Fukushima One Year Later: My Children's Picture Book.

Not even the great Zoltar could have predicted my career in children's books or the world events that would affect it.  

In the aftermath of Fukushima’s nuclear disaster most people are surprised to discover I almost did not publish Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works!, but prior to the Fukushima incident my book's topic evoked more bored yawns than invitations to visit elementary schools.

So much attention has been placed on what went wrong at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant due to natural disasters most of us have forgotten that the Nuclear Industry had and continues to have an unsurpassed safety record.

That record is what made my book a tough sell to the general public and even some in the nuclear industry. I was contemplating paying off my illustrator and just placing my children’s book about nuclear power plants on hold when the tsunami hit Japan.    

If ever I have received a “sign” to do something, that appeared to be it.

 Nuclear Power: How aNuclear Power Plant Really Works! was released December 29, 2011. 

I no longer worry about my book’s topic being considered boring.  If anything, boredom has been replaced with irrational fear.  

Children’s picture books are never as simple and easy to write as they appear. My “Nuke Book” is a creative look at a factual subject and it had to be technically accurate.

None of the professionals I market my book to or parents who purchase my book would expect anything less than for me to have sought out the opinions and critiques of the nuclear industry.  People who have worked within the industry and understand what they are talking about. 

Unfortunately, during the aftermath of Fukushima’s nuclear disaster these industry leaders and experts have often been by-passed in favor of commentators with more sensationalized points of view.

People I would have never considered a legitimate source for even a fictional children’s picture book about nuclear power have been considered expert sources on the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Fukushima changed everything, including my mind about publishing a children’s book about nuclear power.  Public perception of nuclear power plants remains an issue for the nuclear industry and even my children’s picture book about it.  The bored yawns I encountered have been replaced by raised eyebrows, genuine interest and sometimes irrational fear.  

I am in the returning lane of my author school visits/ marketing road trip. I have lit up the roads from North Carolina to Texas with stops along the way in both Florida and Alabama.  Most educators tend to read a book before critiquing it, and these past few months I have had the privilege of meeting with many of them.  As they have pointed out, nothing eliminates fear like education. 

What better way to educate a classroom full of elementary children about nuclear energy than a book about it? 

Amelia Frahm with Bethany Cargle, Marketing Specialist for RCS Corp. and students at Steele Creek Elem. School, Charlotte, NC.  RCS donated my book  to area schools and arranged my visit to celebrate National Engineers Week.

Lennie Roberts Elementary

Back home, and back to work in North Carolina, but I am still feeling the glow, after visiting schools in Matagorda County, Texas,  and helping kick off National Nuclear Science Week by sharing 

Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works!

I am happy to be home, but I am missing the friendly, attentive, and well-behaved students I encountered during my visit to Texas schools.  

Celebrating with some of my "Team" from the left-my husband, Randy, me, my cousin Lora , her husband Dickie Thompson, my sister-in-law, Denise & brother, Michael Solomon, and cousin Brittany, & her husband Cary Orsak. 

I usually work at home and alone, but in Texas, it felt like I had my own personal PR Team. In a way I did, I still have close personal friends and family members that reside in Matagorda County, Texas.  They helped toot my horn, whenever possible came to my events, and let me know how happy and proud they were for me.  

Adrriana Acosta

It wasn't just friends and family that made me feel welcome, but the movers and shakers of Matagorda County's professional community as well.   I had so much fun working with Sheryl Langstrom and the staff at Happy Radio.

I am so  appreciative to Adriana Acosta, of the Matagorda Advocate for covering my school tour. She came out and took photos during my visit at Cherry Elementary and wrote the following article: All about Nuclear Energy.

Cherry Elementary, Bay City, TX 

Everyone from the school superintendent's office to the students themselves made me feel welcome, and told me how proud they were I wrote a children's book about nuclear power plants based on experiences I had while working at the STP Nuclear Plant.

