At ski school we read to the 3 and 4 year-olds a lot at story-time, before heading outside again for an afternoon on the snow. I realized I would like to write something for these kids, that is colouful, can be interactive (they can yell out as they recognize the pictures), and that they can learn from as they expand their vocabulary.

In my experience they don't really have the attention span at that age to listen to a lengthy descriptive story when in a group setting, but what they thrive on is books that can also be used more interactively. When there is a repetitive phrase to memorize and they add something themselves as they recognize items in the pictures, yelling the name of it as loud as they can.

This is how the idea for this book came about. The illustrator of our book, Kym Terrill, is an artist and also a mom of a young baby, so together we decided to embark on a journey that we both felt was close to our hearts.

The book is recommended for parent-child reading sessions, for group story time at daycare and preschool or for young readers practicing words that contain the "ow" sound. It may also be used as a teacher's aid.

I was born in Hungary in 1977. My parents decided to raise their children bilingual in English and Hungarian. A pretty visionary and rebellious feat at the time considering our country was communist until 1989 and anything related to "the West" was prohibited.

My Dad had an illegal satellite dish installed on our roof in 1983, which enabled us to receive all kinds of channels from around the world, so we could keep informed and learn languages.

After our first trip abroad in 1986 (where we travelled Western Europe for a month), multiple summers babysitting in Switzerland, and various other trips around the world I decided I wanted to move to Canada. So after I finished my Business Degree in Budapest I immigrated to Canada in 1999, at the age of 21.

I have always loved the outdoors, teaching and kids, so I ended up finding my dream job in Whistler, British Columbia, coaching kids between the ages of 3-12. I also teach ESL every now and then, I have done landscaping and all sorts of different jobs in the past ten years. Right now I have the best job of all: I am a Mom to a 16 month old little girl.

Illustrator Biography:

I was born in Australia in 1978. Being the daughter of a Mother from Canada and a Father from New Zealand, travel and cultural diversity became a passion for me from an early age.

After finishing my degree in Visual Arts in Perth Western Australia, I decided it was time to spread my wings and see more of the world. I worked as an art teacher for kids at a summer camp in Massachusetts in 1999, before venturing over to Canada to visit family. After coming to Whistler for a day trip, I decided to stay for a season. That was 10 years ago!During that time I tried many new adventures, from learning to snowboard, driving across the prairies, travelling to Mexico and Costa Rica, and working my way up to become an assistant manager at a successful (and very busy!) apres bar in Whistler. My passion for art never went too far astray. I had the opportunity to hold my own art show in Vancouver in 2004 and completed numerous commission works for local restaurants and celebrities.

I love hiking, biking, art, yoga, learning about different cultures, reading, traveling and new adventures. My latest ventures have been two of my biggest accomplishments; running my own bookkeeping business from home and being a stay at home Mum for my 16 month old daughter.

“Happiness is not a destination in which you arrive, it is your journey there.”