The Ice Castle Activity Fair

We just finished editing our new promotional video for Pendred Noyce's second book in the Lexicon Adventure Series, The Ice Castle: An Adventure in Music, and we must say, it looks pretty cool!
The book is out on August 9, and it comes with discussion questions and activities to get kids involved with music and science. What's even cooler is that we've put together a set activities so that you can host your very own Ice Castle Activity Fair at your local school, library, or museum.
So check out our video to get an introduction to the book and the activity fair, and if you want to host an event, email our publicity director, Desiree .

Music Education Week

It's National Music Education Week, and to celebrate, we've compiled a list of musically inclined books for your reading pleasure. No matter if you're looking for books by musicians, about musicians, or inspired by musicians, there's something on the list for you. We even added a few children's books in case you want to celebrate music education week with your family!
If you want to find out more about any of the books, or purchase them online, you can follow the links that correspond to each numbered cover. Happy reading!

1. Forever Young by Bob Dylan and illustrated by Paul Rogers
2. High Fidelity by Nick Hornsby
3. Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield
4. One Love Adapted by Cedella Marley - Based on the song by Bob Marley
5. Come As You Are by Michael Azerrad
6. The Ice Castle: An Adventure in Music by Pendred Noyce
7. Hassie Calhoun: A Las Vegas Novel of Innocence by Pamela Cory
8. Just Kids by Patti Smith
9. Spiral Bound by Dessa
10. The Old, Weird America: The World of Bob Dylan’s Basement Tapes by Greil Marcus
11. Mama Don’t Allow by Thacher Hurd
12. Under their Thumb: How a Nice Boy from Brooklyn Got Mixed Up with the Rolling Stones (and Lived to Tell About It) by Bill German
And if we've forgotten one of you're own favorite music books, make sure to add it to the list!

It's also National Music Week!

There’s been a lot of talk this week about Children’s Book Week, but did you also know that it’s National Music Week? First observed in 1924 and sponsored by the National Federation of Music Clubs, this week is marked by concerts, festivals, and musical events of all sorts in libraries, businesses, and schools across the country. In the words of National Music Week’s founder, Mr. Charles M. Tremaine,

“Music Week is, to some extent, different from all the other special ‘weeks.’ It is a ‘drive’ for music by the friends of music, but is also the occasion for participation in and receiving of pleasure, thus making it independent of any propelling force from behind. It gathers its momentum as it goes along from the enjoyment it brings…. Music, permeating the atmosphere, enters many new places where it is welcome.”

In celebration of National Music Week, we thought it only fitting to provide some fun facts about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, one of the most influential composers in history. It’s also especially fitting because Mozart happens to be featured prominently in Pendred Noyce’s upcoming book, Ice Castle. In the latest book of the Lexicon series—out this August from our Scarletta Junior Readers imprint—Daphne and Ivan, along with their cousin Lila, travel to the Land of Winter where social status is based on musical talent. The three children must endure slavery, hunger, illness, and injustice before they can spark a revolution to return spring to the Land of Winter.

Celebrate Children's Book Week!

In case you haven't heard, it's Children's Book Week! And we're celebrating with a Nalah and the Pink Tiger event this Saturday at Boneshaker Books in Minneapolis. Local puppeteer and children's book author/illustrator Anne Sawyer-Aitch will read from her new book, Nalah and the Pink Tiger. Afterward, everyone will make wild and crazy animal puppets, and Anne will sign books. The event starts at 11:30 am.

If you're interested in finding more Children's Book Week events, you can check out the Children's Book Council's official events list here.
Back in March, we blogged about the decline of picture books in favor of young adult books (you can read it here) and about how sad that made us feel. So, we're proud to announce that Scarletta Kids will be releasing two more picture books in the near future.
The first is a storybook that focuses on lake activities for children. It uses sensory and rhyming techniques to describe a typical day at the lake. The second book is for a slightly older age group (6 to 10) and is about a grandfather sharing his love of baseball with his granddaughter.
We're also excited to announce that a musical is being created about our first children's book Lost in Lexicon, and we hope to see it performed as early as spring 2013 at Meadowbrook School in Massachusetts. The first song of the Lost in Lexicon musical has already been produced. Watch our Twitter during Children's Book Week (May 7-13) to find out how you can receive a free download of the song "Girls Can't Do Math."

Libraries pick Lexicon

The Virginia Beach Public Library recently named Penny Noyce's Lost in Lexicon a VBPL Staff Pick. They weren't the first, and they certainly won't be the last because Lost in Lexicon has something in it for all kids.

In spite of its somewhat obvious goal of encouraging reluctant children to enjoy and understand the many uses of words and numbers, Lost in Lexcon is actually an enjoyable fantasy.
In the course of their travels Daphne learns to use a compass and navigate on the Cartesian plane. She has some other mathematical successes and discovers she enjoys solving these problems.
Meanwhile, Ivan discovers that he needs to use words, sometimes in critical situations. Naturally he learns to enjoy the power of words and recognize their usefulness.

Lost in Lexicon is perfect for kids who love math, as well as writing and reading. But the story isn't solely educational, kids get so swept up in the adventure to find the lost kids of Lexicon that they forget they're learning.