Blog Tour & Book Giveaway

Feet, Go To Sleep by Barbara Bottner Blog Tour & Giveaway

FEET, GO TO SLEEP
Written by Barbara Bottner
Illustrated by Maggie Smith
(Knopf Books for Young Readers; 16.99, Ages 3-7)

A BLOG TOUR & GIVEAWAY

 

Feet-go-to-sleep-236x300It’s Day 2 of this terrific picture book blog tour. And for parents who need a way to get their little ones off to the land of nod, we’re guessing the timing couldn’t be better!

“I’m not ready!”
“I keep thinking about today .”
“I don’t feel tired.”

How do you respond to hearing those words at bedtime, especially if you know it’s not procrastination, but more a case of simply not wanting a wonderful day to end? It’s difficult because we all at one time or another have experienced that hyped-up, can’t turn my brain off feeling just like our kids.

Feet, Go to Sleep by Barbara Bottner is the perfect read aloud picture book response to these occasional protestations. But frankly, it’s also a lot more. Reading Feet, Go to Sleep is an original way to teach children a popular relaxation technique (referred to in yesterday’s post as Savasana) for winding down to ensure a speedy visit to dreamland. Along the way, children can practice the process of putting each part of their body to sleep just like Fiona, the book’s main character, while recounting their day’s events either to their parents or to themselves.

It’s no wonder young Fiona can’t easily settle down. Her busy day at the beach with cousins, aunts, uncles and grandma, was packed with family fun and activities. Fiona keeps thinking about it all. First there was the dash to the beach. That involved toes gripping flip-flops. Then came feet. Watch out for splashes as they go “stomping in the waves at the ocean’s edge.”

Toes were easy. They went right to sleep.
“What’s next?” asked Mama.
“Feet, go to sleep!”

FeetGoToSleep_feetint.jpg
Interior artwork from Feet, Go To Sleep by Barbara Bottner with illustrations by Maggie Smith, Knopf Books for Young Readers, ©2015.

Thoughts of her carefree day continue as she pictures herself building a sand castle, launching a seaweed attack against cousins, munching down some scrumptious picnic lunch, then …

“Shoulders, go to sleep,” said Fiona, giving
them one last roll before they lay still.

Shoulders were for rubbing with sunscreen.

Playing carries on with a beach ball toss, followed by an outdoor shower back at home and then a barbeque at dusk, and bedtime. But can Fiona fall asleep when she’s tuned in to grown up voices chatting outside her open window?

Smith’s spot on illustrations have captured all the action and joy of a sunshiny day at the beach, so much so that you’ll find yourself ready to grab the sun block and join the group. And the blues she uses for her bedtime spreads are soothing and slumber-inducing.

Together Bottner and Smith have got it right with this lovely to look at and delightful to read story. I can’t think of a single over-tired child (or parent) who wouldn’t benefit from the simple steps provided, starting way down with toes, and feet, then moving all the way up the body and ending with …

“Eyes, go to sleep,” whispered Fiona.

If my kids were still young, I’d welcome the chance to introduce this powerful, yet peaceful way of releasing tension from their bodies, that’s cleverly wrapped inside an ebullient beach day bedtime story.

– Reviewed by Ronna Mandel

Check out all the great bloggers on this tour to get a variety of perspectives on Feet, Go To Sleep.

5/12 Booktalking #kidlit
5/13 GoodReadsWithRonna
5/14 Wrapped in Foil
5/15 Teaching Authors
5/16 Big Hair and Books
5/18 Frog on a Blog
5/19 Chapter Book Chat
5/20 In Bed With Books
5/21 Shelf-employed

AN EXCLUSIVE GIVEAWAY! See below. Plus, if you follow us on Facebook and let us know in the comments below, we’ll give you an extra entry. An additional comment on our Facebook post for this blog tour gets you yet another entry. Good luck!

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The Night Before Hanukkah by Natasha Wing Blog Tour & Giveaway

The Night Before Hanukkah
written by Natasha Wing
with illustrations by Amy Wummer
Blog Tour & Giveaway (signed copy!)
(Grosset & Dunlap, $3.99, Ages 3-5)

Night-before-hanukkah-cvr.jpg“This book was challenging to write since the Festival of Lights lasts eight days,” said Wing. “But with input from my high school friends, I showed a family celebrating Hanukkah in both modern and traditional ways.”

 

GRWR Review:
It’s not easy to take Clement Moore’s ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas and make it work for the Festival of Lights, but Wing does it and I commend her. Aside from Adam Sandler, not many can find the appropriate words to rhyme, but I knew once I read the opening line, that Wing had found a way in this jovial Jewish holiday read-aloud:

‘Twas the night before the
eight days of Hanukkah.
Families were prepping from
New York to Santa Monica.

Wing takes readers into the home of a 21st century family celebrating the eight nights of Hanukkah. This loving family of four shows that Hanukkah is not just about getting gifts. It’s about lighting the candles on the Hanukkiah (a special Hanukkah menorah) each night and reflecting, spending quality time together, playing games, sharing, helping others, and remembering the story of the first Hanukkah. In fact not a Hanukkah passes without Jews around the world recounting the tale of the brave Maccabees and the crushing defeat of their adversaries when they retook their holy temple. Wummer’s joyful  watercolors depict a crowd of Jews from that era celebrating because one night’s oil for the menorah actually lasted eight nights!:

Before their wondering eyes, a miracle took place:
the glory of Hanukkah for all Jews to embrace.

Of course it wouldn’t be Hanukkah without latkes and jelly donuts (symbolic foods cooked in oil ) and Wing makes sure to include these. She’s even introduced the dreidel, the spinning top game of chance played with chocolate coins (aka Hanukkah gelt). I’m so happy to be able to share The Night Before Hanukkah with you and am sure you’ll want a copy to enjoy with your children. Thanks to Natasha Wing for signing a copy of her book to give away to one reader. Please scroll down to enter the giveaway.

About The Night Before Series:
Based on the popular story, The Night Before Christmas, Wing’s stories are about families celebrating holidays and milestones in kids’ lives such as the first day of school and losing a tooth. Her titles include The Night Before Easter, the original book in the series, which was published in 1999, and The Night Before Kindergarten, the highest-selling title, which has regularly been on bestseller lists since its publication in 2001. The Night Before Hanukkah released on October 2, 2014, and there are three more titles on the way including The Night Before The Fourth of July out this spring.

Natasha-Wing.jpg
Author Natasha Wing, courtesy of Provato Marketing, ©2014.

About Bestselling Author Natasha Wing:
Natasha Wing graduated from Arizona State University in 1982 with a B.S. in Advertising. Wing lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, with her husband, Dan and their cat, Purrsia. They moved to Colorado for the outdoor life and Wing was “happy to find a thriving writing community and a library that is open seven days a week with excellent programs for writers.” She has been publishing for 22 years and is a frequent presenter at conferences and schools and loves to Skype with classrooms.

To find out more about Natasha Wing’s books, please check out her wonderful website: www.natashawing.com.

Read Ronna’s review of  The Night Before My Birthday.

– Reviewed by Ronna Mandel
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