Shennen Bersani's Weblog

Any books I know? Read here to learn more about my books.

 

New Achoo! Activity Sheets - Color by Number, Connect the Dots, and Jigsaw Puzzle

I’ve added three new activity sheets to www.achoowhypollencounts.com - Color by Number is the first one. I’m all for creative expression, I’m not mandating you follow this color key, use it as a guide to get you started!

The second is a Connect the Dots. One side is easy, whereas I’ve made the other side a bit more challenging. But you can do it!

The third is a Jigsaw Puzzle.

And don’t forget to visit the site to find lots of other activity sheets for summer fun time learning; puzzles, coloring pages, and free crafts. Plus photos of bees from around the world.

 



For the Jigsaw Puzzle. As a challenge! Try coloring in the pieces first, then cut each out and solve the puzzle to see how your coloring came out. 🧩

Legit Kid Lit Episode 43 Draw Off!

I participated in the latest Legit Kid Lit Draw Off! We filmed it last weekend, and it was released today. Participating with me were Isabella King and Kaela Rivera. Check it out! 

For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (May) I am giving away a hardcover copy of A Case of Sense by Songju Ma Daemicke and Honey Girl: The Hawaiian Monk Seal, by Jeanne Walker Harvey. (Both illustrated by me.) To have a chance to win follow and retweet my link on Twitter @ShennenBersani PLUS follow @Legit_Kid_Lit. Alexis and Tiffany at Legit Kid Lit will be selecting the winner. Good luck! 

 

Changing artistic styles and techniques

I love all the books I’ve illustrated. Each and every one of them (I’m working on book 34). Sometimes I’ve illustrated people realistically, as in the true non-fiction story of Astro: The Steller Sea Lion, written by Jeanne Walker Harvey. Astro is a celebrity Sea Lion! You can see him in person at the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut. 

Other times I illustrate whimsical, playful people, as I did for the fictional storybook, A Family Walk, written by Jennifer Butenas. This is the delightful story of a family who spend precious moments together, creating lifetime memories - captured by their Mom with her camera. 



I was recently asked which style I prefer. I honestly answered this way. I truly don’t have a favorite style to work in. I look at each book as a new clean canvas. I read the manuscript and ponder it for a while. The words direct me one way or another. Non-fiction books typically are realistic, while fictional tales slide to whimsy. This isn’t hard and fast, and sometimes the editor/art director requests a specific style or technique. Working in a wide variety of styles and techniques is what makes my job so much fun!  

Pollen Season.... Achoo!

Are pollen allergies getting you down? Check out www.achoowhypollencounts.com. Over there you will find fun, free puzzles, coloring pages, and craft projects that are sure to cheer you up! 

....plus, Arbordale Publishing has free Teaching Activities and quizzes for additional learning possibilities. Find the links on the top right. 



Spring has arrived and pollen is in the air. Baby Bear does not like the pollen—it sticks to his fur and makes him itchy and sneezy. He’s allergic! Achoo! He just wishes the pollen were gone. When his friends gather to tell him why they need pollen, Baby Bear learns that pollen is good for the forest and provides food for many animals, including him! Pollen might be something we all love to hate, but can we really live without it? This story explains why we need it.

This fictional story includes a 4-page For Creative Minds section in the back of the book and a 45-page cross-curricular Teaching Activity Guide online. Achoo! Why Pollen Counts is vetted by experts and designed to encourage parental engagement. Its extensive back matter helps teachers with time-saving lesson ideas, provides extensions for science, math, and social studies units, and uses inquiry-based learning to help build critical thinking skills in young readers. The Spanish translation supports ELL and dual-language programs. The interactive ebook reads aloud in both English and Spanish with word highlighting and audio speed control to promote oral language skills, fluency, pronunciation, text engagement, and reading comprehension.

Also available in German and Portuguese! Gesundheit!

 

The Eyes have it!

2020, a year none of us can forget. We all have personal stories to share. 
Oh, it is so eye-ronic, here’s my right eye - which got injured in 2019 to the point of legal blindness - which finally got repaired with surgery this year! Yay! 20/400 -> 20/20 in one day! To have this book released shortly after my surgery is soo, eye opening and heart-felt emotional for me! 
...It was the pandemic that forced me to wait so long for my surgery, that, and requiring a specialist. 

Onward and upward! Yay! 

So the Big Question is, is my eye in The Eyeball Alphabet Book, or am I just teasing you here? Grab a copy and See for yourself! 

My eye surgery was in Boston. The day after surgery I had to return to Boston to have the surgeon recheck my eye. I was OVER THE MOON I could not only see, but I could see colors correctly again! We left the surgeon’s and headed directly to Dick Blick’s, of course! 

The injury, and all the trouble I had drawing that came with it, ushered in my Watercolor phase. I’ll talk about that in the future. Until then....

 

 

FIREBIRD BOOK AWARDS - 1st place Shark Baby!!!

Listen to my interview with Pat Rullo here, scroll down to find link. 

I am currently illustrating my 34th picture book. For 19 years I’ve been illustrating children’s books, that’s a long time and a lot of books. Over the course of my career, a few books have touched my soul. One has been Shark Baby. Written by author Ann Downer, Shark Baby tells the story of a baby shark, searching for his identity. Who of us can’t relate to that?

 

As you can read in my dedication, I traveled across the country to do hands-on research for the illustrations:

After the book was released, I was excited to meet Ann Downer, who also lived in Massachusetts. Ann and I did school visits and many book signings together; in and out of Boston, and at the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut. With Ann being a year older than I and both of us mothers, I felt a real connection to her. I loved getting together with Ann. I had secretly hoped to illustrate more of Ann’s books. One day she told me she was ill. The doctors were having a challenging time nailing down a diagnosis. The next time we met she told me she was dying of ALS. Ann passed away two years after Shark Baby was released, one year after she was diagnosed with ALS. 

The world lost a most cherished author. You see, Ann was already a famous author before she wrote Shark Baby. You can read about her books at Simon and Schuster. Or on her Wikipedia page. Or find her books on Goodreads. Or on Amazon. 

I cherish Shark Baby. For me, it is wrapped up in many precious memories; researching it, illustrating it, promoting it with Ann. I would love to share it with others. So as the illustrator, and in honor of Ann, I submitted it to the Firebird Book Awards for illustration.  

I am honored to say Shark Baby, written by Ann Downer, has won first place in three categories of the FIREBIRD BOOK AWARDS: 

First place: Illustration Children
First place: Illustration General
First place: Picture Book All Ages 

https://www.speakuptalkradio.com/?powerpress_pinw=12876-podcast

Here is the press release:

EIGHTY FOUR AUTHORS AWARDED THE FIREBIRD BOOK AWARD

April 2021 – Speak Up Talk Radio announced the winners of 2021’s first quarter FIREBIRD BOOK AWARDS contest. Eighty four winners were announced in 98 categories.

One of the winning entries was from Massachusetts, illustrator Shennen Bersani, whose book titled Shark Baby won in First Place in these three categories: Illustration Children, Illustration General, and Picture Book All Ages. 

Authors and publishers from around the world submitted their work to the Firebird Book Awards. A panel of 12 judges within the writing and publishing space then read every book and independently scored each entry according to a set of standardized criteria that evaluates the quality of the writing as well as production aspects. Only entries with the highest of scores are awarded the coveted Firebird.

Patricia J. Rullo, founder of the Firebird Book Awards, says, “This quarter’s entries were a joy to read and speak to the talent out there. At Speak Up Talk Radio, our mission is to offer radio interviews and podcasting services to help authors expand their reach. In addition to additional prizes, our winners have the opportunity to be interviewed and aired on iHeart Radio, Pandora, as well as 50 additional online venues, giving them new ways to speak up and share their work.”

Pat adds, “We’ve included a charitable component to our awards by making all entry fees tax-deductible to the author. In return, we personally make and send handmade fun and whimsical pillowcases to women and children in homeless shelters via Enchanted Makeovers, a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization. All entry fees fund this project. In this way, authors can get notoriety for their work while doing good for others. It’s been such a rewarding venture for everyone.”

The Firebird Book Awards run quarterly contests so authors can receive recognition on a timely basis. Authors from all genres, mainstream, independent, and self-published are welcome. Additional winning authors and titles as well as entry information is available at https://www.speakuptalkradio.com

Shark Baby is available in English and Spanish and can be purchased at Arbordale Publishing. 
About the book:

“Who am I?” wonders Shark Baby. When his “mermaid’s purse" egg case is torn loose in a storm, he finds himself on a journey through different ocean habitats: kelp forests, coral reefs, and seagrass meadows. He learns what kind of shark he isn’t, but not what kind he is. He needs to find the “mermaid" to learn where he belongs, but the ocean is big and full of dangers. Will he find out who he is—and what he can do—in time?

