*Non-fiction chapter book for kids 7 to 10 years old
*8-year-old girl is the focus of the book
*Rating: What an inspirational book! Kids will love Katrina and Winter: Partners in Courage. It’s one of those stories that teachers/parents can use to help children who are struggling with almost any self-esteem issue. Besides, who doesn’t love a dolphin story?
Short, short summary:
Katrina and Winter: Partners in Courage by Nancy Stewart is the true story of a young girl, Katrina, who was born with a birth defect and therefore had a “helper” leg. She felt self-conscious about it and about being different than other kids her age. When the book begins, Katrina is on her way to Disney with her family. But before they go, her parents take her to an aquarium where rescued sea animals live. One of the animals is a dolphin named Winter, who has a prosthetic tail after losing his in a fishing accident. Immediately, Katrina is drawn to Winter and realizes they have a lot of similarities. But even better, Winter motivates Katrina to try activities she would have NEVER tried before. Instead of having an “I-Can’t” attitude, she does an almost 180, and she has an I CAN DO ANYTHING attitude. Katrina credits Winter as being her inspiration. For anyone who has seen the movie
Dolphin Tale, Winter is the subject of that movie with Morgan Freeman, Harry Connick Jr., and Ashley Judd. (Winter did her own stunts in the movie! LOL) Nancy Stewart’s book focuses more on Katrina than on Winter, but it’s interesting that Winter is again “starring” in a story.
So, what do I do with this book?
1. After reading this book, ask children to journal about something that bothers them about themselves and how they can face this head on like Katrina and Winter did. What is something children have been afraid to do, but they did it anyway? Or what is something they are going to try? Children who are not good writers can use pictures to explain their thoughts.
2. Explore The Pier Aquarium website, which is where Winter lives. If possible, ask someone with a prosthetic leg to come to your classroom and speak about it. Bring the world of the book into your classroom.
3. Ask students to write a letter to Katrina and/or Winter, explaining what they liked about their stories and what children now feel inspired to do.
ferocious? ....nahhhhh
When you purchase an item from
MY STORE, 10% of your purchase price will be donated to my favorite animal charities;
Last Chance Animal Rescue and
Horses Haven, both in lower MI. Which charity the donation goes to, will depend on the item purchased and I will love you forever from the bottom of my little black heart. ...and even if you don't purchase anything from me, you can go to their site and make a donation! They deserve a chance too!
Have a seat in the sun with a sippy and browse through the pages of my website ArtQwerks
DOUBLE
VISION
This is my most recent completed portrait
Amazing what you can do with no time and a little creativity!
These portraits are on sale for a limited time only and you can get them here:
ebay
When you purchase an item from MY STORE, 10% of your purchase price will be donated to my favorite animal charities; Last Chance Animal Rescue and Horses Haven, both in lower MI. Which charity the donation goes to, will depend on the item purchased and I will love you forever from the bottom of my little black heart. ...and even if you don't purchase anything from me, you can go to their site and make a donation! They deserve a chance too!
Have a seat in the sun with a sippy and browse through the pages of my website ArtQwerks
The second book I've illustrated,
The Enchanted Tree of Crooked Lake written by Rachel Longhurst is in production now! This is
Gregory Dunn of Digital Imagery LLC, scanning illustrations for the book. Gregory has recently been involved with the digital printing and publishing efforts of of artists and photographers~
Carl Sams,
Todd and Brad Reed,
Catherine McClung and
Beth Erlund to name a few.
You can learn more about him and see more of his work here:
When you purchase an item from MY STORE, 10% of your purchase price will be donated to my favorite animal charities; Last Chance Animal Rescue and Horses Haven, both in lower MI. Which charity the donation goes to, will depend on the item purchased and I will love you forever from the bottom of my little black heart. ...and even if you don't purchase anything from me, you can go to their site and make a donation! The animals deserve a chance too! Have a seat in the sun with a sippy and browse through the pages of my website ArtQwerks
The Creative Writer Blogger Award
Thank you to Karen Whitaker who nominated me for this award!...but please do not feel obligated to follow the rules in order to accept this award, it does take some time to complete. Just copy and paste the award into your blog without all the hubub if you'd like because after all...you deserve it!
1. Thank the person who gave this to you.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you.
4. Tell up to six outrageous lies about yourself, and at least one outrageous truth.
5. Nominate seven "Creative Writers" who might have fun coming up with outrageous lies.
6. Post links to the seven blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know you nominated them.
The following are MY Outrageous Lies:
1. In my previous life I was born in a puppy mill.
2. As I grew older I was kept in a cage day after day and was only used to help the owner make more puppies.
3. I watched helplessly as my owner lined his pockets with money and didn't buy me the food, or give me the care I needed to stay healthy. He never took me out to go to the bathroom. I grew so thin and my paws became splayed from clinging to the floor of the cage.
4. I was sometimes packed in my cage with many other dogs where we could barely move and we all cried together.
5. Other times, for many days in a row, I
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When I was a kid I used to deliver papers by bicycle. I was regularly tormented by dogs to the point of developing a mild phobia. However, I found it interesting that it was never the scariest-LOOKING dogs that chased & bit-- I think their owners knew they needed training, & they were usually much better behaved than the smaller, less visually intimidating beasts.
Beautiful portrait of a clearly upstanding pet!
beautiful work!