Born into a Pennsylvania Dutch farming community, the daughter of hard-working parents, and a sister to five siblings, I treasure my early life and my student days in Quakertown, PA. I value my heritage and the blessings I receive from a large extended family.
After studying music, history, and the fine arts in Oberlin College and in Salzburg, Austria (at the Mozarteum), I moved to New York City upon graduation. There I met my husband, raised our son, and ultimately settled with my family in Ohio. I enjoy being considered a Midwestern writer.
I am Book Review Editor at Dreamers Creative Writing, a Canadian publication. My poetry and book reviews appear in literary journals in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Africa, and India. My poems, essays, and articles are included in various anthologies. As interviewer, my work appeared recently at The Bookends Review, The Compulsive Reader, The Zingara Poetry Review, and in various blogs.
In addition to writing, I’m a professional musician. I enjoy attending concerts and traveling with my husband. Reading remains an enduring pleasure.
CM: Your brilliantly crafted Blink and Glow story will delight any primary-grade school child. (See review below) When you began to compose this story about the young children’s excitement and preparation for Show and Tell at their school, what parameters or limitations did you prescribe for yourself? Did you know early on, for example, the age of your projected young readers? Did you define page number limitations?
Howell: The idea for Blink and Glow was mined from illustrator Ann Pilicer’s artwork, specifically a picture depicting children in a woodsy evening setting, gazing into a glass jar of sparkling fireflies.
I was collaborating with Ann. She had submitted artwork to a publisher running a picture book contest for children’s illustrators. Together she and I worked out plots and pictures for a mermaid-themed story, and the two main characters from Blink and Glow evolved. They were originally hunting for mermaids, not fireflies and salamanders.
At some point, while composing a storyline and coordinating images, we veered toward a more realistic plot with the gentle message of kindness toward our natural environment.
Because of the specific publisher contest rules Ann was limited by, we worked with the age range and subsequent word choice requirements. So, we had some parameters.
CM: How did the idea for the book’s theme change?
Howell: The change in storyline from mermaids to fireflies was initiated from the above-mentioned beautiful illustration Ann had posted in her portfolio. When I saw her portrayal of children admiring a twinkling jar of fireflies, it reminded me so much of my own childhood, and the magic of those summer evenings, warm breezes, the scent of sweet jasmine in the air, the wonderment of lightning bugs.
Ann and I imagined children in a serene early summer night exploring the back yard and finding glowing enchantment. Then, as children do, desiring to share the discoveries with others.
CM: Did your story run through several edits before you thought it ready for publication?
Howell: Our editor was happy with the manuscript I submitted. We made some simple tweaks, maybe just 3 or 4 small text shifts. Ann adjusted a couple of pages, as well, involving only minor details.
CM: The relationship of young children with their grandparents is often a very special relationship. Did you plan from the start for “Grandma” to become a character in your appealing story?
Howell: I gravitated toward Grandma naturally when I was writing the story. But it’s funny you ask because it has only been in hindsight that I realize my mother (who is a grandmother and a great-grandmother now) was the inspiration and reason I chose to use that character. When I was growing up, she was a big influence on me, especially regarding caring for and being respectful of nature, animals, and all living things.
CM: In my view, books for and about children are as important as books for adults. Do you write for various age levels and do you find special satisfaction in writing for a specific age group?
Howell: Over the years, I’ve written predominantly for children ages 4-8, however some of my children’s poetry compilations are geared for early middle schoolers, up to age 11 or 12. These days, some of my favorite books I love sharing are for preschoolers, like my board book, My Community, and picture books, Mattison Mouse Counts, and Keep Trucking, one of my new ones.
CM: What personal activities or experiences nourish your obvious joy in writing for children?
Howell: Visiting students in classrooms and participating in children’s events such as story time in libraries and bookstores nourish my joy of writing. Also, my cherished grandnephews and grandniece have inspired a couple of my books.
