Kauai Author hits best-seller list with Day of the Dead Sugar Skull Coloring Book
On a sunny October day a few years back, Kauai author Monika Mira decided to have a Dia de los Muertos party for her son. As an illustrator, she whipped up some coloring sheets that the kids could color in and make masks with at the party. The party and the coloring sheets were a big hit with the kids. Even some of the parents stayed late just to color. Over the years, the collection of sugar skull illustration began to grow, and the neighborhood kids looked forward to coming over for the annual Dia de los Muertos party.
The following year, Mira created a life-size paper skeleton, which she buried in a mock graveyard outside for a party game. She had the kids dig through piles of leaves in the yard to find all the bones. Then the kids brought the pieces inside to assemble the skeleton. It too was a hit.
Mira decided that the collection of sugar skull illustrations and the life sized skeleton might be useful to teachers, so she placed it on a teachers resource website, where she sold hundreds of copies over the next year. As a published author, Mira thought the components would make a fun coloring book for kids to enjoy worldwide. What started as a party game for the local author, has now turned into an Amazon best-seller.
The Day of the Dead Coloring Book features ten original sugar skulls designs that can be colored in and used to string banners, decorate an alter, make masks, or for a cultural activities in the classroom. A blank skull template is provided for artists who want to create their own designs. Also included is a 4â child life-sized skeleton. The skeleton takes up about ten pages of the book and can be colored in, cut out and assembled by a child. The life-sized skeleton is perfect for Halloween decorations, party games, or even an anatomy lesson.
Teachers who want to use the book as a classroom resource will find that they can cover lessons in social studies, world cultures, art, and anatomy. Additionally, coloring and assembling the skeleton as a class is a great team-building activity. Students absolutely love creating their own sugar skulls and building the skeleton. Rave reviews have been pouring in from teachers who use this activity in their classrooms. Momâs who home school are also enjoying the Day of the Dead Sugar Skull Coloring Book.
The Day of the Dead Sugar Skull Coloring Book is available on Amazon. For more information about the book, please visit Lucid Publishingâs website: www.lucid-hawaii.com.
Summer is just around the corner and that means lots of Kauai activities island wide. What to do with our guest visiting Kauai? What to do on vacation on Kauai? Here is a list to get you started. For up to date events check out the Kauai Calendar.
The Banana Poka Round Up, that plucky mountain event that celebrates Kauaiâsnatural environment, steps into its third decade of forest fun for the whole family in KĆkeÊ»e State Parkâs lush Kanaloahuluhulu Meadow.
Run or walk one of the world’s most beautiful courses, and enjoy a delicious pancake breakfast at the finish! The 8 mile course begins at the end of the road in Ha’ena at Ke’e Beach, then traverses the scenic stretch of road, and one-lane bridges, along the breathtaking North Shore towards Hanalei town, ending at the historic Hanalei Pier.
This fun day on Hanalei Bay is one of sand castle/sculpting contest and music festival each year on Kauai. The idea is to encourage amazing sand sculpture, relaxation, exercise and enjoying a fun day the beach.
Made famous by Elvis and Blue Hawaii, most of us who grew up on Kauai remember Coco Palms as a place where we went for brunch on Sundays after church with our family. We fished for Talapia with bamboo poles as our parents socialized with friends after lunch. We wandered through the maze of coconut groves to the tennis courts where we would spend hours being wildly entertained by the monkeys and peacocks, the residents of Kauai’s only zoo. The tennis courts, the little road that connected the Homesteads to the Wailua Houselots, the little church where Aunty was married, having lunch with the queen of hospitality, Grace Guslander and hearing her stories about running the resort and the history of the property. These are the memories to highlight and share with Kauai keiki. For anyone born after September 11, 1992, the only memories of Coco Palms is that of a deteriorating piece of history.
The mayor added, “I plan to arrange for a community discussion very soon so that we can all envision what the future could hold for this site of such historic and cultural significance. Letâs put our hopes and dreams on the table, and work toward a collective vision of Coco Palms that will do justice to this special place and will result in a community resource of which we can all be proud.”
KÄ«lauea Point National Wildlife Refuge closed for the final phase of lighthouse restoration
When Kanuikapono Charter School first opened on Kauai 11 years ago, classrooms where wherever director Ipo Torio-Kauhane could arrange for them, under tents with students sitting on lauhala mats or in the gymnasium a Kapaa church.
