Today I have guest author, Elaine Kaye at my pad. She's Chrys Fey's mom. She's celebrating the release of her new book, Halloween Ride. This is the third book in her Gregory Green series. Gregory Green is a cool little kid who has a teddy bear named Sammy. This is the story of the original Sammy which was the inspiration for the series:
We were living in Okinawa, Japan at
Kadena Air Base. One day, we went to a gigantic community yard sale, and I
spotted a boy Cabbage Patch Doll. At the time, my second son was only a year
old, so I got the doll for him, and he just loved it! My son didn’t go anywhere
without his doll…Sammy.
Many years later, the doll was having
some problems. His body was getting torn, and his head even came off! I found a
doll pattern and gave Sammy a new body. Suddenly, Sammy was an all-new doll. No
longer was he a short, plump doll. Now he had long arms and legs, like a real
little boy. I had to buy infant clothes for him and make some by hand. With the
longer arms and legs, Sammy could really come to life when my son and I played
with him. He could hug and even cross his legs!
I had so much fun playing with Sammy
that I started to invent stories about a little boy (like my son) who had a
stuffed teddy bear named Sammy, and that bear would come to life to have
adventures with his boy, just as my son would have adventures with his doll.
At my dining table, I wrote the first
story, now titled Pea Soup Disaster. After that, I wrote several more. I
illustrated, lamented, and bound them into little books for my kids to enjoy.
Eventually, I brought them to my kids’ schools to read them to classes. And I
would bring Sammy on those visits to help illustrate the story. The children
just loved him.
We still have the original Sammy,
although his head is not currently on his body. He’s had a long life, and he
shows it. His nose is cracked but still attached, and my son had given him a
little gold stud earing, after he had his own ear pierced. And that earring is
still in his little plastic head.
After I published Pea Soup Disaster,
I ordered a brown teddy bear from Build-a-Bear workshop. Now I have
Sammy the teddy bear!
NEW RELEASE:
BLURB: One Halloween night, Gregory
and his teddy bear Sammy go trick-or-treating, hoping for lots and lots of
candy. But Sammy is scared of everything and is constantly asking, “What’s
that?” Gregory gets annoyed until one of those things turns out to be a flying
broomstick. And this broom wants them to go for a ride. Where will it take
them?
*Story picture book ages 4-8.
Ebook 99 CENTS:
Print:
ALSO ON SALE FOR 99 CENTS!
ABOUT THE
AUTHOR: Elaine
Kaye is the author of A Gregory Green Adventure series. She first
created Gregory Green after her son, who loved her homemade pea soup.
Kaye has worked as a library assistant
and teacher's assistant in elementary schools in the Sunshine State. She
currently lives in Florida, but she has called Michigan; Honolulu, Hawaii; and
Okinawa, Japan home.
She is a grandmother of three boys.
GIVEAWAY:
Enter here to win a signed
paperback copy of Pea Soup Disaster, a hand-stitched bookmark, and a pea pod
key chain! Open to all from September 16, 2018 – October 1, 2018!
