Monthly Archives: February 2015

Please remember the CureJM kids!

This is Addie! This is Addie![/

please remember that everyone can help by getting great books for kids and grandkids (and their friends) and support CureJM at the same time! Please visit the on-going CureJM Fundraiser at http://sbpra.com/curejm where 50% of the cost of my award-winning children’s books goes to the CureJM Foundation. The names of many JM kids are included in “My Fingerpaint Masterpiece”! Please leave a name to be included in my 2015 book! Please help us find a cure for kids like Addie, Cassandra, Daisy, Alyssa, Maci, Matthew, Maya, Clara, Eldon, Tristan, Jaden, Abi and all the other JM kids – and the many adults who also have this horrible disease!!!

Awesome Picture Book Review of Manner-Man

Manner-Man Badge

Manner-Man Badge

Here is an awesome new review of Manner-Man, that I am delighted to share!

Full Review, please click here:   The Picture Book Review – Manner-Man

“Wouldn’t it be awesome if, when you’re at the park and children aren’t being nice, a superhero would swoop down and literally teach them some manners?

“He teaches good manners, so take his advice: If someone starts shoving, just shout out ‘Not Nice!’”

Manner-Man is a multi-award winning book that indulges my son completely! I will happily take all the help I can get when it comes to promoting good behavior and manners. The story is told in verse and talks about situations such as when another child takes a toy without asking, fighting, shoving, and bullying. Manner-Man is also very empowering — giving children skills and a call to action to join the Manner-Man team. There’s even a Manner-Man badge at the end of the book or you can write to Sherrill Cannon and request a Manner-Man sticker. This additional step made my son feel officially part of the Manner-Man team and he takes it VERY seriously. Saying “please” and “thank you” and being nice are definitely superpowers and it is a lot of fun watching my son run around the park pretending to be Manner-Man. This book has my son’s number!

Manner-Man Winner of 10 Awards

Manner-Man Winner of 10 Awards

Title: Manner-Man

Author: Sherrill S. Cannon

Illustrator: Kalpart

Strategic Book Publishing. 2013. Fiction. ISBN: 978-1622124787

Suitable For Ages: 3 – 8

Themes/Topics:

Manners, Bullying, Friendship

Opening:

“I was unhappy, for Rob took my toy, just grabbed it away with a look full of joy. So I told my mother who said, “That’s not nice,” and then tried to give me some helpful advice.”

Brief Synopsis:

A little boy is tired of having other children be mean and selfish. He has a dream that a superhero, Manner-Man, comes and saves him from ill-behaved children and also teaches everyone how important it is to be nice. The next day on the playground, when a child is being mean, he calls upon Manner-Man. To his surprise, Manner-Man arrives and helps him by giving all of the children skills in what to say and do when they encounter a situation where someone isn’t being kind. All of the children learn and then become part of the Manner-Man team!

Why I Like Manner-Man and Why You Should Read It:

I’m impressed with how much my son loves this book. He loves the superhero aspect of it and he loves the call to action to join the Manner-Man team.
It has a happy and uplifting message that gives practical advice through a medium that is accessible and engaging.
“Tell your friend, ‘Wait, please, until I am done; Then I will share, and we’ll both have more fun.’”
I appreciate that in this story, even children who have been ill-behaved in the past are given an opportunity to change and become part of the Manner-Man team.
The fact that the story is told in verse makes it eminently quotable and memorable. My son quotes bits from Manner-Man constantly.
It’s about a superhero that teaches manners!!!! Yes, please!
My son placed his Manner-Man sticker on the front of his construction hat that he wears everywhere. He tells everyone that he is part of the Manner-Man team. He is a walking, talking advertisement for Manner-Man and I’m more than fine with it.
I still have to tell him to share — but I have the Manner-Man book AND sticker to back me up. “Remember, you’re part of the team! You need to share! You’ll have more fun!” I am always surprised that it works — but it does!
Sherrill Cannon has written several books (Gimme-Jimmy, The Magic Word) about children learning to share and to being polite. Each of the characters are in this book as well. My son enjoyed recognizing the characters from the other books in this one.
It’s a picture book that is working hard to give children important skills for difficult situations — and asking them to do their best to make other people’s lives better, too.
The story is over the top and in no way subtle — but is so perfectly presented that my son eats up every single word.
Manner-Man takes a child’s deep desires to be or be befriended by a superhero with a parent’s deep desires to have a polite child and combines it into a fun story. Be prepared to reread this story to your child over and over again.”

