Authors, Kai Strand & LA Dragoni

Hey everyone. Today I'm thrilled to host multi-talented, multi-published, girl on fire, Savannah Hendricks. I know Savannah as a kind and generous author. She donated her time and knowledge to my classroom last year when I was teaching a writing class at a local middle school. We Skyped with her and then she also donated an adorable short story to our fundraiser anthology, Realms Reads: The Worst Last Day Ever . AMAZING! She has a wide range of publications from women's fiction to short stories, to her very latest picture book, Winston Versus the Snow . She's here today to talk about Winston's journey to publication. If you are currently working toward a goal--read on--what Savannah has to say is inspiring. Take it away Savannah. Thanks so much for having me on your blog. To say I’m excited to talk about my newest picture book,  Winston Versus the Snow  is an understatement. I worked on Winston’s story for a few years, and it’d been through a nice round of r...

Today I welcome Deb Hockenberry, author of Where Can We Have The Party? Thanks for visiting Deb! WHY I WROTE “WHERE CAN WE HAVE THE PARTY?” Why did I write Where Can We Have The Party? When I was young I read every book in the children’s section of my public library, but never read exactly what I wanted to read. I liked party and talking animal books. I never found one book that combined both and that’s what I wanted. Thus, Giraffe, Elephant, Chimpanzee and the rest of the gang was born. Of course, I had to have a place for them to live. At first, I thought of the jungles of Africa, but that wasn’t magical enough. Thus, Hungle Bungle Jungle was born and the rest is history! I wrote ‘Where Can We Have The Party?’ simply because I couldn’t find a book that I wanted to read! BLURB Giraffe wants to have a party for his friend, Chimpanzee. There’s one problem, though. Where can he have the party? He asks three other friends to think of ideas. The...

Welcome to Three Times A Charm. I love to introduce readers to the people involved in children’s publishing. Today we welcome picture book author, Marilee Crow. Marilee is a fellow Angel—we’re both published by Guardian Angel Publishing. As a matter of fact, her new book, Saving Ellie , was illustrated by the lovely K.C. Snider, who illustrated the covers of my Weaver Tales books. Tell us a little about yourself, Marilee. I live in Meridian, Idaho. I am a retired PE teacher. I am also a former competitive gymnast. I competed for Long Beach State. After college, my husband and I opened our own gymnastic center, which we had for 18 years. After selling our business, I worked in Special Education as an aide and then an assistant PE teacher at a private school for students with social emotional problems. I have always been interested in writing. When I was 12 I wrote my own Nancy Drew mystery. My sister typed it up for me and we stapled it together like a book. I just never foun...

Welcome to Three Times A Charm. I love to introduce readers to the people involved in children’s publishing. Today we welcome publisher, Ellie Sipila from Common Deer Press. Thanks for joining us, Ellie. Tell us a little about you, please. Hi there. I’m Ellie Sipila, and I’m the acquisitions editor/publisher of Common Deer Press. On top of being a published writer myself, I hold a Publishing certificate from Ryerson University. Being the professional kind of nerd, after a short (and somewhat unfulfilling) stint in Engish Lit, I figured out that actually, my passions were with making books, not so much dissecting them. So I enrolled at Ryerson for all three kinds of editing, went on to get a specialization in editing books intended for young readers, then rounded out my education with courses in book design and physical and digital book production. Now, at Common Deer, I am living the dream by acquiring great manuscripts and making them as awesome as is humanly possible. ...

Welcome to Three Times A Charm. I love to introduce readers to the people involved in children’s publishing. Today we welcome picture book author, Marcie Wessels. Marcie, we’d love for you to tell us a little about you. I am the author of the children’s picture book, Pirate’s Lullaby: Mutiny at Bedtime (Doubleday BFYR), illustrated by Tim Bowers. I live in San Diego, CA with my husband and our two children. Let’s hear more about Pirate’s Lullaby. Pirate’s Lullaby: Mutiny at Bedtime (Doubleday BFYR), illustrated by Tim Bowers ( www.timbowers.com ) is a rhyming picture book for pirate loving kids and their parents. From the publisher: Yo, ho, ho! It's bedtime! But Ned will do anything to avoid going to sleep. Read along as he stalls for time - searching for peg-legged Captain Teddy, stowing his toys in the ship's treasure chest, and even playing a game of walk-the-plank! Last summer, Pirate’s Lullaby: Mutiny at Bedtime was chosen by the San Diego Symp...

We've been cleaning the garage, which means now our house is a mess. It's fun to walk down memory lane as I stumble upon pictures from when the kids were young or my middle school yearbooks. But one of the most surprising finds of all are my two favorite picture books from my childhood. Though I remember asking my mom for them (repeatedly - poor Mom) I don't remember actually taking possession of them, so I thought they were gone forever. I'm so excited I thought I'd share them with you. They're so unique. Both are Hans Christian Andersen stories. The Little Mermaid and The Little Tin Soldier. They were published by Golden Press in 1966, meaning they'll turn 50 years old next year. The unique illustrations were done by Shiba Productions of Japan. I was completely enamored by these books when I was young and it hasn't changed. The covers have a unique holographic 3D image. The pages of the books were thick cardboard (8 x 12 board books) Though there w...