Reading Lady Blog

Exciting things have been happening here at The Reading Lady!  Stations across the US are now airing our first ever hour-long episode featuring Steven Riley’s book, Little Ty Cooney and the Big Yellowstone Mystery.  This is the second book in Mr. Riley’s Ty Cooney series and follows the adventures of Ty and his friend, Stan, through Yellowstone National Park.

As part of this special episode, Mr. Riley himself appears in a fun 15-minute segment!  While narrating entirely in rhyme, Mr. Riley takes kids through both Yellowstone and Yosemite, pointing out landmarks and native animals that appear in the Ty Cooney books.  We are grateful to Mr. Riley for taking the time to provide us with this segment, and are honored to be able to share it with our viewers.

Also now airing is Poppo’s Very Best Trick, the third installment in Annie MacDonald’s touching Poppo series.  Ms. MacDonald continues to do a wonderful job presenting a difficult subject in a way that children can understand and identify with.  It is our hope that, by featuring these books on The Reading Lady, we can help her bring comfort to kids and families who are dealing with family illness or the loss of a loved one.

As always, feedback is appreciated!  If you have a comment or question about any episode of The Reading Lady, feel free to leave it here on the blog or drop us an e-mail.  Happy reading!

Spring is coming in fits and starts here in upstate NY, reaching out tendrils of sunshine across the area.  It’s a season of warmth and renewal, which makes our newest books that much more pertinent.

We’re pleased to welcome Annie MacDonald to the Reading Lady family of authors!  Ms. MacDonald is working on a touching series of books about Jenny and Poppo–a little girl and her grandfather, who contracts ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.  They were inspired by the real-life Poppo, who was Ms. MacDonald’s graduate school professor and asked that she write something for his granddaughters to help them understand his illness.

Now in post-production are two new Reading Lady episodes featuring the first two Poppo books: What’s Up With Poppo? and Poppo’s Half-Birthday Wish.  Each of these books offers a look at the journey Jenny and her family take in learning to cope with the progression of Poppo’s ALS.  Presented with humor and gentleness, these stories are great for parents and kids to share.  We feel honored to be able to present them to our viewers.

For more information on ALS/Lou Gehrig’s Disease, you can visit the ALS Association Website at http://www.alsa.org.

And give Poppo and Annie MacDonald a visit at http://mypoppo.org!

…time for a new Christmas episode of The Reading Lady!  Believe it or not, that time of year is creeping closer, and all of us here at bananaEd Productions are very excited to be wrapping up and sending out the 2009 Christmas episode, “Christmas Spirit”.  The Reading Lady has really outdone herself this year, incorporating the very first interactive craft project of the series.  Kids and their parents will be able to follow along and make fantastic paper snowflake decorations to brighten up their homes this holiday season!

We’re also happy to be introducing a new author, Artie Knapp, as the new year rolls in.  Mr. Knapp has written many stories for children that have been published in newspapers such as California Kids and the Detroit Free Press, as well as online in the Teachers.net Gazette.  The Reading Lady is proud to present one of Mr. Knapp’s fun tales, “The Shell-Shocked Turtle”, in another upcoming episode.  You can visit his website by clicking on the link above, or in the author list in the blog sidebar!

So keep an eye out for these new episodes on your local public access station(s) around Christmas and the new year!  If you’re not sure where or when The Reading Lady airs in your area, check out the newly-updated station list.

Happy Thanksgiving, and happy reading!