Book Giveaway: COUNTING ON SHABBAT by Nancy Churnin

Nancy Churnin has a new board book, COUNTING ON SHABBAT, illustrated by Petronela Dostalova, and published by Kar-Ben Publishing is available today in Bookstores. They have agreed to send a copy to the one lucky winner in the US.

Just leave a comment. Reblog, tweet, or talk about it on Facebook with a link and you will get additional chances to win. Let me know other things you did 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 about a new book. So, thanks for helping Nancy and Petronela.

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

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Shabbat brings 1 table, 2 candles, and 3 braids in the challah, kittens waiting to be fed, friends knocking at the door, smiles all around, and more. Count from 1 to 10 as you get ready for Shabbat.

BOOK JOURNEY:

People often ask why a particular story might be conceived as a board book. It’s an especially pertinent question to ask someone like me who is known for her picture books – particularly nonfiction ones.

For me, Counting on Shabbat had to be a board book because I was writing it to thank the toddlers in our family who were bringing my elderly mother so much happiness with their visits. It had to be fiction if I wanted to get it into the simplest, most elemental form that would connect with little ones. And yet, in my heart, it was always a true story or, rather, a story I wanted to be true – a story where little ones remember our seniors with visits and cheer. Sometimes when you see something being done, it encourages you to do that, too.

My mother is lucky enough to have family nearby. But I started thinking not only about her but about all the seniors who don’t have family or little ones around. My mother lives with wonderful caretakers that attend to her daily needs. But she is far from being the independent person she took pride in being, the one who helped loved ones as a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, an aunt, a teacher, a friend, a concerned and caring member of the community.

There was a time when everyone would come to my mother’s house for Shabbat dinners and celebrations. But now she is long past cooking for herself or anyone else. The special dishes sit on the shelves unused. And while she transitioned for a few years to going to the homes of family members for special occasions, now she has dementia which makes it disorienting to leave a familiar place to go to other people’s homes.

I not only knew I wanted Counting on Shabbat to be a board book, I knew I wanted it to have the sturdy framework of a counting book that went from one to ten. Plus, I wanted it to tell a story. So, while objects are counted in the book, those objects serve an arc that begins with one person all alone to ten smiles, indicating community and joy. Finally, I wanted to tell that story with a minimum of words, with rhymes that would help young readers anticipate the turns and illustrations that would show the journey.

The book begins with a senior getting ready for Shabbat with “1 table draped in white,” “2 candles set to light” and “3 braids in challah bread.” He is alone except for “4 kittens to be fed.” Everything changes, however, when there are “5 knocking at the door” and a couple with three children arrive bringing food and cheer.

Simple as it seems, I revised the 48 words of the text over and over with the help of my kind critique partners, my writing friends, and, ultimately, my editor. I finally began to understand the challenges of writing in rhyme in a way that surprises while seeming natural and inevitable! It was like a puzzle, but when the words finally clicked into place, I knew it. It was deeply satisfying.

Because the book has the word “Shabbat” in the title, referring to the Jewish celebration of the weekly time of rest, I thought that I would be presenting Counting on Shabbat primarily to children at Jewish preschools. I wasn’t counting on my first three presentations occurring at secular elementary schools because the teachers wanted their children to hear a story that encouraged kindness and taught them about Jewish traditions that they might not know about otherwise.

To help kids relate to the story, I collected and brought props so we could act it out. The children helped me put a white tablecloth on the table and set it with candles, a felt braidable challah bread, and more. There’s an unexpected twist that gets them laughing when we get up to the “7 matzoh balls go ‘round.’ But for me, the real highlight is “9 pictures bringing cheer,” because that leads to my COUNTING ON KINDNESS project: having children create notes of cheer to deliver to senior centers.

I have most recently had the honor of presenting Counting on Shabbat at the New York Jewish Book Festival at the Museum of Jewish Heritage on November 19. I’m looking forward to sharing it at the Margot Rosenberg Pulitzer Dallas Jewish Bookfest at the Dallas Jewish Community Center on December 10. Every time it fills my heart to see how children respond to a story about remembering and caring for our seniors and how warmly diverse groups embrace learning about Jewish traditions.

But my greatest happiness has been to share the book with the inspiration for the book — my mother. Now at 98, my mother cannot read the kinds of books she used to devour daily. But we were able to read Counting on Shabbat together. Again and again. She was delighted to learn I had written it for her. Again and again. One of my dreams for this book is that it will bring generations together, particularly seniors and toddlers. I am already grateful for how it has brought my mother and me together and how it has shown me how much kindness there is in the world. I hope this little book will help that kindness grow. I hope kindness is something we will always be able to count on.

NANCY’S BIO:

Nancy Churnin is the author of eight picture book biographies, including The William Hoy Story, on several state reading lists; Irving Berlin, The Immigrant Boy Who Made America Sing, a Sydney Taylor Notable; Manjhi Moves a Mountain, a 2018 South Asia Book Award and Anne Izard Storytellers Choice winner, plus two Social Studies Notables, two Silver Eureka Award winners, a Mighty Girl listing and more.

Nancy is a former Children’s Book Academy student and student mentor for some of the e-courses at the Children’s Book Academy.  

 The former theater critic for the Dallas Morning News, she’s a full-time writer and peace negotiator between her dog and cats. A member of the Nonfiction Ninjas and the Book Meshuggenahs, she lives in North Texas. Visit Nancy at the following links:

Website: nancychurnin.com

A Kind Holiday: https://www.nancychurnin.com/a-kind-holiday

Facebook: Nancy Churnin Children’s Books

Facebook: Nancy Churnin

On Twitter: @nchurnin

On Instagram: @nchurnin

https://www.nonfiction-ninjas.com/blog/let-curiosity-guide-you-by-nancy-churnin

PETRONELA’S BIO:

Petronela graduated from the Cambridge School of Art with an MA in Children’s Book Illustration. Before the MA she was studying Fine Arts at the University of East Anglia. In 2015 her children’s book project “The Reds and Greens” was highly commended for the Creative Conscience Award. The project promotes equality.

Petronela comes from a Czech-Slovak-Hungarian background but decided to nest into the heart of Suffolk where she currently lives and works with her partner and their dog Haribo. If you don’t find her drawing at her desk, she will be out traveling or cycling somewhere. She likes to be near, in, on, or underwater at any time of the day except when she is drawing – she is still working on a way to be able to do these things at the same time.

Nancy thank you for sharing your book and journey with us. Parents will love having a Jewish-themed board book to help introduce their youngest readers to the concept of counting. Not only will it help kids learn their numbers, but also introduce them to the beauty, meaning, and traditions of Shabbat. The lovely rhyme used is sure to keep a toddler’s attention and the vivid, colorful illustrations with their charming details add context and depth to the simple story, making sure kids keep their eyes on the page. Petronela did a wonderful job of bringing this story to life.

Although this book will be of particular interest to Jewish families, many parents of different races and religions will immediately see the characters inside this book are of various skin colors and ages, thus it provides a nice way for them to introduce their own children to the concept of inclusion, empathy, and a different faith tradition. 

Counting on Shabbat would be a welcome addition to any home, preschool, or library collection. Good luck with the book! HAPPY HANAUKKAH!

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy