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Posts Tagged ‘kids’

Story of Precocious Ballerina Sparks Joie de Vivre in the Hearts of Young Readers

Story of Precocious Ballerina Sparks Joie de Vivre in the Hearts of Young Readers

(This press release may be reprinted in part or entirety by any print or broadcast media outlet, or used by any means of social media sharing.)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

With a turn of her tutu and a playful plié, precocious 6-year-old ballerina Lilly Nilly dances her way into readers’ hearts with a joie de vivre that will entertain and inspire kids and adults alike in the delightful new children’s book, Pardon My French – It’s the Language of Ballet: The Adventures of Lilly Nilly.

From the creative mind of real-life former NYC-based dancer and choreographer Nancy Paris, Pardon My French takes young readers inside the mind of a spunky, determined young dance student whose self-appointed mission is to figure out what the heck ballet –– and coincidentally life –– are all about.

Lilly Nilly sees the world in a unique way and delivers her humorous, offbeat observations with childlike honesty. She wears her curiosity on her sleeve and asks burning questions like, “Why can’t you hang upside down on a ballet barre if it looks just like an ordinary bar?” Or, “If you’re going to travel in a carpool, should you wear a bathing suit?”

“Young readers will find Lilly’s stories funny and very relatable, especially if they are ballet students themselves,” Paris said. “Adults will find her sharp wit and strong-willed spirit a charming reminder of just how empowering a joyful approach to life can be.”

Pardon My French – It’s the Language of Ballet is complete with illustrations that only Lilly Nilly could have drawn — with a little help from Paris, of course, who used her own experiences as a professional dancer and teacher to inform her narrative. Her mission, Paris said, is to encourage all readers to trust their instincts, seek their own answers, and be kind to all.

“I want people to know that although it was written as a children’s book, I always had an adult audience in mind,” Paris added. “And — it’s funny!”

Author Nancy Paris is an alumna of The Juilliard School and has performed professionally across the U.S. and Canada. As a dancemaker, she has choreographed industrials and private events in New York City, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Palm Springs and Puerto Rico. Most of the incidents in her stories are based on personal experience, with the names changed to protect the innocent.

Paris lives in Manhattan with her husband, Charles Yurick, and loves writing and drawing because she can do it sitting down! Pardon My French is the first of at least three books in The Adventures of Lilly Nilly series.

For more information, please visit www.lillynilly.com, or connect with Paris on Facebook at @adventures.of.lilly.nilly.

Pardon My French – It’s the Language of Ballet: The Adventures of Lilly Nilly
ISBN-10: ‎ 0578316889
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0578316888
Available from Amazon.com

Trish Stevens
Julie Henderson
Ascot Media Group, Inc.
Post Office Box 2394
Friendswood, TX 77549
[email protected]
www.ascotmedia.com
281.333.3507 Phone

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All the World’s a Stage for Precocious Ballerina Lilly Nilly

All the World’s a Stage for Precocious Ballerina Lilly Nilly

(This press release may be reprinted in part or entirety by any print or broadcast media outlet, or used by any means of social media sharing.)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Enter the mind of spunky and precocious 6-year-old Lilly Nilly in the delightful new children’s book, Pardon My French – It’s the Language of Ballet: The Adventures of Lilly Nilly, from author/illustrator and former NYC-based dancer and choreographer Nancy Paris.

Lilly Nilly is a wickedly smart, determined young dance student whose self-appointed mission is to figure out what the heck ballet –– and coincidentally life –– are all about. She sees the world in a unique way, wears her curiosity on her sleeve, and approaches life with a joie de vivre that kids and adults alike will find entertaining and inspiring. In her musings, Lilly asks burning questions like, “Why can’t you hang upside down on a ballet barre if it looks just like an ordinary bar?” Or, “If you’re going to travel in a carpool, should you wear a bathing suit?”

“Young readers will find Lilly’s stories funny and very relatable, especially if they are ballet students themselves,” Paris said. “Adults will find her sharp wit and strong-willed spirit a charming reminder of just how empowering a joyful approach to life can be.”

Pardon My French – It’s the Language of Ballet is complete with illustrations that only Lilly Nilly could have drawn — with a little help from Paris, of course, who used her own experiences as a professional dancer and teacher to inform her narrative. Her mission, Paris said, is to encourage all readers to trust their instincts, seek their own answers, and be kind to all.

“I want people to know that although it was written as a children’s book, I always had an adult audience in mind,” Paris added. “And — it’s funny!”

Author Nancy Paris is an alumna of The Juilliard School and has performed professionally across the U.S. and Canada. As a dancemaker, she has choreographed industrials and private events in New York City, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Palm Springs and Puerto Rico. Most of the incidents in her stories are based on personal experience, with the names changed to protect the innocent.

Paris lives in Manhattan with her husband, Charles Yurick, and loves writing and drawing because she can do it sitting down! Pardon My French is the first of at least three books in The Adventures of Lilly Nilly series.

For more information, please visit www.lillynilly.com, or connect with Paris on Facebook at @adventures.of.lilly.nilly.

Pardon My French – It’s the Language of Ballet: The Adventures of Lilly Nilly
ISBN-10: ‎ 0578316889
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0578316888
Available from Amazon.com

Trish Stevens
Ascot Media Group, Inc.
Post Office Box 2394
Friendswood, TX 77549
[email protected]
www.ascotmedia.com
281.333.3507 Phone

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World’s No. 1 STEAM Program Launches New STEM/STEAM Book Series

World’s No. 1 STEAM Program Launches New STEM/STEAM Book Series

(This press release may be reprinted in part or entirety by any print or broadcast media outlet or used by any means of social media sharing.)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New Challenge Island chapter book series perfect for fans of The Magic School Bus and Magic Tree House, but with a spectacular, hands-on STEM/STEAM twist!

With 120 franchise locations and a cumulative audience of 5 million children and thousands of schools, Challenge Island has been providing kids with award-winning STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) learning adventures through field trips, afterschool enrichment classes, summer camps, scout workshops and family nights for almost two decades. On National Stem Day (Nov. 8), the magic of the world’s No. 1 STEAM program will combine with the magic of reading to launch the first book in the Challenge Island STEAM book series.

The Bridge to Sharktooth Island: A Challenge Island STEAM Adventure (West Margin Press) is written by award-winning educator Sharon Duke Estroff M.A.T. (founder and CEO of Challenge Island and author of Can I Have a Cell Phone for Hanukkah?, Penguin Random House); and award-winning author Joel Ross (Alley and Rex, Simon & Schuster; Fog Diver, HarperCollins; Beast & Crown, HarperCollins); and illustrated by Monica de Rivas (The Grumbles, Hatchette; Hello, Future Me, Scholastic; Big Bad Wolfsville, HarperCollins).

The Bridge to Sharktooth Island artfully intertwines action-packed fantasy with real-life engineering as cautious Daniel, his brave cousin Joy and their studious new friend Kimani find themselves suddenly stranded on a mysterious island surrounded by sharks. The kids find clues hidden around the island and realize that if they want to escape, they’ll have to work together to build the strongest bridge they can to get to safety! The characters return in the back of the book, where they speak directly and intimately to the reader, sharing engineering tidbits learned during their adventure, cool shark facts from Kimani’s notebook, and fun STEAM activities kids can do at home, including building a bridge, mixing up a blue slime ocean and designing ferocious paper sharks.

Making the Challenge Island book series even more groundbreaking is the fact that readers can experience the same STEAM adventures as the characters in the story in real life, through one of Challenge Island’s 120 franchise locations. For example, on National STEM Day, Stephanie Edwards, owner of Challenge Island Gilbert, AZ, will be running a Bridge to Sharktooth Island book launch celebration and field trip for 350 6th grade students at the American Leadership Academy. Edwards worked closely with the charter school’s leadership to create an unforgettable engineering adventure complete with balloon arches in the gymnasium, a professional photographer and a copy of The Bridge to Sharktooth Island for every student.

“As an educator, an author, a mom, and the creator of the Challenge Island program and curriculum, the release of the first book in the Challenge Island book series is among the proudest moments of my entire career,” says Sharon Duke Estroff, founder and CEO of Challenge Island Global. “But more importantly, I truly believe that this is exactly what kids need in this moment in time. What better way to reignite a child’s love of learning than by turning a beloved STEAM enrichment program into a fantastical new book series? And — for the millions more children who will first come to know Challenge Island inside the pages of this book — to see that magical story come to life, not only in their imaginations, but in the real world!”

To learn more about Challenge Island’s book-related programs, please visit https://challenge-island.com/.

