Tag Archives: dragon books for children

Children’s Book Series Wins 11th International Award

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2017 Children’s Literary Classics

For Immediate Release

Literary Classics

pr@clcawards.org

Literary Classics is pleased to announce that the book Sir Princess Petra’s Mission, by Diane Mae Robinson, has been selected to receive the Literary Classics Seal of Approval.  The CLC Seal of Approval is a designation reserved for those books which uphold the rigorous criteria set forth by the Literary Classics review committee, a team comprised of individuals with backgrounds in publishing, editing, writing, illustration and graphic design. Five stars https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R10IBHU3O7JGKU/ 

When her father, the king, decrees that Princess Petra must capture and deliver the fabled car-panther to the castle or renounce her knighthood, she sets about to undertake the task straight away.  Not to be deterred by her father’s excessive rules for this latest mission, she outwits him with an alternate set of decrees also stamped with his royal seal of approval which she asserts cannot be overruled.  After renegotiating the terms and ground-rules of the mission the princess is ready for her next quest.  Driven by boundless confidence and a stubborn determination, the young princess is off.

Author Diane Mae Robinson continues to delight young readers with the ever-witty, always-inspired book series about a young princess who refuses to bow to conformity.  Filled with countless catchy phrases and absurdly entertaining moments, Sir Princess Petra’s Mission is sure to be met with giggles and belly-laughs by young readers who will continue to fall in love with this enchanting series.  Sir Princess Petra’s Mission is recommended for home and school libraries and has earned the Literary Classics Seal of Approval.

 Literary Classics, an organization dedicated to furthering excellence in literature for young readers, takes great pride in its role to help promote classic literature which appeals to youth while educating and encouraging positive values in the impressionable young minds of future generations.   To learn more about Literary Classics, you may visit their website at www.clcawards.org or www.childrensliteraryclassics.com

Sir Princess Petra’s Mission is a finalist in the 2017 Literary Classics Book Awards. http://www.clcawards.org/2017_Book_Award_Finalists.html

Literary Classics and Children’s Literary Classics International Book Awards and Top Honors Book Awards, announcing the 2017 book award finalists.

For more reviews of these dragon books for children, https://www.dragonsbook.com 

Writing Activity 4th Grade

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Guest post provided by Education.com  https://www.education.com/

Grade 4. Writing activity.

 

 

 

 

 

Be a Detail Artist!

Fourth graders need a lot of practice writing detailed sentences. They’re often good at writing introductions and conclusions. It’s what sits in the center that gets them into trouble. Fourth graders often need help beefing up the middle of a writing assignment. Does your young writer need more details to take her writing to the next level? Make it fun by mixing in some creative artwork!

What You Need:

  • Pencil
  • Lined paper
  • Colored pencils (or crayons)
  • White construction paper (or drawing paper)
  • Writing Topics list (see below)

What You Do:

  1. Tell your budding artist she is about to use her creative art and writing skills to play a game. In this game, she’ll be writing descriptions of suggested topics (below), then drawing pictures as you read her descriptions aloud. Share an interesting tid-bit with her and let her know that this is similar to what a police sketch artist does!
    2. Using the list below, have your child take out a pencil and a piece of lined paper, and write at least 4 detailed sentences on a topic of her choice.  Ask her to answer these basic questions when writing about a story or situation: Who? What? Where? Why? and How? If she’s writing about a place or object, rather than a story or situation, tell her to answer these questions instead: What does it look like? Smell like? Feel like? Taste like? Sound like?
    3. When she’s finished, have your child give you her writing. But resist the urge to change anything or help her to revise what she has written. Read what she’s written aloud, and while you’re reading, ask her to use her colored pencils to illustrate what you’re saying.  Here’s the catch: she can only draw exactly what you read.
    4. Have your child compare what she drew with what she wrote on paper. Does it match up? Is her drawing missing anything? If so, she may need to go back and add or delete a detail from her writing. Repeat this process for 1-2 more topics from the list. Then let her extend the activity, by adding her own topics. Want to get the whole family involved? Invite everyone else to play along and take turns with who reads and who draws.Writing Topics:
  2. Describe a car from the future.
  3. Pretend you found a message in a bottle on the beach.
  4. Describe a scary monster.
  5. Describe your facial expression when riding a roller coaster.
  6. What would you buy if you found $100

This guest post provided by https://www.education.com/ Visit their website for guided lessons, learning resources, and teaching tools for Pre-K through 5th grade.

For more information about my multi-award winning dragon books for children: www.dragonsbook.com

 

Coloring Contest And Other News

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The Sir Princess Petra Coloring Contest is still going on until Mar. 8, 17. There are over 200 kid entries in 2 divisions, and only 5 entries in the over age 17 category. Yep, the adults are scared to enter. There’s a super cool compu bag with Snarls embroidered on the front for the over age 17 prize. So, adults, sharpen up your crayons and enter.

Get your free coloring book and enter the contest: https://dragonsbook.com/subscribe/

For contest details and to see the prizes: http://www.dianemaerobinson.com/2017/01/enter-coloring-contest.html

Possible Cover

 

My next book The Dragon Grammar book will be delayed in publication due to my current publisher ceasing operations. The book was in the final-proof layout stage with them at the time. I’m looking into new options for publishing the book, one option is self-publishing it. More on this later.

 

 

 

 

I wouldn’t have the confidence to even try self-publishing if it weren’t for a fabulous course I’m taking from my writing guru friend, Alinka Rutkowska. The course is a wealth of information about all things self-publishing authors need to know. I highly recommend this course which has several free lessons to start http://authorremake.com/?ref=11&ref=11  Alinka is an award-winning, best selling author and really knows her stuff. You can also get her free marketing book here http://authorremake.com/book/?=ref11

For 2017, I have two other books in mind to self-publish, and those are in the works now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more information about my multi-award winning dragon books for children: www.dragonsbook.com

Easy Grammar Lesson Lay/Lie From The Dragon Grammar Book

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The Dragon Grammar Book –  Grammar for Kids, Dragons, and the Whole Kingdom

Finally! An easy-to-understand grammar book with a sense of humor. From multi-award winning children’s fantasy author, Diane Mae Robinson, The Dragon Grammar Book, featuring the characters of The Pen Pieyu Adventures series, introduces beginners to the basic rules of the English language.  For middle grades to adults, The Dragon Grammar Book is an entertaining adventure into the mysterious Land of Grammar.  Releasing 2017

Excerpt from The Dragon Grammar Book copyright 2016 Diane Mae Robinson

Lay vs. lie

To use these confusing verbs properly, there are six verb tenses you need to remember in their order.

Lie, lay, lain

Lay, laid, laid

And lay has two different meanings.

Lie, lay, lain:

To use the verb lie, think of your bed or cave. Lie is something you do to yourself—you lie down.

I lie down beside the dragon.

Yesterday, I lay down beside the dragon.

I have lain down beside the dragon every day this month, and that’s why my eyebrows are scorched.

The dragon is lying in his cave now.

For two days, he lay in the creek.

He had lain in the mud for three days in a row before that.

Lay, laid, laid:

Lay is something someone does to something else. (This verb takes a direct object. Lie never does.) Think of lay and think of a place.

The dragon lay the book on the bookshelf.

The witch laid the book on the bookshelf yesterday.

The magician has laid the book on the bookshelf every day this month.

Lay the scrolls over there.

The councilman laid the scrolls where I told him to.

Yesterday, he had laid the scrolls too close to the dragon.

Endorsements

When Sir Princess Petra clobbers Snarls with a book, she uses the only book that can help her fire-breathing dragon-steed: The Dragon Grammar Book. This amazing book uses kid-friendly sentences, humorous illustrations, and easy-to understand examples. The Dragon Grammar Book is a fun tool that will help your middle-grade dragons better understand the basic rules of writing—and reading.  —Sue Morris, Kid Lit Reviews

In her latest offering, Diane M. Robinson takes on a challenge greater than any of the obstacles which Sir Princess Petra has yet faced: how to make the arcane rules of English grammar interesting and accessible to a wider audience. While many kids and adults would rather face a fully-grown ogre than the laws of punctuation, The Dragon Grammar Book provides a clear and comprehensive look at our language for princesses and dragons alike. With clear examples and fun activities, this book is a must-have for readers and aspiring writers. —Peter Takach, High School English Teacher and Grammarian

The Dragon Grammar Book takes some of the basic rules of writing and makes them more approachable with a dash of creative fun courtesy of The Pen Pieyu all-stars. So whether you’re a sword wielding princess, an onion loving dragon, or an everyday Jane/Joe, you’ll walk away with a clearer understanding of the English language and be ready to tackle sentence structure and word usage with the best of them.  —Gina Reba, Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers

Unbeatable winning combination . . . Sir Princess Petra faces her fears of the menacing fire-breathing dragon and conquers the pitfalls of grammar! Clever, painless, and fun way to learn, implement and test yourself in the English language. —Barbara Ann Mojica, Author of the Little Miss HISTORY children’s nonfiction book series, http://LittleMissHISTORY.com

Read more about other dragon books for children by Diane Mae Robinson www.dragonsbook.com 

Subscribe to The Dragon Newsletter for updates, contest announcements, giveaways, and to receive the Sir Princess Petra coloring book https://dragonsbook.com/subscribe/

 

Mayo & Filippo Show Aloha – Book Review

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  • alinkas-bookMaya & Filippo Show Aloha

    Author: Alinka Rutkowska                                          Illustrator: Konrad Checinsk

  • Print Length: 37 pages
  • Publisher: Capraro Press (March 7, 2015)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.Language: English
  • ASIN: B00U2JD7RM

About the book:

Have you ever been to Hawaii? Let Maya & Filippo show you around! Learn important facts about the islands’ geography and history. Discover the culture of Hawaii with its lei, ukeleles and hula dance. But there’s more. Learn how to live the spirit of Aloha with Maya & Filippo. 

If you enjoy free kids’ books for kindle ages 4-8, this will be a wonderful introduction to Maya & Filippo’s world of cruise travel.

What I thought: 

This is a great book to introduce kids to the history and geography of Hawaii through interesting facts about culture, beliefs, and the use of the island’s local words. Maya & Filippo have an Aloha adventure that is fun  and easy to read. The author does a fine job with capturing the Aloha spirit in this book. Kids are sure to love this book as well as all the  Maya & Filippo’s adventures books.


I like that the  book also has a short quiz at the end, to test reading/listening skills, along with some facts about Hawaii. The book also has colorful illustrations that enhance the text.

About the author                                                                                    

Alinka Rutkowska is a multi-award-winning and #1 international best-selling author and coach.

She’s been featured on Fox Business Network, Examiner, She Knows, She Writes, Blog Talk Radio, The Writer’s Life and many more.


Author’s website: http://alinkarutkowska.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25113313-maya-filippo-show-aloha?from_search=true&search_version=service

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Maya-Filippo-Show-Aloha-Books-ebook/dp/B00U2JD7RM/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1433606168&sr=1-3&keywords=alinka+rutkowska

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/maya-filippo-show-aloha-alinka-rutkowska/1121368819?ean=9781502813251

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Review by Diane Mae Robinson, multi-award winning children’s fantasy author. Sign up for Diane’s newsletter and receive your free 55-page pdf Sir Princess Petra coloring book: https://dragonsbook.com/subscribe/

Or just visit Diane’s website for some secret character information on the Kid’s Page, to get access to the free teacher’s lesson plan for grade 4 on the Teacher/Librarian Page, or to learn more about her multi-award winning dragon books for children: http://www.dragonsbook.com

How To Count Rhythm And Meter In Poetry

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How to Count Rhythm and Meter in Poetry
by Deborah Owen, CEO
Creative Writing Institute

 

poetry-post-by-deb-owen-images Two things every poet needs to know are the rise and fall of meter and the rhythm that carries from one line to the next.

Meter is timing the words in the same order on each line. Rhythm is making the timing fall on the right beat at the right time. That can be a big trick. Example:I saw a man who came from Mars and wore a pretty suit
Green was it, and something strange, he wore just one pink boot Here is how you can check the syllables in poetry. Place the back of your hand under your chin and read your poem aloud, clearly, distinctly and slowly. You will notice that your chin naturally falls with each syllable.

In the first sentence, the first accent falls on the word “saw” – not on the word “I.” In the second line, the rhythm is wrong because the accent falls on the first syllable, which is “Green.” Can you see that? Look at it again. You could force the rhythm to work, but the following would be better:

I saw a man who came from Mars and wore a pretty suit
The green did shine, but something strange, he wore just one pink boot

Do you see how the accent now falls on the second word in both sentences? That’s rhythm! Many poets think they have metered their poetry when they have actually thrown it off, (but poets have literary license to arrange the language to suit their needs).

If you wanted to change the rhythm from one verse to the next, you could do that. In the first verse, every accent could fall on the first word. In the second verse, it could fall on every second word. Just group them and you will be fine.

Now reread those two lines of poetry and count the rise and fall of the accents. You should count seven on each line. Got it? Yeah!

