Tall Tails Publishing House has seen a lot of changes on their website lately. A lot of the stuff that visitors may recognize from school visits and book events are now available online!
Visit www.talltailspublishing.com for:
--free coloring sheets featuring scenes and characters from all of our children's books
--shoelace charms
--links to Ian's Shoelace Site, a place that features new and unusual ways to lace your shoes!
--free quarterly email newsletter with news, special offers, and free stuff (sign up on home page)
I look forward to seeing you around!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Heartland New Day Book Fest in Edmond, OK
I have procrastinated, as I often do, and am just now writing my follow up to the Heartland New Day Book Fest in Edmond, Oklahoma. The festival was on April 9-11, with school visits and an awards dinner on Friday, the book festival itself on Saturday from 9am-3pm, and church visits on Sunday. Tall Tails Publishing House had two adjoining tables set up at the book festival, one for authors (me) and our books, and one for the illustrators where they could do some work while offering coloring sheets and showing off some of their artwork.
First, I visited Oklahoma Christian Elementary on Friday and had a lot of fun sharing Lucas and His Long Loopy Laces with the Pre-K, Kindergarten, and First Grade students there. They sang a special song to me about authors and what they do--they write the book! :) --and we got to spend some time imagining some other crazy things that could get tangled up in Lucas' long loopy laces. Some of my favorite suggestions were a crocodile and a rocket! I was also happy to see Joshua and his family at the book festival the next day, and Cody and I were very excited to sign his book for him.
On Saturday, I arrived right on time for table set up and, boy, did I set up some tables! We ended up covering just about every square inch of space with books, information sheets, signs, shoelace charms, coloring sheets, and other odds and ends. I'm also pleased with how our table cloths match Tall Tails Publishing House's brand colors so well!
Armed with a slice of pumpkin bread, a caramel-mocha frappuccino, and an awesome set-up, Cody Frusher, Tabitha Smith, and I worked our booth. Cody finished up one of his fine art canvases, while Tabitha (along with her husband Aaron and friend Venisa) visited with the folks who stopped by our table. I was privileged to hear pitches about several wonderful children's picture books--some of which will possibly make it into our 2011 catalog!
We each took breaks to walk around the festival and visit with some of the other authors in attendance, and we got to chat and visit with each other a lot as well (we're all spread out and don't get to talk as often as we should). We met a lot of interesting folks and got to share some valuable resources.
All in all, it was a lot of fun and I hope to do it again next year!
First, I visited Oklahoma Christian Elementary on Friday and had a lot of fun sharing Lucas and His Long Loopy Laces with the Pre-K, Kindergarten, and First Grade students there. They sang a special song to me about authors and what they do--they write the book! :) --and we got to spend some time imagining some other crazy things that could get tangled up in Lucas' long loopy laces. Some of my favorite suggestions were a crocodile and a rocket! I was also happy to see Joshua and his family at the book festival the next day, and Cody and I were very excited to sign his book for him.
On Saturday, I arrived right on time for table set up and, boy, did I set up some tables! We ended up covering just about every square inch of space with books, information sheets, signs, shoelace charms, coloring sheets, and other odds and ends. I'm also pleased with how our table cloths match Tall Tails Publishing House's brand colors so well!
Armed with a slice of pumpkin bread, a caramel-mocha frappuccino, and an awesome set-up, Cody Frusher, Tabitha Smith, and I worked our booth. Cody finished up one of his fine art canvases, while Tabitha (along with her husband Aaron and friend Venisa) visited with the folks who stopped by our table. I was privileged to hear pitches about several wonderful children's picture books--some of which will possibly make it into our 2011 catalog!
We each took breaks to walk around the festival and visit with some of the other authors in attendance, and we got to chat and visit with each other a lot as well (we're all spread out and don't get to talk as often as we should). We met a lot of interesting folks and got to share some valuable resources.
All in all, it was a lot of fun and I hope to do it again next year!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Taking Shoelaces for Granted
I had a notion to do a fundraiser for children tied to shoes or shoelaces since we're coming up on the one-year release date of Lucas and His Long Loopy Laces, and I'm still going to do it, but while I was out cruising the Internet for some inspiration I came across TOMS shoes (www.toms.com), which gave me inspiration in spades.
TOMS is a business built around a simple idea: for every pair of shoes they sell, they will give a brand new pair of shoes to a child in need. In just three and a half years, the people behind TOMS have given away over 400,000 shoes to children in the US and around the world who had to walk everywhere with bare feet, in all kinds of weather, and who were exposed to infection and disease from unsafe roads and contaminated soil by such a simple thing as a lack of shoes.
In addition to their awesome charitable work providing shoes to kids, TOMS has also started ONE DAY WITHOUT SHOES, an awareness-raising event for folks like you and me to let people know about the impact shoes can have on a child's life by going barefoot on April 8th, even if just for a few minutes.
Another great shoe charity is Soles4Souls (www.soles4souls.org), a Nashville-based organization that distributes new and gently-used shoes to adults and children all over the US and around the world. Since 2005, they've distributed over 7 million pairs of shoes to people in need, especially after natural disasters.
After writing Lucas and His Long Loopy Laces, I've had shoes and shoelaces on the brain. It was terribly easy to take them for granted.
Please join me in spreading the word about the astounding affect a pair of shoes can have on a child's life by going barefoot on April 8th for One Day Without Shoes. Also, until April 30th, I'll be collecting shoes locally to donate to Soles4Souls, and for every copy of Lucas and His Long Loopy Laces sold either at book festivals or at www.talltailspublishing.com, I'll be donating a new pair of childrens shoes as well.
We can change the world, one step at a time.
EDIT***We've extended the deadline to May 31st!
TOMS is a business built around a simple idea: for every pair of shoes they sell, they will give a brand new pair of shoes to a child in need. In just three and a half years, the people behind TOMS have given away over 400,000 shoes to children in the US and around the world who had to walk everywhere with bare feet, in all kinds of weather, and who were exposed to infection and disease from unsafe roads and contaminated soil by such a simple thing as a lack of shoes.
In addition to their awesome charitable work providing shoes to kids, TOMS has also started ONE DAY WITHOUT SHOES, an awareness-raising event for folks like you and me to let people know about the impact shoes can have on a child's life by going barefoot on April 8th, even if just for a few minutes.
Another great shoe charity is Soles4Souls (www.soles4souls.org), a Nashville-based organization that distributes new and gently-used shoes to adults and children all over the US and around the world. Since 2005, they've distributed over 7 million pairs of shoes to people in need, especially after natural disasters.
After writing Lucas and His Long Loopy Laces, I've had shoes and shoelaces on the brain. It was terribly easy to take them for granted.
Please join me in spreading the word about the astounding affect a pair of shoes can have on a child's life by going barefoot on April 8th for One Day Without Shoes. Also, until April 30th, I'll be collecting shoes locally to donate to Soles4Souls, and for every copy of Lucas and His Long Loopy Laces sold either at book festivals or at www.talltailspublishing.com, I'll be donating a new pair of childrens shoes as well.
We can change the world, one step at a time.
EDIT***We've extended the deadline to May 31st!
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