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Greetings from FLORIDA (as those postcards say)
.
My specialty is writing creative non-fiction & fiction for children.

My published books include two family books -
an eco-tourism travel guide & also a collection of 13 stories about famous animals published in 2008.
My publisher for those books & two others is
The Globe Pequot Press.

My interest in history, women & trailblazers of many cultures has led me to my 1st picture book, due out in 2010. It is the story of Betty Mae Tiger Jumper, of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The aritst is Lisa Desimin. I
begin promoting it this year.


About me: I'm Jan Godown Annino, & I like to go by "JG" but for most of my life I've answered to Jan.
(pronounce my unusual name God*own Ah-nee-noh)
Writing credits include today's grocery list, plus works (poetry, essay) in Milkweed Editions' anthologies, Book of the Everglades & Stories from Where We Live: the South Atlantic Coast & Piedmont.

I work toward an MFA in Children's Literature from Hollins University's short-semester program, Amanda Cockrell, Director. Hollins is a place of transformation. I arrived for the first short-residency program thinking I couldn't create believeable fiction characters. Non-fiction, I knew. But not the craft of making up worlds. Too daunting.
With a lift from my critique partners, fellow students, & mentor models including Han Nolan, Hillary Homzie & Sharron Dennis Wyeth, that fear is gone. I feel like Archie in the novel by Janet Taylor Lisle, "How I Became a Writer and Oggie Learned to Drive," who discovers the thrill of writing a story down "out of his own head." Like Archie, it is far beyond what I thought I could ever do.

My BA is from University of Florida (Go, Gators!) in journalism (just the facts), which brought me to a career, behind me, meeting daily deadlines & writing about people with stories to tell (or hide) in Florida community newspapers. I began publishing in Florida newspapers as a teen. Newspaper work was a family tradition going back to New Jersey.

2008 BOOKS
Appearing with splashy fellows, my 2008 book for 4th grade, (give or take a grade or two) is Florida's Famous Animals. (more below)

As mentioned above, I'm in collaboration with the illustrator Lisa Desimini to bring to young readers the story of the Native Amerian Leader Betty Mae Tiger Jumper, an amazing person.
Her story is an exciting true tale about connecting to nature and to community.

Literary influences ~>~ family marionette shows with Dad's hand-made fold-up stage ~ Baum books such as the original hand-me-down from her step-grandmother (promptly colored in) ~P.L. Travers, Little Golden Books, Laura Lee Hope~Frost, Stevenson, Rossetti, Lear, Mahalia Jackson, Wanda Gag ~Brenda Ueland, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Ian Fleming, John D. MacDonald, Hemingway, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, the short list ~

Geographic highlights ~ red covered bridge country and shoreline of New Jersey ~islands in Florida's Gulf of Mexico ~ hikes into Mt. Kathadin & Mt. LeConte ~3 months in Costa Rica ~

Animal biographer
As an animal biographer, JG went behind the scenes with Snooty, the manatee, and visited the park gravesite of Brownie, Town Dog of Daytona Beach, where Brownie also once kept a bank account. It is JG's hope that this book helps young readers think about the wide range of careers they can enjoy, helping and being helped by, creatures. Each animal featured lived a life impacted (for better or worse) by humans. I invite you to visit my me at http://www.bookseedstudio.wordpress.com
As a way of reaching young readers in your area, look for stories from local history of interesting animals . You may find a famous horse or dog or who knows what?
Your local historical society will be a fine place to begin.

Quick share
The websites
Teaching Tolerance
http://www.teachingtolerance.org
El Dia de los Ninoshttp://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/projects/ninos/contents.html El Dia de los Ninos
Oyate
http://www.oyate.org
For inspiration in books by writers
Biography of a Place/Harry Crews
Stephen King's On Writing
anything by Brenda Ueland
One Writer's Beginnings/Eudora Welty
Richard Peck's Invitations to the World

For verve & fun dip into anything by SARK.
And also Rotten Rejections, Andre Bernard ed., which I was delighted to hear Salman Rushdie recommend in a talk once ~
My husband is a writer too (legal briefs!) & our teen at home is an artist & writer.
Good luck on all your many projects. Thank you for visiting my JF profile.

Greetings from FLORIDA (as those postcards say) . My specialty is writing creative non-fiction & fiction for children. My published books include two family books - an eco-tourism travel guide & also a collection of 13 stories about famous animals published in 2008. My publisher for those books & two others is The Globe Pequot Press. My interest in history, women & trailblazers of many culture... More