Latest news with #childrenbooks
Associated Press
3 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Associated Press
Mother Nature's Letter Launches, Giving Children a Voice in the Climate Conversation
LEEDS, WEST YORKSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, May 30, 2025 / / -- A new children's book is challenging the traditional narrative around climate education, not with fear, but with hope, beauty, and empowerment. Mother Nature's Letter by environmental educator and author Debbie Bartlett officially launches this week through Woodbridge Publishers, offering an inspiring call to action for children aged 6 to 8. As debate around the UK's countryside loss, climate instability, and environmental education intensifies, this timely release brings nature's voice directly to the young. Through lyrical prose and painterly illustrations, Mother Nature's Letter gently guides readers into some of today's most urgent ecological conversations, from vanishing green spaces to pollution and the importance of community action. 'Environmental awareness shouldn't wait until secondary school,' says author Debbie Bartlett. 'We need to begin early, and we need to begin gently. Children understand more than we give them credit for—they just need to be invited into the conversation.' In the story, Mother Nature awakens to find the Earth struggling; trees cut down, wildlife displaced, and rivers clogged with waste. Beside her, Papa Planet watches in sorrow. Together, they reach out to the one group often overlooked in climate solutions: children. The result is a poetic, metaphor-rich journey that celebrates the power of small voices and shared responsibility. What sets this book apart is its grounding in real-world action. Before publishing her first children's title, Debbie Bartlett founded Litter-Free Felixstowe, a grassroots organisation uniting schools, families, and local businesses in a shared mission to protect public spaces. Her efforts earned her Suffolk's Green Hero Award and the admiration of Sir David Attenborough, who personally called her to thank her for taking action. Now, through Mother Nature's Letter, Bartlett brings her experience into classrooms and homes, blending storytelling with social purpose. The book is already being praised by teachers for its curriculum relevance, encouraging letter-writing, environmental literacy, and active citizenship. It is also aligned with the values behind many school-wide eco initiatives and assemblies. 'Children are not just the inheritors of our environmental decisions,' Bartlett says. 'They are participants, right now, with the creativity and empathy to help change course.' 'Mother Nature's Letter' is now available for purchase via Amazon and major retailers. To arrange author interviews, school visits, or review copies, please contact Woodbridge Publishers at [email protected] About the Author 'Debbie Bartlett' is an environmental educator, author, and founder of Litter-Free Felixstowe. Her community-driven work has impacted schools, councils, and national campaigns in the logistics industry. Mother Nature's Letter is her third children's book, following Just One Child and Just One World, both of which have been sold internationally. Ronan Veyne Woodbridge Press email us here Visit us on social media: Instagram Facebook X Other Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content 'as is' without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Full of drama and compassion: The best Children's books out now - Frank The Pizza by Eoin Mclaughlin, The Dawn Of Adonis by Phil Earle, The Other Girl by Emily Barr
Frank The Pizza by Eoin Mclaughlin, illustrated by Mike Byrne (HarperCollins £7.99, 32pp) Frank is a little slice of pizza, desperate to make friends but when you're delicious it's hard – some people want to meet you, others want to eat you. So when he's invited to Billy's birthday party, his parents try to protect him by topping him with anchovies and olives. No one likes him, until he meets Frances the cupcake whose parents have topped her with equally uninviting beetroot icing and they make such good friends they become overconfident and take risks that almost result in disaster. This scrumptious story has a gentle message but is also full of fun and plenty of opportunity for arguing about best pizza toppings. Who doesn't like olives? Age 3+. The Dawn Of Adonis by Phil Earle (Andersen Press £7.99, 240pp) Earle's multi-award winning When The Sky Falls introduced us to Adonis, a silverback gorilla kept in a London zoo during the Second World War. But how did he get there? This stand-alone prequel follows young Toff Squabble, assistant to the evil criminal Goliath Deeds who smells money in the illegal trade of exotic animals. When a baby gorilla is born in the backstreets of the docks, Toff seeks help from a vet and his brave daughter Nettie, who fights to rescue the vulnerable infant from Deeds' wicked plans. Set in 1911, this richly atmospheric adventure, full of drama, compassion and a brutal portrait of the city's dark underbelly, confirms Earle as a master of his craft. Age 9+ The Other Girl by Emily Barr (Penguin £9.99, 368pp) This twisty young adult thriller will keep you guessing until the surprising end. Rich, disturbed teenage Tabbi is headed for a rehab clinic in Switzerland after doing something terrible when drunk. When she meets runaway broke backpacker Ruby on a train, she persuades her to swap identities for six weeks, promising her that she's headed for a luxury hotel in the mountains, all expenses paid. But as Tabbi tries to survive without her credit card, she starts to wonder if Ruby is as innocent as she seemed. Who is conning who? There's a few improbable moments but the double-crossing, dual narrative and unfolding secrets propel you forward at high speed. Age 13+
New York Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Two New Picture Books About the Transformative Power of Language
'On a mild autumn morning, Oscar was doing his daily digging when he discovered a magnificent wooden chest.' Does this opening sentence raise questions in the mind of an adult reader? It certainly does. But even if you pause briefly to ask why Oscar digs every day — and whether child protective services should be alerted — the attractive picture book A CHEST FULL OF WORDS (NorthSouth, 48 pp., $19.95, ages 4 to 8), by the frequent collaborators Rebecca Gugger and Simon Röthlisberger, soon sweeps you along. Because what Oscar finds in this long-buried chest is a tangled treasure of words — and they are, intriguingly, quite fancy words at that, such as bulbous, docile and featherlight. Wow. As Oscar begins to apply these adjectives to objects in his vicinity, the reader stops asking pitiful irrelevant questions and falls into the habit of pointing at an illustration and matching it to a single delightfully descriptive word. 'That lighthouse is fuchsia,' you say proudly. 'And that bear is winged.' If I were to apply adjectives to Oscar, I would describe him as practical and perhaps worryingly-adept-with-tools, but also, crucially, teachable. When he opens the chest, he is at first disappointed, as he had hoped for something cool, like a slice of pink cake or a diamond. Attempting to make the best of the situation, he extracts the word fluorescent and tries playing with it, but it's no fun at all, so he airily tosses it into a shrub and walks off. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Shakedown
There are spoilers ahead. You might want to solve today's puzzle before reading further! Shakedown Constructor: Larry Snyder Editor: Jared Goudsmit CAT SPA (1A: Place where toygers are pampered) A toyger is a breed of CAT with a striped coat similar to a tiger. My CAT, Willow, who is a calico, not a toyger, would likely not be a fan of a trip to a CAT SPA. To be fair, she's pretty pampered at home. In this photo she's sitting on my lap demanding a cuddle, even though I am supposed to be working. NO BUENO (14A: Faux Spanish for "Not good") In Spanish, one would say "NO está BUENO," or "NO es BUENO," to indicate something is not good. RECIPE (15A: "Jump to ___" (food blog button)) Having perused a number of food blogs, I am grateful for the "Jump to RECIPE" button that allows me to start cooking when I'm not in the mood to read all of the backstory. LAKES (17A: Como and Ontario, for two) LAKE Como is located in Lombardy, Italy at the foot of the Alps. LAKE Ontario is the easternmost of the Great LAKES, located on the Canada - United States border. CARLE (18A: "The Grouchy Ladybug" author Eric) The Grouchy Ladybug is a 1977 children's book by Eric CARLE. The story follows the titular character's search for an animal large enough to be worth fighting. The size of the book's pages increase as the ladybug encounters bigger animals. Eric CARLE also wrote The Very Hungry Caterpillar. NIGERIA (20A: Benin's neighbor) NIGERIA and Benin are countries in West Africa. NIGERIA is located east of Benin. The capital of NIGERIA is Abuja, and the capital of Benin is Porto-Novo. ROOFS (36A: They cover top stories?) If this clue did not have a question mark, the answer might be journalists. The question mark, however, indicates there is an element of (possibly tricky) wordplay happening. The answer is ROOFS, which literally cover the top stories of buildings. PETER (39A: "Wicked" actor Dinklage) In the movie Wicked (2024), PETER Dinklage voices Dr. Dillamond, a talking goat who teaches history at Shiz University. EVA (53A: Broadway star Noblezada) EVA Noblezada's Broadway roles have included Kim in Miss Saigon, Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby, and Eurydice in Hadestown. As I mentioned the other day, EVA Noblezada is currently