Snowmobilers Warm Up to Record Snowfalls

For the past month, snowbirds have cheered the record snowfalls across the United States. Over seventeen feet of snow has fallen in sections of California's Sierra Nevada mountain range. Central New York's "lake effect" snow belt recorded snowfalls of 70-plus inches in December. Thanks to a surfeit of snow, slopes from New England to the Rockies are having a strong season.

All that snow has encouraged snowmobile enthusiasts to enjoy the great outdoors in their machines. Young readers curious about this popular winter activity can learn more when they read Enslow Publishers' Snowmobile Racers. Author Bob Woods' 48-page book, part of Enslow's "Kid Racers" series, provides a delightful introduction to snowmobiling's challenges and excitement. The work's design, combining engaging "pull-outs," dynamic photographs, and a well-written narrative, draws enthusiastic and reluctant readers to enjoy this curriculum leveled, Guided Reading Level "S" title. Instructors and classroom paraprofessionals also benefit from using the book's free, downloadable teacher's guide.

A paperback edition of Snowmobile Racers is available via Enslow Classroom for $7.95; a library-bound version is also available through http://www.enslow.com/.

Alma Flor Ada and J.R.R. Tolkien

What do these two famous authors have in common? They both share January 3rd as their birthday. Alma Flor Ada was born January 3, 1938 and J. R. R. Tolkien was born January 3, 1892.
Enslow is celebrating the fact that we have great biographies on both of these popular authors.

From our Authors Kids Love series, Alma Flor Ada: An Author Kids Love is 48 pages for grades 3–4. Written by Michelle Parker-Rock all of the titles in this series include new information from personal interviews.

Our J.R.R. Tolkien: Master of Imaginary Worlds from our Authors Teens Love series is 128 pages and perfect for readers in grades 6–up. Each title in this series includes the author's perspective of the writer's craft as well as personal interviews and insightful quotes about each author.

Enslow celebrates two amazing authors on their birthdays!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all!

Enslow's spring list includes a new series called Funny Bone Jokes. There are six titles in this series, covering animals, food, the body, holidays, sports, and science. Geared toward the elementary market, these jokes, limericks, fun facts, and tongue twisters will keep students entertained and wanting to read more.

Here's an example:

Yesterday always comes before today—or does it? Where is the place where yesterday follows today? Answer: In the dictionary

Happy Birthday Denzel Washington

When Denzel Washington first went to college, he hoped to become a doctor. But he soon found he liked drama better than his science classes. This easy biography shows how Washington became one of the best-known movie actors in America, eventually winning two Academy Awards. Colorful illustrations, lively layout, and accessible vocabulary make the book ideal for early independent readers and useful for beginning reports.

Happy Birthday Stephenie Meyer

Stephenie Meyer is celebrating a birthday today. Lisa Rondinelli Albert's biography about Ms. Meyer is available. This 112-page title is great for middle school readers wanting to learn more about this author and her Twilight series of books.

Thinking about getting a new pet for Christmas?

If you are considering a pet for someone for Christmas, make sure you include reading material for that particular pet.

Enslow has recently published a series, Beginning Pet Care with American Humane, on how to care for different types of pets. This series covers birds, cats, dogs, horses, fish, reptiles and amphibians, and small mammals. Written for the elementary reader, these titles are also reminders to adults of just what goes into caring for a new friend.

Happy Birthday Bonnie Pryor!

Having written several titles in Enslow's Historical Fiction Adventures series, Bonnie Pryor's Hannah Pritchard titles have sold quite well for Enslow Publishers.

Hannah Pritchard was published in 2008 and Pirate Hannah Pritchard was published in 2009. There will be a third Hannah Pritchard title, due out in fall of 2011. Watch for it!

Holiday Closing

The offices of Enslow Publishing, Inc. will be closed starting Friday, December 24 and will reopen on Monday, January 3, 2011.

We would like to take this time to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday. We appreciate your business and look forward to doing business with you in the new year.

Books for Tonight's Full Lunar Eclipse

A full lunar eclipse will take place throughout North America this evening. This phenomenon presents a wonderful teaching opportunity and potential "hands-on" experiences for students learning about astronomy. Help your students grasp the exciting science involved in an eclipse with Enslow books, including our new Far-Out Guide to the Moon. Author Mary Kay Carson's beautifully illustrated 48-page title uses a concise, interesting narrative and strong, reader-friendly design to introduce young readers to the science, myth, and mystery of the Moon. Book has a free, downloadable teacher's guide, including activities connected to various curricular areas.

The book, part of the 12-book "Far-Out Guide to the Solar System" series, is available in paperback and library-bound editions.

On this date in 1903

Orville Wright piloted the first powered airplane twenty feet above a beach in North Carolina. The flight lasted 12 seconds and covered 120 feet. Three more flights were made that day with Orville's brother Wilbur piloting the record flight lasting 59 seconds over a distance of 852 feet.

Written for middle schoolers, Wilbur and Orville Wright goes into detail about the numerous experiments and efforts in aerodynamics that propelled the Wright brothers to finish first in the race toward powered flight. Fun activities such as building a wind tunnel and anemometer are also included.

This is flu season

Here are the common symptoms: rapid onset, usually in an hour or two; sudden and increasingly severe headache; sore throat and dry cough; rising fever that can reach 104 degrees Fahrenheit in adults and higher in children; sneezing and runny nose; muscle aches in the back, arms, and legs; loss of appetite; fatigue and lack of energy, sometimes for more than a week; severe chills, accompanied by feeling very hot, then very cold; occasionally, nausea and vomiting, especially in children.

Got all that? Just thinking about it is more than enough.

According to Investigating Influenza and Bird Flu, each year between 4 and 20 percent of the world population catches some form of influenza. In the United States, about 250,000 people contract the flu each year, and about 36,000 die from flu-related causes.

After reading this, sounds like a good idea to get a flu shot!

Video Games

I bet video games are on your Christmas shopping list. I know they're on mine. Still popular with kids and adults, the first video game was invented by Ralph Baer in 1968 and looked more like a console covered with brown wood-grain paper. It was stuffed with three hundred parts and could run several simple games. It wasn't until 1970 when Magnavox, a leading TV set manufacturer, offered to pay Baer royalties to develop and market his game ideas that his work finally paid off. Baer's first check in the amount of $100,000 was presented to him in the hospital where he was waiting for an operation.

Enslow's title The Guy Who Invented Home Video Games: Ralph Baer and His Awesome Invention is part of our Genius at Work Great Inventor Biographies series. If your school or library hosts a gaming program, you may want to introduce this title to your participants so they can have a better understanding as to how millions of video games today are the result of Ralph Baers lone question, "What Else Can a TV Do?"

235th Anniversary of Washington's Crossing the Delaware

The holiday season includes anniversaries of important dates in American history. One of them is George Washington's bold crossing of the Delaware River during the Revolutionary War. His strong leadership and skillful tactics helped wavering colonial forces rally during a key period of the conflict.

For teachers and media specialists planning to include Washington's crossing in December's American history lessons, an excellent resource to use is Enslow Publisher's George Washington Crosses the Delaware: Would You Risk the Revolution?  Elaine Landau's 48-page book, part of the six-book "What Would You Do?" American history series, offers a unique, speculative approach to the Christmas Day battle. Each chapter concludes with the award-winning author asking readers to place themselves in the shoes of historical figures and articulating how they would have decided various courses of action. The structure thereby encourages the development of critical thinking skills in the context of an American history narrative.

Full-color photographs and illustrations, as well as historical works, add visual support to the Guided Reading Level "O" text. The book also includes a useful timeline, a "words to know" section, and sources for further reading. A free, downloadable teacher's guide is also available on the Enslow Classroom paperback website -- http://www.enslowclassroom.com -- or at www.enslow.com. The paperback edition is available for $7.95; the library-bound version is available to qualifying schools and libraries for $17.95.

Books For Teens

Books for Teens is a program created by the American Library Association that helps to support teens who are at risk and empower them with knowledge from free age apporpriate books.

Books play a large factor in determining the level of education a young person is able to attain. Education level is strongly connected to the number of books a young person may have in their home. Please help young adults obtain the tools they need in order to reach their full potential of knowledge. Anyone can help by donating a book here: http://www.causes.com/causes/552398

Happy Birthday Emily Dickinson

Today would have been Emily Dickinson's 180th birthday! That's a lot of candles!

Considered a very important poet in American literature, Emily Dickinson's work expressed a dark pessimism, reflecting the alienation of many American intellectuals after the Civil War. In this Student's Guide to Emily Dickinson, the career of this literary giant is examined, with special emphasis placed on curriculum-related poems.

Remember: Our Cash for Clunkers offer ends soon!

Enslow is once again offering it's Cash for Clunkers offer, but it's only good until December 31, 2010.

We wanted to send a quick reminder to those who are interested in taking advantage of it.

Time is running out!

30th anniversary of the death of John Lennon

Fans have been gathering outside of The Dakota, the apartment building in which John Lennon lived, as well as at Strawberry Fields, a memorial to Lennon located just inside Central Park across from The Dakota.

Every year, fans gather and play/listen to John's music. His song "Imagine, " probably one of his best-known works, is a favorite.

Enslow's book on John Lennon describes his childhood, his life as a Beatle, as well as his life as a solo artist. High school students will learn a lot about John Lennon from this book.

December is Hand Washing Awareness Month

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says keeping hands clean is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of infection and illness. Tips for hand washing are listed on their web site.

Our title Super Ben's Dirty Hands, for Grades K-3, is a great way to introduce young readers to the importance of keeping hands clean which is especially important during this busy time of the year when all of us are more likely to be shopping in malls and exposed to large crowds.

Christmas Reading for Early Learners

If there were ever a "perfect" time to engage children with books, the Christmas season is it. The season's marvelous stories enchant children and encourage them to explore the world of their imaginations.

Christmas, a new title included in Enslow's "All About Holidays" series, continues in this wonderful tradition. Author Dorothy Goeller's 24-page title balances engaging text and full-color illustrations to create an engaging reading experience. The book's 6" x 7" trim size makes the tactile experience of reading -- turning pages, holding the book, seeing child-friendly type size -- approachable for pre-K students. Sight words and simple sentences provide a useful "way in" for kids to connect vocabulary with the holiday season in which they're immersed.

The library-bound version makes a fun, thoughtful gift for families, as well as a useful addition to a media center collection. Christmas is also published in a paperback edition ($6.95), which is ideal for classroom libraries or for supplemental classroom material resources. The title's value-added features include a free, downloadable teacher's guide. You'll find it at the Enslow Classroom website: http://www.enslowclassroom.com/.

Happy Birthday Walt Disney

Has anyone been to The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco? From the descriptions on the web site, it sounds like a fun and interesting place. The last time I was in San Francisco (which was several years ago) they were renovating the buildings in the Presidio that contain the museum. One of my brothers lives in San Francisco and drove through the Presidio to show me the buildings. The views from that area are simply spectacular!

Enslow's Walt Disney title is for middle school readers. It's simply amazing what this man, with the help of his brother, was able to create.