Kids, You Can Help Save the World Here! If you've read 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 Activity Corner on the right sidebar of this
blog. 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!
Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story(Book 1 in the series) and Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Book 2 in the series) are available here:
[Reading Level 3, 280L, for ages 7-10] 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.
The Sad, Sweet Song that Reminds Me of Kimble Before Katie met Kimble, Kimble was all alone in that big, old house for many years. At times, she was lonely and sad.
There is a song that reminds me of Kimble. I think of it as Kimble's song. It's called "Graceful Ghost Rag."
"Rag" means that the song is ragtime. Ragtime uses certain
patterns and rhythms. Often, ragtime is fast and bouncy. In
the case of the "Graceful Ghost Rag," this ragtime piece is slow,
beautiful, and so sweet you could just cry.
The "Graceful Ghost Rag" was written in 1971. The man who wrote
it, William Bolcom, did so to remember his father who had died. I
hear it's one of the hardest ragtime pieces to play on the piano!
Click here to listen and watch three different versions of the "Graceful Ghost Rag."
Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story(Book 1 in the series) and Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Book 2 in the series) are available here:
[Reading Level 3, 280L, for ages 7-10] 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.
Did You Know Kimble's Dress is Real? I wrote Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story (a chapter book for ages 7-10, 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, five 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.
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 sidebars, 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:
[Reading Level 3, 280L, for ages 7-10] 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 Go Green! 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. You can listen to free samples of the song here.
[Reading Level 3, 280L, for ages 7-10] 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.
Tweet for Literacy Adds Prizes for Twitter Party December 1! In
honor of National Family Literacy Month, the Tweet for Literacy
campaign is extending not only throughout the month of November, but through December 1st, too. Our Motto:“The family that reads together has a lot of fun!” On December 1st, at 6pm CT, we're going to award the Grand Prize Package, worth $700. That's right, the Grand Prize Package is now worth $700! Life coach, author, and Tweet for Literacy sponsor Sheri Kaye Hoff, is adding a personal one-hour coaching session worth $100 to the Grand Prize Package as part of her Keys to Living Joyfully book and telesummit. Click here to see the gifts included in the Grand Prize Package and to see the prizes included in today's draw.
Twitter Party!
Our other big news is that the Tweet for Literacy sponsors are currently in the process of putting together a Twitter Party. The Twitter Party will take place for one hour--the hour before the Grand Prize drawing--from 5pm CT to 6pm CT on Tuesday, December 1st.
Every 10 minutes, a winner will be drawn from the people who are tweeting for literature (using the hashtag #Tweet4Lit and linking to a contest website--such as http://bit.ly/Jj4Ky) during that hour. Please follow all 7 sponsors in advance so you will qualify to win. Click the link above to do it quickly and easily.
Some of the prizes in the Twitter Party giveaways include 2 copies of Sheri Kaye Hoff's Keys to Living Joyfullybook, one copy each of Nicole O'Dell's Truth or Dare and All That Glitters, for ages 10-15, and 2 literacy games. The Twitter Party will end when the Grand Prize is drawn, and the winner of the Grand Prize will be chosen from among all entrants who have qualified since November 5.
Click here to read more about Tweet for Literacy and to enter the contest. We're giving away a set of prizes every two days for the month of November!
Enter as often as you like. Must be at least 18 to enter and a resident of the United States.
Thank you for participating in the 1st Annual Tweet for Literacy campaign!
Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story(Book 1 in the series) and Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Book 2 in the series) are available here:
[Reading Level 3, 280L, for ages 7-10] 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.
Now You Can Read 6 Chapters of Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story for Free! 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!
[Reading Level 3, 280L, for ages 7-10] 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:
If you've read 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 Activity Corner on the right sidebar of this
blog. 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.
You might not notice how “green” the 
