Straight Chatting from the Library: Rachel Kowert

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Dr. Rachel Kowert PhD will be awarding a $75 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC or 1 copy each of the 3 Cloud Canyon books (available in November) to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

READ THE INTERVIEW

What is the favorite book you remember as a child?

I absolutely adored all of the Shel Silverstein poetry collections. I have read Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic so many times that I am pretty sure I could recite them from memory alone.

What is your favorite book today?

My favorite book of all time is the Illiad (I particularly enjoy the Stanley Lombardo translation). That book has it all - fantasy, mystery, heroes and heroines.

Tell us about your current book in 10 words.

Tales from Cloud Canyon celebrates the power of the everyday.

What are you reading right now?

I am currently working my way through The Witcher series of books and am loving them!

Do you have any bad book habits?

Much like my Steam library, my home library has far more books in it than I could ever read!

E-Reader or print? and why?

Print every time. Nothing is as satisfying as turning the physical page of a book and feeling the texture of the paper.

One book at a time or multiples?

One at a time.

Dog-ear or bookmark? (don't worry—Librarian Judith won't hold it against you—much)

Both! I tend to dog ear pages that has phrases or sections that I want to go back to/highlight or remember but use a bookmark to mark my actual progress.

Favorite book you've read this year?

Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski.

When do you do most of your reading?

In waiting rooms! With three small children, it is hard to find the time.

Favorite genre?

Fantasy Fiction

Favorite book to recommend?

PT Barnum’s autobiography: The life of PT Barnum. Absolutely fascinating book

How do you keep your books organized?

By color, which I know drives some people mad but it works for me!

ABOUT THE BOOKS AND THE KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN

THE STORIES

Tales from Cloud Canyon is a series of character driven, topical short stories celebrating the everyday child, doing everyday things, with their everyday abilities designed for children aged 3+. Developed by a research psychologist and mom of 3, these stories were developed to be entertaining, educational, and celebrate the power of the everyday within our the beautiful, diverse world.

This Kickstarter collection features three topical short stories from the Cloud Canyon Universe: Here, There, & Everywhere, The Secret to Success, and Invisible Friends. Each of these titles are fully illustrated from artist Randall Hampton and are about 25 pages long.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE WRITING

The fictional characters in childhood stories are some of our earliest teachers. We learn a range of things through the observation of these symbolic models, such as what is right and wrong, a desirable and undesirable behavior, gender roles, norms, stereotypes, and more. The role of models is particularly influential in childhood as it can have a long lasting impact on development.

Each story in this collection was developed to not only be entertaining but educational as well, with the stories' characters modeling a range of age-appropriate skills spanning four areas of human development: intellectual, social, emotional, and moral. The skills that are modeled within any particular story are displayed on the back cover of each book and explained in more detail on the last page of the book.

DIVERSITY, REPRESENTATION & INCLUSION

Tales from Cloud Canyon changes the narrative by reflecting and celebrating the beautiful and diverse reality of our world. The characters within the Cloud Canyon Universe were developed to represent a range of shapes, sizes, abilities and disabilities, and traditional and non-traditional families.

In the Cloud Canyon universe:

-More than half the characters are female
-More than half the characters come from an ethnic-minority background
-1 in 10 characters have a visible disability
-Characters come from traditional and non-traditional families
-Different body shapes are represented
-she/her, he/him, and they/them pronouns are represented

It was also equally important that these details were not the central theme of the stories themselves as our shape, level of ability, and what our family unit looks like are just some of the many parts of who we are and not necessarily the defining feature of our stories.

PRODUCTION AND RELEASE

All of the stories have been written and are currently being brought to life through the illustrative magic of Randall Hampton. The physical production of the books is expected to start in June 2022. Time from production to shipping is about 6 - 8 weeks (+/- 2-4 additional weeks due to COVID delays). Once Rachel receives the books, they will be shipped to backers. There is an expected arrival date of the books no later than November 2022.

READ AN EXCERPT

Invisible Friends tells the story of Winnie and Yuna. On a playdate, Winnie finds Yuna is talking to strangers online and sharing personal information. which I know is an ever-present discussion in many homes. This story discusses the how’s and why’s of navigating online stranger danger.

Excerpt:

After a while, Yuna softly said to her friend,
“I'm sorry about earlier, down in the den
I just thought it would be fun to meet someone new.
I didn't want to do something to upset you.”

Winnie smiled, “I know, it's just I've seen the headlines,
We stay safe by not talking to strangers online.
You can’t see them, you don’t know who they really are,
and they don't know you, it is all a bit bizarre.”

“It’s like when I venture off to play outside,
When I am online, all of the same rules apply.
I wouldn't walk into a stranger's house to chat,
Or invite the mailman inside to pet my cat.
If I don't really know someone, I stay aware,
Of all the risks - I was upset because I care.”

“I like to make new friends, too, really I promise,
But you can't tell if strangers are truly honest.
Online everyone's invisible, it's scary,
Because of that, it is best to remain wary.
With ‘invisible friends’ the risks are much greater.”
Winnie said she was a great de-escalator.

MEET THE AUTHOR

Dr. Rachel Kowert is a research psychologist, award-winning author and mom of three. In 2019, she launched her first Kickstarter project from the Cloud Canyon universe was a collection of female centered stories entitled Pragmatic Princess: 26 stories of self sufficiency and raised more than $25,000 in 30 days and won an INDIES award for educational children's picture book.

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

Randall Hampton is an author, illustrator, husband and father of 3. He is the Creator of "The Little Game Master" series of books and considers himself a story teller above all else. When he is not spending time with family and friends, Randall enjoys reading, video games, music, and table top games of all sorts.

Author's Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/Rachel-Kowert/e/B00QU7NZUE
Kickstart Campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pragmaticprincess/tales-from-cloud-canyon
Book video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCTQ0ZgA14Q
Website: https://www.rkowert.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/drkowert
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drrachelkowert
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/drrachelkowert
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/Psychgeist
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelkowert/

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