Square Cat Book Giveaway & Writing Letters to Authors

I've noticed summer bucket lists on several of my favorite blogs. Little Wonders Days' posted one a month ago and they've already started working their way through the list. Last week they made frozen bananas covered in chocolate. YUM! Creative and Curious Kids linked to my Summer Reading Challenges and Contests post in her bucket list. If I had a list, those challenges would definitely make an appearance somewhere.

While we don't have a formal bucket list, we plan on doing several fun things this summer. One activity we plan on accomplishing is writing a few letters to our favorite authors. Letter writing is a bit of a lost art it seems but it's a skill kids should learn. Personal letters are so fun to write and receive! Plus, the activity is a great way to practice spelling and handwriting skills.

We really enjoyed reading Elizabeth Schoonmaker's Square Cat last week. While looking for more information about the book online I ran across Eula the Square Cat's blog. It appears that Eula and her creator like to receive mail and drawings from kids, so my daughter decided that she wanted to write her first letter to Eula and Elizabeth Schoonmaker. My daughter also drew a picture of Eula in a ballerina's outfit to send along with her letter. She asked Elizabeth about Eula's square spiral tail. She wants to know if Eula always had a square tail. (According to my daughter, square tails are harder to draw than regular tails.)




As far as finding address information, many authors have websites and blogs and sometimes you can find mailing addresses posted online. If you are unable to find mailing contact information for an author, you can also send the letter to the publisher of the book. Just address the letter to the author in care of the publisher. Not all authors will have the time to write back but some will surprise you with a letter in return, especially if you send a SASE along with your letter.

Letter writing links:
How to Write to an Author (Reading Rockets)
Arthur's Letter Writer Helper (PBS Kids)


Elizabeth Schoonmaker saw our review of her book, Square Cat, and has kindly offered to giveaway a signed copy of her book to a Brimful Curiosities reader! How awesome is that? It's certainly something to purr about! (Plus, to our surprise, Eula featured our cube cat activity on her blog. Make sure to take a look!)

More square cat books are in the works! What kind of adventure or activity would you like to see a square cat tackle? To enter this contest, leave a comment with your suggestion.

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Little Wonders Days' family is so excited about their bucket list that they are hosting a weekly Summertime Fun Party link-up on Saturdays. We're linking up this post to the link-up.