Bright Futures Press

10/31/2024

Author Diane Lindsey Reeves encourages curious students to let their "what can I be" imaginations soar. With eight series featuring 67 interactive titles, her books spark early career exploration and set students on a path for future success.

Hello, Real World! Middle Grade CareerExploration Starts Here! What can I be when I grow up? • What can I be when I grow up? • Bright Futures Press is your go-to place when it’s time to intoduce your students or child to real world career opportunities — whether it’s at school, in the libr...

06/14/2024

Looking to explore graphic novel trends in publishing and learn more about how publishing companies are building their lists through comics? Join us on Thursday, June 27th for a Lunchtime Learning panel discussion with top graphic novel experts from across the publishing business.

WHAT: Lunchtime Learning: Graphic Novel Trends and Opportunities
WHEN: Thursday, June 27 from 2pm–3pm ET/11am–noon PT
WHERE: Online via Zoom videoconferencing
COST: Free for ABPA members; $15 for nonmembers
RSVP: Register in advance for this program:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUofsqz8iEtFtdRJy1nPONEs_rkdbbc-H
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. We’ll send an invoice to nonmembers for payment, which must be received before the event. We accept payment via Zelle to [email protected] or by credit card with a PayPal invoice.

06/10/2024

Make early career exploration a family affair! Download a free copy of What Can I Be: Discovery Activities for My Parent and Me at www.brightfuturespress.com.

05/24/2024

Celebrating the launch of the new Bright Futures Press website (www.brightfuturespress.com). Check out free new resources like Career Day in a Book, Career Day at the Library, and What Can I Be: Discovery Activities for My Parent and Me. Plus, lots of interactive middle grade career exploration books!

05/11/2022

What are soft skills and why in the world do kids need them?
Soft skills are life skills. Employers everywhere look for soft skills like attitude, communication, critical thinking, etiquette, teamwork, work ethic, and leadership in the people they hire. The funny thing is that the same skills that help adults succeed at work also help kids succeed at home, at school, in extra-curricular activities, and with friends.

Soft Skills Sleuths is an eight-title series that provides a fun and memorable way for students to explore essential skills in action. It’s a classic example of using “show and tell” to its best effect! The books tell readers about each skill and describe what it is, how it works, and how to use it. Then it shows readers what these skills look like in everyday situations through delightful illustrations where students investigate skill successes and mistakes. Kids see themselves in each interactive scenario and love sleuthing out the clues!

Parents use them to start great family discussions. Teachers use them to build soft skills in students in grades three through six.
Learn more at https://www.brightfuturespress.com/project/soft-skills-seuth/

Free classroom activity guide available athttps://www.brightfuturespress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Soft-Skills-SleuthsTG-FINAL.pdf

Ethic

05/04/2022

When is a good time to start introducing children to careers?
The earlier the better! Research shows that early career exploration connects classroom learning with the real world and keeps kids motivated to learn. PLUS, with a series like Get a Job, it is lots of fun!

The six-title Get a Job series lets elementary and middle-school readers explore unexpected opportunities in familiar places like the Airport, Construction Site, Grocery Store, Hospital, Landfill, and Shopping Mall. It’s like having a career fair in their own backyard!
Thanks to the zany (mis)-adventures of title character Jeremiah Oliver Baumgartner (his friends call him “Job”), readers find out who does what to keep communities running smoothly. It’s a fun – and informative – reading experience for middle graders in grades 3 – 6. Matching games and creative writing prompts add interactive energy to the experience.

Readers can choose a single title of interest or schools can use the entire series as part of a robust career education curriculum.

Order now at https://www.brightfuturespress.com/project/get-a-job

07/20/2020

Hot of the press! Our latest middle-grade career exploration series. Soft Skills Sleuths offers a fun, interactive way to introduce essential workplace skills like Attitude, Communication, Critical Thinking, Etiquette, Job Search, Leadership, Teamwork, and Work Ethic. Free downloadable classroom activity guide. Check it out at www.brightfuturespress.com.

04/20/2020

It's time for another Career Exploration AT HOME activity. This one dishes up a little encouragement that better days are ahead by inspiring students to think about what their own bright futures could look like. Take a look and share with the students, teachers, media specialists, and school counselors in your world! Download at the bottom of the homepage at www.brightfuturespress.com.

04/03/2020

I once heard an "expert" say that there had been a study that looked at how content people where in their retirement. He said it had found that those who were most content were those who were doing something related to what they said they had wanted to do back in the 3rd grade!

Unfortunately, I cannot remember the name of the expert and cannot guarantee that this is not fake news. But the notion has stuck with me for a long time. It seems that in many people there is at least a nugget of pure childhood desire that can propel them toward a satisfying career trajectory. Maybe true. Maybe not. But I do think that there are clues that start at a young age and continue along a person's lifetime that can nudge them in the right direction.

With that said (and caveated) this week's Career Exploration AT HOME activity focuses on encouraging students to start looking for and identifying clues that can help them make well-informed and personally appropriate career decisions

Go online to www.brightfuturespress.com to download this week's free activity!

mediacenter coronavirushomeschool

03/25/2020

So I've been writing books for about 20 years now. Long enough that my children were fairly young when I started. You'd think that being an "author" might give you some cache in your children's eyes. But, no, back then if you asked either of my daughters what their mother did for a living they would have probably told you that "she types on her computer a lot."

It's just a guess, but I suspect that my children aren't the only ones who were/are clueless about their parents' careers. And now here we are with families stuck together in their homes for the second week of the Coronavirus isolation. We all have plenty of time to chat and get better acquainted with our loved ones. It's the perfect time for students to connect with their parents (and other adults with cool careers) to find out more about what they do.

Message me to request the free Get the Career Scoop activity and encourage the students in your world to get some career interviews going on!

03/20/2020

Sitting here gobsmacked as everyone else with all that is going on in the world. Wanted to do something positive to keep students moving forward in exploring careers for their futures. The result? Career Exploration AT HOME! I will post new weekly activities until it is safe for everyone to get out there and explore the real world. Share with the homebound students in your world! Sign up and download a sample activity at www.brightfuturespress.com.

02/12/2020

If You Have a Moment, Could You Help Me Unload a Million Dollars?

It’s that time of year again – time for the mikeroweWORKS foundation to offer work ethic scholarships to people who wish to learn a skill that’s in demand. This year, as in years past, I have approximately one million dollars to distribute among qualified applicants. And this year, I’m once again struck by the difficulty of doing so.

As many of you know, my foundation is focused on closing America’s skills gap by highlighting opportunities that require specific types of training. In other words, I'm not looking for people who wish to earn a four-year degree, or individuals in pursuit of their “dream job.” With respect, I don’t care about your dreams. Nor do I care about you IQ, your test scores, your athletic prowess, your artistic ability, or any of the other things most other scholarship programs concern themselves with. I care about your attitude, your work ethic, your commitment to personal responsibility, and your desire to master a trade. I also care about $1.6 trillion dollars in student loans, the cost of a four-year degree, and our stubborn insistence that a university education is the best path for the most people.

To say it another way, mikeroweWORKS does not discriminate on the basis of race or gender, but we are most assuredly discriminating. We aren't trying to assist the most people possible. We are instead, trying to help those who can make a persuasive case for themselves, while pursing opportunities that actually exist. If you, or someone you know fits the bill, consider yourself invited to apply today. Mikeroweworks.org/scholarship.

