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Kids! Help Save the World Here! (Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story, ages 6-10)
If you’ve read the award-winning Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story, you know that Katie is the kind of girl who likes to HELP people and animals (um, and ghosts!). Now, here are three ways that YOU can help people and animals, too.
It’s fun and it’s important. And you can learn great things at the same time! I’ve added all three to the Katie & Kimble sidebar. That section of the sidebar is called Save the World.
1) A 12-year-old girl named Mimi Ausland from Oregon started a website called FreeKibble.com. Kibble means pieces of dog or cat food. Every day, Mimi adds a new Bow Wow Trivia question about dogs. If you answer the question (correctly or not), Mimi will donate 10 pieces of kibble to dogs who live in shelters. This really adds up! Mimi has provided dogs with thousands and thousands of pounds of dog food. That must be very heavy to carry!
2) Mimi also started a site to help feed cats. So if you go to the FreeKibbleKat.com website and answer the Meow Trivia question every day, Mimi will donate 10 pieces of kibble for cats!
3) The third way that you can help is found at FreeRice.com. Here, if you answer questions correctly, FreeRice will donate 10 grains of rice to a hungry person for each question you answer. This can add up quickly, because you can keep answering questions as long as you
want.
FreeRice has all kinds of questions. You can start at the lowest level and build your English vocabulary. Or you can do the same thing in other languages, too, like Spanish and French.
They also have questions about art and famous artists, where you get to look at famous pictures. You can also look at maps to answer questions about countries and world capitals. And you can practice your math and multiplication tables and earn rice for hungry people at the same time! You also get to keep track of how much rice you’ve donated.
So, have fun, learn things, and help dogs, cats and people! Here’s to saving the world!
Mom’s Choice Awards® has named the Katie & Kimble series among the best in family-friendly media, products and services.
Winner: Juvenile Books Series.
Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story (Book 1 in the series) and Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Book 2 in the series) are available here:
Paperback version: $5.95
Click here to order Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story!
Click here to order Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Book 2)!
Nine-year-old Katie Russell and her family look normal. But the Russells don’t know they are living with Kimble, the ghost of a ten-year-old girl. That is, until Katie discovers Kimble and the two of them set off on a quest to find out what happened to Kimble’s mother.
© 2008 – 2012 by Linda Thieman
True Stories from the Author of Katie & Kimble: When I Was 9–The Baseball Player
by Linda Thieman, author, Katie & Kimble
Hi! My name is Linda Thieman (pronounced TEE-mun). I write the Katie & Kimble stories.
I wanted to share with you my favorite story from when I was 9 years old. This is a true story. It happened to me!
Right after I turned 8, my family moved to Minnesota. Minnesota is a beautiful state in the midwest. It is just south of Canada and just north of Iowa.
You may have heard of the Minnesota Twins baseball team. There are two big cities in Minnesota – Minneapolis and St. Paul. These cities are called the Twin Cities. That’s how the Minnesota Twins got their name.
Well, we moved into a town that was near the Twins’ ballpark. And, to my surprise, we met three Twins. And I mean baseball players! They lived in our neighborhood!Two pitchers lived nearby. The third baseman lived across the street from us. His name was Rich Rollins. He was an All Star.
Rich was a kind and friendly guy. His family and my family became friends.
Rich lived across the street from us for two years. During that time, he gave us a lot of free baseball tickets. So, my family went to a lot of home games. We sat right behind home plate! Good seats! At the same time, my dad taught me the game.
Well, when I was 9 and in fourth grade, I was also a Junior Girl Scout. My troop was going to have a Father/Daughter Banquet. Every girl would bring a box lunch. Then, she and her father would eat that lunch together with all the other girls and dads.
Well, the day of the dinner was drawing near. I was getting pretty excited. It was a big deal. Then, boom! My hopes were dashed. I found out that my dad couldn’t go with me. He had to work and he was going to be out of town. I was very disappointed.
But then, I got an idea. I decided to ask Rich if he would go with me. I got my courage together, and I knocked on Rich’s door. When Rich came to the door, I invited him to go to the dinner with me. He checked to see if he was free, and then he agreed! I was so thrilled.I must say, at the dinner the other “fathers” were pretty amazed!
I served Rich a dinner of fried chicken. My mom made the chicken for me. She also packed the dinner. We also had salad and rolls.
To tell you the truth, I think after we ate, Rich was still hungry. He was a big guy. He needed lots of food!
Then, they started some music for dancing. I asked Rich to dance, but he said no. He said he was having trouble with his knees. It’s true, no doubt. But I also thought he was just shy. Also, maybe he didn’t want all those other people to watch him!
But the funniest part of the day was this. Rich and I had turned around in our chairs. We were watching the dancing. Then I saw a man watching us. He was standing near a wall and taking pictures.
I said to Rich, “That man is taking your picture!”
And Rich said to me, “No, he’s taking YOUR picture!”
Rich was a funny guy.
Well, the man with the camera never spoke to us. But a few days later, our picture was in the local paper. Under the picture, it said, “Rich Rollins, 3rd baseman for the Twins, attends the Father/Daughter Banquet with his daughter.”
The newspaper thought I was Rich’s daughter! Now THAT was funny!
I still have that old newspaper photo of Rich and me buried in a box somewhere. If I ever find it, I will post it on the Katie & Kimble blog for you to see!
Copyright © 2007-2012 by Linda Thieman
Mom’s Choice Awards® has named the Katie & Kimble series among the best in family-friendly media, products and services.
Winner: Juvenile Books Series.
Get the Katie & Kimble books at http://www.katieandkimble.com
Did You Know Kimble’s Dress is Real? Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story (ages 6-10)
I wrote Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story (a chapter book for ages 6-10, 280L) in May, 1994. At that time, I knew Kimble would be wearing a dress from the fall of 1918.
It took me years to find a pattern for Kimble’s dress. I looked and looked. Then, several years ago I finally contacted Mrs. Penny Ladnier over at CostumeGallery.com to see if she had any books or catalogs from 1918.
In Kimble’s day, most girls did not go to the store and buy clothes. They bought patterns and cloth. Then they made their dresses at home! They would put the pattern on top of the cloth and then cut out the pieces of the dress. Then they would sew the pieces together. Continued below.
Mom’s Choice Awards® has named the Katie & Kimble series among the best in family-friendly media, products and services.
Winner: Juvenile Books Series.
When I contacted Mrs. Ladnier, I was truly surpised. Mrs. Ladnier had just won an auction for a pattern book from the fall of 1918! And what was even more amazing was the auction was over in France!
So we waited and waited for the book to arrive. Once Mrs. Ladnier received the pattern book for children’s dresses, she faxed me the different dresses that were for a girl Kimble’s age. Then I chose one I liked.
Later, the illustrator for Katie & Kimble, Mrs. Kim Tharp, helped me design the back of the dress. We could guess at the back pretty well because we could see the front and the side of the dress.
Mrs. Tharp also painted in a plaid pattern for the cloth of the dress. Plaid was very popular that year.
So, that means that Kimble’s dress is REAL and that real girls wore that dress in 1918. They also wore big red bows in their hair, just like Kimble. And we took Kimble’s hairstyle and her dress boots from the pattern book, too!
Just thought you might like to know!
Fun Katie & Kimble Hint: On the sidebar, click on the yellow stripes for a little surprise or two!
Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story (Book 1 in the series) and Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Book 2 in the series) are available here:
Paperback version: $5.95
Click here to order Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story!
Click here to order Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Book 2)!
[Reading Level 3, 280L, for ages 6-10]
Nine-year-old Katie Russell and her family look normal. But the Russells don’t know they are living with Kimble, the ghost of a ten-year-old girl. That is, until Katie discovers Kimble and the two of them set off on a quest to find out what happened to Kimble’s mother.
© 2009-2013 by Linda Thieman
Happy Chanukkah! Watch the Dreidel Songs! Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story (for ages 6 to 10)
In Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story, Book 1 in the Katie & Kimble series, Kimble teaches Katie how to play dreidel.