Deborah Owen is the CEO of Creative Writing Institute  where I am also a writing tutor for the Writing For Children Course http://cwinst.com/classes_view.php?classid=4
 
 
CWI, a Nonprofit Charitythat Offers Free Courses to Cancer Patients
 
Creative Writing Institute provides professionally written creative writing courses to the general public at great prices. At CWI, you will receive a private tutor at no extra cost. He/she will provide personal feedback as often as you want it. At CWI, we go the extra mile that others only talk about!
If you are a cancer survivor and wish to apply for a scholarship, seehttp://www.cwinst.com/faq.php.
Connect with Deborah Owen, CEO
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Sign up for your free 55-page pdf coloring book and enter my coloring contest.  To learn more about my multi-award winning dragon books for children visit www.dragonsbook.com

Hungry Monster Book Awards For Oct., 2016

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Hungry Monster Book Awards: October 2016

by Hungry Monster

The Hungry Monster Book Awards are given to books that have astounded and amazed us with unique writing styles, vivid worlds, complex characters, and original ideas. These books deserve extraordinary praise and The Hungry Monster is proud to acknowledge the hard work, dedication, and imagination of these talented authors.

Gold Award Winners  hungry-monster-book-award-gold-2

The Eyes Behold Tomorrow by Ken Hart

hungry-monster-book-award-gold-2-png-the-eyes-behold

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GOLD AWARD WINNERS

Sir Princess Petra’s Mission by Diane Mae Robinson

hungry-monster-book-award-gold-2

Front Cover

 

Silver Award Winners

hungry-monster-book-award-silver

Hegira by Jim Cronin

Lady Athina by Danny Estes

Pearl of the Seas by Ruth Murray

Schackled Scribes by Lars Teeney

Plain Brown Wrapper by Greg Lynch

The Mansion’s Family by Rose Channing

Soul Searcher: The Reckoning by Stephen S. Arend

Books have the ability to entertain and inform us. They can make the impossible possible. They are vehicles of time travel and windows into perspectives. In books, authors are gods and imagination is their power. Transforming letters into words; words into characters and places; and these into emotions and worlds. Even if we never meet, we are connected by the stories we tell.

Visit the Hungry Monster Book Awards page to see more information on the awards. See all award winners.

Hungry Monster | November 11, 2016 at 5:04 pm | Tags: action, adventure, amazon, amazon books, author, author interview, award, book, book award, book review, books, crime, ebook, ebooks, facebook, fantasy, fantasy book review, fiction, fighting, goodreads, horror, interview, kindle, literary award, literature, love, magic, murder, mystery, non fiction, novel, post-apocalyptic, publishing, reading, review, reviews, romance, sci fi, science ficiton, science fiction, science fiction book review, short stories, stories, thriller, twitter, urban fantasy, war, winner, writing, YA, young adult | Categories: Hungry Monster Book Award | URL: http://wp.me/p3cyvH-102

 

To read more about Sir Princess Petra’s Mission and other dragon books for children, visit: www.dragonsbook.com

Coloring Contest With Cool Prizes, All Ages!

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coloring-book-pngThe Sir Princess Petra Coloring Contest is on! Join the multi-award winning series coloring contest for all ages.

The contest will begin Nov. 8, 16 and finishes Mar. 8, 2017

There are 3 categories in the contest:

Category #1: kids to age 9

Category # 2: ages 10 – 16

Category # 3: ages 17 and over

 

PLEASE READ AND FOLLOW THE CONTEST GUIDELINES AT THE END OF THIS POST.

GET YOUR COLORING BOOK HERE: https://dragonsbook.com/subscribe/

PRIZE FOR CATEGORY #1, KIDS TO AGE 9

Sir Princess Petra Notepad and Sir Princess Petra Hardcover Book

coloring-book-prize-1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Petra book one cover

 

PRIZE FOR CATEGORY # 2,  AGES 10 – 16

Sling bag with Snarls the dragon digital logo                                                                                            coloring-book-prize-2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PRIZE FOR CATEGORY # 3, AGES 17 AND OVER.

Compu messenger bag with Snarls the dragon embroidered logo

coloring-book-prize-3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONTEST GUIDELINES

  1. Contest participants can be from a school I have previously visited on an author visit, or they can sign up to The Dragon Newsletter.  If you are already signed up for my newsletter, you will receive the link for the pdf coloring pages again in the November newsletter. If you have not signed up for the newsletter, see # 2.
  2. Contest participants can enter by signing up to The Dragon Newsletter (an occasional newsletter about my new book releases, contests, and giveaways). Upon sign up, you will receive the 55-page pdf coloring book which are the pages for the contest. Sign-up form here: https://dragonsbook.com/subscribe/
  3. One entry from the pdf coloring book per person. 
  4. Entries can be emailed or mailed. Address details will be sent via The Dragon Newsletter in November, 2016.
  5. All entries must indicate: Name, Age, School I Visited, or Email Address you used to sign up to the newsletter with.
  6. Winning entries will be picked by independent judges. Have fun and good luck!                  Snarls feels so important since his picture is on the bags. To read more about my dragon books for children, visit: www.dragonsbook.com 

Easy Grammar Lesson – A while vs. Awhile

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2012-12-30-10-30-12A while vs. awhile.

 

There really is a difference between a while and awhile.

 

Awhile is an adverb, which means it modifies a verb. The definition of awhile is “for a time”. It would be repeating to say “The dragon wishes you to stay for awhile”, which reads as “The dragon wishes you to stay for for a time.”

 

The dragon wishes to speak to you for a while if you are able to stay awhile.

 

The key is to watch for the word for. The dragon either wants you to stay for a while (a period of time) or he wants you to stay awhile (for a time).

 

“While” can be a noun, conjunction, adverb, verb, or a preposition.

 

While as a noun:

 

The dragon chatted for a while (a period of time) about how he hoped it was worth the king’s while (trouble) to listen.

 

The dragon drew a map, talking the while (at the same time; meanwhile).

 

While as a conjunction:

 

The dragon didn’t accomplish much while (during the time that) the princess was away.

 

The dragon wants to play, while (whereas) the magician wants to study.

 

While as an adverb:

 

The times while (during which) the dragon sleeps are the quietest times.

 

While as a verb:

 

The dragon can find all kinds of distractions to while (pass time in a leisurely manner) away the day when he should be studying grammar.

 

While as a preposition:

 

The dragon will be grouchy while (until) dinner time.  The preposition “while” is used to represent the length of time an action has been happening. “While” used this way is old-fashioned.

copyright 2016 The Dragon Grammar Book by Diane Mae Robinson, multi-award winning author of The Pen Pieyu Adventures series, dragon books for children. www.dragonsbook.com

What’s In A Character?

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I summarize that there are two kinds of writers: the character driven writer and the plot driven writer. And of course, if you want to write a strong story, you will need both elements. But usually the writer is driven more by one or the other of these aspects.                                                                                                                                                   I consider myself a character driven writer.                                                                                                                                                                                                                 As a writer of children’s fantasy/adventures books, one of my favorite things in creating a story is the forming and molding of my characters.                                                                                                                                                                                               Once I have characters who feel like long-time friends to me, the story writing just seems to come about because of the character’s personalities, and hence, the plot seems to come easily because of who those characters are.                                                                                                                                                                                          When writing children’s book, everything from character description to plotting has to be written tightly–in showing and not telling. The author has no room for long meandering explanations.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            So how does a writer get quality characterization into the story?                                                                                                                                                                                  When I start thinking about a new story idea, I first start by creating the characters who will appear in the story. I give each character pages and pages of attributes: likes, dislikes, values system, quirky ways, personalized sayings, emotions, flaws. Then they get fleshed out with physical appearance and the perfect name. All these things eventually will that character to life.                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Once I know the character inside and out, that’s when I start to write the story–the plot.
Of course, not all of this character information will be used. It’s time to pick out the strongest characteristics of each character and work with those.
Distinguishing features and attitudes in these characters is what makes the characters very real to the reader. For examples:
Snarls, the dragon in my series, The Pen Pieyu Adventures, has a fire breathing problem—his fire breathing doesn’t work when he wants it to, and it works
fine whenever he doesn’t need it to. His fire breathing problem leads to some hilarious situations. He also is very witty and his comments stand out.

The main character, Petra, is nine years old and strong headed, yet kind and respectful. She stands up for herself and often questions unrealistic conventional thinking of her kingdom,which in turn starts everybody in the palace wondering if there could be different and better ways to do things. She also has a good saying when questioning the old ways of thinking: “Where in the entire kingdom did you get that idea?”

The king, Petra’s father, tries to be very authoritative, but as situations unfold he is often muddled up by the rules he has himself written in the royal rule book. This makes him contemplate Petra’s new ideas and question the silliness of his rules.
All the characters in the stories are well rounded even though some of them have very small parts.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      The royal councilman has a very small role in these stories, but every time he is introduced he is twirling around in some kind of panic; either he’s misplaced the royal rule book yet again, opened it to the wrong page, or he’s nervous he’ll make the king mad in some other way. These small, personalized details of a character become important to help the reader quickly identify that character in the next scene.
So by working on your characters first, your plotting may just become easier.
For more information on this series and dragon books for children, visit the author’s website: http://www.dragonsbook.com