Book Giveaway: SOUNDS ALL AROUND: The Science of How Sound Works by Susan Hughes

Susan Hughes has a new picture book SOUNDS ALL AROUND: The Science of How Sound Works, illustrated by Ellen Rooney and published by Kids Can Press. Susan has agreed to share a copy with one lucky winner living in the United States or Canada.

All you have to do to get in the running is leave a comment. Reblog, tweet, or talk about it on Facebook with a link and you will get additional chances to win. Just let me know other things you do to share the good news, so I can put the right amount of tickets in my basket for you.

Sharing on Facebook, Twitter or reblogging really helps spread the word for a new book. So, thanks for helping Susan and Ellen.

If you have signed up to follow my blog and it is delivered to you everyday, please let me know when you leave a comment and I will give you an extra ticket. Thanks!

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

A comprehensive exploration of sound for young children that’s friendly, fun and easy to digest. From a cat’s purr to a thunderstorm’s clap, from a friend’s voice to a school bell’s clang, sounds can lull us, entice us or call us to action. But how does sound happen? How do we hear it? What makes some sounds loud and some soft? Some high pitched and some low pitched? How do humans and animals use sound to communicate? Which sounds happen naturally, and which are created for a specific purpose? This charming picture book explores all of these questions in child-friendly language, offering readers a gentle introduction to how sound works that will encourage them to stop and listen.In this highly original book, Susan Hughes uses appealing and inviting text that speaks directly to young children to explain the physics of sound. From describing how sounds are made by the vibrations of air, to identifying and considering the different sources of sound and its properties (pitch, tone, volume), this book is an excellent curriculum-based tool for physical science that strongly supports the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for kindergarten and first grade. Ellen Rooney’s sweet, playful illustrations colorfully illuminate the concepts, incorporating the same character and his dog on every spread. Easy-to-understand decibel and hertz charts are included. There is also a fun activity and a glossary.

BOOK JOURNEY: 

Five years ago, I came up with a wonderful concept for a manuscript featuring sounds—and I was so excited! I worked on it for months, revising and tweaking. I was sure I had a winner. The text was concise and peppy. I believed primary kids (2 to 4) would just love it.

I began sending out this story late in 2016. I was, and am, unagented.

I had only sent the manuscript to a few publishers when I got some positive feedback from Kids Can Press. The editor, Jennifer Stokes, was excited about a children’s book on the subject of sound. However, she wondered if I’d consider reworking it for an older audience and had suggestions for taking the manuscript in a slightly different direction.

After playing with some revisions and a little back-and-forth communication, I decided to hold off on this opportunity and resumed submitting the story to a few more publishers with her invitation to come to her later, if I wished.

When a few more months passed, and other editors were identifying challenges with the manuscript, I found myself rereading Jennifer’s notes and becoming hooked on her idea of reframing the subject matter for an older audience.

So I got back in touch with Jennifer and began revising once more. I changed the focus of my text. I read the science curriculum standards for grades K to 3 and directly incorporated many of those pertaining to sound into my manuscript. I reframed the overall structure and narrative. I increased the word count. The text became more technical in content, and gentler and more lyrical in tone.

After a few more revisions and resubmits, in the summer of 2018, I was thrilled to receive a contract offer from Kids Can for Sounds All Around. I had also proposed an accompanying book on light, and Jennifer expressed interest in this possibility.

The editing process of Sounds All Around was wonderful. Working with an editor as experienced and enthusiastic as Jennifer was a delight.

And I was so thrilled when I learned that Ellen Rooney had agreed to illustrate the book. She added so much humor and heart to the book, finding creative visual ways to make the science of sound come alive on the page!

SUSAN’S BIO:

Susan Hughes has always loved writing. When in grade five and six, she and several friends had a writing club. They met every few weeks and read aloud their poems and stories to one another. They always began by pointing out something they liked about each piece of writing; and they always learned a lot from each other’s critiques. She and another friend wrote stories and non-fiction articles and created many issues of their self-published The Horse and Bridle Club magazine. They even sold copies to friends at school and the stable where they took riding lessons!

After finishing a university degree in English at the University of Toronto, Susan was thrilled to work at a children’s publishing company where she had the opportunity to research, fact-check, write, edit, and proofread—seeing books through from the concept stage to the final in-hand product. It was thrilling! She also began to work on her own stories and submit them to editors at traditional publishing companies.

Soon after, Susan began freelancing—and she has never stopped! An editor, story coach, writer and author, Susan works with writers, both novice and experienced, providing critiques and developmental edits, and guiding them in their writing practice. She also works with educational and independent publishers to develop books for children on topics from geography and history to science and Aboriginal studies for a wide range of grade levels. She writes commissioned stories and articles for many clients.

Susan is thrilled to have more than 30 traditionally published children’s books, including picture books, chapter books, MG novels, young adult novels, both fiction and non-fiction for all ages, with publishers such as Scholastic Canada, Kids Can Press, Owl Kids Books, and Annick Press. Her books have received multiple nominations for awards, including the Forest of Reading awards, the TD Children’s Literature Awards, and the Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Literature.

She has been delighted to serve as juror for many book awards and volunteer her expertise with CODE and the CNIB.

Website: www.susanhughes.ca.

Twitter: @childbkauthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susanhughes2518/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/susan.hughes.9465/

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ELLEN ROONEY’S BIO:

Ellen is an illustrator, designer, and artist. She’s from the state of Massachusetts, but now lives in the southern Okanagan Valley in British Columbia. Her first picture book as illustrator, Her Fearless Run, was published in April, 2019 and busy working on more!

Ellen loves graphic shapes, textured colour, printmaking, drawing outdoors, painting. Her hidden art powers are released when cutting up paper. As a designer, her superpower is x-ray vision: if she stares at dense information, she can see its lovely skeleton just waiting to be shown to the world. She  thinks this is why she really loves interpretive design (stuff like museum exhibits and nature trails). Or, she says, “Maybe I’m just a big nerd. Who can say?”

“I love what I do. I get to collaborate with nice, interesting people from all over the place to make wonderful things I couldn’t make on my own.”

Ellen was featured on Illustrator Saturday: https://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2020/06/20/illustrator-saturday-ellen-rooney/

To see more of Ellen’s work, you can visit her at:

Website: https://ellenrooneydesign.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellenaroo/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellenrooney/

Susan, thank you for sharing your book and journey with us. Love how you tackled introducing children to the sounds around us and explain the physics of sound and what makes thing sound different. Ellen did a wonderful job with the illustrations. Kids will love this book and so will teachers. Good luck with the book! 

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy