Children’s Author Publishes Fourth Book in the Educational Rachel Raccoon and Sammy Skunk Series

Jannifer Powelson has recently published the fourth book in the Rachel Raccoon and Sammy Skunk Series. These books contain colorful photos, realistic illustrations, and entertaining characters that combine to teach children about nature.

 

 

In Rachel and Sammy Learn to Conserve, Rachel, Sammy, and their classmates help children discover that everyone wins when they conserve the earth’s natural resources. Readers will learn all about planting trees and native plants, soil, water, and energy conservation, wildlife habitats, recycling, and more! This book joins the other three in the series that were recently republished by the Progressive Rising Phoenix Press, an independent publisher co-founded by Powelson.

Rachel and Sammy Learn to Conserve will make its debut at a book signing on Saturday, April 20^th at Amber Jar Antiques Co. in Altona from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Rachel and Sammy books are also available at several local shops and through online retailers, such as Amazon.com.

Meet Rachel and Sammy for the first time in Rachel and Sammy Visit the Prairie, the first book in author Jannifer Powelson’s Rachel Raccoon and Sammy Skunk series. This book is an exceptional tool for teaching children to identify 20 common prairie plants. 

Rachel and Sammy Visit the Forest is the second in the series. The beautifully illustrated book will help children learn to identify 15 common spring woodland wildflowers and is a great guide to take along on a nature hike!

Rachel and Sammy Learn About Trees is the third book in the series. Rachel and Sammy, along with their classmates, their teacher, Mrs. Doe, and Doc Opossum, take a field trip to the forest, where they discover all kinds of interesting tree facts. This book will help children learn about tree identification, parts of trees, importance of trees, photosynthesis, and much more!

 

About the Author:

Jannifer Powelson, originally from Altona, currently lives in Princeton, Illinois and has been writing children’s books since 2003. The author conducted research on raccoons to write her master’s thesis and now works as a resource conservationist at the Stark County Soil and Water Conservation District. Her daughters and her love of nature, photography, writing, and education were the inspirations for the Rachel and Sammy books. Ms. Powelson is busy working with her partner at Progressive Rising Phoenix Press to publish a wide variety of children’s books.

For more information, please visit the author’s website at: www.janniferpowelson.com and the publisher’s website at: www.progressiverisingphoenix.com. 

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Progressive Rising Phoenix Press, an independent publisher founded by authors, recognizes that the industry has changed.  We are non-traditional publisher, but we believe that authors have a choice in all aspects regarding production and marketing of their work.  Our philosophy is based on the belief that authors working and marketing together are far more effective than working on their own.  Our mission is to succeed through innovative cross-promotion, creative marketing, and original content. We publish young adult novels, early/middle readers, children’s picture books, and specialty books.

Take Time to Enjoy the Turkeys!

Oftentimes life gets hectic, and the past couple of weeks were busier than usual. One daughter had the stomach flu for several days and another daughter had a cold, and we were ready for Spring Break, when morning and bedtime routines wouldn't be so rushed. It was the last day of school before break, and my daughter with the cold woke up with a leg ache too. Though she's prone to achy legs, she's never had a leg ache first thing in the morning, so this news was unexpected and unwelcome. I plugged in the heating pad, gave her some medicine, and hoped that she'd soon feel better.

Finally, her ache started to decrease, and I helped her finish getting ready for school but got myself behind in the process. I hurriedly dropped the girls off at school and ran home to eat a quick breakfast before dashing out the door myself, for a program at my older daughter's school. However, our dog decided that she didn't want to stay in our house, where we were having some work done, and the air hammer was disturbing her.  Patches bolted out the back door without a leash, hopped into my car, and would not budge. I carried her to the backdoor and tried to ignore the resulting dog hair and smell clinging to me.

Despite all that, the presentation for my daughter's class went well, though I arrived a few minutes late. I was finally on my way to work and driving along a county road known for its hills and wildlife. I usually look for deer on this road, but on that crazy day, a large, wild turkey scooted across the road in front of my car. Luckily, the awkward looking turkey was amazingly fast on its feet and made it to safety across without any problems.  I started to laugh at the morning's events and relaxed a little. Seeing the wild turkey was a rare treat, despite the surprise of it flitting in front of my moving car.

During this already busy week, another major thing happened; Rachel and Sammy Learn to Conserve was released!  Even though this is the fourth book in the Rachel Raccoon and Sammy Skunk Series, it's still very exciting to have a new book published. This book contains beautiful and realistic illustrations, colorful photographs, and cute animal characters.  Rachel, Sammy, and their classmates will teach children about native plants, trees, recycling, wildlife habitats, energy, soil, and water conservation, and much more! Hopefully after reading this book, readers will appreciate the everyday wonders of nature, such as a glimpse of a turkey trotting across the road, while traveling on one of life's journeys.

Nancy Drew Strikes Again!

Growing up, I was an avid reader, one of those stereotypical, “nose in a book” girls!  I spent much time outdoors on the farm, working and playing, but also loved reading in my room. I started to enjoy creative writing in third grade. Friday afternoons were traditionally when our teachers assigned stories to write. Oh how I treasured those times designated for writing!

