Monthly Archives: October 2012

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 20

IN THE NEWS

NEWS AND INFORMATION FROM THOSE WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN OUR WORLD AND IN OUR LIVES http://bit.ly/SurHxz

Award Winning Author Diane Mae Robinson Releases New Children’s Book, ‘Sir Princess Petra’

Written in the tradition of C. S. Lewis and reminiscent of ‘Shrek’, reviewers have labeled the award winning book a ‘fantasy adventure that is sure to become a timeless classic.’

Canadian author Diane Mae Robinson has released her latest children’s book, ‘Sir Princess Petra’. ‘Sir Princess Petra’, the first book in the Pen Pieyu adventures, features surprising plot twists and turns, brilliant flashes of humor, zany characters and is rooted in timeless values that shine through the charismatic main character.

The book has received a number of high-level book awards including second place in Purple Dragonfly Book Awards for Children’s Chapter Book, and was awarded 5 stars by Readers Favorite. Robinson was awarded the Lieutenant Governor Of Alberta Arts Emerging Artists Awards for Children’s Book Author and was recently chosen as a finalist for ’50 Great Writers You Should Be Reading’.

Robinson believes that “by instilling kindness, understanding, and respect in our children, they will be able to make their difficult situations easier and accomplish what they set out to do in a better way.”

“Dragon books,” stated Ms. Robinson, “have always been a passion of mine. Including a dragon as a secondary character in my fantasy/adventure series just seemed natural.”

Dragon books are one of the most popular segments of fantasy fiction and children’s books in today’s marketplace. Here, in this fantasy fiction work, Robinson uses the dragon books concept as the background to teaching young people traditional values. In the story line, Princess Petra’s unusual birthday request to become a royal knight sends the royal court into a frenzy. But when she agrees to undertake a knight’s quest, not even the royal rulebook, with its list of outrageous knight deeds, can dissuade her. Armed with a cake knife and a suit of the best royal pots and pans, Petra chooses to hush the howling dragon, Snarls, in the Forest of Doom and win her real armour. Ms. Robinson’s highly praised work demonstrates that dragon books can be something much more than dragon books.

“Snarls is a dragon,” continued Robinson, “that every reader will love: he is witty, comical, and endearing.  He may even set a new standard for dragons in dragon books.”

Ms Robinson is available for media interviews and can be reached using the information below or by email at robinsond@mscnet.ca. More information, including reviews, information for teachers and librarians and a special children’s section is available at her website. ‘Sir Princess Petra’ is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Tate Publishing.

About Diane Mae Robinson:

Diane Mae Robinson has a journalism diploma from the Schools of Montreal, and an advanced diploma from the Institute of Children’s Literature in Connecticut.  She is also an artist, and teaches acrylic and watercolor art to children. She lives with her husband, Allen, in a small hilltop castle near St. Paul, Alberta.  They have four dogs and three horses, along with a forest inhabited by gnomes, fairies, a princess, and a dragon. This magical forest is where Diane creates her characters and gets the inspiration for her stories.

Contact:

Diane Mae Robinson
http://www.dragonsbook.com
robinsond@mcsnet.ca POSTED BY DON MCCAULEY AT 7:55 AM 

All About Snarls, The Dragon

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Dragons are just cool!

I have always loved dragons in books, movies, or where ever I happen to come across them. Hence, I write adventure/fantasy books for kids that has a dragon in the stories.

Snarls is the dragon. He is a secondary character in my series, The Pen Pieyu Adventure.

Snarls, being good.

When the reader is first introduced to Snarls, the howling dragon in the Forest of Doom, in book one, he is portrayed as many of his kinfolk: a howling, mean, fire-breathing, eye- brow singing menace.

But, alas, he is not really that way. He just got a bad rap due to the reputations of some other bad dragons in some other people’s books.

Once the reader gets to know Snarls and gives him a chance, just as Petra the main character of the series did, I’m pretty sure they will quite like him.

In fact, Petra and Snarls are the best of friends now. Which goes to show, if you treat a dragon right, good things can come of it.

