What a magical time at Highland Elementary, home of my co-author Amy Tharp!
Two full days at Highland was a special treat for me, and the opportunity to celebrate the creation of the new animal book Wondrous Creatures.
What a great group of young writers!
HIghland students working on their non fiction writing skills!
A couple of writers having some fun at Highland Elementary in Littleton CO.
Highland Elementary in Littleton CO is just awesome!
First, in case you didn’t know I have been working on an animal book for kids.
After two years of work, the book is about to go to press! All of the patience and commitment to details is about to pay off. Yeah!
With a little market research with my Face Book friends, I settled on the title:
Wondrous Creatures- Explore a World of Animals from A to Z.
My co-author Amy Tharp, an elementary teacher in Colorado has done a masterful job of research and transforming the information to be easily absorbed by young readers.
The book is filled with interesting facts, beautiful photos, world maps and journal entries from my journeys.
The book is also being correlated to the National Language Arts Common Core Standards and documentation will show all the ways that the Language Arts, Writing, Science, and Social Studies components of Wondrous Creatures are aligned to the ELA Common Core Standards.
The projected date the book will be available is September 1st.
Here’s what people are saying about the book;
The photographs in the book are amazing. We used the book as a mentor text for our students who were also writing ABC books. The text is motivating, engaging and informative. The Wow Factor on each page did exactly that…wowed the students! Excellent teaching source!
-Cindy Yabrove and Diane Brown, 3rd grade teachers, Littleton CO
“Dean and Amy have carefully crafted a book that matches every child’s interest. Phenomenal photos, personal experiences, and simple easy-to-read text make this book a perfect match for any child.”
-Cody & Katie Ressel, elementary teachers; Pittsburg, Pennsylvania
When the book is launched, I welcome your thoughts too! I want to know what you think, what kind of reaction you are getting from the readers in your world.
Here’s a peek at one of the pages in the book to give you a sense of what’s coming
To accompany the book, I will have a whole new presentation for elementary students that will help create a solid foundation for habitats, and the animals that live there. Connecting students to scientific concepts about the environment with photos and first hand stories of exploring these various ecosystems.
The program will also include a fun and engaging writing exercise.
This will be a fun addition to the two other programs I currently offer in schools, Wondrous Journey and G is for Gorilla and Giving.
If you are interested in bringing this program to your school, contact me about available dates and fees. I still have a few dates open before I go to traveling again this fall.
The Nebraska Art’s Council informed me they would entertain grant proposals to bring me in for a creative writing workshop.
I’m really excited about this project, I believe we have created something special that will be loved by young people, parents, teachers, grandparents, who ever still believes in the magic of sitting down with a child with a book to discover something new.
Check my web site soon to order your own autographed copy of the book.
Great news, we are in the process of creating the Travel 4 life Foundation that will allow me to organize and accept support for the purpose of connecting people to cultures, history and the natural wonders of the world.
More coming on that soon as it develops.
One last, but important note, I will be heading to South America to explore the Amazon starting in the end of October!
Look for more about this in future newsletters!
Cheers,
Dean
This morning I Skyped into West Branch Elementary in West Branch Iowa. Working with Mrs. Boul on Skype, we answered questions and shared about creating this cool book.
"Dan the Man" and I explained different parts of the process of working on the upcoming ABC book of animals from around the world.
There has been many steps to creating a ABC book of animals and we still have a way to go, but we are progressing! The idea started on a napkin with a friend in Pittsburgh PN. Below is a part of the letter "A" page at this stage of the process.
Once complete, a school presentation will accompany the book to educate and inspire students about animals and the environment from around the world.