playing Sally Bowles in Cabaret on Broadway. O'HARA (58A: Actress Catherine) Catherine O'HARA is known for her portrayal of Moira Rose in the sitcom Schitt's Creek (2015-2020). She won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for that role. UNICORN (62A: National animal of Scotland) It's true, the national animal of Scotland is the legendary UNICORN. The UNICORN has been a heraldic symbol of the country since the 12th century. OBOE (8D: Orchestra-tuning instrument) I have previously written about the OBOE being the instrument used to tune orchestras. My husband and I attended an orchestra concert last weekend, and I made a point of listening for the OBOE's tuning pitch. MERCI (10D: "Arigato" in French) "Arigatō" is a Japanese word meaning "thank you." In French, the word for "thank you" is "MERCI." Many people are familiar with the phrase, "Dōmo arigatō, Mr. Roboto" ("Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto"), from the 1983 Styx song "Mr. Roboto." HARVEY MILK (16D: Politician and LGBTQ+ activist who said "Hope will never be silent") HARVEY MILK was California's first openly gay elected official. He was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. Eleven months into his term, HARVEY MILK and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by a disgruntled city supervisor. CETERA (18D: The "c" in etc.) The abbreviation "etc." stands for the two-word Latin expression "et CETERA," which means "and other things." ALOO (24D: ___ chokha (potato dish)) ALOO chokha is a potato dish in Indian cuisine. It consists of mashed potatoes mixed with chopped chilies, onion, salt, and mustard oil. REDS (34D: Sangiovese, merlot, etc.) Sangiovese and merlot are two varieties of grapes used to make RED wine. The word "Sangiovese" is derived from the Latin phrase for "blood of Jupiter." The name "Merlot" is derived from the French name for "blackbird," thought to be a reference to the color of Merlot grapes. SZA (37D: "Saturn" singer) "Saturn" is the lead single from SZA's 2024 album Lana. "Saturn" won a Grammy Award for Best R&B song. EGOT (57D: Award quartet for John Legend) EGOT is an acronym for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards. John Legend achieved EGOT status in 2018 when he won an Emmy Award (his first; he now has six) for Outstanding Variety Special (Live) for Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert. John Legend also has 13 Grammy Awards, an Oscar (Academy Award) for Best Original Song (2015) for "Glory" from Selma, and a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play (2017) for Jitney. ONO (65D: "Starpeace" singer Yoko) Starpeace is a concept album by Yoko ONO. It was released in 1985 as a message of peace in opposition to Ronald Reagan's "Star Wars" missile defense system. A few other clues I especially enjoyed: HOLOGRAM (16A: 3D image in many a sci-fi film) TREE (35D: Word after word"family" or "Christmas") IDIOM (50D: "Cut corners," e.g.) SCIENCE FAIR (4D: School exhibition with experiments) HARVEY MILK (16D: Politician and LGBTQ+ activist who said "Hope will never be silent") GIVE ME A HAND (22D: "Little help, please") SHAKEDOWN: The last word of each vertical (DOWN) answer can be paired with the word SHAKE: FAIR SHAKE, MILKSHAKE, and HANDSHAKE. I'm going to be honest; I'm a fan of any puzzle that makes me think I might need to have a MILKSHAKE. I also enjoy seeing SCIENCE FAIR as a theme answer. Hooray for SCIENCE (literally) in the crossword! Thank you, Larry, for this excellent puzzle. USA TODAY's Daily Crossword Puzzles Sudoku & Crossword Puzzle Answers This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Crossword Blog & Answers for May 24, 2025 by Sally Hoelscher
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Me, My Mom, and Paddington
When passengers first arrive on a train into central London, many are greeted by the ornate, towering clock face of St. Pancras International or the abstract modern dome of King's Cross. Paddington Station, three miles down the road, however, shares little of its bigger sisters' pomp. Its large iron and glass roof was probably impressive in the 1850s when it was first built, but today the station feels largely utilitarian, a forgotten relic of the city's industrial past. Despite its humble design, though, Paddington Station is a special place for me. If you wind across its tile floors, past the waiting trains, and through the hurried crowds towards its westernmost platform, you'll find, hanging on the wall, a large three-faced clock. Beneath it, sitting atop a rectangular suitcase, is a small bronze statue of a bear. Paddington Bear. Along with being Britain's most famous mammal, Paddington has, over the years, become an important part of my relationship with my mom. For the uninitiated, Paddington is an iconic figure in British culture and the main character in 29 children's books and three movies. The stories follow the small, orphaned bear as he travels from 'Darkest Peru' to London—sent there by his guardian, Aunt Lucy, when she moves into the Home for Retired Bears and can no longer care for him. After arriving at Paddington Station alone and in need of help, he is rescued by the Browns, a typical British family who bring him into their home and teach him the ins and outs of life in England. Paddington's experience in London isn't easy; the city isn't as sunny and the people aren't as welcoming as they sounded in the stories he was told as a cub. 