Petra and Snarls go through the series having the best adventures. They do get into some zany, and somewhat scary, situations though. But  they make a great team and together they can get through anything. And Snarls, with his witty comments, makes the adventure stories that much more fun.

Here are some little known facts about Snarls:

1. He loves to cook.

2. His birthday is Oct 23rd.

3.He carries a resume.

4.Snarls lives in the Forest of Doom near Dragon Mountain. It sound scary at first, but you must know all the facts .His last name is Doom. So the Forest of Doom isn’t quite as scary once you know that the forest belongs to the Doom family and is not a forest full of doom.

5. He loves shiny, sliver things. Petra gave him her makeshift pots and pans armour in book one, and he polishes it daily.

6. His fire breathing doesn’t always work properly—when he get’s nervous, he lets out uncontrollable surges of fire, and when he is trying to be scary, he just huffs out wads of something that looks like shredded parchment.

7. He is somewhat of a scaredy-cat of a dragon, but if he feels he must protect Petra (Petra, the Princess Knight, usually never needs protecting), he summons up courage and shows his brave side.

Snarls has become quite the charismatic character in this series, and he has started to receive fan mail. Yes, fan mail to a dragon. I will post his first fan mail letter next week. Very, very interesting, indeed.

If you would like to know more about Snarls and the other characters in this adventure series, go here: http://www.dragonsbook.com/for-kids.html  There is a free coloring book to download also.

The Pen Pieyu Adventures is a four book adventure/fantasy series with zany characters and lots of humor. Book one, Sir Princess Petra was released January, 2012. Book 2, Sir Princess Petra’s Talent is forthcoming January, 2013. I am presently working on book three.

To read the reviews for Sir Princess Petra, go here: http://www.dragonsbook.com/reviews.html

Book 1 & 2 Synopsis

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Synopsis book 1, Sir Princess Petra – The Pen Pieyu Adventures

At Longstride Castle, in the Kingdom of Pen Pieyu, it is Princess Petra’s ninth and royal birthday. Her father, King Longstride, has promised her anything her heart desires.Petra chooses to become a royal knight and protect her kingdom. (Thus far, Longstride castle has no knights as all of the silly soldiers are still trying to become knights.)

After much commotion in the royal throne room, King Longstride has no choice but to grant her request. The royal rule book says nothing about a girl becoming a knight but only that the proposed knight must perform a deed from a list of three. The choices are: to capture a crocodile and make his skin into a royal leather chair; to hush the howling, nasty dragon, Snarls, in the Forest of Doom or to eat a roomful of raw onions.

Petra chooses to hush the howling, nasty dragon, Snarls. Outfitted in the best royal pots and pans,Petra heads off into the Forest of Doom with nothing more than her cake knife sword and a sack of onions to search out the dragon.

After a few strange encounters in the Forest of Doom,Petra finally confronts Snarls; and after some onion-throwing and eyebrow-singeing, she discovers not all is as it seems. Snarls is howling because his tail is stuck under a pile of fallen rocks, not because he is mean and nasty.  Petra helps Snarls escape his predicament, and the two become fast friends.

Petra returns to the castle to announce her accomplishment of hushing the howling dragon and, thus, gains her real armour. Thereafter, she is forever known as Sir Princess Petra.

Of course,Petra and Snarls go on to have more adventures and encounter other zany characters: Bograt, the bog witch; Prince Nastybun and his midget army; and Letgo, the crocodile.

And Pen Pieyu Kingdom has never been the same.

Book Teaser, book 2, Sir Princess Petra’s Talent – The Pen Pieyu Adventure

Sir Princess Petra has already proven she is a kind and noble knight. This, however, does not please the king and queen—they want her to behave like a princess and forget this silly knight nonsense of hers!

But when the king writes a new rule in the royal rule book that requires her to attend Talent School and acquire a princess talent certificate or suffer the spell of the royal magician,Petra, reluctantly, agrees to go.  But who could have guessed what Sir Princess Petra’s Talent would be?

Book 2 forthcoming January, 2013.

Read more about this multi-award winning dragon books for children series: www.dragonsbook.com