The Bridge to Sharktooth Island: A Challenge Island STEAM Adventure
Release Date: November 2, 2021
Publisher: West Margin Press
ISBN-10: ‎ 1513289535
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1513289533
Available from Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Target.com, Walmart.com and everywhere books are sold

Trish Stevens
Rebecca Brown
Ascot Media Group, Inc.
Post Office Box 2394
Friendswood, TX 77549
[email protected]
www.ascotmedia.com
281.333.3507 Phone

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The Future of Us: What the Dreams of Children Mean for Twenty-First-Century America

The Future of Us: What the Dreams of Children Mean for Twenty-First-Century America

(This press release may be reprinted in part or entirety by any print or broadcast media outlet, or used by any means of social media sharing.)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

His approach is always subtle; his banter is casual and absent any pressure to respond. But when renowned pediatrician and children’s advocate Dr. Irwin Redlener casually asks his young patients, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” the lights invariably come on, eye contact occurs, and the child emerges from deep inside a protective shell. “Children are essentially dreamers … undaunted by adversity or reality-based barriers to success,” Dr. Redlener writes in The Future of Us: What the Dreams of Children Mean for Twenty-First-Century America (with updated information on helping children through the COVID-19 crisis).

Inadequate education, barriers to health care and crushing poverty make it overwhelmingly difficult for many children to realize their dreams. Finding ways to alter these trajectories is serious, grown-up business, Dr. Redlener emphasizes, and it’s time for us to act.

In The Future of Us, Dr. Redlener draws upon his four decades of professional experiences to examine our nation’s health care safety nets and special programs that are designed to protect and nurture our most vulnerable kids, but that too often fail to do so.

The book follows Dr. Redlener’s long, colorful career, from his work as a pediatrician in the Arkansas delta, to treating child abuse in a Miami hospital, to helping children in the aftermaths of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. He has served on the board of USA for Africa, cofounded the Children’s Health Fund with Paul Simon (and persuaded Joan Baez to play a benefit concert) and dined with Fidel Castro. He once sat across the table from Michael Jackson, and he has traveled with presidential candidates. But his most powerful source of motivation remains the children who face terrible adversities yet dream of becoming paleontologists, artists and marine biologists. Their stories are his springboard for discussing larger policy issues that hinder us from effectively eradicating childhood poverty and overcoming barriers to accessible health care. Persistent deprivation and the avoidable problems that accompany poverty ensnare millions of children and impact the health, prosperity and creativity of the adults they become. Dr. Redlener argues that we must drastically change our approach to meeting the needs of children ― for their sake and to ensure America’s resiliency and influence in an increasingly complex world.

It is Dr. Redlener’s hope that readers will emerge optimistic about our future, with a deeper understanding of how investing in children today will increase our chances of a successful tomorrow. Fighting for our nation’s children is far from a lost cause, and nothing could be more important.

Author Irwin Redlener, M.D., is a pediatrician and founding director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, which works to understand and improve the nation’s capacity to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. In 2020, Dr. Redlener created the Pandemic Resource and Response Initiative at Columbia. He is a public health analyst for NBC and MSNBC, and recently partnered with Cher in CherCares, a new program that assists communities struggling with COVID-19.

Dr. Redlener is also President Emeritus and Co-Founder of the Children’s Health Fund, a philanthropic initiative that he created with singer/songwriter Paul Simon and Karen Redlener to develop health care programs in 25 of the nation’s most medically underserved urban and rural communities. He currently serves as a special advisor on emergency preparedness to New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, and regularly communicates with leadership in U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, as well as Homeland Security. He has been a public health advisor to democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden.

He is also the author of Americans at Risk: Why We Are Not Prepared for Megadisasters and What We Can Do Now. For more information, please visit www.irwinredlener.org.

The Future of Us: What the Dreams of Children Mean for Twenty-First-Century America
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Release Date: October 13, 2020
ISBN-10: 0231177577
ISBN-13: 978-0231177573
Available from Amazon.com

Trish Stevens
Judy Frost
Ascot Media Group, Inc.
Post Office Box 2394
Friendswood, TX 77549
[email protected]
www.ascotmedia.com
281.333.3507 Phone

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Both Feet on the Ground Shares Profoundly Therapeutic Benefits Of Immersion In The Natural World

Both Feet on the Ground Shares Profoundly Therapeutic Benefits Of Immersion In The Natural World

(This press release may be reprinted in part or entirety by any print or broadcast media outlet, or used by any means of social media sharing)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

You’re stressed out, tired of looking at the same four walls, drained by the negativity on social media, and exhausted from juggling work with homeschooling and entertaining your kids. No matter your age, location, or financial standing, there is a simple, effective therapy that is abundantly available, and it’s right outside your door.

“Get out and stay out—as often and for as long as you can,” champions Marshall Ulrich in his latest release, Both Feet on the Ground: Reflections from the Outside.

