childrens books | Government Book Talk

Celebrate Children’s Book Day – April 2

March 31, 2017

Do you have a few favorite books from childhood? Books that fed your imagination and that bring back memories of home and the days of your youth? The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) founded Children’s Book Day in 1967 to promote the importance of literacy and reading to our children. IBBY actively promotes children’s books and authors and organize events in schools and libraries world-wide to encourage children to read more.

Wondering how to celebrate this important event? The U.S. Government Bookstore offers many child oriented titles. From kindergarten-level and up you’re sure to find books that are appealing to you and that your kids would enjoy too.

Here are a few examples of what you will find on the U.S. Government Bookstore website:

Junior Paleontologist Activity Book, Ages 5-12, Explore, Learn, Protect More than 230 national parks are known to preserve fossils. In this booklet children learn about ancient life, complete fun activities, and explore some of the national parks that offer a look into the past. It discusses how to get a junior paleontologist badge after completing the activities in this book.

Discover MyPlate: A MyPlate Meal (ePub) Learn about the five food groups, healthy eating, and reading! This colorful book introduces kindergarten-aged children to foods from all five food groups of MyPlate, while building literacy skills through the use of sight words, optional audio narration and text highlighting, interactive games and activities, and more!

Spread the love of reading with a child on Children’s Book Day, and help foster the imagination of the next generation.

HOW DO I OBTAIN THESE RESOURCES?

Shop Online Anytime: You can buy eBooks or print publications —with FREE Standard Shipping worldwide— from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore at http://bookstore.gpo.gov.

Shop our Retail Store: Buy a copy of any print editions from this collection at GPO’s retail bookstore at 710 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20401, open Monday–Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., except Federal holidays, Call (202) 512-0132 for information or to arrange in-store pick-up.

Order by Phone: Call our Customer Contact Center Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5:30 pm Eastern (except US Federal holidays). From US and Canada, call toll-free 1.866.512.1800. DC or International customers call +1.202.512.1800.

Visit a Federal depository library: Search for U.S. Government publications in a nearby Federal depository library. You can find the records for most titles in GPO’s Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.

About the author: Blogger contributor Ed Kessler is a Promotions Specialist in GPO’s Publication and Information Sales program office.

Leave a Comment » | Children, Consumers, ebooks, Family, Gifts, Parenting, Teachers and teaching, Women | Tagged: books for children, books for kids, children, Children’s Book Day, childrens books, free children's books, kids books | Permalink
Posted by Trudy Hawkins

Hey, Junior Rangers, Public Lands Belong to You!

January 9, 2017

The Bureau of Land Management is the Federal government agency that manages more than 245 million acres of public, multi-use land. That’s about the size of California and Texas put together. Much of that protected acreage lies in 10 Western states.

Among the sagebrush and ranchland, wild horse and burro populations thrive. All 38,000 of them receive Federal protection through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro program. Caring for wild horses is big part of BLM’s land and resource management mission. It’s also the subject the agency’s Junior Explorer Wild Horses and Burros Activity Book, available through GPO.

This children’s activity workbook “focuses on where wild horses and burros live, what they eat, and how they communicate.” It features fun facts, a word search, and even a quick blurb about “Wild Horse Annie,” a Nevadan who advocated for the humane treatment of wild horses in the 1950s.

Junior explorers can learn about freeze mark identification for adoptive animals, horse and burro physiology, and tips for interacting with animals in their natural habitat.

At the end of the activity book, BLM Junior Explorers receive a certification if they promise to:

Do all I can to help preserve and protect the natural and cultural resources on our public lands,
Be aware of how my actions can affect other living things and the evidence of our past,
Keep learning about the importance of nature and our heritage, and
Share what I have learned with others!

The Junior Explorer Wild Horses and Burros Activity Book shows kids that while public lands do belong to them, they can make the choice to be good stewards to animals and appreciate the land where they roam.

How do I obtain this publication?

Shop Online Anytime: You can buy eBooks or print publications —with FREE Standard Shipping worldwide— from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore at http://bookstore.gpo.gov.

About the author: Blogger contributor Chelsea Milko is a Public Relations Specialist in GPO’s Public Relations Office.

Leave a Comment » | Children, Department of the Interior, Parenting, Teachers and teaching | Tagged: BLM, books for children, Bureau of land management, children's books about horses, childrens books | Permalink
Posted by Trudy Hawkins

Great Lessons in Small Packages—Tree Books for Kids

August 30, 2016

Great things do come in small packages! In the case of this blog post, the small packages are children’s books that bring to life the themes of growth and nature. GPO makes available two colorfully-illustrated, nature-based publications from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that are ideal for parents and educators, too!

The Little Acorn

We usually think of acorns as the staple snack of squirrels. And that they are. In the case of this delightful storybook from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, an acorn can also represent the magic of growing up.

