August 6, 2004
Contact: Lynn Renner
Telephone: (303) 347-2869
Email: info@snowboundpress.com

TATTERED COVER SPONSORS CRAFTY KIDS’ EVENT

Dr. Ravay Snow, children’s author and illustrator, heads up a 2 pm reading, booksigning and kids’ craft activity at the Tattered Cover’s Cherry Creek location on Saturday, August 14. Snow will be reading her award-winning picture book, “Hildegarde and the Great Green Shirt Factory,” the tale of a creative sheep who is out of place at her job in a shirt factory where every shirt is supposed to be identical. Snow will be in costume as the irrepressible Hildegarde and will participate in a question/answer session after the reading. In connection with the book’s theme supporting individual creativity, the Tattered Cover is sponsoring a variety of craft activities for young attendants, and signed copies of the book will be for sale.

“Hildegarde and the Great Green Shirt Factory” has won three awards for excellence since its publication late last year, including being named by the Publishers’ Marketing Association as a Benjamin Franklin Award finalist for Best First Children’s Book. It was also named Best Children’s Book of 2004 by the Colorado Independent Publishers’ Association

Snow finds that Hildegarde’s situation resonates with children and with adults. “Kids love the character’s bravery and her willingness to be creative and believe in herself. Parents value this as well, but they seem to appreciate the book on other levels. A lot of people can relate personally to the messages about how creative individuals experience invalidation and how they cope with it. I think a lot of us have experienced this – and we hope that we could come through it as well as Hildegarde does.”

The book’s development was guided not only by Snow’s love of a good story, but also by her educational expertise. She is a former reading and writing teacher with a Ph.D. in education and is a recognized expert on standards and test-based education reform. “It broke my heart when I was teaching high school because most of my students hated to read. Reading was a chore for them. Now with the policy emphasis on test scores, reading is likely to be even more of a chore for kids – something they have to do for the CSAP. So to offset that, we need good stories that children will love!

Other local activities around this book include author appearances at a number of elementary schools, as well as author appearances at the Swallow Hill Folk Festival, at which Snow will read the book and play the hammered dulcimer with “Miss Cindy” Wilkinson. Snow will also appear at Read, Colorado in November.

In addition to the Tattered Cover, the book is available at bookstores everywhere – if not in stock, it can be ordered through Quality Books, Inc. and Baker and Taylor. It is also available to the public online through amazon.com and directly from the publisher at www.snowboundpress.com. More information about the author, the publisher, and the title are available at www.snowboundpress.com.

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