Tales From Cloud Canyon

                                                  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

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.” 

A Word With the Author

 

1.     Did you always want to be an author

 

I always wanted to be a teacher. For as long as I can remember, I was holding “class” for my stuffed animals and working my way through endless boxes of sidewalk chalk. During university and graduate school, writing started to become a more integral part of my job. However, this writing focused far more on scientific and technical writing than anything creative. It wasn’t until around 2019 (when I started writing my first set of stories in the Cloud Canyon Unvierse) that I realized that I could pivot to creative writing as an outlet for education and… well, fun! 

 

2.     Tell us about your book

 

Tales from Cloud Canyon is a storybook collection that features a series of male and female centered stories as well as topical short stories. Cloud Canyon is a place where the everyday child is celebrated for doing everyday things, with their everyday abilities. It is a world where mistakes are learned from, diversity is celebrated, and every child gets to be the hero of their own story.  

 

The first book in the collection, Pragmatic Princess: 26 Superb Stories of Self-Sufficiency was successfully kickstarted in 2019. This project  raised more than $25,000 in 30 days and earned an INDIES award for educational children’s picture books. Over the last few years, I have continued to write and expand the Cloud Canyon universe and am excited to announce that I am launching a second Kickstarter June 4 for a BRAND NEW collection of three topical short stories: Here, There, & Everywhere, Invisible Friends, and The Secret to Success. 

 

Here, There, & Everywhere 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. 

 

Invisible Friends is a story about the how’s and why’s of navigating online stranger danger.

 

The Secret to Success highlights the importance of persisting through frustration and failure and the power of friendly encouragement (and is very much based on my own personal challenges with learning to ski)!

 

My goal with Tales from Cloud Canyon is to change the status quo around children’s literature and let children know that they are the heroes of their own story, no matter their gender, ability or background. I want all children to have the opportunity to celebrate the power of the everyday through the magic of storytelling… and maybe learn a thing or two along the way.

 

 

3.     Besides yourself, who is your favorite author in the genre you write in?

 

I have three children so I read a lot of children’s stories. My favorites today are actually the same favorites that I had as a child: Shel Silversetin, Roald Dahl, and Graeme Base. All of these authors have created fantastical lands that are sometimes silly but always have a lesson to be learned.

 

4.     What’s the best part about being an author? The worst?

The best part about being an author is to be able to create universes of your own design. I have populated Cloud Canyon with some of my favorite people that I know and those that have inspired me. Valerie the Victorious is named after my mom, Gina the Generous after a very close friend, and Geralt the Grumbly after Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher series of books. It is very incredibly rewarding to be able to create and bring these characters to life! 

 

The worst part is the rejection. There is so much rejection in writing and it is always discouraging. However, I learned early on that someone’s else no isn’t the final word on your goals and dreams. 

 

5.     What are you working on now? 

 

I am currently running the Kickstarter for the new Tales from Cloud Canyon for the month of June and that is pretty much all consuming. After it has completed, I would love to set aside some time to write some more male-centered character stories and continue to expand the universe.

 

 

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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 INFORMATION 

 

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