As for the million dollars, it was once again raised from the incredibly generous people on this page, a series of non-traditional auctions conducted by yours truly, and a number of very supportive companies who share our commitment to closing America’s skills gap. This year, those companies include the following:

Koch Industries
Wolverine Boots & Apparel
Moen
Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry
Ferguson Bath, Kitchen & Lighting Gallery
Work for Piedmont
Gray & Son, Inc.
Distribution Contractors Association
Universal Technical Institute
ATI (Automotive Training Institute)
HomeServe USA
Zest Social Media Solutions

I’m grateful to everyone who has supported my foundation, and obliged to anyone who shares this post. There will be similar appeals in the coming weeks, so apologies in advance for the redundancy. But like I said, giving away a million dollars isn’t as easy as it sounds…

Thanks,
Mike

02/07/2020

Our latest series, Soft Skills Sleuths, started as an interactive introduction to workplace soft skills for middle-grade students. The idea was to give them a jumpstart on cultivating skills they would need later in life. As we started developing content, it soon became apparent that the same skills needed by adults in the workforce are also needed for success in classrooms everywhere.

Working with talented British artist, Ruth Bennett, we started unpacking traits associated with soft skills like communication, leadership, work ethic, teamwork. etc. We linked each trait with a fun age-appropriate scenario and asked students to identify the "successes" and "mistakes" associated with each scene. With 8 titles requiring 32 different scenes, I was a little nervous that the concept would hold up.

As it turns out, even young students find themselves in situations where soft skills are needed every day! Here's a scene from our Critical Thinking title. The chapter is about self-regulation and the set-up involves a classroom full of students whose teacher has momentarily stepped outside. Can you spot the self-regulation successes and mistakes?

Stay tuned for Soft Skill Sleuths coming later this summer!

02/07/2020

ur latest series, Soft Skills Sleuths, started as an interactive introduction to workplace soft skills for middle-grade students. The idea was to give them a jumpstart on cultivating skills they would need later in life. As we started developing content, it soon became apparent that the same skills needed by adults in the workforce are also needed for success in classrooms everywhere.

Working with talented British artist, Ruth Bennett, we started unpacking traits associated with soft skills like communication, leadership, work ethic, teamwork. etc. We linked each trait with a fun age-appropriate scenario and asked students to identify the "successes" and "mistakes" associated with each scene. With 8 titles requiring 32 different scenes, I was a little nervous that the concept would hold up.

As it turns out, even young students find themselves in situations where soft skills are needed every day! Here's a scene from our Critical Thinking title. The chapter is about self-regulation and the set-up involves a classroom full of students whose teacher has momentarily stepped outside. Can you spot the self-regulation successes and mistakes?

Stay tuned for Soft Skill Sleuths coming later this summer!

02/07/2020

01/29/2020

Read to a child in your world on Friday!

01/19/2020

https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/04/25/605092520/high-paying-trade-jobs-sit-empty-while-high-school-grads-line-up-for-university

Huge shortages loom in the skilled trades, which require less — and cheaper — training. Should that make students rethink the four-year degree?

01/12/2020

Growing up I successfully avoided taking science and math classes. My progressive Michigan high school was big on letting students follow their interests. So, while I always leaned toward the top level 4 and 5 offerings, my selections leaned mightily toward the humanities. I happily graduated high school, college, and master's with the barest minimum of science and math classes that I absolutely had to take. Chalk it up to fear of the unknown and all those confusing numbers.

Fast forward to adulthood and my first big chance as a children's book author. The series, Career Ideas for Kids, focused on popular subjects and interests of middle-grade students. Yep, that included science and math. With 12 titles to crank out, I decided to start with one of the tougher subjects just to get it over with. Science it was -- only because I couldn't talk myself into tackling Math yet.

Now fast forward to the present. I've written or produced more than 100 career exploration books for students of all ages. To this day, that Science title remains one of my favorite books to write. Why? I got to research and interview archaeologists, chemists, food scientists, oceanographers, veterinarians, and more. I fell in love with the botanist who used scientific knowledge to create perfumes! It opened a whole new world of exciting and important career options for me to share with my readers.

That project sparked a curiosity about science (and yes, even math) that continues to fuel my work helping students figure out what they want to be. This year my Find Your Future in STEAM (STEM plus Art) series was selected as an official resource for the Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work event on April 23. Together, we will share STEM opportunities with more than 40 million participants from around the world who set aside a special day to share and explore career opportunities.

My STEM super-power came in the form of a second chance to make it right. I hope my books inspire many students to find bright futures in STEM!