Events
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Visits to your program or school
I love doing events with young children in schools or in programs with their families. During these events, I can also share tips with teachers and parents about early language development and/or early math development, as well as information for extension activities to use in the classroom or at home with children.
Programs for ages 6 months – 6 years
Books and Crafts An interactive reading followed by book extension craft activities such as making sock puppets for Red Socks, pet fish drawings for A Fish to Feed, playdough from scratch for Cake Day, story character paper dolls for Rosa’s Very Big Job, and fancy gift boxes or cardboard box creations for Gift & Box.
Math in Stories An exploration of math through story and craft with Banana for Two, Clean Up, Up, Up!, Cake Day, Leaves to My Knees, and Yellow, Red, Green–GO! Math concepts include quantities of one and two, spatial relations, sequencing and capacity, size comparison and measurement, and sequential patterns.
Books + Banjo A reading and sing-along for young children and adults of related familiar favorite songs and our original numbers. Children have an opportunity to learn about and strum a real banjo with bluegrass musician Mr. Malcolm.
Author Show & Tell programs for K-1st grade
Our first books A reading of several of my very own picture books created when I was 5 and 6 years old. Children can share their own written stories with me, in a group or individual setting.
The secrets of making a picture book A look at how a picture book is created in book publishing, using my book Rosa’s Very Big Job or Gift & Box. (Hint: Lots of teamwork is required!)
Where story ideas come from A look at what inspired my picture book Gift & Box. (Inspiration includes a real gift of a chocolate mouse and a long car trip of years past).
If you are interested in a real or virtual visit, please contact me.
My Event Scrapbook
My first bookstore reading
“We were very pleased to host Ellen Mayer at the Harvard Coop today — her books A Fish to Feed and Red Socks were a big hit with our storytime crowd, in no small part thanks to her lively reading and experience engaging with a (very) young audience. We look forward to her forthcoming books!” — Hannah, Children’s Book Department at The Harvard Coop, Cambridge, MA, August 22, 2015
On tour with 2023 picture book Gift & Box
The Gift & Box tour included a lively launch at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, MA, a thumbs-up afternoon at Whitelam Books in Reading, MA, an impromptu book signing at the wonderful Books of Wonder in New York City, and more! Along the way we sang Happy Birthday to Gift & Box and flew like airplanes, decorated gift boxes, and experienced what it was like to be Gift inside Box. It was a special treat to team up with illustrator Brizida Magro (fellow “Book Mama”) for two events in Colorado.
Being Gift-inside-Box
A book launch with a StoryWalk®
It was a special joy to celebrate my 2022 autumn story Leaves to My Knees at the main Cambridge Public Library and again later at the O’Neill Branch, Cambridge, MA. And it was a dream come true to see the story as a StoryWalk® as part of these celebrations.
Books + Banjo in the schools
Mr. Malcolm and I enjoyed our residencies at different Cambridge Public Schools, starting in the 2018-2019 school year.
“The Children’s House and Special Start classrooms at the John M. Tobin Montessori School in Cambridge, MA have had the pleasure of hosting Ellen Mayer and Malcolm Pittman throughout the school year in our classrooms with children ages 3-6 years. Ellen’s engaging reading of her picture books, joyful presence and enthusiasm for children is enjoyed by all ages. Malcolm’s singing and playing of the banjo are a perfect combination to spread the excitement of literacy and music! We always look forward to their next visit!” —Megan Cahill, Children’s House Teacher, March 2019
Museum exhibits
I was honored to have two of my books selected for the Annual Family Trees: A Celebration of Children’s Literature exhibit at the Concord Museum in Concord, MA. Cake Day was featured in 2019 and Gift & Box in 2024.
Brizida Magro’s stunning art for our Gift & Box was in the 2023 Original Art Exhibit at The Society Of Illustrators in New York City.
Fall fun with illustrator Nicole Tadgell
In September 2023 I got to meet Leaves to My Knees illustrator Nicole Tadgell and partner around two events in Takoma Park, MD! We hosted a (rainy day and inside) StoryWalk® and leaf-pile jump, and Nicole led an art tour, all as part of Let’s Play America’s 15th Annual Play Day. Plus we shared our book at the fabulous People’s Book.
Visits to the library
Library visits in 2019 included a Special Guest storytime at the Cook Memorial Library, Tamworth, NH, and a STEAM storytime series and bilingual launch of the Chinese/English edition of Banana for Two, both at the Cambridge Public Library, Cambridge, MA. More recently in 2024, visits included a celebration of Gift & Box at several Cambridge, MA branch libraries.
