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Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Lerner Publishing Group. Eat tasty food, visit family, give thanks, and relax with a great book. You could even try one of our Thanksgiving books!

The Dangerous Duo are all dressed up today for Halloween! That’s Patricia Stockland (left) of Lerner Publications and Domenica Di Piazza (right) of TFCB. We went for the ninja/flamenco look, in case you were wondering. Hope you’re having just as much fun at work today as we are!

Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting and prayer, begins later this week. We have a new book about Ramadan as is part of our Cloverleaf Books Holidays and Special Days series.

Rashad’s Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr focuses on a young boy in a Muslim family. (A Somali family living in the U.S., to be precise.) While he is too young to fast during daylight hours throughout the month, he does fast for one day. The book touches on when Ramadan happens (and why it starts on a different day every year), what Muslims do during Ramadan, and how people celebrate the end of Ramadan: gathering and feasting on Eid al-Fitr!

The end of the book includes a fun, simple craft called a moon can. This is something that all kids can make and use, regardless of their faith. During Ramadan, it’s customary to give food or money to the poor. The moon can is a decorated can (such as an empty soup can) that can be used to save money that will be donated to help people in need.

As it happens, this year Ramadan coincides with the Olympic Games. Did you know that there will be approximately 3,500 Muslim athletes competing? Check out this article for more about how these athletes will be observing Ramadan while at the Olympics.

Well, it seems I’m now two for two in posting about a given holiday the day AFTER it took place. But we should really make Earth Day Every Day, shouldn’t we? That’s certainly what Trina would say!

Who is Trina, you ask? She is one of two spunky kids who star in the Cloverleaf Books Planet Protectors series.

Our other star is Tyler, who loves to ride his bike all over town.

These enthusiastic youngsters learn a lot about different ways to care for the Earth in this series. The books have engaging storylines and lots of humor along with practical tips that children in early elementary school can relate to. At one point, Tyler gets revved up about recycling and wonders if he can recycle his sister too.

In Look Out for Litter, Trina imagines how pirates might treat litterers.

Fortunately for all of us, litterers don’t really get tossed to the sharks! But all the same, these books are a good reminder of we can all do to help the Earth—on Earth Day and every day.

illustration from the very lovely forthcoming A Leaf Can Be . . . by Laura Purdie Salas, illus. by Violeta Dabija, Millbrook Press, Spring 2012

Check out the flash mob at our company holiday party! We loved our jingle bell rockers!
//www.youtube.com/get_player

I hope your Halloween was as much fun as mine was! Look at what a little creativity with power tools and with some papier mache produced!

Be sure to check in next week for more from TFCB.

[Photos: Eiffel Tower pumpkin, left; papier mache witch, right. Courtesy of Yours Truly.]

I’m just over a week late, but better late than never to say happy blogoversary to us! I checked what Andrew had to say about our blogoversary last year, and it just so happened that it coincided with a preview of our Fall 2010 books on the Fuse #8 blog. Well, as it happens, Betsy’s preview of our Fall 2011 books just went up a few days ago. So happy blogoversary! Happy preview!

And if you’re curious, you can revisit a few of our most popular posts from the last year:

Jeni Reeves on Enrique Esparza and the Battle of the Alamo

A Big Bouffant Is All I Really Want!

10 Quick Facts about Muammar al-Qaddafi and Libya

Now go have some cake!

Many people have been getting ready for Easter this week, while many others have been celebrating Passover. But do you know how the two holidays are linked? A colleague who shares my interest in etymology passed along some info on the origin of the word Easter, as well as the connection to Passover (from History.com), and I can’t resist sharing:

The exact origins of this religious feast day’s name are unknown. Some
sources claim the word Easter is derived from Eostre, a Teutonic goddess of
spring and fertility. Other accounts trace Easter to the Latin term hebdomada
alba, or white week, an ancient reference to Easter week and the white clothing
donned by people who were baptized during that time. Through a translation
error, the term later appeared as esostarum in Old High German, which eventually
became Easter in English. In Spanish, Easter is known as Pascua; in French,
Paques. These words are derived from the Greek and Latin Pascha or Pasch, for Passover. Jesus’ crucifixion
and resurrection occurred after he went to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover (or
Pesach in Hebrew), the Jewish festival commemorating the ancient Israelites’
exodus from slavery in Egypt. Pascha eventually came to mean Easter.

That’s probably more than any student needs to know. But you can help students increase their cultural understanding of Easter—without the linguistic geek-out—through Millbrook’s Easter around the World. Explore the many ways that kids and families will be celebrating this weekend (and in the weeks to come) around the globe.

Also, happy Earth Day! Enjoy today’s Google doodle and go be kind to the environment: leave the car in the garage, plant a tree, see what you can recycle or reuse instead of throwing it in the trash. (Get crafty!)

Best wishes for any and all holidays you may be celebrating this weekend!