Summer Reading!

It's so many people's favorite library time of the year--Summer Reading time!

If you haven't done it yet, get yourself down to your public library and sign up! Most libraries have a program of some sort for every age to participate, including adults. Signing up shows your support for the library, which is more important than ever! And as you probably know, reading over the Summer is especially important for youth so that they continue to move forward with their reading skills and prevent the Summer Slide.

As a library worker, planning the Summer Library Program is a lot of fun, but it can also be a challenge. It has to be done on top of all the regular things we do to keep the library running. Plus, we get so many more people at Storytimes over the summer--all ages from babies to adults. We do our best to have something engaging for everyone who comes. At my library we do a lot of crafts and games to go along with stories. It really keeps our patrons engaged and learning. The amounts of books we check out on Storytime days is tremendous and we absolutely love to see kids and families enjoying reading!

I'm certain there are many, many librarians who already have their entire summer program planned. But, if you are a little behind like some of us may be (ahem), Unicorn and Yeti are here to help with a couple of themed ideas. I do love a good theme. It adds a focus base to planning that I think is a lot of fun!

iRead

Level Up at Your Library is the theme the library system I work at is using. It's all about games--from board games to video games, and everything in between. So of course, UNICORN AND YETI: FUN AND GAMES is a perfect read!

In case you don't know, Unicorn and Yeti books each have three separate, themed stories. FUN AND GAMES has:

GAME ON - A story about sharing favorite games. Unicorn and Yeti combine their favorite games to create a new one that they can play together. As a bonus, in the back of the book, illustrator Hazel Quintanilla teaches us how to draw the game board. Sharing the story and then having each participant draw the game board could be great fun. I would love to see how each game board drawing comes out differently. And, of course, they can create game pieces and make up the game they play on the board as well. Then play!

Supplies needed: Paper, pencils, and crayons. colored pencils, or markers, and any other things you want to add if you want to get fancy.

HIDE AND SEEK - In this story about the classic game, Yeti helps Unicorn learn how to be a better hider. Not only does the story help children think about spatial awareness, it also models patience. It can take longer for some kids to figure out how to play games than others and Unicorn and Yeti show that that is okay! While we may not want to play hide and seek in a library setting, the story could easily fit into an outside game day where the kids learn to play a game like red light green light. Of course, you could always make the classic Yeti, since Yeti is really good at hiding. Yeti might even like to hide around the library or the kid's stacks of books at home this summer! He's always up for doing something cool!

Supplies needed: Paper, glue, cotton balls, pens or colored pencils. See the instructions here.

PUZZLED - Unicorn and Yeti have different ways of putting a puzzle together. They figure out that things can be done in different ways and playing, well, it should be fun! I know that librarians are crafty, so I don't feel like I need to tell you how to create a puzzle with kids. It is a great craft to make use of recycled items.

Supplies needed: Paper, cardstock, or cardboard, colored pencils or pens or glue and magazines, comics, etc., and scissors. Of course, you can also purchase cheap puzzle blanks.

Bonus: In UNICORN AND YETI: A GOOD TEAM, Unicorn and Yeti create a race in the story titled... (you guessed it!)... A RACE. Creating a race could be a fun interactive project for the kids to do together! I think I might do that one too!

Whether you read the entire FUN AND GAMES book for one Storytime or use one story, it is definitely ready to fit into this year's iRead theme!

CSLP

Color Our World is the Collaborative Summer Library Program theme this year. The classic theme has lots of possibilities. Unicorn is always coloring the world! I do love the stories where Unicorn changes Yeti's appearance in SPARKLY NEW FRIENDS second story, AN AMAZING FRIEND and the third story in TOGETHER, TEA PARTY.

Of course, painting is a perfect activity for the Color Your World theme, and Unicorn and Yeti do just that in FAIR AND SQUARE, NO FAIR! The story reminds readers that each of us is unique as are our creations, and that painting is supposed to be fun, no matter how our paintings turn out.

So there you have it, a few quick and easy ideas to go with the 2025 iRead and CSLP Summer Reading themes. Thank you librarians for all you do to get kids excited about reading!

 

Be Dazzled by Kidlit411!

Are you writing or illustrating children's books? If so, I hope you've heard about Kidlit411! Authors Sylvia Liu and Elaine Kiely Kearns gather loads of awesome writing and illustration info and share it, for free! They also have a fabulously active Facebook group. On top of that they have a weekly newsletter that you should definitely subscribe to. And this week I am excited to share that the newest Unicorn and Yeti book, Razzle Dazzle, is up for grabs! To enter just go to the Kidlit411 Weekly 411 (scroll down a bit to find U&Y) and enter via the Rafflecopter link. There are other great books being given away too, and it is a weekly occurrence! Win, win! Plus if you haven't been there before, you will be dazzled by the plethora of kidlit information right at your fingertips!

