Kentucky Girls Books Photo Album

 
The first Kentucky Girls Book debuted in the village that inspired it.

 
Shaker Village
Pleasant Hill;
Dec. 5, 2009 - Co-authors Marie and Rebecca and illustrator Pam (left to right below) celebrated the official release of their first novel by autographing books for visitors at the Shaker Village where the story takes place. The book signing was part of Shaker Village's "Simple Gifts of Christmas" festivities and was a rousing success. We had a wonderful time meeting young and mature readers and autographing their books for them.

Book signing at The Blue Marble in Northern Kentucky

 
Fort Thomas;
Dec. 12, 2009 - Christmas decorations and tasty treats added a festive air to The Blue Marble the afternoon co-authors Rebecca and Marie along with illustrator Pam stopped in to sign copies of their recently released Road to Pleasant Hill. The Blue Marble has long been the premier children's bookstore in the Northern Kentucky/Greater Cincinnati area.

Estill County Middle School;
March 27, 2010 - Rebecca and Marie joined other Kentucky authors to sign their books and chat with readers of all ages on "Authors Row" at Estill County's Celebration of Reading. The annual event attracted scores of young readers, teachers, and families who came to meet the authors and discuss their books.

This year's theme was "If you give a mouse a book ...," a tongue in cheek tribute to the ever-popular children's book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie ... Rebecca was delighted by this theme because she used to read that book to her own daughter.

Far left: Rebecca shows readers a scrapbook prepared by Pam, our illustrator, which compares photos of the real Shaker Village with her illustrations for Road to Pleasant Hill.

Wow! -- The World Equestrian Games!
Our book was featured as an example of Kentucky arts and crafts.

 
Kentucky Horse Park, Lexington;
Sept. 25 - Oct. 10, 2010 - For the first time, the World Equestrian Games -- an Olympic-style event for horses and riders -- were held in the United States, at Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. Tens of thousands of people and hundreds of champion horses from around the world attended the two weeks of competitions.

Because it was such a marvellous opportunity to showcase Kentucky to the world, it included an on-site sales outlet for selected Kentucky-made products and artistic creations. We were thrilled that our book, Road to Pleasant Hill, was among those items.

Frankfort;
Nov. 13, 2010 - Kentucky's grandest and most popular annual book event -- The Kentucky Book Fair at the Frankfort Convention Center -- was a wonderful place to start selling `Tis a Gift. It attracted almost 200 authors and an estimated 4,000 visitors. The all-day event was an exciting and stimulating chance for authors and readers to meet and discuss their favorite topic: books.

Rebecca, Marie, and Pam had a wonderful time catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. Among them were several girls who brought their American Girls dolls with them to attend a special American Girls tea. These girls loved reading American Girls books but hadn't known there were Kentucky Girls Books until they came to the book fair. They seemed delighted to learn about them and eagerly bought copies to read about the adventures of Betsy Johnson and her new Shaker friends.

We also met some boys who were happy to learn that our books aren't just for girls but also include some strong male characters. `Tis a Gift, for instance, pays particular attention to Betsy's younger brother Tad who saved her life when she became trapped in the woods.

Playing dulcimers and singing at "Shaker Village Music Day."

 
Pleasant Hill;
July 16, 2011 - Music and dancing are so central to `Tis a Gift that "Shaker Music Day" was an ideal opportunity to meet new readers, sign books, and play Shaker music. A canopy was set up next to the Shaker Village Craft Store where Rebecca and Marie played Shaker hymns and other tunes on their Appalachian Mountain lap dulcimers while Pam sang along.

They also talked with visitors about the role of music in their books, and in Shaker Life generally, explained that the Appalachian Mountain lap dulcimer is the official state musical instrument of Kentucky, and gave informal dulcimer lessons.

Midway through the afternoon, Dr. Carol Medlicott, a Kentucky scholar who recently uncovered four long-lost pieces of Shaker music, stopped by to join in the singing.

Tree of Life, our third book, debuted at the Kentucky Book Fair.

Frankfort;
Nov. 9 & 10, 2012 -   As a new release, Tree of Life was included in the 2012 Kentucky Book Fair, so Rebecca and Marie attended. It fully lived up to its reputation as Kentucky's premiere book event and was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with author friends and meet new readers.

With 190 authors and attendance estimated at 3,700 people, both author and public participation were a bit lower than in recent years. - Blame it on the state and national economy. - But, our book sales were better than past years.

It was nice sharing a booth with Dandi Daley Mackall who also writes for young readers. It was fun to chat with her and watch how well she interacted with people whose ages ranged from 4 to 80. An even bigger treat was having illustrator Mark Wayne Adams in the booth next to us. He delighted everyone with his quick, deft, and humorous sketches.

Williamstown Women's Club invited Rebecca to discuss
Shaker advocacy of women's equality and stewardship of the land.

 
Williamstown Women's Club;
March 14, 2013 -  
Sharing insights she gained while researching and writing the Shaker Series, Rebecca easily connected with the receptive and enthusiastic audience of 32 women. All of them appreciated the Shaker commitment to treating women as equals generations before the rest of America did. And, they were equally delighted to learn that the Shaker philosophy and way of life were consistent with their own club's interest in being better stewards of the land.

After the presentation, everyone enjoyed a social hour featuring Shaker-inspired desserts made by club members and book-signings by Rebecca.

at The Blue Marble and ...

Fort Thomas;
Nov. 29, 2014 - The Blue Marble has been special to us since hosting a book signing only a week after Road to Pleasant Hill was published.

playing duets in a candy store.

Bellevue;
Nov. 30, 2014 - To celebrate books being sold here, we performed a dulcimer concert of Christmas and Appalachian music at Witt's End Candy Emporium, an old-fashioned candy store with "penny candy" in apothecary jars, candy bars, drinks, and toys as well as books by local authors.

Rebecca's Shaker-attired "Betsy" doll came along to help promote our Shaker books.

Participating in Jessamine County's First "Author Fair."

 
Jessamine County Public Library
Nicholasville;
May 15, 2016 -  More than 20 authors of a wide variety of books from all parts of Kentucky came to Nicholasville for the county's first "Author Fair." In addition to bringing their books, many of them also set up informational displays offering insights into their subject matter and their approach to writing. Roughly half also made presentations or read excerpts from their books. The others chatted with visitors and signed copies of their books.

It was a very well organized event, and most of the authors said they'd love it to become an annual event. Regrettably, visitor turnout was rather disappointing.

"I feel especially bad for the library staff who worked so hard to put the event together," Rebecca said. "They did a great job, but the public just didn't respond. I do hope they'll try again and attract more people. Personally, I had a wonderful time chatting with authors I haven't seen for a while. I also met a few new ones," she added. "I just wish more young readers had coming by to talk with us and look at our books."