Summer Reading with 4RV Publishing

One of the recommended ways to stop the summer slide--a loss of learning gains during the summer months--is for your child to read at least 20 minutes a day. Here are some reading suggestions from the 4RV Publishing Bookstore. 

Simon thinks his skin is bo-rrring. Simon doesn't like boring. So, he “tries on” different skins, and to his surprise, each comes with its own challenge. Simon soon makes a pleasant discovery about his own skin.

Irma wanted a puppy, a pet she could take on walks, not a few stupid guppies. Fish don't do anything, except roll over on their backs if they die. Sometimes, though, a girl has to make the most of what she has. Now, what can Irma do with three guppies besides stare at them as they stare at her.

A young duck, who enjoys things like riding waves, can become quite lonely. Louie didn’t have any friends except two cousins, who didn’t like to ride waves. When Mr. and Mrs. Goose’s grandson, Gus, comes to live with them, Louie promises Mrs. Goose that he will be Gus’ friend. But, can Louie finally have a friend, one who doesn’t think he’s odd because he is different? Can being different be all right?

From letters

A to Z, 

furry faces are here to see.

Living in cages and ponds

or feathered friends in a tree,

explore a zoo of exciting animals

from land, air, and sea.

No one called her anything but Dog, but she had food, water, and a warm place. She got to go for rides with the wind blowing in her face. She had a boy who played with her. She was happy.

One day, the man said, “Come on, Dog, let’s go for a ride.”

She ran and jumped through the open door onto the back seat. She thought maybe they would go to the dog park. How exciting.

When the car stopped, the man got out and opened the door. “Get out, Dog.”

She jumped out and sat waiting, but he told her to stay and climbed back into the car and drove away. 

She barked and ran after the car.

The car drove too fast for her to catch.

She sat and waited. No one came back. She grew hungry and cold and afraid. What could she do? Why didn’t her people want her anymore? What would happen to her?

Eleven-year-old Kate Taylor dreams of being the star of her basketball team, Angels. When Kate's tooth is knocked out at one of the games, and her mother, who is also her coach, says she can't play until the tooth the dentist replants heals, Kate's dreams are in jeopardy. Add Emily, the new girl at school who claims she's the best, and Kate faces a challenge to prove that she is the star. ​

Will Kate succeed? Or will Emily ruin Kate's plans?

To learn more about these and other books by 4RV Publishing , please visit us online at http://www.4rvpublishing.com

Put action in books for children and teens -- a must

by Vivian Zabel   

Action for Children and Teens

         Youngsters enjoy good stories, whether they listen or read for themselves. However, action is needed to keep their attention, even if the reader wants them to go to sleep. Children don’t always respond to boredom by sleeping.

         “What do you mean, action is need?”

         Yes, I heard that question, and I’ll give you an answer that will improve any stories written for children.

         “What do you know about writing for children?”

         I have some published books and stories. My company publishes children’s, middle grade, and young adult books, and we have some very good ones, books that delight children and even adults. I have also studied what is needed in a good children’s story, poem, or book. I read about what other publishers and editors want.

         According to Write4Kids.com, stories for children develop mainly through action and dialogue, with concrete action from the first lines. Publishers and editors search for stories with a plot containing strong action.

         Part of action in writing of any kind concerns the use of strong action verbs. Passive voice and state of being verbs have a place in writing but should be avoided as much as possible. A good writer will replace weak verbs and passiveness with action verbs and active voice.

         “What are you talking about: action verbs, active voice, passive voice, state of being verbs?”

         All right, let’s have a brief grammar lesson. One type of passive voice uses verbs with have, had, or has as helping verbs. It denotes something that happened in the past in a passive, non-active way. An example of a sentence in passive voice with one of those helping verbs would be as follows:
The boy had begged for a dog for a long time, but his parents had wanted him to have a cat.
Making the verbs action without the sluggish helping verbs makes the sentence more interesting:
The boy begged for a dog for dog for a long time, but his parents wanted him to have a cat.

         Another way to have passive voice is to have the subject not do the action of the verb, but receive the action.
The ball was hit by the bat. The ball didn’t hit anything, but it was hit. The subject received the action of the verb, but didn’t act itself.
The bat hit the ball. The bat, the subject, did the acting.

         Now we can take this action a step further by using a stronger, more vivid action verb than hit.
The bat collided with the ball. The bat struck the ball.

         Using state of being verbs (is, am, are, was, were, been, being) can weaken any writing and shows no action. To avoid using them, sometimes a sentence must be rewritten. It was dark and gloomy. This sentence not only is vague with the use of it, a pronoun without an antecedent, but the linking verb or state of being verb, was, is weak. The moon hid behind the clouds gives the same description without using an unclear pronoun or a vague linking verb. Yes, sometimes we must use a state of being verb, but we should avoid them if possible.

           Action verbs show action, either physical or mental behavior. Active voice means that action is shown, that the subject does the action rather than being acted upon. The ball was hit by the bat is passive, not active. The subject "ball" is acted upon, does not act. The bat hit the ball is active voice because the subject "bat" does the action, hit. Yes, the past three sentences repeat information given previously, but we can all use the refresher course.

            Now, back to including action in children’s stories, poetry, and books.
 

       Children like action in their stories. They want to see, hear, feel things happening to the characters. They want to know what the characters do, say, experience.

         Umm … those ideas sound like what all readers of all ages want when they read and what all writers need in their work.

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