Book Blast: TALES FROM CLOUD CANYON by Dr. Rachel Kowert

 

Tales from Cloud Canyon

by Dr. Rachel Kowert PhD

 

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GENRE:   Children's

 

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BLURB:

 

THE STORIES

Tales from Cloud Canyon is a series of character driven, topical short stories celebrating the everyday child, doing everyday things, with their everyday abilities designed for children aged 3+.  Developed by a research psychologist and mom of 3, these stories were developed to be entertaining, educational, and celebrate the power of the everyday within our the beautiful, diverse world.

This Kickstarter collection features three topical short stories from the Cloud Canyon Universe: Here, There, & Everywhere, The Secret to Success, and Invisible Friends. Each of these titles are fully illustrated from artist Randall Hampton and are about 25 pages long.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE WRITING
The fictional characters in childhood stories are some of our earliest teachers. We learn a range of things through the observation of these symbolic models, such as what is right and wrong, a desirable and undesirable behavior, gender roles, norms, stereotypes, and more. The role of models is particularly influential in childhood as it can have a long lasting impact on development.  

Each story in this collection was developed to not only be entertaining but educational as well, with the stories' characters modeling a range of age-appropriate skills spanning four areas of human development: intellectual, social, emotional, and moral. The skills that are modeled within any particular story are displayed on the back cover of each book and explained in more detail on the last page of the book.

DIVERSITY, REPRESENTATION & INCLUSION
Tales from Cloud Canyon changes the narrative by reflecting and celebrating the beautiful and diverse reality of our world. The characters within the Cloud Canyon  Universe were developed to represent a range of shapes, sizes, abilities and disabilities, and traditional and non-traditional families.

In the Cloud Canyon universe:
-More than half the characters are female
-More than half the characters come from an ethnic-minority background
-1 in 10 characters have a visible disability
-Characters come from traditional and non-traditional families
-Different body shapes are represented
-she/her, he/him, and they/them pronouns are represented

It was also equally important that these details were not the central theme of the stories themselves as our shape, level of ability, and what our family unit looks like are just some of the many parts of who we are and not necessarily the defining feature of our stories.

PRODUCTION AND RELEASE
All of the stories have been written and are currently being brought to life through the illustrative magic of Randall Hampton. The physical production of the books is expected to start in June 2022. Time from production to shipping is about 6 - 8 weeks (+/- 2-4 additional weeks due to COVID delays). Once Rachel receives the books, they will be shipped to backers. There is an expected arrival date of the books no later than November 2022.

 

 

 

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Excerpt One:

 

Here, There, & Everywhere Is the story of Eli and Ophelia. Ophelia notices Eli isn’t at school one day only to find he is at home mourning the loss of his grandmother. This is a story about death, dying, and grief told in a child appropriate way from a faith-agnostic perspective. Meaning, it would be just as appropriate in a religious home as it would be in a non religious home. 

 

Excerpt:

 

“First we are kids, then grown ups, then wrinkly and old,

And life is a cycle that way, so I’ve been told.”

Eli paused and looked back up at his friend,

“But what about after? What happens in the end?”

 

“Well, that is a really big, difficult question,

There are a lot of ideas, superstition. 

Some say you go up in to Heaven in the sky,

And reunite with everyone who passed you by.

Others say you come back here as something different,

A bird or butterfly, something significant.”

 

“But whatever happens, a part of them stays here,  

Inside of all the people they’ve met and held dear.

We hold pieces of everyone we’ve loved, embraced, 

Those who are still here and those in a different place.”

 

“Though she’s not here, your grandma is a part of you,

Who you are and the things that you think, say, and do.

The way your hair springs up, your encouraging gaze.

Those are just two of the many possible ways. 

So really you two will always be together,

In your heart and your mind, today and forever.”

 

 

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 GUEST POST

Tales From Cloud Canyon Writing Process

Dr. Rachel Kowert

 

 

A writing process is such a personal thing. For some, it begins with months of research. For others, years of ruminating on a specific topic. Personally, my process is completely dictated by strokes of inspiration.

