Monday, March 18, 2024

ART SHOW--PAINTINGS BY TOM SCHEAFFER, at the Maya Moon Collective, San Diego, CA


My brother Tom Scheaffer is exhibiting his beautiful paintings at the Maya Moon Collective in San Diego, California, 3349 Adams Avenue, San Diego, CA 92116. The opening reception is Saturday, March 23rd, 6 to 8 pm. If you are in the San Diego area, be sure to stop by to see the exhibit and have a bite to eat at the Maya Moon Cafe. The paintings will be up until the end of April.


Tom works in a colorful, expressionist/realistic style, depicting scenes in nature, especially of places in Southern California. His paintings are also inspired by his roots in the upper Midwest and summers in the North Woods at Camp Bovey in northern Wisconsin. Here are some samples of the paintings in the exhibit at the Maya Moon Restaurant.





















Tuesday, March 12, 2024

ROOM 6 BOOKS--Hatching Chicks, Butterflies, Planting a Garden--NOW AVAILABLE IN PAPERBACK!


I am happy that my three Room 6 books,
HATCHING CHICKS IN ROOM 6, BUTTERFLIES IN ROOM 6 and PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6 are now available in paperback. Find them online or at your favorite bookstore. Buy one or get all three!
Back cover of HATCHING CHICKS IN ROOM 6

Back cover of BUTTERFLIES IN ROOM 6: See How They Grow

Back cover of PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6: From Seeds to Salad






Wednesday, March 6, 2024

SPEAKER at CHARLOTTE HUCK CHILDREN’S LITERATURE FESTIVAL, Redlands, CA

Book signing at the Charlotte Huck Children's Literature Festival

Last week on Friday and Saturday I attended the 27th annual Charlotte Huck Children’s Literature Festival at the University of Redlands in Redlands, California--two full days of inspiring keynote speakers, stimulating breakout sessions, and the opportunity to meet and chat with teachers, librarians and other authors. 

Festival Program cover, Art by Dan Santat

Keynote speakers were Tami Charles, Dan Santat, Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong, Mac Barnett and Gennifer Choldenko. Breakout sessions were led by a variety of authors, librarians and educators, including me.  In addition to all the talks and breakout sessions, there were book signings, book sales, opportunity drawings for baskets of books, and tasty lunches and food at the Friday reception.

With Rachel Kendall and her 6th grade class from Redlands Adventist Academy

On Friday morning I presented a breakout session with teacher Rachel Kendall from the Redlands Adventist Academy. The title of our session was Graphic Picture Books Keep Young Readers Turning the Page. I gave an overview of graphic picture books, showing how they combine text, images, word balloons, sound effects and panels to tell the story and then shared my book My Friend from Outer Space. Earlier this year I had read the book to Mrs. Kendall’s 6th grade class and then each of the students made their own graphic picture book using my book as an inspiration. 

Cover of student book, The Blue Water Bottle

Page from student book Dot's Perfect Day

Mrs. Kendall brought her students to the festival and at the end of the session they shared their books with the audience. Everyone in the audience was impressed by the variety of subjects the students had chosen for their books and the creativity of their stories and illustrations. If there was one thing they all learned, it was that it is not easy to be an author! 

Charlotte Burgess awarding Janet Wong with the Charlotte Huck Honoree Award

I thank all the people on the planning committee who make this festival possible, especially Marjorie Arnett, Festival Coordinator and founder of the festival twenty-seven years ago, and Charlotte Burgess, Festival Chairperson, niece and namesake of Charlotte Huck. I have been to this wonderful festival of books and reading numerous times in the past and it was a pleasure to participate once again. Each year it gets better and better.
Author/Poet Janet Wong

 

Thursday, February 29, 2024

MY FRIEND FROM OUTER SPACE: Fun Activities for Kids


MY FRIEND FROM OUTER SPACE
In this new graphic picture book Sherry tries to convince her friend that she comes from outer space. But does she? Join Sherry and her friend as they zoom through space at a zillion miles an hour. Here are some activities you can do after reading the book.

ACTIVITIES

1. Let’s pretend. Pretending is a good way to get an idea for a story. Write or tell your own story.

2. Make up your own language. What do you think Glug, flug, Tinbambam means in the story?

3. Make your own space ship with a cardboard box.

4. Create your own outer space costume. Do you look like a monster from outer space?

5. Design a quilt square from a scene in the book. Make a class quilt.

6. Create a comic strip. Put the words in speech balloons.

7. Make a model of the planetary system. What planets did Sherry and her friend see in outer space?

8. Perform a puppet play of the story. Make stick puppets or paper bag puppets.


MY FRIEND FROM OUTER SPACE

By Caroline Arnold Illustrations by Paige Arnold

ISBN 9798399935614 Paperback $9.99

ASIN B0CB9BXWLC Kindle ebook $6.99

Available at Amazon or to order at your favorite book store.