Giveaway ends on 11/6.

 

Razzle Dazzle

Unicorn and Yeti Fun and Games just released, and inside you get to see the cover of book 9!

Razzle Dazzle is set to release in September 2024! Isn't the cover dazzling?

As always, the graphic novel style early reader has three separate stories. In the first story Unicorn and Yeti go camping. Okay, at least Yeti goes camping. Unicorn just may be glamping. Why? So they can make s'mores, of course. In the second story they find a hot spring which is the perfect place for Hazel to create some really funny illustrations! And for the third story I am so thrilled that I got to write a story about the moon being made of cheese. The concept is something that always got me thinking when I was a kid. Plus, Yeti gets to ride on Unicorn's back again, and that, my friends, makes for some great illustration! I could not be more thrilled with the cover of this ninth Unicorn and Yeti book. Razzle Dazzle is available for preorder now from your favorite bookseller. 

 

Unicorn and Yeti Fun and Games!

Hello! I seem to have taken a very long break from my blog here. It's my first blog post of 2023 and it's on the last day of the year! But I have not been taking a break from writing. There are now 8 books in the Unicorn and Yeti series! Fun and Games was released on December 26th. 

In Fun and Games, Yeti teaches Unicorn how to do a better job at hiding when they play hide and seek because, of course, Yetis are extremely great at hiding. They figure out how to play their favorite games together. Unicorn's favorite is a fancy game while Yeti, like my husband, simply needs a deck of cards. No poker for these two though! In the third story Unicorn and Yeti put a puzzle together. It isn't easy! 

I'm always amazed at what I learn when I am writing about these two characters. Apparently, I am quite hard on myself. I mean, I know that, but the simplicity of writing about two characters and the different way they put together a puzzle really illustrated it. I learned that some people actually do look at the puzzle picture when putting a puzzle together. Shocking! I do not. Why do I make it so hard? It's not like there's a rule. Nope, I just like to make things harder.

But it's not hard to get the new Unicorn and Yeti book, or any of the books in the series. They're available from your favorite retailer. And I'm going to try to take it easy on myself in 2024. Maybe I'll even blog a bit. 😎

A Fancy Interview!

Not too terribly long ago, interviewer extraordinaire Patricia J. Murphy contacted me and wanted to talk. How fun! She asked me lots of questions about my being a librarian, a garlic farmer, and of course, a writer. I don't often talk about all the things I do, but Patricia made it fun and I made a new friend. And now I can also say that I am thrilled to have an interview in Publisher's Weekly! Bonus: The interview features Unicorn and Yeti's brand new book, Stuck With You. 

I think my agent, Sean McCarthy, introduces the interview best, "Come for the insight about how being a librarian informs Heather's writing, and stay for the revision/garlic farming metaphor that somehow makes perfect sense."

Pretty good huh? If you're interested, pop on over and give it a read at PublishersWeekly.com

Together!

The Unicorn and Yeti team has been working hard to put the finishing touches on book six, Together--virtually of course, and it has been so much fun. I love revising and editing! I love poring over Hazel's illustrations!! And I love this cover!!!

How can you not love those lips?!  And those fabulous hats!

The book's title was chosen quite a long time ago, but now it feels even more meaningful with how much we have had to stay apart in the past year or so. In the stories, Unicorn and Yeti enjoy each other's company (mostly.) They spend time watching things zip, zigzag, and zoom in the sky. Unicorn wants to do all the things Yeti does--and becomes a copycorn! And, as you can tell from Hazel Quintanilla's fabulous cover art, Unicorn and Yeti have a tea party. Of course there are rainbows and sparkles and magic! I hope that readers will love it as much as I do, and I hope that it will inspire some tea parties as well! I do love a good tea party.

Unicorn and Yeti, Together releases on March 1st, 2022 and is available from your favorite bookseller!

Book Joy Live!

Book Joy Live happens every week and I love watching when I can. John Schu has so much enthusiasm for books and I always learn about some great new children's books when I watch. (And my heart wants them all!) 

So, it is amazing to say that today, Hazel and I were on Book Joy Live with John Schu! It was a lot of fun talking all things Unicorn and Yeti with Hazel and John, plus we did a reader's theater-- we read aloud the first story from Fair and Square (around 18:00). And our Editor, Katie Carella even popped in! It was my first live author appearance and I couldn't have asked for it be more fun.

Thank you to everyone who watched and was so supportive! I loved reading through the comments on the Facebook feed. I've embedded the recording incase you missed it and want to watch. We can all use more book joy in our lives! You can also find the recording on the Scholastic Book Fairs Facebook page and on John Schu's website.