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Blog postFor Children's Book Week, Mims House is featuring British children's book illustrator Peter Willis.
Mims House Goes International - Korean Translations Publishing This Year How many languages are Peter Willis’s book translated into? See the Answer below.
Smackdown! Can artificial intelligence defeat humans? In 2016, a contest was set up to test the answer to this. Lee Sedol, the world champion GO player went up against the British-designed artificial intelligence, AlphaG -
Blog postTo celebrate Children’s Book Week 2022, Mims House is featuring the books by Peter Willis.
ILLUSTRATORS DO OTHER ART WORK, TOO! Books are only a part of British children's book illustrator Peter Willis’s art. With 30 years as a graphic designer, he creates advertising materials for a wide variety of companies.
Here’s some of Peter’s design work as a graphic designer. He does logos, billboards, magazines, advertisements, and more.
And here’s a recent painting.
W -
Blog postFor Children's Book Week, we are featuring British illustrator, Peter Willis.
Speaking of cities, Peter Willis likes to draw buildings from specific cities, such as Brooklyn, Paris, London, Berlin, and Amsterdam. In Pollen, he shows Charles Darwin’s 1862 home, Down House. Always, Peter looks for historical images of the story’s setting, trying to make sure the image is accurate; however, he brings his own artistic style to the art.
Peter brings this artistic sense -
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Blog postSTEP INTO PETER WILLIS'S STUDIO British children's book illustrator Peter Willis is Mims House Books’ featured illustrator for Children’s Book Week 2022
When you feel creative, do you want a space alone by yourself? Or do you want to work in middle of everything? What do you think Peter Willis likes?
ASK PETER WILLIS Q: Do you have a studio where you work?
No, I don’t! I work on my kitchen table at home in Newcastle. I like a lot of noise around me when I’m work -
Blog postWILLIS USES DIGITAL COLLAGE When Illustrator Peter Willis created this image (page 32 of THE NANTUCKET SEA MONSTER) he used individual digital files, creating a digital collage. Can you guess how many individual files went into making this image? (See the answer below.)
British artist Peter Willis is one of Mims House’s most exciting illustrators, with an impressive record of awards. We decided to feature his work this week during Children’s Book Week 2022 (CBW 2022) Are you doing a -
Blog postWhen Nobel Prize winning scientist was working on possible cures for malaria, she turned to traditional Chinese medicine for inspiration. One text that she returned to over and over was Handbook prescriptions for first aid, written by Ge Hong. Today, we want to explore this early philosopher who was looking for a medicine that would give immortality.
Ge Hong: Philosopher, Soldier, and Alchemist The philosopher Ge Hong (283-343 or possible 364) lived during the period of Disu -
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Blog postSchool Library Journal Recommends Book for APA Heritage Month We are thrilled that the School Library Journal has included FEVER: How Tu Youyou Adapted Traditional Chinese Medicine to Find a Cure for Malaria in an article about children's Nonfiction Titles for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.
SLJ says, "...engaging story..."
Booklist says, "...inspiring and triumphant..."
LEARN MORE! Use this code for 10% discount: MIMS10 See also:
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Blog postMosquitos! They can be little pests, but they’ve caused lots of scientific breakthroughs! But how do mosquitoes come to be? Let’s find out!
All mosquitoes have four basic cycles- egg, larva, pupa, and adult. The life cycle typically takes up to two weeks, but depending on different conditions, can range from four days up to a month. Imagine growing up that quickly! The first three cycles are spent in the water, while the adults actively fly.
Only the females bite and suc -
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Blog postPretend you’re a kid walking into your school’s library. Now, pretend you have the task of choosing a good book. Information overload takes over and in fact, the overwhelming number of books could mean you’d freeze up and choose nothing.
In a recent survey on MimsHouseBooks.com, teachers were asked, “What is the biggest challenge you face when you try to get kids to read more books?” Not surprisingly, 38% said kids don’t have enough time. Kids are scheduled with sports, electronics co -
Blog postMims Books Children's Book Week Challenge #5: Humanities or Social Studies Read a true fake-news story. Learn about the role and responsibility of a free press. Today the Children's Book Week reading challenge is to read some humanities books. Say what? What are the humanities, anyway? It’s the study of humans and includes topics such as English, foreign languages. history, art history, religion, philosophy, regional studies, or ethnic studies. In short, it’s a very broad look at social stud
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Blog postMims Books Children's Book Week Challenge #4: The Arts Creativity through drama.
Visual and performing arts is the focus of the next #SuperPowerReading challenge for Children's Book Week. The reading list includes biographies of artists, books about certain art pieces, and books about drama.
WHEN KITTENS GO VIRAL is set in a world where cats have a cat-to-human speech translator. Because of this, they control their own video production and started KittyTube. The kitten -
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Blog postMims Books Children's Book Week Challenge #3: Science & STEM Books Sometimes science takes a long time!
It’s time to challenge kids to read some nonfiction - Science & STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) books!
Mims House has two books on the Children’s Book Week Science and STEM Booklist!
