Wednesday's Guest - Little Pickle Press

Please welcome Rana DiOrio and Dani Greer, who are on a tour letting people know about a wonderful new book.

What Does It Mean To Be Safe?  By Rana DiOrio - Illustrated by Sandra Salsbury 

What a lovely book with a terrific message delivered in a straight-forward manner with delightful illustrations. Kids will love the book just for the engaging characters portrayed in the pictures, and the messages of safety will connect with them through these illustrations. Even though I no longer have very young grandchildren, I may still get a copy or two of the book just to share with daughters and granddaughters who appreciate the art, and I would certainly recommend the book to others. It is our responsibility to keep children safe, and they are more apt to pay attention to the lessons that come via a book than another lecture from mommy or grandma.

I first became acquainted with Little Pickle Press when a colleague, Dani Greer, sent me a copy of Your Fantastic Elastic Brain for review. I immediately fell in love with the engaging illustrations by Sarah Ackerley  but was also intrigued by the whole concept of Little Pickle Press, which is producing quality, innovative books while keeping one eye on the environment. It is a very green company.

As part of the blog tour, Rana and Dani answered a few questions about the press and the books for me.

Q. I love the name of the company, Little Pickle Press. Who chose it and why?

Rana: I have always referred to my children as pickles. When it came time to name the company, incorporating the word "pickle" was a logical place to start. With a little brainstorming on the part of our early team, we came up with Little Pickle Press.

Q.Dani, how did you connect with Little Pickle Press and why? What were the main things that attracted you to the company?

Dani: I'd been teaching and promoting the use of blog book tours for several years, and Rana noticed a link about my class on Facebook. She asked me about organizing a blog book tour for her latest release. I always had a special interest in children's literature, and this company was a green publisher (recycled papers using soy inks and printed in N. America) so the idea of a virtual tour was exactly right for them.

Q. The Little Pickle Press mission: "Little Pickle Press is dedicated to helping parents and educators cultivate conscious, responsible little people by stimulating explorations of the meaningful topics of their generation through a variety of media, technologies, and techniques." Could you translate that for those of us who get lost in too many words? LOL

Rana: We help parents and teachers nurture conscientious children by catalyzing conversations about stuff that matters through our books and digital media. Better?

Dani: Little Pickle Press products help teach children the important lessons they need to learn to be better people, now and as adults. The books are printed and shipped in an environmentally-conscious way to set a good example, and all the books are available to read on modern gadgets like computers and cell phones and more. It's a must to make reading available in many ways, and LPP has always been on the leading edge of these changes and opportunities.

Q. Anything else you would like to say about the Press and the book?

Dani: Like all the Little Pickle Press titles, this book will soon have an iBook version, an interactive app, and free lesson plans that teachers and parents can download to further explore those conversations we mentioned. Each of the books also has original music created by a wonderful composer and singer, Jasmine Saldate.  And there's a poster we're giving away free with the sale of this book during the tour when you use this LINK and enter coupon code BBTSAFE to get free shipping on your order. You always get lots of extras with Little Pickle Press. I have to say, I wish all the companies I've worked with were so totally cool.

This book would make a nice holiday gift and don't forget to enter the code for free shipping and the SAFE poster made of TerraSkin, the tree-free paper. Just enter BBTSAFE at check-out.
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Author Bio:
Rana DiOrio is an investor, investment banker, lawyer, and the mother of three children. She is also the founder and CEO of Little Pickle Press. What Does It Mean To Be Safe? is the fourth in her What Does It Mean To Be… ? picture book series and all are printed in an environmentally-friendly manner using recycled paper, soy inks, and green packaging.


Places you can connect with Little Pickle Press:

Book Trailer: -- Blog: ---  Facebook: --- Twitter:

Friday's Odds and Ends

Columnist Mark Davis recently wrote, "Nothing tickles me like complaints that American presidential campaigns are too long. People start running early because we start paying attention early."

He goes on to highlight what he terms "compelling story lines" about the different contenders and their current standings, as well as their chances of capturing the nomination.

Memo to Mark: If journalists would stop writing about all the political maneuvering we could pay attention to something more newsworthy.

It saddened me to read another story in The Dallas Morning News this week about a student who was tied to a chair and then assaulted in a Dallas area middle school. Again, a teacher was in the classroom, but did nothing to stop the assault. The incident is still under investigation, but the Dallas ISD has put that substitute teacher on a do-not-call list.

