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AS GREAT AS YOU WANT TO BE: Yes, it’s a mental practice!

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Saltwater TaffyAS GREAT AS YOU WANT TO BE: Yes, It’s a mental practice!

Saltwater Taffy reminds us that feeling good about yourself it is a mental practice.

Have you ever notice moments in life where you feel really excited about who you are?  You know those moments where you feel really connected, filled with direction and have an overwhelmingly high sense of self-assuredness?   The reason these moments arrive in our lives is so we can realize how… Read more

7 STEPS FOR CREATING YOUNG READERS

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Saltwater TaffyCREATING YOUNG READERS

As the author of Saltwater Taffy, I feel I have learned what it takes to create young readers.  Here are 7 Steps for Creating Young Readers:

1. START EARLY: Twenty-six percent of children between the ages of three and five, who were read to at least three or four times in the last week by a family member, recognized all letters of the alphabet.  This is compared to 14 percent of children who were read to less frequently.

2. LEAD BY EXAMPLE: If you want your child to read, pick up and book and show them how enjoyable reading can be.  If you don’t like to read, change your mind and think again.

3. FIELD TRIP: Grab the kids and spend a few hours at your local library.  Sign them up for their own library card.  Check into events for children and sign up! Read more

TWEEN READERS

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Tween ReadersTWEEN READERS!

In order to create more Tween Readers in our country, I sat down and wrote the adventure novel Saltwater Taffy so I could teach the ideal: Your life is up to you!

Nobody can do it for you.  Not your parents.  Not your teachers.  Not even your best friend.  If you want something special out of your life, the journey is entirely up to YOU.

Going after a dream that is out of the ordinary takes work.  You have to really want it.  Each moment in your life is an adventure and should be treated as such.  If you don’t, all that will show up in your life is more of the same.  If you want greatness, you have to start with thoughts about greatness.  If you want adventure, your thoughts need to be adventurous.  If you want happiness, your thoughts need to be about happiness.

Saltwater Taffy is an adventure novel for tweens and is endorsed by 12 Teachers of the Year around the country.  The book has become an Accelerated Reader title and tween reader favorite for children’s book clubs.

Learning How To Read: Guest Writer

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Learning how to readLEARNING HOW TO READ: Guest Writer

Learning how to read is becoming a bigger topic than we care to admit.  There is an amazing website out there that I want to bring to your attention.  Run by Bianca Schulz, The Children’s Book Review is a great stop for any parent looking for children’s books, especially Saltwater Taffy.  I recently had the pleasure of writing an article for the website about child literacy in America.  As an advocate of children’s literacy in America, this was the easiest article I have even written.  Together we can change the futures of our children, by teaching them to read TODAY.

WRITE ON WRITER’S…WRITE ON!

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Saltwater TaffyWRITE ON WRITER’S…WRITE ON!

When writing gets tough, we need to write on.  In the on-again, off-again love affair life of being a writer, the writer can be certain that he or she will one day wonder if the process of writing is worth all the trouble.  We wonder because writing is lonely.  Writing is intoxicating.  Writing is frustrating, fulfilling, heartbreaking, complicated, and most of all… Read more