A Little Bit of Dinosaur received a starred Kirkus review: “…entertaining tale… A science-centric winner, especially for young dinosau -
Blog postMims Books Children's Book Week Challenge #2: Environment & Climate Books Learn About Wildlife Corridors Remember that we need to encourage kids to read widely while in elementary school! Today’s SuperPower Reading Challenge is to read books about the environment.
Scientists today use corridors to help species survive. A wildlife corridor is like a hallway between two habitats. The habitat might be a stand of woods or a swamp. The corridor lets individual animals travel back and -
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Blog postChildren’s Book Week, May 3-9, is marking its 101st year of celebrating kids and reading. Since 1944, the Children’s Book Council (CBC) has lead the celebration, with an online home at EveryChildAReader.net. The CBC has created some super resources to get kids involved in reading. Mims House Books (MimsHouseBooks.com) is thrilled that six of our books are included in the celebration.
2021 Theme: READING IS A SUPERPOWER! “Because they grow into the books they read.” We need to en -
Blog postEarth Day on April 22 began in 1970 as a way to bring attention to the growing environmental movement. Since then, 193 countries join in yearly to bring people together to discuss our blue planet and its future.
One important aspect of Earth Day is educating kids about the importance of taking care of the planet. In that spirit, we offer these Mims House Books for you to share with kids this year.
American Environmentalist - Hugh Bennett During the Great Depression of the -
Blog postClang: Ernst Chladni's Sound Experiments
Book 2, Moments in Science
Scientists are often misunderstood in their home towns. They care about odd things, work on strange projects, and talk about weird ideas. In their pursuit of truth, they often found themselves without many friends.
In search of peers, scientists often needed to cross international borders. At home, they look like nerds; but within the context of worldwide scientists, they were normal.
Sound Scientist -
Blog postPOLLEN: Darwin's 130-Year Prediction
Book 3, Moments in Science Sometimes, science takes a long time.
On January 25, 1862, Charles Darwin received a box of orchids. It was the beginning of a long journey toward answers. One of the orchids, the Madagascar star orchid, intrigued him. Darwin knew a lot about orchids and could name most of the orchids in the box. But he had to write to his friend to find out the scientific name of this one. The orchid had an 11” long nectary, the l -
Blog postBurn: Michael Faraday's Candle
Book 1, Moments in Science Series
On December 28, 1848, Michael Faraday gave a scientific lecture to juveniles (kids). He called the lecture, “The Chemical History of a Candle.” British scientist Faraday is known as a superb experimenter, able to set up and conduct experiments. He always asked, “What is the cause? Why does it occur?”
Michael Faraday is consistently on lists of the Top 10 Scientists. He’s most famous for his work in electro- -
Blog postEclipse: How the 1919 Solar Eclipse Proved Einstein's Theory of General Relativity
Moments in Science, Book 4
Observing Phenomenon in the Sky Look up! The stars, sun and moon are fascinating to watch—and to study. Accoding to the NextGen Science Standards, kids start observing the skies in first grade “to describe patterns that can be predicted.” Sunrise, sunset, the movement of stars during a night and over seasons—the solar system is in constant movement.
One fascinatin -
Blog postWe're very excited to announce that our children's nonfiction picture book, EROSION: How Hugh Bennett Saved America's Soil and Stopped the Dust Bowl has been named a 2021 Notable Social Studies Book by the Children's Book Council and the National Council for Social Studies.
Science + History = Social Studies This is Book 5 of the Moments in Science series, which chooses moments when science changes significantly in some way.
EROSION discusses the events of the 1920s -
Blog postWisdom, the Midway Albatross, is the oldest known wild bird in the world. At over 69 years old, here's the most amazing thing: she's about to hatch a new chick!
Banded in 1956 On Dec. 10, 1956, ornithologist (bird scientist) Chandler Robbins banded 99 Laysan albatrosses in the ‘downtown’ area of Sand Island, Midway. 50 years later, Robbins returned to Midway and caught one of these birds again. They assumed she was at least five years old when banded since she was nesting and these bi -
Blog postThis fall will be one of the most unique school years ever!
That's an understatement.
Are you going to be teaching online? Or, as a parent, are you trying to figure out the whole digital learning scene?
eBooks - The Time Has Come Now is the time to give kids an ebook.
But how?
Mims House ebooks are available for any device. ANY device.
iBooks and Kindles are easy. But what if you have a Chromebook?
We tested and tested and tested -
Blog postThe post How to Set up an Online Bookstore appeared first on Fiction Notes.
As an indie publisher, I rely on the POD (Print on Demand) printers. Many indies make most of their money from ebook sales. But for children’s books, the market has consistently been print-driven with only 10-25% of income from ebooks. That can vary widely, as some authors do very well on the Kindle Unlimited platform. Continue Reading
The post How to Set up an Online Bookstore appeared first on F -
Blog postReports of a Sea Monster! In August, 1937 newspapers across the nation reported that a sea monster had been sighted off Nantucket Island. It was actually a balloon for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and the whole thing was a publicity stunt. Amazingly, the newspapermen knew it was fake, and yet went along with it.
