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Debbie Glade’s Indiegogo Project

The Travel Adventures of Lilly P. Badilly: Costa Rica

It’s not every day that I can help out my blog partner, Debbie Glade (that’s obviously not Debbie to the left but her poodle, Darwin! She’s the lady to the right). She is a tireless supporter of literacy, science and geography for children. Now she’s found a terrific way to get her book, The Travel Adventures of Lilly P. Badilly: Costa Rica, into the hands of children who can benefit from her experience on these subjects. If it weren’t for her book, she and I would never have met so I am slightly partial to all things Lilly P. Badilly. Lilly happens to be a strong-willed millipede who, along with her funny family members, stows away on a flight to Costa Rica. Once there, the multi-leggers get caught up in all sorts of adventures sure to entertain youngters.

Just a few days ago Debbie launched an ambitious IndieGoGo crowd sourcing project to raise $18,500 to cover the cost of printing 3,000 (high quality 64-pages) books and CDs. With 47 days to go, Debbie’s goal is to be able to give away every last one of these books to underprivileged elementary school children in south Florida where she lives. After years of visiting schools, libraries and charities to educate children about geography, Costa Rica’s flora and fauna, and naturally, millipedes, Debbie realized so many children who wanted the book were unable to afford to purchase it despite the deep discounts she offered.

Let’s change that and get these books into the hands of eager kids who want to smile, learn and listen to the hysterical CD!

Click here to view the campaign.

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Writing and Art Contest for Children

24 Days Left to Enter
“I Love Costa Rica’s Rain Forest”
Writing and Art Contest for Children
Prizes Donated by Rand McNally’s Online Store

Smart Poodle Publishing announces its final call for entries for the “I Love Costa Rica’s Rain Forest” Writing and Art Contest for Children. The contest is FREE and is designed to teach children about geography and give them an opportunity to practice their writing skills as well as express themselves artistically. The deadline is November 30, 2009. Children in grades 5K through 5th grade are invited to write a story about Costa Rica and submit art work to win fantastic prizes generously donated by Rand McNally’s Online Store. In addition to these valuable prizes, Smart Poodle Publishing will award the First Place winners in each age category $100 as listed below.

Teachers are welcome to submit all their students’ essays and artwork together, using the teacher’s email address as the contact, rather than each parent’s email. Please visit www.smartpoodlepublishing.com for full contest rules and entry form.

First Place Winners in three grade categories (5K-1st grade, 2nd-3rd grade, 4th-5th grade) will each receive these three prizes (Value listed):

Rand McNally Personal Journeys World Pinable Wall Map($84.99)
Rand McNally Hard Bound World Atlas ($24.95)
Kids’ Travel Activity Bundle ($15.80)
A Check for $100

Second Place Winners in three grade categories (5K-1st grade, 2nd-3rd grade, 4th-5th grade) will each receive these two prizes (Value listed):

Rand McNally Traveler Series Kids Illustrated Wall Map ($64.99)
Kids’ Travel Activity Bundle ($15.80)

Third Place Winners in three grade categories (5K-1st grade, 2nd-3rd grade, 4th-5th grade) will each receive this prize (Value listed):

World Knowledge Bundle ($22.90)

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Colorful, incredible Costa Rica

If you know a family heading off to Costa Rica, or even just one that loves nature and exotic travel, The Travel Adventures of Lilly P. Badilly: Costa Rica written and illustrated by Debbie Glade is certainly worth buying and bringing along.

Picture, if you will, a brightly colored mature millipede who has been bitten by the travel bug (pun intended) and you’ve got one of your main characters, Grandma Nellie O. Badilly. Nellie, along with her hubby ‘windy’ Grandpa Willie Z. (my 8 year old son Coleman’s fave) and talented Granddaughter Lilly live in teeny, tiny hole in Concourse A at the Miami International Airport. Soon they are stowaways inside a business man’s briefcase on a flight to Costa Rica despite Lilly’s tremendous fear of ‘millipede-chomping spiders.”

Knowing very little about Central America and in particular Costa Rica, I was surprised to learn courtesy of Lilly’s guidebook that there are over 800 different types of birds, hundreds of mammals and more than 35,000 different kinds of insects there. No wonder Costa Rica is experiencing a boom in eco-tourism. I had no doubt Lilly was going to encounter more than her share of scary spiders on their journey to the rain forest and Poas Volcanic National Park.

