VS Grenier ~ Award-Winning Author, Speaker & Podcaster

Title: Milton the Square Shell Turtle Author: MaryAnn Tatro Illustrator: Diane Lucas Publisher: Halo Publishing, Int. Genre: Children’s Picture Book ISBN: 978-1-61244-103-1 Publication Date: June 2013 $11.95 About the Book: Milton is a story of a turtle. Unlike other turtles with round or oval shells, Milton has a square shell. One afternoon, and being new to the area, he decides to take a walk to the pond to relax. Just when he thinks he finds the perfect spot, he can't stay. Not wanting to cause a problem, he goes further up the pond, only to discover, home is the best place to relax. I Recommend this Book because... When I read this story the first thing I realized was long gone are the days when neighbors all know each other. As a child, I remember knowing all my neighbors on my street and many times on the streets behind and in front of us as well. No, I didn't grow up in a small community. In fact, I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley, w

Ever since LeeAnna Kail was little, she had an interest in writing. In fact, when she was in the fourth grade, she completed a career project and dressed as an author with dreams of writing her own book one day. LeeAnna attended Duquesne University with a double major in political science and English with intentions of attending law school after graduation. While studying abroad in Rome, Italy, LeeAnna had a change of heart and decided to continue her education at Duquesne studying elementary education instead. She knew she found her niche the first day of class. Inspired by an assignment from a children’s literature course, LeeAnna's dream of writing a book has come true. LeeAnna currently teaches in Pittsburgh and hopes to be an inspiration to her students to follow their dreams. I want to thank LeeAnna for being my guest here on The Writing Mama today. VS: How long have you been writing? LeeAnna: I have been writing since I was a little girl. I

“Join Ollie on his adventure in searching for his sister and learning the significance of being different.” About the Book: While providing insightful perspectives on diversity, The OWL Who Couldn’t WHOO offers educators, libraries, parents and young readers a fresh new look on anti-bullying and self-confidence. My girls really enjoyed this book. My youngest loved saying all of Ollie’s special words (“WHEERE!” or “WHEEN!” or “WHYY!” and sometimes “WHAAT!” ) and it was a great exercise for my oldest who is in speech to practice some of the words she has difficultly with in a fun new way. The author LeeAnna Kail wrote the book as more of a fun story to show how to get along with others who are different, but my family found other valuable things as you can see written with in the pages. One reason why this writing mama feels picture books are important to have within your bookshelves.  The story is simply told with just enough details within the illustrations and co