Kasey Crawford Kellem, a School Counselor and former Special Education Teacher, has devoted her life to helping children facing adversity be resilient. Kasey created a series of book for kids titled Mind Over Matter (M.O.M.) Books to teach children skills to overcome life´s challenges. She has earned a Bachelor´s Degree and Masters Degree in Special Education and an Educational Specialist Degree in Counseling.
Many may wonder if this counselor turned author truly follows what she teaches others. Kellem shared a little about the process of finding publisher. She said, "I followed my own resiliency philosophy of BELIEVING I will find someone who believes in me! After one publisher declined my book despite a few months of correspondences, I simply put out a facebook post and one of my former students set me up with his sister´s publishing company. Lisa Mina from Halo Publishing International loved my books and their purpose! She focuses on children´s books, Christian books and books that help others! My book could have fallen under all three of those categories. I am grateful for social media!"
Kellem grew up in a "traditional nuclear family" as she put it, which included her mom, dad and three sisters in Fairview Park, Ohio. She said she played sports and percussion instruments in the band, and was pretty much the class clown. After attending Magnificat High School, she went on to earn her Bachelor´s and Master´s Degrees. She now is a counselor at Normandy High School and has created a wonder book series for not only children, but those who work with them as well.
Read the whole spotlight at
American Chronicle | Spotlight Interview with debut author Kasey Crawford Kellem
Natasha Yim is a children's book author and freelance writer. Her first book, Otto's Rainy Day was published by Charlesbridge Publishing in 2000. It was selected as a Kids' Pick of the Lists. She has written for Highlights for Children, Appleseeds and Faces magazines, and her new picture book biography, Cixi, The Dragon Empress was released by Goosebottom Books in October 2011. Gretchen Maurer's writing has been published in Frances Mayes' The Discovery of Poetry, and in Adventure Cyclist and Highlights for Children magazines. She also co-wrote a short film, Alma, that has won multiple awards. Mary Tudor, "Bloody Mary" is her first picture book. She lives in Northern California with her family. Natasha Yim’s current book, Cixi, The Dragon Empress and Gretchen Maurer’s current book, Mary Tudor, “Bloody Mary” are two of the six books (all written by different authors) in Goosebottom Books’ series, The Thinking Girl’s Treasury of Dastardly Dames. The seri...