The book is also available in Spanish as MI AMIGA DEL ESPACIO. ISBN 9798870320717

For more about the book go to www.carolinearnoldbooks.com/myfriendfromouterspace.html

Saturday, February 24, 2024

WHAT IS A SETTLEMENT HOUSE? WHERE DID THE NAME COME FROM?

North East Neighborhood House, settlement house in Minneapolis, MN, founded in 1915.

Whenever I tell people that I grew up in a settlement house, the first question is, “But what is a settlement house? Why are they called settlement houses?”

I try to explain in the introduction to my book SettlementHouse Girl, without going deeply into the history of the settlement house movement. But here, I think, is a better answer.

The following is from the introduction of an article about the history of the National Federation of Settlements by John E. Hansan, Ph.D.:

In 1886, Stanton Coit founded America’s first settlement house, the Neighborhood Guild (later renamed University Settlement) on New York City’s Lower East Side. Over the next 15 years, settlement houses were established in cities as places where socially motivated middle-class men and women could live, or “settle,” among the poor.  Settlement house staff resided in the same buildings in which neighborhood residents participated in programs and activities. Living in close proximity, settlement staff regarded the people who used the settlement as “neighbors,” not “clients.”  Jane Addams founded Hull House in Chicago, Robert Archey Woods founded South End House in Boston, and other civic leaders, including Lillian WaldJohn Lovejoy Elliott and Mary K. Simkhovitch, established settlement houses in New York City.

Many of these individuals had been influenced by the founders and staff of London’s Toynbee Hall and other British social activists who believed that students and people of wealth should “settle” in poverty-stricken neighborhoods both to provide services to help improve the daily quality of life, as well as to evaluate conditions and work for social reform. The settlements taught adult education and English language classes, provided schooling for immigrants’ children, organized job clubs, offered afterschool recreation, initiated public health services, and advocated for improved housing for the poor and working classes.

As explained above by Dr. Hansan, settlement houses were often called "neighborhood houses" with settlement house staff, like my social worker parents, regarding the people who came to the settlement house for classes and social services as "neighbors" not "clients".  From the age of four, until I was ten, my family lived at North East Neighborhood House, a settlement house in Minneapolis. Before that, my father had been the director of another settlement house, Neighborhood House in Syracuse, NY. 

While the term "settlement house" is no longer common, many of the institutions that began as settlement houses still exist and have evolved to meet the current social service needs of their communities. North East Neighborhood House, founded in 1915, continues as East Side Neighborhood Services, in a new modern building just a few blocks up the street from the original building. That building has been converted to low-income apartments and has been placed on the National Historical Register. Settlement House Girl: Growing Up in the 1950s at North East Neighborhood House, Minneapolis, Minnesota is a memoir of my childhood there. In the Appendix to the book is a short description of the history of North East Neighborhood House and an article about some of the activities offered when my father was the director.




Saturday, February 17, 2024

SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: INTERVIEW WITH DEBORAH KALB


I was pleased to be interviewed by journalist Deborah Kalb about my new memoir SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL. She has posted it on her blog Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb this week. Deborah Kalb interviews a lot of authors and I am happy to join the list. It is always good to have more publicity! Thank you Deborah!

Here are the questions she asked me. Check out her blog for the answers!

1. What inspired you to write Settlement House Girl?
2. How much of the book comes from your own memories, and how much from research?
3. What do you think are some of the most comment perceptions and misconceptions about settlement houses?
4. What impact do you think growing up in a settlement house had on your life?
5. What are you working on now?
6. Anything else?

North East Neighborhood House, the settlement house in Minneapolis where I grew up.



Wednesday, February 14, 2024

YOUTUBE VIDEO: PLANTING A SCHOOL GARDEN and SPROUTING BEANS IN A CUP


Planting a Garden in Room 6: From Seeds to Salad
is a book for primary age children about a kindergarten class growing vegetables in a school garden. In this short YouTube video we see them preparing the soil and planting seeds. When the vegetables are ripe the children will make a delicious salad. While they wait for the plants to grow, they sprout beans in cups, watching the roots and stems emerge from lima beans.

Click to watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRBqpaBYWPU

Learn more about Planting a Garden in Room 6 at my website. You can find the book online, at bookstores, and in your library. Beginning on March 15, 2024, Planting a Garden in Room 6 will be available in paperback, along with my other Room 6 books--Hatching Chicks in Room 6 and Butterflies in Room 6.