Ulrich, an ultrarunner who has also scaled the Seven Summits and competed in multi-day adventure races, shares stories of his expeditions in such far-flung places as Borneo, Tibet, and South Africa, as well as his lifelong commitment to farming his land in Colorado. Ulrich has climbed Mount Everest, run through the searing heat of the Gobi Desert, and ridden the huge waves off Morocco. But there’s no need to be an extreme athlete to reap the benefits of forming physical connections with the natural world.

Ulrich urges readers to simply unplug, plant their feet firmly in the earth, fill their lungs with clean air, and dream of bold and personally compelling outdoor adventures.

“Your adventures in natural places—even if, for now, it’s just sitting outside or walking around your neighborhood—can put you back in touch with who you are; how resilient, resourceful and hardy you can be,” Ulrich says.

Throughout Both Feet on the Ground, Ulrich shares valuable insights from his endeavors, along with useful findings and recommendations from other experts, all organized around themes of earth, air, fire and water. His hope is that you’ll be inspired to find new ways of engaging with these natural elements yourself to experience the healing powers of the outside world.

Author Marshall Ulrich is an extreme endurance athlete—ultrarunning icon, Seven Summits mountaineer, and adventure racer—who loves sharing his exploits to entertain and help mo-tivate others to reach their goals. He’s raced, led expeditions, or climbed mountains in nearly 30 countries, and visited 30 more, so his stories are about more than just physical accom-plishments. Cutting his teeth running across Death Valley, he’s also climbed Mount Everest, run in the jungles of Fiji, and completed a record-setting run across America. Dubbed the Endurance King, he defies the ideas of “too far,” “too old” and “not possible.” Revered among athletes, Marshall is also the author of Running on Empty. An acclaimed speaker, he’s lec-tured on various elite cruise lines, and given talks at businesses, schools, race expos, and professional conferences, including the Royal Geographic Society, Morgan Stanley, and Wilderness Medicine.

For more information, please visit www.marshallulrich.com.

Both Feet on the Ground: Reflections from the Outside
Publisher: DNA Books
Released: 2019
ISBN: 978-1-950349-02-9 hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-950349-04-3 paperback
Available from Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and other online retailers

Trish Stevens
Anna Lee Simpson
Ascot Media Group, Inc.
Post Office Box 2394
Friendswood, TX 77549
[email protected]
www.ascotmedia.com
281.333.3507 Phone
800.854.2207 Fax

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New Children’s Book Says “Aloha” To A Blizzard … In Hawaii!

It's Snowing In Hawaii by [Guardia, Mike]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(This press release may be reprinted in part or entirety)

Inspired by his two young daughters, Mike Guardia penned a delightful children’s story just in time for the holidays. It’s Snowing in Hawaii is a whimsical, beautifully illustrated book that has appeal to kids who love colorful pictures to bring the story alive, and to parents everywhere who want to give their children something different and more meaningful this holiday season.

A Captain in the US Army Reserve, Mike Guardia is the renowned author of several military history books, including Hal Moore: A Soldier Once…and Always and Shadow Commander. He makes a great guest. Please read the following press release and consider interviewing Mike during this holiday season to reach everyone out there looking for something different for their children, or let me know if I may forward a copy of his new children’s book for a review. If you wish to run this story, let us know and we’ll be happy to send you a jpg of the author and book cover for your use. Thank you!

Trish Stevens
Ascot Media Group, Inc.
Post Office Box 2394
Friendswood, TX 77549
(281) 333-3507 Phone
(832) 569-5539 Fax
[email protected]
www.ascotmedia.com

New Children’s Book Says “Aloha” To A Blizzard … In Hawaii!

Houston, TX – That’s right kids, it’s snowing in Honolulu. Get ready to say “Aloha” to the first snowstorm Hawaii’s ever had. Written in verse and beautifully illustrated, It’s Snowing in Hawaii takes the reader on a magical journey through the snow-filled beaches of Honolulu. With Hawaiian flannel shirts, bearskin hula skirts, and figure skating on Pearl Harbor, young readers will enjoy the silly rhymes of a Hawaiian snow day.

Mike Guardia is the renowned author of several history books, including Hal Moore and Shadow Commander. However, being the father of two young girls has inspired him to write It’s Snowing in Hawaii – his first children’s book. He currently lives in Texas. Follow him online at www.mikeguardia.com.

Melanie Stephens is a distinguished artist and children’s book illustrator. A proud mother of three, she currently resides in Virginia.

For more, please visit: https://www.amazon.com/Its-Snowing-Hawaii-Mike-Guardia/dp/1939688159/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1480802657&sr=1-10

It’s Snowing in Hawaii
Willow Clubhouse Books
Available at Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and Amazon.com
$17.95 Hardcover
$2.99 Kindle
ISBN-13: 978-1-939688-15-6

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