Anne Miranda's Blog

Things have been CRAZY this last year, but we’ve settled into a new house with more office room. We hope to be putting out one video a week of some of our favorite books and original books, poems, and activities.

This March we reached an important milestone. We hope we can double this number by the end of the year with your help. All you have to do is hit this handy dandy subscribe button!

SUBSCRIBE

Many thanks in advance for your support! Team Miranda!

The Miranda family is wishing you and yours a very good new year!

We’re beginning the year with a new KDP book based on our popular YouTube video. It’s a 42-page nonfiction book-in-rhyme about light, illustrated with beautiful photographs. Designed by Tyler Miranda. Good for K-2 science curriculum ( CLIL).

Here’s a link to the book https://amzn.to/3pBOsmE

and to the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WA_Pwml9Mc

Tyler and I are also hard at work on some new read-aloud videos, in our newly designed set. Our early videos left something to be desired, and we have made many improvements. Old granny Annie is doing her best to do better. As my mother always said “Onward and upward!”.

A is for abound, which is what alphabet books do.  A is also for Amazon, which has a nearly uncountable number on offer.  But, how many alphabet books does the world really need?  A hundred?  A thousand?  More?  Not even Google has the answer to this question.  The fact is that alphabet books have been with us for centuries and there seems to be no end to the number of variations this theme has produced.  It’s no wonder!  Learning the alphabet is the first essential step to literacy and every little learner needs a primer that stimulates his or her imagination and vocabulary.

The need to teach children to read and write is as old as writing itself.  The oldest “published” alphabet book is Thomas Petyt’s The BAC Bothe in Latyn and in Englysshe (1538), according to Wikipedia. I suspect that there must have been others prior to this that did not survive and which are lost to history forever. Somewhere there’s a cuneiform primer, or a hieroglyphic scroll of essential glyphs which may yet be discovered.  

Children of early settlers to Ohio, where I grew up, used a horn book to learn their letters and rudimentary phonics. A hornbook was a hand-held piece of wood that looked somewhat like a paddle with a piece of parchment with writing that was protected with a thin cover of horn. I have one such hornbook in my possession.  It’s a replica, but an old one, almost an antique itself. This belonged to my grandmother before it passed to me.

Hornbook

As you can see, this is a bare bone teaching tool.  But, in the hands of a good teacher and an eager student, it sufficed. Hornbooks were used in England and America for quite a long period of time beginning in the 1400’s.  It is possible that the likes of William Shakespeare and many other great writers and thinkers learned the alphabet with one of these.  Hard to imagine, isn’t it in these days of the internet?

As a child, I remember having only one alphabet book which I loved and returned to it often, long after I had mastered my letters. It had very simple yet elegant woodcut art. I’m sure I still have it, but it must be packed away in a box in the basement. It’s a treasure I would never part with.

One of the most popular alphabet books of the last 30 years, possibly of all time, has to be CHICKA-CHICKA BOOM BOOM. You must know it.  Everybody does.  Who can resist its catchy rhyme and bold bright illustrations?  It’s been a staple in homes and classrooms around the globe.

I have an interesting behind the scenes story to tell about this book. The original chicka text was for a short selection in a reader published in the 1980’s by Silver Burdett & Ginn. My mother, Mary Jane Martin, was the managing editor at Kirchoff/Wohlberg a New York firm that “packaged” the readers. Bill Martin Jr. had worked with my mother on a previous project and they were fairly chummy. She called him to see if he’d be willing to write a selection for the series and he obliged. Over multiple phone calls spanning the following week Bill and John Archambault took turns dictating the text to my mother. I got to listen to most of the conversations and countless iterations of the story. (I was a contributing writer and so was “in the room”!)  It was an amazing lesson in creativity and the necessary editorial process that even the likes of Bill and John were subject to.  They crafted the text changing word after word until it was perfect.  Lois Ehlert who was represented by Libby Ford at Kirchoff/Wohlberg at the time, was asked to do the art.  It was a magic marriage!