An eight-year-old girl in San Francisco who competes in beauty pageants lets her mother inject Botox in her lips and cheeks, because she "… like, doesn't like big wrinkles."

Eight, and she thinks she has wrinkles? I should invite her to my house.

But seriously, this mother also waxes the girl's legs to give her an edge in the beauty pageants. Talk about misplaced priorities.

Some people predict that tomorrow the world will end. I sure hope not. I have a vacation planned to visit family in Michigan, with a few appearances at bookstores during the trip.

On Monday, May 23, I will be at The Book Rack in Moline, IL from 12 to 2 in the afternoon.  I've never been to this store before, but the owner, Bob, was very receptive to having me there, and I am looking forward to meeting some of the people who visit his store on a regular basis. The store is located at 3937 41st. Drive. (Just in case you want to enter that into your GPS and find the store. LOL) While I'm in Moline, I will go by the library and donate copies of my books. 

On May 28th I will be at Horizon Books in Cadillac, MI from 1-3pm. My family lives near Cadillac, so I have been to this store several times and always enjoy going back. They have a nice coffee shop and a wide selection of books. They also have a wonderful staff that always makes me feel very welcome. The store is located on 115 S. Mitchell St.  

The nice people at Aunt Agatha's Mystery Bookstore in Ann Arbor, MI, are buying several copies of OPEN SEASON, and I will stop by to sign them while I am there. I didn't find out that I would be stopping in Ann Arbor in time to set up an event, but one of the owners, Jamie, was gracious enough to arrange to have books in the store. 

Next I will be at Howard's Bookstore in Bloomington IN on June 2 from 6-9pm. I have never been to this store, either, so I am looking forward to meeting the owner, Joie Canada. She was most helpful in arranging the time to fit my driving schedule, as well as giving me a contact person at the local newspaper for a press release.  Howard's is located at 101 West Kirkwood Ave.

If you live near any of these stores, I would love it if you came by so we could meet. I have met so many terrific people on the Internet, and it is always fun to meet in person.  If you have friends or family in the areas, I would appreciate it if you let them know.

While I'm gone, there will still be new posts up on the regular schedule - if Blogger cooperates with my pre-scheduling. I will have limited Internet access where I will be staying most of the time, so I won't be able to comment here or visit the blogs I normally do. But I'm sure the Internet will carry on just fine without me.

I just got the cover art for One Small Victory which will be released in Turkey within the next two weeks. Thought I would share it now. My first foreign sale. I think my name will be the only thing in English.

I keep thinking I am done with this blog, then I get another e-mail with a link worth sharing. Jenny Jasik, the central character in One Small Victory has been interviewed on Paula Petty's blog, Petty's Coppers. She features interviews with fictional police officers and other crime-solving characters, and there have been some interesting folks featured there. Stop by and meet Jenny if you get a chance.

Guest Blogger Tomorrow

Romance author, Barri Bryan is on a mini-blog tour for her latest book from Classic Romance Revival, and will be here tomorrow to share a bit about Images and Imagination. Come back and help me welcome Barri to It's Not All Gravy...

CRR Mini Blog Tour!

  CRR is delighted to host CRR Publishing and author Barri Bryan in a mini-blog tour to celebrate the release of A Second Splendor!

We have a wonderful line-up of blogs to visit, and three arc copies of A Second Splendor will be given to three lucky people drawn from those commenting on the blogs! Click on the blog name below to read and comment and stand a chance to win – make sure you visit on the right day!
A Second Splendor is available HERE

 

9 August – Lovestruck Novice
13 August – Nicole Zoltack
15 August – Maryann Miller’s It’s Not All Gravy
17 August – Linda Banche
19 August – Maggi Andersen
21 August – Steph Burkhart
25 August – Liana Laverentz

Blurb:
Julie Anderson is not happy that her ex-husband is coming home to attend their daughter’s wedding. Max has broken her heart in the past – not once, but twice. Thank goodness she’s too wise to fall under his spell again, or is she?
Max Anderson has some reservations about his daughter’s coming marriage to the son of his ex wife’s business partner. He shows up early and walks into a situation that begs him to intervene. When he does all hell breaks loose.
Have fun everyone!