Welcome to the GAP Family Blog, Barbara. Please tell us
more Gatsby’s Grand Adventures.
About the book:
Gatsby
is an art gallery cat who jumps into famous paintings at night. When he
remembers to jump back out before sunrise, everything is fine. But sometimes,
Gatsby forgets and that’s when strange things happen to Winslow Homer’s
painting, “Snap the Whip”. Each book in the Gatsby’s Grand Adventures series
will feature a different artist’s work and will provide a biography of the
artist plus several websites about each artist.
What was the inspiration for this book?
I’m
an animal lover and an art lover so wanted to combine the two in a fun book
that would help children learn more about different artists and their
paintings.
What is your favorite moment from the book?
I
love it when Gatsby and the little mouse romp through the one-room schoolhouse.
It not only brings back fond memories of attending a one-room schoolhouse, but
also helps children learn a bit about a simpler way of life.
We’d love to hear more about you, Barbara.
My
first book was published for teachers in 1979. The publisher in Pennsylvania
not only published the teacher’s manual, but also student workbooks and playing
cards to go with it, based on the 30 games I’d provided for learning opposites.
My most recent publication (before Gatsby) was Cracker Cow, a Narrative of
Florida History, which features Magnolia, a cracker cow whose ancestors came to
Florida with Ponce De Leon and started the whole cattle industry in that state.
The
Gatsby books are a dream come true after several years of having different
versions dancing around inside my head.
I’m
a Connecticut Yankee who always wanted to travel. Since college, I’ve lived and
worked in Seattle, Washington; Labrador, Canada; Bamberg, Germany; and Canal
Zone, Panama. I’ve always enjoyed writing and have had a diverse writing
career… Wrote guidelines for starting the first special education n classes in
the Atlantic Region for Department of Defense Dependent Schools,(DODDS) wrote
stories for Ginn & Company 4th Grade Readers, wrote a monthly
column for Pacific Skipper yachting magazine, which involved interviewing
“yachties” who transited the Panama Canal, wrote newspaper and online columns
(weekly and monthly respectively), wrote a 30-page proposal to open the first
school library in the Canal Zone, edited the Federal Women’s Program
newsletter, wrote articles and stories for a variety of magazines, wrote
guidelines for a worldwide DODDS Host Nation Program, and wrote a winning essay
in the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Writing
Contest, comparing my experiences with a pet fawn to those in The Yearling.
No
one ever told me I should stick to one genre or niche! Right now, in addition
to more Gatsby books, I’m working on a middle grade novel set in Florida during
the Civil War.
How can our readers learn more about you and any upcoming
“Gatsby’s Grand Adventures” events?
In
addition to the Guardian Angel Publishing site, I have two websites of my own; www.crackercow.com and a new one I’m developing, www.barabaracairnsbooks.com.
Thank you for stopping in to share “Gatsby’s Grand
Adventure” with us. Readers can purchase their copy here. We are proud to add
it to the ever-growing line of quality titles from Guardian Angel
Publishing.
Posts
5 comments:
This book sounds so wonderful, Barbara. What a creative idea for a series. I'm eager to learn more about your middle grade novel, too. I love Civil War fiction.
Best of luck,
Cheryl
Thank you Kai for posting my interview. It's so nice of you to take on these extra, time-consuming tasks for the GAP Angels.
And thanks to you Cheryl for your kind comments. Needless to say, I'm having a lot of fun with this weird cat, Gatsby and all his artsy antics.
What a wonderfully diverse career you've had, Barbara. Thanks for sharing. I'm looking forward to more books about Gatsby.
Thanks for the interview. I went to GAP and bought the pdf of the book. I look forward to reading it.
What a lovely idea for a book. All best wishes with it!
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