Books, Kids & Creations with Tracy Blom

Tracy sits down with veterinarian and author Melissa Shapiro to discuss her new children's book, Piglet Comes Home. Piglet’s story has been featured in PEOPLE Magazine, NBC NIGHTLY NEWS, CNN, GMA3, CBS NEWS, THE DODO and more!   PIGLET’S REAL-LIFE STORY: Piglet, the deaf-blind pink puppy is a double dapple dachshund chihuahua mix rescued from a hoarding situation. When veterinarian Melissa Sh...

Kathleen Macferran is a facilitator, author, teacher, Certified Trainer and Assessor for the Center for Nonviolent Communication and the owner of Strength of Connection. She has spent much of her life bringing harmony to communities through music, including two decades as a classical music conductor and seven years as a public-school music teacher.   Kathleen loves children and believes...

Join Tracy as she sits down with Miry Whitehill and Jennifer Jackson, creators of the new book, Our World is a Family.    From the creators of Miry’s List, the nonprofit that has helped thousands of people arriving in the U.S. as refugees comes an all-ages story about compassion and human connection. Our World is a Family is a bea   Our World is a Family is a picture book...

Join Tracy as she sits down with award-winning author, Jennifer Swanson. Science Rocks! And so do Jennifer Swanson’s books. She is the award-winning author of over 45 nonfiction books for children. Using her background in science and history that she received from the U.S. Naval Academy, and her M.S. in Education, Jennifer excels at taking complex facts and making them accessible, compelling, and...

Do you love elephants? Yeah, we do too! Join Tracy as she interviews author Kim Tomsic, discussing her beautifully written, captivating book, The Elephants Come Home.  Kim Tomsic is a word wrangler, exclamation point enthusiast, and parallel parking champion who loves animals, especially her dog Sushi. Kim is the author of the Crystal Kite award-winning novel,  The 11:11 Wish,  foll...

After holding corporate marketing positions for over 30 years, Jean Derespina fulfilled a dream in 2014 and founded The Marketing Gig LLC. An avid writer, her business focus is on digital content. Jean provides blogs, email campaigns, flyers &  brochures, white papers, case studies, newsletters, and web copy for her clients.  In January 2015, Jean’s life was changed when she was a vi...

Join Tracy as she interviews children's author, theatre teacher, and director, Seana Walsh.  Seána Walsh lives in a little house called Dandelion Burrow in the wilds of Western Massachusetts. She’s worked as an elementary school teacher for the last twenty years and runs a program teaching children to write and produce their own musicals. She also runs a camp called Shiprock and Anchordog. &n...

Anna Lazowski wrote her first picture book for a sixth-grade assignment and has been creating stories ever since. Anna is the author of T-Rexes Can't Tie Their Shoes, a hilarious ABC book for kids.  Learn more about Anna’s writing at  annalazowskibooks.com, and follow  her on Twitter at @anna_lazowski

CREEK Stewart:  Survival Instructor, Author, Host Creek’s life-long study of outdoor living and survival skills is backed by 1000′s of man-hours in the field. He has been featured on/in The TODAY Show, INSIDE EDITION, Fox & Friends, Men’s Fitness Magazine, Backpacker Magazine, Outdoor Life Magazine, WGN-TV, WISH-TV 8, The Weather Channel, LIVING READY Magazine, American Survival Guide, an...

Holiday Train Exhibit at The Krohn Conservatory in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Krohn Conservatory is a plant lover’s dream, featuring over 1000 varieties of plants from all over the world. During the Holiday season,  it transforms into a botanical winter wonderland featuring colorful poinsettias, train exhibits, and miniature replicas of Cincinnati landmarks created by Applied Imagination. Join Tra...

Dr. Kathlyn (Kara) Cooney is a professor of Egyptian Art and Architecture at UCLA and chair of its Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. Her academic work focuses on death preparations, social competition, and gender studies. She appeared as a lead expert in the popular Discovery Channel special "The Secrets of Egypt's Lost Queen" and produced and wrote Discovery's Out of Egypt. The a...

Jacqueline Davidson Kopito received a B.A. from Syracuse University and a Master’s in Corporate and Public Communications, with honors, from Seton Hall University. She has written numerous articles for TWINS Magazine, the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, and local newspapers. An identical twin herself, when Jacqueline is not binge-watching Netflix, talking to her sisters (and Mom & Dad), prac...

