Book Signing in Detroit Lakes

Author, Kimberly Bettcher, is looking forward to the book signing at Book World in Detroit Lakes, MN on Saturday! While heading downtown to shop, she came across this earlier in the week!

Stop by between 1:00 and 3:00 PM. Not able to make it? You can buy the book online at http://www.awaytoplaybooks.com/

Do you already have the book? Stop by and pick up these great coloring pages from our illustrator Sara Weingartner!

Launching our You Tube Channel!

We are so excited to dive into You Tube! We started a channel called "FindWaystoPlay" and plan to have kids sharing their play ideas as we go along! Hope you check us out! http://www.youtube.com/user/FindWaysToPlay

Leaping into Fall

We hope you had a great summer! We sure did! Planning, writing, painting, book signing, playing, creating and more...we are ready for a fantastic fall! Early notice for readers...we have a book signing scheduled at Book World in Detroit Lakes, MN on Oct.1. from 1 to 3:00 PM. See you again soon!

Supporting the Arts

We were so happy last week to be able to support Mosaic Mania in Detroit Lakes, MN. The program is supported by the Historic Holmes Theatre and is lead by Becky Mitchell. It brings glass art into the classroom. Each class creates their own windows, like the one we sponsored, and then each student gets to make their own small project to take home. It is always great to see the kids excited about the fun opportunity!

Happy New Year

We are excited to usher in 2011! There are some fun new features we'll be adding to the blog as well as exciting updates from our crew! Hope you are having a great start to the year! See you again soon!

Kidlitcon 2010

Kidlitcon was a wonderful gathering at Open Book on Saturday. Kidlitcon was an opportunity for writers, illustrators, bloggers, teachers and more to hear information and share ideas about blogging and book promotion.

We are looking forward to sharing and applying some of our take aways to the blog! Happy reading!

Fall Update

We hope you had a great summer and that fall is off to a fun start! We had a fantastic summer and are looking forward to a terrific fall!

Illustrator Update:
Our illustrator, Sara Weingartner, has been busy working on her commissioned pieces for the newly renovated Children's Hospital in Minneapolis. Sara is one of many Minnesota artists whose work is featured in the hospital. Sara's work will be in the neonatal portion.

Author Update:
Our author, Kimberly Bettcher, has been talking to kids about the importance of getting out and being active. She has been busy writing, working on finishing up the next book in our series! In addition, Kim will be reading Sam Picks Football this fall in classrooms!

Purple Frog Publishing Update:
During the spring, we had a wonderful opportunity to support the arts by sponsoring a mosaic window as part of a program in the Detroit Lakes area, Mosaic Mania-"breaking glass, expanding minds". The colorful window, created by elementary school students, was auctioned off to support kids access to the arts in the lakes area.

During the summer, our company sponsored a handout provided to kids during a bike tour and youth football camp, highlighting parks and playgrounds. It also offered safety tips for biking and swimming. The handout gave us a terrific opportunity to promote ways to get out and be active! It helped us show kids how to find a way to play!

Exciting New Year

We are looking ahead to an exciting new year! Purple Frog Publishing and the A Way-to-Play book series are busy working on our next book! In addition to the next friend picking a game to play, we are busy with plans to update the website. Parent, student and teacher resources will be available soon! We also have fun plans for the blog so visit us again soon!

Latest Reader Photo

Check out Jasper Brinkley, Rookie Linebacker for the Minnesota Vikings, after reading Sam Picks Football to a group of kids as part of the Minnesota Vikings Community Outreach program!

Links About the Book

Check out the first newspaper interview for Sam Picks Football with author Kim Bettcher by reporter Vicki Gerdes!

http://dl-online.com/event/image/id/12289/headline/Kim%20Bettcher

Nice comments from Tracy of the Morning Buzz on WDAY radio in their Area Voices blog about the book after an interview on October 16, 2009

http://www.areavoices.com/infoteam/?archive=2009-10

Author Interviewed on Prairie Public's Hear It Now!

Sam Picks Football author Kim Bettcher is interviewed by Merrill Piepkorn on Tuesday, November 17. Kim's portion of the program begins at about 26 minutes into the broadcast.

Check it out to learn where the idea for the book came from, who helped out along the way and what is next for the series! http://www.prairiepublic.org/radio/hear-it-now

Our Youngest Reader

A great example of starting kids reading young! Thanks so much for passing this picture along! Keep on reading "D" and enjoy the game!

Illustrator Sara J. Weingartner's work on display

Illustrator Sara J. Weingartner's work will be on display along with 18 other artists as part of the CBIG (Children's Book Illustrators Guild of MN) show in Redwing, MN. The work will be on display at the Depot Gallery in Redwing October 1-November 22 with a reception on Saturday, Oct. 3 from 2-4:00 PM.

The Depot Gallery is located at 418 Levee St., Redwing, MN 55066.

To view more of Sara's beautiful work, check out her website at www.creativesouldesign.com

Sam Picks Football Release

Purple Frog Publishing is excited to announce the release date is set for Sam Picks Football! The book will be released Monday, August 31! The book is an exciting story of a group of friends meeting in the park to play football! In addition to the story, readers can check out the back of the book for a way to play the game as well as a glossary of football terms!