Kids Menu Books! What they’re all about…

Have you heard of Kids Menu Books? Probably not, but if you know me personally you would. I have only been working on them for 10 years.

In January 2015 I will be doing my Kickstarter campaign to independently publish the first in the collection! I would love you to sign up for my monthly newsletter so you can get the scoop on the progress and if you miss posts you can get the summary of the whole month! Just enter in the form at the right (below my contact buttons).

For the campaign I need to come up with a video. So far this is what my script is looking like–

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Hi. My name is Lucy Ravitch and I wrote a children’s book–but it’s not just any children’s book. The Pancake Menu is an open-ended novelty book with pretend prices for each item of the menu. Kids read, take each other’s orders, and practice using money. All this equals a hands-on experience making math fun. Each time children play, they can order what they want. There are even recipes so you or the kids can make the pancakes!

In college I made the first menu book as an assignment for one of my Education classes. In 2004 when I saw my little kids playing with it I knew the menu book idea had potential and I planned out a collection of them. Since 2009 I’ve immersed myself in the children’s book industry, finding out what it takes to get published, and doing revision after revision. The format changed many times, but now I feel it’s ready.

The first book of the Kids Menu Books is The Pancake Menu. It’s a great tool for Elementary teachers and math tutors to use with their students to make math fun. Children good at math enjoy it just as much as those that don’t. Because it’s like a game to read and play with the books kids love it. They have an opportunity to practice addition, subtraction, and work with pretend money. For a challenge they can add tax and a tip. Also, if children make the recipes there’s an opportunity to talk about the cost of supplies and the time it takes to prepare food. And when measuring the ingredients kids learn real-world applications of volume measurements.

I have noticed that even little children enjoy looking at the menu, even if they can’t apply the math principles yet. Kids Menu Books have numerous learning opportunities on many levels for ages 5-10. Kidsmenubooks.com is available for everyone to print as many ordering sheets and menu money as they need. There are also videos for the recipes, along with sections for parents and teachers.

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What do you think (even though it’s not done)? Does it get you excited to buy it? Are you confused by anything (still have questions)? If you have time to poke around kidsmenubooks.com I’d love to know what you think (I do plan on hiring someone to make it look neater with buttons if the campaign is successful).

There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes of printing a book. I have had my manuscripts revised several times and done rough work on pictures but now that I know I am going to publish it I need to produce the best drawings I can. The last couple of days I have been making sure I get to bed early and wake up an hour early so I can draw before my kids get up…

The Ladybug Pancake inked with sketch erased

Erasing the sketch lines.

Mid-inking.

An old sketch that is in my mock-up book. I can’t wait to show you the cool format in another post!

The Snail Pancake…I think it’s cute.

Alphabet Pancakes! $0.30 per letter

The list for the alphabet pancakes and various syrup dishes.

It’s been fun getting ready for this project. I hope you are as excited about Kids Menu Books as I am! I would really appreciate your support and when the Kickstarter campaign comes out to tell all your friends (especially if they are parents and teachers) and share my video on your social media.

Thanks for reading!