YAY!! Yay for Big Brothers! cover reveal

Just a quick post of the cover, and to let you know something new is coming! Releasing September 10, 2021, written by Janet Halfmann and published by Arbordale. Yay for Big Brothers! This is the 16th picture book I’ve illustrated for Arbordale Publishing, and my second Janet Halfmann book, the first being Home in the Cave. 

From Arbordale’s site:

Big brothers are amazing! Did you know that big brothers are important in animal families, too? Animal big brothers do many of the same things as kid big brothers. They play with their younger siblings, teach them new things, and help with their care. Sometimes animal big brothers even babysit when their parents leave to hunt for food. Are you a big brother or do you have a big brother?

Written by Janet Halfmann, Illustrated by Shennen Bersani
32 pg, 8.5 x 10, Ages 4 - 8, Grades K - 3

Preorder from Amazon here: Yay for Big Brothers!

The Eyeball Alphabet Book’s Kirkus Review

An excerpt from Kirkus’ review of The Eyeball Alphabet Book,

“Bersani follows up the spectacular illustrations in Not a Butterfly Alphabet Book (2019) with another set of equally bright, bold, and this time literally eye-catching close-ups to go with Pallotta’s alphabetical assortment of ocular animal facts.” Read the entire review over at Kirkus.com  Releasing May 11, preorder it here. 

Written by Jerry Pallotta, published by Charlesbridge.

It’s Tejas Star time! Yeehaw!

I was in heaven when Achoo! Why Pollen Counts earned this honor. Today I was equally thrilled to learn River Otter’s Adventure also made The Tejas Star Reading List. 

Tremendous joy for River Otter’s Adventure! The Spanish edition is on the 2021-2022 Tejas Star Reading List! Check it out: La aventura de la nutria de río (River Otter’s Adventure) by Linda Stanek, translated by Alejandra de la Torre y Javier Camacho Miranda, illustrated by Shennen Bersani (Arbordale Publishing, LLC, 2020)

*The Tejas Star Reading List (TSRL) provides a recommended reading list to encourage children ages 5-12 to explore multicultural books and to discover the cognitive and economic benefits of bilingualism and multilingualism. The Tejas Star Reading List is intended for recreational reading, not to support a specific curriculum.

https://txla.org/.../reading-lists/tejas-star/current-list/

You can buy a copy, in English and/or Spanish over at Arbordale:

https://arbordalepublishing.com/bookpage.php?id=465   

The Tejas Star Reading List is brought to you by the Texas Library Association. 

The Eyeball Alphabet Book

Lookie 👁👁 what arrived yesterday! My advance copy of Charlesbridge’s The Eyeball Alphabet Book! Charlesbridge doesn’t have preorder up, yet, but Amazon does. You can order it here. This was originally published as a Scholastic Book Club original paperback, being rereleased in hardcover by Charlesbridge. Written by Jerry Pallotta. 

Firebird Book Awards, and updated interview with Pat Rullo.

February 11, 2021 Update:

Listen to today’s interview with Speak Up Talk Radio’s host, Pat Rullo. Learn about where my ideas for Achoo! Why Pollen Counts came from. 

 

I’m pleased to announce Achoo! Why Pollen Counts has won three awards in the Firebird Book Awards! 

First Place Picture Books - All Ages

First Place Picture Books - Ages 4-8

Third Place - Children’s Fiction

https://www.speakuptalkradio.com/?powerpress_pinw=12035-podcast

Here is the press release:

SEVENTY TWO AUTHORS SNAG THE FIREBIRD BOOK AWARDS

January 2021 – Speak Up Talk Radio announced the winners of 2020’s fourth quarter FIREBIRD BOOK AWARDS contest. Seventy-two winners were announced in 87 categories.

One of the winning entries was from Massachusetts, author Shennen Bersani, whose book titled Achoo! Why Pollen Counts won in the following categories:

First place: Picture Books - All Ages

First place: Picture Books 4-8

Third place: Children’s Fiction

https://www.speakuptalkradio.com/book-award-winners/

 

Authors and publishers from around the world submitted their work to the Firebird Book Awards. A panel of 12 judges within the writing and publishing space then read every book and independently scored each entry according to a set of standardized criteria that evaluates the quality of the writing as well as production aspects. Only entries with the highest of scores are awarded the coveted Firebird.

