The Night Before My Birthday Blog Tour {Review, Interview, Giveaway}

I'm thrilled to have The Night Before My Birthday Blog Tour stopping by today! Check out my Review, my Interview with Natasha Wing, and enter the Giveaway below...

The Night Before My Birthday

by Natasha Wing

1/16/14

Grosset & Dunlap 

The Night Before My Birthday captures all the excitement and anticipation that every child experiences in the lead-up to their special day. The decorations are up, the table is set, and the food is ready - but what happens when there is an ice cream emergency? Once again Natasha Wing has written a story that is sure to appeal to every child getting ready for a birthday. The book is told by and seen through the eyes of the birthday child, so it is gender neutral and a fun gift for any birthday girl or boy.

Goodreads / Amazon / B&N  / Indie Bound

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review*

Natasha Wing’s The Night Before My Birthday is an utterly adorable rhyming book and fun way to celebrate the birthdays of the little ones in your life. In The Night Before My Birthday a very special birthday is being celebrated with a party. The decorations are up, the invitations have been sent, and the food is ready...until an ice cream disaster happens! Will Dad be able to save the day?! Will the party be ruined?!

This super cute story is told through fun, lyrical rhymes and explores every exciting moment leading up to the big party. Natasha Wing’s rhymes are sweet, pleasing to the ear, and full of silly words and sounds. I love that each birthday party detail is explored and adds a spark to the story. The colorful, childlike illustrations pop and amuse and bring each rhyme to life wonderfully.

This is a gender neutral story (the birthday kid’s gender and appearance is never revealed), so your special birthday kid will have no problem placing themselves in the story. And I love that the party guests all look different and unique, making up a diverse group of children.

The Night Before My Birthday is the perfect read aloud treat for every little birthday boy or girl in your life!

What three words best describe The Night Before My Birthday?

Exuberant, silly, celebratory

Grab a copy of The Night Before My Birthday and answer the following:

-favorite rhyme or line(s)?

Away to the market, we made a mad dash, grabbed cartons of ice cream, and checked out in a flash.

-favorite gift the birthday child receives in the story? 

Money!

-favorite illustration? 

The page with the kitty playing with the balloon string because my cat, Purrsia, loves string.

What relatable emotions and/or experiences did you try to capture in The Night Before My Birthday? How do you hope little readers will respond to this fun story? 

I must have been an anxious kid because a lot of my Night Before stories have that moment of anxiousness before everything turns out okay. I also wanted to capture that feeling of WOW! Wow, I'm bigger. Wow, all my friends surprised me. Wow, look at all the presents.

I'm hoping the readers will read this book and get even more excited about their birthday.

Fill in the blanks:

-I’m really awesome at relating with animals.

-I’m really embarrassed to admit that I use my finger to swipe the remainder of my smoothie out of the glass.

-My favorite book in The Night Before series is Easter (but this new one illustrated by Amy Wummer is pretty darned fun!)

-The craziest or most fun idea for a book in this series would be The Night Before the water balloon fight.

-The last great book I read was an adult book (with adult themes). Amy Tan's The Valley of Amazement. I need to read grown-up books, too!

If you were to create and bake a cupcake inspired by The Night Before My Birthday, what would it look and taste like, and what would you call it?

Ooo, I love cupcakes! It would look kinda like the one on first page of the book, the pink one. It would have cream cheese frosting tinted pink and piled high. There would be sparkler candles that would look like a miniature 4th of July fireworks display on top when you lit them. I'd call it Birthday Ka-boom! And for the base flavor, hmm. I love carrot cake when it's a normal-sized cake. But I like yellow batter cupcakes. (I'm gluten-free for the most part now so I don't eat much cake make with wheat flour, but a girl can dream. P.S. I welcome a good gluten-free cupcake batter recipe.)

Website * Goodreads * Facebook * Twitter

Thanks again to Natasha Wing for appearing.  For other stops on her The Night Before my Birthday Tour please check www.natashawing.wordpress.com.

Win a signed copy of 

The Night Before My Birthday!

Thanks to Natasha, I have one signed paperback copy to give away.

DETAILS

-US only

-ends 1/24

-one free/main entry per person, must be 13+

-winner will be emailed and must claim prize within 48 hours

-Word Spelunking is NOT responsible for lost, damaged, or stolen prizes in the mail

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*I do not rate picture books, I merely review them

Natasha Wing's Back To School Blog Tour {Guest Post and Giveaway}

Summer is winding down (boo!) and schools all over are starting up, and what better way to celebrate than with Natasha Wing's Back To School Blog Tour! Natasha is the author of the adorable, best-selling Night Before books and her Night Before School books are fantastic books to read to those younger students just starting out in school. Below, you'll find more info on Natasha's books, a fun guest post, and fabby fab giveaway...

The Night Before books include these four school related books:

Kids get ready for preschool, but one child is having trouble fitting in. Another child helps him feel safe so he can settle in for a nap.

