The Lighting of the Tree at the V Zoo Party 2009

Good morning, Zebee here. Boy! Did we have a great tree lighting party! So many of my boss Joy’s author friends came it was amazing. Many of them brought along their characters too. Let’s see how many we can remember.

Elysabeth Eldering came. She brought along Matt, Guy and Mary Beth, her Junior Geography detectives. They were searching for clues for one of her books.

Lea Schizas was there. Bubba and Giganto were with her. They sure are nice boys and good soccer players. We had a game between the story characters and all of us here at the V Zoo. We lost, but we vowed to have a rematch next year and win. We need a coach. Any volunteers?

Oh, and Bill Kirk came and brought along Ari. We all watched were we stepped so we wouldn’t crush him. He’s really a cool spider.

When Vivian Zabel arrived with Buddy, some of the characters wanted him to teach them how to rope Prairie dogs. Since the closest thing we have to that here at the V Zoo are the meerkats, that just wouldn’t work. Instead he showed them how to rope a fence poll.

Che Dee was there with Odo, the time children, Mashu, Cassie and the Tulies.

Mary Jean Kelso brought along Andy and Spirit. Spirit is a beautiful horse and Andy is amazing the way he can ride.

Dayna Hilton and Sparkles came. Sparkles had us all on our knees again. This time even I could do it. I’ve been practicing.

Rachelle Burk was there with Kenny and Allison. We all wanted to hear about living in a tree house. I’d like to climb up in a tree house someday.

Rena Jones and Dilly came. So did Shari Lyle-Soffe along with Aaron and Horace. Mayra Calvani and Humberto read us some of Humberto’s favorite books. Hugo also showed up with Elizabeth Dulemba with soap for everyone.

I’m sure I forgot some of the authors and their characters. The place was packed and we had a fun time.

Who got to put the star on top of the tree this year? Billy. He climbed up Star’s neck and placed it, very carefully, on the top branch.
Got to go, I need to finish making my gifts. We are all making things for each other this year.

posted by Zebee aka Joy Delgado
We go Beyond Reading
Laughing Zebra – Books for Children
Fun ways to help children learn
Books Go Beyond Reading

Book Review: Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog by Dayna Hilton

Good morning book fans, Zebee here. Today we have a book all about fire safety.

Yesterday, my boss Joy’s friend Dayna Hilton and her dog Sparkles came for a visit. Dayna is a fire safety instructor and along with her dog Sparkles she teaches children what to do in case of a fire. She’s also written a book about it. Here’s what my boss Joy has to say about the book:

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"Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog" by Dayna Hilton teaches children all about fire safety. Dayna is a firefighter and currently serves as a Public Fire and Life Safety educator in Clarksville, Arkansas.
With the help of her father and son who are also firefighters, she developed a complete package of fire safety information that's sure to delight children as it teaches.

Her book walks you trough a day in the life of Sparkles as she helps Dayna teach children fire safety. The photographs in the book show Dayna, her son Michael and Sparkles get ready for the day and how they help children learn what to do in case of a fire.

For little ones who can’t read yet, Dayna has an audio CD available where the story is read with and without page turning prompts. Included on the CD is a song about Sparkles.

If you go to Sparkles website, you will find activity sheets, games and much more. Sparkles even has a fan club your children can join.
* * * * *

Dayna and our boss Joy read the book to all of us here at the V Zoo. When they were finished it was Sparkles’ turn to teach us how to “stay low and go.” You should have seem us! Star and the other giraffes couldn’t…

Star: I heard what you said Zebee. What we want to know is if you plan on telling all the children in Bloggerville how funny you looked trying to crawl low. All I can say is that I’m glad I wasn’t behind you for that part of the program!

Z: Okay Star you made your point. I’m sorry that I was going to make fun of how you looked while you tried to crawl low. I guess there were quite a few of us that looked silly since we just can’t bend that way. The big cats, bears and chimps didn’t have any trouble, just us hoof stock.

Star: I guess if the V Zoo ever had a fire, we’d just get down as low as we can and crawl out as fast as we can.

Z: I know that’s what I’d do. Now, back to Dayna and her mission. She told us that to help get her message out, she’s been on the "PBS KIDS Sprouts" as well as "Fox and Friends." I think that’s cool. I know your visit here with us taught us a lot about fire safety.

Okay, so where can you buy her book?


Gee, I’d like to be on TV some day. Maybe if I . . .

posted by Zebee aka Joy Delgado
We go Beyond Reading
Laughing Zebra – Books for Children
Fun ways to help children learn
Books Go Beyond Reading