Fall Blog Tour - October 24-28, 2011

The authors and artists listed below will be participating in our Fall Blog Tour 2011. They are available for interviews, to be posted during the week of the tour. Provato will provide a complete list of interviews including links to each blog interview site. Additionally, the authors/artists will provide links to the interview sites.

Contact Provato Marketing today to schedule an interview or get more information on our authors and artists. There is no expense involved in participation. For a schedule of interviews, click here.

Authors
	Bonny Becker Bonny likes a bit of chaos and lots of time to think and dream in her life. One of her earliest dreams—to be a writer—came true. But it took a long time! She has a degree in Psychology and a degree in English/Creative Writing. Bonny has worked picking fruit, making ski goggles, waitressing, as a store clerk, substitute teacher, hotel maid, typist, photographer, journalist, editor and corporate communications manager. She was in her 40's before her first book was published. Today, she has a dozen published books including picture books and middle grade novels. Her books include the New York Times bestseller, A VISITOR FOR BEAR, winner of the E.B. White Read Aloud Award and Amazon's Picture Book of the Year. Three more Mouse and Bear books have followed including A BIRTHDAY FOR BEAR, A BEDTIME FOR BEAR and her latest release, THE SNIFFLES FOR BEAR. Bonny's middle grade novel THE MAGICAL MS. PLUM was a Junior Library Guild selection and winner of the 2009 Washington State Children's Book Award. Contact Provato Marketing for more information or to schedule an event.
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	Susan Casey Susan Casey is the author of Kids Inventing! A Handbook for Young Inventors and Women Invent! Two Centuries of Discoveries That Have Shaped Our World. She is also a journalist and her articles and photographs have appeared in Family Circle, Americana, USAir, Women’s Sports, Soap Opera Digest, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner, Inventors Digest, Electrical Contractor and many other publications. When she was a girl, she loved reading and writing and through the efforts of a teacher, her first magazine article was published when she was in the seventh grade. After graduating with a degree in history from Santa Clara University, she spent a summer doing volunteer work in a small village in rural Mexico. It was a trip to Africa that prompted her writing career. While in her 20s, she worked as a nanny for an English family in Ghana, West Africa, and was so fascinated by what she saw that she started writing and photographing as a way to share her experiences with friends and family. She has since written and taken photographs for articles about other places she has visited and about a wide range of topics including inventors, oddball events, moviemaking and construction. She also embarked on a career as a teacher. She continues to split her time between writing and teaching and lives in Los Angeles. Contact Provato Marketing for more information or to schedule an event.
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	Barbara Jean Hicks An award-winning author and professional wordsmith as well as a credentialed teacher, Barbara is an ideal presenter for aspiring writers of all ages. Whether in person or via video conferencing, she engages, entertains, educates and inspires young authors while supporting teachers’ efforts to help students meet state educational standards. Barbara might never have started writing children’s books except for an unkind review of one of her thirteen published romance novels: “Ms. Hicks really ought to be writing for children—no one else could possibly appreciate such silliness!” After hiding in bed for a week, certain she would never write again, Barbara made up her mind to take the reviewer’s comment as a personal challenge. The result was Jitterbug Jam: A Monster Tale, which received numerous starred reviews and children’s book awards, including honors as an ALA Notable Children’s Book and a Banks Street Book of Outstanding Merit. It has been translated into five languages and released in nine countries, and has sold stage and audio rights. Even better, Barbara discovered that writing for children is her true love. Her additional books for kids include I Like Black and White, I Like Colors, The Secret Life of Walter Kitty and Monsters Don’t Eat Broccoli. A seasoned presenter, Barbara has experience teaching at the preschool, middle school and community college levels and has worked as author-in-residence, program facilitator and parent educator for an elementary school. She has also written marketing copy and edited and proofread manuscripts for numerous trade publishers. Currently she works from home in Washington State as a supervising teacher for an online high school, allowing her the flexibility to make both in-person and virtual school visits during the school year. Contact Provato Marketing for more information or to schedule an event.
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	Diane Hipp Diane Hipp is the co-author of the internationally acclaimed Conflict Resolution curriculum KELSO’S CHOICE. She is a National Certified Prevention Specialist and International Prevention Trainer. Diane has delivered hundreds of trainings across the world at professional conferences, at community forums and in elementary, middle and high schools. Diane Hipp dedicates her life to identifying and building the potential in others. Diane spends hours hiking, observing, photographing and taking note of the many lessons nature has to offer. Her stories capture the essence of the moment in hopes that the reader gains an appreciation of the natural world. Her greatest joy comes from exploring with her grandchildren who call her Meema. Diane is an award winning children's author. Her book Stuart the Donkey…a Tail of His Tail won USA’S 2010 Children's Fiction book of the year. This book is first in a series of self-help books for young children. She believes that positive youth development is the key to healthy and happy successful youth. She leads workshops for students, teachers, community organizers and other related health professionals. Diane presents on a wide range of topics including conflict management, substance abuse prevention, risk and protective factor theory, community coalition development, and environmental prevention strategies to name a few. She has also facilitated numerous workshops dealing with a variety of positive youth development and community health issues. Contact Provato Marketing for more information or to schedule an event.
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	Deborah Hopkinson Deborah Hopkinson is the author of picture books, short fiction, and nonfiction.  Her award-winning works include Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, winner of the 1994 International Reading association Award; A Band of Angels, an ALA Notable, winner of the Golden Kite Award, and Jane Addams award honor book; Under the Quilt of Night, winner of the Washington State Book Award, Bluebird Summer, a Golden Kite Award Honor Book, and Girl Wonder, winner of the Great Lakes Book Award and a 2004 Jane Addams Award honor book. Deborah’s nonfiction works include Shutting out the Sky, Life in the Tenements of New York 1880-1924 , an NCTE Orbis Pictus award and Jane Addams Award honor book, an IRA Teachers’ Choice, and a James Madison Award Honor Book.  Her 2006 book, Sky Boys, How They Built the Empire State Building, was an ALA Notable and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor book, while Up Before Daybreak, Cotton and People in America, won a Carter G. Woodson Award and was an ALA Notable book as well.  Her most recent book, Sweet Land of Liberty, was named an IRA Teachers Choice, a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People 2008 and a starred selection on the Bank Street College of Education's Best Children's Books of the Year list for 2008. Apples to Oregon won the Golden Kite Award and Spur Storytelling Award and was also an ALA Notable book. The book is a feature selection of Oregon Reads, in honor of the 150 th anniversary of the State of Oregon in 2009. Both Apples to Oregon and a middle grade novel, Into the Firestorm, A Novel of San Francisco, 1906, are featured on the Oregon Battle of the Books list for 2008-09. Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek, a Junior Library Guild Selection and ALA Notable Book was published in 2008. She is also the author of Home on the Range, John A. Lomax and His Cowboy Songs (2009) The Humblebee Hunter (2009), and Stagecoach Sal (2010.) Deborah is the winner of the Oregon Book Award for Keep On! The Story of Matthew Henson (2009). Forthcoming books in 2012 are: A BOY CALLED DICKENS, a Junior Library Guild Selection, TITANIC: Voices from the Disaster, and ANNIE AND HELEN. She received a bachelor's degree in English at the University of Massachusetts and holds a master's degree in Asian Studies from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. A frequent presenter at conferences and schools, she lives near Portland, Oregon where she serves as vice president for advancement for Pacific Northwest College of Art. Contact Provato Marketing for more information or to schedule an event.
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	Christopher Kurtz Award-winning author Christopher Kurtz began his writing career by collaborating with his big sister, Jane Kurtz, to craft two picture books, Only a Pigeon (Simon & Schuster) and Water Hole Waiting (Greenwillow), a book School Library Journal called one of the best books of the year and a "gem for writing teachers." In 2010, Christopher published a young middle grade novel, The Pup Who Cried Wolf (Bloomsbury) and is now finishing revision on a middle grade novel, The Polar Pig (Harcourt). Christopher lives in Portland, Oregon, where he teaches third graders, speaks about how to help children read and write with confidence and joy, and volunteers for Ethiopia Reads, a nonprofit planting the first children's libraries in Ethiopia. Contact Provato Marketing for more information or to schedule an event.
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	Jane Kurtz Award-winning author Jane Kurtz spent most of her childhood in Ethiopia and most of her adult life trying to capture bits of that childhood in picture books and novels for young readers. She has also written about her own children's lives in such books as Do Kangaroos Wear Seatbelts? (Penguin) and about people who change the world in such books as Martin's Dream (Simon & Schuster) and the middle grade novels that accompany the 2010 American Girl Doll of the Year, Lanie, an outside-loving girl who discovers she can help the earth from her own back yard. Jane lives in Portland, Oregon, and travels nationally and internationally to speak and to volunteer for Ethiopia Reads, a nonprofit planting the first children's libraries in Ethiopia. Contact Provato Marketing for more information or to schedule an event.
