Jacqueline Jules's Blog
February 19, 2011
Zapato Power won a CYBIL!
I am thrilled to share that Zapato Power: Freddie Ramos Takes Off won a 2010 CYBILS Literary Award in the short chapter book category.
http://dadtalk.typepad.com/cybils/win...
http://dadtalk.typepad.com/cybils/win...
January 1, 2011
Zapato Power Cybils Finalist!
Zapato Power: Freddie Ramos Takes Off
has been named a 2010 Cybils finalist in the Easy Readers & Early Chapter Books Category
http://www.cybils.com/2010-finalists-...
has been named a 2010 Cybils finalist in the Easy Readers & Early Chapter Books Category
http://www.cybils.com/2010-finalists-...
December 7, 2010
The Children's Book Review
Author Showcase on The Children's Book Review http://www.thechildrensbookreview.com...
September 19, 2010
Zapato Power Podcast at AWC Podcast Series
Check AWC Podcast Series: Zapato Power Freddie Ramos Springs into Action at the Albert Whitman blog:
http://albertwhitman.wordpress.com/20...
http://albertwhitman.wordpress.com/20...
July 22, 2010
Unite or Die Finalist for the Library of Virginia Cardozo Award
Online voting for The Library of Virginia's Whitney & Scott Cardozo Award for Children's Literature has just been posted online at http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/li...
My book, Unite or Die: How Thirteen States Became a Nation, has been selected as one of five finalists for this award. Public online voting determines the winner. Please click on the link below and consider voting for Unite or Die: How Thirteen States Became a Nation http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/li...
If you would like to learn more about Unite or Die: How Thirteen States Became a Nation, please visit my website at http://www.jacquelinejules.com/unite.htm This book began as a skit I wrote to help my students celebrate Constitution Day when I was working as a school librarian.
Voting ends on August 20th. For your vote to count, you must click on the link in the confirmation e-mail that will be sent to you within 24 hours. Thank you so very much!
My book, Unite or Die: How Thirteen States Became a Nation, has been selected as one of five finalists for this award. Public online voting determines the winner. Please click on the link below and consider voting for Unite or Die: How Thirteen States Became a Nation http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/li...
If you would like to learn more about Unite or Die: How Thirteen States Became a Nation, please visit my website at http://www.jacquelinejules.com/unite.htm This book began as a skit I wrote to help my students celebrate Constitution Day when I was working as a school librarian.
Voting ends on August 20th. For your vote to count, you must click on the link in the confirmation e-mail that will be sent to you within 24 hours. Thank you so very much!
March 1, 2010
Interview with Madelyn Rosenberg on The Furnace
Read an interview about Zapato Power: Freddie Ramos Takes Off with Madelyn Rosenberg on The Furnace.
http://www.squealermusic.com/madclips...
http://www.squealermusic.com/madclips...
November 3, 2009
What do you eat on Thanksgiving?
WHAT DO YOU EAT ON THANKSGIVING?
by Jacqueline Jules
http://www.jacquelinejules.com
My first Thanksgiving as an elementary school librarian in a Title 1 school in Northern Virginia, I came home discouraged. After reading what I thought were the best books on Thanksgiving, depicting happy families eating turkey and stuffing, my students seemed either bored or puzzled. In class after class, no one was interested in my turkey songs. No one could play my call-and-response games about the traditional Thanksgiving menu. Finally, one student politely explained, “We don’t do that at my house.”
My students came from over sixty different countries. Many of them did not speak English at home. But Thanksgiving is a holiday for Americans of all faiths and births. After all, it celebrates the landing of the pilgrims on Plymouth Rock. In many ways, my students were pilgrims—people who came to America for religious freedom or to find a better life. Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate the diversity in America. I felt bad that my students seemed to feel so uncomfortable with Thanksgiving. Did they really not observe the holiday at all?
So when we came back after the holiday, I asked them what they did. At first, they were hesitant to tell me. I asked more questions. Did you have a meal with your families? “Oh yes,” they told me. “But we didn’t have turkey.”
