Kentucky Girls Books

Kids Day meant bus loads of students
at the 2011 Kentucky Book Fair

Frankfort;
Nov. 11, 2011 - Occurring on Veterans Day and with several speakers and presentations aimed at kids, the Kentucky Book Fair preview day for school groups brought lots of young readers to the Frankfort Convention Center. They eagerly roamed through the tables, meeting authors, buying books for themselves, and shopping for Christmas presents.

Rebecca and Marie, along with Mason Smith with whom Marie also writes, shared a signing table and were among the scores of authors who greeted the students, answered their questions, and signed books for them.

Presenting at a Regional Children's Authors Conference

Thomas More College
Crestview Hills;
Nov. 5, 2011 -  Working collaboratively to publish and subsequently promote books was the theme Rebecca and Pam stressed in their workshop at the 2011 Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana Children's Literature Conference.

Their presentation titled Paving the Way to Publication with Partnerships highlighted how much book publishing has changed in recent years, pointing out that successful authors can no longer "just write" a book but must get involved in the entire production and marketing process. To illustrate this point, they described their own creative partnership, their collaboration with their publisher, and their subsequent efforts to build a network of elementary school teachers and librarians to promote their books.

During the conference Rebecca and Pam also took advantage of the opportunity to socialize with and learn from other award-winning children's authors such as Ingrid Law (above right) and Keiko Kaska (lower right).

Playing dulcimers for
Shaker Village Music Day

Pleasant Hill;
July 16, 2011 - Since music and dancing are central to `Tis a Gift, Shaker Music Day was an ideal time and place to meet new readers, sign books, and perform recently re-discovered Shaker Music.

Under a tent top next to the Shaker Village Craft Store, Rebecca and Marie played the "new/old" hymns and other Shaker tunes on their Appalachian Mountain lap dulcimers, and Pam sang along. Midway through the afternoon, Dr. Carol Medlicott, the scholar who recovered the lost music, stopped by and joined in the singing. Click here to read the news release explaining how this lost Shaker music was discovered.

In addition to regaling visitors with explanations of how the stories and illustrations for the books evolved, they reminded visitors that the Appalachian Mountain lap dulcimer is the official state instrument of Kentucky and even gave informal dulcimer lessons.

Signing books at the Kentucky Artisan Center

Berea;
Dec. 11, 2010 - The Kentucky Artisan Center hosted a special book signing for Rebecca and Marie to mark the publication of `Tis a Gift.

The Artisan Center currently stocks the works of 650 Kentucky artists and authors including both books in our Shaker series. At the recent World Equestrian Games in Lexington, the Center featured Road to Pleasant Hill among the selected Kentucky arts and crafts in its special sales area.

 
 
Photos
provided
by The
Kentucky
Artisan Center
 

Pre-Christmas book signing at
The Blue Marble

Fort Thomas;
Dec. 5, 2010 - Northern Kentucky's premier children's bookstore welcomed us back for another pre-Christmas, Sunday afternoon book signing. Last year we introduced Road to Pleasant Hill; this year, Rebecca and Pam presented `Tis a Gift.

We were set up in the store's delightful "Goodnight, Moon" room, and the entire store was decked out with holiday decorations. We also had tasty treats for visitors, including a delicious apple cake and special brown bread made from authentic Shaker recipes.

It was great meeting new friends, especially some young readers who had already read and enjoyed Road to Pleasant Hill. And, it brought us particular joy to have some of Pam's relatives and some mutual friends from our children's writers and illustrators group stop by to see us.

Sales of `Tis a Gift kicked off at the
2010 Kentucky Book Fair

Frankfort;
Nov. 13, 2010 - Kentucky's grandest and most popular annual book event -- The Kentucky Book Fair at the Frankfort Convention Center -- was a wonderful place to start selling `Tis a Gift, our new book that was published earlier this month. The book fair attracted almost 200 authors and an estimated 4,000 visitors. The all-day event was an exciting and stimulating chance for authors and readers to meet and discuss their favorite topic -- books.

Rebecca, Marie, and Pam all had a wonderful time catching up with old friends and meeting lots of new ones. Among them were several girls who brought their American Girls dolls to the Book Fair to attend a special American Girls tea. These girls love reading American Girls books but hadn't even known there were Kentucky Girls Books until they came to the book fair. They seemed delighted to learn about them and eagerly bought copies so they could read about the adventures of Betsy Johnson and her new Shaker friends.

We also met some boys who were happy to learn that our books aren't just for girls but also include some strong male characters. `Tis a Gift, for instance, pays particular attention to Betsy's younger brother Tad who saved her life when she became trapped in the woods.

Meeting educators at the Kentucky Reading Association Fall Conference

Lexington;
Oct. 30, 2010 - Hundreds of K-12 educators from across the state gathered in Lexington for this annual three-day conference devoted to improving the reading skills of Kentuckians. Saturday's sessions focused on authors and their books. During the morning, Rebecca, Marie, and Marie's husband Mason Smith shared a display table where they met and talked with conference participants and promoted the Kentucky Girls Books and the additional children's titles co-authored by Marie and Mason. Then, at the special "Meet the Authors Luncheon," they served as table hosts and led informal discussions.

Wow! -- The World Equestrian Games!
Our book was chosen and sold to represent Kentucky arts and crafts.

Kentucky Horse Park, Lexington;
Sept. 25 - Oct. 10, 2010 - For the first time ever the World Equestrian Games -- an Olympics-like competition for horses, trainers, and riders -- was held in the United States, and the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington was the host site. Tens of thousands of people and hundreds of champion horses from around the world attended over two weeks of competitions. It was a marvellous chance to showcase Kentucky to the world, and part of it was an on-site sales outlet for selected Kentucky-made products including literary and artistic creations. We were thrilled that Road to Pleasant Hill was among the books the Kentucky Artisan Center of Berea chose to sell at the Equestrian Games. To the right: Marie visits their sales area.

Galt House, Louisville;
Sept. 17, 2010 - The book signing was only one of many activities included in this four-day conference for Kentucky librarians and school media specialists. Titled "In These Extraordinary Times: Libraries Now More than Ever," it drew hundreds of participants from schools and public libraries all across the state. They came to learn, exchange ideas, share experiences, and socialize.

For Rebecca, Marie, and Pam, who were among the invited authors and illustrators, it was a wonderful opportunity to meet teachers and school librarians who have daily contact with potential readers and to explore the possibilities of future school visits. At right: Pam and Rebecca get contact information from one of the many participants who stopped by their table in the book signing area.