CM: I’m acquainted with your work through various media outlets and through your exquisite book The 20 Little Poems for 20 Little Gnomes. (It’s reviewed here at this site.) Please tell us your plans for future books, for children or adults.
Howell: I have a new book on the horizon my publisher is releasing soon–an early chapter book, appropriate for 4th to 7th graders titled The Charms of U.S. Farms. I also have a couple of more imaginative picture books on publishers’ release schedules. One is a humorous take on Grimm’s The Fisherman and His Wife. It’s titled The Fisherman and the French Flounder. The other one is titled, Glow. It was originally written as a long prose poem. It evolved into an inspirational picture book and was picked up for publication a couple of years ago.
CM: Like many authors who market their own works, I’m curious how you handle the marketing and distribution of your children’s books and how this might differ from the promotion of adult books. What publicity tools have you used (or plan to use) for Blink and Glow? Readers might like to know, for example, if you share reading nights with other authors? Do you enjoy giving readings? Do you use other publicity techniques you’d like to share?
Howell: I find it much easier to promote my work as a contributing writer for the children’s magazines I work for. I have opportunities to interview great talents in the kid lit community and it’s incredibly uplifting. I try to share that enthusiasm with fellow readers, authors, and lit lovers, whether that’s in the slant of the feature or article I write, or when I post about it on social media.
Having said that, my publishers handle distribution and promotion for my own books. Book marketing for me is when I land in a bookshop for a meet-and-greet, or at a book fair with children to story-tell. I enjoy participating in events both solo and with other authors and have made dear friends over the years. I think it’s always beneficial to share book events. Having common goals, we are all very supportive of one another.
CM: Please tell us about any specific publicity events you’d like to share.
Howell: One event in particular stands out for me. Earlier this year, I was invited to a library book fair. The librarian had invited authors from a variety of genres. We were set up in the same room and it was fabulous for those attending. Grandparents looking for kids’ books came to the children’s author tables, those looking for romance checked out the romance authors, and the horror authors, etc. But amazingly, everyone became involved with genres unfamiliar to them. It became a nice mixing. I loved the atmosphere. It was like a big colorful family event, with book lovers meeting authors of different genres.
CM: You are justifiably proud that the publisher of Blink and Glow donates a portion of its proceed to support our natural environment. Please tell us how that connection came about and why you chose Tielmour Press? If you don’t mind this question, did you or the publisher provide the wonderful illustrator, Ann Pilicer, for this beautiful hard-bound book?
Howell: When I signed with the publisher, I submitted my manuscript along with Ann’s illustrations and crossed my finger for a positive response. After a couple of weeks, I received a note of interest. The story’s gentle message and Ann’s artwork was what they were looking for. We couldn’t have been happier!
Blink and Glow Cover
MY REVIEW OF RAVEN HOWELL’S BLINK AND GLOW
In addition to their enjoyment of the colorful illustrations, kids ages 4 to 8 will take to heart the lesson Grandma shares with her grandchildren, in this fine children’s book. The young heroes of Blink and Glow are all set for their class’s Show and Tell, Leo with his captured firefly and Lilly with her salamander. But something happens to change their plans. Grandma brings her knowledge and her experience to the children.
Not only is the book a visual delight, it offers in addition to its engaging storyline, an underlying lesson for the children, teaching them to respect their natural environs. Author Howell gives the book another added dimension by including an age-appropriate craft object the children can create and share. I can heartily recommend Blink and Glow to young readers and to parents and caregivers who want quality reader matter for the young ones in their lives!
Get YourBook Seen and Sold : The Essential Book Marketing and Publishing Guide is comprehensive, concise, and concentrated on its essential purpose, as seen in its title. Its first section investigates and defines the various types of publishing one may choose today. These span from transitional, to self-publishing, to print-on-demand. The section also covers such matters as pitching to agents, book distribution, and why an author should care about distribution even if traditionally published.
