GAP FAMILY BLOG

GAP FAMILY BLOG WELCOMES Roey Ebert, AUTHOR and ILLUSTRATOR OF Put it Back, Jack. Congratulations on the release of Put it Back, Jack. Please tell us more about it.

Roey: It is the story of two young brothers who take a walk through the woods. The younger brother, Jack, decides to take something from the woods much to the surprise of his older brother, Max. Both brothers end up falling in love with this creature but know it must return to its family. This book brings together the beauty of nature and family and how they must always stay intact.

What was the inspiration for this book?

Roey: My son, Jack, found a baby deer hidden in our ivy. It was so small he could have put it in his pocket. Instead of that option, I convinced him to let me write a book about it. And, that’s exactly what I did.

What is your favorite moment from the book?

Roey: The moment when big brother Max starts to love the baby deer as much as Jack. It is the moment when they kick the soccer ball in the basement, just as best friends would. He was no longer the big brother but a best friend.

What is your favorite illustration from the book?

Roey: Without a doubt, the picture of Jack kissing the baby deer in the basement. This was the painting that I felt I really had it right. I had Jack the way I like him and the deer the way I wanted him. And you could feel the love between this little boy and this little forest animal, just by the way the deer reached up to kiss Jack.

Is this your first published book?

Roey: I have illustrated before but never authored a book. So this is my first published book that I have written.

What medium did you use for illustrating this book?

Roey: I used acrylic gouache and black ink.

How do you choose?

Roey: It was definitely trial and error. I started with acrylic…my favorite medium and then had a workshop with Lindsay Barrett George who encouraged me to use gouache. I had tried charcoal pencils and watercolor and did not like the outcome. So, I tried gouache and was hooked. I loved the pigment and the control. I also used black ink to outline.

Did you have to do any research to illustrate this book?

Roey: Yes, my son, Duke, gave me pictures of deer and gave me his toy deer to sketch. I also made my children pose in all kinds of positions to get it right. I used old photos of my 15-year-old, from when he was 2 years old, because he had the look I was going for…big head, big belly and lots of mischief.

We’d love to hear more about you.

Roey: I am the mom to 6 kids…15 years to 2 years. I recently started my own company called Roey’s Paintbox Parties, canvas painting parties, out of the belief that you should never waste your talents. This company combines my love of art, teaching and just plain, fun into a business. I am so proud of this first book. Even as an 8th grade teacher, I would incorporate children’s storybooks into my lesson planning. To me, there is nothing like the feeling of being read a good story.

Do you have any book signing events or book tours scheduled for Put it Back, Jack?

Roey: Yes, I did multiple school visits during Catholic Schools’ Week in the Lehigh Valley, PA. I have events planned at a large elementary school in Allentown, PA called St. Thomas More for April and another for St. Theresa’s in Hellertown, PA in April. I plan on visiting local bookstores and other schools in the near future.

How can our readers learn more about you and any upcoming Put it Back, Jack events?

Roey: I have a website http://www.roeyebert.com/ which lists my events.

Thank you for stopping in to share Put it Back, Jack with us. Readers can purchase a copy direct from the GAP’s website. We are proud to add it to the ever-growing line of quality titles from Guardian Angel Publishing.

To find these and other titles by our talented GAP family members, please visit us online at http://guardianangelpublishing.com/.

This is a leap year. Leap years are needed every four years to maintain the alignment between the calendar and the Earth’s revolutions around the sun. It takes the Earth approximately 365.242199 days to circle one full time around the Sun. By adding a day to every fourth year, we ‘catch up’ with the extra quarter day for each annual revolution.

Julius Cesar introduced the leap day of February 29th into the Julian calendar more than 2000 years ago, but his calculations were off and he had them too frequently. Eventually the seasons weren’t lining up with the calendar. 1500 years later, the Gregorian calendar designated that every year divisible by 4 would be a leap year. Which makes me wonder what date the Romans thought it was when the Gregorian calendar took over.

Turns out, the Julian calendar was off by ten days. The year the Gregorian calendar fixed the mistake, it jumped from October 4th to October 15th. The people worried that it meant their lives would be shorter and there was protesting in the streets. “We want our 10 days back!”

Even with the extra day thrown in, our calendar still doesn’t line up perfectly with the solar year, so it was decided that any year divisible by 100 would not have a leap year, except when divisible by 400. So there was no leap day in 1900, but it was celebrated with the extra calendar date in 2000. Phew! Did you catch all that?

Were you born on a leap day? Congratulations, you are finally another year older this year. Just kidding. Most people born on a leap day celebrate either February 28th or March 1st during non-leap years. Some astrologers believe people born on a leap day have unusual talents and personalities to signify their special status. What is your unusual talent?

Wanting to take advantage of the date’s unusual status, on February 29, 2012, 56 countries will be celebrating Rare Disease Day hoping to draw attention to needed research for ailments with no known cure. Hopefully they don’t have to wait another four years to call attention to worthy research.


Kai Strand writes fiction for middle grade and young adult readers. In particular, she loves fantasy, but in no means is limited to it. Her debut tween novel, The Weaver, is a lyrical tale about persistence, full of storytelling and a dash of magic. Her second middle grade novel, Save the Lemmings! will be published in March, 2012. Visit Kai’s website: http://www.kaistrand.com/, where you can download book club questions, a word search or a companion craft for The Weaver and learn more about her writing.

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I have always scribbled stories. However, none of them became published until after I became a Teacher’s Aide and discovered the Internet. I began telling classes tales of my Aussie homeland, and their weird and wonderful critters. I had done this with my own kids, so they wouldn’t forget their homeland. A teacher suggested I write them down, as I had a tendency to change the endings, and kids noticed this very fast.

This was when computers were just beginning to be in homes. I nagged until my husband agreed to buy a computer – all 1 ½ gigs of HD! I went online and discovered a really great site for children’s writers. As luck would have it, several talented and generous hearted writers, now well published themselves, took me under their wing. I learned the writing rules. I learned patience. I became determined to become published. I began to value the benefits of rewriting my manuscripts and reading those of others. Oh, my, what pearls I learned from reading my talented critique group’s manuscripts. Yet rewrites and rejections still filled my days for a l-o-n-g time. Then I formed a private online critique group with other like-minded members, and my writing took a turn for the more publishable. YEA.

A friend recommended me to a publisher, and they accepted my first rhyming picture book. Eventually, this became Wild and Wonderful, a 7 book series that offered fun facts about animals from the US and Australia. Each book had a different illustrator from a different state, or part of the world. Finding them was as easy as asking on my writing list if there were any illustrators willing to give their career a boost by illustrating my books. You could never do that today, and expect wonderful illustrations for a cut of the proceeds. This was early days, and these were eBooks.

Kangaroo Clues, the first in the series, was illustrated by an artist in Turkey. He spoke no English and did not own a computer. How was this possible you ask? Again I have to thank the Internet. An online friend, also Turkish, and famous for her own children’s books, suggested I use her illustrator, Mustafa Delioglu. She sent me some of the books he had illustrated for her, and his work was awesome. His other art hung in galleries over Europe. I shouted, YES!

This friend acted as translator for both of us. Talk about a marathon effort for a friend. Fortunately Mustafa lived near her, so she went back-and- forth with my e-mails, and his replies to them, for months. Almost a year went past before the illustrations were completed and the book finally published. I was thrilled with the results. His magical illustrations came together with my rhymes in a delightful marriage of fun reading. It was information kids could enjoy, while learning about Aussie animals.

Instead of large land masses surrounded by oceans, the Internet has given us all a chance to become closer, learn about each other’s customs, and celebrate different people with different talents. I find this particularly true with Manuscript Critiquing. Clients come to me from all over the globe. We chat, I help them write tight and terrific books, and we share details of our lives and our countries.

One lady from Latvia e-mailed me every day about her life, her writing, and her country. I replied in like fashion – the difference from my end being, that I corrected her English in MY replies to her. At the end of a year her English had improved out of sight, and I had a firm friend from a part of the world I had never thought about before I became a fan of the Internet.

The Internet is the future: brimming with opportunities for improved lifestyles, good works and aiding others. Stopping those who scheme to use it for vice and other dangerous endeavors must be our current priority.

Margot Finke is an author of 11 children’s books. Originally from Down-under, she now lives in Oregon with her husband, and close to their three grown kids and grandkids. Margot also runs a Manuscript Critique Service, where tight and terrific writing is the name of the game. Her website offers many pages of help for beginning writers, plus links to her books, video readings, reviews, and where to purchase.

Website: http://www.margotfinke.com/  
Hook Kids on Reading: http://hookkidsonreading.blogspot.com/  
Margot’s Magic Carpet: http://perfectmagiccarpet.blogspot.com/  

Would you like to win a copy of the book, Poodle and Doodle? Of course! If you click this link, you'll find out how to enter!

http://mymcbooks.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/book-reviewgiveaway-poodle-doodle-ends-feb-11th/#comments

Shellie wonders what it would be like to be a different animal. After all, some can fly, leap, hop, flutter, and so many other things. Her big brother explains to look inside yourself and like what you see to find true happiness.


A young boy, Frank, moves to the Moon. He realizes that things he took for granted on earth are now much more difficult to overcome. Learn how he adapts to his new environment and share in his new life lessons on the Moon.



Rooty Rooster ignores a new chick because he finds him both scary and disgusting. The new chick, a baby vulture, struggles to win Rooty’s heart. And when he does, Rooty invites him to join him in a crowing session on top of the barn roof.

Traditionally the first few months of the new year have always been the months my kids struggle to stay interested in their studies. So I have gotten creative to help my kids study in surprising (and possibly annoying) ways that have prove effective.

I started this when my children were still young enough to have weekly spelling tests. We all know that studying anything weekly can get monotonous. Our traditional way of studying for spelling was to give our children a test at the beginning of the week to determine which words they needed to study. Then we would have them write out each word five times and spell it out loud as they wrote it down. The audible aspect proved just as successful as the repetition for memorization.

However, that method became less enjoyable and a bit tired after the holiday hoopla left them staring at a long stretch of school days. We’d still give them the test at the beginning of the week to determine which words they needed the most support in learning, but then we’d switch things up. All bets were off and studying could happen at all hours of the day.

Stumbling into the bathroom early morning to take a shower, they might find their words written (in soap) on the bathroom mirror. Or perhaps I’d write one with syrup on their breakfast pancakes. My favorite was the ‘earn it’ method of index cards. I taped index cards all around the house; on the pantry door or refrigerator, on the door frame of the playroom, their bedroom, the bathroom, anywhere I knew they were going to be, with one spelling word written on each card. Then we’d require our studying child to write the word three times before entering, or getting a snack, or a drink. Over the course of a week, they wrote their words far more times than our traditional study method.

An added benefit to the public display of spelling is that all the children in your household benefit, regardless of their education level. I sort of miss the whimsy of writing on the mirror with soap. Plus there is no guarantee the mirror is washed weekly any more. Hmmm … maybe I’ll start leaving them soapy love notes.

If your child is struggling with academic doldrums, get creative and surprise them with a new way of studying.

About Kai Strand:

Kai is a children's author of middle grade and young adult novels. Her debut tween novel, The Weaver, is available now and her second middle grade novel, Save the Lemmings! will be published in 2012. Kai is a regular contributor to Knowonder, a website dedicated to publishing a daily read aloud story for children ten years old and younger. She is a (very lucky) wife and the mother of four amazing kids. The most common sound in her household is laughter. The second most common is, "Do your dishes!" Obviously she likes to write. She reads a lot as well and calls it research. She loves to garden, though she doesn’t consider herself very good at it. She sings incessantly; you might very well find her singing in Latin while browsing at Target. Most of the time she doesn't realize she’s singing aloud. She and her family love to hike and geocache in beautiful Central Oregon.
About The Weaver:

In a town of word weavers, Mary suffers through her third year of Novice Word Weaving. Mary thinks her troubles are over when she meets a gnome-elf who grants her a wish. But instead of weaving a better story, she's weaving strange yarn charms to accompany her still pathetic tales.

The Weaver is a lyrical tale that offers a little magic and a lot of storytelling, for children 9 – 12 years old. The Weaver is a finalist in the EPIC eBook Awards. Click on the link to read an excerpt from the book.
You can find out more about Kai and her writing on her website: http://www.kaistrand.com/.

M E D I A R E L E A S E

CONTACT: Donna McDine, Editor-in-Chief, Guardian Angel Kids Ezine
Email: submissions@guardian-angel-kids.com
Website: http://guardian-angel-kids.com/

For Immediate Release


The beginning of a new year usually brings a time of reflection on the year gone by and hopes of the new year filled with health, happiness, and success. As I get older, I conduct a mental housecleaning of simplifying my life and taking a concerted effort to enjoy the moment of the current day, instead of worrying about the "what if's", because often times the "what's if's" don't even come into play. It takes time to break the "what if" habit, try it today and focus in on your tasks of the day instead of obsessing about tomorrow. I know for myself I find myself not as drained if I focus on the here and now, instead of what I think the coming days, weeks, and months should be.

Our January 2012 theme for the month is all about siblings. Come along and reminisce about your childhood through the delightful poetry and stories in this month's issue and don't forget to share your memories with your children.

Letter from the EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Donna M. McDine

Featured Books:

My Sister is My Best Friend a TRILINGUAL Flip Book by Nicole Weaver, illustrated by Clara Batton Smith
My Brother the Frog by Kevin McNamee, illustrated by Alexander Morris

Children's poetry, SHORT STORIES, and articles:

“My Little Brother” by Katie (age 10) – the antics of a little brother and big sister’s frustration.

“Hailey’s Homework,” by Juliana Jones and illustrated by Jack Foster – Young Hailey is too little for homework and makes up her own assignment with unhappy results.

“Monsters and Brothers,” by Judy L. Forney and illustrated by Samantha Bell – The roller coaster ride of brothers and how they tease one another.

“Keys to Help Your Child Score Well on Standardized Tests,” by Nicole Weaver - Tips to help you prepare your child for standardized tests beyond the studying.

Featured Drawing, Games & Activities:

Draw and paint your brothers and sisters with Painting Board

Featured Games from Guardian Angel Publishing Books

Visit Guardian Angel Kid today and www.guardian-angel-kids.com and enjoy a child safe and ad free Ezine.

We also invite you to stay connected with Guardian Angel Kids through our Facebook Fan Page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Guardian-Angel-Kids-Ezine/163785080346247.

Please feel free to drop Editor-in-Chief, Donna McDine an email at submissions@guardian-angel-kids.com and let them know what you think of Guardian Angel Kids and what you'd like to see in the future. They aim to please.

The Guardian Angel Kids Ezine staff and contributors look forward to your visit. Thank you for your time and interest.

Here is another New Year's resolution from a member of the GAP family. Cheryl C. Malandrinos is the author of Little Shepherd.

I stopped making New Year's resolutions a long time ago. This year, however, I am in the middle of many changes in  my life and resolutions in regards to my writing seem more important than ever.

In 2012, I resolve to work hard at finding homes for the six picture books I wrote during May 2011's Picture Book Writing Week. Two have been rejected by literary agents already, but I will spend part of 2012 revising them and sharing them with my critique groups to see if I can change that. In addition, despite the fact that I plan to return to working outside my home for the first time in eight years, I resolve to finish my two works in progress--Hold Your Horses (Christian juvenile) and Amelia's Mission (middle grade historical)--and get them ready for submission.




Cheryl Malandrinos is a freelance writer, children’s author and editor. Her first children’s book, Little Shepherd, was released in August 2010 by Guardian Angel Publishing. She is also a member of the SCBWI, a book reviewer and blogger. Ms. Malandrinos lives in Western Massachusetts with her husband and two children. She also has a son who is married.

Visit Cheryl online at http://ccmalandrinos.com/ or visit the Little Shepherd book blog at http://littleshepherdchildrensbook.blogspot.com/

Wishing all our readers a happy and healthy new year! Thank you for your continued support of Guardian Angel Publishing, its staff, authors and illustrators.

Here is another New Year's Resolution from one of our Angels. Janet Ann Collins is the author of The Peril of the Sinister Scientist, Secret Service Saint, and most recently Signs of Trouble.


Janet Ann Collins is a writer, teacher, parent, and grandparent. She has been a columnist and feature writer for newspapers, her work has appeared in periodicals and anthologies, and she is the author of three books for kids.

You can visit Janet online at http://www.janetanncollins.com/ and her blog at http://onwordsblog.blogspot.com/

To learn more about this and other GAP titles, please visit us online at http://guardianangelpublishing.com/.

We thought it would be fun to have some of our Angels share their New Year's resolutions. First up is Nicole Weaver. She is the author of the trilingual book, My Sister is My Best Friend.

My new year’s writing resolutions are to edit my middle-grade novel titled, There’s Nothing Wrong with being Smart and to start writing a woman’s novel titled, No Place to Belong. I recently took an eight-week YA class with Victoria Hanley, an award –winning author of teen fiction published in 10 languages. I learned so much from taking Victoria’s class. Each week during class, she critiqued 10 pages of my manuscript. Now, I need to take the time to re-write the manuscripts following her suggestions.

I plan to take a second class on writing woman’s fiction. I will be able to get No Place to Belong critiqued. It is a win-win situation for a new author.

Additionally, I need to make time to promote my newly released book My Sister is My Best Friend. I look forward to having a great 2012.

Nicole Weaver is a trilingual children’s author. She teaches high school French and Spanish. To learn more about her newest trilingual book, you can visit her blog: http://mysisterismybestfriend.blogspot.com. You can also visit her online at http://www.melangeofcultures.wordpress.com/ http://nicole-weaver.com/.

To learn more about this and other GAP titles, please visit http://www.guardianangelpublishing.com/.