Category: Tour-WOW (2012)

Title: The Smiley Book of Colors
Author: Ruth Kaiser
Publisher: Random House (Golden Books)
Pages: 32
Pub Date: March 2012

About the book:
The Smiley Book of Colors contains verse written to get parents talking to their children about optimism, specifically about choosing happiness. The photo illustrations–arranged by color–are “Smileys” found hidden in fire trucks, flowers, clouds, even mommy’s latte. Although it is a children’s picture book, A Smiley Book of Colors is really for anyone who needs a burst of happiness in their day.

I am super excited to be an the blog tour for The Smiley Book of Colors by Ruth Kaiser. Not only was I able to review the book (review to come later) but I got the chance to do a Q&A with Ruth. So please help me welcome Ruth to the blog.

Cindy: How did you become involved with Operation Smile?

Spontaneous Smiley started in 2008. By 2009 it was
clear that a community of enthusiastic, happy people
had grown up around the fun of finding Smiley Faces
in everyday objects. It seemed like a “no brainer” to
see if the community could connect with a charity. I
looked around to find a charity where our focus of
SMILING could align with their focus. Operation Smile
was a perfect fit.

Cindy: How did you come up with http://www.spontaneoussmiley.com/abouttheproject.htm?

I had been seeing Smileys my whole life. Along came
the digital camera. With it I could take a picture and
crop it so that anyone could see the Smiley I was
seeing. About this same time I discovered Facebook
and posting my Smileys there was a perfect fit.

Cindy:  After looking through The Smiley book of Colors I was amazed at how often a face would appear, are you still amazed when they pop up for you?

YES! Amazed and delighted. Having the Spontaneous
Smiley concept in the back of your mind means that at
least a couple times a day you get the gift of
discovering a Smiley when you least expect it. It’s a
wonderful tool for a happier life. It is also a gift that
you can give to your child and to your friends. Tell
them about SpontaneousSmiley.com and their world
becomes a little happier!

Imagine how I felt driving down the road to work and
seeing this Smiley Bush in front of this house! Joyous?
Yes, joyous!

Cindy:  Are you surprised at the photos that are sent to you?

Always. I am surprised on a couple of fronts. First
when Smileys are uploaded with captions in a
different language, I am delighted to think that people
of all cultures are embracing the Smiley idea: Be
porous, not Teflon! Soak up every wonderful, beautiful
moment!

And then there’s the surprise that comes from Smileys
found in an object I’d never thought to look at. It’s a
moment of Discovery! I had that feeling when I first
saw a Strawberry Smiley. Duh, strawberries are filled
with Smileys!Doubt that it’s true? Do a little research!
Slice up a basket of strawberries and you’re sure to
find at least one!

Cindy: How can people get involved?

The absolute easiest way is to simply slow down in
your daily life, enough to take in the incredible
wonder that surrounds you. Looking at your world is a
great way to pull yourself out of habitual reliving the
past and worrying about the future! make a point of
looking around, of looking for Smileys. They really are
everywhere!

Cindy: Do you have any future projects/books in the work that you can share with us?

YES! I think of A SMILEY BOOK OF COLORS as a child’s
book of optimism. I have written and am just about to
send off to Random House (my publisher) A SMILEY
BOOK OF NUMBERS, a child’s book of gratitude (as in
count your blessings!).

Cindy: What made you decide to write The Smiley Book of Colors?

I’m a teacher. I always tell my students and parents
that my curriculum is kindness. The Smiley Project is
all about living in a happier, kinder way. I LOVE the
idea of helping parents and children talk about
choosing their behavior and outlook. It really is a
choice. Let’s work together to help kids choose to live
happily!

Thanks so much Ruth for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do this for me and my readers. I am looking forward to sharing this book in the library at my son’s school.

About the Author:
   
Ruth  is proud to be a self-proclaimed, happy-go-lucky, cockeyed optimist! She  is mom to three of the greatest kids ever who, even though they are all  out in the world pretending to be grown-ups, will always be her babies.  Ruth owns a small chain of  preschools called TOT DROP where for 18 years she has been known and  loved as “Teacher Ruth” by hundreds of preschoolers and their parents.  To quote one of her mommies, “Everyone should have a ‘Teacher Ruth’ in  their life!”

Although completely allergic to cats, she is also  completely enamored with them. So Philbert, Noodle, Rooster, and Mr.  Simon have the run of the house and Ruth sits on a plastic chair and  washes her hands a hundred times a day. 

Ruth studied art at the  University of California at Berkeley, but really believes that everyone  is an artist. With excitement she proclaims, “How cool is it that the  Internet has given us all an avenue to share our art!”

Find out more about Ruth by visiting her online:
Website: http://www.spontaneoussmiley.com/
Blog: http://blog.spontaneoussmiley.com/?cat=4

Treasure Hunt Time!

Now it’s time to start searching for Smileys in your neighborhood! When you find one snap a pic and upload it to Spontaneous Smiley (http://spontaneoussmiley.com/) on the “Share Your Smiley” page (http://spontaneoussmiley.com/shareyoursmileys.php) using “WOW” in your Smiley title.

Just one Smiley makes you a Smiley Captain! Not only will you brighten people’s day with your Smiley AND help raise money for Operation Smile, a non-profit organization that helps children with facial deformity receive the surgery they need, but you’ll be entered in a contest just for Ruth’s WOW friends to win a copy of The Smiley Book of Colors. The winner will be announced on Tuesday, April 17! Now grab your camera and start searching for Smileys!

Be sure to check out where Ruth has recently visited:

April 2 at Classic Children’s Books http://familyliteracy2.blogspot.com/ Review and Giveaway

April 5 at Laurie Here www.lauriehere.blogspot.com Interview

April 10 at Laurie Here www.lauriehere.blogspot.com Review

April 11 at White Elephants http://www.seethewhiteelephants.com/ Review by four young readers!

With every Smiley uploaded, the community of enthusiastic Smiley contributors donates $1 to Operation Smile. So far we’ve funded 17 surgeries, one Smiley at a time. You can help. Donate and help us keep the $1 a Smiley pledge alive!

Here in Canada we have smiletrain.org and recently Michael’s school raised $650 towards this fantastic organization and they were able to provide two kids with this much deserved operation. So  this is something worth while. So if you happen to see a picture of a smiley while you are out and about please make sure you download it to  http://spontaneoussmiley.com/shareyoursmileys.php every little bit helps.

I am super excited to be a part of this WOW book tour for West of Wawa. I love reading books that take place in Canada and from authors who are Canadian.  I love discovering books that I might not normally read and this was no exception. All I will say is that I really enjoyed this and my review will be coming shortly.

About the book:
Emotionally battered and bruised, 29-year-old Australian immigrant Benny is looking for escape, not redemption. Escape from herself and the dismal failures of her life: her first solo art exhibition is panned by critics and her husband left her for an Andy Warhol look-alike. Isolated from her family, her career as an abstract artist in ruins, she comes to Canada and finds solace working eighteen hours a day as a graphic designer in a disreputable agency. Numbing her pain with hard work, she self-medicates with prescription meds, and becomes involved in a series of increasingly dubious relationships with ill-suited unreliable men who lead her into danger. Cutting off all ties with normalized daily routines, Benny leaves her job and sets off on a road trip adventure across Canada, hoping she will discover who she wants to be and where she wants to be it.

During the bus trip she discovers junk food, cigarettes, hash and drinks a lot of alcohol. She confuses sexual attraction with love in a series of relationships with loser bad boys and continues to put herself in destructive, potentially dangerous situations. Hardcore, she travels for the most part by Greyhound bus, sinking deeper into the underbelly of a world that offers her the anonymity she seeks. Funny, aggressive, fearless and vulnerable, Benny is a road-warrior with a backpack of opiates, a map and a guileless sense of naiveté. In seventy-two days, she travels nearly ten thousand miles overland and more by flight and train; she’s a determined modern-day pioneer.

This coming-of-age novel is narrated with wry humour and filled with a cast of engaging characters. A tale of sexual adventure and feminist learning, Benny looks for escape but emerges a heroine instead; with mistakes, epiphanies and friendships helping forge her a home and a sense of identity in the true North.

About the author

Originally from South Africa, Lisa has been a Canadian citizen since 2003–although she still retains a lilting voice that causes fellow Canadians to ask, “You aren’t from Canada, eh?” With a Bachelor’s of Arts in English Literature and Philosophy, Lisa has also lived and worked in the United States, Australia, and Great Britain.

Lisa thought she was on her way to fame and fortune when the South African edition of Cosmopolitan bought two of her poems in 1986. Sadly, the road to being a published writer was not as easy as she had hoped! Throughout her writing career, Lisa has tried her hand at everything from children’s picture books to short stories to novellas to feature magazine articles. Her first novel, The Hungry Mirror, which won an IPPY Gold Medal for Women’s Fiction 2011, was inspired by her work as art director for magazines including Vogue and Marie Claire. Lisa is now working on her next novel, Between the Cracks She Fell.

Find out more about Lisa by visiting her online:
Author website: http://www.lisadenikolitswriter.com/
Art design website: http://www.lisadenikolitsdesign.com/