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  Click & listen  1 min 37 sec. audio  Smile Please स्माईल, मुस्कान, मुस्कुराहट Smile, Smiling Fece हमारी जिंदगी में बहुत खुशियां भर देती है  इती सी हंसी, इती सी खुशी जीने का नजरिया ही बदल देती है… !! कैसे ?? जानने के लिए सुने ऑडियो  स्माईल प्लीज – मुस्कुराते रहना – ऑडियो मोनिका गुप्ता […]

The post स्माईल प्लीज – मुस्कुराते रहना – ऑडियो appeared first on Monica Gupta.

Happiness is making some one happy इती सी हंसी, इती सी खुशी कल मैं Happiness page देख रही थी उसमें किसी ने लिखा था कि Happiness is making some one happy. पढ कर अचानक मुझे मणि की बात याद आ गई. परसों किसी वजह से उसे डाक्टर की path lab जाना पडा. वहां एक बहुत […]

The post Happiness is making some one happy appeared first on Monica Gupta.

Imagine that today is Happiness Day. For the next 24 hours, you get to enjoy the day to the best of your ability. What would you do?' I asked some of my friends and family this same question. If you’re like many of the people I polled, you would probably plan to spend the day with family, indulge in a pleasurable activity, or aim to carve out a significant chunk of time with one of your favorite hobbies. But not everyone approaches happiness the same way.

The post Happiness: it’s not always smiley faces and that’s okay appeared first on OUPblog.

Gung Hay Fat Choi! Xin Nian Kuai Le! Happy Year of the Sheep/Ram/Goat!

So how are you celebrating? Here are some of my favourite children’s books for Chinese New Year:

The Year of … Continue reading ... →

On Sudden Hill – Review + Q&A with Linda Sarah & Benji Davies.

Children's Assistant Abby Lowe recently asked to use my Science Bear for their summer reading program. "Of course!" I said and asked her to send me a photo of their creation. Well, this is it... Every single one of those beakers has a child's name on it signed up for the summer reading program. How awesome is that!? Happy reading guys!

If Ronald McDonald wasn't disturbing enough, McDonald's has unveiled a creepy-looking animated mascot in the United States called Happy. The Happy Meal box-shaped creature has rubber-hose arms, a huge set of realistic chompers, bulging eyballs, and the McDonald's arches as eyebrows.

I recently received a request from Carin Barwick at Jefferson Elementary School in Kansas to use my "Far Out Reads" image from my Coloring Page Tuesday collection for their "Gals Read" club t-shirt.
     I love to help libraries however I can, so said, "Of course!" All I asked in return was for Carin to check out my books to see if any might be a good fit for her students, and perhaps send a photo of the girls wearing their shirts.
      Well! Carin and the entire Gals Read club came through with flying colors! Get a load of this stylish bunch!

And one lovely model gave us a close-up:

      This makes me so happy! Thanks for sharing guys! And HAPPY READING!!!!

Kaisa Ruth recently emailed me... she used some of my coloring pages to create a mural in her children's bedroom.

As she said: "It started out with the girl fairy sitting on the books, but when my son moved in to his sister's room I decided to look for a boy fairy. So I googled and found the boy who looked like a brother to the girl - your drawing! So I painted him on a pile of books too. Then we decided to have that room as the children's playing room - all the toys there and LOTS of colours etc. So when our third daughter came I asked you if you could draw a flying baby girl fairy. And so you did! And I am so happy with the result! And the kids LOVE it!"