Buy It On:  Indie Books | Barnes & Noble | Amazon

It’s almost the first day of school, and kids are getting ready. What will kindergarten be like? Will the teacher be nice? Will mommies and daddies miss their children?

Buy It On:  Indie Bound | Barnes & Noble | Amazon

It’s the night before the first day of first grade and two friends are in for a shock. But school is for making new friends, and that what makes first grade doubly fun.

Buy It On:  Indie Bound | Barnes & Noble | Amazon

What will students bring for the 100th day of school celebration? One boy’s project gets loose!

Buy It On:  Indie Bound | Barnes & Noble | Amazon

Back-to-School with Natasha Wing, 

Author of the Night Before series

When I was a little girl, I remember being so excited to go back to school! Brand new yellow pencils not even sharpened yet. A lunch box (with probably a Fluffernutter sandwich in it – yum, my favorite!) A fresh haircut and new clothes. Back then I lived in Connecticut only a few blocks from my school so I walked instead of taking the bus. My mom took home movies of me and my neighbors heading down the street, waving goodbye in my new dress, with a big smile on my face.

Even now at this time of year, I get excited. I love seeing the school supplies in stores and pine for new yellow pencils.  And I always get a bolt of organizing energy - summer is over and it’s time to buckle down - so I clean up my desktop and file, file, file.

That’s why it was fun for me to write the school-themed books in my Night Before series. I remember the excitement, but also the nervousness, of starting school. In writing these stories I wanted to capture those feelings, and then reassure kids that everything will be okay. Because school is cool!

The Night Before Kindergarten was the first school story. The idea actually came from my editor who was riding the subway in New York City and overheard a girl talking about starting Kindergarten. I had already written a few Night Before books about holidays, but my editor thought school would make another good topic for the series. So we worked together to come up with a story that reassured both the child heading off to school and the parents who were watching their “baby” being all grown up. (And to my delight, The Night Before Kindergarten Gift Set just came out with my book plus markers, paints, a calendar of the first 100 days of school and a bookmark. Hurray for school supplies!)

Then came The Night Before First Grade. I didn’t want to repeat the same process of starting school, so I spoke to parents and teachers and found out the one hard thing for kids was making friends in Kindergarten only to discover that they are not in the same classroom the next year. So this story is about two friends who get separated. They each make a new friend in their different classrooms, and at lunchtime, find out they made friends with twins - so school would now be doubly fun!

The idea for The Night Before Preschool came about as preschool was becoming a more popular choice as a way to prep kids for the “big kid school.” In this story, a boy has the jitters and realizes that he forgot his teddy bear at home. When naptime comes and he doesn’t have his snuggle friend, another preschooler loans him her bunny. After a day at preschool, the boy decides that he can’t wait to come back the next day!

One of the most favorite moments I had as an author who visits schools was going back to my old elementary school – Racebrook Elementary in Orange, Connecticut – and presenting to kids who now go there. It was especially memorable because one of my old high school friends teaches there. The students enjoyed it, too, because they got to meet a lady who had gone to their school who was now a famous author!

School visits bring back fond memories of my school days. And I still love the sight and smell of freshly sharpened yellow pencils. Only now, instead of practicing the ABCs, I use them to edit my children’s stories.

Here’s a photo of me as an elementary grade student:

Practicing my alphabet and numbers:

Thanks again to Natasha Wing for appearing.  For other stops on her Back-to-School Blog Tour please check  www.natashawing.wordpress.com.

Natasha Wing

Site / Goodreads / Facebook

Why am I a writer? When I was a young girl, I wanted to be a teacher. I’d line up my stuffed animals in front of a board and teach them the alphabet and how to count. In high school I wanted to be a tennis player. I was on the tennis team, and played at our neighborhood tennis club. Then in college I thought digging dinosaur bones would be a cool job. Or working at a big time advertising agency. It wasn’t until I was working at my own public relations agency that I decided I really wanted to write children’s books. I was so inspired by the magic of reading a book that I wanted to see if my active imagination could create magical moments for kids all over the world. I started to write, then sent my stories to publishers, and sold my first manuscript in 1992. I’ve been writing ever since.
Why I write now.
I love the freedom of being my own boss, of coming up with ideas on my own and writing that first draft to see if my idea has any spark. I’m not so crazy about the revising process although there are thrilling moments when I figure out a better way to say something, or when I nail dialog, or work through a complicated plot line. The most exciting moment is when an editor says they want to publish my manuscript. Then I know all my hard work has paid off, and that soon, children will enter my imaginative world through a book.

Win The Night Before Kindergarten Gift Set!

This gift set includes: a copy of The Night Before Kindergarten, crayons, a paint set, a "first 100 days" calendar, a bookmark, and stickers.

Have a current or future kindergartner in your life?! This super fun and adorable gift set would be perfect for them! One winner will win a brand new gift set.

DETAILS

US ONLY

-will end 9/8

-must be 13+, one main entry per person

-winner will be emailed and must claim prize within 48 hours

-Prize will be shipped out by me and I am NOT responsible for lost, damaged, or stolen prizes in the mail

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