'It's not easy being somewhere new,' Paddington tells Lucy, the Brown family's daughter, in the first Paddington film. 'Things can be very different from how you imagined.' But over time, Paddington finds a family in the Browns and a home away from home in London. The love my mom and I share for Paddington began in 2018 when, on the eve of my own departure to London for a college semester abroad, we watched both films—the first at home, and the second at a theater on opening night. By the time the credits rolled, my mom was crying. It had been a difficult time for our family—first, my sister and I had left for college, then a year after that, my father had died of cancer. And now, I was leaving again, even further away. For both of us, the films were a picture of the new friends and experiences that, even after hardship, an adventure in England could bring. But it was several years later when I returned to London—this time with a one-way ticket—that Paddington took on a deeper meaning. During my five months as an exchange student in London, I had become enamored with the city and promised myself that, one day, I'd make it a home. Three years later, that promise would be fulfilled. After two unsatisfying years working for a bank in the United States, I was accepted into a political economy master's program at King's College London. The program offered me a chance to pursue a career I found more meaningful, and—more importantly—would let me live and work in London. However, like Paddington, my move to London was not what I imagined. Only three weeks before my move, I had been diagnosed with a chronic pain condition that had quickly taken over every aspect of my life. I struggled to eat, could barely sleep, and found it almost impossible to spend more than an hour at a time outside of my home. While the condition was not life-threatening, it was poorly understood, difficult to treat, and, for many people, completely disabling. Despite the pain, the thought of abandoning my move to London was out of the question. I would find some way to get through it, my mom assured me, even though we weren't entirely sure how. But, by the time I boarded my one-way flight to England, I was at the lowest point in my life—both physically and mentally. I needed support more than ever, and I was on my way to a country where not a single person even knew my name. When I arrived at Paddington Station, like the small bear from Darkest Peru, I arrived alone and in desperate need of a family. By then, I didn't think it would be possible for me to stay in London for long, let alone excel in school, make friends, or engage with the city. Physically, I felt hopeless. My pain was worsening day after day, and I was pouring what little energy I had into navigating a new and inept medical system that seemed determined to give me as few treatment options as possible. The mental side was even worse. Anyone who has experienced chronic illness or a life-altering accident has likely felt something similar. We all have a vision of what we hope our lives will look like—building a career, getting married, and raising a family. But in an instant, that paradigm can shift. Your foundational assumptions about who you are and what you value shatter, and the future becomes a very murky and uncertain space. It's an uncomfortable, and lonely, place to be. The experience was also harrowing for my mom. She was sending her kid across the ocean, not knowing what awaited me on the other side, and for the first time in her life, she was helpless to give me the support I needed. She felt, she said when I asked her, a bit like how Aunt Lucy felt when she hid Paddington on a ship destined for England, hoping that someone would be there to take care of him on the other side. In the stories, when Aunt Lucy says goodbye to Paddington, she hangs a small paper tag around his neck, scrawled with the words 'Please look after this bear.' The tag is inspired by those given to the thousands of British children who, during the Second World War, were evacuated from London into small towns and villages where they would be better protected from the falling bombs of the Luftwaffe. 'Long ago, people in England sent their children by train with labels around their necks, so they could be taken care of by complete strangers in the countryside where it was safe,' Aunt Lucy tells Paddington. 'They will not have forgotten how to treat strangers.' Those words, 'Please look after this bear,' took on a special meaning for my mom as I crossed the ocean to start my own life in London. There were things that I would need—support, care, a family—that she could no longer give me. Instead, she was sending me off with faith that someone would do what she could not. 'That little tag was like my prayer,' my mom told me later. 'God, please look after this bear. I'm sending this kid off to this far away place where I can't reach him.' On her first trip to visit me in London, my mom bought two Paddington Bears: a small stuffed bear and a keychain. The stuffed bear she placed on the long wooden mantel in my bedroom, and the keychain she kept for herself. The symbolism was unspoken—but we both understood it. During the many nights when my pain kept me from sleep, I would stare at that bear as a reminder that, even though I was far from home, not a second went by that my mom wasn't thinking of me 4,000 miles away. If the worst came to worst—if I had to leave London, return home, even go on disability—she would be there for me. But worst didn't come to worst, and eventually, my mom's prayers were answered. Paddington's family came in the form of the Browns, and mine came in the form of a church. One Sunday morning, I wandered through the doors of a brown-bricked schoolhouse in the South London neighborhood of Waterloo, where a small nondenominational congregation met each week. The room was full of young Londoners from every corner of the world—American and Canadian runaways, a pack of adventurous Singaporeans, and more South Africans than anyone could count. I couldn't predict it at the time, but over the following two and a half years, those people would become my family. They took me in as one of their own and walked with me through the ups and downs of illness and recovery. They prayed with me, cried with me, celebrated with me, and changed me. They became close lifelong friends. They, at least, had not forgotten how to treat strangers. When I arrived at Paddington Station, the first moments of my time in London, I was at my lowest—wrecked by illness and anxious about my future. But when I stepped on the same platform several years later to leave the city—once again, with a one-way ticket—I did so with a master's degree in hand, dozens of new friends, and some of the best memories of my life. None of that would have been possible without my mom and without the foundation of love she provided me. It was because I knew she was there for me that I even had it in me to build a new family in a new country. It was her love—not just during that period, but for the 23 years leading up to it—that carried me through that time. Last month, my mom flew to Washington, D.C., for a weekend visit. It's been a year and a half since I left London to start a new adventure with The Dispatch, and almost two years since my illness went into a miraculous remission. While she was in town, we had dinner at Amazonia, a wonderful Peruvian restaurant. And then we went to see the latest Paddington movie, Paddington in Peru. In the film, Paddington returns to South America—with the Browns in tow—in search of Aunt Lucy, who has mysteriously disappeared from the Home for Retired Bears. Paddington and the Browns trek through the Peruvian rainforest, following Aunt Lucy's trail all the way to the gates of El Dorado. The mythical lost city turns out to be Paddington's long-lost home—full of oranges, not gold—and there he reconnects with the community of bears he was separated from as a cub. The movie was bittersweet for my mom. Paddington, after all, doesn't choose to stay in Peru with Aunt Lucy and his given family. Instead, he sets back off to England. London is his home now, and the Browns are the family he's chosen. That's a tension, my mom tells me, that every parent feels. You want nothing more than for your kid to never grow up, to live in your house forever, and to be somewhere you can always take care of them. But at the same time, you want them to go out into the world to build a family of their own, to build a home away from home, supported by the foundation that you gave them. Paddington's experience, like mine and my mom's, may have been unique in its intensity, but it wasn't unique in its direction. Every mother and her child will, at some point, face something similar. You raise your kid, prepare them for the world, and then send them out to make their own way, trusting that others will love and care for them just like you have. In some way, every kid eventually gets on a boat to somewhere—and each one of us has a little tag, a little prayer, hanging around our neck, tied there by our mom: 'Please look after this bear.' Happy Mother's Day.
