Reviewing Books on Amazon

 Here's how Amazon works for authors. 

Amazon promotes due to the amount of positive reviews a book or product receives.

When you buy something on Amazon and see "people who bought this also bought...) it is because of the reviews the product has received. 

Amazon keeps track of the all the reviews given to a product or book. When an author (that's me) is given favorable reviews Amazon says "hey, people like this author!" 

 

But Amazon doesn't stop there, the more positive reviews the better promotion Amazon gives to the book or product.

This is super helpful for someone (me again) who is self published. Because not only am I self published, I am also self promoting.

To those who have shared Bob's blog and the release of "The Adventures of Bob the Dog" books, thank you. It is tremendously appreciated and super helpful to get the word out that a fabulous book is available for such an inexpensive price!

More books are to come. "Bob's School Rules" will be uploaded this weekend on kindle! 

If you haven't bought the first "Adventures of Bob the Dog" book be sure to find it for kindle on Amazon.com. It is free for Kindleunlimited members and part of the Kindle Lending program. And when you do be sure to leave a review!

Bob's second book Available soon!

Bob's second book "Bob Goes to School" will be available this weekend!

I am sure you can guess what Bob is doing in this book. 

Bob gets school supplies, a backpack and waits for the bus. Be sure to catch the lessons here.

The Fry's words (sight words) used in this book are listed on the last page. Take time to look over them, they will help you and your child become familiar with words they will learn in school.

The next book is already in the works "Bob's School Rules". 

School Starts!

Many of you have already started school.

Bob is getting ready for school too...

Bob's new book tells how Bob is getting ready for school with the supplies he needs and how to wait safely for the bus.

Bob is ready to make good choices at school. I hope you are too!

Not only is Bob going to school, but so am I! It finally seems like the right time to go back and finish my degree. 

I started in education before my son was born twenty-four years ago. Even though I wanted to finish college, something else always seemed more important. 

My son graduated from IU in the spring of this year and is now a high school english teacher! I am so proud! 

Many of my friends have been encouraging me to go back. My husband has been trying to get me to go back for years, but it just never felt right. I had stuff to do. Besides it's scary and WAY out of my comfort zone.

But with my son gone and husband traveling for work a lot of the time there really weren't any excuses left! 

So here I am a fifty year old freshman! Nervous, excited and questioning "what the heck am I doing?". But, I have 21 credit hours coming back to school with me, to be frank, I didn't think I'd get that many. 

Bob and I are starting a new adventure together. His new book "Bob Goes to School" should be up on Kindle this weekend! Be sure to check it out. If you haven't already bought Bob's first book "Meet Bob the Dog" you can click HERE to go directly to "Meet Bob the Dog" on Amazon. 

Fry's words vs. sight words

Ever since I started this blog, I've been talking about the ever important Fry's Words and how children need to know the first one hundred when they go into first grade. This reminded me of my sister and how hard she worked to help her kids in kindergarten.

She always called those words sight words. That is what I always heard them called too.

That is until I started working full time in the classroom.  The teachers I worked with talked about how important it was that the students should know the first one hundred Fry's words when coming into the first grade. I had no idea what they were talking about until they explained that these were sight words.

So now I've been calling sight words the Fry's words for so long I don't even think of them as sight words anymore!

When I talk about Fry's words, I am referring to the sight words your child needs to learn or is currently learning.

If you are familiar with sight words you know these words are difficult to sound out and need to be memorized because they don't follow the rules of most of the other words we learn to read. 

In first grade students are tested on the next hundred words and so on. However, I focus primarily on the first hundred words because these are the building blocks of successful reading.

In order to assist parents and guardians in their children's reading  success, the Fry's words used in "The Adventures of Bob the Dog" books are written on the last page. 

By the way, my sister has a blog of her own that is worth checking out!

Check her out HERE. She showcases the beautiful cards she makes. Stop by her blog and say hi, and when you do tell her Bob the dog sent you!

Rainy Day!

It is a rainy day in Indiana, But Bob does not mind!

Bob loves puddles and raindrops.

Sometimes Bob likes to go outside in the rain and play in the puddles.

Sometimes Bob likes to stay inside and read a book.

Bob's first book "Meet Bob the Dog" is on Amazon.com and it's free until Tuesday at midnight!

A rainy day is the perfect time to get a new book!!

Adventures of Bob the Dog Book on Amazon Free until Tuesday!

Have you met Bob the dog? His first adventure "Meet Bob the Dog" is now on Kindle. You can find him on Amazon.com and it's FREE until Tuesday!

Bob is a black and white dog but his books are in full color!

This is the first of many adventures Bob wants to share with you. His books are simple to read and full of the very important Fry's words. You will be able to find a list of the Fry's words used in the book on the last page.

This is a wonderful opportunity for you and your child to go over them as you read the book. 

Teachers expect first grade students to know the first 100 Fry's words when they enter first grade. This book and Bob's Adventures to follow will be a great help in preparing your child for success in school.

Helping your child recall and retain what they have read can also be practiced with Bob's first book "Meet Bob the Dog". By asking your child a few simple questions while you read it together will start him or her thinking about what they are reading.  Soon your child will be asking these questions about what they are reading without prompting from you!

The ability to tell what they just read and remember what they read are two of the things students are  tested on in school. It is important that they know the words but then Teachers want to know if the child understands what they are reading. Can they recall it, do they retain it?

The first thing I would do as a I read with my students is stop at the end of each page and ask "What just happened here"? I know the pages are short, and as an adult reader you may be thinking this is silly after just one simple sentence; however, remember your child is only just beginning to read and you want to help them become successful readers. 

So ask "What just happened"? even after just one sentence. Help them answer the question if they aren't sure how to answer. 

It's okay if they don't know. Again remember, they are just starting and this is all new to them!

There isn't a problem or a solution in this first book, but other adventures become a bit more complex. At the end of this book you will just want to ask your child "What was the book all about"? and "Who was the main character"? or simply "What was the name of the dog"? and "what can the dog do"? or "what did the dog do"? 

As the story has more substance you will want to ask "What was the problem"? and at the end "How did the problem get solved"? At the end of this book you can ask you child questions that help him predict what will happen next, like "What else do you think Bob can do or will do"?

These are just a few of the questions you can ask to help your child become a successful reader. I hope you give it a try while reading "Meet Bob the Dog"!

And send me an email on how you and your child liked the book. 

The next book will be out in a couple of weeks and it will be all about Bob going to school! And you won't want to miss "Vote for Bob"! The presidential election only happens once every four years and Bob wants to get in on the action too!!

With fall close on our heals, you won't want to miss Bob's holiday fun in "Bob's Halloween", "Bob is Thankful" and "Bob's Christmas". And Bob has stuff going on at his house too! I think he is going to try to do some redecorating. I know you won't want to miss that!

Thanks for reading. Be sure to follow this blog. Write a review for "Meet Bob the Dog" when you finish reading it!