Dreidel is a game that Jewish children play during Hanukah.
Dreidels come in many sizes with many different designs and colors. The dreidel pictured on the left is called a Noah’s Ark dreidel because the pictures tell the story of Noah’s Ark. It was painted by an artist named Yair Emanuel. It’s got a little stand to hold it up.
The dreidel below is really something amazing to see. It’s very big – 10 inches high, in fact – and it’s a plush toy! I thought that was pretty interesting. I don’t suppose you can actually play dreidel with such a big dreidel, but it might be comfy to keep on your bed!
In Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story, you learn how to play dreidel at the same time that Kimble teaches
Katie how to play.
Below, I’ve included a couple of great Dreidel Song videos. In the first one, Jono sings about his favorite game, Dreidel, but he gets the history of playing dreidel all mixed up. When the rabbi tries to correct him, Jono just doesn’t listen!
Kenny Ellis sings his hit single from his Hanukkah Swings! Album on Favored Nations Records. Check out: www.kennyellis.com
Interesting Fact:
Hanukah is sometimes spelled in different ways! You might see it like this, with 2 k’s–Hanukkah–or you might see it like this, with a c–Chanukah!
Mom’s Choice Awards® has named the Katie & Kimble series among the best in family-friendly media, products and services.
Winner: Juvenile Books Series.
Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story (Book 1 in the series) and Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Book 2 in the series) are available in the Katie & Kimble Shop and also on Amazon.com:
Paperback version: $5.95
Click here to order Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story!
Click here to order Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Book 2)!
[Reading Level 3, 280L, for ages 6-10]
Nine-year-old Katie Russell and her family look normal. But the Russells don’t know they are living with Kimble, the ghost of a ten-year-old girl. That is, until Katie discovers Kimble and the two of them set off on a quest to find out what happened to Kimble’s mother.
© 2009-2012 by Linda Thieman
Read 6 Chapters of the Award-winning Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story (#free) for ages 6-10
Now you can read six chapters of Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story for free! Yes, that’s half the book and it includes all the pictures from the first half of the book.
No special software is needed. It’s a pdf file that you can read with any version of Adobe. It doesn’t cost you anything and we don’t collect your email address!
To read Chapters 1 through 6, click here!
Mom’s Choice Awards® has named the Katie & Kimble series among the best in family-friendly media, products and services.
Winner: Juvenile Books Series.
[Reading Level 3, 280L, for ages 6-10]
Nine-year-old Katie Russell and her family look normal. But the Russells don’t know they are living with Kimble, the ghost of a ten-year-old girl. That is, until Katie discovers Kimble and the two of them set off on a quest to find out what happened to Kimble’s mother.
Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story (Book 1 in the series) and Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Book 2 in the series) are available here:
Paperback version: $5.95
Click here to order Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story!
Click here to order Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Book 2)!
© 2009-2012 by Linda Thieman
Katie & Kimble Go Green! (Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish, for ages 6-10)
You might not notice how “green” the Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story chapter book series is until you get to the second book, Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish.
In the second Katie & Kimble book, we discover that the Russell family is trying to eat healthier foods. Can you think of an example? That’s right—they only have pizza on special occasions and they don’t eat much red meat anymore.
Katie’s family also cares about the earth and about all living things, like trees. For example, when Katie’s dad does the grocery shopping, he takes cloth bags with him. No paper or plastic for him! And when he puts up a swing on the old oak tree in the backyard, he’s very careful not to harm the tree and he doesn’t use any nails at all.
Mr. Russell also shows how much he cares about the earth when he sings one of his favorite songs in Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish. It’s called “For the Beauty of the Earth.” It’s a beautiful old hymn.
Fun Katie & Kimble Hint: On the sidebar, click on the yellow stripes for a little surprise or two!
Mom’s Choice Awards® has named the Katie & Kimble series among the best in family-friendly media,
products and services.
Winner: Juvenile Books Series.
Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story (Book 1 in the series) and Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Book 2 in the series) are available here:
Paperback version: $5.95
Click here to order Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story!
Click here to order Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Book 2)!
© 2009-2012 by Linda Thieman