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When someone takes my food, I get crabby!

I've had the pleasure of writing a number of picture books for Little Boost, a series that addresses typical preschool challenges in sweet and humorous ways. If you read the ones I wrote, you might notice something. My characters tend to get mad over food, even though food has nothing to do with the theme of the books!

So why does food anger keep showing up in my books? Well, the answer is somewhat personal: I hate to share delicious things. Those preschool emotions come from my real life experiences of being a selfish foodie. Consider the following:

• If someone takes the last brownie, it puts me in a funk. I just can't shake my sadness. So it's no wonder that Roger from Crabby Pants gets mad when his brother eats the last frozen waffle, leaving him with cereal. 

• I once returned a cookie at Starbucks because it did not have an adequate number of peanut butter candy chunks. So is it any wonder that You Get What You Get's Melvin gets annoyed if his sister's cookie has more chocolate chips than his cookie?

• Like the bear in Eleanore Won't Share, I'm good at sharing things I don't really like. Eleanore shares the black jelly beans. I share the green ones. And when my kids want a piece of fruit, I push the apples so the nectarines will be there for me later. 

Looking at these facts, I can see that this is not a flattering situation. Deep down, I know that food tastes better when it is shared with those you love. And lets be honest, like most women my age, I need to consider portion control — sharing would help with that. But until I'm ready to change my selfish ways, I think I will bake more brownies and buy more nectarines. As Roger and Melvin and Eleanore know, doing the right thing is hard sometimes. It takes time. But I suppose it's worth it in the end.

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Two weeks ago I told you about Henry Helps (and Henry's inspiration). This week, I'd love to share another book I wrote this season: Too Shy for Show-and-Tell.

Okay. Raise your hand if you were or are painfully shy. Yep, that's me. Once I warm up to people I'm okay, but I have a hard time feeling comfortable with new people—even people I really like. And that's been true since I was a little kid. So when I was asked to come up with a great preK topic for our Little Boost series, feeling shy was one of the first things I thought of.

Now, there's nothing wrong with being shy, or with being an introvert. Hopefully everyone knows that. Shyness is natural. But in our society, it's definitely not rewarded. And oftentimes it can keep us, as Morrissey sang, from "doing all the things in life that you want to." So one important lesson that kids need to learn is how to put aside shyness in order to make friends, share feelings, and—as Sam the giraffe learns in this book—participate in show-and-tell and let his classmates get to know him.

The big joy of this book was seeing the words brought to life. Jennifer Bell, the illustrator, did such an amazing job—and in fact, she's already hard at work on my next book.

I hope you enjoy little Sam-the-giraffe as much as I do.

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Oh, my. I am sooooo excited to introduce these little guys to you.


Meet Vivienne. She's messy.And Pete. He's . . . well, let's just say he needs to work on his manners.And Ruth. Oh, Ruth. She just loves those pink pajamas.
And then there's Sam. He's shy.


You'll get to know them all soon.

--Beth

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Over the past year, Capstone Publishing has began marketing into the early childhood market. Making books for the toddler and preschool crowd has been incredibly interesting and incredibly fun.

Here at fiction, we are particularly proud of two new series, our Hello Genius board books and Little Boost picture books. This week our efforts were recognized; two of our titles were selected as winners of the 2010 Creative Child Awards Program, sponsored by Creative Child magazine. Pony Brushes His Teeth from the Hello Genius series won the Seal of Excellence Award, while Crabby Pants from the Little Boost series won a Preferred Choice Award.

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Happy Fall!

Here in Minnesota, the leaves are JUST beginning to change, and school buses are making their daily trips around the neighborhood. Fresh apples line the tables at the farmers' market, days are getting shorter, and mornings are cool. And the final sign of fall? New books from Capstone Fiction. This week, I'll be highlighting the newest books on our shelves, available now!


Today's new books are all from our Picture Window Books imprint. When we're choosing books for Picture Window, we think bright, wholesome, and fun—the very best of childhood.



We're so excited about introducing Little Boost—adorable picture books that kids will love, about new experiences and common preK troubles. (Roger from Crabby Pants is a personal favorite.) Check out our book trailer for more about all four books!









We're also debuting another new series of picture books, Monster Street. These books turn idioms into hilarious stories, full of bright, gorgeous, interesting art by Migy.





Introduce young readers to classic tales with My First Classic Story, a new set of fourteen (with more to come!) bright and colorful books in a kid-friendly size.






And last but not least of our brand-new series,