Kids loved it!  So much so, that the selection was expanded into a full book and published by Simon & Schuster in 1989. The rest is history. It's still a smash success after all these years and is used all over the world to learn their letters. I'm telling this tale as a tribute to my mother’s participation in this legendary children's book. She got the ball rolling.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

If you don’t own this book, it is a must if you have little children or grandchildren.  It’s available in every possible format.  Click on this link to investigate! https://amzn.to/2OcfYXa

 I’ll brag a bit more about my mother who was a writer as well as an outstanding editor. She wrote her own alphabet book that was first part of an educational program, and then offered as a trade book. It’s called FROM ANNE TO ZACH and was published by Boyd’s Mill press in 1996 and illustrated by Michael Grejniec. It was published in French, by Bilboquet in 1998.

In this book-in-rhyme, children learn the letters of the alphabet through other children's names. The boys and girls depicted in the illustrations represent a rainbow of ethnicities.  So, it’s a nice book to use to encourage inclusion.

From Anne to Zach

 It’s still possible to find a copy of this book on Amazon. https://amzn.to/3gFrZ3J

I have also written a mess-o-alphabet books, of which two have been published.  The first is PIGNIC, illustrated by Rosekrans Hoffman and published by Boyd’s Mill Press in 1996.  A book-in-rhymes where alphabetical pig take alphabetical food to a “pignic”.  The illustrations are wild, but wonderful with lots of kooky details. 

Pignic

The book is still available in some form of prior use on Amazon. https://amzn.to/2ZPJNSV

I have also made a read-aloud video on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pfZcEn_urA

Alphabet Fiesta

The second alphabet book is ALPHABET FIESTA, which is a bilingual alphabet book in English and Spanish. Animals travel in alphabetical order to a birthday party bearing alphabetical gifts!  Almost all the names and items begin with the same letter in both languages.
My husband, who is Cuban, helped with the Spanish translation and my children and others school children here in Spain did the illustrations.  It was originally published by Turtle Books, but has been reissued by me on Amazon as a paperback. Have a look! https://amzn.to/2Z9Spou

There are, of course, hundreds and hundreds of other alphabet books to choose from.  But, be sure that there is at least one in your library.  A good alphabet book always comes in handy.

Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows is absolutely my favorite book. I was given a 2-record dramatization when I was a child, which is still one of my treasured possessions. I can’t count how many times I listened to it…in the hundreds of times. This set of records is battered and scratched after years of use and are stored in my sister’s basement in Pennsylvania. Of course, no one listens to records any more and my own turntable disappeared long ago. So, it’s been just AGES, since I’ve heard it.

Today, I discovered this beloved recording on YouTube. I couldn’t be happier. It’s a thrill akin to digging up buried treasure. I’m passing on the links so that you, too, can experience this audio book which is second only, in my opinion, to Jim Dale’s magnificently brilliant performance of the Harry Potter series.

I hope you enjoy this spectacular audio version of one of the greatest children’s books ever written.

Part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzQYQDN-kPw&list=PLDXwaR5YG0CNHlOzaLXyLn_6bht83VQmw&index=1

Part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z55sKXRUMY&list=PLDXwaR5YG0CNHlOzaLXyLn_6bht83VQmw&index=2

Free Kindle giveaway! Today only! It’s my 41st wedding anniversary. Cheers!

https://amzn.to/2Yxs6Jf

Night Songs is children's book for very young readers from author and illustrator Anne Miranda. It's perfect for bedtime reading. As children read along with this lullaby, they will enjoy finding the animals that sing the night songs in the illustrations. Night Songs is illustrated with cut-paper collage.