 Nutcracker Publishing is dedicated to the memory of my friend, Laura Bouldin Karlman who died of Leukemia at age 39, October, 2000.  Laura and I met when I lived in Bay City, Texas. Before husbands, children, and as I like to say, respectability.  The only thing that could have made my visit to Texas, more perfect would have been Laura's presence.  However, I did get to do the next best thing! Laura's sister, Cindy Tomek, and I got together for lunch. I enjoyed hearing about Laura's family, especially Laura's children who like my own are all grown up now.

Matagorda Beach Elementary 

This January it has been 18 years since I was given the breast cancer diagnosis that changed my life, inspired me to write Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous Mommy, and motivated me to establish a career writing children's picture books.  I have been a very lucky woman!

Celebrating National Nuclear Science Week by Nuking Texas

Nuking Texas?  Well not the way one of my children’s book critics implied, but I am nuking them with information.

I am in South Texas, visiting local schools where I’ve been reading Mom's Choice Award Recipient, Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power PlantReally Works! to students and giving them a head start on celebrating National Nuclear Science Week. 

National Nuclear Science Week is Monday, January 23 -27, 2012, and is designed to recognize the contributions of the nuclear science industry and those who work in it every day.

I felt honored when Principal Sarah Roper, at Van Vleck Elementary School, Van Vleck, Texas, told me I was helping them kick off their Nuclear Science Week celebration.

Amelia Frahm with students at Van Vleck Elementary School.

After twenty-three years I have come home to South Texas. The warm and welcoming reception I have received has made me wonder how I could ever leave.  Okay, It did not hurt one bit that the cute young man at a local restaurant said, “Mam, whereever you’re going you  shore look nice,”  that the state trooper who pulled me over let me off with a warning and not a ticket, or that my cousin’s ten-year old son actually wanted his classmates to KNOW we’re related.  Yep, I love Texas and Texans.

Van Vleck Elementary School , Van Vleck, TX

Here are a few of the highlights of my visit:

Visiting Van Vleck Elementary School where my Aunt Loretta Cox, taught school back in the days I lived in South Texas.  My aunt is deceased now and visiting her school brought back wonderful memories

At Holy Cross Catholic School where my cousin Brittany Orsak's  step-

son, Joshua  Orsak, is a fifth grader.  I got to see Lesley and Kayley Hoffman,  who attended my December Booksigning Event in Bay City, Texas,  again as well  They're students at Holy Cross.  After my presentation was over the little girls I'm pictured with above came up and gave me hugs!  

Long before Congressman Ron Paul became a Republican presidential candidate I sought out pro-nuclear politicians. His office responded and while in Texas, it was my privilege to meet Tracee Tollett, who works for Congressman Paul, in person. 

I had the honor of presenting Tracee the finished book. FYI: That pic I'm holding is proof to my kids that I don't make these things up. It's a picture of the cattle drive I used to get stuck in when I worked at the STP nuclear plant! 

Blessing Elementary School in Blessing, Texas.  A small community school that looks just as you would picture a Texas Elementary School should look.

The story goes that the founder was so thankful to finally get a train stop so he could ship his cattle he wanted to call the town,  Thank God.  That name was rejected. 

Here I am pictured with students at Blessing Elementary.

 My audience of children at Blessing Elementary.  

I could not go to Blessing without visiting the Blessing Hotel. Back in the day I worked at the nuclear plant we would take our tour groups to the hotel for lunch. Built in 1906 the hotel is still in operation today.

It was past lunch time when I arrived, but I was happy to discover that

Helen Feldhousen is still the proprietor of  the hotel's dining room known today as the Hotel Blessing Coffee Shop.

I'll post more of my Texas author visit later.  Today I'm on my way to 

Matagorda Elementary School at Matagorda Beach.  The very beach I had in mine when I penned the words,"... so hot fish jumped out of the ocean already fried..."

For a list of school’s I’m visiting while in Texas please go to Author Events.

If you would like to talk to me about visiting your school please Contact Us.

Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works  named among Best in Family-friendly Media

Fans Lesley and Kayley Hoffman who came with their parents to get an autographed copy
of Frahm's award-winning, family-friendly book about nuclear power.

Apex, NC, January 5, 2012--Mom's Choice Awards has named Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works! among the best in family-friendly media, products and services in the children’s picture book and science and technology categories.

