My Brother the Frog is featured in Guardian Angel Kids Magazine

Happy New Year All!

Here’s to a happy, healthy new year filled with peace, prosperity, six figure book deals, or what ever else your heart desires.

I’m pleased to let you know that my latest picture book, My Brother the Frog, is being featured in this month’s edition of Guardian Angel Kids online magazine. The theme is siblings. This book is perfect for that theme. It is about a boy who gets mad at his brother and turns him into a frog, and an assortment of other animals as well while trying to change him back.

If you get a chance, please stop by http://www.guardian-angel-kids.com/ to see my book and other stories, games and activities with the little ones in your life.

Regards,

Kevin

Another Great Review for My Brother the Frog

Oh, my poor neglected blog. I think it’s time to make amends.

I’ve been busy with writing-related tech stuff that involved learning some new technology. I don’t have a finished product to show off yet, so I’m afraid the news will have to wait for another time. Sorry to be dropping vague hints, but I like to have something concrete to show off before I make any kind of announcement.

I’ve been neglecting plenty of stuff including writing new material, my critique groups and my website. I still had Halloween references there, yeesh!

Catching up has been a little like playing Whack-A-Mole. All these little things kept popping up, but I’m almost there.

Anyway, I would like to take this opportunity to share another nice review by children’s author, Lori Calabrese, for my latest picture book, My Brother the Frog. Ms. Calabrese has this to say.

MY BROTHER THE FROG is a humorous read that dives into a little sibling rivalry. As I said before, we've all probably imagined turning our brother or sister into a frog, but MY BROTHER THE FROG takes it one step further and really examines what would happen if it actually came to fruition. Kids will get a kick out of the illustrations and parents will enjoy the hidden message that a sibling can actually be your best friend.


To see the full review and other book info, please click on link below.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2IPXLPVCJT00I

Pretty cool feedback if I do say so myself. :-)

Great Review from Stories for Children

Hi All

I received a great review for My Brother the Frog that I wanted to share. Being that writing can be such a solitary pursuit sometimes, getting recognition from other independent people in this field helps makes the effort all the more worthwhile.

This review is from Stories for Children, which says: Overall thoughts: There are many great lessons to learn from this book for kids. For one thing, it can open up some much needed discussion about the problems that siblings have with each other ... Secondly, it can teach kids that there is no point in trying to change their brothers or sisters. All they have to do is accept them for what they are and love them unconditionally. What a great message for kids.

How nice is that? :-)

Please see the link below for the entire review.
http://familiesmatter2us.blogspot.com/2011/10/book-review-my-brother-frog.html

Guest Post at Writers on the Move

Hi All,

Just a quick note to tell you that I have a guest post today on Writer on the Move.  I will be talking about the story behind my latest picture book, My Brother the Frog. If you get a chance, please stop by http://www.writersonthemove.com/ and say hello.

Thank you,

Kevin

Nice Review for My Brother the Frog

Hi All

I'm just coming back from vacation all refreshed and rejuvenated (at least for the rest of the day).  I went to Disney for the first time and really enjoyed myself, almost more than my daughter did.  But I can see that I have been neglecting my blog a little.  Well, to make amends, I'd like to share a nice review I received for My Brother the Frog.  This is from the Children's and Teens' Book Connection where they say:

"I’ve enjoyed every one of McNamee’s books that I’ve read, and My Brother the Frog is no exception. He knows how to reach kids right where they are with fabulous books and unique storylines they’ll enjoy"

How nice is that? (Big Grin)  To see the full review, please click on the link below:
http://childrensandteensbookconnection.wordpress.com/2011/07/30/my-brother-the-frog-by-kevin-mcnamee/

My Brother the Frog has been released

Whoo Hoo!  I am extremely happy to announce that My Brother the Frog has been released.  Below is the media release for this book.  :-)


M E D I A 
R E L E A S E

For Immediate Release







My Brother the Frog by Kevin McNamee: A Fun and Creative Approach to Sibling Rivalry

It’s a chicken! It’s a giraffe! It’s a penguin! It’s my brother? Humor and imagination come together in this entertaining picture book about sibling rivalry.

Sibling rivalry can be a problem in any family. But in this amusing story, a little brother deals with this dilemma in a most unusual way. He changes his brother into a frog. He does have a bit of trouble changing him back though. He manages to change his brother into a variety of animals until he finally gets it right. Meanwhile, he starts to realize how much he cares for his brother, and how much his brother cares for him.
Top notch illustrations by Alexander Morris bring the story to life and help make this book a welcome addition to any home or school library.

So while relationships with siblings may not always be perfect, this book points out some very good reasons to love your family … warts and all, especially if your brother just happens to be a frog.


This book is available as a print book, an E-book, or a book on CD from http://www.guardianangelpublishing.com/brother-frog.htm/

Books are also available from amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, or ask your local bookstore.

Kevin McNamee is a writer and poet living in Yonkers, N.Y., and has never, ever changed anyone into a frog, although there were times that he really wanted to.

Other books by Kevin include: If I Could Be Anything, The Sister Exchange, Lightning Strikes, The Soggy Town of Hilltop and What Is That Thing?

Kevin’s poetry has been published in the collection, An Eyeball in My Garden: And Other Spine-Tingling Poems.

To find out more about Kevin, please visit his website at http://www.kevinmcnamee.com/ or his blog at http://www.kevinmcnameechildrensauthor.blogspot.com/.


Thank you for your time and interest.

###

Counting Down the Days

I just took a look at the interior galley for My Brother the Frog and I’m very happy with the way the book came out. Alexander Morris did an excellent job with the illustrations and really helped to tell the story as well. I’ll let everyone know when the book is finally released. But I think this will be a great “boy book” which deals with sibling rivalry. In my humble opinion, I don’t thing there are enough books written for boys. So I’m happy to add one more into the mix.


On other fronts, this seems to be one of those days where I’m constantly moving, but I’m not getting anywhere. I still need to do some work on my website, do revisions on a new story to submit to my critique group by the end of the month, and put together a cover letter for a new submission. What have I accomplished so far? Not much. But at least I can cross “update my blog” off of my To Do list now. :-)

Sneek Peek at My Brother, the Frog

My virtual book tour group is taking the rest of the summer off and should be starting up again in September. In the meantime, I’ve been working on a couple of poems, a new picture book, and two new mid grade novels. Unfortunately, I don’t feel like I’ve been making an incredible amount of progress on any one of these projects. But my creative process has always been like that. It ebbs and flows like the tide. The only thing I can do is keep plugging away, and the progress will come.

I did want to share a new cover that I’ve received for my picture book, My Brother, the Frog. It’s being illustrated by Alexander Morris. I’ve seen some of the preliminary sketches and it looks like this is going to be a funny book. I don’t have a firm release date yet, but will keep you posted.

Happy Writing!

Kevin

Whoo Hoo Again!

Coming through once again, Guardian Angel Publishing has accepted my picture book manuscript, My Brother, the Frog. There’s no release date yet, but my publisher already has an illustrator in mind. I’ll post more info on this, if the illustrator accepts the project.

In other news, I’ve still been working on online games and have reached a decent sized inventory of games and activities. I plan to launch my site in the fall when my first book, If I Could Be Anything, is released. Right now, I’ve been loading and testing games, but it’s not a working website yet. The following game isn’t going to be on my kid-friendly site, but I couldn’t resist making it once I found out that I could switch the target pretty easily. I figure that adults might get a kick out of this so I’m posting this here. It’s based on whack-a-mole and you have to click the mouse to register hits.

http://www.kevschildrensbooks.com/whack/whackanauthor.html

Also, I wound up winning the contest that Gayle Krause, hosted on her blog

http://thestorytellersscroll.blogspot.com/

The grand prize was an autographed copy of her picture book, Rock Star Santa. Gayle autographed it for my daughter, who was thrilled to see that the book was personalized for her. Rock Star Santa is a modern day “Night Before Christmas. The verse and the illustrations are great, and this would make a fine addition to any child’s library. It’s published by Scholastic for anyone who would like to put a copy under the Christmas tree this year.