Acts of Kindness
Shriners Hospital of Tampa: My Visit, Visits, Reading and Creative Time With the Kids
Last year I had the pleasure of visiting and sharing my delightful Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy children’s book with the children at Shriners Hospital of Tampa. Keep reading to hear all about this wonderful experience:
To my surprise most of these kids I visited at Shriners had flown in from all over the world for the intimate care at Shriners. Shriners caters to kids under 18, accepts no payment from parents or insurance companies and all their money is raised by donations and the hard work of the Shriners.
Half of the children I visited spoke little English and were under care to receive prosthetics or some type of surgery , due mostly to being born with a certain defect.
These kids were bright and creative as we made our own “book” to leave in their hospital library. They titled their “combined-efforts book”, Danny and Friends to go with my book, Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy.
It was an amazing day, to say the least. The knowledge I gained afterwards truly opened my eyes to the many needs and the various ways to help out in society.
Note: The little girl sitting in the wagon next to me (above photo) had no legs “yet” but she handle this with pride and in her own way. She hid an assortment of chocolate pudding, bags of candy and 3 cans of Gatorade as well as all sorts of stuffed animals tucked under her blanket covering her legs. I am smiling at her as she had taken a break from our coloring to get a bit too much pudding on her face rather than in her tummy. She was a charm and the staff were amazing with all these kids!
Enjoy!
Tina Turbin
Danny the Dragon Contest Winner- January
Alejandra Vargas is the lucky winner this month. She drew a lovely picture which she submitted accompanied by her very proud and caring father, Bernardo Vargas Sanchez. Thank you Alejandra!
Proceeds from Danny the Dragon CD Support Good Cause
If you’re like most Americans, you probably haven’t even heard of celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder which causes an immune reaction that can affect the entire body, causing both physical and mental problems. The cause? An allergy to gluten, a component of wheat, barley, and rye. The problem with celiac disease is that doctors don’t know much about it either. They don’t know that it affects an estimated 300 million Americans and that with a simple test, a diagnosis can be made and the easy treatment can begin—a gluten-free diet.
An estimated 300 million Americans have celiac disease and only three percent of them know it. When I’m not working on the latest installment of my Danny the Dragon series or the Danny the Dragon Cookbook, I’m working hard to change this statistic by raising awareness and support for this disease that affects more people twice as many of those who suffer from Crohn’s disease, ulceric colitis, and cystic fibrosis combined.
Proceeds from the Danny the Dragon CD will go to the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University Medical Center, one of the major research centers around studying and bringing awareness to celiac disease. It is one-hundred percent focused on studying celiac disease and carries out research connecting it with various other diseases which it is believed to lead to if left untreated. Its goal is to change the lives of celiac disease sufferers for the better around the world, a goal which it is actively achieving, little by little, every day.
Review from Malaysia on Danny The Dragon
Review from Malaysia
Alice Teh, Reviewer and Blogger amongst many other professional Hats has reviewed Danny The Dragon amongst several other wonderful books and has now posted these on her website, Here is an excerpt form her review:
“I really enjoyed this 32-page book and reading it made me happy. It does not matter if you are young or young at heart; this book will make you smile. Adults can read aloud to the young ones. I know I would if I have my own kids. Danny the Dragon is beautifully illustrated and every page is so colorful! A satisfying book I am sure families will appreciate and love. I cannot wait to read more of Danny and his other adventures!”
Please read more of her review at after scrolling down the page a bit
Alice Teh is based in Malaysia and is a professional personal assistant. A coffee addict (no sugar and cream, please), she is in love with her blog, books and camera. When not reading (or working), she’s a shutterbug. She blogs regularly.
Thank you Alice! Tina Turbin
Danny the Dragon Reaches Out To 2,500 Book Stores Nationwide!
Thank you SIBA for an outstanding job in helping Danny the Dragon reach out to so many book store owners!
Company: Imagination Publishing Group
Category: Children’s picture book – fiction
Offered: Free Promotional Materials
Danny the Dragon- BEST Children’s Picture Book of 2009- nominee
The first book in the HIT children’s series Danny the Dragon by multi award-winning author Tina Turbin has become an international sensation!
Filled with vivid illustrations and a captivating storyline, this delightful tale, chronicling the adventures of a traveling dragon named Danny, leaves all readers with a smile, while ever so subtly highlighting manners, positive social interactions and sharing, in a fun, creative, kid-friendly way.
Hailed by the “Midwest Book Review” Children’s Bookwatch as having “…definite attraction and value for children ages 4-8, all of whom will undoubtedly beg for the sequel and more tales of Danny the Dragon; by authors, including such notables as Judy Blume, school principals, teachers, mothers, Celebrities and literature specialists as being “a gentle story” and “such a delight”; “a wonderful book to read to children”; and a book that is “…accompanied by really beautiful drawings which will sparkle the imagination.”
BOOST Holiday Sales AND be prepared for “Dragon Appreciation Day” on Jan 16th
FIRST 100 booksellers to reply will receive:
1. FREE publicity and promotion of your bookstore via the Imagination Publishing Group network of websites, with a targeted audience of more than 100,000. 2. FREE promotional materials to provide to your customers and to decorate your store: Danny the Dragon themed pencils, bookmarks, door hangers and stickers.
Reply to info@DannyTheDragon.com to take advantage of the above LIMITED TIME offer!
Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy
AVAILABLE THROUGH BAKER AND TAYLOR: http://is.gd/4N7ts
Paperback: 978-0-9800-721-0-5 – retail $8.95
Hardcover: 978-0-9800-721-1-2 - retail $18.95
This page can be seen on SIBA website at- scroll down to see Danny the Dragon http://www.sibaweb.com/creative.html
Tina Turbin
Danny the Dragon Supports Education for the Deaf
As an active literacy advocate, I do as much as I can to get kids reading to revert the literacy statistic of this country. However, it wasn’t until recently that I became aware of another alarming statistic—the literacy rate among deaf children.
The average deaf child is diagnosed at two or three years of age for hearing loss. This means that there is a good chance that his language development has been severely affected, as the child may have been missing large portions of spoken language, if not all auditory experience, that hearing children get from birth. What’s worse, the demand for academic achievement among deaf children is lower than for other children, resulting in learning and home environments which aren’t as focused on reading. With an upbringing that doesn’t emphasize language and literature, it is difficult to expect deaf children to perform at the same analytic and linguistic levels as other children.
That’s why I have created the signed reading of Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy DVD, all the profits for which are going to supporting the amazing school I visited, Blossom Montessori. Its Montessori education encourages imagination and allows for real-life applications of subjects learned in the classroom. By supporting schools such as Blossom Montessori School for the Deaf, I know I am truly contributing toward reverting the deaf literacy statistic and enriching the lives of many bright children.
Florida Association of Partners in Education – MEMBER
Author Tina Turbin
FAPE member Tina Turbin is an award-winning children’s author, writer, researcher, humanitarian and mother. Working for many years with children in the entertainment business, Tina advocates for children, families and women’s issues with research into children’s literacy, children’s allergies, celiac disease, gluten-free foods and nutrition as a way to improve the quality of lives and health for others.
Her approach in garnering awareness on these important topics comes from her position as a humanitarian, and a professional, and one who lives a gluten-free lifestyle, while utilizing her educational videos, books and storybook characters to share the educational aspect with children
Tina is a recipient of 2 prestigious literary awards for her book Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy: 2nd place winner for Children’s Literature in the Arizona Literary Contest and Book Awards of 2009 and Award-winning finalist in the National Best Books Awards of 2009 to be announced at BookExpo America (BEA) 2010.
Tina resides in St.Petersburg Florida as well as Los Angeles, California and is available for volunteer activities in the surrounding districts. (http://TinaTurbin.com)
I Have to Share this With My Readers!
This site is an amazing resource for us moms! You can look up certain brands of foods and the ingredients to stay away from food allergies or additives. Search “Gluten-Free” and “cookies” for example and you will be guided to a list of treats that will fit your needs. I am a bit picky when it comes to refrring a good resource, but I feel secure in sharing this one: http://FoodEssentials.com Tina Turbin
A Mother’s Role is a Valuable Asset to Our Society
Chances are, you have an idea of just how important you are as a mother in your household. For instance, what if you were to go out of town for a week? Who would get the kids ready for school, take them to soccer or ballet, help them with their homework? And could you imagine the state of the house after such a length of time? As helpful as your spouse or children may be, without having Mom around to spur them through their daily chores, how often would they do the dishes or remember to take out the trash? And then there’s the matter of how they would feed themselves. Clearly, Mom, if it weren’t for you, your household would probably collapse.
My experience as a mother started long ago when I married and became pregnant with the first of my three children at the age of twenty-one. Not only is this role the basis of my work as a children’s author, inspiring me to create my children’s series, Danny the Dragon, but it also serves as the foundation of my work as a researcher, writer, and humanitarian. Believe me, this mother thing is no small job. Rather, it is a fundamental job, stabilizing the family dynamic, and a great accomplishment, the gift that keeps on giving, as your own children have children of their own and perpetuate the stable home life you yourself fostered.
Studies are more than ever showing that what parents do now will affect their children’s future. There is a study which shows that what a child eats as early as before the age of two will determine his food preferences for the rest of his life. Whether he eats his vegetables or regularly goes through the drive-thru of a fast-food restaurant in his adult life is determined by what Mom chooses to feed him here and now. Of course, Dad will have his input, but if your family is anything like mine or the average family, it is Mom who’s picking out the menus for the family and cooking it up, too.
More than that, parental involvement such as staying in tight communication with teachers, participating in school or extracurricular activities, and especially reading to your child are proven ways to ensure that children end up not only literate, but also to make more likely to graduate from high school and attend college. When you look at it, the income-earning potential of your child is determined by how often you help him with his math homework, go to those PTA meetings, and read to him before bed. Now that’s a lot of responsibility.
Now that you’ve taken a look at how your role as a mother is a valuable asset in your own home, which is a fact I’m sure you have figured out all on your own, I urge you take a look at a mother’s role in society. Typically, aside from rare exceptions, it is the mother who is charged with the responsibility for rearing children. When it comes to all matters of hygiene, cleanliness, nutrition, schoolwork, etc., it is Mom who oversees these. On a collective scale, statistics of childhood illness and disease, childhood nutrition, and children’s literacy could largely be attributed to mothers everywhere just like you and the decisions they make about their own children.
Collectively, therefore, mothers contribute largely to society as a whole, to its health, its productivity, and its wealth. They influence whether their children turn to drugs, alcohol, and crime, and so they also have an impact on more serious issues in our society such as drug abuse and criminality.
At home, you get support from your spouse, your neighbors, relatives, and children, to help you with your job as a Mom. After all, you are a valuable asset in your home and deserve their support. However, with this idea in mind, I encourage you to find ways to support other moms you know and moms in your community. Clearly, moms everywhere are an asset to our society and they deserve our support, too.
Tina Turbin – Featured in Tampa Bay Parenting Magazine!
I am thrilled to have been chosen as the Tampa Bay Parenting “Extraordinary Woman” of the month.
You can get your copy of Tampa Bay Parenting at a variety of locations all throughout the Tampa Bay area (including Publix grocery stores) or you may view it online by clicking here – flip to pages 26/27 to read the full article!
