre Children's Book Titles

Another installment of “You have got to be kidding” book titles.  Yes, they are real.  There are so many great children’s book authors out there longing to be published.  It stings to know that these books have actually been published.   I found some that were in such bad taste as note appropriate for our blog.

Here are some of the bizzaros…

[Not on my top 10 fears—Interesting toilet paper holder.]

[Wow—even bilingual!  I love adolescent humor, but even for me, this pushes the line…what do you think?]

 

[Potty for dummies? Do we really need instruction for this?]

[What constitutes funny places—I’m at the age where hair is growing out my ears, but it is not what I would call a “funny place”]

Well, that’s it for now… more later.

Do you have any captions or comments to add to these book covers?  Would love to hear your comments!

Regards,

Johnnie

Key Is To Build Reading Activity Into Routine

Parents are continuously urged to have their children read or be read to… through out the year.  Now that summer is upon us, can we work reading into our “busy” schedules? 

Children who maintain their reading skills or younger ones who are read to on a daily basis will be on target for back-to-school or back-to-regular routines in the fall. Those who don't typically have to pay catch-up in the classroom, which can set the stage for a challenging year.

Do you have a reading routine?  Is there a set time each day to read?  Do your children see you read?  Some of us don’t necessarily run a tight schedule, and reading (which can appear boring) often gets left off the “to-do” list.  So how do we jump the boring hurdle?  Is it like eating your spinach?  Making your bed… let’s put some spark into reading.

The key is to make reading an event!  Make it special in some way… something to look forward to!  Here are some suggestions I found in About.com

Take advantage of weather by dangling the reading carrot in fun ways. Be adventurous and make it a game as to where you should read to your child and how. In warm weather, read next to a pond or lake, under a tree, by the pool, or even in the tree house. Be bold and carefree. One mother reads to her young child in their blow-up children's pool in the backyard during the summer months. Another mom finishes the much-anticipated daily trip to the park in the spring or fall by reading a book before they leave. Cold months can mix reading activities by having books about snowmen, snowfalls, winter holidays, or sports such as ice-skating. Day care centers or child providers can add reading fun into the mix by tying it into a planned activity for the week. If the theme for the week is "Under the Sea," then the books can be about the ocean or fish.

Consider a reading series. There are countless book series tailor made for your child's age, and a good experience with one means there is a high likelihood your child will enjoy others about the same characters. There are series on action heroes and princesses, popular characters such as Bob the Builder, the classic Dr. Seuss collection, and about young heroes and heroines. There are series about beginning school for the first time or about going on vacation. Older children like series such as Harry Potter.

Build reading into the schedule. Parents and child providers can and should build a reading activity into the daily schedule. While evening or before-bedtime are popular times to read, reading after breakfast or before children go to an activity, sets a routine that most children embrace. Providers can set a daily story time and let parents know what book is being read and how it matches enrichment and learning activities for the week.

Plan ahead with exciting books on vacation. Vacation is a prime time for reading enjoyment, when family is together and fun is in the plans. Reading is a great activity for around the pool or in the hotel room in the evening.

Build a reading activity into life's planning. Children of all ages should learn the connection between reading and knowledge. If your family is adding a flowerbed, have children read about how to prepare a bed and what flowers and shrubs are optimal for the area of the country and whether it is in sun or shade. Getting a new family pet? Read up on varieties of dogs, care required, and even stories about children and their pets first. Traveling somewhere? You guessed it, read all about your destination first and you and your children will have the added benefit of knowing more about the area when you arrive.

Involve the entire family. Studies show that moms have the tendency to read more to their children then dads, robbing both children and fathers of positive reading experiences. Make reading time with dad or grandpa a priority. Dads read books aloud with children differently then moms do, and children will flourish with the perspective and experience of both.

Ask for your child's feedback. Evaluation and discussion is an important part of a positive book-reading experience. Ask your child simple questions, such as: Did you like the book? Why or why not? Who was your favorite character? What was your favorite scene? Did you like how it ended? Would you like to read it again someday? Don't be surprised if your child wants to re-read the same book again! That means you did your job well and helped foster a love of reading.

Also, don’t forget to get the right book.  Find something with age appropriate vocabulary that a child we feel proud to know that they can read the book all by their selves.  There are many sources to find such books.   You may wish to star with Lunchpail Books, which promises books that are both fun and easy to read. 

You Tube Channel

Lunchpail Books is pleased to announce its official YouTube Channel.   Take a view at...

http://www.youtube.com/user/LunchpailBooks

Make sure you check out story time by SamECircle (Peep Peep).

Do You Love Pickles?

What do you love about pickles?

Here are some types...

Types of Pickles

• Fresh-pack (or quick process) pickles are cured for several hours in a vinegar solution or are immediately combined with hot vinegar, spices, and seasonings. Examples include dills, bread-and-butter pickles and pickled beets. Quick Process is what these instructions (below on this page) show. 

Other types are:

• Fermented pickles are vegetables soaked in a brine solution for 4 to 6 weeks. During this time, lactic acid bacteria, naturally present on the surface of vegetables, grows. Other microbes are inhibited by salt. The color of the vegetables changes from bright green to olive/yellow-green, and the white interior becomes translucent. Examples include dill pickles and sauerkraut. See this page, if you'd rather make fermented pickles.
• Refrigerated dills are cucumbers marinated for 1 day to 1 week in a salt and spice brine (in the fridge) and then stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 months. No canning is required! See this page for refrigerated dill pickle directions!
• Fruit pickles are whole or sliced fruit simmered in a spicy, sweet-sour syrup. Examples include spiced peaches and crabapples. See this page for directions to make spiced peaches!
• Relishes are made from chopped fruits or vegetables that are cooked to a desired consistency in a spicy vinegar solution. Examples include corn relish and horseradish. See this page for cucumber pickle relish directions!
• NEW! Low salt / reduced salt dill pickles

What do you love about pickles?

Lunchpail Books, new book: "I Love Pickles" coming soon...  what happens if you love pickles too much... read along sing along with Lunchpail Books

You Tube Channel

Lunchpail Books is excited to launch our YouTube Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/LunchpailBooks

Let us know what you think-- would love to have some feedback to make it better.

Thanks!!
Johnnie

More on Where Stories Come From

On a previous blog, I shared a personal story that still makes me laugh.  However, the fabric of our lives is woven of tougher thread.   Our lives are a beautiful mix of tragedy and comedy.   Where we focus our mental and emotional energies has a profound impact on the way we perceive life in general.  We are here to learn, and it never hurts to ask ourselves “what did I learn from that experience”.

Here is an example from my life….

Date August 9, 1991:

Just celebrating my youngest son, Seth’s 8^th birthday. ..  We had just got home and were sitting around the table, and I was busy serving cake and ice cream.   Suddenly, there was a strange sound—sort of a rumbling.  As we lived out in the country, my first inclination was that a truck must be coming along our gravel lane.  Looked out the front… no truck.   Still carrying a plate with cake and ice cream, I casually looked out the back and same a little smoke.   My first assumption was that our neighbors were burning some leaves… but the rumbling still persisted.   It seemed to be coming from the garage.   I zipped over to the door into the garage and to my horror; the garage (with two cars) was in flames –floor to ceiling!

Got the family out the back and directly past the flaming garage just before the gasoline in one of the cars exploded shooting a fireball a hundred feet scorching the top of a nearby elm tree.   We watched in horror and disbelief as our house was engulfed in flames.  Fortunately a neighbor called the fire department (volunteer)… they were quite speedy, but I can tell you it seemed like an eternity as we watched this gas-fed fire start at one end of the house and rapidly burn it way across.   There we all stood, the kids frightened and shocked and me standing there barefoot on the gravel road.   The house burned for hours and the next day it was still smoldering.   It was a complete loss… nearly down to just the foundation.   Everything was lost…. Toys, pictures, albums, keepsakes, everything!   It was a tough time for all of us.   Now and then we would stop and just cry… that emotion needed to be released.  The youngest (Temple) was only 3 at the time.   She doesn’t have much recollection of the event.  At the time her favorite toy was one of those plastic Fisher-Price kitchen sets.  I took her back to her room to help understand.   I asked her… where is your kitchen?   She replied matter of factly, “It burned up.”   Where are your toys?  “They burned up” was her reply.  She did not seem to be upset. 

Perhaps she was just too young to comprehend what this all meant… or perhaps she knew what was really important.  We were all safe!  We made it out of a burning/exploding house… all safe.  We only had the close on our back—I didn’t even have shoes… but we were all safe.   Stuff is stuff.

I always knew that… it is just stuff…family is most important.  Deep down, I knew this, but to experience it was profound.   In Viktor Frankl’s books “Man’s Search for Meaning”, he discusses the meaning of life.  One way he writes, “… is to experience a value.”  This changed my life forever.   I am certain it did for the children as well… all six of them!  In different ways—Most of them still live a Spartan existence… not a lot of stuff accumulation, but comfortably.

There is much much more to the story, but for now this will suffice… experiencing a value does lead to the discovery of the meaning of life.

If you have had a life altering experience… please feel free to share it in the comment section.  Would love to publish them here.

--Johnnie
www.lunchpailbooks.com

 

Peep Peep on YouTube

A fun video trailer for the "Peep Peep" adventures put to "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."  Let me know what you think!

Peep Peep ... quack quack

 Peep Peep's first rap video...

Peep Peep quack quack

Where Do Stories Come From?

I was recently asked what inspires me to write... specifically where do stories come from?
For me they come from all over!  Sometimes, it is just imagination—such as “What would happened if I ate too many pickles?”  Often though, ideas come from those little (or big) life experiences.  As a parent of a large family there was never a shortage of events… some comedic, others tragic… some superficial and others life altering.  Taking one step back and examining the story (event) can give you insights into the human condition or simply make you laugh.  Both types weave the fabric that makes life interesting… I cherish both (tragic and comedic); but I can tell you—those moments that made us laugh are the ones we seem to relay over and over again.
Sometimes I found it a challenge not to laugh!   Here’s what I mean:
When my #2 son Noah was about 6 years old he created a complete family out of balloons.   He hand decorated them with markers, cotton and a collection of taped on accessories.   He made a little balloon replica of each family member and decided to take them for a ride in his little red wagon.  So, he loaded them up and headed outside.  It was a blustery day that morning in Arizona as Noah proudly pulled his balloon “family” outside.  A gust arrived and his “family” became airborne leaving him standing in the backyard devastated, as he watched them quickly drift over the fence.
Undaunted, Noah set to recreating his little family... this time however, he carefully taped the family members to the bottom of the wagon.  He was so excited to show me his creation—he ran to get me as soon as I walked into the door.  He ran to the backyard to proudly show off his little family taped securely to the wagon.  At that moment another gust came, but this time the balloon stayed put.  Unfortunately, a large tumbleweed came flying over the neighbor’s fence landing directly on the red wagon and sadly Noah’s balloon family!  For those who may not be well acquainted with tumbleweeds: They are round, aerodynamic and full of tiny thorns.  “Pop, pop, pop” balloons decimated.
Noah was in tears and needed comforting… I have to confess, that I found it very difficult to hold back the laughter.  I tried very hard to keep a straight-face and look sympathetic to his loss.  Biting my lip, I tried my best… but the overall humor of the situation for me was unbearable and a burst of laughter just popped right out….bad parent!
Well, Noah survived; in fact he just graduated from law school.   I wonder if you can sue tumbleweeds?
[Note: to learn more about the inspiration of some of my stories check out Lunchpail Books for more information]

The Moral of the Story

Seems like just about every topic of for children’s book has been covered.  What’s left to write about?  Are we near the end of ideas? Here in this blog, I have mentioned farting dogs, stepping in poo and variety of popular adolescent topics.  However, how important is it to have a “moral to the story?”  Should a message be straightforward or more subversively addressed?  Should there be a message at all?

Are there messages (morals) in our popular folklore?  How about “The Three Little Pigs?”  Aren’t we admonished to plan ahead and work hard…then bad things will pass by?   In a similarly themed fable “The Ants and the Grasshopper”, has a similar message about the benefits of hard work; but in this case adds the complexity of mercy and redemption.  Get’s kind of heavy!

What about my hero Dr. Seuss?   Surely he didn’t subversively preach us a message… or did he?
Did the great Seuss approach politically sensitive issues?

Many of Geisel's books are thought to express his views on a myriad of social and political issues: The Lorax (1971), about environmentalism and anti-consumerism; The Sneetches (1961), about racial equality; The Butter Battle Book (1984), about the arms race; Yertle the Turtle (1958), about anti-fascism and anti-authoritarianism; How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957), about anti-materialism; and Horton Hears a Who! (1954), about anti-isolationism and internationalism. Shortly before the end of the 1972–1974 Watergate scandal, in which United States president Richard Nixon resigned, Geisel converted one of his famous children's books into a polemic. "Richard M. Nixon, Will You Please Go Now!" was published in major newspapers through the column of his friend Art Buchwald.

Although Geisel never made any explicit or implicit mention of the abortion debate in his books, the line "A person's a person, no matter how small!!" from Horton Hears a Who! has grown, over the objections of his widow, into widespread use on the pro-life side of the issue.

So, back to my point… would we be better off having stories with no moral value other than that they are just fun… sort of like “Archie” or “Beetle Bailey”… is reading for the sake of reading or for practice a good reason to read?   Would it be better to read the ingredients of our favorite breakfast cereal (Wow 12% sugar!)?  Or perhaps good story telling on it’s own is adequate reason for a story to exist.   If they are reading, and enjoying the activity…that’s fine right?

What are your thoughts?  Should Children’s Books teach a message (have a morale)…If so what kind of message?  Where do we draw the line on appropriate and inappropriate messages?  Is it OK if it is buried deep?  Dr. Seuss viewed his own work as “Subversive as hell.”

Writing From a Child’s Perspective

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What books were you forced to read as a child or youth?  I have wracked my brain, trying to remember what I read as a child—The only thing I can recall is “Mad Magazine”.  I knew who Alfred E. Newman was, but sadly not Oliver Twist.  I was carried away in the battles between “Spy Vs Spy”, but not Long John Silver.  Perhaps, I missed out on something, but many of the books that were required reading, were flat out boring.

Why were they boring?  A trite answer would be because they were uninteresting.  Every adult and every child has his or her own preferences and tastes when it comes to anything.  Same with books.  Most books are written by adults from and adult’s perspective.  Even awards given to children’s books are decided by panels of adults.  Parents by books because, it is on a reading list, they like the book, or it won some award.  Parents are in charge anyway, right?

What about the perspective?  Children have a unique voice and often with a beautifully innocent view of the world around them.  Little or no bias as to what is what, what is good, what is bad, what is normal, etc.  Imagine that you are a little duckling almost ready to hatch.  You have managed to peck a small hole in your egg, just big enough to look through with one eye.  Imagine what this new world would be like?  Looking at the environment with a blank slate.  I tried to address this perspective in one of the first “Peep Peep” books—“Peep Peep Comes Home”.  This is the first in the series.  Peep innocently observes her new world around her through a small hole in her egg. 

This book was crafted to make it readable by beginner readers, just new to children’s books.  You may have fun reading it (or other books in the series) to your early reader, or better yet have them (or help them) read it to you.  “Peep Peep” adventures are both kid and teacher approved.  Moms and Dads should like them too, as they have adventure, humor and a subtle message of love and family.  Take a look and let me know what you think.

Have you seen our fan page on Facebook?  Following us on Twitter? You will keep updated on what is going on with Lunchpail Books, Johnnie Lunchpail—even previews of new books and videos.  Even coupons for stuff at Lunchpail Books.

See you there!

 

PEEP PEEK (video clip)

My first video clip--not much to brag about, but I will get better over time.   Let me know what you think.

PEEP PEEK 1

Would love your feedback, thanks!

Johnnie Lunchpail