Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: Hook & Jill is a fairy tale for “grown-ups.” Neverland is a place we long to return. It calls to us even — and especially — once we are past the innocent age of Peter Pan. Adults who re-read Peter Pan to their children can fully appreciate J.M. Barrie’s nuances and undertones. Hook & Jill revisits the delights of the original tale, and takes it further to develop the more mature themes at which Barrie only hinted in his children’s classic. Those who fell in love with Wicked and its adult perspective of Oz may find an equal fascination with the Neverland that I bring to life in an uninhibited new vision.

Q: What is the book about?
A: As Wendy Darling mothers the Lost Boys in Neverland, she struggles to keep her boys safe from the Island’s many hazards. The obvious villain is Captain Hook, insidious and seductive, a master manipulator devising vengeance for his maiming. But a more subtle threat encroaches from an unexpected quarter.… The children are growing up, and only Peter knows the punishment.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: Peter Pan has inspired writers, musicians, artists and actors for over a hundred years. But Hook & Jill is the first novel of Neverland to allow adults to fully return there. As grown-up readers recognize, Barrie threaded the loom for a deeply psychological coming-of-age. I took up Barrie’s strands and wove them to create an intricate and satisfying, if frightening, voyage into adulthood.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: Hook & Jill is not a story for those who wish to remain forever in childhood. It challenges the assumption that morality can be viewed — as children view it — in terms of black and white. The dark side of innocence is exposed, and what appears to be good may prove otherwise, while what seems to be evil… is irresistible.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: The mythology of Peter Pan is the magic mirror to my own experience. As an emerging adult, I discovered myself to be in the same predicament as Wendy and the Lost Boys. I, too, was forbidden to grow up. Yet I, too, could not help doing so. Like the children in Hook & Jill, in making my own decisions, I cast myself out of “Paradise,” reaping both the troubles and the rewards of independence.

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: Parents, teachers, students, grandparents and others who knows or cares about a child with learning disabilities.

Q: What is the book about?
A: The book is a manual written with an insider’s view of the process of special education for learning disabled children. It empowers parents with insight into the environmental factors that cause learning disabilities; vital information about laws and legislation that empowers parents with rights that supersede those of the school. It is designed to empower parents with information and strategies that will elevate them to a level of co-partnership by powerfully supporting at home what she is asking the teacher to do in the classroom.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: 30 years of experience as a school psychologist in public education prepared me with an insight into the workings of the special education process that is of benefit to parents. Preparation as a classroom teacher along with extensive graduate training in school administration, language, reading, special education, and parent education gave me a rich foundation in children and learning.

During this time I learned what and what not to share with parents and why in the best interest of the school they should not be told.  In this book I have revealed all the little things schools would rather parents did not know about special legislation that gives parents and children rights that supersede those of the school.

The fact that legislation left the laws on the books without funding to implement them is highly problematic for the schools.  However, the law is there, and this book empowers parents to claim their rights under that law, making  them a driving force in special education.  Parents who purchase and read the book are empowered by the author through fax and phone in accomplishing their objectives for their child’s education.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: This book empowers parents to take an active role in making a difference for their child.  This book educates parents, and makes them the driving force behind the design of the Individualized Education Plan. Parents are provided with all the skills necessary to insure that their child receives the free, appropriated, public education guaranteed by law.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: It is fearlessly written by a 60’s activist who believes that things can be different and that parents are the key to this difference. The book is a road map to that objective.

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: 14 years old and up.

Q: What is the book about?
A: Swish: Maria in the Mourning is a non-fiction narrative which chronicles a mother’s process of mourning after losing her only child, the beautiful and charismatic Maria to a heroin overdose at 23.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: As a playwright I have produced six plays, and produced 3 plays for children. I have published poetry and won awards for my writing; in addition to teaching writing for twenty-five years, I have a B.A. in Literature and Theater (magna cum laude) and a M.A.T. in Secondary English Education both from Manhattanville College. After losing my only child to heroin, I needed to write a book that would appeal to everyone.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: Swish transcends the subject of addiction and captures the essence of a life lost, and every range of emotion that parenting, relationships, loving, losing and moving on can explore. Not a biography, the experience is told from the mother’s point of view, then shifts to the voice of Maria through her letters and journal entries during her addiction.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: This book has a performance version: Swish: Maria in the Mourning: The Monologues, which has received stellar reviews as a theatrical success, and after three performances, continues to journey to many more stages.

Pam
Swish: Maria in the Mourning
Outskirts Press

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: Healing Stories is for parents of all kinds (for example, birth parents, adoptive parents, stepparents, foster parents) and for all other adults who have children in their work or personal lives: friends; grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other relatives; teachers; school counselors and psychologists; child care providers; child therapists; pediatric health care professionals; children’s librarians; and anyone else who might want to share a book with a child.