The genesis of the book came from my son, Tyler. When he was a very little baby, he always cooed, as rocked him to sleep. When he stopped I knew he was asleep. One night as I was putting him to bed after one of his little night songs, this book came to me fully-written in a woosh. I put him down and rushed into my office to write down what had been sent to me, as if taking dictation. This has happened to me a rare few times in my life…and I am eternally grateful to the sender.

I was given the huge privilege of illustrating the book. I am not a trained artist, nor had I ever illustrated anything before, so the publisher took a big gamble. The illustrations were entered into the Society of Illustrators show in the year the book was originally published and the book got many good reviews based on the art.

Tyler is all grown up and is, unlike me, a trained illustrator. He and I are making YouTube videos to bring some of my work back to life. We have come full circle! We hope you enjoy it.

Here’s our newest video, Night Songs…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2nv553a7S8

The book has been re-published and is available on Amazon. Night Songs: https://amzn.to/2YcaVNc

Today’s offering is a read aloud of Beatrix Potter's classic children's book, The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck. In this story a well-meaning, but not so clever duck, wishes to sit on her own eggs. The farmer has assigned this task to a brood hen much to the chagrin of Jemima. She flys off from the farm and is enticed by a fox to lay her eggs in his summer home. She has no clue to his intent. Will she be saved? Perhaps by some happy twist of fate she will be.

We hope you enjoy it!

https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=Z9iVeeJYGD4&ar=3

My clever son Tyler and I have teamed up to make read-aloud YouTube videos of my own children’s books, some of my childhood favorites, and eventually to launch new materials together as a team. We’re having a great time, learning a lot, and getting better with each effort.

I’m thrilled to be working with Tyler, who is a budding illustrator in addition to being a computer whiz. This seems like a natural collaboration. I worked for and with my own mother, Mary Jane Martin, who was an outstanding editor and writer in the educational publishing business for over 40 years. Her mother, Hattie Evans, worked in an elegant bookstore in Cleveland for about the same period of time and instilled in all of us a love for books. I aim to pass the baton to my son and hope he continues our family tradition.

At my age, I’m also interested in making a record of having been a resident of this planet and to leave my stories to any grandchildren I may have and certainly to share my little books with children, parents, and teachers who might like to hear them.

The video I’m sharing with you today is Monster Math. It’s a darling little counting book about a little monster who is having a birthday party. Many guests arrive and Mom does her best to contain the crowd and make a wonderful memory for the birthday girl.

Here is a link to the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJgYSJysAXw

In case anyone is interested in purchasing the book, it’s for sale on Amazon:

 https://amzn.to/2laULBQ

The team of Miranda & Miranda hope you enjoy it!

Today, TANGLED, is officially launched. After a very long wait, the day is finally here. I couldn’t be more thrilled. It also happens to be my cousin’s birthday…so this is an especially auspicious date.

I’m wishing Laurie and Tangled a long and fruitful life.

Lehaym!

https://amzn.to/2X5pMt6

My grandmother worked at Korner & Wood, a very elegant bookstore in Cleveland, Ohio, for 30 years. It was a magical place filled with books, art and antiques….a wonderland for an inquisitive child. I can still see it in my mind’s eye and hold it dear in my memory. https://case.edu/ech/articles/k/korner-wood

Back in the day, before chain stores and Amazon, book sellers had personal relationships with publishers and authors and also, very importantly, with their customers. My grandmother gave well-informed recommendations to clients who relied on her judgement when choosing a new read or giving books as gifts. I was lucky to have been given many well-chosen books when I was very little. The Tale of Peter Rabbit was probably the first book my grandmother bought for me. I remember her reading it to me long ago…and being sternly warned not to go into Mr. McGregor’s garden.

I’ve recently begun a YouTube channel. In addition to my own books, I decided to also narrate stories from my childhood, especially those with special memories, such as Peter Rabbit. Beatrix Potter was a must for people of my age and I hope children today will find her stories as charming as I did. So, I ‘m recording these as a tribute to my grandmother who enriched my life so greatly with her love of books.

Hattie Evans