Book Tour
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!
Join me at the Books for Kids Giveaway in Clearwater – Open to the public!
How fitting that tomorrow on Appreciate a Dragon Day I will be the featured author, reading to children at the Books for Kids Giveaway at Clearwater Academy. Full details can be found at the aforementioned link.
The event is free and open to the public, refreshments will be served, and starts at 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. My appearance will be at 1:00 p.m.
Leave me a comment to let me know if you will make it!
Danny the Dragon Featured at the “Children’s Book Review”
The popular website “Children’s Book Review” posted a most wonderful “showcase” about my Danny the Dragon.
Not only does the showcase feature my own personal insight about the book, but it also includes a lovely response towards the book from a well-known celebrity.
Click here to read the showcase.
Disney – Danny the Dragon and Sunset Park Elementary
Look at what is happening tomorrow at Sunset Park Elementary School behind
Disney, in none other than lovely Florida!
Sunset Park Elementary School, located in Windermere, Florida, welcomes author Tina Turbin to share her Danny the Dragon book with over 500 students, teachers, and parents. She will sharing her work with large groups and will talk about what it is like to write children’s books. In January, Danny the Dragon will make a return appearance when the school cafeteria celebrates “Appreciate a Dragon Day”- January 16th, so mark your calendars.
We are thankful to have stumbled upon Ms. Turbin’s character building and nutritionally themed works and can’t wait for the kids to be introduced to the delightful characters!
Sunset park Elementary
Sesame Street – Taking Care of Nature
Sesame Street is celebrating it’s 40th anniversary by encouraging an environmentally-friendly theme for it’s upcoming TV shows. With such live stage shows as “Elmo’s Green Thumb”, a major promotional campaign and TV show themes to instill in children a love and appreciation of nature, it definitely looks like the show is going in the right direction.
It was such a pleasure to have participated alongside the Sesame Street Halloween concert in Pasadena. For those of you who didn’t have a chance to read up on this wonderful event, please click the above link.
A 4-year Old Boy Comments on Danny the Dragon!
Here’s a fun message from a mom that had attended a book reading of Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy with her 2 young boys:
“Morning Tina,
I was driving the boys to school this morning and Bodhi (my 4 yr-old) said, “mommy, did you know that dinosaurs don’t have boots?” Then about a minute later he said, “not like Danny the Dragon; he does have boots. Dragons does have boots”. Love it!”
Tina and Danny – New Members of SIBA!
It has been an incredibly successful year thus far for Danny the Dragon, across the globe, and we expect even greater success for the remainder of the year!
Therefore it was only fitting that I become a member of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA), as a way to get acquainted with the booksellers close to home here in the U.S., and establish some great partnerships along the way.
We’re gearing up for a very exciting promotional and marketing campaign. More exciting news to come shortly!
Author Tina Turbin in the St. Petersburg Times
The Danny the Dragon East Coast Book Tour these past few months proved to be a terrific success! I assure you that we don’t plan to take a break, as there’s many more Danny the Dragon events to come for the month of November. Take a look at the press coverage from one of our highly successful book readings at the Palm Harbor Library:
“Author to entertain: Local author Tina Turbin will present a story and craft activity for children ages 3 through 8 centered around her children’s book series, Danny the Dragon, at 2 p.m. at the Palm Harbor Library, 2330 Nebraska Ave. No registration necessary. Call (727) 784-3332, ext. 3018.”
Tina and Danny Brighten Children’s Lives in Palm Harbor
I have a lovely message that I would like to share. To receive messages such as the one that follows is such a joy for me, and really does make the readings and presentations that I deliver that much more special.
A mother that attended a Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy reading at the Palm Harbor Library in Pinellas County, FL, sent in the following message:
“I met you today at the Palm Harbor Library during your reading of Danny the Dragon. First off, I’d just like to tell you how much my children enjoyed the story – my older son, Donovan, immediately requested that we go on your website when we got home so he could see Danny again. I really enjoyed it as well – the kind and polite way the characters spoke to each other was refreshing. I really can’t tell you how much I appreciated that you complimented Donovan on his drawings after the story and told him that he’s an artist. He’s a bit of a perfectionist and gets down on himself if he doesn’t think what he’s done is up to his standards and there is only so much he believes when I tell him that I love something that he has done. Hearing it come from you really boosted his confidence and he made sure to tell his dad tonight that you thought he was good. We also saw some of your artwork on your website and he said “She’s the best artist in the whole world” so he definitely respects your opinion!
I signed up for your newsletter so I hope that that will include any information about other readings that you will be doing but, if not, please let me know if you will be presenting in any of the Pasco or Hillsborough County libraries. My mother works at the Palm Harbor Library and we attended with her but we actually live in Wesley Chapel and I know my kids would love to hear you read the story again.”
