Social Distancing Scavenger Hunt

In our little neighborhood in Cambridge in the UK, my children have a nice group of friends that they enjoy playing with after school and on the weekends. As for many children in the world at the moment, social distancing has been very difficult for them. Other than saying hello from a window or on a computer screen, they have not been able to play with their friends in two weeks and probably won't be able to for three months.

In order to make this time a little easier and to give them an indirect way to connect with the neighbor kids, my neighbor Michelle and I decided to start the Social Distancing Scavenger Hunt.

1. Getting started
In order to get prepared, the kids and I first picked up some large rocks on our morning walk, took them home, and then painted them. One of my boys painted dinosaur fossils on his rocks, my youngest just painted them with different colors, and my middle child had some funny ideas. I also painted a couple, including the very simple sleeping rock which is covered in the letter z. Once the rocks were finished, we put a sealer on them.

2. Hiding rocks
Then, on our next walk, we chose 8 large rocks to hide along the way and as we hid them we thought about clues and wrote them down. For example, one rock has the word "rabbit" written in brown on it. This rock we hid under a large white round sculpture in the dog park. The clue was, "Find the brown rabbit under the white planet." Another rock we hid close to the playground and made finding it like in a pirate's story, "go four paces forward, then five to the right..." Sometimes we made references to landmarks or street signs. It was fun making the clues. The final rock was put by our doorstep and I told my friend to ring the doorbell and we could say hi from the window. Then it was her turn to place the rocks and think up clues.

3. Precautions
If you are worried about cross-contamination and catching Covid19 when picking up the rocks, you can use an inverted plastic bag to pick them up (as if you were picking up after your dog). If you coat the rocks with clear nail polish or a good coat of sealant, then you can also wash them with soap and water. Make sure you always wash your hands when you come back inside.

I think you'll find that the more often you do a scavenger hunt with the same people, the more difficult you can make the clues and hiding places. I hope that you enjoy this idea. Please let me know what other ideas you have! Stay safe!

By the way, if this is your first time on my blog. Please check out my previous post about a children's book that I wrote and illustrated to help ease children's fears during this time. It's called The Day the Lines Changed and all proceeds go to Covid19 charities. For more info, see my website kelleydonner.com.

The Day the Lines Changed

The past two weeks, my children have asked a lot of questions about what the Coronavirus is, how it travels, where it came from, whether their grandparents will be okay, and why they can’t go to school. Sometimes their questions are really complex and I realize just how much their little brains are trying to wrap their heads around what is going on. My husband and I are trying to limit the amount of negative Coronavirus talk that we do in front of them. They don’t need to know how many people died in Italy today or worry about whether the British health system will fall apart. However, they do want the big picture and a lot of the info about the Coronavirus is way to abstract for a small child to understand.

Last weekend, while all of these thoughts were circulating in my head, I had a moment of inspiration. An idea for a picture book popped into my head and wouldn’t leave me alone. As always when I get some crazy, creative idea, my brain became obsessed with it and the following day I spent every second I could get writing, tearing paper and scanning and then threw everything into Photoshop and InDesign. What became of this is a story called The Day the Lines Changed.

Carefree and happy, the green line lives together with her family, goes to school during the week, and on weekends visits the town square. Then one day some of the orange and purple lines begin to turn crooked and suddenly, everything is different for the green line and her family. Just as the green line begins to worry if her own family might turn crooked, one line makes a fantastic discovery which changes the lives of the lines forever.

Excerpt from book: first page

After sending around the story to some family and friends, and getting positive feedback, I decided I needed to share it with others. I realized that teachers, parents, and caregivers need resources right now to help them explain to children what a pandemic is, while still giving children a much needed positive view of the future. Therefore, I hope that this story will help to make those difficult conversations with children about the Coronavirus at the moment a little bit easier.

Excerpt: beginning of book

My family has been very lucky. My husband has a job that has not been affected much by the lockdown. Although I find trying to do a full time Masters while homeschooling my kids at the same kitchen table difficult, I understand that many others have far worse things to deal with at the moment. I can’t imagine how hard it must be for so many people affected by personal loss or dealing with financial insecurity. I would feel very uncomfortable making a profit from this book.  Therefore, I have decided to give 100% of the profits through the end of April to Covid-19 charities.

Excerpt: middle of book

I appreciate all of the support from those who read my blog. Could you please help me in getting the word out and post to your social media about The Day the Lines Changed. It is currently on most Amazon marketplaces (see links below)

Together, we can help to make this time a bit easier for children to process, ease their worries, and let them enjoy just being young.

Buy on Amazon.co.uk

Buy on Amazon.com
Go to website and read more 

Keywords: Coronavirus, children's book, Covid19, pandemic, children's book about Coronavirus, picture book about Coronavirus

Little Jack Thomson's Magnificent Brain Coloring Book

I received my proofs from Amazon today for Little Jack Thomson's Magnificent Brain along with Little Jack Thomson's Magnificent Brain Coloring Book. It is really exciting after so much hard work, to be able to finally hold these books in my hands.

Here is an example from Little Jack Thomson's Magnificent Brain Coloring Book. Since all of the illustrations in the book began as simple linocuts before they were transformed with watercolor and a bit of Photoshop, making a coloring book made a lot of sense. I am really thrilled with the results and I can't wait to test out this proof copy on my kids.

The best thing about making a coloring book? You get to ask the best questions to go with the pictures.

If you could design a planet, how would it look? or, What would your space train look like?

I hope that some children take the time to send me in their colored pictures as I can't wait to see some of the imaginative ideas that are out there.

Little Jack Thomson's Magnificent Brain and Little Jack Thomson's Magnificent Brain Coloring Book will be available on Amazon soon. I'll keep you informed!

More info at kelleydonner.com

Cambridge Printfair

This is just a brief note to let you know that I will be selling screenprints and linocuts next weekend at The Guildhall in Cambridge, UK.

 If you are interested in seeing some of my prints in advance, I have put a few of them online at https://www.kelleydonner.com/shop. I have made sure to make some that are as small as postcards, as I know that artwork is a wonderful thing to give at Christmas.

Thank you for your support!

Author Scams and Wishful Thinking

Writers are a great bunch of people, but we receive a lot of rejection. This is why, when an email pops into my inbox promising great things, I am often very skeptical.  In June, my book Ball! Ball! Ball! A Picture Book to Inspire Sensory Awareness made it onto Amazon's bestseller list in Special Needs Children's Health. Ever since then, however, I have started receiving emails all offering to make my book that one book in a million that makes it big.

Normally, when I receive an email which lists my name and book in the mail (unlike many, which just say Dear Author) I copy the website and research on Google whether or not the company can be trusted or not.  Last week, I had an email from a company saying that my website billing information had been compromised. It wasn't. The week before, I had an email just offering my financial support if I just responded to their email. I didn't. Unfortunately, a lot of these phishing emails just want you to confirm that your email account is real. It is annoying to have to double check everything, but definitely worth it.

A few days ago, I was offered a true author scam and I thought I might share it with you. This is how the email began:

Al Cole would like to officially invite you for a Radio Interview. He is one of the broadcasting's most gifted interviewers with his nationally syndicated show People of Distinction. One of the best Radio Host Personality of CBS Radio Station.

As I have done interviews and podcasts before, I thought it might be interesting to do more research into this one to see if there was any harm in doing it. Many shows work under the pretense of- you plug my site on your social media, and I'll interview you on mine. A win/win. Not all of them are scams.

My first impression of Al Cole's website was that he definitely had his connections and liked to appear big in a way that only Trump might understand. However, what struck me as odd, was that when I typed his "bestselling book" into Amazon, it showed it as being made in Createspace and it had a horribly cheesy cover. I find it hard to believe that someone with as many connections as Al Cole could not find a publisher. However, the more I Googled the guy, the less I found (also strange). So, just for fun, I called the number on the email (not with my cell phone number, of course) and talked to a very impressive sounding man from Philadelphia who promised me Al would give me three hours of his time and an interview that millions of listeners would receive. The interview itself would cost me nothing, but airing in would cost 1,700 dollars...

At that point I politely declined and decided I had heard enough. Just as vanity publishers always offer you the world if you only pay them first, you should never have to pay for an interview on online radio. On the one hand, I had to laugh at the vanity of it all. On the other hand, it makes me angry. I'm sure there are many good people who are scammed by people like Al Cole into thinking that they are a "Person of Distinction." Such scams, as always, prey into our insecurities and our wishful thinking.

Hopefully, the next person who googles author scam will get to read my blog first. If you are an author, just remember, if it sounds too good to be true. It is.

The Great Kid-friendly Bake-off!

I love baking with my kids. We also love watching those cheesy bake shows which make amateur contestants go against each other to see who can make the best (or worst) cake. This past week, my children and I decided to create our own show.

I got out enough bowls, wooden spoons, and equipment for each of my three children, gave them each 2 eggs, and ingredients. I had to film them each coming in to the kitchen, as they love to watch Youtube and wanted to have everything look and be commentated on as if were a real show.

Activity 1: Bake your own signature cake.

Three little hands mixing batter

Then they all got to work. I led them through the basics, but let them do the heavy lifting. They had to grease and flour their own pans, measure and stir their own ingredients, and design their own cakes. It was fun and we had a blast.

My youngest, who is five, took the whole thing really seriously. When asked what kind of a cake he would make, he replied, “A waterfall cake made of chocolate with a Spinosaurus on it.” Not an easy task, if you ask me.

Waterfall cake with Spinosaurus

They all worked really hard, and in the end I was really proud of each one of them. Jonas, who is now 9, made a dinosaur cake with fossils stuck in the frosting; Lukas, who is 8, made a chocolate happy face cake; and Max made his extravagant cake with a waterfall falling down a cliff made of rice cakes into a painted river of frosting.

Here are the final cakes and a recipe for only 1 round cake made with simple ingredients. I hope you enjoy yourselves as much as we did. This was a fantastic way for the whole family to get involved in the kitchen.

Recipe 1 Bake-off cake:

The final three cakes!

Ingredients:

1/2 C Butter
3/4 C Sugar
2 Eggs
1 t vanilla
1 1/2 C flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 C milk
1/4 C cocoa (optional)

Your choice of frosting and decorations!

How to make the cake:

1. Have children grease and flour a round baking tin.
2. First have children mix together the butter and sugar. Make sure your butter is nice and soft so that the kids can handle it.
3. Show how to break an egg and then let each add 2 eggs to their butter/sugar mixture and mix again.
4. Add vanilla, milk, and all dry ingredients. Mix well.
5. If you are going to make a chocolate cake, add a 1/4 C cocoa to the mix and perhaps a little bit more milk.
6. Bake at 350* F for 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Let cool and then decorate to your hearts content.
8. Don't forget to judge the best cake!

Please let me know how your cakes turned out!

On the Ball for Autism

I wanted to share with my blog readers an exciting article about my new book series which was published in the Cambridge News. It was exciting to receive such support from the community. Here is the entire article:

A new book series designed to empower children with special needs has become a hit with readers.

The Happy Heads series, by Trumpington based American children’s author and illustrator Kelley Donner, made its debut two weeks ago, and has already topped Amazon’s Special Needs Children’s Health bestseller list.

The first book in the series, Ball! Ball! Ball!, tells the story of a lively young boy with autism, who speaks only a few words and has a fascination for round objects and discovering new things. The second book in the series, Little Jack Thomson’s Magnificent Brain, is set to be published in the autumn, with the third and fourth books in the series currently being illustrated.

Speaking to the News, Kelley Donner explained why these books were necessary, and why stories focusing on characters with special needs should always strive to do more than just raise awareness.

She said: “I started work on these books ten years ago, but since moving to the UK, I’ve had more time to focus on creating the stories. It’s my belief that every child has the right to see themselves represented in the books they read, but the standard approach to characters with learning difficulties is very problematic, if they’re represented at all. “Most books are solely about raising awareness of autism, or children on the autistic spectrum, and are centred on a character who doesn’t have that condition learning about them. It creates the “Rain Man” effect, and in many cases furthers pre-existing stereotypes, when there are a broad range of behaviours on the spectrum.”

Kelley explained how the Happy Heads series would correct this. She continued: “I wanted to tell more complex children’s stories about children with autism, where they aren’t defined by their disability. There’s little representation like this in the picture book market - I asked various groups on Twitter if anybody had any examples, and people were struggling to name any. “I want the characters in these books to be less perfect, so children can see themselves. I’ve had a positive response from the autistic community, and I would love to start visiting schools to share this story and the ones I have coming up with children.

“My next book, Little Jack Thomson’s Magnificent Brain, will be out later this year. The aim with that book is to challenge stereotypes surrounding Asperger’s, as all representation highlights the intelligent children with Asperger’s, ignoring the more diverse spectrum of people with that condition.”

Kelley will be reading and selling copies of her book at The Big Weekend's Big Read tent on Parker's Piece at 3:20pm on Saturday, July 6.

Ball! Ball! Ball! A Picture Book to Inspire Sensory Awareness is now available to order on Amazon. More information on the Happy Heads series can be found by visiting kelleydonner.com.

Written by Alistair Ryder