An Introduction To The Revolutionary Whole Book Approach For Children's Books

Megan Dowd Lambert is an exceptional woman.  She has developed a new approach to children’s literacy called The Whole Book Approach Method. In association with the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, she has published a new book (Charlesbridge) called Reading Picture Books with Children: How to Shake Up Storytime and Get Kids Talking About What They See.  

Megan’s innovative approach to storytime really does shake things up and not only does it make these valuable moments more interesting and fun, kids hone their cognitive thinking skills at the same time.  

“I began envisioning an approach that would invite children to engage with great picture book art on their own terms,” Megan says. "Like so many others, I appreciate the ease and convenience of screen readers, but a Kindle can’t hold a candle to the love I have for a book in hand,"

She has the right credentials to write this book. A senior lecturer in children’s literature at Simmons College, where she earned her master’s degree in children’s literature, Megan served on the 2011 Caldecott committee and now writes for the Horn Book Magazine. In 2009, Mass Literacy named her a Massachusetts Literary Champion.

As a reader, a mother, and a teacher, I know that we carry picture books about with us, not just as physical objects in our hands with pages that we turn, but as remembered experiences with stories and art, and with each other," says Megan. "I pick up a single picture book, and I recall not only the specific story and art on its pages but also the myriad insights that it provoked through Whole Book Approach readings that invited children to read words, pictures, and design along with me."

She writes in her book:

"During Whole Book Approach storytimes, children’s active participation in making meaning of all they see and hear during a picture book reading takes precedence over moving through the pages at the pace of the adult’s oral reading of the text.  The word “approach” is crucial – this is not a prescriptive method that would have you asking specific questions about picture book illustration and design in a certain order as you read aloud.  Instead, the Whole Book Approach simply stresses inviting children to react to the whole book – its art, design, production, paratextual and textual elements – in ways that feel natural and enriching to them and to you as the adult reader.  This method requires that storytime leaders – be they teachers, librarians, parents, or other adults engaged in reading picture books with children – immerse themselves in understanding the picture book as a multi-modal art form (one that uses both visual and verbal modes of communication) in order to consider how not only text and illustration but all design and production elements might contribute to the shared reading."

A spokesman for her publisher says: "The Whole Book Approach is a practical guide for reshaping storytime and getting kids to think with their eyes.  Whether storytime takes place in the classroom, library, or home, The Whole Book Approach serves as an elegant primer on the picture book art form for readers of all ages.  you will learn how the size and shape of a book influence how we perceive its content; how the jacket, casing, endpapers, and front-matter pages set the stage for the story to come; and how typography and page design impact the reader’s experience.

Megan began laying the foundation for the Whole Book Approach when she was working for the education department of the Eric Carle Museum. Several years – and about 25,000 students and 3,000 professionals – later, Megan is ready to share her groundbreaking technique for reading picture books with young children.

Chapters cover subjects like trim size and orientation, jackets and covers, endpapers, typography, and more.  With examples from well-known books, discover how a picture book’s design, illustrations, and words work together to tell a story and how incorporating these elements into the reading of the story enhances a child’s learning and love of reading.

As a result of reading Megan's book and employing her method, you may end up being part of a revolutionary approach to literacy. They should make a children's book to illustrate her success story.

Here is an interview with the author:

1.   Megan, why are you proposing we change how books are consumed by children?

It’s not so much that I’m proposing a change, it’s more that I am asking us to consider our intentions when we read with children. Literacy experts identify performance-based storytimes and co-constructive storytimes, and I’d place the Whole Book Approach in the latter camp. Shared readings can be a great source of entertainment in performance-storytimes in which the text is read aloud, uninterrupted. Children get a lot out of immersing themselves in the book’s words and pictures at the pace of the adult’s oral reading—especially if the reader offers a truly engaging performance of the text. I absolutely do not suggest abandoning such shared readings, but I offer the Whole Book Approach as another way to read with kids, or as a source of new idea that adults can add to how they’re already reading picture books with children in their lives.

Adults often act as mediators or gatekeepers in children’s reading lives, and with the Whole Book Approach, I’m advocating a child-centered approach to shared reading that makes children’s responses to picture book text, art, and design integral to storytimes at home, or in classrooms and libraries. This means there’s a lot of stopping and starting in the reading of the text in order to facilitate a discussion of words, pictures, and design. I think there’s another kind of pleasure that is derived from this sort of co-constructive reading. With the Whole Book Approach, I hope to inspire critical thinking, especially with regard to art and design, and to foster an appreciation for printed books in the digital age, not to mention great conversations about books between adults and children.

