Check out this awesome video about Turtle Tube: An Erutuf National Park Novel made by author and illustrator, Carli Valentine:
Carli has authored and illustrated some sweet children’s books that you can find online. You can find other great reviews and videos by Carli by clicking here.
Thank you so much to Carli for her creative video about Turtle Tube: An Erutuf National Park Novel and sweet review of it!
Happy Star Wars Day!
Say “Star Wars” and most people will think about the amazing movies, but many novels have been written about all these creative characters and stories. In fact, there are around 380 books (not including all the comics)! George Lucas created this magical franchise with the first film back in 1977 and it operates now as a huge enterprise!
Happy reading on Star Wars Day! May the 4th be with you!
We all know the names of Pippi, Ramona, Winnie, Sherlock, Charlie Bucket, Harry Potter, and many more.
Character names represent more than a word on a piece of paper. The name of the character comes to life and becomes a real person throughout a novel.
Authors take great care in naming their characters. The ideas can come from many sources and places of inspiration.
In my children’s book, Turtle Tube: An Erutuf National Park Novel, I selected the names of Reese and Dean by using my children’s middle names. Reese and Dean fit their characters really well.
I based other characters’ names on their personalities and characteristics. I even changed a name at one point. Olivia was originally named Eva. In the editing process, I discovered that Eva and Emma were too similar of names to have in this book. I couldn’t imagine changing Emma, so opted to change Eva to Olivia.
I’m working on the second book in this series and need a name for a 5 year old boy character. I decided to ask for some help and who else best to help than a class of children. 🙂 A local fourth grade class agreed to help and all wrote down name suggestions on pieces of paper for me to review.
I love the suggestions! I am really impressed how serious the students took this task and wanted to help.
Thank you to Mrs. Anderson’s class for all these thoughtful and creative suggestions!
