Tammy Carter Bronson

A Fun Morning at Hope Sullivan Elementary, Southaven, MS

Tam — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:24:35 +0000

My author visit at Hope Sullivan Elementary on Friday, January 20, 2012 was a great success! This was my first visit to Southaven, Mississippi, and I spoke to over 630 students in three presentations.

9:00 – 9:30 Kindergarten

9:40 – 10:10 1st Grade

10:20 – 11:05 2nd Grade

From left to right: Amanda Samples (Principal), Tammy, Terri McCain (Librarian), and Lisa Nye (Asst Principal).

The faculty and staff were very involved on every level. The principal, assistant principal, and librarian encouraged students to participate, and they did! Their enthusiasm was uplifting, and I did not leave empty-handed. A teacher, Jan Hoselton, presented me with art created by her kindergarten students.

Tiny Snail book covers created by kindergarten children at Hope Sullivan Elementary.

Thank you, Ms. Hoselton, for giving me their wonderful pictures. Here are a few of my favorites…

Mikaela loves Tiny Snail. I love her picture (above).

Logan combined my name with Tiny Snail’s (above). ‘Tamy Snail’ has a nice ring to it!

I also love AJ’s Tiny Snail. He even drew a colorful version of Miss Butterfly (below).

Hope Sullivan students, keep writing and drawing!

POLLIWOG inspires sisters to create a book at Farragut Primary in Knoxville, TN

Tam — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:05:52 +0000

I spent the day at Farragut Primary in Knoxville, Tennessee, on January 19th, 2012.

Farragut Primary's Librarian, Wendi Lesmerises (left), Tammy Bronson (middle), and Matthew Bronson (right).

With over one thousand Kindergarten through 2nd grade students at this school, the librarian and teachers did an outstanding job sharing my stories with all the children prior to our visit.

Farragut Primary's Gym

We needed a very large space to accommodate five classes at a time (~150 students), so we set up in the school’s gym.

8:00-8:30 (Kindergarten) 5 classes

8:40 – 9:10 (Kindergarten) 5 classes

9:20 – 9:50 (Kindergarten, 1st grade) 5 classes

10 – 10:30 (1st , 2nd grades) 5 classes

10:40 – 11:10 (1st grade) 5 classes

11:20 – 11:50 (1st , 2nd grades) 5 classes

Lunch Noon – 1 PM

1:10 – 1:40 (2nd grade) 4 classes

1:50 – 2:20 (1st , 2nd grades) 6 classes

My program is designed to inspire children to create their own picture books. Generally kids make their own book after my visit, but at Farragut Primary two sisters combined their talents to create their own book prior to my arrival.

Tammy (left) with author Abigail King (middle) and her teacher, Katie Wheeler (right).

The author, Abigail King (2nd grade), said that my book, Polliwog, inspired her story entitled, Lilly Pad the Tadpole. Her sister, Jessica King, illustrated their story.

Lilly Pad the Tadpole, a picture book by Abigail and Jessica King at Farragut Primary.

Many thanks to the King sisters and Abigail’s teacher, Ms. Wheeler, for giving me this imaginitive story. I’m glad Lilly Pad learned to swim!

Read Abigail’s book, Lilly Pad the Tadpole (PDF).

A Kaleidonotes Study Guide for Music Class

Tam — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:08:28 +0000

My second picture book, The Kaleidonotes & the Mixed Up Orchestra, is often used by instructors to teach children the instruments of the orchestra and where they sit on stage.

Interesting Facts About the Book

The number seven is repeated several times in this book.

There are seven characters, and each name begins with one of the seven notes in the musical scale: Amos, Bo, Cloe, Dax, Echo, Finn, Gigi.

There are also seven colors represented (one for each character): red (Finn), orange (Gigi), yellow (Cloe), green (Amos), blue (Bo), indigo (Dax), violet (Echo).

The book’s themes include cooperation and teamwork.

Map illustrating where instrument groups are usually positioned on stage in the orchestra.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Why do the notes face the wrong direction?

The notes have popped off the page and are three dimensional! When they interact with the instruments of the orchestra, sometimes they turn and face another direction.

Why are the notes not black?

Rather than color each note various shades of black, I decided to make the book more colorful by assigning a color to each note. Since there are seven notes, it made sense to use the seven colors of the rainbow.

Where did the name ‘Kaleidonotes’ come from?

‘Kalos’ is Greek for ‘beautiful’, and ‘eidos’ is Greek for ‘form’. So the name ‘Kaleidonotes’ means ‘beautifully formed’ notes! At the time we made the book (2000-2001), we enjoyed creating a new, unusual word.

Why is the viola not included in the orchestra?

The violin and viola looked so similar in my illustrations that we decided to leave the viola out so we could create a second book called: The Kaleidonotes & the Vanishing Violas. That story explores the differences between a violin and viola, and it explains why the viola is so important to the orchestra. The second book is still not published because we are debating whether or not to redesign the size and shape of the books as a series. With the increasing popularity of e-books, we are even considering publishing as e-books and possibly creating interactive Apps for iPad or the iPhone.

MATCHING GAME ACTIVITY

Click on the image to view full size then download and/or print.

Print the page above and below. Color and cut out the instruments and place them in their appropriate place on stage on the orchestra map. Both images were designed to print ‘landscape’ (11 x 8.5 inches), but you may want to enlarge the map on bigger paper (17 x 11) to accommodate the larger instruments.

Click on the image to view full size then download and/or print.

My Visit to Crockett Elementary, January 18, 2012

Tam — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:21:18 +0000

I visited Crockett Elementary in Franklin, Tennessee on January 18th. They have over 640 students in pre-k through 5th grade, so I set up in the gym where I spoke to one grade level at a time.

Tammy (left) and Crockett's Librarian, Julia Andrews (right).

The librarian, Julia Andrews, prepared the students for my visit, introduced me at the assemblies, and provided me with lunch. I really enjoyed her tour of their amazing library.

Crockett Library's Reading Nook with Puppets

Many of the books are organized by topic. Books in a series have their own shelf. So do the “Princess” books!

Ms. Andrews and her shelf filled with "Princess" Books.

Ms. Andrews painted the walls to look like a castle.

Mural at Crockett Elementary

The murals were painted by another artist, but Ms. Andrews designed each mural with a variety of characters from beloved books.

Another Mural at Crockett Elementary

Thank you Crockett Elementary for a great day! I look forward to my next trip to Franklin, Tennessee.

Schedule:

8:50 – 9:35       Kindergarten and Pre-K
9:40 – 10:25      First Grade
10:30 – 11:15      Third Grade
11: 15 – 12:15      Author’s Lunch
12:15 – 1:15       Fourth Grade
1:20 – 2:05        Second Grade
2:10 – 3:10       Fifth Grade

The Scariest Thing You Will Ever Do As A Writer

Tam — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:12:38 +0000

Reblogged from Susan Kiernan-Lewis:

There is a skill set that, when mastered, will not only help you reap significantly better results in book sales over the long haul, but will vastly increase your self concept and confidence and is something that fewer than .05% of the population can do. Not only can they not do it, but the majority of them would rather die than try. Wow. It’s easy to see that you would have a serious leg up on everybody if you could join that .05% group. I am talking of course about public speaking. As a writer, it is …

I love this article about public speaking as a writer. When I first embarked on my speaking career, I was terrified. Standing in front of large groups of children numbering between 100, 200, or even 300 children was daunting, but now, eleven years later, it’s second nature to me. I don’t even think about it. I feel right at home in front of large groups of kids. Small groups of adults…that’s a different story!

Art and Questions by 4th Graders at Nolan Elementary

Tam — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:14:05 +0000

Mrs. Daniel’s 4th grade class at Nolan Elementary (Signal Mountain, Tennessee) gave me a wonderful set of pictures based on my books. Here is a sample of their work and answers to their questions.

Keegan drew the above picture of Sea Horse. His question on the back of the picture reads: ”How did sea horse hear coral, a plant, singing to him?”

Great question, Keegan! Coral is not a plant. Coral looks like a plant, but she is actually a group of tiny animals. A choir or chorus is an organized group of singers, and since Coral is an organized cluster of tiny animals, I thought she ought to sing like a choir.

Learn more about why Coral sings in the story by reading Coral as Greek Chorus. You can also visit my other blog (seahorserun.com) or click on a question or link below to learn more about corals:

What is a coral polyp?
How do polyps eat?
How are corals named?
Why are corals important to sea horses?
Do coral polyps have eyes?

Preslee likes my jellyfish. I like Preslee’s jellies (above), too!

Nick also drew jellies (above). Nick asks, “Why did you pick jellyfish for the dedication page?”

Jellyfish can be a symbol for acceptance, so the appearance of jellyfish before the story even begins foreshadows or predicts that acceptance will be an important theme in the story. The poor Sea Dragon is misunderstood! Sea Horse learns to ignore gossip and accept Sea Dragon for who he really is.

Mae Mae says, “I love that you write about animals.” I love Mae Mae’s snail (above).

Emily asks, “How did a snail (or snails) inspire you to make TINY SNAIL?”

Scroll down for the answer (after the next picture).

Emily’s question is popular because Connor also wants to know, “Why did you pick a snail to be the subject of your story?”

I chose a snail because I wanted to write a story about perseverance which means continuing toward your goal even when you’re discouraged or experiencing hardship. Snails are a symbol of perseverance, and since I didn’t see many books about snails, I knew TINY SNAIL would be a great book!

Sara likes the characters in POLLIWOG so she drew them (above).

Jackson’s picture says, “I really like how you use the details in your drawings.” Jackson, I love your details, too! Your use of line and color is wonderful. I like how you filled in the water with blue lines and divided the water from the sky. This is a great picture.

Jack wants to know, “Why did Polliwog not like his legs?”

Polliwog was born a tadpole without legs. She used her tail to swim, and when she suddenly grew legs, she didn’t know what they were for. Her new legs scared her. Why would she need legs? Of course she would need them when she left the pond, but remember, Polliwog did not want to leave the pond. She wanted to stay in the pond forever.

__________________

Many thanks to Mrs. Daniel’s 4th grade language arts class for drawing such wonderful pictures and asking great questions. I’m so glad you enjoyed the stories!

A Visit to Nolan Elementary in Signal Mountain, TN

Tam — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:15:38 +0000

My visit to Nolan Elementary on Tuesday, 17 January 2012, was a great success thanks to PTA member Melissa Barrett. A former teacher, Melissa is the Classroom Enrichment Chair for Nolan PTA, and she did a fabulous job preparing teachers and students for our visit.

Melissa Barrett, PTA (left) and Tammy.

Home of the Knights, Nolan Elementary has an enrollment of approximately 679 students in grades K-5. Perched atop Signal Mountain outside Chattanooga, Tennessee, the school’s picturesque setting is surely an inspiration for both students and staff.

Mosaic art by Nolan students in the auditorium windows.

The halls and windows inside the school are covered with murals and student art.

A reading nook near the Nolan office.

Nolan Elementary

K & 1st grades: 9:10 – 9:50

2nd & 3rd grades: 10 – 10:45

4th & 5th grades: 10:55 – 11:45

We had a great time speaking with grades K-5 about writing, illustrating and publishing children’s books. Thank you Nolan PTA for inviting us to your school!

Last Author Visits of 2011

Tam — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:37:45 +0000

I was on the verge of posting about my first 2012 author visit when I realized I still needed to publish about my final visits in 2011. Here is an overview of my last trip to Atlanta, Georgia.

My adventure began Monday, November 14, 2011 at…

Ocee Elementary
4375 Kimball Bridge Road
Alpharetta, GA 30022

I spoke to the children from the stage in the cafeteria. About 200 students attended each program.

8:00 Pre-K and Kindergarten

9:00 1st and 2nd grades

PTA member Jeannie Fisher (right) with Tammy (left) at Ocee Elementary, home of the otters!

Tuesday, November 15, I spent the day with Jennifer Rice in her library at…

Macedonia Elementary
10370 East Cherokee Drive
Canton, GA 30115

Each group had about 80 students.

8:15-8:55 Third Grade
9:00- 9:40 First Grade
9:45- 10:20 Kindergarten
10:25-11:05 Second Grade
11:10-11:40- Lunch
11:45-12:15 Fourth Grade
12:20-1:00 Fifth Grade
1:15-1:45 Book Signing

The librarian, Jennifer Rice (right), did a fabulous job preparing students for our visit.

My last author visit in 2011 was on Wednesday, November 16 at…

Greater Atlanta Christian School
1575 Indian Trail Rd
Norcross, GA 30093

My husband and co-author of KALEIDONOTES in the GACS library.

8:20-9:00 Third Grade
9:20-10:55 Kindergarden/First Grade
10:15-11:00 Fourth Grade
11:00-12:00 Lunch
12:00-12:45 Second Grade
1:00-1:45 Fifth Grade

We were right at home in their lovely library. The librarians, Allison Anderson and Renee Arnold, were very excited about our visit. Their enthusiasm for our books prior to our arrival prepared the students who were fully engaged and asked great questions.

From left to right: Allison Anderson, Tammy Bronson, Renee Arnold.

A 2nd grade teacher, Crystal Rush, taught in Conway, Arkansas before moving to Norcross. She fondly recalled my author visit to Marguerite Vann Elementary on March 5, 2010. It’s a small world! I remember my visit to that school because a kindergarten student sent me a watercolor painting he did from my Polliwog book. It was such an amazing picture, I framed it. It still hangs in my office.

Although I often hear, “This is the best author visit we’ve ever had,” very few teachers find the time to put that in writing. My heartfelt thanks to Ms. Cherry at Greater Atlanta Christian School for taking time out of her busy schedule to post my favorite author visit review of 2011:

“Mrs. Bronson, Thank you for visiting Greater Atlanta Christian School in Norcross, GA today. I just have to tell you, that after listening to 15 years of author visits, your presentation was by far the best I have ever heard! My 4th graders greatly enjoyed your talk, learned, and were inspired to try writing their own picture book. I appreciated all of the aspects of being an author that brought to life as well as the from start to finish of the book. Learning how the books are actually put together was something that I do not think any author has ever presented. Your use of technology and explaining how you use Photoshop was also very helpful since the children are comfortable with that program. You and your husband presented a lively and informative author talk and I am thankful for your visit!”

Responses like this encourage me to continue traveling and inspiring children to be readers, writers, and lifelong supporters of the library. I am grateful for any feedback, but this was a big boost that helped me get off on the right foot in the new year. A fond farewell to 2011. Hello, 2012!

My Apple Dilemma: Keep iWeb or Upgrade to Lion?

Tam — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:34:43 +0000

Unlike most people, I have not been looking forward to 2012 because I knew 2012 is the year I must resolve my issues with Apple. I’m fairly new to Apple technology. I bought my first Mac in August 2008. After only a few months with my MacBook, I decided I liked Apple so much I wanted to upgrade my desktop which was my primary computer. I purchased my iMac in May 2009. Prior to owning the iMac, I had reached a point in my writing career where I thought I could not carry on much less keep up with the changing technology. I was constantly at odds with my desktop PC. My poor husband was weary of helping me with it. I couldn’t check my email. The internet would not work. I didn’t know how to use the printer. On and on and on! All of those problems disappeared the day I brought my iMac home. By the end of Summer 2009 I was convinced that I made the right choice. Moving everything to Apple transformed my life. My productivity increased. Not only could I use my email, internet, and printer (All by myself!), suddenly I could turn my books into videos using iMovie. I started a YouTube Channel. I began to explore social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Best of all, I joined MobileMe. I loved it so much I purchased a second MobileMe account. I use one account under one username, and the other account under another. Why two separate accounts? One account is for my published children’s books. The other account is dedicated to my unpublished work for adults. I created a pen name for my historical novels and built a website for the novels under my pen name’s MobileMe account. For my children’s books I built two websites under my ‘Tammy Bronson’ MobileMe account: tammybronson.com and seahorserun.com. I felt like I accomplished more in two years with my Mac than I accomplished in the eight previous years with my PC. I shoved my PC onto a storage shelf in the garage and said, “Good riddance!” My Mac was my best friend. Until June 2011.

Apple announces iCloud, iTunes Match; Kills MobileMe

In June 2011 Apple announced that MobileMe would switch to iCloud. The switch is not optional, and some MobileMe features (such as websites built with iWeb) will not transfer to the Cloud. Aargh! How could my best friend do this to me?

I talked to a few Mac people, read articles on the internet, and called web hosting sites. A service rep for a very popular web hosting service told me that iWeb would continue to work. I could still build my websites with iWeb, but I would upload my websites to their server instead of Apple. That representative was only partially right. With a Leopard platform, I can keep using iWeb to build and publish my websites. However, by staying with an old platform (Leopard or Snow Leopard) I can no longer update iTunes which means external devices like iPods cannot be updated either. If I stick with Leopard, I also can’t move to iCloud with the rest of the world. If I want to update software on my computer, I must upgrade to OS X Lion, however; once a computer is upgraded to OS X Lion, iWeb can no longer be accessed as an application. If you do not copy, print, save, or move your iWeb data to another website-builder, iWeb data will be lost once you upgrade to OS X Lion. What is the solution?

Do I keep my laptop computer with Leopard or Snow Leopard as long as possible, so my iWeb program will still exist and continue to work on that computer? A possibility, but not a very good long term solution. Initially, I didn’t want to find a solution. I just wanted to cry. I went through months of trial and error and even private training at an Apple store (paid by the hour) in 2009 in order to learn how to use iWeb. Now it is going away? After much investigation, I finally formed a plan.

Step 1) Move all of the iWeb content I want to save to another platform such as WordPress. This is the most time-consuming part of my plan. I tried downloading my MobileMe site backups so I could move them to a new host, but those MobileMe/iWeb backups look like a jumbled mess in Dreamweaver. I realized that by the time I sorted the mess out, I could retype everything into WordPress.

As luck would have it, a Word Camp happened in my hometown right after Apple’s announcement. I went to Camp and decided to move my websites to WordPress. After much debate over whether or not to use WordPress.com or WordPress.org, I went with dot.com. While moving my information has been time consuming, I’m pleased with the results. I managed to find a template at WordPress that looks very similar to my iWeb site.

My original iWeb Homepage for tammybronson.com.

I like the font better on my WordPress site. In fact, WordPress has many more advanced features than iWeb. Overall, I’m extremely pleased that I made the switch. After six months I’ve moved one website (this one- tammybronson.com), and the second (seahorserun.com) is a work in progress. I still have the largest website (my novels) to move. Solution? Unfortunately, there’s only one. Move faster! Now is not the time to work at a snail’s pace.

Compare my old website at tammybronson.com to this Blog. I now redirect ‘tammybronson.com’ and ‘tammycarterbronson.com’ to my WordPress Blog.

Or compare my old seahorserun.com to the new WordPress site.

Step 2) Once all of my websites have migrated to WordPress, I need to upgrade my Leopard to Snow Leopard. It comes in a box. Why buy Snow Leopard first? Why not just get OS X Lion? Apple explains it best:

“To upgrade your Mac to OS X Lion, you must be running OS X Snow Leopard. If you have OS X v10.5 Leopard, purchase OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard now and install it on your Mac. Then buy OS X Lion as a digital download from the Mac App Store.“

Step 3) So, now I have Snow Leopard, I can visit the online Apple store and purchase the OS X Lion upgrade. It is an App, so it can only be purchased online and downloaded. You can’t go to your local Apple store and buy OS X Lion in a box. The days of owning your software on a disc are over. Everything is now floating in the ether.

Step 4) Once I’ve installed OS X Lion I can visit my MobileMe accounts and move them to iCloud. At least, I hope I can move both of them.

Using Apple IDs with iCloud

Apple says: “If you have a MobileMe account (you have an email that ends in @me.com or @mac.com), you should enter your MobileMe email address when prompted for your Apple ID. This will set up MobileMe mail, contacts, calendar, and bookmarks on your device. This is also an important step for moving your MobileMe account to iCloud.”

But, what if you have two MobileMe accounts, like me? Can I move both? Apple store representatives tell me that I can. Essentially I will have two iCloud accounts. Please let that be right! One MobileMe account has all of my iTunes purchases and contacts, while the other account has all of my business email, important Safari bookmarks, etc. I paid for two accounts. I want to keep both.

Step 5) Now that I have OS X Lion, I can update my iTunes which means I can finally update my iPod and iPad.

To quote Charlie Brown: “Good grief!”

This would not feel like such a bad transition if step one didn’t exist: moving my websites. I hope by Summer 2012 my Mac and I will be best friends again. For now, our relationship is still a bit frosty.

Anatomy of an Author Visit Prep Packet

Tam — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 21:27:32 +0000

When a school signs up for an author visit, I send the school a confirmation packet filled with goodies that a librarian or teacher can use to prepare students for my program. Here is a sneak peek of the contents.

1 – Letter to the school confirming the date.

2 – Hardcover copy of Polliwog.

3 - Hardcover copy of Tiny Snail.

4 - Hardcover copy of “Sea Horse, run!”.

5 - Hardcover copy of Kaleidonotes.

6 – Four bookmarks (one for each book).

7 – Activity for Kaleidonotes.

8 - Activities for Tiny Snail including…
“Tiny Snail taught me…” Activity (For Bulletin Board)
Teacher’s Guide for Tiny Snail

9 - Activities for Polliwog including…
Frog Life Cycle Activity (Color, Cut, & Paste)
Teacher’s Guide to Polliwog

10 - Activities for “Sea Horse, run!” including…
“Sea Horse, run!” Teacher’s Guide.
Sea Horse Diagram
Brain Coral Maze
Draw Sea Horse with a Dot-to-Dot Activity

11 – DVD with videos of the books and me as the narrator.
Video of Tiny Snail.
Video of Kaleidonotes.
Video of Polliwog (English).
Video of Polliwog (Spanish).
“Sea Horse, run!” video is only available on the DVD.