Q: What is the book about?
A: Healing Stories is a guide for adults to more than 500 picture books that can help support children as they face new or challenging experiences. Each of the 34 chapters includes a list of picture books about a specific childhood concern – everything from daily trials (worries at bedtime, learning how to make friends, having a bad day), to new experiences (starting school, losing a baby tooth, having a new baby sister or brother), to more emotionally stressful events (divorce, serious illness, death). Lifelong coping resources are also addressed (a sense of security in relationship, a resilient sense of self, imagination, and emotional awareness). The annotations for each entry empower you to select the books that best match the child and the situation you’re concerned about. Healing Stories also includes an introduction that discusses ways to use books with children who are experiencing life changes or stress.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: In my practice as a psychologist, I work extensively with children who have had many different kinds of stressful experiences, as well as dealing with the everyday changes that all children face. This experience, combined with my education and training in the psychology of childhood, contributed to my selection of recommended picture books. I also hold an appointment as Professor at the University of California, San Francisco, am a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, and have published over 100 articles in the scientific and professional literature on topics such as depression, trauma, and cultural issues in mental health.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: Most other books that recommend children’s books to parents use only the child’s age and literary quality as their criteria for selection. Healing Stories primarily considers picture books’ usefulness in helping children cope with specific concerns (although suggested age ranges are given for each picture book). Healing Stories is the only book that brings a psychologist’s knowledge and experience to this task and in a format and style that are user-friendly for parents.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: William Sears, M.D., author of more than 30 parenting books and medical and parenting consultant to Baby Talk and Parenting magazines, called Healing Stories “a valuable family resource for healing and helping children through transitions in life.”

Melanie Lawrence of Parents’ Press said, “Parents who love and reread children’s books will enjoy Healing Stories, and almost certainly find help within its pages for their children’s tribulations, whether big, small, or in between… Within each category are dozens of marvelous books, intelligently summarized… this is an exceptional look at two generations of books that can both entertain our children and soothe them in time of need.”

According to Kari Ramstrom, M.L.I.S., writing in Library Journal, “Healing Stories empowers parents to promote development and healing in children through books in a fun, helpful manner. The quality of her selections is excellent.”

Mary Ruth Cross, M.S., M.F.T., of Play Therapy Magazine called Healing Stories a “comprehensive, easy-to-use guide …[w]ritten in a warm, engaging style that is accessible to parents… Healing Stories is an essential resource for every adult who cares about young children.”

Jerome L. Singer, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Child Study at Yale University and author of Make-Believe: Games and Activities for Imaginative Play, wrote, “Dr. Golding has provided an invaluable tool for parents and other caregivers … In a time of national concern about school readiness and literacy this is a great way to introduce children to the pleasures and values of reading.”

Alvin Poussaint, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and author of Raising Black Children, hailed Healing Stories as “a unique resource for guidance in sorting through the wealth of children’s picture books addressing psychosocial issues. Golding is especially sensitive to questions of inclusiveness, cultural context, and age appropriateness. This is an important book for parents.”

Charles E. Schaefer, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at Fairleigh Dickinson University, author of How To Help Children With Common Problems, and editor of Handbook of Play Therapy, described Healing Stories as “A practical sourcebook of stories to help children (ages 1 to 12) cope with the difficult challenges of life. Highly recommended!!”

More information about Healing Stories is available at www.Healing-Stories.com.

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: Children, ages 3-7, who have life-threatening peanut allergies.

Q: What is the book about?
A: A boy named Peter who has been diagnosed with a life-threatening peanut allergy. Like millions of other American children, he learns about his condition and how to self-advocate. Life-saving topics such as using epinephrine, wearing a medical alert bracelet, refraining from sharing food with others, and discussing his condition are addressed throughout beautifully illustrated pages – all in friendly language that won’t scare the reader.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: As a school psychologist, I know firsthand how to communicate serious information in non-threatening ways to children. As the mother of a peanut-allergic boy, I have a personal investment in the topic.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: It’s a story with a human central character, aimed at the 3-7 year-old set.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: We are THRILLED to announce that Peter Can’t Eat Peanuts has won the Parent-to-Parent Adding Wisdom Award: Top 20 of 2006; and has just been honored with the Mom’s Choice Award for Best Educational Book of 2006!

