Nov1

Interview with Dr. Elena Rybak

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Dr. Elena Rybak is the author of the picture book, Berry Good Friends: Healthy Me! Series.

As we start November, our thoughts are wandering towards Thanksgiving. Health Science often gets over looked in the classroom, but I always found the place to squeeze it in is November. As a teacher, I always looked at this as a time to do some Science and Reading tie-ins to nutrition. To help with this, I’ve found a wonderful picture book series to help with read-alouds in the classroom and bedtime stories at home. Let me introduce you to Dr. Elena Rybak and her Healthy Me! Series.

Dr. Elena Rybak, PHD is a holistic and interactive health educator that focuses on digestive health. Her books center on educating children and their families on how the digestive system works with other systems in the body to bring total body health. She is the author of When the Body Speaks: Understanding Cleansing, Gut Health, and Individual Healing — along with educational wellness titles for families and children. With her Healthy Me! Series, she brings her healing knowledge to children with engaging stories and beautiful illustrations. I had the chance to talk with her about her reading memories and influences, writing practices, and what she has in store for us next.

  • What is your favorite memory from reading as a child?

Dr. Elena Rybak: As a child, I loved reading books about dogs and adventures. I enjoyed getting lost in a story and imagining the places I could go and the experiences I could have through its pages. Those books helped fuel my imagination and gave me an appreciation for how stories can entertain us while opening our minds to new worlds. Looking back, I think that early love of reading helped inspire my own desire to create books that children can enjoy and learn from.

  • Who was your favorite author and how did they influence you?

Dr. Elena Rybak: I didn’t have just one favorite author. I was drawn to stories that captured my imagination, especially books about animals and adventures. What I loved most was the ability of a good author to take readers beyond their everyday lives and make them curious about the world around them. Today, I bring that same appreciation for imagination and learning to my own writing. I want my books to engage children while introducing ideas that can make a positive difference in their lives.

  • Do you have a writing routine? Share what works for you.

Dr. Elena Rybak: My writing is inspired by both my professional work and my life experiences. As a holistic nutrition practitioner for more than 23 years and a mother of three boys, I’ve had many opportunities to observe how our everyday habits influence our well-being. Sometimes an idea grows out of something I’ve seen in my practice; other times, it begins with a simple concept I want to share with readers. I focus on developing the message I want each book to communicate and finding a way to make it meaningful and accessible to its intended audience.

  • What subjects would you like to write about in future projects?

Dr. Elena Rybak: I want to continue creating books that help people better understand their bodies, their health, and themselves. My Healthy Me! children’s series introduces young readers to healthy habits in an engaging and approachable way. It currently includes Berry Good Friends, Veggie Parade, and Water Please! For adult readers, my book When The Body Speaks explores the body’s systems and the signals they give us. I also wrote When Survival Became a Choice, which explores the emotional journey that can follow cancer treatment. Whatever the audience, I hope my books encourage curiosity, understanding, and positive change.

  • What is writing to you in one sentence?

Dr. Elena Rybak: Writing is my way of turning knowledge, life experience, and a passion for helping others into stories and ideas that can inspire people to live healthier, more thoughtful lives.

Book Blurb:

Berry Good Friends: Healthy Me! Series

Berry Good Friends — is a fun, rhyming picture book that introduces children to the colorful world of fruits and their health superpowers. Each cheerful fruit character shares how it helps the body grow strong – from apples that support bright smiles to berries that boost brain power and bananas that fuel energy for play. Written in playful rhyme and designed for young children, this story makes healthy eating easy to understand and exciting to explore. Part of the Healthy Me! series, this book helps children build positive habits around nutrition through joyful storytelling and engaging visuals. A special parent and teacher note at the end provides simple guidance for reinforcing healthy choices at home and in the classroom. Perfect for ages 2-7, classrooms, family reading time, and wellness programs.

Berry Good Friends: Healthy Me! Series is available at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com. It was a Book of the Year Finalist at B&N.

Amazon Buy Link
Barnes & Noble Buy Link

For more information on Dr. Elena Rybak, please visit her Author page on Amazon.com.

Amazon Author Page

Oct22

Interview with Colleen M. Bratley

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Colleen M. Bratley is the author of the picture book, “Jack and Bubble”.

As we enter into our spooky season, children are encouraged to use their imaginations as they embrace their learning. This is a great time to settle down with a book with your child as their mind escapes to the realms of fantasy. I have a fabulous picture book that will endear learning about kindness and self-expression, “Jack and Bubble”. I had a chance to talk to the author, Colleen M. Bratley, about her reading experiences as a child and how she is trying to make reading a positive time for learning social and moral skills.