The second section, on marketing and promoting, was for me the most valuable section of the book. Many authors lack a marketing plan prior to their publication. Wolk and Murkette offer a useful overview of book marketing and get down to the nitty-gritty details. They help the author to define the essential element of their book in one concise sentence. This becomes the foundational element, the “elevator pitch,” on which the author can build their publicity and marketing efforts.
The second section also helps the author to identify their audience and develop all the essential marketing tools, including media kits, press releases, and book “sell sheets.” The author can also proceed to identifying and approaching appropriate book reviewers. In short, this book offers everything needed for effective marketing.
If I were given to regrets, I’d say I wish this book had been my major marketing sourcebook fifteen years ago. But things have changed since then. Wolk and Market have kept their investigations of publication trends and marketing up to date. Purchase this practical volume today to aid you in marketing your own works.
The 20 Little Poems for 20 Little Gnomes By Raven Howell Illustrated by Nazli Tarcan Handersen Publishing, 2022 97816470307
Review by Carole Mertz
This delightful children’s book, told in 20 stories within 20 poems, lets the children hop over rocks, view their own smiles in a mirror, study a robin’s feather, look at the sky, play with pets, and do other things children love to do. Sure to charm the children is not only Howell’s sweet rhyming, but also the brilliant illustrations that accompany each poem. Some poems make jest with wordplay. For example, a poem about picking boysenberries is titled “Boys in Berries.”
On another page, as a child tumbles upside down out of his bed, (the bed cover is painted in turquoise and bright purple, with a green background) poet Howell allows this rhyme to tumble forth:
When things keep turning upside down, something else wants to be found. For instance, standing on your head turns the frown to smile instead!
Illustrator Nazli Tarcan takes us into a wintry scene of red barn, red house and light blue snow, while two children dressed in multi-colored clothes make snow angels.
The creators of this book undoubtedly had as much fun creating it as children will have when entering its pages, for the book offers aural and visual delights from page to page. Bright red gnome hats resting on a deep blue dresser (on the front cover) invite the children into the cheerful, seven-by-ten-inch book. Though targeted for ages 6 to 9, the book is sure to please the younger child and the parents or grandparents, as well.
I loved Zinger in the Woods for the way it helps children understand the concept of trust. Nestled into this lesson (written for tweens or a younger age group) is an adventure in which one dog rescues another and then finds a new home for himself. Quite a number of delightful surprises present themselves in the language m.t. becker used: “their hooves are harder than jawbreakers,” “it was a pawtastic time,” “her eyes were like shiny gold coins,” and the use of scientific terms (for rabbits and squirrels).
A few other concepts the book teaches, some overtly, some subtly, include the use of traction, the effects of gravity, and the purposes of natural remedies. After her rescue, Ginger really wants to play with Zen, but she turns homeward knowing her family is looking for her, an example of deferred gratification.
Kids reading this book witness a child’s concern for her pet, parental consolation, the idea of being on a mission, the meaning of such terms as “ordeal,” and “mesmerized.”
A few elements not fully explained include: why is Zinger used in the title? and where did Zen get the rope for the rescue he performs? But let’s not concern ourselves with such minor things in doggie-land, as defined by Mark and Tie Becker. (Note—m.t. becker represents a husband-wife team.)
June 9th @ Carole Writes
Visit Carole’s blog today to read her review of Zinger in The Woods by authors M. T. Becker.
Author, Jasmine Leyva, has produced an invaluable service for anyone who wants to change his eating style from carnivorous to plant-based. The documentary The Invisible Vegan directed by Jasmine and Kenny Leyva, promotes exactly what its subtitle claims: a raising of food consciousness to a new level.
The film is largely directed toward an African American audience. It explains the healthful benefits of a plant-based diet. It also indicates why choosing a vegan diet can be a complex issue for African Americans.
Especially since the 1960s, many Blacks, as the film shows, have come to consider eating foods like fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, and baked ham as soul food, the food that forms a deep part of the shared culture. For Blacks to turn away from eating meat then, can be seen by other Blacks as denying their own culture. Leyva’s film challenges blacks to reconsider their food choices. She acknowledges these choices can be difficult.
She shows that many African Americans, because of their history traced to their West African ancestors, have been unaware that their ancestors enjoyed a healthy connection with the land, that these ancestors raised vegetarian crops and enjoyed eating vegetarian. Historically, because of colonialism and other forces, this food culture was not acknowledged or taught in the schools.
Leyva wants her audience to be aware of the ill-effects caused by eating meat and over-processed foods. She wants her people to acknowledge that improved diet can combat diseases and disorders such as diabetes, gastric distress, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, and prostate cancer.
To strengthen her case, Leyva cites important cultural and political leaders who have been either vegan or vegetarian—Loretta Scott King, Angela Davis, Rosa Parks, and Dick Gregory among them. She also cites the work of Dr. Aris Latham, a Panamanian, who was “the father of raw gourmet cuisine.” She praises Dr. Alvenia Fulton, a black naturopathic doctor, for having opened the first health food store on the south side of Chicago in the 1950s.
In my view, The Invisible Vegan helps bring about changes of attitudes. “If eating high-fat foods causes you to be sick, why would you want to continue to do this?” asks one person in the film. “Eating meat is masculine.” “Eating salads is effeminate.” These are other attitudes Leyva challenges. By bringing about new awareness, she enables people to change their habits. She wants her film to help African Americans to recognize the social, economic, and political forces that have mitigated against their establishing healthier eating habits. They can decide to partake in the benefits of the plant-based diet as a pathway to healthier living.
McKee’s Guns and Gods in my Genes is a rewarding memoir that transports us through important eras of Canada’s and America’s history. Though the author may not have known at the start of his genealogical research that he’d travel over 15,000 miles to complete this memoir, he did publish it in time to honor the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower. Since his heritage traces back to his ninth great-grandfather, the Mayflower becomes an important element in McKee’s account.
The book is available in paperback (through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and independent bookstores and libraries) and in email edition (via Kobo). I welcome it as a fascinating addition to accounts of our country’s founding, including the regrettable and bloody wars between the indigenous peoples and the earliest newcomers.
Of particular interest is McKee’s tracking of his Haskin lineage, traced through his mother’s line via his maternal grandmother, Effie Jane Haskins (d. 1966). This segment of the author’s history carries us back to one Anthony H[o]skins who lived between 1632 and 1707. The chapter, “The Haskins Family and the Civil War,” introduces us to Lafayette Haskins, the author’s great-grandfather, who enlisted in the 7th Wisconsin Regiment in 1861, at the age of 17.
As an eager young soldier, Lafayette must have struggled with the awkward guns used in the Civil War. Bullets from these guns could cause irreparable internal damage to soldiers. Yet officers instructed the troops not to help the wounded, as they had to continue their tasks of loading and recharging their rifles as quickly as possible. In spite of dim prospects for survival, Lafayette Haskins, having fallen sick and thereby missing the Battle of Gettysburg, survived to 1925. In this chapter, McKee includes the shocking statistic that, of the 700,00 soldiers who died in this war, many succumbed not from battle itself, but from such diseases as dysentery, pneumonia, measles, typhoid fever or tuberculosis. (pp.127-130)
This chapter is only a tiny sampling of the fascinating and detailed accounts McKee offers. His inclusion of maps, a highly comprehensive and significant genealogical chart, eight tables, and detailed chapter notes at the back, aid the reader through the complexities of the account—vividly descriptive, poetical, and analytical in equal measure.
The power of poetry accomplishes so much. It keeps us mindful, helps us heal, and allows us to share so much. In spite of Covid’s restrictions that continue to confine us, poetry breaks down barriers and offers us wide expanses to explore.
Poetry can be celebration, it can be extended lament or a personal song. Poetry is nature, decay, and reconstruction. Poetry offers precision or mere suggestion. Poetry has many horizons. Poetry, for me, is joy.
