:) A New Baby Board Book - and Giveaway! :)

OMG!                              
I M Byond :)
2day’s the day I shout to the World:
this week Sleeping Bear Press
releases my baby board book
Txtng Mama Txtng Baby!

You read that title right:

Txtng Mama Txtng Baby.

Thanks to their parents’ hand-held devices, tablets and computers, Babies everywhere are tapping or thumbing keyboards and finger-swiping screens, honing digital skills while living their Baby lives.

What fun I had bringing this newest of worlds to the sturdy pages of the ultimate hand-held device: the baby board book.
What fun it was adding that human touch to Touch Technology.

Be sure to read to the end of this post to learn how two TeachingAuthor readers can win a free copy of Txtng Mama Txtng Baby.

I love so many things about this 4” x 6 ½” book, starting with the cheery cover and the ♥ key on the keyboard.

I love the story- a playful through-the-day conversation between Mama and Baby that invites interaction.
I love the telling – tunefully-ordered familiar text phrases, such as I C U and xxooo, that beg to be repeated.
I love the illustrations – baby-friendly emoticons that instantly bring smiles.
I love the smart-phone-look-alike design, so readers and listeners can turn (or swipe) the pages.

Most of all, I love the book’s dedication:  “2 n 4 Gabriel.”   

In truth, my grandson gifted me with this book before he was born.

Awaiting his arrival, my Baby Antennae rose far and wide. Everywhere I looked I saw Mamas thumbing their hand-held devices and nearby, Babies finger-swiping the same.
Texting Mamas, I said to myself.
Texting Babies.
What was up with THAT?

In time I read the handwriting on the wall and it was written in text!

Cartoon ©2013 Harry Bliss; Used with permission.

Fortunately by then, the four words texting Mamas texting Babies had become a refrain that book-ended a dialogue that eventually gave birth to a baby board book.
The vision and efforts of my Sleeping Bear Press publisher Heather Hughes, editor Amy Lennex and art director Jennifer Bacheller contributed immeasurably to the book’s singular look and telling, not to mention its caring delivery.

Of course, anyone who knows me, and not even well, knows I am The Least Likely Person to Have Created This Book.

(I texted my very first message January 18, 2013, at 2:13 pm, three years after entertaining the idea behind this book.)
Research uncovered my Techy ID - “digital immigrant.”
I have the heart of a Luddite. 
Technology and I don’t play well together.

Ironically, my very first foray into children’s book writing was another baby board book, inspired by my grandson’s Poppy, my then one-year-old son, in 1976: THE A TO Z OF ME.

I’d created a personalized ABC book, with plastic inserts for renewable photos, to capture a baby’s loves and life.
Publishers and toy companies embraced the abecedarian story but regrettably turned it down due to my telling’s exorbitant manufacturing costs.
“The technology simply isn’t available,” one company executive told me, “to produce this book and make a profit.”
Who knew what was coming down the pike?!
By the early part of this 21^st century, the Internet offered any parent free software and POD opportunities to help create and publish a personalized ABC book for his or her child.

So here’s one more thing I love about Txtng Mama Txtng Baby: 2day’s Techy-Techy World is my story!
And my message remains the same: Mama ♥ Baby.

Be sure to return Wednesday, for a Writing Workout that utilizes this newest of languages - text, then again on Friday when I share not only a text-written poem to honor Poetry Friday, but truths I gleaned from my research on Babies, Toddlers, Texting and Technology.

10 Q 4 letting me share my Good News.

Feel free to tweet it 2 and add it to your Facebook page. J

C U Wednesday 4 a WWW!

Esther Hershenhorn

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And now, for the Book Giveaway Details!

Once again we’re using Rafflecopter to give away two signed copies of Txtng Mama Txtng Baby (Sleeping Bear Press)! 

If you've never entered a Rafflecopter giveaway, you may want to read HERE about how it words.  And click HERE to learn the difference between signing in with Facebook vs. signing in with your email address.

You’ll see you have three different options for entering the giveaway: you can pick one or up to all three.  The more options you choose, the greater your chances of winning. (If you received this post via email, you can click on the Rafflecopter link at the end of this message to enter.) 

If you enter via a comment to this blog post, please tell us your favorite emoticon--think the : and ) that create a smiling face, or an initialism, such as OMG.

The giveaway will run from today, August 5, through August 13, 2013. To celebrate the arrival of the book in the warehouse, we've extended the giveaway through August 20, 2013! Winners will now be notified August 21, 2013.

Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway