Books with author Vanita Oelschlager

Knees shows the ups and downs of life with dyslexia. We have done this book in the style and size of a chapter book so that younger children and older children at low reading levels can read what seems to be an older child's book. We cover dyslexia’s symptoms and the reasons school can be hard for dyslexics. We talk about some famous people who had or have dyslexia. The book is endorsed by the head master of a school where many of the children have dyslexia. He has dyslexia himself.

A Tale of Two Mommies is a beach conversation among three children. One boy asks another boy about having two mommies. A young girl listening in asks some questions too. True to a child’s curiosity, practical questions follow. “Which mom is there when you want to go fishing? / Which mom helps out when Kitty goes missing?” To which he answers: “Mommy helps when I want to go fishing. / Both Mommies help when Kitty goes missing.” A Tale of Two Mommies is intended for 4-8 year olds. This book lets us look inside one non-traditional family, a same sex couple and their son. As the children talk, it’s clear this boy lives in a nurturing environment where the biggest issues are the everyday challenges of growing up.

Knees shows the ups and downs of life with dyslexia. We have done this book in the style and size of a chapter book so that younger children and older children at low reading levels can read what seems to be an older child's book.We cover dyslexia’s symptoms and the reasons school can be hard for dyslexics. We talk about some famous people who had or have dyslexia.The book is endorsed by the head master of a school where many of the children have dyslexia. He has dyslexia himself.

A Tale of Two Mommies is a beach conversation among three children. One boy asks another boy about having two mommies. A young girl listening in asks some questions too.True to a child’s curiosity, practical questions follow. “Which mom is there when you want to go fishing? / Which mom helps out when Kitty goes missing?” To which he answers: “Mommy helps when I want to go fishing. / Both Mommies help when Kitty goes missing.”A Tale of Two Mommies is intended for 4-8 year olds.This book lets us look inside one non-traditional family, a same sex couple and their son. As the children talk, it’s clear this boy lives in a nurturing environment where the biggest issues are the everyday challenges of growing up.

Pullman Porters were very important figures in the history of America. This book teaches children and adults who porters were and why they were so important in our history. Porters worked in early train cars, for 70 railroad companies nationwide. They would look, listen and learn from their predominantly white passengers. They read the newspapers passengers left behind, listened to conversations and talked with one another. The porter knew how important education was for children and how important it was to take this message home to his family. He eventually landed at the forefront of the civil rights movement.

Children and adults under the age of 40 are forgetting about the Pullman Porter. They were very important figures in the history of American. This book will teach children and adults, who the porters were and why they were so important in our history. Porters worked in early train cars, they would look, listen and learn from their predominantly white passengers. They would read the newspapers passengers left behind, listen to conversations and begin to talk to one another. The porter learned how important education was for children and how important it was to take this message home to his children. He eventually landed at the forefront of the civil rights movement.

Eye to Eye shows children the magic of idioms – words that separately have onemeaning, but together take on something entirely different.Children are curious about words, especially phrases that make them laugh (StickYour Neck Out) or sound silly (All Ears).Eye to Eye uses outlandish illustrations of what the words describe literally. Thereader then has to guess the “real” meaning of the phrases (which are at thebottom corner of the spread). At the end of the book, the reader is invited to learnmore about these figures of speech.Our first book of idioms, Birds of a Feather (2009), dealt with birds, insects oranimals. Our second, Life is a Bowl Full of Cherries (2011) uses food idioms.Our third book, Out of the Blue (2012) dealt with idioms about colors. This will bethe fourth in the series, dealing with body parts. All four are fun – and instructive.

The Arctic region of North America is a land of long days, icy cold, hardy people and peculiar creatures. The Inuit people there have made traditional use of remarkable folk tales to find truth and explain the mysteries of an astonishing world. In Fish-Boy: An Inuit Folk Tale, Vanita Oelschlager retells a tale passed down by a wise old Inuit. It's an origin story involving a little magic and a very odd boy with a large heart for friendship. On a journey with his new father, he must confront misfortune and the malice of cold hearted villagers. But he has a way...and a lesson for all in the virtues of kindness and hospitality. Here then, is high praise for the tale-tellers: for the richness, diversity and creativity they send from the top of the world- and so, also Fish Boy, An Inuit Folk Tale, retold here and lavishly illustrated for a new generation. After all, that is how ancient folk tales and truth live on in the telling.

Words and pictures show children what a dangling participle is all about. Young readers are shown an incorrect sentence that has in it a dangling participle. They are then taught how to make the sentence read correctly. It is done in a cute and humorous way. The dangling participle loses its way and the children learns how to help it find its way back to the correct spot in the sentence. This is followed by some comical examples of sentences with dangling participles and their funny illustrations, followed by an illustration of the corrected sentence. Young readers will have fun recognizing this problem in sentence construction and learning how to fix it.

Words and pictures show children what a dangling participle is all about. Young readers are shown an incorrect sentence that has in it a dangling participle. They are then taught how to make the sentence read correctly. It is done in a cute and humorous way. The dangling participle loses its way and the children learns how to help it find its way back to the correct spot in the sentence. This is followed by some comical examples of sentences with dangling participles and their funny illustrations, followed by an illustration of the corrected sentence. Young readers will have fun recognizing this problem in sentence construction and learning how to fix it.

Porcupette Finds a Family, is a story about how a baby porcupine (called a porcupette) finds a new family after losing his mother. He wants to have an attachment to the bear family he finds, but is afraid his “bear” mother and “bear” brother and sister will leave him too. This causes him to act out his fears in ways that jeopardize acceptance from his adopted family. However, with the understanding and help of Mother Bear, Porcupette finally accepts that he is truly loved and wanted despite, or maybe because of, his differences.

Eye to Eye shows children the magic of idioms – words that separately have onemeaning, but together take on something entirely different.Children are curious about words, especially phrases that make them laugh (StickYour Neck Out) or sound silly (All Ears).Eye to Eye uses outlandish illustrations of what the words describe literally. Thereader then has to guess the “real” meaning of the phrases (which are at thebottom corner of the spread). At the end of the book, the reader is invited to learnmore about these figures of speech.Our first book of idioms, Birds of a Feather (2009), dealt with birds, insects oranimals. Our second, Life is a Bowl Full of Cherries (2011) uses food idioms.Our third book, Out of the Blue (2012) dealt with idioms about colors. This will bethe fourth in the series, dealing with body parts. All four are fun – and instructive.