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	Kirby Larson Kirby's grade school teachers often complained that she spent too much time reading and not enough time on homework. Books were her best friends growing up but she never imagined someone like her could become a writer. What she loves best about writing is that she is always learning something new. That may be why Kirby has tackled a variety of genres from picture books to chapter books to novels. One of her favorite quotes is from Russell Hoban's A Mouse and His Child: "You've got to take those daring leaps or you're nowhere." Starting from scratch with each new book is one of the most daring leaps Kirby can imagine taking, and she hopes to be taking such leaps on the page until she is 99! Kirby's portfolio includes the 2007 Newbery Honor Award book, Hattie Big Sky (Delacorte); and ASPCA Henry Bergh and Southern Independent Booksellers Award winner, Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship and Survival, (Walker), co-written with her good friend, Mary Nethery and illustrated by New Orleans resident, Jean Cassels. Her second book with Mary, The New York Times Bestselling Book, Nubs: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine and a Miracle (Little Brown). Kirby's new releases include The Friendship Doll and The Fences Between Us. Kirby has lived her entire life in Washington State, acquiring two degrees, two children and one husband along the way. When she is not reading, writing or speaking about writing, she is gardening, traveling or drinking lattes with friends. Contact Provato Marketing for more information or to schedule an event.
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	Deb Lund Deb was first published when her fifth grade teacher in northern Minnesota submitted a poem of Deb's for an anthology. Since then, several fifth grade students of Deb's have also become writers. As a past classroom and music teacher and librarian, Deb loves being with kids and teachers. Her master's degree focused on teaching writing, and she has taught writing to students of all ages ever since. Her interactive presentations stay with students long after her visits. Deb's real gift, and the reason she became a creativity coach, is her passion for inspiring students to write. Deb's books include Harcourt's celebrated dinoseries and Monsters on Machines, which Publisher's Weekly's starred review says "has just about everything a child could hope for." Though known for her warm and quirky, or rollicking, rhyming picture books, Deb also writes middle grade and YA fiction, as well as materials to support teachers who teach writing. She teaches continuing education courses, works with writing and creativity coaching clients, and frequently presents at conferences and workshops. Hiking, walking her dog on beaches near her home on Whidbey Island, singing with her husband Karl Olsen of The Brothers Four, riding unicycle, and playing or reading with her three kids are some of Deb's activities when she puts down her pen. Deb hopes you'll join her email list when you visit her at her website, DebLund.com, or at her "Deb Lund, Author" page on Facebook. And don't be afraid to drop her an email. She answers them all. Contact Provato Marketing for more information or to schedule an event.
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	Derek Munson Derek Munson, award winning author of the well-known book, Enemy Pie, brings incredible enthusiasm for writing and children to his workshops. His presentations focus on helping kids cultivate bold and original thought. Derek has presented to more than 100,000 students at public schools, private schools and libraries. His goal is to entertain young minds while exposing them to new and challenging ideas. Derek believes that through this creative process, individuality will blossom, allowing self-esteem, self-awareness and self-confidence to grow. His presentations and workshops include: The Enemy Pie Experiment (Grades K-3), The Author Slide Presentation (Grades 3-6), The Creative Adventures in Writing Workshop (Grades 4-8) and 5-Week Writing Programs/Author-in-Residence (Grades K-8). Contact Provato Marketing for more information or to schedule an event.
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	Mary Nethery Mary Nethery is the New York Times, USA Today and Publisher's Weekly bestselling author of many picture books for children, as well as books for readers of all ages. She has collaborated with her dear friend, Newbery Honor recipient Kirby Larson, to write Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship and Survival, and Nubs: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine and a Miracle. Two Bobbies received the ASPCA Henry Bergh Children's Book Award, the SIBA Book Award, and was featured on NPR's All Things Considered, and is a Junior Library Guild selection; an IRA Teachers' Choice; IRA/CBC Children's Choice; Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People; and is included in The Best Children's Books of the Year, Bank Street College. Two Bobbies has received thirteen state Children's Choice Awards. Nubs is a New York Times Best Seller and recipient of the Christopher Medal; the National Parenting Publication Gold Award; is a Junior Library Guild Selection, and has received six state Children's Choice Awards. Mary's newest picture book, illustrated by John Manders, is The Famous Nini: A Mostly True Story of How a Plain White Cat Became a Star. Set in 1890's Venice, it tells the story of the meteoric rise of a plain white cat to the world stage. His scrapbook includes a line of music from Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata and is signed by such luminaries as the Czar of Russia, the Emperor of Ethiopia, Pope Leo XIII and the Queen and King of Italy. Mary travels extensively and possesses a passion for animals, adventure, fashion, laughter, kindness and spunky characters -- all of which weave their way into her books. She lives in Eureka, California with her husband Han, and their super brilliant cat, Dashiell, AKA the Baby Muse. Contact Provato Marketing for more information or to schedule an event.
