Reading Rainbow Live Launches with Be a Maker, Celebrated Picture Book from Lerner Publishing Group
MINNEAPOLIS, MN—Lerner Publishing Group is pleased to announce that Be a Maker by Katey Howes, illustrated by Elizabet Vuković, and published by Carolrhoda Books®, will be the first book featured on Reading Rainbow Live, a new version of the beloved Reading Rainbow TV series that originally launched in 1983. The live event featuring Be a Maker will premiere on March 7, 2022, with an interactive format that allows attendees to play games and participate through the platform Looped.
Be a Maker takes readers along on a day of creation with two explorers to discover just how much there is to do—and make—in a single day. From a snack with a friend to a trip into outer space, readers discover the many ways to imagine, create, and be a maker in the world. This simple, layered story celebrates creativity through beautiful rhyming verse and vibrant illustrations with a timely message. As the featured title, Be a Maker “[is] the perfect book for the launch because it gives kids permission to take chances, make mistakes, solve problems creatively, brainstorm, collaborate, and use their imaginations,” Reading Rainbow creative director Amy Guglielmo told Parents Magazine.
To register for the Reading Rainbow Live event on March 7, 2022, click here.
Praise for Be a Maker:
“Turning the page is an acceptance of the book creators’ challenge—a decision to put passive con-sumption and inpatient expectancy on the shelf and instead invite your hands to do, to transform and, above all, to MAKE.” —Anitra Rowe Schulte
“Together the text and the illustrations create an excellent read that will empower readers to reflect on their own lives and make a change or two or three. . . . This is more than just a book about mak-ing and engineering: Make an excellent choice to add this to the shelves.” —Kirkus Reviews
About the Author
Katey Howes is thrilled to be making books for children. She also makes bad jokes, great apple crisp, and messy mistakes. Katey lives in Upper Makefield, Pennsylvania (really!) with her husband and three adventurous daughters makers. Katey is the author of picture books Magnolia Mudd and the Super Jumptastic Launcher Deluxe and Grandmother Thorn.
About the Illustrator
Elizabet Vuković grew up around makers in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Her mom introduced her to making with fabrics. She and her sister accompanied their dad on many trips to the hardware store for his constant home renovation projects, and her sister continues to use Elizabet as her guinea pig for many outrageous inventions. Elizabet graduated with a degree in optometry before deciding to go back to school for illustration in San Francisco, where she currently resides.
Be a Maker
$17.99 Hardcover
eBook Also Available
Ages 4-9
HC: 978-1-5124-9802-8
32 Pages ● 9 ¼ x 11
To Purchase: Visit your local bookstore, order by phone at 800-328-4929, or visit us at lernerbooks.com.
Media contact:
Lindsay Matvick
Publicity Manager
800-328-4929, x385
lmatvick@lernerbooks.com