The book is an educational and entertaining look at the inner workings of a nuclear power plant.  It is told from the perspective of a chubby white rat and a pretty blue bird who blame everything they don’t understand about nuclear energy on a cat named Penelope.

The Mom's Choice Awards (MCA) is an awards program that recognizes authors, inventors, companies, parents and others for their efforts in creating quality family-friendly media, products and service.

“I walked a fencepost between creativity and the technicalities the nuclear industry demanded and it’s great to receive validation from the experts,” said author Amelia Frahm.

Parents, educators, librarians and retailers rely on MCA evaluations when selecting quality materials for children and families. The Mom's Choice Awards seal helps families and educators navigate the vast array of products and services and make informed decisions. An esteemed panel of judges includes education, media and other experts as well as parents, children, librarians, performing artists, producers, medical and business professionals, authors, scientists and others. A sampling of panel members includes: Dr. Twila C. Liggett, ten-time Emmy-winner, professor and founder of PBS's Reading Rainbow; Julie Aigner-Clark, Creator of Baby Einstein and The Safe Side Project; Jodee Blanco, New York Times best-selling author, Priscilla Dunstan, creator of the Dunstan Baby Language; Patricia Rossi, host of NBC's Manners Minute; Dr. Letitia S. Wright, D.C., host of the Wright Place TV Show; and Catherine Witcher, M.Ed., special needs expert and founder of Precision Education, Inc.

MCA judges are bound by a strict code of ethics, which ensures expert and objective analysis free from any manufacturer association. The evaluation process uses a propriety methodology in which entries are scored on a number of elements including production quality, design, educational value, entertainment value, originality, appeal and cost.

To be considered for an award, each entrant submits five identical samples of a product. Entries are matched to judges in the MCA database. Judges perform a thorough analysis and submit a detailed assessment. Results are compiled and submitted to the MCA Executive Committee for final approval. The end result is a list of the best in family-friendly media, products and services that parents and educators can feel confident in using.

For more information on the awards program and the honorees, visit MomsChoiceAwards.com.

Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works! costs $9.95 and is available from the publisher, at bookstores like Barnes & Noble Bookstores, and online at sites like Amazon.com.

About Nutcracker Publishing Company
Nutcracker PublishingCompany was founded in 2001. The company publishes children’s books that educate, entertain, and make it easier to establish a dialogue between children and adults about difficult subjects such as cancer and nuclear power. Nutcracker Publishing Company is based in North Carolina.  Crack Open a Book! Visit: www.nutcrackerpublishing.com.

Media Contact:
Amelia Frahm
Nutcracker Publishing Company
Apex, NC
919-924-2058 
Amelia@NutcrackerPublishing.com

###

Nuclear Power: That's how Santa lights his Christmas lights!

My elves have been busy and I owe my children big time for this one!

December is always a busy month and this year it's also the launch month for Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works! 

What's the worst-best reindeer gifts you ever received? That's the topic I'm addressing when I speak at the Apex, North Carolina Rotary club on December 8th.

Then I'm looking forward to going to Bay City, Texas where I'll be the guest author at a booksigning event at Lisa's  Main Street Wine and Coffee Bar on Saturday, December 10th.

On December 17th I'm getting an early Christmas present as I watch my daughter Tabitha  graduate from North Carolina State University as one of her college's Valedictorians!

Hope there's a moment to do some Christmas shopping in there somewhere. Ho Ho Ho!

Ex-porn star, Sasha Grey, read to kids at a Compton Elementary School
as part of the Read Across America Program.

Never thought I would find myself empathizing with an ex-porn star.  I’m a children’s picture book writer, for God’s sake, but Sasha Grey has my empathy.  The same week she got condemned by self-righteous bullies for reading a children’s book, I got condemned for writing one.

Sasha Grey is the former porn star who caused a minor melt-down (pun intended) amongst some parents for reading to students at Compton Elementary School in California as part of the Read Across America Program.

I’m the author of Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power PlantReally Works! a children’s picture book that explains the inner-workings of a nuclear power plant.

It got heated and hot, and not just inside Nukie Nuclear Power Plant’s reactor. There was a whole lot of fissioning going on, on my Facebook page, this past week between anti-nuclear extremists and nuclear power advocates.

