Wake Up, It’s Pub Day!
Monday, June 17th, 2013 Posted in A Pirates Guide (Series) | 1 Comment »Today is the official "pub day" for A PIRATE'S GUIDE TO RECESS. You can run out and buy a dozen copies right now. There's nothing stopping you any longer. You are free to go. And thanks for your support. You can buy 'em by the ...
A Favorite Illustration
Wednesday, June 12th, 2013 Posted in A Pirates Guide (Series) | No Comments »Greg Ruth created a lot of great illustrations for our upcoming book, A Pirate's Guide to Recess, but I have to say that the one above has a special place in my heart. Not because it's the "best," but that ...
Starred Review, A PIRATES GUIDE TO RECESS (Coming Soon!)
Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 Posted in A Pirates Guide (Series) | No Comments »It's been a good week for reviews. Publishers Weekly just gave my new picture book -- illustrated by Greg Ruth -- a starred review. Eager readers can meet Greg at the Eric Carle Museum on June 8th. In the meantime, ...
Title Page Art: A PIRATE’S GUIDE TO RECESS
Monday, October 15th, 2012 Posted in A Pirates Guide (Series) | No Comments »Let's roll . . . Illustration by Greg Ruth, a piece of spot art that was originally intended for A Pirate's Guide to First Grade but didn't serve the story, so failed to make the cut. Greg brought it back as ...
PIRATE’S GUIDE Sequel, In Which Red Meets His Match
Monday, September 17th, 2012 Posted in A Pirates Guide (Series), the writing process | No Comments »Here's a touch of art from Greg Ruth, the amazing artist behind A Pirate's Guide to First Grade and the upcoming sequel, A Pirate's Guide to Recess. I had an interesting experience writing this one, because it was the first time ...
This Morning’s Sweet Photo
Thursday, May 31st, 2012 Posted in A Pirates Guide (Series) | No Comments »A friend sent along this note . . . "He fell asleep reading your book. I couldn't resist a photo."
Sneak Peak #1: A Pirate’s Guide to Recess
Thursday, May 24th, 2012 Posted in A Pirates Guide (Series), Uncategorized | No Comments »Avast, ye scallywags! Greg Ruth is currently illustrating the sequel to A Pirate's Guide to First Grade, in which we take it out to the playground and introduce fierce Captain Molly. Look for A Pirate's Guide to Recess (Macmillan) in the ...
Pirate Crossword: Free Teaching Tool for “A Pirate’s Guide to First Grade”
Wednesday, October 12th, 2011 Posted in A Pirates Guide (Series), In the Classroom | No Comments »Forgive me, it's an unusual blog day here at the jamespreller.com factory. I've been unloading some stuff from a found file. Here's a nice companion for my book A Pirate's Guide to First Grade, illustrated by Greg Ruth. If you ...
Arrrr: Photos, Videos, Fun Stuff from a School Visit!
Wednesday, October 12th, 2011 Posted in A Pirates Guide (Series), School Visits | No Comments »I'm very sorry that I cannot for the life of me remember which school gave me this wonderful material. I know that Ms. Harmon, the media specialist, was the driving force behind much of it. Authors are so lucky when a ...
When Keith Sings: The Ultimate Keith Richards/Rolling Stones Mix
Monday, June 20th, 2011 Posted in A Pirates Guide (Series), Music, Readings | No Comments »I recently finished reading the Keith Richards biography, Life, which I largely enjoyed. It's not a great book, huge gaps, not particularly well organized or written, and it suffers from a classic case of the unreliable narrator (this is Keith ...