about the book
Young Turkey Tot saunters the farm, looking for something yummy to eat when he spots a tree filled with vines. Fat juicy blackberries hang from the tendrils. Turkey Tot and his friends, Chick, Hen, and Pig, are thrilled.
But the berries are too high to reach. While the other three give up and wonder off to nap, the young turkey ponders how to get his beak on the fruit.
Searching the farm, he finds everyday stuff to work with. With string, he envisions using balloons to float up to the berries. Pig, Hen and Chick think his idea is cockamamie and chortle, “You’re talking silly talk. We can’t reach the berries, and that is that.” Using a board, Turkey Tot plans to fling himself from a teeter-totter. His lazy friends laugh at him again. Turkey Tot thinks sticks will make the perfect ladder. Again, his buddies pooh-pooh the idea.
Becoming more determined, the persistent bird studies all the stuff he has gathered (a hammer, two tin cans, some string, and a few nails) and comes up with the perfect idea—stilts!
In no time his basket is filled with plump berries—and he shares them with his friends! It doesn’t take long for his buddies to change their tune. After all, says Hen, Turkey Tot has been “different since the day he hatched,” and this time she means it as a real compliment!
about the author
Six-foot-four George Shannon is a witty man who wears size thirteen shoes. His favorite proverb is “less is more,” and for the last forty years his passion has been to share humorous stories using the fewest words possible. He has gotten very good at this. So far, he has published over forty books, thirty of which are children’s picture books.
George was born the oldest of four boys in Caldwell, Kansas, a small town surrounded by wheat fields. His mother stayed at home to care for the rambunctious boys; his father was his high school principal and, later on, a college professor. Both parents read to their sons all the time. Though they couldn’t afford many books, they made many trips to the library.
Young George loved creating stories and was soon labeled a day dreamer. At sixteen, he submitted his first picture book manuscript… and received his very first rejection letter!
It took eleven more years before his first book was accepted. During that time, he earned a bachelor’s in education and library science, and a master’s in children’s literature and services. For many years he worked as a children’s librarian in both elementary school and public libraries. He also became a noted storyteller and wrote about folklore for adults.
Now he spends his time writing children’s books, reading children’s books, teaching classes and workshops about writing children’s books, and buying children’s books…lots and lots of them!
George lives on Bainbridge Island in Washington State with an old cat named Thelma Louise and all sorts of deer, raccoons, birds, and slugs in and around his garden. These last creatures are not pets…but are great inspiration!
Sources:
Author website
Author biography: Amazon
Author biography: Banana Peelin’
Also by George Shannon:
Who Put the Cookies in the Cookie Jar? Henry Holt. 2013.
A Very Witchy Spelling Bee. Harcourt Children’s Books. 2013.
Rabbit’s Gift. Harcourt Children’s Books. 2007.
White Is for Blueberry. Harper Collins. 2005.
Wise Acres. Handprint Books. 2004.
Tippy-Toe Chick, Go! Greenwillow. 2003.
about the illustrator
Jennifer K. Mann is an architect, a children’s book illustrator, an author, and the proud caregiver to a husband, two children, six chickens, three cats, one very small dog named Cody, and one very huge pup named Lottie. She makes her home in Bainbridge Island, just across the Puget Sound from Seattle.
After earning a bachelor’s in history and fine arts from Hamilton College, Jennifer went on to earn a master’s in architecture from the University of Oregon in 1991. After working for other firms, she opened her own, the Jennifer Mann Design Company.
But what she really wanted to do was write and illustrate children’s books. She found her inspiration from her childhood memories and her own children’s adventures and antics, as well as the silly things their menagerie got into.
Her first published work included illustrations for her fellow Bainbridge Island resident, famed author George Shannon. She illustrated his book Turkey Tot. In April of this year (2014), look for Two Speckled Eggs. It is the very first published book she both wrote and illustrated.
Jennifer isn’t into computer and digital artwork. She uses scraps of paper, messy paints, stubby pencils, lots of intuition, and a healthy pinch of serendipity to create her whimsical illustrations.
Sources:
Illustrator website
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