Anyone who bothers to read Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works! will learn that it explains how a nuclear power plant works in a creative format that young children will find appealing.

I suppose that is the problem.  Children will find it appealing. The book does not demonize nuclear power, or point out, as my anti-nuke critics did, that its author is a disgusting example of motherhood that ought to be ashamed of herself.

Frankly, this disgusting example of motherhood is fed up with adults who masquerade their bullying techniques behind feigned concern and outrage about how something they disapprove of affects children. I got the distinct impression some of the self-righteous disliked my book because it did not cause anxiety, distrust, and nuclear nightmares in children.

Since I don’t watch porn, I had never heard of Sasha Grey until this past week, but I’m happy to hear she reads children’s picture books.  Maybe she could read my book to the anti-nuclear advocates who posted on my Facebook page.

Call me crazy, but I find it difficult to trust the credibility of an advocate who claims to have first-hand knowledge of events pertaining to the nuclear industry when they will diss a children’s book about nuclear power plants without reading it first.

In the wake of Japan’s nuclear disaster I can understand why people are concerned about nuclear energy and THAT is why I wrote NuclearPower: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works!

Moms Choice Awards has named "Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works!" among the best in family-friendly media, products and services in  the science & technology and children's picture book categories.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Explaining the Nuclear Power Plant in the Backyard to Children

Children’s Book Uses Fun Format to Teach about Nuclear Energy

Apex, NC, November 02, 2011—In the words of renowned nuclear expert Dr. Theodore Rockwell, “now kids can learn the basic facts about nuclear energy without first being scared witless.” Nutcracker Publishing Company announced today it is getting ready to  “radiate brilliance” with the release of a children’s picture book that explains the inner workings of a nuclear power plant.

Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works! by Amelia Frahm, is both educational and entertaining,  and it offers parents and educators an opportunity to teach children about nuclear energy in a fun and unbiased way.

The book is being released in the wake of Japan’s nuclear disaster and has faced criticism from anti-nuclear activists. The topic is timely, as the future of nuclear power plants is currently in question.

“I was putting the final touches on the book when Japan’s nuclear accident occurred, but I had recognized the need for this book from past experience,” said author Amelia Frahm. “After college, I was hired to do public relations at the South Texas Project Nuclear Plant.  It was after Three Mile Island and during Chernobyl.”  One of Frahm’s job assignments was to do an elementary school program.

Frahm always wished for a more creative format to explain nuclear energy to her students. Her book explains how a nuclear power plant works through the eyes of a rat and bird who believe the local nuclear power plant was designed by a cat named Penelope so she could use electricity to cook them for dinner.

Parents and educators can get a glimpse of what to expect from the book from the following video: News anchor Birderson Cooper interviewing the book’s chubby rat character as he demonstrates a fission chain reaction or as he says, “what makes a nuclear power plant nu-cle-ar.”

Frahm is no stranger to writing a children’s book that deals with difficult subject matter. She previously authored the award-winning picture book Tickles Tabitha’s Cancer-tankerous Mommy.

Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works!   costs $9.95 and is available from the publisher, at Barnes & Noble Bookstores, on line at Amazon.com, and at other bookstores.

About Nutcracker Publishing Company

Nutcracker PublishingCompany was founded in 2000. The company publishes children’s books that educate, entertain, and make it easier to establish a dialogue between children and adults about difficult subjects such as cancer and nuclear power. Nutcracker Publishing Company is based in North Carolina.  Crack Open a Book! Visit: www.nutcrackerpublishing.com.

Media Contact:
Amelia Frahm
Nutcracker Publishing Company
Apex, NC
919-924-2058
Amelia@NutcrackerPublishing.com

###

Hard to imagine, but there was a time when library shelves did not contain children’s books about cancer, I was told the mommy in Tickles Tabitha’s Cancer-tankerous Mommy was just too mean, and the Tickles Tabitha character would not have been invited to a public school because talking about cancer to elementary kids was still taboo. Videos like this one would have been deemed inappropriate.