Thank you, Tiffa…

Cute Note from a Favorite Fan!

Ashlyn's Manner-Man Salute

Ashlyn’s Manner-Man Salute

Cute birthday note from a favorite fan!!

Happy birthday to the best children’s author, in my opinion, the modem day Dr. Seuss. Love your books, please keep them coming, Ashlyn still goes around with the Manner-Man salute. We Love your books, that is what got her interested in reading. Thank you.

Update from Suzy!!!

I received a lovely update from Suzy – and was delighted to discover that she has also shared the book with her book group!  I am also thrilled that she will be sharing it with her 7 grands!

Thanks from Suzy

Thanks from Suzy

I’m so excited to receive a package that arrived yesterday. Enclosed in the UPS envelope was Sherrill S. Cannon’s book, My Fingerpaint Masterpiece. I shared the book with my critique book, Bookends last night. The book is taking a road trip with us to Texas as we visit our seven grands. Thank you, Sherrill. Thank you, Andy! ~Suzy Leopold

Thank You, Suzy, for the Lovely Note and Review

My Fingerpaint Masterpiece

My Fingerpaint Masterpiece

So happy to receive this lovely note from another educator!  Suzy was the winner of a copy of My Fingerpaint Masterpiece awarded for her response to my Interview on Andy Mayberry’s Blog:

“A special package arrived today. I am so pleased. And you know what? My Fingerpaint Masterpiece is going on a road trip. My husband and I are traveling to Texas to hug on our kids and grands.

I went online to share a Customer Review . . .

As a Mom, an Oma [Grandparent] an educator and an aspiring writer, I highly recommend this delightful book, My Fingerpaint Masterpiece.The story hooked me immediately and as I wanted to know more about the student’s creation, from Mrs. Gallagher’s Art class. The story keeps the reader engaged, as the art work gets caught in the wind. I quickly turned the pages to learn about the adventure about the art work. Such an outstanding book to inspire excellent conversations and lessons about perspective and judgements. ~Suzy Leopold

Thank you, Sherrill. I appreciate your *masterpiece,* My Fingerpaint Masterpiece and look forward to reading more of your books.”

Thank you, Suzy, for the lovely note!

Nice comment about using SBPRA from Liam Moiser

Readers' Favorite Awards

Readers’ Favorite Awards

Liam Moiser, author of the award-winning series Moore Field School and the Mystery, and Incidents at Moore Field School, gave a recent interview – and I received permission to quote his comment about SBPRA:

“The most challenging aspect of publishing the series was trying to figure out which company to go with. Some of the negative writing about different companies scared me and I was very afraid to look for an agent. In the end I emailed a few different authors with different companies and even though a few people replied to me, no one was as friendly as Sherrill S. Cannon who is an Award-Winning Author at at SBPRA. After speaking to her and listening to everything she said it made me realize that SBPRA was the publisher for me.”

The SBPRA Family is very happy that he joined us!!  Thank you, Liam

Book Event in the Keys

Fun to be part of an Arts and Crafts Show here at the Fiesta Key RV Resort… Nice Book Signing!

Even more fun to meet up with the CEO of SBPRA, Robert Fletcher

IMG_1882

Connecting with my Publisher, CEO of SBPRA, Robert Fletcher, in the Keys!!

Connecting with my Publisher, CEO of SBPRA, Robert Fletcher, in the Keys!!

Please vote for My Fingerpaint Masterpiece in the Bookbzz.com Prize Writer Contest

My Fingerpaint Masterpiece

My Fingerpaint Masterpiece

As I mentioned in an earlier posting, My Fingerpaint Masterpiece is a Finalist in the Bookbzz Prize Writer contest.  This is the first time I’ve entered a contest determined by votes, but there’s a first time for everything I guess!  At any rate, My Fingerpaint Masterpiece is in the Children’s Section, and only one vote per email address… Needless to say, I would really appreciate your vote!

Apparently the voting is now live:

Here is the link: http://bookbzz.com/bee-bookbzz-com-prize-writer/

Voting in the Bookbzz.com Prize Writer Competition.

One vote is allowed per person per category. Categories are:

Children’s
Contemporary Fiction
Young Adult
Fantasy
Historical Fiction
Horror, Ghosts and Fear
Memoir and Biography
Mystery, Detective and Crime
Romance
Science Fiction
Thrillers, Action and Adventure
Once voting opens the above links will become live. Voting closes on 28th February 2015.

The winners of the Prize Writer Competition will be announced and televised on World Book Day 5th March 2015

RULES OUTLINE

1. Only books listed on bookbzz.com are eligible for entry. It’s free to list a book on bookbzz.com—although we strongly recommend you purchase the enhanced search upgrade.

2. Books can be entered in multiple categories but each entry incurs an additional $25 entrance fee. The content of books must match the genre in which they are entered. Books entered in the wrong category will be removed from the competition and the $25 fee will be forfeit.

3. The initial shortlist is decided by a panel of bookbzz.com’s independent reviewers. Their decision on the books to shortlist is based on one-reviewer-one-vote. Their decision is final.

4. The final shortlist is of ten books per category. Winners are decided by public vote. Voters can vote once in each category but not multiple times on each book.

5. Winners will be announced on bookbzz.com and the worldbookday.com website on 5th March 2015

6. In the event of any dispute the bookbzz.com editor in chief’s decision is final.

Lovely Review for Gimme-Jimmy from Castleview Academy!

 

Tristan and Kallista love Gimme-Jimmy!

Tristan and Kallista love Gimme-Jimmy!

Thank you Castleview Academy for the wonderful review of Gimme-Jimmy…

Please click here: Gimme-Jimmy Review by Castleview Academy

I truly love the suggested children’s projects in this review – So cute that the children are tracing their hands, and then personalizing them with ways to share!

 

 

 

Reading Gimme-Jimmy

Reading Gimme-Jimmy

“…I love that Sherrill includes children with different skin tones, eye and hair colours in her books. And each of her books have a moral in them as well. They all revolve around being polite, helpful, and respectful. You see children turn their lives around from being bullies, not having friends, and feeling sad to learning a lesson and being helped and guided to use better behaviours, actions, and words. Then they earn respect, gain new friends and become happier.

What can we do to help others

Tracing Gimme Hands

Tracing Gimme Hands

After reading Gimme-Jimmy, I though it would be worthwhile to have the children work on a fun project. They traced around their hands on some large pieces of construction paper. I say traced, but really they made hands as large as the possibly could to represent Jimmy’s Gimme hand. Then they wrote something nice that they could do for someone else. I tried to show them that being greedy will leave you unhappy in the end, but you can be very happy if you think about others and help them.

Some of the things they came up with were:

Smile – Make cards – Say, “Please.” –   “May I help you” – Give presents

Gimme-Jimmy Hands of Kindness

Gimme-Jimmy Hands of Kindness

If you’d like to see a little more about this, and other books Sherrill has written (Peter and The Whimper Whineys, The Magic Word, My Fingerpaint Masterpiece, Santa’s Birthday Gift, or Manner Man), she has some sample pages available to read on Freado. “I love the music of words, and I try to help children hear that music…” If you like what you see, you can find out more about Sherrill on her webpage, follow her on Facebook, or learn more about raising money for the JM Foundation.

The latest press release has Sherrill being the recipient of 28 awards in total for her 6 children’s books! What an honour, and well-deserved as her books are entertaining, colourful, and also tell a real-life lesson. My children love her books, and we wonder just what she’ll be coming up with next…”

Thanks so much, Crystal, for this lovely review and project!  You have captured the essence of Gimme-Jimmy!