Packages

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS K-5

• Intro to my book

• Read "Riley Whale and His Friend, Kyle" to students

• Q & A Session where students ask questions, then I ask the students questions about what they learned and explain a few vocabulary words, it's a fun game that promotes Critical Thinking

• How you can be a Whale Warrior

• Timed Word Search Contest with new vocabulary words like Breached, Baleen, Sea Jellies and Sea Stars.  Top two winners recieve prizes.

• All students receive a FREE Riley Whale bookmark ($3 value)

• Photos /Sign copies of book

 Includes everything in Package A, plus a Haiku Whale poem activity

• What is a Haiku poem?

• Examples of Haiku poems, clap our hands to count the syllables

• Students will write their own whale Haiku poems on pre-cut whale tale shaped cutouts in various colors (pink, green, orange, yellow, blue)

• Students will share their poems with the class

• There are Two Options for PACKAGE C: My Presentation for Adults - Option A and Option B - 

   OPTION A: This option is recommended for Writer's Groups, Aspiring Writers, College courses on writing books and other groups with a focus on how to write well and how to get your book published, finding and working with an illustrator and research.

    My presentations last 60 minutes and focus is on how and why I wrote, “Riley The right Whale and His Friend, Kyle,” my journey from singing a song to my son at bedtime, to rewriting it as a poem and how I struggled with the rhythm and rhyming patterns with the poem form of my story and turned it into a children’s story.

      I spend some time talking about finding the right illustrator, working with an illustrator and my experience of trying to get the artist to somehow transfer my vision for the story onto the pages.

      Research is a big part of writing, even when writing for a younger audience and I share how I searched the internet, read newspaper articles, attended whale festivals and spoke to professionals in the FWC, Marineland and CMA, I immersed myself in the whaling community any way I could, watched whale videos and spent hours searching for their whale calls so I could hear the whales singing to each other.

       Of course, editing, using a thesaurus, re-writing, proofing and re-writing again is an important part of the writing process and this, too is covered in my presentations. Deciding to make my children’s book educational and as scientifically accurate as possible in order to maintain credibility with the whaling community was a big decision for me since I originally intended the book just to be for family and friends, about a baby whale, any whale would do, and the whale could talk and the boy and the whale were such friends as the whale took the boy for rides on his back and they bonded.

      My story as it is now is completely different from my original story. I had a choice to make. Write my story as I intended to originally, using fantasy, and ignore being politically correct; just let the story use my imagination, like Dumbo the Flying Elephant by Dr. Suess, everyone knows elephants don’t fly! OR I could do some research and perhaps teach people about our nearly extinct North Atlantic Right whales. Maybe, my story could help save our North Atlantic Right whales by educating the world?

         I allow a 10 minute Q & A session where people can ask questions. I will have books available for purchase and there will be 10 minutes for autographs and photos at the end.

  Schools and students may purchase my books prior to my presentations at a discounted rate of $18, a savings of $6.99 when ordering direct from me.

  I am happy to autograph the books for every student and teacher that buys one of my books.  Remember, ten percent of all book sales are donated to non-profit groups like Clearwater Marine Aquarium and Marineland, so buying a book is actually helping to save our North Atlantic Right Whales.

  Thanks for supporting our North Atlantic Right Whales and thank you for wanting to be a hero for our majestic whales who need our help to keep them from disappearing forever.

  OPTION B is for Adults, Business groups, Educators and groups interested in learning more about our struggling North Atlantic Right Whales

          History and plight of  North American Right Whales

  • Garbage, Ropes, Nets

  • Windmills – Impact of windmills on whales, dolphins and other marine life

  • Reporting Whale Sightings

  • Migration Patterns

    • Why is it important

    • Who to call when you see a whale

    • What happens when you call to report a sighting

    • How you can be a Hero for right whales

    • Related Websites

   

  There are Two Options for my Presentation for Adults - Option A and Option B - 

OPTION A: This option is recommended for Writer's Groups, Aspiring Writers, College courses on writing books and other groups with a focus on how to write well and how to get your book published, finding and working with an illustrator and research.

My presentations last 60 minutes and focus is on how and why I wrote, “Riley The right Whale and His Friend, Kyle,” my journey from singing a song to my son at bedtime, to rewriting it as a poem and how I struggled with the rhythm and rhyming patterns with the poem form of my story and turned it into a children’s story.

    I spend some time talking about finding the right illustrator, working with an illustrator and my experience of trying to get the artist to somehow transfer my vision for the story onto the pages.

    Research is a big part of writing, even when writing for a younger audience and I share how I searched the internet, read newspaper articles, attended whale festivals and spoke to professionals in the FWC, Marineland and CMA, I immersed myself in the whaling community any way I could, watched whale videos and spent hours searching for their whale calls so I could hear the whales singing to each other.

     Of course, editing, using a thesaurus, re-writing, proofing and re-writing again is an important part of the writing process and this, too is covered in my presentations. Deciding to make my children’s book educational and as scientifically accurate as possible in order to maintain credibility with the whaling community was a big decision for me since I originally intended the book just to be for family and friends, about a baby whale, any whale would do, and the whale could talk and the boy and the whale were such friends as the whale took the boy for rides on his back and they bonded.

    My story as it is now is completely different from my original story. I had a choice to make. Write my story as I intended to originally, using fantasy, and ignore being politically correct; just let the story use my imagination, like Dumbo the Flying Elephant by Dr. Suess, everyone knows elephants don’t fly! OR I could do some research and perhaps teach people about our nearly extinct North Atlantic Right whales. Maybe, my story could help save our North Atlantic Right whales by educating the world?

  I allow a 10 minute Q & A session where people can ask questions. I will have books available for purchase and there will be 10 minutes for autographs and photos at the end.

Schools and students may purchase my books prior to my presentations at a discounted rate of $18, a savings of $6.99 when ordering direct from me.

I am happy to autograph the books for every student and teacher that buys one of my books.  Remember, ten percent of all book sales are donated to non-profit groups like Clearwater Marine Aquarium and Marineland, so buying a book is actually helping to save our North Atlantic Right Whales.

Thanks for supporting our North Atlantic Right Whales and thank you for wanting to be a hero for our majestic whales who need our help to keep them from disappearing forever.

OPTION B is for Adults, Business groups, Educators and groups interested in learning more about our struggling North Atlantic Right Whales

        History and plight of  North American Right Whales

• Garbage, Ropes, Nets

• Windmills – Impact of windmills on whales, dolphins and other marine life

• Reporting Whale Sightings

• Migration Patterns

  • Why is it important

  • Who to call when you see a whale

  • What happens when you call to report a sighting

  • How you can be a Hero for right whales

  • Related Websites

                                                                                 Remember, Extinction Is Forever!