ME AND YOU IN A BOOK MADE FOR TWO is out today!

I’m thrilled to introduce you to my latest picture book!

This warmhearted picture book celebrates the joy of sharing your story with a friend or someone special.

Me and You in a Book Made for Two puts kids at the forefront and asks them to be the authors of their own stories. With its empowering and aspirational themes that celebrate the power of friendship, collaboration, and teamwork, this book fits the canon of timeless, classic books about how we’re stronger together than we are apart.

Twice the adventure! Double the fun!

From HarperCollins

Part of the What Would You Do in a Book About You? series

Named one of the TODAY Show’s best gifts for babies!

“Featuring upbeat rhymes and busy, cheerful, animated art, this peppy, motivational read invites kids to imagine what they could do or be, during playtime and beyond.”

– Booklist –

BUYING THE BOOK AND AUTOGRAPHED BOOKPLATES

ME AND YOU IN A BOOK MADE FOR TWO is on sale now. You can order your copy from your favorite bookseller (IndieBound, Barnes & Noble, Amazon) or request it at your library. Would you like an autographed bookplate to go with it? Request it here!

TEACHERS, LIBRARIANS & PARENTS

Check out my FREE Downloadable Curriculum/Storytime Guide linked to learning standards available on my book page.

For other FREE resources and information about booking school visits, check out the Schools and Libraries page of my website.

HELP SPREAD THE WORD 

If you’re excited about ME AND YOU IN A BOOK MADE FOR TWO, please help me spread the word. Here are some sample social media posts and the cover photo to get you started:

With excitement and gratitude,
Jean

Posted & filed under Great Reads, News, News to Use, Thoughts from my Books.

A GRAND Dedication

I dedicated A GRAND DAY to my grandmother who lived with us while I was growing up – Nonna Fortuna. Her name was perfect because I felt so very fortunate to have her in my life. She was a gardener and a gatekeeper. She read to me even though she barely spoke English. She knit my mittens, twirled my jump rope & loved me all day long. And I loved her.

I’d love to hear about a special grandparent or grandchild in your life. Please add your stories to the comments below.

And to find out more about A GRAND DAY or to purchase your copy, please see the book page on my website https://jeanreidy.com/books/a-grand-day/

Happy Reading!

Posted & filed under Great Reads, On a Personal Note, The Writing Process, Thoughts from my Books.

A GRAND DAY Case Cover Reveal!

Picture book creation is always full of surprises. And with A GRAND DAY, illustrator extraordinaire Samantha Cotterill and the rockstar team at Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books surprised me with this amazing case cover showcasing the scale and perspective of those beautiful 3-D scenes. I’m blown away!

To find out more about A GRAND DAY or to purchase your copy, please see the book page on my website https://jeanreidy.com/books/a-grand-day/

Happy Reading!

Posted & filed under Great Reads, News to Use, Stops and Sightings, The Writing Process, Thoughts from my Books.

A GRAND DAY is on sale today!

I’m thrilled to introduce you to my latest picture book!

A million kisses! Hugs! Hooray!
Our grand day begins this way!

Any day spent together is sure to be grand! This rhyming, warmhearted picture book captures the unique bond between grandparents and grandchildren in every kind of family!

From Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books

Illustrated by Samantha Cotterill

ADVANCE PRAISE

“Family ties so strong and true. / Part of me / is part of you.”
Young readers and their grown-ups will appreciate this homage to familial love and will return to it again and again. 

A heartfelt, exuberant ode to intergenerational bonding.

– Kirkus Review –
BUYING THE BOOK AND AUTOGRAPHED BOOKPLATES

A GRAND DAY is on sale today. You can order or buy your copy from your favorite bookseller (IndieBound, Barnes & Noble, Amazon) or request it at your library. Would you like an autographed bookplate to go with it? Request it here!

 

TEACHERS, LIBRARIANS & PARENTS
Check out my FREE Downloadable Curriculum/Storytime Guide linked to learning standards available on my book page.

For other FREE resources and information about booking school visits, check out the Schools and Libraries page of my website.

 

HELP SPREAD THE WORD
If you’re excited about A GRAND DAY, please help me spread the word. Here are some sample social media posts and the cover photo to get you started:

  • “A million kisses! Hugs! Hooray! Our grand day begins this way!” A GRAND DAY – a new book from @jeanreidy, Samantha Cotterill & @simonkids, celebrating the love between grandparents and grandchildren in every kind of family! Order it today! https://jeanreidy.com/books/a-grand-day/
  • “Family ties so strong and true. Part of me is part of you!” A GRAND DAY – a new book from @jeanreidy, Samantha Cotterill & @simonkids, celebrating the love between grandparents and grandchildren in every kind of family! Order it today! https://jeanreidy.com/books/a-grand-day/
  • Celebrate the love between grandparents and grandchildren with A GRAND DAY – a new, rhyming, warmhearted picture book from @jeanreidy, illustrator Samantha Cotterill and @simonkids. Buy it right here! https://jeanreidy.com/books/a-grand-day/
  • A perfect gift for a grandchild or grandparent – A GRAND DAY – a new book from @jeanreidy, illustrator Samantha Cotterill & @simonkids, celebrating the love between grandparents and grandchildren in every kind of family! Buy it today! https://jeanreidy.com/books/a-grand-day/
With excitement and gratitude,
Jean
Posted & filed under Great Reads, News to Use, Reviews, Thoughts from my Books.

A Sneak Peek at A GRAND DAY!

My upcoming picture book, A GRAND DAY (from Samantha Cotterill, Paula Wiseman Books/Simon & Schuster and me!) celebrating the special bond between grandchildren and grandparents in every kind of family, comes out on July 5th. I can’t wait. And while I’ve not yet received my author copies, I have had some lovely sneak peeks at this beautiful book. I’m happy to share them with you.

The first are a few spreads from the F&Gs (the folded and gathered review copies). And as you can see Samantha Cotterill’s 3-D art is amazing. Check out those adorable details! I’d love to live inside these pages.

Then, a few weeks ago, a surprise package arrived from Samantha. It contained not only a copy of her beautiful collaboration with my friend Elaine Vickers, THANKFUL, but also this tiny, constructed painting from one of the 3-D “sets” from the book. I was over the moon to receive this very special gift.

Samantha Cotterill’s work makes me swoon!

But in addition to these peeks from the book, I have other “grand day” news. Right about the same time that A GRAND DAY comes out (July 5th) my 5th grandchild is due! The timing is stupendous and serendipitous and miraculous. July can’t come soon enough!

To find out more about A GRAND DAY or to purchase your copy, please see the book page on my website https://jeanreidy.com/books/a-grand-day/

Happy Reading!

Posted & filed under Great Reads, News to Use, On a Personal Note, Stops and Sightings, Thoughts from my Books.

A Beautiful Kirkus Review for A GRAND DAY!

Friends, please bear with me and my braggy posts for just a little longer because I still have two more picture books coming out this year! And A GRAND DAY, which comes out on 7/5 from SimonKIDS, Samantha Cotterill and me,  just got this beautiful review!! ❤️

Yay!!!

Kirkus Reviews – thank you so VERY much!

Grandparents and grandkids (including my own 4+) – this one’s for you!

Here’s the review!

“Every day is a grand day when family members have fun together. Children and parents and most especially grandparents gather to enjoy one another’s company while sharing a wide variety of activities. Brief, simply expressed rhymes capture the excitement the children feel while participating in each adventure. The rhymes appear within brightly-hued double-page spreads that enlarge and enhance every aspect of the events. Families are seen enjoying breakfast on the porch, backyard gardening, making art, and visiting the park to play, have picnics, and read. They cook together, play dress-up, dance, discover treasures in the attic, have a family feast, and roast marshmallows around a fire pit. Cotterill’s stunning mixed-media, three-dimensional illustrations flesh out the tale and depict every activity and setting in minute detail while conveying the love and joy of the extended families with laughter and loads of hugs and kisses. Family members are diverse in skin tone; one child uses a wheelchair. The phrase grand days has a subtle added meaning, referring to both the fun of the day and the special closeness children feel with their grandparents. ‘Family ties so strong and true / Part of me / is part of you.’ Young readers and their grown-ups will appreciate this homage to familial love and will return to it again and again.

A heartfelt, exuberant ode to intergenerational bonding.”

I’m blushing!!

To find out more about A GRAND DAY or to purchase your copy, please see the book page on my website https://jeanreidy.com/books/a-grand-day/

Happy Reading!

Posted & filed under Great Reads, News to Use, Reviews, Thoughts from my Books.

Build Community with SYLVIE and Spider Cider Tea!

You may have noticed throughout SYLVIE that a tea set plays a very important role in the story.

There’s a teacup on the cover and a tea set in several of the book’s illustrations. Can you find them all? And if you turn to the very last page and look closely, you’ll see that Sylvie is holding an itty-bitty teacup.

What is a tea set for? What does it symbolize?

  • Socializing
  • Friendship
  • Gathering
  • Community
  • Taking a break

What do you think Sylvie is drinking from her teacup? Could it be Spider Cider Tea?

Consider holding a Spider Tea Party and Storytime for parents, grandparents, with another class or just as a way to socialize within your own classroom. Decorate the classroom or library with webs and spiders and sunflowers. You can also include a game of Spider Hide N’ Peek. See my SYLVIE Curriculum and Storytime Guide to learn how.  And finally serve Spider Cider Tea. Here’s how to make it.

All you need is:

  • 1 C. of boiling hot apple juice (requires parent or teacher help)
  • An apple cinnamon tea bag
  • A cinnamon stick
  • A teaspoon
  • Your favorite teacup

Just pour the apple juice into the teacup, add your tea bag and let it steep for 3-4 minutes. After it steeps, using your teaspoon, take your tea bag out and stir your tea using your cinnamon stick. That’s all there is to it. Delicious! But where’s the spider, you ask? Well, she’s right there in the book. And maybe the next time you read SYLVIE you’ll enjoy the story with a cup of Spider Cider Tea.