That’s when it dawned on me! It’s not that my students were ignoring Thanksgiving. They just were celebrating it with holiday foods from their birth countries. It reminded me of my own childhood. My father was an immigrant from Switzerland. Turkey and pumpkin were American foods he had never experienced before. Growing up, I often didn’t eat traditional American foods on Thanksgiving day, either! My father preferred duck on Thanksgiving. He thought turkey often tasted too dry. This memory inspired me to write my picture book Duck for Turkey Day, released by Albert Whitman & Co in September 2009.
In Duck for Turkey Day, a little girl named Tuyet is concerned because her family seems to be breaking the “rules” for Thanksgiving. Her Vietnamese-American grandmother explains, “Our family likes duck better.” The book validates the idea of gathering on Thanksgiving Day with ethnic holiday fare, rather than American foods that may not be appealing to immigrant families. And as Tuyet’s teacher says in Duck for Turkey Day, “It doesn’t matter what you eat on Thanksgiving, as long as you have a good time with family and friends.”
Please visit YouTube to see a book trailer for Duck for Turkey Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbrvcG...
Jacqueline Jules
http://www.jacquelinejules.com
by Jacqueline Jules
http://www.jacquelinejules.com
My first Thanksgiving as an elementary school librarian in a Title 1 school in Northern Virginia, I came home discouraged. After reading what I thought were the best books on Thanksgiving, depicting happy families eating turkey and stuffing, my students seemed either bored or puzzled. In class after class, no one was interested in my turkey songs. No one could play my call-and-response games about the traditional Thanksgiving menu. Finally, one student politely explained, “We don’t do that at my house.”
My students came from over sixty different countries. Many of them did not speak English at home. But Thanksgiving is a holiday for Americans of all faiths and births. After all, it celebrates the landing of the pilgrims on Plymouth Rock. In many ways, my students were pilgrims—people who came to America for religious freedom or to find a better life. Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate the diversity in America. I felt bad that my students seemed to feel so uncomfortable with Thanksgiving. Did they really not observe the holiday at all?
So when we came back after the holiday, I asked them what they did. At first, they were hesitant to tell me. I asked more questions. Did you have a meal with your families? “Oh yes,” they told me. “But we didn’t have turkey.”
That’s when it dawned on me! It’s not that my students were ignoring Thanksgiving. They just were celebrating it with holiday foods from their birth countries. It reminded me of my own childhood. My father was an immigrant from Switzerland. Turkey and pumpkin were American foods he had never experienced before. Growing up, I often didn’t eat traditional American foods on Thanksgiving day, either! My father preferred duck on Thanksgiving. He thought turkey often tasted too dry. This memory inspired me to write my picture book Duck for Turkey Day, released by Albert Whitman & Co in September 2009.
In Duck for Turkey Day, a little girl named Tuyet is concerned because her family seems to be breaking the “rules” for Thanksgiving. Her Vietnamese-American grandmother explains, “Our family likes duck better.” The book validates the idea of gathering on Thanksgiving Day with ethnic holiday fare, rather than American foods that may not be appealing to immigrant families. And as Tuyet’s teacher says in Duck for Turkey Day, “It doesn’t matter what you eat on Thanksgiving, as long as you have a good time with family and friends.”
Please visit YouTube to see a book trailer for Duck for Turkey Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbrvcG...
Jacqueline Jules
http://www.jacquelinejules.com
July 14, 2009
After Reading The Genius of America
The Genius of America by Eric Lane and Michael Oreskes examines the foundation of our constitutional government in a concise and compelling manner. Throughout this work, the authors refer to our “Constitutional Conscience” as a vital component of the American political system. Democracy in and of itself will not protect the rights of citizens. A constitution in and of itself will not preserve democracy. Germany was a constitutional democracy in 1933, when Adolf Hitler came to power.
In 1787, our founding fathers ingeniously created an entirely new form of democracy--one designed to protect minorities from majority rule and majorities from minority rule. Checks and balances between three branches of government keep any one branch from obtaining too much power. While our system is slow and often leads to frustrating stalemates, it requires that people work together to produce results. Such a government has built-in impediments against militant groups who might take control at the expense of other citizens. In other words, the very machinery that makes governmental change so maddeningly slow preserves our freedom.
Lane and Oreskes clearly explain challenges our Constitution has faced over the years, such as Proposition 13, which allowed the 50% of Californians who voted to make a sweeping decision for the entire state on tax revenues. Direct democracy doesn’t always provide a centrist approach. This is something our founding fathers understood when they wrote the Constitution.
In closing, the authors called for more Civics Education for our young people. If there are flaws in our government and changes are needed, they must be made with a solid understanding of what we already have. Reading The Genius of America has reaffirmed my admiration for our uniquely American democracy and inspired me in my own efforts to promote Constitution Day activities on September 17th. For a list of Constitution Day Books and resources please visit http://www.jacquelinejules.com/consti....
In 1787, our founding fathers ingeniously created an entirely new form of democracy--one designed to protect minorities from majority rule and majorities from minority rule. Checks and balances between three branches of government keep any one branch from obtaining too much power. While our system is slow and often leads to frustrating stalemates, it requires that people work together to produce results. Such a government has built-in impediments against militant groups who might take control at the expense of other citizens. In other words, the very machinery that makes governmental change so maddeningly slow preserves our freedom.
Lane and Oreskes clearly explain challenges our Constitution has faced over the years, such as Proposition 13, which allowed the 50% of Californians who voted to make a sweeping decision for the entire state on tax revenues. Direct democracy doesn’t always provide a centrist approach. This is something our founding fathers understood when they wrote the Constitution.
In closing, the authors called for more Civics Education for our young people. If there are flaws in our government and changes are needed, they must be made with a solid understanding of what we already have. Reading The Genius of America has reaffirmed my admiration for our uniquely American democracy and inspired me in my own efforts to promote Constitution Day activities on September 17th. For a list of Constitution Day Books and resources please visit http://www.jacquelinejules.com/consti....
July 3, 2009
Celebrating America’s Birthday
On July 4th, we celebrate America’s birthday with picnics and fireworks. What a great time to talk to children about American government and how it came to be. Or does the topic seem too dry amid summer fun and freedom? It shouldn’t! During the hot Philadelphia summer of 1787, fifty-five delegates met behind locked doors to confront a startling problem. The thirteen colonies that had fought so hard for independence from Britain during the Revolutionary War did not have a functioning national government. The thirteen states were like squabbling siblings. They fought over river rights and land boundaries. They didn’t honor each other’s money. Most people considered themselves citizens of a particular state, not the United States of America.
In the July heat of 1787, the founding fathers were at an impasse over the issue of representation in Congress. Benjamin Franklin called for prayer, and George Washington looked haggard, as if he were reliving the terrible days at Valley Forge. Some delegates feared the Constitutional Convention would disband and the fledging country would not survive.
In my book UNITE OR DIE: HOW THIRTEEN STATES BECAME A NATION, I focus on the drama of the Constitutional Convention—the problems between the states and the Connecticut Compromise, which convinced the delegates they could agree on a national government after all. Illustrated by Nickelodeon Magazine comic strip artist, Jef Czekaj, UNITE OR DIE presents history in the form of a school play performed by exuberant young actors dressed as the thirteen original colonies.
For a taste of the show, visit youtube.com at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5oQ6N...
Celebrate July 4th with family, friends, good food, and fireworks. But don’t forget the history. It’s exciting, too.
Jacqueline Jules
www.jacquelinejules.com
Unite or Die How Thirteen States Became a Nation
In the July heat of 1787, the founding fathers were at an impasse over the issue of representation in Congress. Benjamin Franklin called for prayer, and George Washington looked haggard, as if he were reliving the terrible days at Valley Forge. Some delegates feared the Constitutional Convention would disband and the fledging country would not survive.
In my book UNITE OR DIE: HOW THIRTEEN STATES BECAME A NATION, I focus on the drama of the Constitutional Convention—the problems between the states and the Connecticut Compromise, which convinced the delegates they could agree on a national government after all. Illustrated by Nickelodeon Magazine comic strip artist, Jef Czekaj, UNITE OR DIE presents history in the form of a school play performed by exuberant young actors dressed as the thirteen original colonies.
For a taste of the show, visit youtube.com at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5oQ6N...
Celebrate July 4th with family, friends, good food, and fireworks. But don’t forget the history. It’s exciting, too.
Jacqueline Jules
www.jacquelinejules.com
Unite or Die How Thirteen States Became a Nation
