I Eat a Brownie and Rocket Writes a Story - Tad Hills is The Man!

Yesterday I went to the gym, did 3.7 miles on the elliptical machine and swam. It was 90 degrees outside, so I was proud of myself for 1. making it over there and 2. pushing myself that hard. On the way home from the gym, I noticed a bakery I'd never seen before. The thought of chocolate anything was too much to pass up, so I entered the pastry shop and was immediately intoxicated by the smell of baked goods. There was so much to choose from!

As I was pondering over whether I wanted a homemade whoopie pie, a s'more or a brownie, a man entered the shop holding a laptop. He made conversation with the barista (I can call him that because he was also serving coffee) and from their repartee I assumed this guy was the owner of the shop.

"Are you the owner?" I asked.
"No, but I come here often enough." He replied with a smile.
"Oh, what do you do?" I asked him.

It turned out that this man was Tad Hills, a New York Times best selling children's book author and illustrator. Only in New York, I thought to myself, would I walk into a random pastry shop and meet a famous author.

We got to talking, and he was lovely. Since he had his computer, I showed him my blog.

"I do a lot of giveaways." I mentioned.
"Oh, well you could giveaway my book!" He said freely. "Hold on, I go get you one."

With that Tad quickly went home (which was close by) and grabbed me a hard cover of his latest book
Rocket Writes a Story. I was in disbelief but I accepted it. What a cool guy!

"Here, I'll sign it!" He said.

The Rocket series is based on Tad's real life dog, Rocket.

Rocket is a Wheaton Terrier who's sweet, mellow and loves everyone, especially children.

The book before Rocket Writes a Story is called How Rocket Learned to Read  In this book, Rocket becomes interested in words and books. A little yellow bird guides him through the process of literacy.

In Rocket Writes a Story, he chooses particular words in order to create a tale of his own, guided by the yellow bird of course. There's also an owl involved.

Rocket Writes a Story is an excellent book for children who are learning to read. It's encouraging and sweet. The illustrations are charming as well.

Tad, thank you for collaborating on this giveaway with me! Without further ado, win an autographed copy of Rocket Writes a Story:


a Rafflecopter giveaway



By the way, in case you were wondering, I ate a brownie :)