Thomas Dambo is considered the world’s leading recycle artist and is famous for his various art installations worldwide, most notably his recycled troll sculptures. Thomas’s vision is to create art that inspires people to explore and have adventures in nature while showing people that trash can be turned into something beautiful. His work has reached millions of people through photos, videos and s...

FLORENZA LEE is an author, publisher, narrative coach, transformational speaker, radio talk show host, Master Storyteller, wife, mother, and advocate for our Nation's Veterans. Her Children's books focus on Social-Emotional Learning. Her dynamic characters immediately capture the readers' attention, and her lessons remain long after the book is closed. The tagline for her coaching business is, "…l...

Geoff Rodkey is the New York Times best-selling author of ten children’s books, including a collaboration with comedian Kevin Hart, Marcus Makes a Movie that just hit The New York Times Bestseller list. Geoff’s also the Emmy-nominated screenwriter of Daddy Day Care and RV, among other films. His new novel, Lights Out in Lincolnwood, poses the question: who are we when the lights go out? And when e...

Tracy has over 20 years’ experience in marketing and branding in nonprofit, hospitality and consumer goods industries. Today she is part of a small team of 15 that have the privilege of working for the Dollywood Foundation, in particular Dolly’s flagship program, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. This early childhood literacy program began in 1995 and helps to inspire the love of reading in over...

Erin Winick is a maker, engineer, writer, entrepreneur, science fashionista, and science communicator. Her passion is helping people engage with science and engineering in new ways, and communicating complex science topics. Erin works as a science communicator for the International Space Station, communicating the science performed aboard the orbiting laboratory. She assigns, writes, and edits sto...

PIGLET The Unexpected Story of a Deaf, Blind, Pink Puppy and His Family by Melissa Shapiro, DVM with Mim Eichler Rivas In the tradition of the beloved New York Times bestsellers Marley and Me and Oogy: The Dog Only a Family Could Love, a charming, inspirational memoir about empathy, resilience, kindness, and an adorable deaf blind pink dog. When Connecticut veterinarian Melissa Shapiro gets a call...

As a child, Tamara Robertson spent a large amount of time with her father watching Star Trek and tinkering in the garage – rebuilding engines, up – keeping the family cars, and building / renovating homes. She learned her love of machinery, as well as all things technical, from her time working with her dad.  With a sharp mind for detail and efficiency, Tamara was able to quickly excel in her...

John and Irene have written countless books and pieces for stage and screen, including Agnes of God, Choices of the Heart, Hook’s Tale, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, and many more. Irene O’Garden has won or been nominated for prizes in nearly every writing category from stage to e-screen, hardcovers, children’s books as well as literary magazines and anthologies. Her critically- acclaimed play Wom...

Ever wonder what it is like to create a theme park, or design a roller coaster?? Join Tracy for another episode of Books, Kids & Creations where she speaks with Owner and Founder of the International Theme Park Services, Dennis Speigel. Mr. Speigel's early beginnings in 1960 as a ticket taker / seasonal employee at Coney Island Amusement Park (Cincinnati, Ohio) were the impetus behind his deci...

CALLING ALL DOG LOVERS!!! New York Times bestselling authors SQuire Rushnell and Louise DuArt return with the beloved Godwink series (over 1.5M copies in print) with an inspiring dog-focused collection of true stories called Dogwinks (5/4/21). Every chapter focuses on a different, real-life canine who positively impacted their human family’s lives in a miraculous way. The Hollywood Reporter recent...

In this fun-filled interview Tracy speaks with Patrick Quinn about empowering kids, creating environments to encourage learning, and brain-foods that can keep your child going! Patrick Quinn is a parenting expert at Brainly, the world’s largest online learning community. He’s the father of three school-age kids and is also a former middle school special education teacher. Patrick has lived in New...

Loretta Claiborne was born partially blind, intellectually challenged, and unable to walk or talk until the age of four. Eventually, though, she began to run. And before she knew it, she had crossed the finish line of twenty-six marathons, twice placing among the top one-hundred women in the Boston Marathon. She introduced President Bill Clinton at the 1995 Special Olympics World Summer Games, won...

STAR WARS FANS GET READY..... This interview will be out of this world!!! Elsa Charretier is a French comic book writer, illustrator and comic book artist who has worked on a number of Star Wars projects so far, mainly Star Wars Adventures from IDW Publishing and its spin-off mini-series Star Wars: Forces of Destiny. She often works with another French comic book writer, Pierrick Colinet. Self-tau...