Great American Teach-In

A few days ago, our oldest daughter participated in the Great American Teach-In, an annual event where people from the community are invited to speak to students about their career, hobbies, or really anything! Since our daughter recently had her book

Tampa Bay From A to Z published, she was invited to speak at the elementary school she attended several years ago.

When we first arrived at the school, we were taken to an office to sit for a while and wait for her first class. There were all sorts of goodies for us to eat!

Here she is, outside of the first classroom she was about to visit. She was nervous, but I just kept reminding her that these were little kids and to just be herself!

Bean was given a very full schedule! She rotated to a different classroom every 30 minutes, and some of the rooms had 2 or 3 classes together!

Here she is, in one of the second grade classrooms. The children were so attentive and I loved their questions.

It was really fun seeing how each class was different. In some classes, she read the entire book. In others, the teacher took turns reading with her.

At the end of the day, we visited the media center to give a book to the library. Here she is, signing the book.

It was such a busy, tiring day for her but she inspired so many children to want to write and create their own books!

Book Launch Party

This week, we attended the book launch party for our oldest daughter's book Tampa Bay From A to Z. The event was held at the Florida Blue Store and it was such a great night!

There were approximately 100 people there, including several of the children whose art work was used as illustrations for the book. The illustrations were created by current and former patients of two local children's hospitals.

This was such a dream come true for our daughter because for as long as we can remember, she has always enjoyed writing and she has a true talent for it.

I imagine it was hard for her to believe too that something so special has happened to her at such a young age. In the next several months, she will be doing book readings at various schools and libraries and I know that out there is another young writer just waiting to be inspired to follow their dream and never give up...

5 Minutes of Fame

This morning, our daughter had an exciting experience! She was the guest at one of our local TV stations, promoting her new book, Tampa Bay From A to Z. We got to see the book for the first time today. It was such a neat moment for me as a mom, to see her name on the cover and to know she is a published author!

Here she is with the PR representative from Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Florida (the book sponsor) discussing some of the possible questions she may be asked during the TV interview.

Here they are, being fitted for microphones and Lissette Campos, the news anchor going over her questions and information regarding the book.

Places everyone! It was so interesting to see what goes into making a news segment. Our daughter did awesome and although she told me after it was over that she was very nervous, you couldn't tell!

After the taping was complete, Lisette Campos was so kind and took us on a little tour of the TV station. This was such a fantastic day for us and I know our daughter will remember this for the rest of her life! Words can not describe how proud we are of her...

It's Almost Here!

As I mentioned in a previous post, our oldest daughter entered the Florida Blue Young Authors Contest and won! The winner of the contest has their story actually made into a book, which is published by the Books By Kids Foundation.

This week, I received an e-mail with an attachment of the "rough final copy" of the book. It took my breath away when I saw it! There on the pages of the book were my daughter's beautiful words along with darling illustrations created by the patients of two local children's hospitals. I just can't even put into words, what it felt like to see the cover of the book with my daughter's name and photograph on it!

So, I just wanted to spread the word for everyone to get ready because Tampa Bay From A to Z is coming! For more information on the Books by Kids Foundation, go to http://www.booksbykids.com/ They are doing an entire series of books, so be on the lookout for a book about your home town!

A Published Author

We have some very exciting news to share with everyone, regarding our oldest daughter! Several months ago while reading the local newspaper one morning, I came across a tiny article mentioning a writing contest. I thought it would be fun for my daughter to enter it. The contest was called the Florida Blue Young Authors Contest and it was open to all middle schoolers (grades 6-8) from two different counties in our area. We live in a HUGE school district, and so I figured there would be a ton of children entering. My daughter loves reading and writing, and so we went to the website we were directed to in the newspaper article to find out all the requirements, deadlines, etc...

At first, we were a bit concerned because the contest called for the student to write an original story about our city and include a landmark or special place for each letter of the alphabet. I immediately started questioning in my mind "what on earth could possibly start with the letter X around here?" In addition, the story had to rhyme. Last of all, she only had a few weeks to complete it, revise the story and submit it. Our daughter loves a challenge though and she went right to work.  There were some days where she would spend up to five hours researching special places, trying to get the rhyming just right, and writing and re-writing over and over again. Sometimes I had to tell her to just get up and walk away for a while. The words will come to you.

Now you have to understand, this contest was a lot of work and there would be only one winner. It was either all or nothing! The winner of this contest would have their story actually made into a book and published by the Books By Kids Foundation. The illustrations for the book will be created by patients from our local children's hospital, and all proceeds will go to them.  And since groups of up to 25 children could enter as one, under the guidance of their teacher, I thought our daughter may be at a slight disadvantage. Was I ever wrong!!!

She finally completed her story and after I read it several times to check for any spelling or structural errors, I knew she had the winning entry. I know that sounds bold to say, but I truly did... Still, just because I knew it didn't mean the judges did!

Several weeks went by and then one afternoon last week, I received the phone call- our 13 year old won! I actually screamed because I was so happy for her. But there was even more to be excited about! Not only is her book being published, she won tickets to all sorts of museums, attractions, etc... and I won an iPad for being her facilitator as well as a weekend getaway with my husband at a very nice hotel!

The public announcement regarding the winner of the contest was made at the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey game last weekend. It was so thrilling for all of us! Here is our daughter,  waiting for her big moment. I imagine it must have been a bit scary to be standing there in the player box, in front of all those people. But she handled it so well. So much better than I would have...

Finally- here she is being announced to the world. I wanted to cry when I saw her up there on the jumbo screen, and as I listened to the speaker talk about her accomplishments, I not only cheered for her but for homeschoolers everywhere. She competed against entire classrooms of children, yet won all on her own. And when they said she was a 7th grade homeschooler,  we were so proud and I imagined all the homeschool families everywhere feeling victorious right along side her. So, be on the lookout for her book Tampa Bay From A to Z, which will be out hopefully in May of this year. To learn more about the Books By Kids foundation, go to http://www.booksbykids.com/