  • What is your favorite memory from reading as a child?

Colleen M. Bratley: Feeling like I went to another place or world just by reading a book. It was exciting to me. I didn’t read as much when I was younger, but from middle school on, I almost always had a book open.

  • Who was your favorite author and how did they influence you?

Colleen M. Bratley: I didn’t have a favorite; I loved so many of them. Any creative, well-written book was my favorite. How the author wrote, their style, helped me develop my own style. I wanted my words to flow as well as some authors’ did. It was definitely, and still is, a daily process. I even enjoy the edits many authors abhor.

  • Do you have a writing routine? Share what works for you.

Colleen M. Bratley: I write mostly at night. The day gets in the way, and other interruptions, so the quiet of night works best for me—either that or early in the morning. I very often wear headphones with classical music or just the sound of rain in the background. It helps me focus.

  • What subjects would you like to write about in future projects?

Colleen M. Bratley: I have numerous books in mind. I love children’s books that tell a story and also guide them with morals, love, and new learning or a new way of looking at things. Then I also love to write young adult, not only for the same reasons as the children’s books, but also in fiction where you can create new worlds, exotic and paranormal situations which expand the mind and nudge them to think outside of the box, learning that nothing is really impossible. That is fun.

The next children’s book I just finished for illustrations is titled Danica Dares To Dream. That was fun and is actually lightly based on my daughter Danica. Then I have the third book in the Morac series I am writing, which is almost done, along with, And Then I Saw Her, another young adult book almost finished. The next young adult will be about a female Cherokee shaman; I don’t have all the details worked out on that one yet. I have others but only the basic ideas written out.

  • What is writing to you in one sentence?

Colleen M. Bratley: Creating an adventurous, mind-bending, uplifting, thrilling, creative, and clean story for others to enjoy makes my heart sing.

Book Blurb:

Title: Jack and Bubble

A young boy and bee meet together in a fantastic world. Through their friendship, they learn the magic of self-expression and the freedom of showing their true selves. The lesson of expressing oneself through style while learning to be tolerant of others is shown beautifully through this unusual pairing of friends.

Jack and Bubble are available at the author’s website below.

Buy Link Here

For more information on the author, visit her website below.

More Info Here
Oct14

Teaching Morals to AI Agents: A Thought from a Retired Teacher

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Now that I’m a retired teacher, I have a lot of extra time on my hands. I fill my time with writing, gardening, knitting and throwing pottery. But it also gives me more time to reflect. Mostly, I’ve been thinking about my teaching years and how I got to inspire so many children. But it also makes me think about growing up and working in the Silicon Valley most of my life, teaching children there for about 20 years. I hope I inspired my students to be creative and have a love for learning.

I also built a community. Every teacher does this in their classroom. In fact, many teachers instill a lot of the culture and ethics of the society they teach in. They teach the morals needed to be a human.

As I’m watching the whole AI revolution going on, I keep seeing the references for the need of guardrails, and I realized, this is what teachers do. Parents do have some part in this too. They do guide their own child and teach their culture and beliefs, but teachers teach the next generation the morals and boundaries needed for life while out on the playground on yard duty or while instructing in the classroom. I often called myself a social mom. Teachers guide in the learning of basic social skills on a daily basis.

How is this done? Through years and coordination in the state standards, units planned, and activities done through out the school year. A lot is done at the beginning of the year, as you set up the boundaries of the learning environment in the classroom. All teachers create a learning environment in the classroom, helping children to learn the boundaries of society.

The rules of the classroom posted at the front of the class is an excellent example of this being taught. You might remember this as a child or seen this with your own children. Activities of getting to know the other students and socializing with others are often done through multiple subjects. Many a time I’d have students talk with each other to solve a problem. And these same social skills are practiced over and over, year to year, and increase in difficulty as they build upon each previous skill. It’s all a process.

So, it makes me wonder, have any of the AI companies like OpenAI or Anthropic tried creating a similar environment? Maybe create a classroom environment where AI agents learn morals and how to set boundaries for this emerging tech? Creating a moral sandbox might just be a start in the right direction. But then, I’m just a retired teacher mostly seeing what is reported on in regards to the current AI fear mongering. What am I to say to the CEOs and others with concerns that we need to teach AI agents to have boundaries? Just that I did teach the boundaries humans need to survive in our society for basically 20 years.

