'Animal Antics A to Z' Has Been Selected as a 9th Annual Teachers’ Choice Awards for the Family Winner!

December 07, 2011

Animal Antics A to Z has been selected as a 9th Annual Teachers’ Choice Awards for the Family winner!

Learning® magazine’s announcement reads: “Learning doesn't stop when students leave your classroom! That’s why Learning magazine hosts the Teachers’ Choice Award for the Family. Teachers who are also parents evaluated books, games, websites, electronics, and more to choose the best tools for at-home learning. . . . Teacher teams from across the United States judged the entries and enjoyed evaluating these exceptional products. You received excellent reviews from our panel of teachers.”

Having previously received a 2011 Teachers’ Choice Award for Children's Books for Animal Antics A to Z, Kane Press is particularly proud to also receive a Teachers’ Choice Award for the Family for this series. Publisher Joanne Kane says, “We are thrilled and grateful. The fact that teacher-parents think Animal Antics is perfect for reading to and with their children is especially rewarding. Our hope is that parents and children will enjoy reading these engaging, humorous stories again and again.”

This is the third Teachers’ Choice Award for Kane Press (the Math Matters series received a 2008 TCA for Children’s Books).

Recent praise for

 

“My 5- and 8-year-old sons absolutely LOVE these books. Better yet, I LOVE these books! My pre-reader loves looking at them, and he doesn’t enjoy doing that with many books other than sports! So consider yourself the tops! I look forward to sharing your series with many other moms and hope we can obtain the series to keep for years to come to share with my grandkids someday. I’m thinking of them as my new 'golden' books—the ones we had as kids!” —Parent comment

“I would recommend this to all teachers of young students! It’s a fun way for them to learn their letters! My students keep asking for more!” —Teacher comment

 

Kane Press, an award-winning publisher of children’s books, announces the Fall 2011 publication of the final installments of the 26-book series, Animal Antics A to Z®. Author Barbara deRubertis and artist R.W. Alley have teamed up to create an original and lively series for youngsters ages 3–8. Animal Antics A to Z debuted with Alexander Anteater’s Amazing Act and has now come to completion with Zachary Zebra's Zippity Zooming. In these 26 stories, Alpha Betty’s amazing students embark on one adventure after another—all while having a lot of laughs and a rip-roaring good time.

Each book tells a humorous story children will relate to, focuses on a single letter sound (phoneme), and offers numerous opportunities for children to practice finding the phoneme at the beginning, middle, and end of many words. Fun activities are included to stimulate children’s curiosity.

Publisher Joanne Kane cites the continuing demand by parents for books with strong story lines, books that can be shared, books that support and extend the learning to read process as her reasons for publishing Animal Antics A to Z.   “Because alphabetics (recognizing letter sounds and phonics) provide such important groundwork for reading, it is helpful for children to have interesting, engaging materials with which to practice and learn. We feel that Barbara deRubertis has effectively integrated an authentic educational intent with all the elements essential to a good story—plot, conflict, and resolution. R.W. Alley’s zany illustrations contribute to the lighthearted, whimsical, and humorous aspects of the books.”

Barbara deRubertis’s understanding of how children learn and what engages their imagination has been acquired over her 33 years of experience as a classroom teacher and as an elementary school librarian. Barbara lives with her husband, Kim, on a farm in Cashmere, WA, where they raise cherries and pears. Their five grandchildren provide lots of first-hand experience with the antics that inspire Barbara’s stories.

Award-winning artist R.W. Alley has illustrated more than 100 books for children. He is best known for the Paddington Bear series by Michael Bond, Because Your Daddy Loves You by Andrew Clements, Tiger Can’t Sleep by S.J. Fore, and There’s a Wolf at the Door by Zoe Alley (Booklist and Kirkus starred reviews, NCTE Notable Children’s Book, and a Washington Post Best Book of 2008).

Lerner Publishing Group is the exclusive distributor of Kane Press titles.

Details regarding all Kane Press titles can be found on www.lernerbooks.com or on the publisher’s website: www.kanepress.com. A downloadable catalog is available here.

Contact:
Joanne E. Kane
Kane Press, Inc.
350 5th Avenue, Suite 7206
New York, NY 10118
Phone: 212-268-1435
Email: jkane @kanepress.com
Website: www.kanepress.com