As I began reading more grown up books, I received Nancy Drew books as gifts. These were timeless classics when I read them and are even more so today. Recently, I checked out a Nancy Drew book for my fourth grade daughter. She was hooked after the first chapter of “The Secret of the Old Clock”! She’s been devouring these books ever since and told me that one night she woke up at 2:00 a.m. and wanted to read. Though we don’t look or act alike, we share a passion for reading and writing. Alexandra is a bookworm, just like me, and she’s written dozens of lovely stories. While home from school recovering from the flu, she wrote a single spaced, five page mystery. She spent two days working on it and was excited when she finished. As I read her story, I overlooked punctuation errors and realized how much her writing had improved in just a few months. I told her that I loved her story, and she asked me if I would edit it for her. She later asked if I would publish it for her. Even though I was so proud of her and thrilled that her interest had reached that point, I told her that her story wasn’t quite ready to be published and that she should continue to polish it.

One day, I would love my daughter’s books to be published through Progressive Rising Phoenix Press, and I would be her biggest fan. Until then, we continue to accept submissions from other authors. Please visit the Submissions Guidelines tab at www.progressiverisingphoenix.com for information on submitting your work. We look forward to working with a wide range of authors and their corresponding books. You never know who might end up being the next Carolyn Keene; it could be you!

 

Wildlife Wonders

     On Friday, I was rushing to get to work, earlier than my usual start time. We were hosting a seminar for land improvement contractors and serving breakfast. As I sped along a frosty and hilly blacktop, I was looking out for deer - trying to avoid them and the ensuing visit to the local body shop. It wasn't long before a flash of fur ran across the road in front of me. The animal was moving so fast, that I didn't even need to hit the brakes. This common Illinois mammal wasn't a deer, but a coyote. These native carnivores belong to the dog family and enjoy feasting on smaller mammals and even tasted a couple of my coworker's chickens earlier in the week.

     In my mad dash to get to on time, I frequently view birds and mammals. Lately I've enjoyed seeing bald eagles soaring above and perched in trees along the Hennepin Canal.  Many of the animals I see as an adult, I rarely or never saw as a child, even though we lived on a farm and had plenty of countryside for wildlife to roam. Whether I see a pesky coyote that may be bothersome to farmers raising livestock, or a majestic bald eagle, I am glad to have the opportunity to view these animals and even happier that my daughters can see them too.  On the way home from visiting our family this weekend, we spotted at least ten deer grazing n one field. My daughters were amazed. In my youth, it was unusual to see just one deer at a time.

     As children spend more and more time learning and entertaining themselves with electronic devices, getting kids outdoors is even more important. Rachel Raccoon and Sammy Skunk books are intended to be read and used outdoors to teach readers about nature.  I am very excited that my fourth book in the series, Rachel and Sammy Learn to Conserve, is almost complete and will be released in the next few weeks. This book is a little different from the previous books, but it still contains realistic illustrations, colorful photographs, and a fun and educational storyline that will help children learn different ways to conserve natural resources. Please stay tuned for details!

 

 

Eagle Eye

When I was my daughters' ages, seven and nine years old, I had never seen a bald eagle. I think I was probably 30 years old before I saw my first bald eagle in nature, and I don't remember even seeing one in captivity before that.  However, living on land between the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, it has become quite common during the past decade to site bald eagles, especially along the larger creeks, streams, and canals.

Yesterday and again today, I had my first eagle encounters since last winter. After a hectic morning of getting my daughters ready for school and myself ready for work, I was finally on my way to work. I took a shortcut  backroad that is full of twists and turns, beautiful, old trees, a restored prairie, and the road runs parallel with the Hennepin Canal for a couple of miles. Since I saw two eagles yesterday, I had my eagle eyes ready to spot more today. Sure enough, as I drove down a hill, crossed a bridge over a larger creek, I squinted through the trees and saw two huge bald eagles perched on tree branches. The view was perfect, and I was struck by the size of one of the eagles.  The stark contrast of the white heads and dark body feathers was very district, and my breath was taken away by these birds. Who would guess that seeing these birds would cause this reaction? After all, I have a yard full of dainty songbirds that are quite beautiful, with their shades of gold, blue, and red feathers and catchy bird songs. Why would birds that are a simple black and white combination stir me so much?

Over the next few months, as the eagles use local water bodies, I will keep my eyes peeled for views of these beautiful birds. I enjoy seeing these majestic birds not only because they are our national symbol, but seeing them in larger numbers symbolizes that we must be doing something right environmentally, if eagle populations are increasing from the rare numbers of my youth and early adulthood.

I constantly point out wildlife to my daughters as we are driving, but they don't always see what I am trying to show them. This winter, I will make sure that we schedule a time specifically to view bald eagles. We'll bring binoculars and take a hike to get better views.

I would love to capture these gigantic birds in photographs to use in a Rachel Raccoon and Sammy Skunk book. I have taken a few photos of eagles, but to get a better view, I need to purchase a larger lens that is able to zoom in better. For now, I'll stick to taking pictures of plants and inanimate objects to use in Rachel and Sammy books.