Decorating cakes on a school visit
“Our Primary Multiage students were visited by children’s book author, Ellen Mayer. After reading two of her wonderful books to the students, Rosa’s Very Big Job and Cake Day, she introduced an art activity to the group based on one of her books. The students were excited and quite engaged in the activity. Thank you Ellen for visiting our school.” – K. Ryan, art teacher/librarian at Sandwich Central School, Sandwich, NH, September 15, 2016
A national early literacy campaign uses Red Socks
Too Small to Fail, a joint initiative of the Clinton Foundation and the Opportunity Institute, teams up with a host of partners to turn “wash time” into “talk time” at Laundromats in underserved communities across the country to build early literacy – and the campaign uses Red Socks! Illustrator Ying-Hwa Hu and I had a great time reading with families at the Laundry Project’s Free Laundry Day in Tampa, FL on August 13, 2016. We also made sock puppets! Click here to learn more about the “Wash Time is Talk Time” campaign.
Watch Quack Quack, THE MOVIE!
(With special thanks to
Cornelius Van Wright)
Watch a video about our visit!
Talks to parents and grandparents
Porter Square Books in Cambridge, MA hosted me in two presentations. The first, “What can you do with a board book? Some ways to share a board book with infants and young toddlers (0-2 years)” was part of a program for new parents in August, 2015, “Beyond Goodnight Moon: Why, how, and what to read to your baby.”
The second presentation in July, 2016 was on the topic “Tips for Grandparents on how to build the language of infants and young children.”
Talks to providers
“Author Ellen Mayer visited ReadBoston today and talked to Parent Literacy Leaders about writing and publishing children’s books. Thanks for the wonderful presentation!” –Anna Adler, Senior Manager of Literacy Programs, ReadBoston, Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development, Boston, MA, March 16, 2017
“Thank you so very much for sharing your wisdom and experience with staff and parent groups in your presentations on early language development using your Small Talk Books® picture books. You were a ‘spot on’ visitor to our Minute Man Arc Early Intervention Program last week. You truly are enlightening and inspirational.” – Gale Ann Merle, Staff Parent Group Leader, Minute Man Arc Early Intervention, Concord, MA, November 2, 2016
I visited the Home-Based Early Childhood Education Program in Cambridge, MA, where I used to be an Early Literacy Specialist, to share my new story Banana for Two. I talked with staff about the early math that’s modeled in the book, and how toddlers learn about amounts of one and two through hands-on activities, in February 2018.
Visiting children’s book author
As a visiting children’s author in the Somerville, MA Public Schools, I shared stories with the Somerville Family Learning Collaborative’s playgroups and joined end-of-year celebrations. I launched the bilingual El gran trabajo de Rosa/Rosa’s Very Big Job and presented during Literacy Month at the Argenziano School and read aloud at the East Somerville Community School book fair. As a visiting children’s author with Let’s Talk and the Center for Families in Cambridge, MA, I shared board books with playgroup families. (2017-present)
STEM stories and activities
At the Cambridge Science Festival in 2018, nonprofit STEM education organization TERC hosted a bilingual early math story time for young children that featured my book Banana para dos/Banana for Two, developed as part of their Storytelling Math project. Audrey Martinez-Gudapakkam and I shared the story in Spanish and English, we shopped for groceries and talked about quantities of one and two, and I signed books with the help of two bunnies.
Book signing bashes and Festivals
With a crew of fellow kidlit folk, I signed books at The Writers’ Loft Holiday Bazaar and Book Fair and at Jeff Kinney’s An Unlikely Story Bookstore and Café in Plainville, MA 2015-2018 and in 2023 at The Writers’ Loft community space in Hudson, MA. It was exciting to be part of the community of authors and illustrators in 2024 celebrating children’s illustration at R. Michelson Galleries 35th annual gala as well as the Inaugural Newton, MA Children’s Book Festival.
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- www.sethkaye.com
Fairy sightings and other reading adventures
Peek-a-boo, and a fairy in the audience, at Barnes & Noble readings; assistance with a reading from my granddaughter at the Moon and Back Bookstore and from my pup at Ten Trees Books; a StoryWalk® with Yellow, Red, Green – GO! at a bike safety event; sharing my books at a farmers market; a return visit to the magical Beacon Hill Books & Café; and an impromptu Autumn reading of Leaves to My Knees on a playground.
Conference fun
At the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter meeting in Boston, MA in January, 2016 illustrator Ying-Hwa Hu and I signed copies of our book Red Socks and got to hang out with Star Bright Books’ Jiyoung Ahn and Deborah Shine.
And of course we wore our red socks!
At the Texas Library Association Annual Conference in Austin, Texas in April, 2019 I had the opportunity to chat with library professionals and introduce my new early math board books.
At the national Reach Out and Read Leadership Conference in May 2021 I read (and sang!) my new board book Twinkle, Twinkle, Diaper You!