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	Stacy Nyikos A graduate of the University of Virginia, author, Stacy A. Nyikos, Ph.D., is an award-winning writer and musician. Her books include new release, Rope 'Em, the Read Across Oklahoma Book for 2011, and Squirt, Shelby and Dizzy. Stacy's first novel, Dragon Wishes, released in Spring 2008. Stacy also offers presentations and workshops to students in grades K-8. She has presented at more than 50 schools. In addition, she has presented events at the World Aquarium in St. Louis, the Shedd, the Houston Zoo, the Tulsa Zoo, and the Oklahoma Aquarium. Contact Provato Marketing for more information or to schedule an event.
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	Rosemary O'Keefe Rose O'Keefe grew up in the suburbs of New York City, except for four years as a girl living with her family outside Paris, France. After graduating from SUNY Potsdam, Rose moved to Rochester, New York, and discovered the Genesee River Valley and Finger Lakes on camping outings. Since then, she has become a history author with a special interest in the Frederick Douglass family's years in Rochester from 1847 to 1872. She enjoys presenting slide shows on Rochester's South Wedge, the southeast side of the city, the Douglass family, and most recently, an "Armchair Tour of the Genesee Valley." Her three books are: Historic Genesee Country (History Press, 2010) Southeast Rochester (Arcadia, 2006) and Rochester's South Wedge, (Arcadia, 2005). Contact Provato Marketing for more information or to schedule an event.
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	Ann Whitford Paul Ann Whitford Paul became inspired to write picture books after years of bedtime reading to her four children. She writes picture books, poetry and early readers. Her books have won numerous awards including NY Times Notable books, Carl Sandburg Award for Children’s Literature, Bank Street College Best Books list, Notable Science and Social Studies Books, National Parenting Centers “Seal of Approval,” 2001 Recognition of Merit from the George C. Stone Center for Children’s Books of the Claremont Graduate University, and been nominated for numerous state reading awards. Ann lives in Los Angeles, California. Contact Provato Marketing for more information or to schedule an event.
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	George Shannon Books and libraries have always been George's second home. He loved pretending in grade school, but it wasn't till the 7th grade that he knew he wanted to make books. His first submission to a publisher and the resulting rejection letter was at age 16.  Eleven more years of school, college, writing, reading, working as a librarian, writing, and more writing brought his first book contract for LIZARD'S SONG. Since then he has written many, many stories and 30 of them have been published as books. Plus other books for adults that explore folktales and writing. George's favorite book is always the one he's currently writing because the process is always more fun than looking back at books already done. When he's not working on his own stories, George helps students with their own writing both here and abroad. George's books include DANCE AWAY, STORIES TO SOLVE, TOMORROW'S ALPHABET, TIPPY-TOE CHICK GO, WHITE IS FOR BLUEBERRY, THE SECRET CHICKEN CLUB, and RABBIT'S GIFT that received both the Washington State Book Award and the Worzalla/Burr Award. In 2008 George received the  "Life time Achievement Award" from the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. Contact Provato Marketing for more information or to schedule an event.
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Authors/Illustrators
	Leslie Patricelli Second to playing with her kids, writing and illustrating picture books is Leslie’s favorite thing to do. Leslie says, “For most of my life, I have drawn cartoons as a way to interpret and make light of the things happening in my life or in the world around me, so it was only natural that when I had my first baby, I would start drawing cartoons of him.” Those cartoons led to the publication of her first board books, Yummy Yucky, Big Little and Quiet Loud in 2003. Leslie now has fifteen books in publication, including her latest picture book, ‘Be Quiet, Mike!’ about a little monkey with a passion for drumming. Leslie’s currently busy working on more board books. She is also working on her first middle grade novel. Leslie lives in Idaho with her husband (a drummer), three creative kids, two cats, two rabbits a lizard and a frog. Leslie is excited to be able to do what she loves for a living and wants to share her experience and passion with students of all ages. She aims to inspire kids to imagine and create Through her fun-filled, multi-media presentation, Leslie will have kids laughing, learning, drawing and thinking big!  Leslie’s award-winning books include: Higher! Higher!, Be Quiet, Mike!, The Patterson Puppies and The Rainy Day, The Birthday Box, Yummy Yucky, No No Yes Yes, Potty, Blankie and more. Contact Provato Marketing for more information or to schedule an event.
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