On August 7, 1937–exactly 80 years ago–the Nantucket Island Inquirer and Mirror newspaper led with a startling headline:
A Sea Monster | Bill Manville Says He Saw O -
Blog postGrowing up, I wanted to be an astronaut. Sadly someone once told me that you couldn’t be an astronaut if you had ever broken an arm because it was more likely to break again, and that could be tragic if you were in space. At ten-years-old, I broke my right arm, and my childhood dream died.
Fortunately, in sixth grade, I read Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card and Lord of the Rings (LOTR) by J.R.R. Tolkein (my generation’s equivalent of Harry Potter). Science fiction, with its emphasis o -
Blog postAudiobook narrators are a special breed of actors. They make the written word come alive with their voice alone. Unlike theater or movie actors, you don't see their movements or facial expressions. It's their voice alone that fascinates.
MEET AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR: JOSIAH JOHN BILDNER Today, we'll interview one of our favorite audiobook narrators, Josiah John Bildner.
When you narrate or read a story for an audiobook, how is it different from when you just read a story to your ki -
Blog postThe post When Will a Self-Published Book Win a Major Book Award? appeared first on Fiction Notes.
Dear Librarians who serve on one of the ALA Youth Media Awards committees (Newbery, Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Michael L. Printz, Schneider Family, Alex, Mildred L. Batchelder, Odyssey, Pura Belpré, Robert F. Siebert, Excellence in Early Learning Digital Media, Stonewall, Theodor Seuss Geisel, William C. Morris, YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults, Co -
Blog postThe post Indie Means Indie appeared first on Fiction Notes.
Smashwords’ Mark Coker is sounding the alarm about indie publishers (those who write and publish their own works—let’s get the terminology right–it’s INDIE publishers, not the deprecating “self-published”) relying too much on Amazon. I agree with Coker. Two and half years ago, I started advertising on Amazon’s AMS platform. It doubled my sales. But then, Continue Reading
The post Indie Means Indie appeared first -
Blog postThe post Control Or Creativity? appeared first on Fiction Notes.
Who’s in control of the publishing process? Once the contract is signed, does the author have any say in what happens to the story? Traditional contracts specify that the publishing company will publish as they see fit. In other words, control is given to the publisher by the contract. One criticism of indie authors is Continue Reading
The post Control Or Creativity? appeared first on Fiction Notes.
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Blog postThe post The Wayfinder: YA Fantasy appeared first on Fiction Notes.
READ A FREE HEARTLAND TALES SHORT STORY: CLICK HERE The Wayfinder was my first published novel, 2000 Greenwillow/Harpercollins. I remember where I was when I heard the news that someone wanted to publish this manuscript. I was with my oldest daughter, Sara, at a local mall. I had to use a pay phone to call the editor back, Standing there in the hallway, near the mall office, the pay phone was noisy.
The Hea -
Blog postThe post AudioBooks are Growing: Listen Up! appeared first on Fiction Notes.
Audiobook sales are on the rise, which means indie or self-published authors need to pay attention.
Goodereader reports that audiobooks are the fastest growing digital segment of book publishing in 2017. 26% of the US population has listened to an audiobook in the last year, creating a $2.5 billion market. PW reports that audiobook sales jumped 22.7% in 2017. Other reports say that the children’s book -
Blog postThe post Christmas, Self-Publishing & Self-Editing: Book Reviews and Software Review appeared first on Fiction Notes.
Book reviews and a software review. Are you books ready for the Christmas shopping season? Do you need information on self-publishing options? Or do you need to improve your self-editing skills? Today, I’ll review a couple books and a software program. BOOK REVIEW: 50 Ways to Sell a Sleigh-Load of Books: Proven Marketing Strategies to Continue Reading
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Blog postThe post Author Newsletters appeared first on Fiction Notes.
Author newsletters are crucial, whether you’re an indie author or not. But for Indies, your newsletter could make or break your business. This blog, Fiction Notes, has been going since 2008 (Yes! 10 years of archives! So search for topics!) My approach to author newsletters has been to sign up folks to get new blog Continue Reading
The post Author Newsletters appeared first on Fiction Notes.
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Blog postThe post Word Choices for Picture Books: Two by Two by Wordsmith Lisa Stauffer appeared first on Fiction Notes.
Word Choices: Getting Granular With Read-Aloud Books Guest post by Lisa Lowe Stauffer
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Twice I’ve had the opportunity to participate in Darcy Pattison’s Novel Metamorphosis retreat.
Although I gained a lot of great tips a -
Blog postThe post Book Distribution 2018 appeared first on Fiction Notes.
Book Distribution 2018 Book distribution, where your books are connecting with people, is a crucial decision for selling books. If a reader hears about your book and they try to buy it in their favorite format from their favorite store/vendor, it must be available. That means you should know where your customer shops. Children’s librarians Continue Reading
The post Book Distribution 2018 appeared first on Fi
Titles By Darcy Pattison
Start Your Novel: Six Winning Steps Toward a Compelling Opening Line, Scene and Chapter
May 23, 2013
$4.99
Other Formats:
Paperback
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