"On the first day of kindergarten, my teacher gave to me the whole alphabet from A to Z." Welcome to kindergarten, a wonderful world full of puzzles, pencils, and picture books! Each day promises an adventure as teachers give their students something new to do. Whether feeding fish or building with blocks, these students discover what fun school can be! Drawing on the rhythm and rich repetition of the familiar "Twelve Days of Christmas," Deborah Lee Rose's story is a lighthearted and welcoming introduction to school. Kids will love following along and joining in as the text accumulates, culminating on the twelfth day. Readers of all ages will want to enroll!
Deborah Lee Rose is an internationally published children's author who weaves together themes of nature and family in her award-winning and cherished books. Her newest picture book, All the Seasons of the Year, illustrated by Kay Chorao, was published in Fall 2010. "My children and I always loved reading books about the seasons together," Deborah recalls. "I wanted to create one that would capture the exhilaration and joy that children and adults share as each new season unfolds."
The Twelve Days of Springtime, Deborah's humorous picture book about a class making a school garden, was named Book of the Month by the National Wildlife Federation's Your Big Backyard magazine. Her popular ocean alphabet book, Into the A,B,Sea, was named to the New York Public Library 100 Children's Books to Read and Share. The Twelve Days of Kindergarten and The Twelve Days of Winter both won the NAPPA Gold Award, the highest award given by the National Parenting Publications Association.
"Many scenes and details in my books have come from experiences with my children, or memories of my own childhood," Deborah explains. "For example, my son was so nervous about his first day of kindergarten, but when he came home from school, he couldn't stop telling me all the wondrous things his new teacher had given him. Those classroom gifts--and many others that followed--inspired me to write The Twelve Days of Kindergarten. Readers kept asking to see more adventures of the characters Carey Armstrong-Ellis created, so I wrote The Twelve Days of Winter and The Twelve Days of Springtime to take them all further into the school year."
Deborah's first book, the environmental folktale The People Who Hugged the Trees, continues to be included in major language arts anthologies for elementary schools in the U.S. and other countries. Deborah grew up in Philadelphia and graduated from Cornell University. She is a science writer for UC Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science and blogger for the national informal science education project howtosmile.org. She lives in Walnut Creek, California. Deborah speaks at professional reading, writing and library conferences, as well as at school, library and community events for young readers.
