Category: Engaging Kids And Teens With Poetry

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Leap Into The World of Epub Ebooks!

My poet pal Kellie Elmore had a question about my ebook ‘Leap’ which I thought I should answer for you all:
“Congratulations Heather! Is it available for Kobo? I’d love to read Leap!”

***
Thanks Kellie!

The answer is YES!

There are so many readers out there, I decided to go with the epub file for my ebooks, which is more universal than the mobi file (Kindle files). Kobo reads both epub files and PDF files, and if you go to Lulu.com in the ebooks section, you can download both these versions of Leap.

Epub doesn’t read on the Kindle  but look at all the others it works on:

http://connect.lulu.com/t5/Digital-Media-eBook-Downloading/What-devices-can-I-view-my-eBook-on/ta-p/31639

If you go to Lulu.com ebooks (here’s my ebook Leap:   http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/leap/16247447?productTrackingContext=search_results/search_shelf/center/1 ) it has free software right on the page where you can buy my book and you download the free software Adobe Digital Designs. This lets you read Leap as an ebook on your Mac or PC in an ereader format and on many many mobile ereaders -bascially, whichever ones can read epubs or PDF files.

If you eventually get an ipad, which has Kobo and Kindle for ipad as well as the ibookstore, you can find it and read it on the ipad in Books, in itunes. I love my ipad because it has all three readers on it and I just switch back and forth to different readers on the ipad depending on the book I want to read.

Leap for the ipad or iphone http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/leap/id442076340?mt=11

I haven’t given up on getting both Where the Butterflies Go and Leap on the Kindle, but I just wanted to make them available almost everywhere else first. I went with the ipad and iphone first for ‘Leap’ because it’s a colour device and I wanted my photos to be presented as nicely as they are in the print edition. I also loved the innovative side of it all. Lulu has told me they are looking into making my books available for the Kindle…in time. Slow and steady wins the race.

Edit: Shortly after I wrote this blog post today, ‘Where the Butterflies Go’ became available on the ibookstore, priced at just $4.99 too! It’s going to be available as  an epub on Lulu too -hang tight if you want this version for Mac or PC and other ereaders -it will be available shortly.  If you do buy ‘Where the Butterflies Go’ for the ipad please do write me a review and give me a star rating – every bit helps. Thanks!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/where-the-butterflies-go/id450091774?mt=11

Cheers
HGS

I bet the Statue of Liberty has Leap on an ipad by now! Do you? Photo by T. Jurado (with thanks).
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“The Groovy Granny” is “a winner”

Review by Nate Hendley, author of ‘Motivation’ and 9 other books, http://www.natehendley.com/

This hardcover book features a delightful collaboration between mother and daughter (one Kayla Mae Stewart, five-years-old at the time of publication). Mom provides the poetry while Kayla’s vivid drawings illustrate the text. Don’t let the earnestly colourful pictures fool you; while the book exudes youthful exuberance, the poems are anything but childish. Poetess Heather Grace Stewart is a combination wit, raconteur and off-beat sage with a sharp eye for the kind of details that kids and adults alike can love (a “Groovy Granny” demands a 15-scoop ice cream cone; the contents of a lunch-box have a dance party; a messy sibling is accidentally washed at a laundromat, etc). A strong combination of humour and poignancy makes this tome a winner.

The Groovy Granny -poems for kids 4 to 104
by Heather Grace Stewart
ISBN 978-0-9869458-0-9
hardcover ISBN 978-0-9869458-1-6
Available online here: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2156713
Copies signed by the author and illustrator: contact writer@hgrace.com

Kayla Stewart, illustrator, signing books- copyright HGS 2011
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The Groovy Granny: ‘Destined to become a family heirloom’

What readers are saying about The Groovy Granny:

“Destined to become a family heirloom.”

“The opening poem, ‘Gadget Snow Pants,’  is pure genius.”

“I can’t wait to read it to my  grandkids and tell them that a special little girl drew all of these amazing pictures. They are going to LOVE it!

“Priceless!”

“Echoes of Seuss, but the humor is all Heather Grace Stewart.”

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on ‘The Groovy Granny,’ on Twitter, my Facebook page, and in the comments section at the link above.

Sales in the first three weeks went so well I decided to add the ISBN at the back (this is an important code to make cataloguing the book easier), and added some  reader reviews to the new dust jacket. All three books are available here: http://www.blurb.com/user/store/HeatherGS   Please share this link with others –grandparents, teachers and parents –who might be interested in “The Groovy Granny.”

Signed copies are also available via Paypal, just email me at writer@hgrace.com to make arrangements.

Thanks for reading and sharing!

Heather & Kayla

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The Groovy Granny Has Arrived! (or: What I Didn’t See Coming)

Some of you wonderful regular readers have also been reading my children’s poetry blog, A Children’s Poetry Place. A few months ago, I told you I’ve been working on a new children’s book this year.

In actual fact, I’ve been working on this collection of poems for a decade. Two of them were in my first ebook, Bubble Mud and Other Poems (Electric Ebook Publishing, 2001) and the rights have since reverted to me, so I’m republishing them. The others -including a few limericks, haiku and cinquain – are my absolute favorites among the many children’s poems  I’ve written and polished since the birth of our daughter, Kayla.

What I didn’t see coming was that one day, our daughter would ask to illustrate the poems, and that her illustrations would be really, really good —and funny. What I didn’t see coming was that she’d be the illustrator I’ve been searching and searching for all these years for The Groovy Granny —and that I’d be the publisher! (through my registered business, Graceful Publications).

We’ve created our first children’s poetry book together. It’s perfect for reading to preschoolers and beginner readers, and middle graders will love reading it aloud.  You can preview the entire book and have the option of buying it in softcover, image wrap hardcover, or hardcover with dust jacket (the hardcovers are totally worth the extra dollars, they are gorgeous, bookstore quality) HERE:

Thanks so much for taking a look at our ‘baby.’

Best wishes,

Heather and Kayla

Heather and Kayla reading The Groovy Granny for the first time (April 12, 2011)
Reading her favorite poem, 'On Bad Days,' photos by Bill Stewart.
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Dream Big, With Art by Kayla Stewart, 5

For this one, I suggested she have two girls facing the sea. She wasn’t sure what I meant, so I told her to draw them in bathing suits, and wavy hair, viewed from behind, and I drew hair in the air to show her what I meant.

This one just makes me want to go cartwheel on the beach…

Yippeeeeeeeee!

Please go visit on my new blog and comment if you have time!

Dream Big, With Art by Kayla Stewart, 5.