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: New mothers, or mothers with young children

Q: What is the book about?
A: The Mother’s Book of Well-Being guides overwhelmed nurturers back to physical, emotional, and spiritual balance. Through my personal story, journal exercises, and suggestions for becoming “a mother of your own design,” this book gives mothers permission and tools to chisel out time, space, and place for their own needs — ensuring that they and their babies receive the care they both deserve.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: I’m a mother from the trenches. I’ve seen the other side of well-being. When I speak to mothers’ groups, I always tell them I wrote this book first for myself, then for others. I researched holistic health and motherhood and combine both interests in this book.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: The market is full of books about baby care! My book shows that infant-care and mother-care are two sides of the same miraculous process. Also, I designed my book to be read by people who have very little time. Comprised of fifty-two short chapters — one for each week of the first year of motherhood — The Mother’s Book of Well-Being is small enough to fit into a diaper bag.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: The Mother’s Book of Well-Being has been discussed on Georgia Public Radio, Oregon Public Broadcasting, Mom Talk Radio, and Living the Life on CBN.

It has been reviewed, mentioned, or appeared in Better Homes and Gardens, The New York Times, Mothering Magazine, Exceptional Parent, American Baby, Epregnancy, Atlanta Parent, Washington Parent, The Salt Lake Tribune, Berkeley’s Parents’ Press, Deseret News, and The Macon Telegraph. Canada’s largest parenting magazine City Parent named it one of eight “Must Read Books About Motherhood.”

Most satisfying of all, I receive email from many grateful readers.

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: Women and couples who have fertility related difficulties, single women interested in extending their childbearing years, and anyone wishing to continue birthing new creations (books, businesses, healthier bodies).

Q: What is the book about?
A: After a decade and a half of teaching, the book outlines the Fertile Heart™ Conceptions diagnostic tools that have given thousands of women the confidence to pursue motherhood without succumbing to the collective hysteria of the last good egg (readers in their forties) or turning the biological clock into a time bomb (the younger reader). Weaved into the narrative are case histories of clients, followed by a practice section with imagery, movement sequences, dream reading and a discussion of fertility boosting foods and recipes. The imagery, movement and dream work help identify inner obstacles that hinder conception. With the current expansion of the $5.5 billion baby-making business worldwide, The Fertile Female offers a much needed antidote to the ills of the Infertility Industrial Complex.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: In 1992 I was diagnosed with soaring hormone levels which according to the latest research in reproductive endocrinology reduced my childbearing years to zero. Several world class specialists concurred that I was beyond repair. Hormone stimulants or medical technology was no longer an option. In a last ditch effort to prop up my wilting ovaries I began a physical and emotional overhaul with radical lifestyle changes and rigorous self-examination. My first book, Inconceivable (Doubleday 2001) takes the reader through that pilgrimage from total despair to a place where I began to trust myself and how that led to conceiving my daughter naturally at the age of 44. Soon after I conceived, I began sharing my experience through informal support groups and later workshops and my website, www.fertileheart.com. In 2001 I was on Oprah and Good Morning America and my work became known internationally.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: Rather than bemoan the white-knuckle ride of the “infertile,” or overwhelm the reader with medical jargon, the intention of my work is to turn this difficulty into the absolutely best thing that ever happened to us. Regardless of outcome. It’s not motherhood that saves our lives. It’s that a baby is for many of us the one shiny apple we’ll do anything to reach. And in the process we discover that we are far more fertile than we ever imagined. We can then go on and apply the same tools to birth all our subsequent creations.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: Though my approach was initially met with skepticism in the medical community, in the last ten years a growing body of scientific literature validates my work. Most recently, several new studies link fertility treatments with birth defects, findings that encourage more and more people to seek alternatives to conventional treatment.

“This is the book Anne Lamott might have written had she become engaged and gotten into gardening.” –Pacific Sun 

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: New moms and gardeners or . . . anyone who thinks they have “family issues.” I can top them off. Throughout High School, My sisters and I referred to our mother as “The Queen Bee”, not mom. That should give you a hint.

Q: What is the book about?
A: Growing Seasons is a compilation of journal entries written to my one year-old son. It chronicles my own insights, insecurities and confusion on a plethora of enigmatic life lessons, but especially the changes that occur in a marriage when a baby is born. Included are stories about my zany relatives, ridiculous tales about working in the egomaniacal movie industry, trying to learn patience in the garden while becoming a California Master Gardener, and struggling with the complexities of aging parents. This is the irrepressible diary of a transplanted New Yorker on marriage and motherhood . . . and why my plants won’t grow any faster! From Chapter One entitled, “Your People Barely Survive the First Year” to the final chapter entitled, “Tom Jones, Morphine or Bust”, I hope you’ll sit back and enjoy the ride!

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: Because I moved into new motherhood without a bit of grace!

