Willoughby is excited to welcome you to the Christian Children’s Book Scavenger Hunt STOP #8! Woo Hoo! If you are just joining us, please begin at https://lisatawnbergren.com/2019/09/childrens-book-scavenger-hunt-stop-1/ to collect the clues in order, so you’re able to get in the running to win one of three sets of books!
The hunt runs from 9/13 at noon Mountain time until 9/15 at midnight Mountain. This contest is open to international entrants.
Willoughby’s new book is Willoughby Goes A Wee Bit Batty. In this story, Willoughby meets a friend with a special need.
Back Cover Copy:
Willoughby loves looking at his fabulous treasure trove every night before going to bed. One evening, he hears a CRASH outside. A mysterious creature has flown into his back-scratching tree and needs help. What will Willoughby do? Help a new friend or protect his Treasure?
Willoughby is a young, somewhat clumsy, gentle dragon who is learning to live and interact with friends from the Meadow near his home in the Land of Dern. In this picture book series for ages 4-8, Willoughby learns about friendship, getting along with creatures different from himself, and discovers he can do things he never thought he could.
Willoughby Goes A Wee Bit Batty is different from the first two stories. In Batty, Willoughby meets a bat, Woodside, who has damaged radar, making him “blind” in a sense.
Why did I choose to include a special needs character? Special needs are a normal part of my life. My oldest daughter, Anna, is on the autism spectrum, has extreme mental retardation (she’s 28 years old, but functions at a low 18 months), a blood disorder, and a rare seizure disorder called Lennox Gastaut Sydrome, which is incurable and almost impossible to control. Anna’s seizures are not controlled. She has 2-5 every day, sometimes more, especially when the barometric pressure changes.
Anna attends an adult day care, and I’m involved with parties and crafts and other activities, so I’ve gotten to know the kids and several of the moms. People with special needs are everywhere, so why don’t we see more in stories? I’m not sure. But for me, it’s as natural as breathing to include characters with special needs in my writing. Woodside will not be the only character with a special need. We’ll meet Bart, the troll under the bridge who has Tourette Syndrome, and a few more I’m working on. And Willoughby makes friends with them all.
Willoughby is all about friendship. Showing kindness to creatures different from himself. Kids like to imitate characters they enjoy, so my goal with Willoughby is to give them a fun character they can be like, enjoying his adventures, and making the world around them a friendlier place!
My illustrator is my best friend, Kim Sponaugle. We work together on all Willoughby’s stories. For Batty, Kim realized the illustrations were a bit dark since bats are nocturnal. She wondered how she could lighten them up, aside from the moon, stars, and fireflies. She came up with bio-luminescent mushrooms, so we did some research, and besides Kim adding them to many of the illustrations, I also wrote up some information about bioluminescent things and added it to the back of the book. This was our unplanned first step into STEM. We’re hoping school/library visits will come out of it, and we’re looking forward to doing more fun things that include other STEM information in a story kids will enjoy reading over and over.
THE NEXT CLUE FOR THE SCAVENGER HUNT TO WRITE DOWN IS: it. You
LINK TO THE NEXT STOP IN THE HUNT: http://www.sarahparkerrubio.com/ccbsh-stop9/
*Extra prize! Leave a comment and let us know if you loved or hated science to be entered into a drawing for a Grow Your Own Glowing Mushrooms kit! (This drawing is not part of the final prizes for the Scavenger Hunt – it’s Willoughby’s personal prize and will be closed on 9/15 at midnight EST)
**As an added bonus, come back here tomorrow and Sunday for additional posts and prizes (not part of the Scavenger Hunt)!
COVER REVEAL ~ The Invisible Files
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8/21/2024
INTERVIEW with Illustrator Kim Sponaugle
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6/12/2024
So Many New Worlds Giveaway
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1/20/2024
DRAGONS AND DRINKS
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9/12/2023
COVER REVEAL ~ Water's Break
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8/3/2023
RELEASE DAY for Perchance to Dream!
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5/1/2023
COVER REVEAL - Winter of the Bees
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1/17/2023
BLOG TOUR ~ A Superhero for Christmas
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11/2/2022
COVER REVEAL ~ The Island Siege
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10/25/2022
Who's the Monster?
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10/10/2022
AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Kaylena Radcliff
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9/30/2022
Tales From the Tower
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6/7/2022
COVER REVEAL ~ Tales From the Tower
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4/2/2022
COVER REVEAL - A Matter of Blood
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3/22/2022
COVER REVEAL - Son of the Shield
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3/8/2022
COVER REVEAL - Quell the Nightingale
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7/29/2021
Blog Tour for AZRIEL
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6/15/2021
COVER REVEAL - The King's Spell
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6/10/2021
Blog Tour for TRAITOR
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4/20/2021
COVER REVEAL - Seaspoken
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3/30/2021
I'M DOING SOMETHING NEW
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3/16/2021
Blog Tour for LAMENT
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1/29/2021
COVER REVEAL - Lament
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9/24/2020
COVER REVEAL - The Soda Pop Wars
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8/3/2020
COVER REVEAL - Azriel
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7/8/2020
Blog Tour for BURN
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5/21/2020
COVER REVEAL - Burn
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4/9/2020
BLOG TOUR - Shadow Light
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4/6/2020
COVER REVEAL - Shadow Light
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3/24/2020
New and Fun Things!
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1/15/2020
Christmas Specials!
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12/12/2019
Blog Tour - DEAR AUTHOR
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12/9/2019
The Great - a truly unique picture book
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12/2/2019
COVER REVEAL - Dear Author
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11/4/2019
FAIRYEATER Birthday Prizes
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10/26/2019
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FAIRYEATER!
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10/25/2019
FAIRYEATER Birthday Week - Day Four
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10/24/2019
FAIRYEATER Birthday Week - Day Three
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10/23/2019
FAIRYEATER Birthday Week - Day Two
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10/22/2019
FAIRYEATER Birthday Week - Day One
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10/21/2019
SECOND BONUS POST for the Children's Book Scavenger Hunt
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9/15/2019
FIRST BONUS Post for the Children’s Book Scavenger Hunt
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9/14/2019
Children’s Book Scavenger Hunt: Stop #8
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9/12/2019
BLOG TOUR - World Building in Curse Bound
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7/10/2019
BLOG TOUR - KEEN
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7/4/2019
COVER REVEAL - Keen
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6/6/2019
COVER REVEAL - Heart of the Curiosity
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5/24/2019
Interview With Spencer Meadow Press
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5/17/2019
Happy Half Birthday, Fairyeater!
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4/25/2019
ENCIRCLED Blog Tour
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4/10/2019
Blog Tour - FLARE
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3/5/2019
February is Fairyeating Month!
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2/6/2019
The INSPY Awards
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1/29/2019
Cover Reveal - FLARE
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1/18/2019
Rothana Blog Tour - Mythology
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11/27/2018
Black Friday/Christmas Sale!
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11/23/2018
Cover Reveal - Rothana
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11/6/2018
Release Day for Fairyeater!
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10/25/2018
Blog Tour for Fairyeater Starts Today!
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10/22/2018
Blog Tour - Paws, Claws, and Magic Tales
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10/1/2018
Blog Tour - Kill the Beast
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9/17/2018
COVER REVEAL DAY!!
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8/31/2018
Almost Cover Reveal Time!
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8/24/2018
Willoughby's New Bling!
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8/2/2018
The Realm Awards Finalists' FB Party!
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6/15/2018
Mechanical Animals, Mechanical Animials, Mechanical Animals
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6/5/2018
Book Review - SINKING
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4/23/2018
Author Spotlight - Imani Ariana Grant
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4/16/2018
Blog Tour - Exordia
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4/10/2018
Willoughby Wednesday - The Realm Awards!
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4/4/2018
Willoughby Wednesday - Cover Reveal!
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3/28/2018
Blog Tour MYTHICAL DOORWAYS
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3/27/2018
Willoughby Wednesday Sneak Peek!
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2/28/2018
Blog Tour COMMON by Laurie Lucking
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2/5/2018
Manuscript Monday - a new beginning
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1/22/2018
Realm Makers, here I come!
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7/25/2017
Katie Morford and her amazing Author's Toolkit!
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6/26/2017
Willoughby In New York!
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5/31/2017
Willoughby's Illustrator is Having a Map Drawer Clean Out!
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5/25/2017
Blog Tour - Jill Hackman
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5/24/2017
Willoughby Wednesday 5-17-17
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5/17/2017
Manuscript Monday, May 15, 2017
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5/15/2017
Fantasy Fhoto Friday 5-12-17
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5/12/2017
Manuscript Monday May 8th
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5/8/2017
Blog Tour - Rachel Lopez
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5/4/2017
New Schedule!
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5/1/2017
Willoughby's Dragon Party
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4/2/2017
Willoughby Loves to go Visiting!
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3/24/2017
Fun Facts about Willoughby
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3/16/2017
Willoughby's Facebook Party!
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3/14/2017
Cover Reveal Day!
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3/6/2017
Willoughby's Coming!
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2/27/2017
Those pesky revisions
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10/2/2014
Contract signed!
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8/16/2014
My Writing Process Blog Tour
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5/26/2014
New Location
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5/19/2014