Tag Archives: nature walks

Dec5

Interview with Justin Ogden

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With the season changing from fall to winter, we can recognize the huge amount of changes our families, schools and communities have gone through this year. As well, a great way to settle into the change of seasons and welcome the Holiday season is with a good book. I’ve found another jewel to share with your family or your classroom for this December and through the winter.

“Happy Birthday Winter” is a beautifully illustrated picture book that welcomes the changes of the seasons with descriptive language and thoughtful phrases. The author is Justin Ogden. He is a high school special educator and lives in Colorado. He used his love of the outdoors and writing to create a tale that amplifies beauty and change in the environment around us. I had a chance to talk to Justin about his childhood reading memories, his writing routine, and what writing means to him

  1. What is your favorite reading memory as a child?

Justin Ogden: My favorite reading related memory when I was a child was the first time reading “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak. I remember being captivated as my elementary school librarian read this book to my class. It was truly a wonderful and imaginative piece that I still value today.

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

Justin Ogden: My typical writing routine usually stems from good conversation with friends where I can soundboard ideas. I have a few friends in-particular who are authors themselves. I can, and do, text them with ideas. Once I have had the chance to soundboard ideas, I usually think on one for a week or so before I flesh it out in type. Then, I will wait another week before I go back and edit it. This can happen a few times before I bring the idea to David, my friend and illustrator for Happy Birthday Winter. He is a marvelous friend and wealth of knowledge. If he likes the idea, he will usually tell me, or tell me to think on it a while longer. If he likes it, we proceed to talking about the illustrations, and the piece is well on its way.

3. What is writing to you in one sentence?

Justin Ogden: Writing is story telling for people who will never hear your voice.

“Happy Birthday Winter” is a beautifully illustrated picture book that will bring joy and wonder to the changing of the seasons. The characters journey together in a welcome to winter story as they appreciate the changing of the seasons and the nature that surrounds them. This book is a great gift for children that appreciate nature and families to share in the magic of outdoor sports such as hiking. This is a wonderful way to connect and share a love for nature and the great outdoors.

“Happy Birthday Winter” is available to buy through the author’s website.

Oct23

Interview with Lisa Luttrell

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Lisa Luttrell is the author of the book, “The Little Green Armchair and Tales of Echo Forest”.

As the beautiful colors of fall remind us of the seasons’ changes, I wanted to share a beautiful book that helps you and your child take a moment to admire nature and its beauty. This is a great time to connect with nature to ease the turmoil of the world around us. A book is the perfect catalyst for this.

Lisa Luttrell finds inspiration on her nature walks around her home with her trusty Jack Russell terrier, Scout. With her background as a teacher, she uses her writing skill to connect readers to the nature all around us. I had a chance to talk to Lisa about the inspiration for writing her book, The Little Green Armchair and Tales of Echo Forest. Plus, she shared her writing process and her literary choices for this book. Enjoy.

What was your inspiration behind writing The Little Green Armchair and Tales of Echo Forest?  How long did it take you to write it?

Lisa Luttrell: The Little Green Armchair and Tales of Echo Forest took me less than a week and a half to write. My inspirations behind writing this book were based on my own personal experiences. I indeed took a little green armchair from inside my own home and placed it in our acre side yard for my outdoor cat, Violet, to sleep and sit on in the sun. I rescued a little possum in my driveway one evening and took him to a wildlife rescue center only to discover he was at a juvenile age appropriate to jump from his Mother’s back to start his own life and adventures. Lastly, I rescued a little green stinkbug that had fallen into my cat’s outdoor metal water bowl.

What’s your writing process like/challenges you faced while writing this?

Lisa Luttrell: My writing process entails paper interpretation of animals that I have known or owned and puts them into human-like situations. They come alive on paper as little creatures with human emotions such as love, happiness, kindness, intelligence, sorrow and humorous thought processes. I can honestly say that I did not have any challenges in constructing my text for this little book; my ideas seemed to effortlessly appear on paper.

Why did you choose to write this story in a far more literary form than many children’s books? 

Lisa Luttrell: A volume of printed context tells a story. I consider my writing style vintage in the aspect that this fondly was the way children’s books were composed in my reading generation of the mid-1960’s through the early 1970’s. It is within my comfort zone for me to construct.  I love to work with detailed imagery and create a canvas for others to imagine what my characters might look like, how their voices may sound and how lovely Echo Forest truly is.  I want to create a people/animal connection engaged in adventure, display various emotions, present hardships or conflict that are resolved in a sentimental manner. 

The Little Green Armchair and Tales of Echo Forest is a story collection for children to connect to nature through literature. From the Little Green Armchair that provides the catalyst for a new forest to spring forth, to a picnic with possums in Echo Forest and the adventures of The Thirsty Little Stink Bug, your child will become immersed in the bountiful, lush tales of spring and fall in Echo Forest. Take their minds outside into nature with this short story collection.

The Little Green Armchair and Tales of Echo Forest is available at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com.

For more information on Lisa Luttrell, visit her website at: https://www.lingofromlisa.com/.