 

Writing has always been an important part of my career. First, as a graduate student. Then, a post-doctoral researcher. Even today, as the research director of a mental health non-profit, writing is critical to the success of any particular research project. However, all of these examples have been referring to scientific writing. Wordy and jargon-filled tomes of technical writing. My process for creating these pieces of work are necessity. A report needs to be written and I write it. However, the process and outcomes of the scientific writing in my day to day is a stark contrast to the creative writing process that drives my work for Tales from Cloud Canyon.

 

To date, I have written nearly thirty rhyming, short stories for the Cloud Canyon universe. The character driven titles have all started the same: with the name. Ava the Adventurous. Eli the Enthusiastic. Geralt the Grumbly. I find that must of the story unfolds simply from the ascription of a single adjective.

 

Ava the Adventurous.. Ah, so she wants an adventure… and that must mean she isn’t satisfied where she is… she’s going to need a mode of transportation for this adventure, so maybe she goes on an adventure to learn how to do that! These two minutes of free-form thinking inspiration laid the foundation of the first draft of Ava the Adventurous, which would become the first story in the Pragmatic Princess collection.

 

The topical short stories in my new Kickstarter collection were crafted slightly differently as they feature casts of characters and center around a specific topic, rather than a specific person. However, their foundations were similarly crafted in short bursts of inspiration. My first skiing lesson became the idea for and plot of The Secret to Success. Finding my seven year old speaking to strangers on Minecraft (even though I strictly told her not to!) became the inputs for Invisible Friends. The loss of my father and my father in law in the span of a single year necessitated the writing of a child appropriate story about death, grief, and dying.

 

Whenever inspiration strikes, I open the notes app on my phone or a new document on my computer and I just start writing ideas. Sometimes major story points. Sometimes it is a single line of prose. And from there, it organically falls into place. I have written entire stories in an hour. Once, three in a single day. Other times, I slowly craft a story one line at a time over a series of months like the world’s slowest and most dramatic peeling of a banana. I find that in its own time the story reveals itself to me, rather than the other way around.

 

 

 

 

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Dr. Rachel Kowert is a research psychologist, award-winning author, and mom of three (and #CavillInfluencer). In 2019, she launched her first Kickstarter project from the Cloud Canyon universe - a collection of female centered stories entitled Pragmatic Princess: 26 stories of self sufficiency and raised more than $25,000 in 30 days and won an INDIES award for educational children’s picture book. Dr. Kowert has been featured in various media outlets, including NPR, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, and Wired.

 

Website: www.rkowert.com

Twitter: www.twitter.com/drkowert

Facebook: www.facebook.com/drrachelkowert

 

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Dr. Rachel Kowert is a research psychologist, award-winning author and mom of three. In 2019, she launched her first Kickstarter project from the Cloud Canyon universe was a collection of female centered stories entitled Pragmatic Princess: 26 stories of self sufficiency and raised more than $25,000 in 30 days and won an INDIES award for educational children's picture book.

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

 

Randall Hampton is an author, illustrator, husband and father of 3.  He is the Creator of "The Little Game Master" series of books and considers himself a story teller above all else. When he is not spending time with family and friends, Randall enjoys reading, video games, music, and table top games of all sorts.

LINKS:

Author's Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3ADr.+Rachel+Kowert+PhD&s=relevancerank&text=Dr.+Rachel+Kowert+PhD&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1

Kickstart Campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pragmaticprincess/tales-from-cloud-canyon

Book video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCTQ0ZgA14Q

RACHEL’S SOCIAL MEDIA
https://www.rkowert.com/ 
https://twitter.com/drkowert 
https://www.facebook.com/drrachelkowert 
https://www.instagram.com/drrachelkowert/ 
https://www.youtube.com/Psychgeist 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelkowert/

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GIVEAWAY:

 

Dr. Rachel Kowert PhD will be awarding a $75 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC or 1 copy each of the 3 Cloud Canyon books (available in November) to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway