I have a lovely little story to share with you today.
Please enjoy the authors guest post.
Check out my review.
And don’t forget to enter the giveaway!
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Author Christopher P. Stanley is here to tell us about the inspiration behind his book and about the images.
Hello!
The images were a lot of fun to create. My artistic medium has always been photography/digital art. For this story, I decided to capture some of the actual trees that Sam and I encountered on our walk. So over the course of a couple of months, I took pictures. Some I had Sam pose in, others I did not. The image from the cover is actually a Beech tree in my front yard! One of my favorite pages, the page with the autumn leaves, is on a street by my eldest daughter’s middle school. I turned down the street and knew right away I needed this picture for the book. So after I took the photos, I started manipulating them on my computer. Some photos took little time and effort, while others I spent a lot of time getting what I wanted. Some pictures worked beautifully while others I had to do a lot of manipulating and creating. It was definitely hard work! Overall, it took about 4 months to get them all done.
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by Christopher P. Stanley
My Review
I’ve always loved trees. Loved to lie on the ground and peer up through the branches. Hear the leaves rustle in the wind. And even loved rolling in them when the trees shed their leaves for the winter.
Do you remember doing that? Do you remember being buried in a pile of leaves, breathing their earthy scent? I do to this day.
This book is like taking a walk into the past. To those younger years when everything seemed so large and miraculous.
The delightfully colorful illustrations in the story burst from the pages. It makes me want to get out some watercolors and do some painting.
One of the first things I painted with water colors was a tree. Loved drawing the sturdy trunk, adding the branches, and the smaller limbs. Then came the leaves. All shapes and sizes.
Come take a walk with Christopher and Samuel. Next time you’re outside, stop and look at the trees. See their strength and beauty.
While this picture book is intended for early readers, I’d recommend it to all ages. The beautiful illustrations and story fill you with a sense of wonder.
5 Stars
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Synopsis
This story draws inspiration from the author taking his son, Samuel, on a walk to the park. He noticed how amazed Samuel was at everything there was to see – especially the trees that towered above him. With artwork depicting these trees that forged such awe in young Samuel’s eyes, “The Tree Watcher” takes the reader along on this wonder-inducing walk.
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Author Christopher P. Stanley
Christopher P. Stanley grew up in Grove City, OH and had a childhood that centered around imagination, play, and exploring the outdoors (mixed in with a healthy amount of Nintendo). A large part of his, perhaps over-active, imagination is owed to books – “Where the Wild Things Are”, “Vinegar Pancakes and Vanishing Cream”, and “every single Dr. Seuss book” made up just a small sampling of the children’s books that filled him with wonder – and continue to do so to this very day!
Christopher graduated from Ohio Dominican University with a degree in Education, and has been an educator for the past 10 years in both the K-12 and Higher Education settings. He currently lives in Upper Arlington, OH with his wife, Morgan, and their four children – Rylee, Olivia, Lylah, and Samuel – who remind him every day of the magic that is childhood.
Christopher is an author and co-founder of Jump Splash Books, and he aims to highlight imagination and celebrate the joy of childhood through his stories. He co-founded Jump Splash with his childhood friend and artist Alex LeVasseur, and the name of the company encapsulates their vision – through imagination and wonder, we can find joy; even in something as simple as jumping in a puddle.
Amazon / Website / Twitter / Facebook
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I have one print copy to giveaway.
Giveaway is open Internationally, so all are welcome.
To enter, please leave an email address so I can contact you if you win , and answer this question:
“Where’s your favorite place to take a walk?”
Giveaway ends April 4th.
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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!
For a list of my reviews go HERE
For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE
To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!
My favorite place to take a walk is the running trail close to my apartment. It’s a long the coast so it’s peaceful and beautiful at the same time.
koukkunokka@anvianet.fi
That sounds lovely:)
There are some very beautiful parks here in town. The bike paths are ideal for walking too.
marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
We have a park along the bay that has a nice trail. My son and I go there.
I love to take a walk in a bookstore. Going up and down, around and around the various aisles, perusing all the books, stopping every so often to check out a book. I know it isn’t really what you meant but this is my idea of taking a walk. robeader53@yahoo.com
I took a walk in the library yesterday. I browsed all over the place. Nothing better than being surrounded by books and pumping those endorphins. LOL
I love to walk around the lake behind my house. (jozywails@gmail.com)
That’s awesome. A lake in your back yard!
I like to walk in a state park that is near my house.
That sounds lovely and conveniently close.
I walk in the foothills where I live. Peaceful and beautiful setting.
I bet it smells wonderful:) I love the wooded areas.
First, thank you so much for the kind review! I’m truly honored and humbled. My favorite place to walk in through the local conservatory here in Columbus. I always get such a feeling of peace!
It’s my pleasure to share, Christopher. I like the quiet of nature, away from people and traffic. It does feel peaceful and is good for the mind.
I love to walk on the beach. The sand between my toes, the warm sun shining, and the cool breeze are the only things I need to forget everything.
That sounds awesome. The only problem with that here is we have white sand. The sun is so intense it burns to walk on it.
I LOVE trees!!! woods and forests, but my favorite is the beach. Hearing the waves pound on the beach sounds like the wind blowing through a trees branches, but I love the sand between my toes and the taste of salt on my lips. Can’t be beat.
sherry @ fundinmental
Can’t beat it. Just need to stick to the wet stuff:)
My favorite place to walk is along the beach of Lake Michigan.
diannekc8(at)gmail(dot)com
I grew up in Michigan and we spent every summer on the East side. Lake Huron is lovely and all of the fresh rivers were a delight to walk along.
I love your inspiration behind the book.
Thank you Sandra 🙂
My son and I like to walk down by our creek. It is so relaxing and we usually do it daily.
My son and I walk behind my house. Little traffic and lots of fields. Soon, it’ll be too hot and we’ll stick to laps in the pool:)
Along the riverwalk here in north platte so peaceful. cheetahthecat1986@gmail.com
That does sound peaceful. I love water:)
Hi, I grew up in Albuquerque and the Rio Grand Rivet runs through, I loved to walk my horse down the middle and both of us loved the trees and the reflections on the water. He could stand for hours (it seemed) slashing the reflections. The whole experience was breathtaking! . The fall was both of our favorites because of the colors, reds blazing and oranges with all of the yellows. Mind blowing when you see it in the water. Just think of it from Gideons perspective. Ripples and waves and colors! Every once in awhile he would catch me unaware and he would go down to roll in those colors and if course all the water! Oh, those memories!! Wet, laughing and so much fun. Only GOD could give us something so simple and truly amazing.
That sounds amazing! I remember going riding with one of my sisters and as we were crossing a stream, her horse decided to roll in it. She didn’t think it was so funny. I used to ride bareback and get lost for hours in the woods and along the streams. Liked to stop and rest and take it all in too.
My university. Thanks for the giveaway!
I enjoy walks where I can take in different architecture. So many amazing buildings out there.
For me, nothing beats walking along the cliffs of coastal central California. Somehow, my fear of heights doesn’t matter then.
Sounds great. I have a problem with vertigo though. It used to be really bad. Then it went away and now its back again.
I love walking along a sandy beach- a long sandy tropical beach…
babyblue7299@yahoo.com
Tropical for sure! LOL
I’d love to walk in a dark dense forest where I also can see the northern lights.
I’ve never seen the northern lights. That would be awesome! And eerie. LOL
Now that I have to use a walking stick due to two dodgy knees most of my walks take place in my head – reliving past walks. One of my favourite places for walking is on Lindisfarne (aka Holy Island) off the coast of Northumbria near to where I live.
https://www.lindisfarne.org.uk/
Any long walks for me are in my head too. Shin splints got me. Holy Island sounds magical:)
We have a ‘community park’ known as Canatara that is gorgeous and sits next to the lake. It is so peaceful and there is an ‘animal farm’ for the younger set.
Thanks for the giveaway
pharmx_2 (at) hotmail (dot) com
That sounds wonderful. I need to visit the park here. It’s right on the bay and I love the sounds and smells:)
I like to walk along the creek and in the bushland next to my home.
lyndajdickson@gmail.com
I bet you see so much there:)
Favourite place to walk? Ooh, that’s a difficult one. I haven’t been able to walk more than across a field and back for a couple of years due to various medical reasons, and I soooo miss walking. It would have to be a tie between a single house (used to be a hamlet, now semi-lived in) called Badenyon in the Cairngorms to the nearest (derelict) settlement called Rinn Tain. OR a circular walk around St Martins island in the Isles of Scilly.
God, I miss walking, I could name so many more.
ellentristram@googlemail.com
Sorry to hear that. I don’t walk as much as I used to. Got shin splints from running and it gets painful fairly quickly. I often just sit on my back deck and enjoy nature from there:)
I love trees! I have some beautiful pics of trees I’ve taken just because they caught my attention! My favorite place to walk is in the woods in southern Ohio!
Southern Ohio is beautiful
In the woods near my home, so this looks good to me!
I love walking in the woods, listening to nature all around me.
Along the embankment on the River Thames in London
That sounds lovely:)
Hi. I love walking anywhere in nature. 🙂 But I have to say that my two favorites (sorry I couldn’t narrow it down to one) is to waterfalls or along the beach. Laying under a tree and looking up – love it. 🙂
Anything around water is magical:)