The Teacher's Guide with Talking Points for A BIRD ON WATER STREET is now available (CLICK HERE), and it made me cry when I read it. I know that sounds silly, but imagine if you will... A person who I've never met, Meredith Moran of Little Pickle Press, read my book and not only picked up on the subtle points I thought nobody would catch, she brought up points even I didn't catch! Some of the symbolism she featured wowed my socks off... I did THAT??? Really!? Wow! The way she explains, yup, I did indeed do that, and I'm so impressed with myself!
     When you're in the thick of writing a story, while you try to be pithy and profound (of course!), you don't always realize what you're doing. She made me sound brilliant! And she made me feel like I'd done exactly what I was hoping for... like what I saw in Pharrell Williams' video with Oprah when she said, "You've created something greater than yourself."
     And that's why I cried. I wasn't on Oprah, but I might as well have been. Have you ever known a Teacher's Guide could make an author cry? I think I'm the luckiest writer on the planet!
     Add to that, I received this...
     Carol Crawford, who invited me to speak at the Blue Ridge Writers Conference, shared this awesome photo with me recently... This is Peg Clow, a Copperhill native (where my story takes place), with her brand new copy of A BIRD ON WATER STREET given to her on her birthday. More crying! This just makes me so happy! Thank you for sharing, Carol!

I recently received an email from the Fulda Library, part of the Plum Creek Library System in Minnesota... they asked permission to use one of my coloring pages for their "Friends of the Library Coloring Contest."
     "Of course!" I said. My images are especially for libraries and librarians to use without worry. And look at the happy results!
Click the images to see them larger in a new window.
Here are some of the colored pictures:

(They used my 2009 Talk Like a Pirate image.)
     And here are the lucky winners!

This makes me HAPPY!!!!

Happy Makes Pharrell Cry | OWN
I love the song "Happy" by Pharrell Williams, but to know how it has affected people around the world, how it has truly created change if even for a moment of pure joy. Wow. THAT is what success looks like to me. I can only dream that A BIRD ON WATER STREET could ever have such an impact. Just WOW.

Click the image below if the embedded video gives you any trouble.

CLICK HERE to see the official video.
In its honor, I'm starting a new label for my blog: "Happy." Which is exactly what it sounds like - stuff that makes me so happy, I just have to share!
Thanks to SwissMiss for the heads up.

I haven’t been posting lately – I got unwell last year and have been in hospital a couple of times, but getting stronger day by day – yay!

One of my publishers just asked me to make a bio – she said I could draw it if it was easier…so here’s the result!

Wishing you all a beautiful 2013, full of good bits, sparkly bits, romantic bits, playful bits, fighting-for-those-who-need-someone-in-their-corner bits and tons and tons of giggly bits. Oh, and a huge hug and love too, linda xx

5 Stars
Bow-Wow, Wiggle-Waggle
Mary Newell DePalma
Eerdmans  Books for Young Readers
978-0-8028-5408-7
No. of Pages: 32    Ages: 3 to 7
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Back Cover: What begins as a playful game of fetch between a     boy and his dog turns into wild goose chase that springs from one       page to the next in this delightful romp of a story.
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A nice summer morning scene unfolds to find a young boy playing catch with his dog.  The boy throws a red ball for the dog to retrieve, the happy little             eye-patched dog runs with glee after every throw, until . . .

“Meow!”

“Growl!”

The chase is on! The dog chases the cat and the boy chases the dog.

“Flutter-Flutter,” a butterfly looks on from above.

The cat jumps a small stream where a frog lives.

“Hip Hop! ribbet-ribbet.” 

“Honk! Honk! Puddle, Paddle, Waddle.  Glide.”

A pair of geese joins the chase, running after the frog, which is running after the boy, who is running after his dog, who is running after the cat

This wild goose chase continues, introducing more animals inthe chase, until . . .

Bow-Wow, Wiggle-Waggle is a charming book for younger children. Each pair of animal sounds rhymes, adding an additional layer of fun. Alliteration is also used. Page to page the chase grows larger. At one point the boy, and all those behind him, get stuck in a bush, and the cat has run up a tree. The dog sits down and wonders where the cat went, and where his friend went, and realizes he is alone. Sadness sets in, and then . . .

Nope, I’m not spoiling this for you by blabbing the ending. I will say it is a great ending. Kids and parents will love the ending. Kids will want to read Bow-Wow, Wiggle-Waggle until they have all the animal noises memorized. This is a great book for a read-along, especially if the reader likes to makes different sounds, inflections, and faces. There is not a pre-scholar around who will not love Bow-Wow, Wiggle-Waggle.

I think this book is adorable, extremely cute, educational, and humorous. Besides learning the noises each animal makes when it speaks, children will learn the value of friendship. The dog is attached to the boy with the boy equally attached to his dog. The cat distracts the dog and he runs after it. Soon, he is by himself and not sure where he is, or the cat, or the boy he loves. When the dog realizes he is lost, the sadness is palpable.

The author is also the illustrator.  Ms. DePalma has done a wonderful job illustrating the chase scenes, adding in each animal skillfully. Children will love pointing to each animal and the words it says. This is cute, adorable, witty, and a treasure all wrapped together waiting for parents and children to open it up. I suggest parents do that pronto—before the cat makes a purrfect getaway, the dog finds the red ball, and the boy remembers the game the two were playing, until so cattily interrupted.

I wish I had a child to read this to every night. Okay, maybe every other night—there are so many great books for the younger kids. Lucky for me, as a reviewer, I get to read all these books even without a kid, and no one thinks it is silly of me.

To read how Ms. DePalma wrote Bow-Wow, Wiggle-Waggle  goHERE!

Bow-Wow, Wiggle-Waggle

Author/Illustrator: May Newell DePalma    FB   website
Publisher: Eerdman's Books for Young Readers website blog
Release Date: August, 2012
ISBN: 978-0802854087
Number of Pages: 32
Ages: 3 to 7
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This is a drawing for a project I´ve been working on.

Este es un dibujo para un proyecto en el que he estado trabajando.

Mi Blog ha estado olvidado, pero ha empezado un nuevo año (hace rato, ya lo sé) y espero actualizarlo, al menos una vez a la semana. Han pasado muchas cosas que me han mantenido desconectada, entre ellas: construir una casa, ahora estoy viviendo en el campo, lejos de la ciudad, hay mucho verde a mi alrededor y estoy acompañada por mis perros, gatos y mi novio. En resumen ha sido un cambio maravilloso, pero hemos trabajado mucho en la casa y no he tenido mucho tiempo de concentrarme en mis proyectos personales.

Esta ilustración es del año pasado de Noviembre, pero no la había publicado. Fue hecha para una convocatoria de la página 27pm.net, que es un proyecto colectivo de ilustradores, para su exposición “Mundos desconocidos”. Las fotografías son de Natalia Uribe, gracias Naty.

My Blog has being kind of forgotten, but a new year has begun (long time ago, I know) and I hope to update it at least once a week. Lots of things have happen that have kept me away, like: building a house, I now live in the country, far from the city, there is a lot of green around me and I am accompanied by my dogs, cats and my boyfriend. Briefly its been a wonderful change, but we have been working a lot on the house, and I haven´t had much time to concentrate on my personal projects.

This is an illustration I did last year on November, but I hadn´t publish it. It was made for a web page called 27pm.net, that is a project of a collective of illustrators, for it exhibit “Mundos desconocidos” (Unknown Worlds). The photograph is from Natalia Uribe, thanks Naty.

Hiya - My name is Nidhi (pronounced nitty) Chanani and I am an artist and illustrator living in San Francisco. When I think of sugar frosted goodness, I imagine plates of doughnuts or cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, ready and waiting to be devoured... I also think that diets are overrated and designed for cheating... wait, what? Oops, hi!

Here's some of my work!

Gotta love it when people find their place in the world.  This guy is obviously doing what he should with…

A FEROCIOUS DINOSNAIL APPEARS...

Its been so looong, but lost of things have been happening, good things. But now things are back to normal, almost normal. This is my latest illustration for They Draw & Cook, for the cooking 4 kids contest. Hope you enjoy it and you should really try this one, its delicious.

Ha pasado mucho tiempo, pero muchas cosas han estado pasando, cosas buenas. Pero ahora las cosas están un poquito mas normales. Esta es mi última ilustración para They Draw & Cook para el concurso de cocinando para niños. Ojalá les guste y deberían intentar esta, es deliciosa.