An Interview with Author Doreen Cronin

December is winding down, and what a month it has been! My youngest daughter turned 5, we survived her art and cupcake party (where the kids used acrylic paints and real canvases to make cupcake masterpieces), and we made it through all the holiday planning and have been sitting back and enjoying some good old fashioned family time. 

As the month nears its end, my blog's December of Doreen is also nearly over. I hope you've enjoyed learning a little more about the picture books Wiggle, Bounce, and Stretch and that you have some fresh ideas for using them to foster movement and yes--even yoga--among the little ones in your life. To finish off the month, Doreen Cronin kindly answered a few questions I had for her over email about this series of books. Enjoy...and happy holidays, everyone!  

Wiggle, Bounce, and Stretch are such fun and simple movement books that all children can relate to. What inspired you to choose these themes for the books?

Wiggle was such a deviation from the normal turn of things. Scott Menchin had already created the dog and some of the art and was working on a book about wiggling, but wasn't completely satisfied with it. My agent (also Scott's agent) sent the art to me and asked me if I would take a crack at it, so I did! It was the first time I had ever started with art and worked backwards! I loved the result, and the feedback was so good that we decided to do two more books.

All three books exude joy, movement, and childish mischief. I can only imagine they were a lot of fun to create. Can you tell us a little bit more about your process for creating them? 

Once we had Wiggle, we knew the other two books would be about movement as well. With the dog already created, it really became a matter of "what else can we do with him?" Scott's art is so fun, whimsical, and accessible -- I think it's perfect for young readers.

The dog character is truly adorable. Ever thought of giving the dog a name...for fun?

I sometimes ask children what they would name the dog -- I like that it's open-ended. It's also a recurring theme in my books (by accident!) to have characters with no names! The Wiggle dog, Worm, Spider, Fly, Duck, the Cows. Farmer Brown is the only one who has an actual name!

I know it's like asking you which of your children you prefer, but do you happen to have a favorite of these three books? Or does one of them resonate with you more than the others for some reason?

I really depends on my mood (or actually, my daughter's moods)! I spent five days in Kansas reading (and wiggling) with kids all over the state after Wiggle was chosen for the Kansas Reads to Preschoolers program in 2009. I had so much fun -- and wiggled with so many kids, parents, and educators -- that Wiggle now evokes great memories for me!

Congratulations on your newest picture book, M.O.M. (Mom Operating Manual)...and on your first chapter book, The Trouble with Chickens. Any other books in the works that you want to mention? And any chance you will continue your collaboration with Scott Menchin and create another movement-themed picture book?

Right now there are no plans for another movement book. But Scott and I also did a book called Rescue Bunnies together, and I hope to work with him again and again in the future!

Guest Post for Little Yogis: Ready... Set... Stretch!

The picture book Stretch, published in 2009, is the third book in Doreen Cronin's series for little movers. (You can read more about the series here.) If you compare the covers of Wiggle and Stretch, you can see that the dog from the book has evolved over time. He seems just a little bit crisper and a little bit cuter than he did when the series began, don't you think? He's also gotten even more creative and is now doing yoga!  

Today's guest post is by speech-language pathologist and children's yoga specialist Angela Moorad, who is also the founder of OMazing Kids Yoga, LLC. Angela was nice enough to take time out of her busy schedule to share her ideas for using the book Stretch in yoga classes for kids, including those with special needs. Thanks so much, Angela!

I typically develop each of my OMazing Kids Yoga lesson plans around a children's picture book. Books provide a clear beginning and end, and they provide visual information for us to build on during class. Many of the children I work with have special needs, so providing this extra structure is helpful for them. 

One of the characteristics I love about Stretch is that it provides opportunities for multiple yoga poses and activities on each page, so it's easy to adapt to the needs of any child or group. The book also provides good opportunities for children to learn new vocabulary, rhyming words, adjectives, inferences, and skills for prediction.

Can you stretch to the ceiling? Can you stretch to the floor? 

