A Kool Pre-K to Kindergarten Book Kickstarter Kick-off!

I grew up in Clarkston, MI. The woods and pond were my playground. My siblings and I had an awesome gravel pit to jump and black muck pond to play in.
Later, as my kids grew up in Goodrich, we planted and played in the clay. 
Now my grandkids visit me in Pinckney. Here, we romp on five acres of sandy soil. 
Michigan has such diverse habitat! And if there is just one thing kids love--it's DIRT. The substrate of where they live and play. It becomes part of them--literally! I say this as I watched my youngest 2 1/2 half year-old granddaughter joyfully toss dirt into the air and have it rain down her shirt--before rolling in the grass.

Harkens to mine and my children's
childhood. Whether rural Clarkston
 or suburbs of Goodrich, kids
"dig treasure"--garbage!

Rocks, sticks, water. These are kid's first outdoor play things. It keeps them creative, healthy, and soaking up vitamin D. This is the focus of my new picture book, HOLLY WILD: The Young GeEK's Guide to Getting Outside. Get kids out and into the dirt and into the backyard for wild "kid time!"

The visible neighborhood in back
offers a safe feeling, yet wild enough
for play! (My brother and I had a
yellow tent growing up in Pontiac.)

"Kid time" is a time for kids to be themselves, a time for exploring with no "helicopter parents" hovering to direct or misdirect nature activities.

As the author of "How to Raise a Wild Child: The Art and Science of Falling in Love with Nature", Scott D. Sampson says, "let  them (kids) learn and engage like the playful scientists they were born to be...Throughout these early childhood years,  the primary goal is wonder, and more wonder." (A fabulous book BTW!)
In "The Young GeEK's Guide to Getting Outside", the book covers a day of unstructured, wandering play--which means learning through sensory investigation. The very things I present about in classroom visits.

How many of you growing up did this?
How many of you still do?

In the book, our young GeEKs (Geo-Explorer Kids) in training are being gently guided by Holly Wild and her Team on an Alphabet Adventure into the wild BACKYARD! Although not an adult, Holly has learned some things in her 10 1/2 years, and imparts cool stuff and smart stuff to kids. Things like: outdoor observation skills, what NOT to touch, and what to poke, and then ends the young cousins' day in a tent for a nap. (Looks like the energetic youngsters were keeping Holly and her Team, Tierra and Sierra, on the run).

Fun reader prompts and games inside.
Just like in the mid-grade Holly Wild
books. Sweet stuff for lil GeEKs to do!

Clarkston folk will
recognize this sign. Tee-hee!

When I began the book I figured it was an ABC of outdoor things Holly Wild would encourage. But as I began illustrating it the "story" unfolded quite magically( as usual)! My childhood popped up, my own children's "back forty" adventures squeaked out, and even my forays into our wild five- acre Pinckney yard here with my granddaughter oozed out between the cracks! 

Make time for Tent Time!

I began to research my memories and new discoveries (see Scott Sampson's book title above). Holly Wild has her adventures throughout "exotic" places and parks in Michigan. Beaver Island, Porcupine Mountains, Sleeping Bear Dunes (notice they are all animal names!), which I find is right on target for kids her age. But what kids the age of 2-6, the recipients of my new book, require is a more kinder, gentler landscape to roam. Of course! Their own backyard!

So the book became more personal as the cry for getting kids into the dirt and into nature becomes louder (I've long been a follower of Richard Louv). And for good reason. Dirt and nature time is vital--let me repeat--VITAL for kid's health, school work, happiness--their well-being! Check out the Children & Nature page on Facebook or hop over to their site for more info. http://www.childrenandnature.org/ Yay! I was on the right path.

This rhyming ABC book is full-color, hard cover, 36 page, 9 x 11" landscape book (the "original laptop!") is perfect for a quick nighttime or naptime read (PreK-Kindergarten ages). Of course, the prompts and games further the experience and keeps the book fresh each time it's read. 

We here at Bear Track Press are proud of this piece as it promotes the environmental and educational values that goes into all of our works. And even better, it will be printed right here in the USA! What better time to release this Kickstarter for this project during June, Great Outdoors Month. http://www.greatoutdoorsmonth.org/



And if you believe in all of this good outdoor stuff, just watch the video below and visit the Kickstarter site. You'll find all kinds of goodies and free things that go along with the book and awesome rewards to inspire you to inspire families and kids to GET UP and GET OUT! But you have to act soon because we have 28 more days in our campaign!

Let's all GROW great kids! Thanks!
Lori

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/136394808/holly-wild-the-young-geeks-guide-to-getting-outsid?ref=video

Finally, HOT TIMES Have Ended!

Finally, after 15 years, my story, HOT TIMES IN THE BIG CREEK WOOD, will be published!

(back cover) Bear Track Press 2015

I had rewritten and illustrated this story for the past 15 years. Time and time again, I was never happy with its outcome. Why? It wasn't ready to be born. I had to let the flames inside me go out. Extinguish strife and let the rebuilding happen.

It's never easy to write a children's book, and with the oodles of books out there most would think it an easy thing to do. Books and stories are personal. Sometimes they can sting. This story hit home. My home.

The story, Hot Times in the Big Creek Wood, is about my father. A good, hard-working, a caring man, passionate, yet hard-headed in opinion and hot-tempered. When crossed by anyone, like a misbehaving, inconsiderate neighbor--fur will fly, fences will be built.

My siblings and I were many years ago, party to my father's plan of building a "feudal fence" between his northern Michigan wooded property and that of his neighbor to the south. Both men were in their seventies and should have behaved as adults. But it was what it was and soon became a full-blown feud.

After the fence went up I watched and wondered about this situation. I noticed that my dad's behavior and characteristics fit those of the beaver--a diligent, non-stop builder, and those of his neighbor, well--a lumbering bear. It was after driving past the neighbor one day that I saw him sitting under an apple tree, eating apples in the shade as happy as a clam. He looked like a bear! Wearing bib overalls, bushy graying sideburns and all. I had my story characters. It rolled off my pencil like water!

Shanty-Bob Bear

Boomtown Jack, the beaver.

The place where my dad lived had been part of the Great Fire of 1881 and I researched that story online. I found fabulous and horrifying accounts of the raging blaze that ate Michigan. One particular event that was recorded was when a survivor of the blaze hopped into a lake and stood watching the fire all night standing next to another person in the water. All night, the two stood, silently as their homes were destroyed. In the morning, the man turned to his neighbor as the smoke cleared. The neighbor he stood next to all night in  the lake was, a black bear!

The story, Hot Times, centers around the feud between the neighbors, beaver and bear, where the beaver builds a fence so he won't have to watch his neighbor "shake his shimmy". Revenge becomes both neighbors' answers to the feud. They inadvertently bring hot times to the neighbor and if the bickering wasn't enough to affect the other's' lives, then the next thing that happened changes life for everyone.

I wanted to take and make this story a learning experience, for others and for me. My father never lived to see it published. Fences were built. Today I tore them down. He and I rarely saw eye to eye, nature and outdoor work was our connection. I added little phrases he used to say in the story. Hidden things that only my siblings and I would know. "Daylight in the swamp". "Arbeit macht das Leben suess!" (German for 'Work makes life sweet!') and "a dollar, 2.98". These little gentle touches helped tear my own fence down. I would like to say that the neighborly feud and my father's and my feud had had happy endings, but that just never happened. So I made it happen here.

At the end of the book I added how two people, different as night and day, can get along. I gave the story a positive spin and even added educational material. The beaver as a keystone species and the bear and his contribution to the environment help keep the neighborhood healthy and happy. It's all about seeing the value in the other and being tolerant.

The book originally intended to be a picture book is one of my graphic readers. The story although intense, has funny and sweet moments, with some cool information at the end on the Great Fire 1881 and Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross. I am glad to finally put this file and all the versions of dummies and paintings away. It is done and turned out better than what would've come out ten years ago or three!

At long last, there is peace in the Big Creek Wood. After the fire, new green shoots sprout and grow, life continues, homes are repaired. And this is good for the Big Creek Wood.

Yooper Summer Book Tour 2014

Ranger III ready for Isle Royale!

I have been on the road all summer! Well, I should say I've been a boat, an island, the trail, a seaplane dock, another boat, another island, more trails, a greenstone ridge, basalt outcroppings, boulders--and the road.

Edison Fishery outbuilding.
This would have been
fun to stay in!

My Michigan Summer Home was wherever I hung my hat--and hiking sticks. During my Yooper stay I stayed in hotels, camped in the Bear Track Studios "book mobile" van, and in our camper! It was divine.

My summer show season began July 7th at Mackinac Island and ended August 17th in Copper Harbor.

After my July Michigan Reading Association Summer Lit conference program stint on Mackinac Island and my week-long Sleeping Bear Dunes show/granddaughter vaca gig it was almost Yooper Time! I hurried home and prepped the van and packed the "book mobile" for my month-long Yooper Book Tour and my Trip of a Lifetime, Isle Royale, a trip I have been wanting to take for 24 years!

Da Yooper Lummakka.
Loves beer, eating tourist kids and polka--
not necessarily in that order.

My Yooper Tour included:  Marquette, Isle Royale, the Porcupine Mountains, and Copper and Eagle Harbors. Wow! I want to insert here, that we live in such a beautiful and amazing state full of incredible people, wildlife and history. Let me repeat, we live in such a beautiful and amazing state full of incredible people, wildlife and history! For me, it was a walk-about, a dreamtime and so much to take in a few short weeks! I returned home with my "yooper summer elixir" to store away to become future books, word and art--shared story.

Laughing Loon! Lol. Blah-lalalala!

I got to visit with a cabin-calling bull moose, a curious otter family, laughing loons, the grandparents of the famed Isle Royale Wolf and Moose Study. I enjoyed beach picnies, rock hunting and PASTIES. It was a gathering time of images, ideas, and memories for incubating and beginning winter projects.

Otters! Photo by Lisa Jennings

 Nature conservancy picnic with Lisa and Marie.

Toni's pasty--Yooper style with ketchup!

Research time in
Rolf and Candy Peterson's
backyard 

I swapped stories with sight-seeing veterans, enthusiastic camping parents, budding writers and I even met four retired teachers camping in the Porkies (whom I helped get their dinner fire going and showed them tips on how to make the next one!) So much fun, so many stories! So many things to do and places to see! I was never truly alone on any of these trails from Isle Royale to Copper Harbor. Everyone was out soaking in the summer.

Jeff and Josh on "moose watch"

On Isle Royale with my sister and her husband and son we often called out "trail appreciation!". This meant time for a moment to sink into the beauty of our surroundings and snap a photo. Ah! But wait!

On the down side of the trail I have to mention this one thing because we all want to keep our state pristine,"Where are your manners, people?!" I was sadly a witness to an entire family "camping" as they stripped a live cherry tree of its lower green, leafy branches for their fire next to their tent. Really people? Not cut, but snapped, bent and twisted the branches. Ow! Ouch! And NO! What the what?? HELLO! Outdoors etiquette is lacking in our parks and wild places. And we're not just talking littering. This etiquette--or lack of--was a topic of discussion that I had with a photographer in Copper Harbor.

He mentioned that the U.P. is becoming spoiled due to heavy tourism and a few rude dudes. These "campers" and "photographers" (trying to get "perfect" shots of wild areas) use everything from bow saws to chainsaws to alter the shrubs and trees or get firewood without having to leave camp. Again, wow! Wow!

Bear glyph on rock face--with other etchings.

And in Copper Harbor, where 1,000 year old petroglyphs can be found, boulders were etched with initials and graffiti. Word on the trail, is that attempts to protect the Viking ship glyph were futile as people ripped off the plexi cover, "just because they could". So please help spread the word, "Leave NO TRACE" should be stressed and followed up by "Leave NO DAMAGE". There is so much to see and do up here and it's just good manners and nice to keep it clean for the next Yooper traveler. Don't make me sick da Yooper Lummakka on ya!

Now with that, here are more Superior reasons why! And get up and out to the U.P. soon!

Gitche Gumee  Copper Country Wonderland

Pine song and sun

Wild Superior waves!

Top of the world! Lookout Louise, Isle Royale

Last Isle Royale hike with my sister Lisa, an awesome photographer.

Help promote "trail appreciation" and "Leave no Trace". 

Enjoy, explore, protect :) or else...

Lisa being attacked by Squatch outside of
Muldoon's Pasty, Fudge & Gift Shop, Munising.

NEW Year, NEW Stuff, NEW Books!

www.loritaylorart.com 2014

Somewhere between holidays,and snow days I have had time to work on new book projects of the GRAPHIC nature. Not graphic as in "wait a minute Lori you're a children's author!", no, graphic as in ART, more ART and lots more ART! 

My last post dealt with new characters for a new story-line. And now here I am putting together COMIC BOOKS! In the last few years graphic novels and comics have been hitting the educational scene and I am so there! 

Befuddled "Crazy-Cat"

I have been crazy researching on how comics are a great way to TEACH! My personal teaching favorite is the comic character hero, Max Axiom. Max teaches chemistry, ecology and biology. Yes, comics teach and entertain. And yes, comics are fun and full of color. More of my favorites rich in content Thoreau's Walden graphic novel and Mouse Guard, Owly, and for funny fun Lunch Lady and the Magic Pickle.

"Tricky-Track Rabbit" the trickster 

And yet comics teach everything from science to history, math, poetry and more. Graphics--art--is a wonderful way to connect to kids--especially boys. The pictures break up the text and will get hesitant readers to read. And enjoy it--which is important with the lack of readers we keep hearing about.

"Ol-Man-Ramshackle" (actually Tricky-Track Rabbit in disguise)

Graphic novels and comic art is another way to tell a story, visually as well as literally. And I do love a good story. Pictures can say way more than words and convey emotion and evoke emotion. And humor is a good way to teach, part of the reason that I have always been interested in Native American legends, myths, and fables. Legends and fables are a fun way to get good ideas across using animals. 

(I found a young man in Ann Arbor sporting a frock like this, without the burs.)

So these are a few pages from my comic Crazy-Cat, Don't Chase That Rabbit!, that I hope to have published this summer. Crazy-cat finds out the hard way that his obsessive hunt for the trickster rabbit, Tricky-Track, causes him to miss out on life and thereby loses a part of himself--his beloved tail. This is a fave tale of mine I read many years ago. Not only are most traditional Native American tales entertaining, but they teach behavior and responsibility. How to be or not to be. Something else kids and adults need.

(I enjoy adding Arthur Rackham-ish trees that give clues...)

With this story I switched up the political views of the day to make the story more kid friendly. I came up with my own descriptive names instead of any one Native American tribal name for the characters. I had fun with a sing-song style of language here, too. And like my Holly Wild books, I give a bit of natural history, talk about predators and animal adaptations and included games and activities at the end. 

New year, new works, new fun! NEW STUFF!

Snow Days, Art Days: Building NEW Characters!

The winter months are my creative months. I hibernate and ideas come to light and I work on them. I sketch them and begin building a world and story. And so the story begins from my memory and rabbit raising experiences of over 14 years ago. 

This is Ooglie Haargaard. He is a new character and new protagonist, rabbit hero for a new series I am working on. Made of Sculpley polymer clay, wrapped wire, and beaver and muskrat fur. He wears and old shirt of mine, a leather bag, and weasel jaw necklace and carries an actual beaver chew walking stick.

I decided I wanted to write about this rabbit's struggle. And it was for him from the get go, which is perfect fodder for a story. His story was a life and death struggle to live and then to continue to live. 

We or rather I, had raised pets rabbits for close to seven years. So I had a lot to work with. I sketched and drew my struggling hero first and then last weekend I created him from clay and wire. I glued on hair bits (hare bits, heh-heh) and gave Ooglie (his first name) a mo-hawk hairdo. This sparked creative license as the real rabbit had lost his hair and I thought this would work well in the story. So I gave him patchy fur and he wears clothes because, well, we dressed the real rabbit, Justin Thyme (Just in time :) in clothes to keep him warm when he lost his fur (he did get better).

I recycled materials that I had saved and glued clothing on the maquette, because, yes, I  HATE sewing. Extra Heavy Gel Medium works for what I need this guy for. While he was drying I sat down and recalled the place where we raised our rabbits. Goodrich. I had lived in Goodrich for 15 years so knew the area wildlife and habitats well. From memory I sketched our house, the yard, behind the yard and beyond.

And a story was born.

Now I needed a villain. I made a crow that same day and put him aside. Crow Boss, not a very strong bad guy--more of a trickster type, but a persuasive fellow who leads his crow bunch, Buzz, Burr, and Bob. I let that incubate this past week as I wrote more. 

