January 13, 2012

Look who is on the front of Barnes & Noble’s "Ages 6-8" eBook homepage! If you have been thinking about trying a Seymour Simon eBook for your iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch or Nook Color, now could be the time. Seymour is running an end of season blowout sale, with some of his very popular eBooks priced under $2.

Parents and Educators who have followed Seymour Simon’s work over the years know that he has always been very forward looking when it comes to technology. Back in the 1980s, when personal computers were first becoming available, he wrote a whole series of books for kids about using computers. The titles seem very quaint now (remember THE BASIC BOOK, or MEET THE COMPUTER?!), but he has always embraced technology and the wonderful opportunities it presents for kids to learn and explore.

Today, Seymour Simon has embraced eBooks as a new technology for encouraging young readers. Some of these books are new titles that he has created specifically for eReaders (like WHY DO KITTENS DO THAT? and SILLY ZOO ANIMAL JOKES & RIDDLES). But, he also sees this as an opportunity to bring some of his treasured, out-of-print older books like ANIMAL FACT / ANIMAL FABLE, and the PLANET books back to life. 

If you have access to a digital reader (or you know a kid who does), this is the time to give these eBooks a try. After all, lifelong readers find their way in through all sorts of different channels.

November 21, 2011

Did you ever wonder why kittens are always climbing things? Or digging up your mother’s favorite flowerpot? Or why they love to purr and snuggle?

You can find the answers to all these questions, along with more adorable kitten photos than you can possibly stand, in Seymour Simon’s new eBook, WHY DO KITTENS DO THAT? It was published this week in the iBookstore (for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch), and it also works on your Nook Color.

If you try it, be sure to let us know what you think!

July 5, 2011

Are you a Seymour Simon Facebook fan? Seymour just posted a new poll on a topic that is near and dear to the hearts of our readers:

Who do you like to talk to the most, your cat or your dog?

If you're 13 years old or more, head to Seymour's Facebook Author Page to register your vote!

Photo: From the Seymour Simon eBook WHY DO PUPPIES DO THAT?

July 5, 2011

A Southern California man heard noises in his garage, and thought that a raccoon, or maybe a squirrel had gotten in there. When he went in to check, he found himself face-to-face with a mountain lion!

Jesse Taylor snapped this photograph - which is our Cool Photo of the Week - while his wife called 911. Animal control experts eventually tranquilized the cat and released it into the San Bernardino National Forest. 

Biologists said that the mountain lion was a young male just beginning to explore on his own. Boy, will he have a story to tell when he gets home!

June 6, 2011

One of the most popular posts on the Seymour Science blog this past year was called: DOGS vs CATS: An Experiment. We reported on a study that showed that unlike dogs, who slurp their water and make a mess when they drink, cats drink daintily, using their curled tongue to pull liquid into their mouths in a neat stream.

Two scientists at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology decided to study dog drinking habits and see if this is actually true. They found that the way dogs get liquids into their mouths is very similar to what a cat does. And they have an x-ray to prove it!

Click here to see an x-ray of a dog drinking.

So dogs and cats are very much alike, at least when it comes to drinking! 

To read more about puppies and why they do what they do, download my new eBook, WHY DO PUPPIES DO THAT? You can buy an iPad version in the iTunes store, and it is now also available for the Nook Color. Happy reading!

May 25, 2011

It was amazing to watch people emerging, unhurt, from their storm cellars as we were watching television news last night of the latest powerful Oklahoma tornadoes.

That got me thinking. What happens to all the animals when a tornado strikes?

Dogs also go to work alongside the rescuers when disaster strikes. In this photo, a live-find dog named ChicoDog searches for survivors in the wreckage of a public housing complex in Joplin, Missouri. His partner is Kathleen Kelsey, a canine rescue specialist with the Missouri Task Force One search-and-rescue team.

Kittens Photo: Dave Martin  /  AP

ChicoDog Photo: Mark Schiefelbein / AP

February 23, 2011

Seymour Simon has cats on his mind, and he wants to know if you can find this little known fact: WHAT DO YOU CALL A GROUP OF CATS?

Hint: Seymour has written about this somewhere on the Seymour Science blog.

Prize: Post your comment here, and one person who has given the right answer will be selected in a random drawing to win a personally autographed copy of Seymour Simon’s book, CATS!

Enter today for your chance to win!

February 17, 2011

Cat lover Choulie uploaded this photograph with a note: "I saw this picture of a cat and loved it! I used to have two cats name Domino and Punchy. I will love and miss them forever."

Who has photographs of their own cats that they want to share? 

February 16, 2011

Recently, Mr. K’s fifth grade class in Churchville, Pennsylvania read my book DOGS and created a poll about kids’ favorite dogs. That led to three weeks of students writing about their favorite dogs. We even ran a dog-related contest one snowy day in January.

I think it is time for cat lovers to have their say! Write and tell us about your favorite cat and why you love him or her.

Here’s an interesting, little known fact about cats to get you started: Scientists have discovered that a cat’s purr can coax its owner into giving them what they want by using a special noise that the human brain can’t ignore. According to the study, cats’ subliminal ‘feed me’ messages are disguised as ordinary purrs but have a high-pitched element that makes a human react as if it is an emergency, just like the cry of a baby.

Cats are highly intelligent animals. But you cat-lovers already knew that, didn’t you?

February 8, 2011

Over the summer, I got a call from Barnes and Noble. "Hey Seymour," they said. "We’re making the first color reader for kids. How would you like to write a book for us that we can give away to every single person who either buys a NookColor device, or downloads the NookColor app for their iPad?"

That sounded pretty good to me, so after some discussion, we decided to create a book called FUN FACTS ABOUT PETS. I did a lot of research to come up with unusual and surprising facts about common (and not so common) household pets.

The 11 pets profiled in this book are:

Bunnies, cats, dogs, goldfish, guinea pigs, hamsters, lizards, parakeets, pot-bellied pigs, snakes and Shetland ponies. 

 Do you know why cats go night crazy?

Have you ever heard that pot-bellied pigs are so smart that some can open the refrigerator when they are hungry?! And you’ll discover that dogs’ feet sweat (and why). The book is really a lot of fun, and to top it off, actress Leslie Carrara (Abby Cadabby) does a spirited, funny reading that gives the book a dose of extra pizzazz!

Thanks to all the folks at Barnes and Noble.com for working with us to make this special eBook available free to all my readers. Go to the page for FUN FACTS ABOUT PETS on my website, where you will find links to either download the free book for your NookColor, or a link to download the NookKids app for your iPad.

Happy reading!

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