I began writing Growing Seasons for myself to keep sane in those first few years of new motherhood. I was also still examining, as I had done for years before, my difficult yet fascinating and loving relationship with my mother. She was a stay-at-home mom in the 1950s when mothers supposed to look perfect and be happy 24/7, while making dinner and cocktails for their husbands when they came home from a hard day at the office. I finally understood why my mother was somewhat bitter and cranky! And then Oprah broke down the conspiracy of silence last year when she had a program called “The Truth about Motherhood.” Finally, we were all allowed to admit that it wasn’t all picture-perfect every single minute. Mothers are human, not saints!

As for some cheap advice from the book, I’d say that women must trust their gut feelings — which is hard to do in that first year because you are in shock, overwhelmed by changes and so, so busy. Asking for help is a critical part. Letting your husband be an active part is huge. Men are great with babies, and we must finally stop this false stereotype that dads are clueless. The more involved they are, the more everyone wins.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: I think it’s very honest about the realities of new motherhood and how a marriage shifts when a baby enters it. It takes a lot of challenging balancing work to find time to be with your partner again without being in “parent” mode, but back as friends and lovers again. Imagine that!

Also, for most of the book you’re not sure if you should cry or laugh at the kooky cast of characters and misfits I call my family. I have a strong-willed gaggle of sisters who appear throughout the book, a demanding job in the egocentric movie industry, a mother-in-law obsessed with Thomas Kincaid “tchotchkees” and an aunt who only plays old Tom Jones hits all day long. You’ll feel right at home, I swear.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: Yes. Three things.

1. I was studying in the California Master Gardner’s horticultural program the same year I wrote the book, so it’s filled with fun gardening tips for novice gardeners. I think it makes a nice switch of topics within each chapter, so you’re not consumed with constant entries about babies and chaotic “family lovefests” with the Queen Bee.
2. The last chapter deals with our aging parents and how we grow up and all of a sudden we’re taking care of them. We switch places. We drive them to their doctor appointments and to do their errands. They finally get to aggravate us as much as we annoyed them as teenagers. It’s payback time, baby!
3. ACT (Adults and Children Together)is where I donate a percent of the proceeds from the book sales. My favorite part of my booksigning is when I stop talking about me (imagine that!) and speak about the work that ACT (Adults and Children Together) is doing. ACT was started in 2000 by the APA (American Psychological Association) and the NAEYC (The National Association for the Education of Young Children). Nearly a half-century of psychological research has proven that violence is a learned behavior, often learned when a child is young. But children can also be taught nonviolence. The best teachers they have are their parents. They will copy behavior from the people closest to them. The ACT project stresses teaching nonviolence in the home especially during the early childhood ages between birth and age eight. Please visit: actagainstviolence.org

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: Disenfranchised corporate flunkies, frazzled entrepreneurs, exhausted parents, squabbling spouses and anyone who needs a touch of grace to deal with the angst of daily life.

Q: What is the book about?
A: From TV and religion to sex and fast food, no topic is off-limits as syndicated humor columnist applies her edgy humor to the everyday issues that drive us all nuts. McLeod turns traditional thinking on its head by asking:

• What is the meaning of life, and why are other people so *#$%@! annoying?
• Can Sponge Bob get you into Mensa?
• Does Buddha need Botox?
• Why Isn’t marriage as exciting as dating?

Always funny, often touching, and sometimes politically incorrect, Finding Grace is a wickedly funny take on the people and problems that vex us all.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: I’m the only person who can write about fake boobs, reality TV and annoying in-laws and turn it into a spiritual experience. I shine a light on the nutty behavior of humans and show readers how to find grace in the less than perfect moment they’re in.
I’m an expert in corporate disillusionment, mommy guilt, marital misery, slacker parenting, faux housework, flat-line libidos and drive-thru spirituality.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: It’s a bust a gut funny, and instead of telling you how to fix your life, I show how to actually enjoy it, warts and all.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: Erma Bombeck’s daughter Betsy said, “Lisa McLeod is channelling my mother.”

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: Pre-K Children, Parents and Child Care Professionals

Q: What is the book about?
A: A colorful children’s picture book about a little girl who must wait for her bananas to turn from green to yellow. The story shows children that rewards can come from patience and it has become a launch point for my workshops and presentations to parents and child care providers on the important academic and developmental benefits to learning patience at a young age. I was recently featured in Parents magazine for my insights on this topic.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: I am a communications consultant and journalist with more than 13 years of experience. I have two daughters under age 7. I write and speak about patience in a society geared toward having everything NOW.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: This book is a simple way of explaining patience to young children. As for parents, there are many books that tell them to be patient but my work shows them how to actually achieve it.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: It is intended as a series, but at this moment I am working on a book for patient parenting and child care that I expect to be published in 2008. My website is filled with parenting resources at www.natknows.com.