Mystery Reader

The classrooms at my daughter Sky’s school have had many unexpected visitors this month, and yesterday, I got my chance to be one of them.

In honor of I Love to Read Month, the teachers put a call out for “mystery readers.” A mystery reader makes arrangements with the teacher to come in during class time to share a book with the class. They are often parents, grandparents, aunts, or uncles. The best part is none of the children know who the reader will be until they lay eyes on him or her.

Yesterday I got my chance to be a mystery reader in Sky’s kindergarten class. I had convinced her that I would not be able to make it because I was all tied up at work. So it was fun to see her big smile when she saw that it was me.

Before I read, the class had the chance to interview me. They asked where I liked to read, if I bought books, if I visited the library. They also shared the names of some of their favorite authors, including Jan Brett and Eric Carle. One of my favorite moments was when the teacher said, “If you have even one book of your own, you have a library.” What a wonderful idea!

After the interview was complete, I picked up the book I had brought to share, Boss of the World by Fran Manushkin. Choosing a book was easy: I knew Sky would want me to share a Katie Woo book, and I love how Katie resolves her own trouble in this book.

For an editor, it is always interesting to see how the audience reacts to our books, and the class didn’t disappoint. Everyone listened so well, and they seemed to enjoy meeting Katie and her friends JoJo and Pedro. I left feeling happy and inspired. It is clear that a love of books is alive and well in Room 10.

--Julie Gassman, senior editor

A Visit From the Author of Katie Woo!

Me (Emily) on the left and the Fabulous Fran on the right.

Last week I had the great pleasure of meeting Fran Manushkin, the author of the wonderful Katie Woo books! I wish we could have spent more time together, because she has so many fascinating stories to share. We (or at least I), don't get to meet the authors and illustrators behind our books very often, but when we do, it's such a treat! Actually meeting and talking with the person who comes up with the stories or creates the illustrations enriches my experience as a book designer, it makes the words and pictures even more meaningful to me. That's also why, in the cases when I don't get to meet them in person, that I always appreciate the "about the author/illustrator" in the backs of our books. It helps me gain a new level of understanding about the story and I like to see what may have influenced them to write it in the first place.

Now we just need to convince Tammie Lyon, the illustrator, to pay us a visit!

Are you ready for the Olympics?

Olympic fever is here! In only 15 short days, we will be watching and cheering for our favorites in figure skating, ice hockey, ski jumping, and the luge! Capitalize on the excitement by hosting your own Reading Olympics. Sports fanatics will be thrilled with all of the exciting new titles Stone Arch Books and Capstone have to offer . . . especially our new Sports Illustrated Series. Check out all of our sports books and Reading Olympics downloads.

Photo shoot!

This morning, Kay (art director), Emily (graphic designer), Ali (associate editor), and I traveled deep into the Warehouse District of Minneapolis for a photo shoot. The photos in question were for our Monica books (which feature Monica Murray, the best friend of Claudia Cristina Cortez).

Our model, Devyn, was fantastic. She's thirteen, just like Monica, and fit the part perfectly. She wasn't afraid to do silly stuff like toss pom-poms in the air or pretend to punch the camera, and she has a gorgeous smile.

All told, there were about 600 photos taken by the amazing people at Delaney Photography. We narrowed that down to a hundred that we liked. (Devyn is amazingly photogenic--it was hard to choose!) Four of the photos will end up on book covers and be on shelves in August.

Here's Devyn posing for one shot.



And here's one of the shots we loved.




Thanks, Devyn and Delaney—now Monica has a face!

Announcing a new contest!

It’s time for another exciting contest from Stone Arch Books! This time we are teaming up with Sports Illustrated Kids for our Create Your Own Sports Star Contest. The winning character will be in a Sports Illustrated Kids Graphic Novel. This contest encourages kids to use their imagination to describe the traits and characteristics of their sports star. To get inspired, they can read the first 6 books in the Sports Illustrated Kids Graphic Novel series.

To make the contest even more fun, we will post the top 5 finalists so that kids can vote on their favorite. Kids will decide who wins and becomes the ultimate sports star! The contest is open to students currently enrolled in public or private schools in grades 3 – 6. To view all contest details and to enter the contest, go to www.capstonekids.com.

Stay tuned for updates over the next few months.