The Little Acorn is written from the perspective of a foraging squirrel who buries an acorn near a stream. As it occasionally checks back on the oak nut, the squirrel bears witness to the tree’s growth amid seasonal and ecological changes. Spring rains, summer heat, and autumn winds condition the baby oak. Its thirsty roots stretch out and it learns that all living things need water to grow.

What starts as a tiny seed encased in a tough shell eventually transforms into a “big, beautiful oak tree…dropping little acorns of its own.”

Why Would Anyone Cut a Tree Down?

Sometimes it is necessary to cut trees. Trees have lifecycles—they sprout, mature, grow old, die—and their seeds can be planted to grow new trees. For a renewable resource like trees to healthily propagate, diseased or hazardous trees must be cut down and removed. What sounds like severe measures is actually a good thing for the environment.

This U.S. Forest Service publication teaches kids that “people need to cut some trees down, but that is not the end of the story.” It explores various uses for wood from cut trees—such as materials for construction, nutrients for fresh soil, and stumps for new shoots. The book also includes a note to adults about the basics of tree care.

Cutting down a tree is a form of caring for that tree. It makes room for more life in the exchange of another. Eighteenth century botanist Carl Linnaeus said it best when he wrote “if a tree dies, plant another in its place.”

HOW DO I OBTAIN THESE PUBLICATIONS?

Shop Online Anytime: You can buy eBooks or print publications —with FREE Standard Shipping worldwide— from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore at http://bookstore.gpo.gov.

About the author: Blogger contributor Chelsea Milko is a Public Relations Specialist in GPO’s Public Relations Office.

Leave a Comment » | Agriculture, Children, Consumers, Department of Agriculture, Family, Gifts, Parenting, Teachers and teaching | Tagged: books for kids, children, childrens books, gardening with children, kids publications, teaching, tree books | Permalink
Posted by Trudy Hawkins

Teaching our Children about Making Healthy Food Choices

August 15, 2016

Maintaining good health and nutrition has become a major issue for many families in the United States. Today, many Americans are lacking in physical activity and proper nutrition, either because of their sedentary lifestyles, or because they are “too busy.” As a result of this, the frequency of making healthy food choices has diminished.

Therefore, it is important that children learn early on about the importance of nutrition, fitness and the well-being of their bodies. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service has created Discover MyPlate: A MyPlate Meal, an eBook that serves as a meal and fitness guide for children. It includes fun interactive games about nutrition, to help introduce the development of healthy food choices and physical activity lifestyles to young readers. The child-friendly material and age appropriate games and activities will help children learn healthy habits effortlessly.

The USDA has also created a Teacher’s Kit curriculum to assist educators in the teaching of nutrition and fitness to their students. There are a number of books featured in the kit, including in the Discover MyPlate series, to teach children the importance of every food group and its relevance to one’s health. The USDA Food and Nutrition Service has done an exceptional job in their efforts of creating a child-friendly approach to nutrition and fitness.

Owning this eBook is easy, you can download it for free on the U.S. Government Bookstore website. Summer is here and the Discover MyPlate: A MyPlate Meal series are perfect reads for you and your children to become educated on the importance of nutrition and fitness.

HOW DO I OBTAIN THIS FREE RESOURCE?

Shop Online Anytime: You can buy eBooks or print publications —with FREE Standard Shipping worldwide— from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore at http://bookstore.gpo.gov.

About the author: Blogger contributor Alyssa Doughty is an intern in GPO’s Publication and Information Sales program office.

Leave a Comment » | Children, Department of Agriculture, ebooks, Family, Parenting, Teachers and teaching | Tagged: books for children, children, children and nutrition, children's eBooks, childrens books, Discover MyPlate, Discover MyPlate for kids, free ebooks, free ebooks for children | Permalink
Posted by Trudy Hawkins

A Way for Kids to Celebrate the National Park Centennial

June 6, 2016

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the National Park Service (NPS). The agency was entrusted with a mission to “conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”

This year, the National Park Service launches a second century of environmental stewardship and historic preservation. As NPS looks to its next 100, it invites everyone, especially kids, to experience one of over 400 national parks and monuments.

Children can join the national parks birthday celebration with the Centennial Junior Ranger activity booklet. It’s an activity-filled, adventure-based guide to explore, learn, and have fun in natural places. I’ll let some of the pages from this colorful, informative guide do the talking…click on each image to enlarge.

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This booklet comes with a bonus! Upon completing select activities, kids can bring the booklet to any national park visitor center to receive an official Junior Ranger badge.

As part of NPS’ Every Kid in a Park program, admission to all national parks is free for the entire year for fourth graders and their families. And with several fee-free days scheduled throughout 2016, it’s possible to get every kid and every family in a park. The more that people care about America’s special outdoor wonderlands, the more likely they will be around in 2116.