You can stretch with a whisper, you can stretch with a roar!

Below is a partial list of poses and activities I use with the book. I don't do all of them with every group of kids, but I pick the ones that are the best match for the kids' needs, interests, and abilities on any particular day! All of the poses and activities are inspired by words and images from the book:

• Dog pose: We typically do upward facing dog rather than downward facing dog in my OMazing Kids Yoga groups because of contraindications to downward facing dog for certain medical conditions.
• Cat pose: There is a leopard in the book, so I have the kids do the cat pose, name different body parts, and then pat "spots" onto the different body parts.
• Fish pose: We don't use the traditional fish pose in OMazing Kids Yoga because of the risk that many of our kids, especially those with Down Syndrome, might hyperextend their necks. Depending on the kids in the group, we either do the sign for fish or lay on our bellies and do a swimming motion.
• Mountain pose: We actually do the mountain pose with one arm lifted high, to represent the Statue of Liberty, which is shown in the book.
• We also do many yoga poses for other animals and objects that appear in the book, including a giraffe, mouse, lion, crab, peacock, boat, and tree.
• Blowing feathers: Using white craft feathers that "fluff" at the bottom and have a stiffer top, we notice how just a little puff of air is needed to move the fluffy part of the feather, while a bigger breath is needed to move the stiffer part.
• Apple picking: This stretch can be done either sitting or standing. I have the kids stretch their arms over their heads to reach apples high in a tree. Depending on the kids in the group, I may also hold up a picture of an apple to give them something to actually reach for.
• Namaste yarn game: One child holds a ball of yarn, says something he or she likes about another child in the class, and then rolls the yarn to that child. The second child does the same thing with another child, and this continues until all the children have had a turn. At the end of the game, the pattern of yarn that the kids have formed shows them how we are all connected.

Want to hear the entire book Stretch? Watch Sesame Street's Elmo and Maria read and discuss it during the 2010 White House Easter Egg Roll here. And finally, here is a coloring sheet I made to use alongside the book in OMazing Kids Yoga. We often do simple coloring as part of relaxation at the end of class.

Angela Moorad holds a master's degree in speech-language pathology from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences and has more than 21 years of experience working with children with a wide range of developmental disabilities, including autism spectrum disorders. She also teaches adapted yoga for children with special needs at the J. D. McCarty Center, volunteers to teach children's yoga at Oklahoma City Educare, and founded OMazing Kids Yoga, LLC to promote inclusive yoga for children of all abilities. OMazing Kids Yoga has a Facebook page, blog, and YouTube channel where Angela shares her ideas and experiences.

A December of Doreen.... and a Dog!

Picture book author Doreen Cronin may be best known for her book Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type, which was named a 2001 Caldecott honor book and started her prolific career as a children's writer. However, Cronin is the author of 13 additional picture books, plus a chapter book, and is also juggling a handful of additional projects that will hopefully hit bookshelves soon. You can find an up-to-date list of her books here.

I decided to feature "A December of Doreen" on my blog for a couple of reasons. First of all, I thought it had kind of a nice ring to it! But more importantly, I wanted to feature some of Cronin's movement-themed picture books, particularly a series of three books that would make great accompaniments to any movement-based class for very young children. With single-word titles that say it all, Wiggle, Bounce, and Stretch are simple, humorous books that are bound to get the little ones moving and smiling--all with the help of an adorable dog (drawn by illustrator Scott Menchin) that you'll get to know a little better over the next few weeks.

So stay tuned for a month of fun posts about the books, including a guest post by Angela Moorad from OMazing Kids Yoga and an interview with Doreen Cronin herself. I'll also list the posts here as they go live. I'm super excited and hope you are, too!

• Perfect Picture Book & Poetry Friday: Wiggle!
• Guest Post for Little Yogis: Ready...Set...Stretch!
• Boing.... Boing.... Boing...
• An Interview with Author Doreen Cronin