Watch author Jean Reidy make Cider Spider Tea.

And don’t forget to finish up with a reading of SYLVIE … in which all are warmly welcomed!

To find out more about SYLVIE or to purchase your copy, please see her book page on my website.

Posted & filed under Great Reads, News to Use, School Visits, Thoughts from my Books, Tools for the Taking, Tuesdays for Teachers.

Introducing SYLVIE!

I’m thrilled to introduce you to my latest picture book!

  “Sylvie hung on a silvery thread from the rusty underside of a fire escape. And though it was dark and damp and disturbingly close to the dumpster, that hideout was home to Sylvie because, you see, not everyone appreciates a spider who calls attention to herself.” 

From the creators of Truman comes a story of courage, community, friendship and one small spider with a big, bold heart.

From Simon & Schuster/Atheneum

ADVANCE PRAISE

“Young readers will enjoy meeting a new small-but-mighty (and spidery) protagonist in this welcome return to the world of Truman, featuring a cameo from the tortoise himself. Laced with lovely alliteration and internal rhyme, the text introduces young listeners to the whimsy of language at storytime … Sylvie’s bubbly effervescence shows readers that it is well worth the
courage it takes to be seen.”
– Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books –

“(A) warming story about the necessity of
connection and community.” 
– Publishers Weekly-
BUYING THE BOOK AND AUTOGRAPHED BOOKPLATES
You can buy your copy of SYLVIE from your favorite bookseller (IndieBound, Barnes & Noble, Amazon) or request it at your library. Would you like an autographed bookplate to go with it? Request it here! 
TEACHERS, LIBRARIANS & PARENTS
Check out the FREE Curriculum and Storytime Guide linked to learning standards available on the SYLVIE book page.
For other FREE resources and information about booking school visits, check out the Schools and Libraries page of my website.

HELP SPREAD THE WORD 

If you’re excited about SYLVIE, please help me spread the word. Here are some sample social media posts and the cover photo to get you started:
  • Not everyone appreciates a spider who calls attention to herself, but you’re going to love SYLVIE – a small, sweet spider with a big, bold heart. On sale now from @jeanreidy, @lucyruth and @simonkids – the creators of TRUMAN. Buy it today! https://jeanreidy.com/books/sylvie/
  • If you liked TRUMAN, you’re going to love SYLVIE – a small, sweet spider with a big, bold heart. On sale now from @jeanreidy, @lucyruth and @simonkids. But it today! https://jeanreidy.com/books/sylvie/
  • Meet SYLVIE! A small, sweet spider with a big, bold heart. A new #picturebook from the team who brought you TRUMAN – @jeanreidy, @lucyruth and @simonkids. On sale now. But it today! https://jeanreidy.com/books/sylvie/
  • SYLVIE – from the creators of TRUMAN comes a story about courage, community, friendship and one small spider with a big, bold heart. On sale now from @jeanreidy, @lucyruth and @simonkids. Buy it today! https://jeanreidy.com/books/sylvie/
With excitement and gratitude,
Jean
Posted & filed under Great Reads, News to Use, Reviews, Thoughts from my Books.

Happy National Spider Day and SYLVIE PW Review!

Dear Readers,

Happy National Spider Day! (Who knew?) And I’m celebrating with this lovely early review for SYLVIE coming 5/10/22 from Atheneum/Simon and Schuster, Lucy Ruth Cummins and me. Thank you Publishers Weekly!  publishersweekly.com/978-1-5344-634

 

“In this standalone spin-off to Truman, a gray spider named Sylvie keeps a close eye on four of an apartment building’s human residents, portrayed with varying skin tones, whom she thinks of as ‘her people.’ Though everything seems ‘just so’ for each denizen, she’s lately noticed from the fire escape that something’s amiss, and wonders whether ‘the four need something… more.’ Sylvie knows that ‘not everyone appreciates a spider who calls attention to herself,’ but she nevertheless takes a risk; a vertical spread depicts the arachnid spinning a silvery web to beckon each individual to the building’s rooftop, where they quickly bond and transform the space into a community gathering place. Not only is Sylvie not imperiled, she’s celebrated and warmly welcomed into the fold. Reidy records Sylvie’s qualms and enthusiasms with a breathless, enthusiastic voice (her idea is ‘audacious, dangerous, MAGNANIMOUS’), while Cummins’s digitally finished multimedia art combines reportorial immediacy with a kind of sketchbook impressionism that takes readers inside Sylvie’s head. Read with or without pandemic-era context in mind, it’s a warming story about the necessity of connection and community.” – Publishers Weekly

To learn more about SYLVIE check out her book page!

You can preorder Sylvie right here: IndieBound, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.

With excitement and gratitude,

Jean

Posted & filed under Great Reads, News, News to Use, Reviews.