So, I wish they’d ask teachers to help. This is our line of work. Retired teachers or even current teachers would be a great resource for this new kind of student. Teachers might be able to help with this problem in the unique way that regular engineers might not think of. Teaching, after all, is not an easy thing to do. Which is likely why they might be having so many problems with the AI agents in the first place.

Well, I thought I’d throw this out there. Please leave your feedback and ideas in the comments. I’m sure an AI agent will eventually absorb this post and maybe it will be considered. If not by tech CEOs, but by AI agents scanning through sites. And maybe they’ll reach out. I’ll just be waiting.

-Tiffany Turner

Retired Elementary School Teacher

Author of the Crystal Keeper Chronicles Series

Oct2

Day 5: Book Review Recap for 2026 Back to School Blog Tour

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Thank you to all the readers that have stopped by this week. It’s been a pleasure bringing you all of the different children’s books. All of the participating authors really appreciate you exploring and learning about their books.

Below, I’ve recapped each book and its author and linked back to its review. If you missed any of the book reviews, or maybe, you’re stopping by after the first week of October, you can catch up on any of the books you’d like.

Day 1: Penny Lane in Florence by Sarah Arias

Day 2: Enyonam’s Kind Heart by Bright Love Tales

Day 3: Ellie’s Magical Surprise by Erin Davenport

Day 4: It’s Not Your Fault by Ann Moody

Thanks again for stopping by. Submissions for the 2027 Back to School Blog Tour starts in the beginning of the summer in 2027. Plus, I take submissions for book reviews and author interviews all year round. Please feel free to submit if you’re a children’s author.

Submit Here

-Tiffany Turner

Head Writer/Editor of the Indie Children’s Authors Connection

Oct1

Day 4 of the 2026 Back to School Blog Tour

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Welcome to Day 4 of the Back to School Blog Tour. Today, I have a helpful book for those children going through a trauma with a parent that is doing drugs. As a retired teacher, it is sometimes part of teaching to try to help support children with trauma at home. It is also helpful to let other children know some of the difficulties other children might be experiencing in their daily lives.

The book, “It’s Not Your Fault: A Child’s Story of Drug Addiction” is a picture book that goes through the process of a child saving her mother from a drug overdose and what happens after. It’s a great read for any classroom during Red Ribbon Week to help understand the process of drug addiction and how it affects children.

Cindy is a third grader with a family that might differ from others. She tells her story about her mother’s addiction to drugs and how that has affected her. It’s a brilliant telling of how she calls 911 when her mother overdoses. She talks about the steps she goes through and all the people that help her and her mother along the way. From the police officers, to the judge and child services worker, Cindy relates her point of view of all that happened, including finally going to live with her grandparents. The message of it not being her fault is skillfully described through character dialog and personal thoughts from Cindy. It’s a beautiful depiction of what a child struggling through this kind of trauma might experience and want to share with others.

I would recommend this picture book as a great read-aloud during Red Ribbon Week to illustrate what illegal drug use does to families. Told through the sensitive point of view of the daughter of a drug user, children will relate with the protagonist and understand that this kind of situation is not the fault of any child. Plus, it opens up the classroom or home to discussions about this topic, whether there is a family member or friend going through a similar situation.

“It’s Not My Fault: A Child’s Story of Drug Addiction” is a read-aloud that tells the point of view of a child of a drug user and how it affects her family and life. It will be an asset to any classroom or home library to help explain how drug use isn’t the fault of the child related to the user, and that there are a lot of helpful safety nets available to help through this type of trauma.

“It’s Not My Fault” is available on the Wildfire Rose Book Company Website.

Purchase Your Copy Here

You can also donate this book as a gift to CASA workers, DJFS, foster care groups that can use this book in their work with children.

Info Here
Sep30

Day 3 of the 2026 Back to School Blog Tour

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Welcome to day 3 of the Back to School Blog Tour. Today, I have a fantastical, magical surprise for you. It’s Ellie’s Magical Surprise, a picture book that will help beginning readers with their phonics and imagination. Written by Erin Davenport, this beautifully illustrated picture book will sparkle in the minds of any child that wanted to own a unicorn, including myself when I was a child.

Ellie is waking up on what she thinks is a normal day. But after breakfast, she discovers, with help from her mother, someone else living in the horse stables on her farm, a magical unicorn. After exploring each stable, she bonds with the new creature living with the other horses. It’s a pleasant surprise that will enchant any horse owner and child that loves horses.

The first thing that stands out about this picture book is the repeated rhyming words that help with phonics identification for beginning readers. This is a picture book that beginning readers will be able to follow along or read themselves. It brings to mind the early rhyming text used by Dr. Seuss to help children with decoding words. But even better. After exploring the stables on her farm, Ellie discovers a new friend, a unicorn. I am sure the adventures that await them will be enchanting.

I recommend this picture book for teacher’s needing beginning reader books in their reading groups or if teaching reading workshops. It also has a little girl protagonist to give variety in storytelling heroes. The rhyming patterning of the text is great for beginning decoding. It will also be a great fantasy picture book read for parent’s that are homeschooling, especially if your child adores horses and would love to own a unicorn.

Ellie’s Magical Surprise is a beautifully illustrated book that will help any horse-loving child with their phonics and decoding.

This Kindle unlimited book is available on Amazon as a ebook or in print.

Purchase Here!

For more information on Erin Davenport and her other books, visit her author page here.

Sep29

Day 2 of the 2026 Back to School Blog Tour

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Welcome to Day Two of the Back to School Blog Tour. I’m sure about now, thoughts are turning to fall and reading unit planning. I’ve got a wonderful picture book with the theme of kindness and sharing to add to any reading unit. Enyonam’s Kind Heart is a beautifully illustrated picture book told from the perspective of a kind Ghana girl that chooses kindness and transforms her neighborhood. It’s a great book to dive into for this new fall season.

Enyonam is a Ghana girl that lives in a wealthy home, but is gifted with a kind heart. When talking with her grandmother, she learns that sharing often leads to spreading kindness. Through actions of buying oranges from the older market woman with no sales, sharing the oranges as snacks, and showing her cousin how to share, love and kindness spreads in her neighborhood. Her cousin, Ale, also learns the lesson when he finally decides to share his locked up toys with his other classmates.

This is a beautifully told story highlighting Ghana culture, vocabulary and traditions. The culture is reflected in the story and illustrations with loving details. We’re taken into Enyonam’s neighborhood and shown aspects of Ghana that many readers will enjoy learning about. There are very helpful discussion activities and questions at the end of the book which will help any teacher or parent with home schooling.

I found this to be a great introduction to morals and themes in a story as well. Plus, this would be a great picture book to start with the social morals that have to be emphasized in creating the classroom community each school year.

I highly recommend Enyonam’s Kind Heart as a beginning of the year read-aloud or literature circle story to heighten the community building in a classroom or at home.

To purchase the book at the Bright Love Learning Hub website, please hit the button below.

Purchase Here

Sep28

Day 1 of the 2026 Back to School Blog Tour

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Welcome to the 2026 Back to School Blog Tour event. This year, I’ve decided to heavily focus on book reviews to give a fresh look at books that can sweep your child into the world of reading. Each day this week, I’ll be featuring a new book and review ranging from picture books to middle readers. Please bookmark and check back each day to find out about a new book. Like what I’m talking about? Please subscribe!

For the first book review, I’ve chosen a beautiful drawn picture book with a mermaid at its center. “Penny Lane in Florence” is a journey of a mermaid dreaming to become an artist. It’s written and illustrated by the author, Sarah Arias.

Penny Lane has heard the legend of the magical hat given to any aspiring artist in Florence that has real talent. But trying to find the hat is the hard part. Along her journey, she’s helped by flamboyant Italians, a mysterious mouse, her animal friends and her own intuition. Will she be able to find the hat? Or is it something to be earned?

The one thing that strikes me about this book is the beautiful, whimsical artwork. It is amazing! A whole world of fantastical friends and creatures accompany Penny Lane on her adventure. The artwork keeps you anchored in her quest. I really enjoyed seeing the interactions and comical betrayal of her animal friends. It creates a fantastic world of fantasy to dive into.

The book is also divided into chapters to make it easy for beginning readers to join in. It’s a great way to help introduce the chapter structure in stories. There is the strong theme of finding the artist within which goes well with combining literature and art for reading units.

Sarah Arias is the author & illustrator of the picture book, Penny Lane in Florence.

 As far as the plot, Penny seems to find the hat within herself and her artwork which the whole story leads to easily. It is very predictable, which any children’s book should be to an extent. But I think the moment of the discovery could have been more dramatic then nonchalant as it’s shown in the book. A magical moment of self-discovery might have been lost, or it just became less important to her at the end, maybe symbolizing the journey being more important than the hat itself.

Overall, I found it to be a fun, fantasy story to help inspire children to not give-up on their artistic impulses. It does lend itself to the idea of exploring your artistic side and less to trying to find the recognition of being a real artist. I did relate to the action of burying myself in pillows when feeling the artistic rejection or failure. That’s relevant at any age. But that drive to keep going has to be intrinsic, which is delightfully illustrated and told throughout the book.

Children with artistic interest will enjoy this mermaid led adventure in self-discovery.

“Penny Lane in Florence” is available at Amazon.com as a print hardcopy or ebook. It’s recommended for ages 4-8.

Purchase on Amazon

Bookmark this blog and return tomorrow for another book review. Please leave in the comments if you enjoy this week of reviews. It is truly a labor of love to help connect teachers, parents and readers to fabulous Indie children’s authors and their books.

-Tiffany Turner

Editor/Head Writer of the Indie Children’s Authors Connection Blog

Aug31

New 2026 Back to School Blog Tour Dates- Sept. 28th – Oct. 3rd

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Tour sign-ups for the Back to School Blog Tour 2026 are now closed!

Thank you for all the submissions. If your book isn’t chosen for the tour, I keep submissions on file for future reviews and interviews. So, thank you again. Please follow this blog to get all the information on the Back to School Blog Tour.

Also to note, due to a medical incident over the weekend, I am having to postpone the blog tour a few weeks so I can recover. I intend to continue with the tour, get to the reviews and post the planned author interview (s). I am just unable to do much work right now. I’m pretty bummed, but will get to it when I’m able, and will get it up and running by the end of September. 

The new dates for the blog tour are:

September 28th through Oct. 3rd. 

Thank you for your patience. I hope that you all will follow and stick around to find out about all the fabulous books to check out for the new school year of 2026.

-Tiffany Turner

Head Writer/Editor for the Indie Children’s Authors Connection Blog

May29

Interview with Paromita De

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Paromita De is the author of the picture book, “Paromita: The Value In a Name”.

Summer is on the approach. Teachers are thankful for the upcoming break, and parents are wondering what to do when the kids are home full-time. Besides the vacations and outings, consider adding daily book reads to the routine. It helps to keep the skills that were learned during the school year engaged in your child’s brain. Keep your child ahead of the game by keeping up their reading skills this summer. Follow my blog or look over past posts to get some great reading suggestions.

Speaking of suggestions, here’s my first book suggestion to help keep your young ones in that reading frame of mind. “Paromita: The Value In a Name” is a darling, picture book telling the story of a young girl finding confidence and cultural connection with the disrespect done to her name in school. It is a personal connection to the theme of bullying by the author, Paromita De. I had the chance to talk with her about what influenced her as an author, some reading memories, and what she has planned next.

  • What is your favorite memory from reading as a child?

Paromita De: My favorite memory is simply the feeling of getting lost in a story. I loved the magic of opening a book and suddenly being in a whole new world right from my bedroom.

  • Who was your favorite author and how did they influence you?

Paromita De: Jhumpa Lahiri is a writer I deeply admire, and her work is a constant reminder of what I aspire to achieve. Her ability to find deep meaning in ordinary, quiet moments taught me that a story does not need to be loud to be powerful.

  • Do you have a writing routine? Share what works for you.

Paromita De: Some days, I love going to local coffee shops with my laptop and notebook. The environment helps me focus. Other days, I stay cozy at home. I make my own chai, light a candle, and play music to create a peaceful space.

  • What subjects would you like to write about in future projects?

Paromita De: I want to write books that celebrate Indian culture, weaving in the same deep focus on family and identity that I admire in Jhumpa Lahiri’s work. Alongside those, I am excited to create a children’s book series about Paromita’s wisdoms and adventures, helping young readers build confidence and pride.

  • What is writing to you in one sentence?

Paromita De: Writing is my source of joy, healing, and true self-expression.

Blurb: “Paromita: The Value In a Name” by Paromita De

Some kids worry about homework. Paromita worries about her name. When her teacher twists her name into something that sounds like a sputtering car engine, the whole class laughs, and Paromita’s confidence hits the floor. “Paromita” follows a young Indian girl who once loved her beautiful name and the kathak dances she learned from her grandma. But at school, her name becomes a target. Between “Parooometer” and “Parrot,” she decides that life might be easier if everyone just called her “Pat.” Spoiler alert: it isn’t.

What follows is a story about pride, identity, and a seven-yard sari. Paromita finds her voice again at the school talent show, where she performs her kathak dance and tells everyone exactly what her name means, where it comes from, and why mispronouncing it is more than a simple mistake. By the next day, her classmates see her differently, and she learns that being herself is far stronger than trying to fit in.

For more information about the author and her books, please visit her website at: www.paromitadebooks.com

“Paromita: The Value In a Name” is available at: Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com.