EASILY DISTRACTED A hedgehog named Hildy struggles with Attention-Deficit Disorder
YOU ARE NOT ALONE Cosmo the rabbit longs to be a cat. A gentle introduction to transgender issues.
CHICKIE BLUE’S BORING DAY A bored little chick seeks adventure. around the farm. A lesson about mindful living.
This project was so FUN! I was invited to collaborate with a special education teacher to create an online summer writing camp for at-risk fifth grade reluctant readers/writers. Part of the assignment was to create children’s stories using the e-learning platform Storybird, then narrate and upload the stories to YouTube. Together with my collaborator, we designed a curriculum for a 6-week program. An aspect of this project that was especially challenging was having to select and use pre-existing Storybird stock art to build the narratives while staying within the strict guidelines of a grant. The stories had to feature specific themes which included learning disabilities and inclusivity. Additionally, I provided guidance and feedback to the children who were tasked with writing their own Storybird stories.
Graphic Designs for Social Media, Internal Email, Flyers, and a Logo
How can you talk about something you can’t remember?
Before the ski trip, sixteen-year-old Cassidy “Sid” Murphy was a cheerleader (at the bottom of the pyramid, but still…), a straight-A student, and a member of a solid trio of best friends. When she ends up on a ski lift next to handsome local college boy, Dax Windsor, she’s thrilled; but Dax takes everything from Sid—including a lock of her perfect red curls—and she can’t remember any of it.
Back home and unable to relate to her old friends, Sid drops her college prep classes and takes up residence in the A/V room with only Corey “The Living Stoner” Livingston for company. But as she gets to know Corey (slacker, baker, total dreamboat), Sid finds someone who truly makes her happy. Now, if she can just shake the nightmares and those few extra pounds, everything will be perfect… or so she thinks.
Witty and poignant, Colleen Clayton’s stunning debut is a story about moving on after the unthinkable happens.
DOLL HEARTS
17-year-old Julianne Bell’s life is caving in on her. Literally. Her mother is a hoarder and shopping addict whose retail drug of choice is collectible dolls. Their house is not a home but more a bizarro game of Garage Sale Tetris in which flea market finds, Amazon boxes, and QVC shipments are puzzled together in a labyrinth of consumer excess and looming bankruptcy. It’s a situation Julianne has grown adept at hiding. That is, until the day her school cafeteria account slips into the red. Meal-skipping is not an option for someone with Type 1 Diabetes, so when Julianne has a seizure in class, her father claims custody. Living two hours from her home, with her dad and annoyingly perfect step-mom, is not how Julianne planned to spend her summer, let alone her senior year. Needing fast cash to help her mom avoid foreclosure, Julianne takes a job at an amusement park, and as luck would have it, her former classmate—heartthrob Brandon Wright—also works there. Between sweeping up cigarette butts at the park, racing to solve her mother’s financial crisis, managing her diabetes , and navigating a budding romance, Julianne Bell’s messy life just got a whole lot messier.
Set against a summery backdrop of roller coasters, pool parties, and cute boys, DOLL HEARTS explores issues of family bonds, compulsive hoarding, and first love.
Praise for WHAT HAPPENS NEXT:
“Layering first love over trauma reveals a true struggle between moments of hope and despair that feels realistic for a young survivor, and Sid is a strong-voiced, sympathetic narrator who is easy to root for.”―The Horn Book
By turn heart-breaking, comic, and intensely truthful, Sid’s story is a small gem of a book. This exceptional novel is an essential acquisition for all libraries serving teens.”―VOYA
“Debut author Clayton doesn’t simplify Sid or her emotions… painfully realistic yet hopeful.”―PW
“Layering first love over trauma reveals a true struggle between moments of hope and despair that feels realistic for a young survivor, and Sid is a strong-voiced, sympathetic narrator who is easy to root for.”―The Horn Book
“Girls will see themselves or someone they know in this thought-provoking story as it gets passed from friend to friend.”―SLJ
The Mindful Writer 