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Push Pins and Post Its

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Throughout my writing career, I have found that what inspires me is all around us. From the colors that already make up our surroundings to how we were taught in school to use a graphic organizer to organize our thoughts, we can reach into the depths of our creativity with using the smaller things in front of us. Color and creativity: How color can help spark creativity According to color psychology, there is a direct link between the use of color and creative thinking. It’s hard to think of color when most adults have their worlds turned down, as we surround ourselves with limited colors, from our clothes to furniture in our homes. Color psychology focuses more on four colors: blue, green, yellow, and red.  I often combine colorful pushpins and sticky notes to help organize my thoughts on my cork board. Blue is known to help with creative thinking, as most people associate it with calm and relaxation. This is the same reason that blue is associated with workspaces: it can promo...

Juvenile Fiction Book Celebrates Music, Community, and Courage—Now Available

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  An Instrument for Florenda Second Edition Brown, Tomeko and Smallwood, Christopher and Kim, YoungJu Buy Now   Tomeko Brown/Moving Notes Books tomekobrownauthor@outlook.com tomekobrownbooks@blogspot.com           FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE         Juvenile Fiction Book Celebrates Music, Community, and Courage—Launching During Music in Schools Month A heartwarming story about a young girl finding her place in a new school band.   Tomeko Brown / Moving Notes Books Announces Book Relaunch for March 4, 2025   [RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, January 2025] Tomeko Brown / Moving Notes Books is excited to announce the publication of An Instrument for Florenda, (2 nd ) (ISBN 9798218513450, $9.99), from authors Tomeko Brown and C...

An Instrument for Florenda Crossword Puzzle

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  Coming March 4, 2025 An Instrument for Florenda (2nd Edition) Enjoy this free crossword puzzle

An Instrument for Florenda Word Scramble Activity Sheet

 Enjoy this free printable word scramble.

Juvenile Fiction Book Celebrates Music, Community, and Courage—Launching During Music in Schools Month

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After working intensively since August on the relaunch of the book  An Instrument for Florenda,  I am thrilled to share the moment I have been waiting for. A huge thank you to the team of professionals I was so fortunate to bring onboard: New York Times bestselling Children's Book Editor, Jennifer Rees , who completed the copy editing. Her work includes many award-winning and New York Times bestselling titles, including Suzanne Collin's THE HUNGER GAMES series. YoungJu Kim , who designed the book cover and illustrations. She is a digital artist and children's book illustrator. Her works have been included in Illustration West by Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles, 3×3 Magazine Annual, CMYK, Creative Quarterly, What’s Up Annapolis, Savannah College of Art and Design, and many others. Laura Edge , who completed the proofreading. She is an editor and an award-winning author of sixteen children's and young adult books. I am so grateful to have been abl...

The Educational and Social Benefits of Children Learning Music

Music is much more than a pleasant pastime for children; it serves as a gateway to intellectual, emotional, and social growth. Despite children learning to play an instrument or taking music classes, they meet benefits that transcend the fundamental function of plays. For them, the music forms part of them and the cinema brings with it together patterns that can last for a lifetime. Here is a detailed explanation of the benefits whether educational or social, that comes with children learning music. Boosting Cognitive Skills Many earlier researchers have supported the notion that Kindergarten music has a positive impact on children’s learning. Learning an instrument or singing requires the brain to multitask—reading notes, maintaining rhythm, coordinating movements, and listening for tone and pitch—all at the same time. These activities play on parts of the brain associated with memory, attention, and spatial-temporal reasoning, which are critical for success in subjects like mat...

More behind the scenes look- An Instrument for Florenda: What’s in a Character’s Name?

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            The inspiration behind a character's name can come from many different sources. In this case, I found the name Florenda to be beautiful and decided it would be the perfect fit for the main character in my book,  An Instrument for Florenda . Interestingly, the name Florenda has a deeper meaning, as it translates to "flower" or "in bloom" according to a baby's name book.   As I reflected on the book, I saw how the name Florenda truly embodies the story's message. The book tells the tale of a young girl who faces challenges and obstacles in her quest to play an instrument in her school band. Like a flower that must endure harsh conditions before it can bloom, Florenda must persevere through her struggles before achieving her goal.  Let’s look at Florenda's journey and that of a flower. A flower begins as a small seed, and it takes time, patience, and the right conditions for it to blossom into something beautiful. Similarly...