Patricia J. Rullo, founder of the Firebird Book Awards, says, “The quality of the entries were stunning and speak to the talent out there that needs a marketing voice. At Speak Up Talk Radio, our mission is to offer radio interviews and podcasting services to help authors expand their reach. In addition to additional prizes, our winners have the opportunity to be interviewed and aired on radio stations, iHeart Radio, Pandora, as well as 50 additional online venues, giving them new ways to speak up and share their work.”

Pat adds, “We’ve included a charitable component to our awards by making all entry fees tax-deductible to the author. In return, we personally make and send handmade fun and whimsical pillowcases to women and children in homeless shelters via Enchanted Makeovers, a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization. All entry fees fund this project. In this way, authors can get notoriety for their work while doing good for others. It’s been such a rewarding venture for everyone.”

The Firebird Book Awards run quarterly contests so authors can receive recognition on a timely basis. Authors from all genres, mainstream, independent, and self-published are welcome. Additional winning authors and titles as well as entry information is available at https://www.speakuptalkradio.com

Go to www.achoowhypollencounts.com to learn more about the book, and find free puzzles, crafts, and coloring pages. 
You can purchase the book in English, Spanish, German, or Portuguese at Arbordale Publishing. Or there’s always Amazon. If you visit Amazon, check out the 29 other books I’ve illustrated. There’s definitely something for everyone in your family. 
https://www.speakuptalkradio.com/?powerpress_pinw=12035-podcast 

Legit KidLit Draw Off WINTER Episode

I love Legit KidLit! This time I participated in their Winter Draw Off episode. I was joined with fellow Arbordale illustrator, Veronica Jones. Also drawing were Jenn Kocsmiersky and John Green. Check out the episode, and don’t forget to like it and give Legit KidLit’s YouTube channel a follow.

Legit KidLit Draw Offs: Four kidlit creators. Two wheels of topics. Three rounds. Five minutes per round. Lots of creativity and so much fun!

As a bonus, here’s my first sketch you can print out and color or decorate however you like. 

You will find this and many more fun downloadables over at www.Achoowhypollencounts.com

Don’t forget how snowflakes form.... from Pollen! 

Welcome to Legit KidLit Draw Off number 2

 

Legit KidLit Draw Off 2! 
Here’s their description:

Welcome to Draw Off Volume 2 on Legit KidLit! We have four authors and illustrators joining us today. We have award-winning author and illustrator Shennen Bersani! Shennen’s books show a world of nature and science through emotions that create strong connections with her readers. We also have author Brooks Benjamin, author of My Seventh Grade Life in Tights, a middle school novel that is full of humor and heart. Jarrett Lerner is a guest creator today and his books are always full of humor and positive messages for readers, including his newest series Geeger the Robot! Last but not least, we have Larissa Marantz. Larissa has illustrated a dozen books, including the series Clyde the Hippo, and has worked as an animation artist for numerous shows, including Rugrats!

 

Beehive Maze

Help Honeybee make it through her hive! 

A little drawing

Last week I participated in Legit Kid Lit’s 1st Draw Off. Here’s their description of the event:
Legit Kid Lit Episode 11 is a special drawing episode featuring four authors and illustrators! This was a blast of an episode full of humor and fun sketches. Watch now to see Jeanette Bradley, Brooks Benjamin, Abi Cushman, and Shennen Bersani doodle and have fun. Why don’t you grab a pencil and some paper and join in the fun too? 

We plan on doing another Draw Off in November. 

I also did a webinar with the Darby Creek Valley Association and created this drawing page to go along with it.

 

Here’s the NOAA link to How a snowflake is formed: https://www.noaa.gov/stories/how-do-snowflakes-form-science-behind-snow

Don’t for get to check out all of my Achoo! puzzles, crafts, and coloring pages on www.achoowhypollencounts.com 

 

2020 disaster relief children’s book donations

Between hurricanes, wildfires, and Covid, 2020 has definitely taken a toll on our nation’s education. If an elementary school lost their library from a hurricane, tropical storm, or wildfire please have the staff leave a comment. I have two complete sets of my Arbordale books and a limited number of my Jerry Pallotta books to donate. Two schools will receive 20 books. I can donate smaller amounts to additional schools until my supply runs out. Please share and spread the word. 

Please leave a comment I will respond to. I no longer read my gmail. 

ps. I’ve also illustrated seven other books with smaller publishers. A few of these might be sent as well, while my supplies last. 

Fine print: Staff only should contact me, preferably the school’s principal or administration. I want to be certain the books get delivered to the proper people/location. 

My Jerry Pallotta books are published by Scholastic and Charlesbridge. Most of my books can be found on Amazon.