HOW DO I OBTAIN THIS PUBLICATION?

Shop Online Anytime: You can buy eBooks or print publications —with FREE Standard Shipping worldwide— from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore at http://bookstore.gpo.gov.

About the author: Blogger contributor Chelsea Milko is a Public Relations Specialist in GPO’s Public Relations Office.

Leave a Comment » | Children, Department of the Interior, Family, National Park Service, National Park Service, Teachers and teaching | Tagged: books for kids, childrens books, kids activities, kids books, National Park Centennial, National Park Service, national park service centennial, National Park Service’s centennial, nps, NPS 100th anniversary, NPS books, NPS books for children, nps junior ranger activity booklets | Permalink
Posted by Trudy Hawkins

Two Bites from MyPlate Make Eating Right Fun for Kids

March 4, 2016

Fad diets appear to be fading in popularity these days. Healthful eating plans packed with flavorful foods are making headway. Sounds sensible for adults, right? But what about kids? Young children need help to make smart choices and grow up healthy. March is National Nutrition Month, a perfect time to chat about nutritiously fueling our youngsters.

GPO makes available two U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) nutrition education eBooks for early childhood that make eating right fun for kids. Bonus: these books have great audio and interactivity!

Discover MyPlate: A MyPlate Meal (ePub)

“I have apples. Nate has peas.” It’s certainly not the introduction to A Tale of Two Cities but the simplicity does grab your attention. This zippy activity book has 8 pages of illustrations and 26 words in total. It’s very easy to digest (pun intended) and doubles as a coloring book.

MyPlate illustrates the five building block food groups in the structure of a plated meal that is designed to help children to identify foods within the food groups. It’s what kids know and relate to. The dietary brains at USDA FNS know that children learn best when they can chose and try and enjoy. This resource models eat well, play well habits for life.

The Two Bite Club (ePub)

First rule of the Two Bite Club is that we don’t talk about the Two Bite Club. Just joshin’. Allow Will the cat to give his take: “Each color on the plate in the picture is a different food group. My teacher told me that if we eat two bites from each food group we can be members of the Two Bite Club!”

This publication is available in both English and Spanish language versions (Spanish version coming soon). The Two Bite Club, and El Club de los Dos Bocados, is colored with tasty grain, fruit, vegetable, protein, and diary illustrations. At the end of the booklet is a certificate from the Two Bite Club for bravery in trying new foods. How adorably empowering!

Anna, by the feline nudging of mom and brother, discovers that just one bite can change her nutrition worldview, or should I say foodview. The “try two bites and you might like it” guidance might be just the thing to change your child’s foodview, too.

HOW DO I OBTAIN THESE RESOURCES?

You can click on the links above in the blog or through any of these methods:

Shop Online Anytime: You can buy eBooks or print publications —with FREE Standard Shipping worldwide— from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore at http://bookstore.gpo.gov.

Order by Phone: Call our Customer Contact Center Monday through Friday, 8 am to 4:30 pm Eastern (except US Federal holidays). From US and Canada, call toll-free 1.866.512.1800. DC or International customers call +1.202.512.1800.

About the author: Our guest blogger is Chelsea Milko, Public Relations Specialist in GPO’s Public Relations Office.

2 Comments | Agriculture, Children, Consumers, Department of Agriculture, Family | Tagged: books for children, books for kids, child nutrition, children and nutrition, children's eBooks, childrens books, diet and nutrition, free children's books, national nutrition month | Permalink
Posted by Trudy Hawkins

People Get Ready, There’s a Storm Coming

May 29, 2013

Hopefully, you’ve never had to live through a hurricane or a tornado. I count myself lucky to have escaped the worst of the major weather events; living in an area that gets spent hurricanes is bad enough.

If you live near the Atlantic Coast, as I do, you do need to worry about hurricanes. You want to remember June 1 as a significant date. It’s the start of the hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to October 1. For that reason, NOAA’s National Hurricane Center (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) kicks off National Hurricane Preparedness Week every year before the season starts. If you can’t leave home to avoid being in the path of hurricanes, the next best thing you can do is be prepared. Make plans for getting through a storm: family communication plans and buddy plans. Build your disaster kit.

After my family and I lived through a man-made disaster, we made an evacuation plan so we know how we’ll try to reach safety. You should talk with your family about emergency strategies. Having plans for a storm or disaster doesn’t mean you’ll be able to use them, but you’ll be far better off than if you don’t have a plan. Go through checklists you can find at www.ready.gov and find out everything you can to be organized.

Hurricanes: Information and Activity Booklet

For further children’s activities and tutorials, there’s Hurricanes: Information and Activity Booklet, designed for ages nine and older. The slim volume describes the history of the word “hurricane”, as well as the reasons NOAA attaches personal names to each hurricane. The work also explains hurricane wind scales, defines hurricanes and typhoons, and much more.

Of special note are the accompanying pictures of some of recent history’s most destructive storms—Irene, Dora, Kenneth, Rick, Katia and of course, Katrina—help students understand how colossal they are. The photos show the storms nestled up against landmasses that they overshadow. If you could not visualize how large and fearsome these storms were before, you’d know it after you saw their photos. The informative graphics, puzzles, tests and quizzes provided will give children a good basic understanding of hurricanes.

Image: NOAA satellite image of Hurricane Katrina, taken on Aug. 28, 2005, at 11:45 a.m. EDT, a day before the storm made landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast. While in the Gulf of Mexico, Katrina’s winds peaked near 175 miles per hour. Credit: NOAA

After studying both Hurricanes and Watch Out-Storms Ahead!, your kids should be as intellectually prepared as they can be.

Ready…Set…Prepare!

You’ll want to pick up a copy of Ready…Set…Prepare! [for Ages 4-7] Reading it will help your kids learn how to help your family prepare for storms in a more practical sense. FEMA designed this activity book to teach kids ages four to seven how to prepare for disasters such as hurricanes and tornadoes.

Two cartoon kid characters—Angela and Mario, along with their emergency expert friends Bright Shinely and Newser—learn what they, too, can do to help their families prepare for disasters. (Parents and teachers of Dora and Diego fans, take note: these characters will seem eerily familiar. 😉

Each chapter gives the basic facts about evacuation plans, family communication plans, pet care plans, and the types of disasters. Practical lists are scattered throughout that may help adults as much as children, such as a disaster supply kit list. Fun exercises to color and flashcards to cut out with the child’s recently acquired scissoring skills are also included.

Your children will find some solid entertainment packed in with the lessons included in this book. They are likely to wind up exhorting you to get your emergency plan together—and what could be better than that? Getting yourself and the little people in your life ready for an emergency is one of the best things you could do to protect your most precious assets.

FEMA created another version of Ready…Set…Prepare! [for Ages 8-11]. This contains more sophisticated activities and lessons for the older elementary schooler to prepare for emergencies.

Watch Out…Storms Ahead! Owlie Skywarn’s Weather Book

An important part of making these plans is educating the children in your life—your children, your students, etc. If you are working with school-aged children, a good place to start is the excellent picture/activity book, Watch Out-Storms Ahead! Owlie Skywarn’s Weather Book. This volume is a joint publication of NOAA, FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) and the American Red Cross, and it covers tornadoes, lightning, floods and winter storms as well as hurricanes.

The book shows children what they can do to help their families get ready. There are quizzes, warnings, preparation and evacuation tips, and statistics that will help kids understand the importance of being prepared. Since the pictures are black and white, your kids can color them too. Throw this book and a packet of crayons in your disaster kit.

Sample question from the quiz: “A hurricane [blank] means a hurricane is expected within 36 hours and winds could reach 74 mph or more.” (answer: Warning)

How can I obtain these publications?

Buy the printed editions of three of these online 24/7 at GPO’s Online Bookstore at http://bookstore.gpo.gov:
Buy them at GPO’s retail bookstore at 710 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20401, open Monday–Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., except Federal holidays, (202) 512-0132.
Find all four of them in a federal depository library.
Find the records for these titles in the CGP (Catalog of Government Publications).
- GPO has created permanent URL (Purl) catalog records for Ready…Set…Prepare! [Ages 4-7], Ready… Set… Prepare [Ages 8-11], Watch Out—Storms Ahead!, and Hurricanes in your local Federal depository libraries.

About the author: Our guest blogger is Jennifer K. Davis from GPO’s Library Services & Content Management Division that supports the Federal Depository Libraries Program (FDLP). (Article is adapted from an original post in the FDLP Community site blog by Government Book Talk Editor, Michele Bartram, GPO Promotions & Ecommerce Manager.)

7 Comments | Catalog of Government Publications (CGP), Children, Consumers, Department of Homeland Security, Disasters, Emergency Response, Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency, Gulf Coast, NOAA, Weather and climate | Tagged: 2013 hurricanes, books for kids, childrens books, hurricane preparation, hurricane season, storm preparation | Permalink
Posted by Michele Bartram, U.S. Government Online Bookstore

Government Book Talk

Celebrate Children’s Book Day – April 2

Hey, Junior Rangers, Public Lands Belong to You!

Great Lessons in Small Packages—Tree Books for Kids

Teaching our Children about Making Healthy Food Choices

A Way for Kids to Celebrate the National Park Centennial

Two Bites from MyPlate Make Eating Right Fun for Kids

People Get Ready, There’s a Storm Coming

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