Everything seemed to be going according to plan until a storm and an injured beetle arrived on the scene. Glade weaves rhyme and humor along with fascinating facts seamlessly into this tale of an adventurous family getting themselves into a very sticky situation involving a cruel spider. Read how Lilly’s inventiveness and musical talent save the day and the vacation. You’ll laugh while you learn and will be looking forward to Glade’s second installment in Lilly’s series of travel expeditions.

Included with the book is an engaging audio CD filled with music (remember that Lilly plays the piano and loves music) and songs plus Costa Rican sound effects bringing Lilly’s adventures alive and making this a great gift for the entire family.

Readers can have FREE SHIPPING on Glade’s website. Just
enter FBS1208 (case sensitive) in the Shipping Code Box on the order page. http://www.lillybadilly.com/store.ph

Debbie Glade is the author, illustrator and voice talent of the award-winning children’s picture book The Travel Adventures of Lilly P Badilly: Costa Rica, published by Smart Poodle Publishing. She visits South Florida schools with her reading, writing and geography programs. For years, Debbie was a travel writer for luxury cruise lines. She writes parenting articles for various websites and is the Geography Awareness Editor for WanderingEducators.com. She blogs daily at smartpoodlepublishing.com and is running a writing contest for kids that can still be entered today. To learn more, click here.

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Writing Contest For Kids

Smart Poodle Publishing Announces the:

I Love Costa Rica’s Rain Forest!

Young Travel Writers

and

Artists Contest

Smart Poodle Publishing, publisher of The Travel Adventures of Lilly P. Badilly: Costa Rica, is pleased to announce its national children’s travel writing and art contest. Children from Kindergarten through 5th Grade are invited to submit original stories and artwork to the “I Love Costa Rica’s Rain Forest!” Contest, based upon a real or imaginary travel adventure in the Costa Rican rainforest. For an entry form and complete contest rules, visit smartpoodlepublishing.com or Click here to enter today!
All prizes donated by Rand McNally’s online store at www.RandMcNally.com.

“Smart Poodle Publishing is on a mission to do its part to help improve geography education in the US,” said publisher and author Debbie Glade. “We are thrilled to be able to offer exciting prizes directly related to geography education this year, all of which have been generously donated by Rand McNally’s online store at www.RandMcNally.com.”

A total of nine winners will be chosen. There will be First, Second and Third Place Winners in three grade categories: 5K-1st grade, 2nd-3rd grade and 4th-5th grade.

First Place Winners will each receive (Value listed):
– Rand McNally Personal Journeys World Pinable Wall Map ($84.99)
– Rand McNally Hard Bound World Atlas ($24.95)
– Kids’ Travel Activity Bundle ($15.80)

Second Place Winners will each receive (Value listed):
– Rand McNally Traveler Series Kids Illustrated Wall Map ($64.99)
– Kids’ Travel Activity Bundle ($15.80)

Third Place Winners will each receive (Value listed):
World Knowledge Bundle ($22.90)

This contest is free. No purchase necessary. The deadline to enter is September 30, 2009. Entries will be judged by a panel of travel and education experts. Winners will be announced on October 15, 2009. Winners’ stories will be published on www.smartpoodlepublishing.com as well as on www.RandMcNally.com.

About Smart Poodle Publishing
Smart Poodle Publishing is the publisher of The Travel Adventures of Lilly P. Badilly: Costa Rica (ISBN 978-0-9800307-9-2) and the Ask Lilly Badilly All About the World Geography Q and A video program. Award-winning author Debbie Glade visits schools with her reading and geography programs. Smart Poodle Publishing recently sponsored the “What I Wish Everyone Knew About Librarians” national writing contest for librarians.

About Rand McNally
From America’s number-one-selling Road Atlas, The Thomas Guide®, FabMAP® and Goode’s World Atlas to StreetFinder® Wireless and IntelliRoute® trucking database, Rand McNally has been an industry leader in the mapping, routing, geographic reference and trip-planning tool marketplace for more than 150 years. With More Roads-Better Directions™, the Company’s products are sold in more than 50,000 retail outlets and distributed to 98% of schools across the U.S. Rand McNally is the premier resource for online travel planning as well as maps and directions. For more information, please visit www.RandMcNally.com, call 800-333-0136 or buy maps and travel gear online at http://Store.RandMcNally.com.

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