2.   How did you come to develop what you have coined The Whole Book Approach?

Julie Danielson at the children’s literature blog,  Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast wrote to me after reading my book and said, “with the Whole Book Approach storytime is a cooperative (ad)venture between reader and listener that joins dialogic reading with Visual Thinking Strategies.” I first learned about VTS in 2001 from the Founding Director of The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Nick Clark, when the museum was still under construction. I was finishing up my last semester as a graduate student in Children’s Literature at Simmons College by earning my final four credits in an Independent Study I designed that let me support The Carle as it developed its Reading Library collection and drummed up interest with local educators, families, and libraries in the year before its grand opening. Nick told me about VTS and how he planned to implement it in The Carle’s gallery programs and materials, and I was intrigued.

I liked how it took an inquiry-based approach to looking at art by turning the typical museum docent tour on its head: instead of having a guide tell a group tour about a picture, the docent asks the group open-ended questions to invite them to make meaning of what they see. The following overview is adapted from the VTS website.

The following three questions guide the discussion:

• What's going on in this picture?
• What do you see that makes you say that?
• What more can we find?

And then the group leader uses these three main facilitation techniques:

• Paraphrase comments neutrally
• Point at the area being discussed
• Linking and framing student comments

Throughout, the group is asked to:

• Look carefully at works of art
• Talk about what they observe
• Back up their ideas with evidence
• Listen to and consider the views of others
• Discuss many possible interpretations

After learning about VTS, I started rethinking how I was leading storytime in The Carle’s information office and in outreach visits to area schools and libraries. First, I decided that instead of structuring storytime around a theme, I wanted to simply structure it around sharing a broad range of picture books with children, and I wanted to use VTS questions and techniques to invite them to critically engage with the picture book as a visual art form. I drew on my studies of the picture book at Simmons and started asking kids to reflect on endpapers, layout, why some pictures cross the gutter and some don’t. It was very exciting! In many ways storytime started to feel more like the reading I did at home with my son—it was playful and interactive, and it made children’s responses to art, design, and story central to the experience.

After leading storytimes with over 8,000 children in Western MA, I started travelling farther afield on behalf of The Carle, and the teachers and librarians who hosted me began asking for professional development about the picture book as a visual art form. One librarian in Vermont said that what I was doing reminded her of the PLA & ALSC’s use of dialogic reading in their (then brand-new) Every Child Ready to Read @ Your Library initiative. This was my introduction to dialogic reading, which some describe as “Hear and Say” reading because it uses a series of prompts to ask children to respond to texts as they are read aloud. I realized that the storytime model I was developing might be thought of as “see, hear, and say” reading because I was integrating a focus on the visual elements of shared reading by focusing on illustrations and design.

So I integrated influences from VTS, dialogic reading, and my graduate study of the picture book as a visual art form and started inviting kids to make meaning of all they saw and heard from picture books at storytime. In workshops, talks, and professional writing, I started calling my technique the “Whole Book Approach” because I wanted to highlight the potential for all of the parts of the picture book—text, art, design, and production elements—to be sources of meaning and delight in shared readings.

3.      What evidence do you have that such a methodology works – and that it is as good or better than any current approach? I’d never say that the Whole Book Approach is a “better” way of reading aloud—there’s too much to be gained from other approaches (like performance-storytimes) to assert that one way is better than another. But since there are many kinds of learners and learning styles, I just think that there’s room for many approaches to sharing picture books. The Whole Book Approach is an intentional way to engage children with talking about art and design during shared readings of picture books. It’s also child-centered as it makes their responses integral to a reading. The adult’s job is to provide the facilitation needed to keep the experience engaging, enriching, and fun for everyone.

Along with my academic study of the picture book as a visual art form, VTS and Dialogic Reading are the main sources of inspiration for the Whole Book Approach, and their proponents have data and documentation to highlight how their pedagogy supports learning. I do not claim that the Whole Book Approach is the same as VTS or Dialogic Reading, but I encourage readers to investigate their work documenting the great potential of co-constructive, inquiry-based learning.

I also take great inspiration from the work of veteran early childhood educator Vivian Gussin Paley, whom I heard speak when I was also asked to present at the 2008 Kindergarten Conference at Lesley University. “I call on you to be foot soldiers in an army of anecdotes about the importance of play in children’s lives and learning,” she remarked, and I heard that call loud and clear. While recognizing the contemporary need for hard data about pedagogical methods that raise test scores and document children’s learning across the curriculum, Paley was adamant that we must also speak, write, read, and listen to stories about individual children and the stuff of their imaginative, creative lives. In essence, she argued that speaking to and about the heart in our advocacy on behalf of children is just as important as speaking to the mind.

In my book, rather than focusing on the central place of play in children’s lives and learning, my contributions to an army of anecdotes center on reading aloud and all of the cognitive play involved in children’s interactions with picture books. Where Paley works to document and explore children’s storytelling and dramatic play, I explore children’s active engagement with stories, pictures, and design as readers, listeners, viewers, thinkers, and as emotional beings.

4.   What did you learn about the beauty of children and their love for books while working at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art? I don’t know if this quite answers your question, but time and again, I learned that children saw and noticed things in picture books that I did not, and so I learned to slow down and let their questions and responses guide the pacing of the reading. Children come to picture books with their own experiences, strengths, and perspectives, and I want to give room for them and their resulting diverse responses to encounters with words, pictures and design.

“The beauty of children” that I see is the beauty of humanity. There is a humanizing potential in literature, and in all art, and in our encounters with it. By sharing experiences of and in these encounters we can explore what it is to be human. I know this sounds rather lofty for storytime fare, but literature and art, in all of their forms, are representations of human experience, and of our hopes and values and beliefs and questions. Picture books can therefore engage children with the human project of representing life in art. In my work I want that engagement to position the child as an active participant in making, interrogating, and exploring the meanings that picture books can offer.\

5.   Why are kids still slipping through the cracks and entering adulthood without strong functioning literary skills? This is a big question! I’m afraid I am not the best person to give a thorough answer, but I will say that I have learned a tremendous amount from Jonathan Kozol’s books—especially Savage Inequalities, Illiterate America, and The Shame of the Nation. I also want to recommend that everyone listen to this episode of “This American Life”. I am sure that systemic racism, continuing segregation arising from myriad historical and contemporary factors, and entrenched class stratification have a lot to do with the complex problem you cite, and this episode helps to expose such underlying factors. These sources just scratch the surface; there many, many scholars, activists, teachers, librarians, caregivers, and students themselves who are working to expose and address inequities in our educational system.

My book is not focused on school reform; nor is it overtly about dismantling racism or addressing class inequality. It is about empowering all children to think critically and it’s about giving their voices space in interactions with adults.

6.   By putting a greater emphasis on the visuals of a book, are you not emphasizing the words enough? The Whole Book Approach is founded on the recognition of the picture book as a multimodal text in which words and pictures work together to tell a story or convey information. So in my storytimes I say that we read the words but we also read the pictures. Words don’t get short shrift, but art and design get more attention than they would in a performance-storytime.        

7.   What are some of the best children’s books that you recommend children read with their parents? There are too many to name! I purposefully did not include a book list in my book because I didn’t want readers to think that the Whole Book Approach only works with some picture books. Try it out with any picture book! But, I love to direct people to the We Need Diverse Books website as a resource for finding books, and I will take this opportunity to highlight books I have recently used in Whole Book Approach storytimes and trainings and others that I am eagerly anticipating after seeing them at ALA midwinter in January:

Picture Books Used in Recent WBA Storytimes and Trainings:

·         My Father Is Taller than a Tree, by Joseph Bruchac, illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin

·         Freight Train by Donald Crews

·         Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de LaPeña, illustrated by Christian Robinson

·         Hush, Little Baby: A Folk Song with Pictures by Marla Frazee

·         Waiting by Kevin Henkes

·         Shhh! We Have a Plan by Chris Houghton

·         Big Red Lollipop Rukhsana Khan, illustrated by Sophie Blackall

·         This Is Not My Hat by John Klassen

·         A Crow of His Own by Megan Dowd Lambert, illustrated by David Hyde Costello

·         Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr., illustrated by Eric Carle

·         Just a Minute! A Trickster Counting Book by Yuyi Morales

·         This Is Sadie by Sara O’Leary, illustrated by Julie Morstad

·         The Lion & the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

·         Yo! Yes? by Chris Raschka

·         Bully; Green; and I Used to Be Afraid by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

·         Roger Is Reading a Book by Koen Van Biesen

Anticipating in 2016:

·         Thunder Boy, Jr. by Sherman Alexie, illustrated by Yuyi Morales

·         Worm Loves Worm by J.J. Austrian, illustrated by Mike Curato

·         Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson’s Super Stream of Ideas by Chris Barton, illustrated by Don Tate

·         The White Cat and the Monk by Jo Ellen Bogart, illustrated by Sydney Smith

·         Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood by F. Isabel Campoy, illustrated by Rafael Lopez

·         Blocks by Irene Dickson

·         Old Dog Baby Baby by Julie Fogliano, illustrated by Chris Raschka

·         When Green Becomes Tomatoes by Julie Fogliano, illustrated by Julie Morstad

·         In Plain Sight by Richard Jackson, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

·         Real Sisters Pretend by Megan Dowd Lambert illustrated by Nicole Tadgell

·         Emma and Julia Love Ballet by Barbara McLintock

·         School’s First Day of School by Adam Rex, illustrated by Christian Robinson

·         There Is a Tribe of Kids by Lane Smith

·         Ideas Are All Around and Samson in the Snow by Philip C. Stead

·         Sing with Me! by Nakao Stoop

·         Home At Last by Vera B. Williams, illustrated by Chris Rashka

As I look at these lists, I am sure I am leaving out wonderful ones, so I hope readers will regard them as starting points. And, yes, I did include my own picture books in a bit of shameless self-promotion but also to highlight to work of my amazing illustrators.

8.   You point out that ebooks may have their appeal or convenience for some adults, but why are children’s books best enjoyed through a paper edition? The picture book as a visual art form. Digital platforms will evolve to make the most of how they can be used to tell stories and engage readers, but the picture book codex (bound at one side with paper pages to turn) is a perfect technology unto itself. I think there are reasons that transcend the sentimental or nostalgic for why the picture book is not only surviving, but thriving in the digital age, and I believe it will continue to do so. These reasons are based in the physicality of the book, and in what its design affords all of us, children and adults, when we meet in its pages. Page-turns, pacing, the size of the book, all of these elements, and more, contribute to how we experience the stories that picture books tell. And ultimately, every picture book holds, not just its illustrated story, but memories of shared readings and thus have the potential to become part of the material culture of our lives.

2016 Book Marketing & Book Publicity Toolkit
http://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2015/12/2016-book-marketing-book-publicity.html

Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2016

Addiction Expert Reflects On A Life Of Overcoming Setbacks & Loss

                                                       

“I remember when my father died.  I was seven years old.”

The opening lines of Dr. Louise Stanger’s memoir of renewal, Falling Up, indicate just the beginning of what has turned into a life of loss and challenge – and of perseverance and accomplishment.  Dr. Stanger, a prominent addiction interventionist, has had to overcome more than her fair share of troubles.

Not only did she lose her dad and grandparents to suicide, but her husband died before she turned 45, and her infant son died of SIDS.  Other family members and friends died young or suffered from mental illness and/or addiction.  In some ways, she’s been in recovery her whole life and has been in an understanding position when it comes to her work of the last three decades—helping others live with addiction and families to rebound from the damage that comes from addiction.

“This book is dedicated to all you wonderful vulnerable folks out there who have fought like me back to clarity out of the I can fix it bazaar,” says Dr. Stanger, who is a client of the book publicity firm that I work for. 

“Back to solid ground.  We’ve both been there –pulling out all the stops – from standing on your head meditating, to mortgaging your home, to blaming others, to rescuing, to bailing out, to stand-up paddling down the Amazon. All in an effort to help your loved one stop using alcohol or other drugs, stop the horror of depression and mania, stop hemorrhaging all their money away, stop sleeping with folks they do not know, stop binging and purging, stop becoming intimate with law enforcement, with drug cartels, with brothels, stop demolishing a house without a contractor’s license, and stop lying about where they went or who they were with and what they were doing.”

There are certainly many inspiring insights and lessons that readers can gather from her motivational message of renewal and transformation that no matter the odds one is confronted with, he or she can not only survive, but thrive.

Here is an interview with Dr. Stanger:

  

1.      Dr. Stanger, what inspired you to write Falling Up?  I had previously written academic articles and blogs and did not want to write a how-to book. So I approached it from the perspective of sharing my story with friends, families, and treatment providers.  Throughout the book, I weaved skills and tools that they can use in their own lives as they grow and change. I talk about mental health and substance abuse disorders, sudden death, trauma, teaching, students, family, marriage, widowhood, and ultimately renewal and hope. Through this nonlinear approach, I hope the moments resonate with folks so that they may discover their own story.

2.      Your memoir of renewal shows a woman, turning 70, who has overcome many setbacks. What do you attribute your inner strength to? As a young girl, the sounds of the Baptist church filled my soul and long ago my housekeeper, Annabelle, rocked me in her arms and told me everything will be all right. As a young adult, I was greatly influenced by the words of Martin Luther King Jr., who shouted we shall overcome.  I had the good fortune of meeting folks along the way who believed in me and helped me triumph through many tragedies. I think it is that early resilience, both learned and acquired through my experiences, which helped me along. It was also my father, Sidney, who I remember used to whisper an endearing phrase in my ear or tickle me that told me all would be okay.

3.      Your dad killed himself when you were just eight. Your grandparents died in a double-suicide. You lost your husband before you turned forty-five. Your three-month-old son died of SIDS. How do you cope with such losses – individually and in totality?  The death of my son reminded me of my father. I share a poem called “Little Boy Blue” in the book, which kept playing in my head when he died.  Then, when my son died, that same poem came back. Somehow that poem was a coping mechanism. Coupled with grieving, my family, and sharing my story, I came to see my dad and son’s lives as gifts rather than unshakable catastrophes. I didn’t let go of them or their memories, just the unexplained part of why. Through that process, I also learned the value of seeking professional help and gaining the courage to have another child after the loss of my son.  In sum, I learned to embrace life on its own terms and be grateful for it.

4.      Are all addictions equal – in terms of the grip they have over the individual, whether it be alcohol, painkillers, illegal drugs, gambling, shopping, sex, etc? Substance abuse and process disorders are equal opportunity killers. They take their tolls in different ways, but all can cause irreparable damage. For example, the person who struggles with spending all their money shopping or on nefarious pleasures may well engage in other mind-altering substances to dull their pain. All addictions come at a cost (monetary or otherwise). Those costs can be their physical, emotional, or spiritual well-being as well as the costs of the loved ones who are affected by their addictions.

5.      You are a third-generation widow and one of your daughters became a fourth-generation widow. What advice do you have for women who lost their significant other early in life? I had the privilege of interviewing hundreds of women who lost their significant other for my doctoral dissertation. My advice is that grief is normal, non-pathological, comes in waves and in unexpected ways. Sometimes the best antidote is one widow to another. There are also chat rooms, groups, counselors, and friends who will take your late night calls. I hear professionals sometimes say to avoid big changes, but that is totally an oxymoron. Life is change and with the passing of a significant other, one must embrace change. Finally, there are no right or wrong actions in coping with loss. For some, giving away clothes helps them move on, while I’ve met others who make a patchwork quilt of their loved one’s clothes as a living memory. The key is to allow yourself to feel the grief and pain and let go of expectations about how you think you are supposed to live and react to the loss of a significant other. Everyone walks his or her own path in grief.

6.      What are some of the hardest decisions parents, spouses, and children need to make when it comes to interacting with an addict in the family?  Parents and loved ones have to decide how to love the person who is experiencing a substance abuse disorder. This means that they have to let go and let them experience the consequences of their behavior, which means no more monetary bailouts, cars, gas money, high priced lawyers to bail them out of jail, etc. No more calling into work, covering up, making excuses, taking the children and caring for them. Parents, spouses, brothers, sisters etc. have to let go of control and lean into the discomfort of allowing their loved one to experience the consequences of their actions. It’s a hard decision, but ultimately it comes from love and is necessary in order for their loved one to recover.

7.      Your parents told you that you couldn’t run from your problems, but they didn’t heed their own advice. How does one find a role model when their parents or those around them fall short? What I’ve observed in my life is that sometimes when you are not looking, the right folks appear to help you. For me, it was surely my nanny Annabelle who stepped in to fill the position of a role model. And after my father died, the camp counselors/owners, Leon and Rose, at a summer camp my mother sent me to, provided stability for me. Later in graduate school, Glenn Haworth appeared along with other friends.  So I think the key is to be open to learning and to be curious about life. You never know who will show up to fill a space in your life, and they come in all sorts of forms. Be ready to welcome what they have to teach you.

For more information, please consult: www. www.allaboutinterventions.com

2016 Book Marketing & Book Publicity Toolkithttp://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2015/12/2016-book-marketing-book-publicity.html

Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2016

What Exactly Is Your Author Brand?

We hear a lot about how authors must establish their brand, build a platform, and network their way to book sales.  But how does a writer go about launching his or her brand?

Whether you work at it or not, as a writer, you have a brand.  If you have a non-existent brand, well, that’s your brand.  Keep in mind that branding is done both by you and others.  If you don’t want others defining your brand, assert yourself to establish your public image.

Your brand exists everywhere, including:

·         Social Media

·         Digital Media

·         Traditional Media

It’s your persona and how people perceive you. It’s your resume and professional accomplishments. It’s your personal life and what you have experienced.  It’s your voice and what you say publicly.  It’s your name and all that attaches to you, from your faith and geographic location to your sex, sexuality, ethnicity, whom you associate with, what you read, how you carry yourself, what you consume, what you wear, who you vote for or root for on the field, what you eat, where you travel to, and on and on and on.  Of course some things take priority and are weighted more heavily, but people begin to form an opinion of you and that becomes your brand.

Authors may in fact feel they have multiple brands. For some, they want to be known in multiple genres.  For others, they think there’s a wall between being a writer and anything else they’ve done.  The truth is everything mixes together, like a soup, to form your brand.

Here are some strategies to mull over:

·         You have a brand no matter what you do about it, so how active will you be to craft that brand?

·         You never stop growing your brand.  There’s never a time when you stop branding.  You may change strategies but it’s not a strategy to do nothing for long.

·         No brand is perfect so don’t expect people to just love you and be free of criticism.

·         You can learn from huge brands out there but realize that you are nowhere near what they’ve become.  So don’t expect to shadow what they do and then get the same results.

·         Be protective of your brand.  Think about what you say, write, or do and how it can impact how those you need to impress, win over, or retain will come to view you.

·         Look for differentiation from competing brands. Being just like everyone else is not good enough.

So how do you begin to establish a brand?

1.      Determine who you want to be and how you want people to see you.

2.      Determine what your core message is and be consistent each time you communicate it.

3.      Think about your style or persona – are you the funny guy or the serious intellect; are you the victim or the comeback kid; will you be the liberal, conservative or centrist; are you going to play up your background story, your job title or some other unique feature; will you be Trump brash or Apple creative or some other type? 

4.      Remember that you express your brand in all that you do or say, so it begins with what you say on social media, in your profiles, in a press release, on your website, on a business card, on your book jacket, etc.

5.      Review your brand periodically to determine if anything needs to be changed.

You shouldn’t have to search too far to figure out what your brand is – it is you.  It’s what you’ve been, what you are now, and who you want to be. Stick with the foundation that you built and look to grow it.  But if you feel you need a makeover or want to completely re-brand yourself, it’s not too late.  But it will be an uphill battle.

No one wants to feel limited in what they could accomplish.  If you are losing money in the stock market you may be one trade away from turning a profit.  If you are in a hole in a sporting contest you could be one rally away from victory.  Maybe you want to lose weight or get extra training in a neglected part of your career.  Wherever you stand on the spectrum of success – or branding -- you can still surge much further.

Take a look at your current brand and ask:

·         Which areas am I weak in that need attention?

·         What public perceptions about me are unfair?

·         What strengths can I lean on to compensate for what I lack?

·         What cosmetic changes can be made to improve my image, from my clothes and hairstyle to how my website looks?

·         What do people in my space or area of expertise, do or say that I can equal or excel at?

·         How can I focus on a single idea, service, product, event, or message that will give me an edge over others?

So many people have successfully launched a brand and many have been able to re-brand themselves when it was necessary.  It’s exciting to be you today.  You can determine your brand and become more than you’ve ever been. Nothing should stop you.  You may have barriers, challenges, and conflicts to navigate around, but you can establish the brand that you want and take it as far as you wish.

 2016 Book Marketing & Book Publicity Toolkit

http://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2015/12/2016-book-marketing-book-publicity.html

Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2016

New Book Shows Couples How To Have More Sex, Better Relationship

Do you know what language your spouse or partner speaks? When it comes to sex, it could very well be a language different from your own. If you want a happier Valentine’s Day at home, read on!

Sex has a language unto itself – physical, verbal, and non-verbal.  An internationally-acclaimed couple’s therapist and sex psychologist of over 25 years, Dr. Douglas Weiss has unleashed a breakthrough book that improves bedroom behavior and overall fulfillment and harmony in a relationship.  5 Sex Languages uniquely identifies how men and women need to communicate with one another about sex.

“We often try to sexually express love to one another the way we want to be loved without understanding our partner usually has an entirely different sex language,” notes Dr. Weiss, who has helped thousands of couples.  “This can leave at least one partner feeling less than satisfied.  In response, the other partner will often try harder and harder to please the unsatisfied partner – and using his or her own sex language.”

Dr. Weiss, who’s been featured on Oprah and Dr. Phil and in Cosmopolitan and USA Today for his dozens of earlier books, knows the 5 Sex Languages works not just from his professional experience.  Married nearly three decades, he’s a recovering sex addict for over 20 years. He is also the president of American Association for Sex Addiction Therapy. His new book debuted as a best-seller on amazon.

Media Connect just began promoting Dr. Weiss to the news media. Here is an interview with the author:

1.      What inspired you to write your newest book, 5 Sex Languages? It came from helping couples repair their sex lives from the impact of sexual addiction or intimacy anorexia for over 25 years. Seeing these couples go from damaged to thriving once given a language and road map is inspiring to give these tools to others.

2.      Dr. Weiss, when did you discover the five sex languages? This is more a journey of over many years of having couples explain their challenges sexually. I was learning that we are different sexually and that we are speaking different languages to each other. Once they can decode and translate, a couple has a better chance of optimizing their spouse’s sexual design.

3.      Why is having a healthy sexual relationship in a marriage or long-term relationship filled with such peril for so many couples? Most couples love each other and want a good relationship, however, they lack two things. The first thing lacking is a language to really talk to each other about sex without sounding controlling or whiney. Secondly they need a roadmap to guide them through the whole conversation, not just bits and pieces over time. When a couple has both, the story is not one of peril but of peace and a happy ending.

4.      What are couple of the 5 different sex languages? One sex language is Fun. This person wants to have fun during sex including different locations, being creative in different ways sexually etc. Patience is another sex language, they want you to take time for each phase of sex, savor if you will. They lean toward what is already familiar in location and behaviors. Yes these two are usually married to each other hence the need to understand each other.

5.      How do sexual partners of a different sex language begin the process of understanding and then working with each other? First they need to really identify their own sex languages. This gives them a language to communicate their sexual preferences throughout each stage of sexuality from invitation to afterglow.

6.      Why do some people feel married but alone? If they lack emotional intimacy and especially if they are married to an intimacy anorexic, they can, and will feel alone. Marriage has a certain structure to it to allow mutual satisfaction. Dating, sharing feelings, consistent sex, spirituality in some ways, praising each other, and pragmatically helping each other in all areas of life are needed. When the structures are weak or nonexistent, the fabric of marriage deteriorates and hence they feel unloved or alone.

7.      How can people improve their “sexual communication”? Well of course they can get the book. They need to first understand and accept their partner’s sex language. Then they communicate through the stages of sexuality together in each language. The most fun part is practicing the others person’s sex language. You heard the saying practice makes perfect, well practice makes pleasure perfect as well.

8.      What are the three tips to having great sex tonight? The three tips I have shared in the   book have made a huge difference in people’s sex life from the first time they use it and thereafter.

1.      Eyes open: When making love look into the eyes of your partner, behold them and let them behold you, the real you. This capitalizes on how we are neurologically made to bond to what we see when we orgasm.

2.      Lights on: some form of light so you can see each other. It doesn’t have to be theatrical lighting, just candles are fine. What you see is what you bond to sexually.

3.      Nurturing conversation: It is really important that you talk during sex to make it a full person experience for each other. Try this, and when you can hear your sex language spoken you will never go back to silent sex again.

For more information, consult: http://drdougweiss.com/

2016 Book Marketing & Book Publicity Toolkit

http://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2015/12/2016-book-marketing-book-publicity.html

Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2016

Follow The 2016 Literary Calendar

2016 has many special dates, anniversaries, and honorary moments that should be celebrated, especially when it comes to those related to books. How will you make the most of these days? Beware of them, tell others, participate in events that support them, and use them, when possible, as a marketing or publicity hook for your book when contacting the news media.

January

Braille Literary Month

Book Blitz Month

January 16 – Book Publishers Day

January 22 – National Reading Day

January 24 – National Readathon Day

Last full week in Janaury – Celebrity Read a Book Week

Third full week in January – National Book Week

February

Library Lovers Month

February 14 – International Book Giving Day

February 23 – Printed Book Day

February 24 – World Read Aloud Day

March

March 2 – Read Across America Day/Dr. Suess Day

March 10 – Freedom of Information Day

March 20 – World Storytelling Day

March 21 – World Poetry Day

March 24 – World Read Aloud Day

March 28 – Children’s Picture Book Day

April

National Poetry Month

School Library Month

DEAR – Drop Everything and Read Month

April 2 – International Children’s Book Day

April 2 – Hans Christian Anderson’s Birthday

April 3 – DIA/Children’s Day /Book Day

April 12 – National Drop Everything and Read Day

April 12 – National Library Workers Day

April 13 – National Book Mobile Day

April 22 – Instant Book Day

April 23 – Shakespeare’s Death 400 Years Ago

April 23 -- Copyright Day

April 24 – Sunday closest to April 23^rd -- World Book Day

April 30 – Independent Book Store Day

May

Get Caught Reading Month

May 2-3 – National Library Legislature Day

May 2-6 – Virtual Library Legislature Day

May 2-8 – Screen-Free Week

May 2-8 – Children’s Book Week

May 21 – National Readathon Day

First Wednesday in May – Book Buddy Day

Week of Mother’s Day – National Feminist Bookstore Day

June

Audio Awareness Month

GLBT Book Month

June 11 – Dirty Book Day

June 19 – Mass Market paperback day

Week of June 19 – National Black Bookstore Week

July

July 30 Paperback Book Day

July 3^rd – 4^th 5^th of July – National Independent Book Store Week

August

August 2 – National Coloring Book Day

August 9 – National Book Lovers Day

September

Library Card Sign up Month

September 8 – International Literacy Day

September 17 – Bestselling Books Day

September 24 – National Book Festival

September 25 – National Comic Book Day

September 25 – Banned Books Week

September 23-29 – Family Literacy Week

October

National Reading Group Month

National Book Month

First Full Week in October – Great Books Week

October 1 – National Book Day

October 5 – World Teachers Day

October 6 – Dictionary Day/Noah Webster’s Birthday

October 9-15 -- Teen Read Week

November

National Book Month

Picture Book Month

National Family Literacy Month

National Novel Writing Month

November 1 – National Family Literacy Day

November 5 – Book Editors Day

November 8 – National Young Readers Day

November 30 – Steal This Book Day

December

Read A New Book Month

 2016 Book Marketing & Book Publicity Toolkit

http://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2015/12/2016-book-marketing-book-publicity.html

Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2016

How To Create Super Readers

I came across a terrific book that the PR firm I work for is promoting, Every Child a Super Reader: 7 Strengths to Open a World of Possible, from Scholastic.  It is an impressive contribution to the materials that circulate in hopes of building literacy skills and a passion for reading amongst elementary school children.

The authors, Pam Allyn, an award-winning literacy advocate and founding director of LitWorld (litworld.org), and Dr. Ernest Morrell, a professor of English Education and Director of the Institute for Minority and Urban Education, at Teachers College at Columbia University, describe a ‘super reader’ as “a child who enters text with purpose.  Regardless of platform (print or digital) and genre (fiction, informational or poetry), he or she reads that text with deep comprehension and finishes it feeling satisfied, informed, and inspired.  What’s more, the super reader can respond to and expand on the text in conversation and writing and use what she learns from the text to make points and answer questions.”

They have identified seven strengths that educators and parents must nurture in children. This will  provide them with the foundations they need to become super readers.

The seven strengths are:

1.      Belonging - The reader identifies with being a valued, represented member of a larger community.

2.      Curiosity – We want readers to foster a willingness to explore new territory and test new theories.

3.      Friendship – Children need to develop close, trusting relationships and personal connections to others.

4.      Kindness – Kids should show compassion toward others.

5.      Confidence – Young people should think independently and express their ideas with assurance and conviction.

6.      Courage – We want children to possess the strength to do something they know or believe is right, even if it may be difficult and challenging.

7.      Hope – School kids should think optimistically and believe that today’s efforts will yield positive results in the future, for themselves and others.  They should dream a little, too.

Parents and educators should interact with children about what they just read and ask them questions to elicit responses regarding these seven strengths as they relate to the text.  Step one is to value your child and his or her stories and ideas.

Other steps to encourage a super reader include these:

·         Invite your child into a safe and supportive reading environment (find a quiet, cozy, welcoming area).

·         Dedicate daily time for your child to read for pleasure.

·         Read aloud to children.

·         Honor your child’s varied reading choices.

·         Champion reading and express support and love for books.

·         Provide daily access to books and stories in all forms (poem, essay, picture book, chapter book), genres (fiction, non-fiction), and platforms (print or digital).

·         Be a reading role model (show them you like to read).

·         Value your child’s talking about a book and exchanging ideas that relate to what he or she read.

·         Help your child see authors as real people who make real decisions (encourage them to research an author, even reach out to them via social media).

The book builds on 10 key principles for raising super readers, including:  encouraging kids to learn to read by reading interactively, providing them with access to a great variety of texts, and letting them thrive in a collaborative community of readers.

As the parent of a second- and fifth-grader I completely see how their approach would be successful and support it 110%. One thing I would add is that parents should encourage kids to be writers as well as readers.  I would also encourage people to ask kids what they’d change about what they just read or to imagine what they’d do if they were the central character in that story. Another good approach to enhance literacy is to have a child read a book while listening to the audiobook version.

For more information and useful resources, consult:  www.scholastic.com/litcamp.

2016 Book Marketing & Book Publicity Toolkit

http://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2015/12/2016-book-marketing-book-publicity.html

Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2016