Lone Star Book Blogger Tour: YAZZY'S AMAZING YARN by Cathey Graham Nickell ***DELETED SCENE & GIVEAWAY***

YAZZY'S AMAZING YARN

by

CATHEY GRAHAM NICKELL
Illustrated by Emily Calimlim

  
Genre: Children's Picture Book, Ages 4-8 

Publisher: Twenty-Eight Creative

Date of Publication: August 1, 2019

Number of Pages: 32

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Yazzy is a creative girl, always sketching out her next adventure. She loves yarn, and she loves to knit! Her neighborhood park is dull and rusty, but Yazzy has a grand plan. 

With a little help from her friends, Yazzy’s knitted wonders transform Penny Park into a fuzzy rainbow of warmth and color. What yarn-tastic idea will Yazzy think of next? 

The book includes a “History of Yarn Bombing” page for readers who are not familiar with this creative and whimsical type of art.

“As a teacher, it's refreshing to find a book that exposes children to an alternative art form. I'm inspired by Yazzy's story, and I know my students will be, too.” -- Deborah Horwitz, Art Teacher, The Emery/Weiner School, Houston, Texas.

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Author Cathey Graham Nickell had to kill her some of her darlings

It's always fun to hear about deleted scenes, and I have a few whoppers that occurred during the creation of Yazzy's Amazing Yarn. I'm a member of a fantastic weekly critique group, which we've named the "Innerloopers." When my critique group read my first draft of Yazzy's Amazing Yarn, it was way too long and needed a lot of trimming. For instance, I initially had this whole section about Yazzy living in a barn with her family. A barn!! Why? I have no idea! I think my brain was trying to justify Yazzy's love of knitting by saying that her family owned a yarn business that they ran out of their barn. My critiquers wisely reminded me that it was okay to write that she loved to knit simply because it's fun. No further explanation needed. So I took out all the barn references, thank goodness! I also had a homeless woman named Marge in the first draft. Marge felt important to me because I planned to use her in a scene that would help me demonstrate that Yazzy was kind and thoughtful. My early version depicted a scene in which Yazzy knits a blanket for Marge and delivers it to her at the cold park on a wintery day. Well, this is a book for children ages 4 to 8. I woke up one morning and thought: I shouldn't let Yazzy go to a frozen park and speak to a homeless woman all by herself. That might not be safe! I cannot advise children to talk to strangers! So after much deliberation, even though my heart had a soft spot for Marge (and her dog!), I took that whole section out too. In the writing world, we are advised that we must be willing to "kill our darlings," which means that we often need to delete our favorite scenes for the greater good of the literary work. So I, uh, well I guess I, um... I murdered fictitious Marge and Boomer. It not only made the story better, but it also trimmed out hundreds of unnecessary words.

Cathey Nickell is a busy author and elementary school speaker, having presented at more than seventy schools to date. Yazzy’s Amazing Yarn is her second children’s book about creativity and outside-the-box artistic endeavors. She is also the author of Arthur Zarr’s Amazing Art Car, which was awarded first place by the Texas Association of Authors in the category of Children’s Picture Books-All Ages. Cathey lives with her husband, Kevin, in Houston, where they raised their four children.

WEBSITE  ✦  FACEBOOK  ✦  TWITTER INSTAGRAM  ✦  GOODREADS    AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE

Emily Calimlim, while not a knitting whiz herself, loves creating art with humorous and lively watercolor pictures for children. She lives in Houston with her fiancé, George, and silly studio bird, Simon. Emily spends her days capturing her ideas and imagination with paint and pencil.

WEBSITE  ✦  FACEBOOK 

TWITTER ✦  INSTAGRAM 

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THREE AUTOGRAPHED COPIES OF YAZZY'S AMAZING YARN

August 27-September 6, 2019

(US ONLY)


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8/27/19	Top Ten List	Sybrina's Book Blog
8/27/19	BONUS Post	Hall Ways Blog
8/28/19	Review	That's What She's Reading
8/29/19	Review	Sydney Young, Stories
8/30/19	Sneak Peek	The Page Unbound
8/31/19	Deleted Scene	Story Schmoozing Book Reviews
9/1/19	Review	Chapter Break Book Blog
9/2/19	Excerpt	Books and Broomsticks
9/3/19	Sneak Peek	Rainy Days with Amanda
9/4/19	Review	All the Ups and Downs
9/5/19	Review	Missus Gonzo

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