Now I really despise making predators the bad guy. They do what they do to keep balance. But to another mammal or herp perspective, they are the enemy. So I came u with Danger the Hawk, and Haunt the Great Horned Owl. Still, they weren't really the villain I was looking for.

Then it hit me as I remembered all of the wildlife in the near woods and the most shocking find I had made in Goodrich. A wild boar! And boars are pretty bad dudes and do a bunch of damage.

The day I came across this wild find in Goodrich I was astounded--not what you are expecting to be on a bike path. Someone's car had either hit the boar or someone shot the animal because it died in a small field just off the dirt road. Nonetheless, here lie a wild dead pig that I almost ran over with my bike. As I was investigating the crime scene, a stout, striped critter ran through the grasses pell mell. Now having worked on a pig educational exhibit for the Metropark's Wolcott Farm Museum, I knew that young wild pigs were striped and figured that the young was still out and about. Then I started putting clues together remembered the wallow I had stumbled upon in the woods behind the house earlier that spring as I watched a hawk and her nest in the woods. At the time, I figured deer lived there with all of the tracks I found, and I was more focused on the hawk and the one million swarming mosquitos so left the woods. Then stories of torn and shredded gardens ans sightings came out. Here lie the culprit.

So yesterday, another snowy creative day, I created Baron von Pighoofen! or Baron BoarRegard. Here he is in the building process. I never really know how to start a sculpture, so I began with this big pig's pigginess. His royal snout! Pretty soon I had the head and hooves baking in the oven and ran in search of a boar bod. I repurposed a porcupine puppet (we have two) so the porky became a porker! I glued on hair and cut off hair and so my villain was born.

I now have begun writing the plot and putting together ingredients for the story. I have a world, strong good and bad characters and extras to add in as I go along.

By building the clay and wire critters, it helped me get into the their brain and how they would act and be.

My rabbit hero's name, Ooglie Haargaard, came to me in a dream. I woke in the middle of the night to write down with the name, Ooglie Haargaard. before I knew who he was or would be!
It wasn't until the next day did I decide he would be a rabbit.

I am excited to see where this tale and series will go. It is about released and escaped pets and wildlife living and struggling together in the big, dangerous suburban world. Each trying to survive. And it all began with a dream and clay.

Book Reorder, A 2014 Celebration!

Books I have illustrated and written! www.loritaylorart.com/publications.html

I remember as a child the day that Scholastic book order forms went home. It was always the highlight of my elementary school career and I quiver now when I see my granddaughter's book order form. When the Book Fair came to the school, my heart pounded at the sight of shelves of paperbacks waiting for me, and my heart pounds when I download books onto my iPad. Having a real, live author/poet visit the school in Clarkston was beyond excitement, and I still feel the same today when I visit with other author/illustrators. You see, I have always been a nut about books. A passionist you could say.

When I stop and think about it, I had the love of storytelling--both writing and illustrating--since I was in sixth grade. My teacher told me that is what I would do when I grew I up, which made my young heart ecstatic. And in middle school I won awards for art and a contest in writing. But then by the time high school rolled around, a REAL career was suggested to me by my father. A real career, like the medical field. Art was a hobby--not a real job.

Build a Holly Action Figure! Find it and
more on Holly's Hangout Page!
www.loritaylorart.com/hollywild.html

But I still hung on--no clutched on--to the dream of illustrating and books, even after high school graduation when I was gifted a Gwen Frostic book which inspired me to take a commercial art class at the vocational school where I had taken medical assisting. Funny thing that medical field thing--I every job I had in it someone always told me that I should be doing art. Huh?! Drawing pictures and not blood. Hmm! Finally after flailing around in the medical laboratory field of pouring urine, pipetting blood clots and serum, did I take the serious art plunge. I struggled, practiced and perfected, day-after-day, year-after-year, through raising children and taking care of grandchildren. 

Now after all that hard work, can I look back and see where I have been and where I want to go with my art and storytelling craft. It's exciting really--I have so much more to say and do. Working on a mid-grade realistic fictional series like Holly Wild, illustrating ebooks, and now branching out into Kindle, picture books and perhaps graphic novel chapter books I realize this is my job. I'm a passionist for books.

And so it is with great excitement that I begin 2014 off by ordering 1,000 more HOLLY WILD: Bamboozled on Beaver Island (Book 1) books. I can't wait to see what else will come about this year.

"Crazy Cat Chase That Rabbit" www.loritaylorart.com/illustration.html

HOLLY WILD: Keeps Me Hoppin' With Books 3,4, & 5

HOLLY WILD (Book 3) Packing for the Porkies!

After months of struggle, revising and reworking, book 3 of Holly Wild's adventures is out! Well, almost. The first 50 copies sold out and the 1,000 offset books are due next week. Yes, it is akin to childbirth. I call, write and nag the printer daily then weekly (prenatal visits) to make sure it is all good, all right, all done the way it should be. Cut the cord already, Lori! Now I wait to receive those babies, swaddled in corrugated cardboard. The due date, November 4th. An early birthday present to me!

Speaking of swaddle! Books 1,2 & 3 will be bundled in a designer Holly Wild bandana at holiday shows this year. Check my site for show dates if interested. http://www.loritaylorart.com/FieldNotesArt.html. The bandanas come in Lake Michigan Blue, Porcupine Mountain Green, Beaver Island Red and Kenny Orange!

Available! http://www.loritaylorart.com/Publications.html

What next Lori? Write Book 4 of course! I have not yet settled on a permanent title, nor told my editor-in-chief and chief-cook-and-chicken-washer, Marie Rust, about my title. I am a corn-aholic. So they say-- my editors, business partners and house mates, Lisa and Marie. I am corny. "But kids love it, so they say," I say.

OK, Lori, can the corn. What's the title? Give us a hint! So you ask. OK. Here goes. HOLLY WILD: (Book 4)...Questpedition for the Holly Grail. Tah-dah! Drum-roll. Corny? Funny? Enticing? I hope so. But let me know your thoughts and opinions oh, valued and patient reader of my blog. Please!

Looking back--yesterday--it amazes me just how quickly I put the first rough draft together. Two weeks! (I call this my MiGraFiTWeNo!--or in corn-ish--my Mid-grade Fiction Two Week Novel) Of course, this is so because the characters are known, they are family, and are ever present in my mind. Some old and some new will trot through the book as in the past three. This book was fun to write and intuitive and a bit different in plot--a quest. Holly and her Team are wrapping up the summer. It has been three weeks on the road and now they must return home--after receiving devastating news. But first they head east into the U.P. before hitting the bridge and the dreaded South I-75 sign, shudder, and become 'trolls' once again. Full circle. Wrap up. (Book 1-5 will be the Holly Summer Pack!)

The characters T and Sie take a more prominent roll on the stage in this one. The three blend so well and play off each other so superbly in the first and second book that they all needed to come back big time in this one. And for good reason. Ah, mystery.

It wrote quickly because we just returned from Tahquamenon Falls a few weeks ago. My mind observing and absorbing the area to bring it home and into the laptop. I see Holly changing and maturing through this book. So different from the first. In fact, I have an exhibit at the Riverside Arts Center Gallery this month in Ypsilanti. I have my writing a and illustrating process out in a portfolio for folks to peruse. I flip the pages and see how Holly changes. Like a real child. Like even my own granddaughter. Who wouldn't be changed after a summer like Holly had.

Which bring to mind all the parks, state and national I have been to this summer! I made a list to see where I have been because I scratch my head and think, "What did I do all summer? Right. Camped, rode a horse, camped! Here is a list if yo want to know where I have been since June! Ludington State Park (twice!), Hartwick Pines (twice!), Tahquamenon Falls (river Mouth and Lower Falls campground), Hiawatha National Forest (Flowing Well site), Manistee National Forest, Fisherman's Island, Interlochen, Beaver Island (we can call that one a big island park!) , a state park in Minnesota and one in Wisconsin, and the crown of crowns...Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. No wonder I am pooped! Everywhere I go I am always thinking, "What would Holly do?!" and it usually happens.

So while Book 4 incubates (it goes to the editor during her art show hiatus in January) on to Book 5! Holly's return to her hometown of Hayfields. The Urban Wild. A Wild 'family' reunion ensues on Belle Isle! We at Bear Track Press hope to have both books out next year by this time and then maybe start some picture books. No wonder time flies!