All that and more are some of the things I shared with audience members at the Apex Chamber of Commerce Women’s Networking Event, where I was invited to be guest speaker and we kicked off breast cancer awareness month a few days early.  Check out Becca’s Blog on Sept. 28^th for more info.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  In 1994, I was 34 years old when I found a lump in my breast and was diagnosed with breast cancer. 

At my house, along with the traditional orange, I drag out the pink pumpkin jack-o-lanterns to celebrate the significance of the month.  October also celebrates the 11^th anniversary of Nutcracker Publishing Company, and ten years since Tickles Tabitha’s Cancer-tankerous Mommy was launched on the Rosie O Donnell talk show in honor 

of Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October 2001.

My pink pumpkins hold the pink ribbons and book marks I take with me as I promote Breast Cancer Awareness.

Are y'all ready for October?  

September 27, 2011 Time: 11:45 AM - 1:00 PM  I'll be speaking at the Apex, North Carolina's Chamber of Commerce Women's Networking Event.  


 "Surviving to Thriving-Why Nausea is a good thing and other advice I gave my Daughter!" (Unsolicited and unappreciated advice.)


Click here for more information or to register for the event. 

Miss Michelle Burke the proud
winner of our story book give-away at Progess Energy's 6th Annual  
Community Day.

"Connected to the Community" 

 6th Annual Community Day at the Harris Nuclear Plant 

 Saturday, September 10th

 10 AM - 2 PM

Progress Energy invites you and your family to their 6th Annual Community Day.  It will be a fun-filled, high-energy day, complete with control room simulator tours, and behind-the-scenes information about Harris Nuclear Plant.

This year they have invited me to participate!  I will be explaining to children and adults, Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works!  


Professor Chubby Rat will be reenacting his tail-trimming fission chain reaction demonstration, and Nutcracker 
Publishing will giving away some freebies.  Hope you live near enough to make it!

Organization: Harris Nuclear Plant
Location: New Hill, NC 27562
Date: Saturday, September 10, 2011

Time: 10:00am to 2:00 pm

Harris Energy and Environmental Center

3932 New Hill-Holleman Road

New Hill, NC  27562

More Information about the Harris Plant may be found at HARRIS VIEW.

While the weather outside soared to triple digits, I was inside Progress Energy’s air-conditioned Energy and Environmental Center at the Harris Nuclear Plant, on an Energy Safari with Senior Community Relations Representative, Kim Crawford, my son Jordan, and about forty Wake County, North Carolina fifth graders and their teachers.

It was a good day to learn how nuclear power plants produce electricity and even better day to point out it takes electricity to power our air conditioners. 

Last year students participating in the Wake County Energy Camp  were recruited to be my personal guinea pigs for my nuke book, which was still a work-in-progress.  This year’s students got to critique the finished product.

Despite the air conditioning, I was perspiring with nervous anxiety.  These were not just any guinea pigs,  but children that have an aptitude for the sciences. It was obvious from the get-go we had several future engineers in our audience.  

What a relief to receive the endorsement of the experts! 

The only thing hotter than the weather was Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works!  

The restaurant where she works is in my home town, the book I’m promoting has received plenty of press, the topic (nuclear power) is timely and age appropriate, children love the puppet characters, there’s a nuclear power plant in our own back yard, and she has booked people with fewer qualifications than my own, but even before I hung up the phone I knew the children’s event planner I was talking to wouldn’t be calling me back. 

 

Marketing 101- to be successful you’ve got to show that you are successful.  Ninety-nine point nine percent of the time it works, but there’s always that one person who sees the news, views my website, or listens to my elevator speech, and concludes I need to be knocked down a peg or two. 

Or is so hell-bent on advancing their own agenda they don’t care who they hurt, like the person who labeled me a nuclear pedophile.

If only it was as easy, impressive, and one-sided as the press releases, elevator speeches, or marketing pitches like this one make it sound:

Even before Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works!  was sent to print, it caught some buzz!  The Raleigh News and Observer did an article that was also printed in the local Southwest Wake News. The proof we received from the printer looked great and books will be available soon.

When my book’s proof arrived at my home in North Carolina, I was at a hospital in Pensacola, Florida where one of the persons it’s dedicated to, my father, Preston Solomon, was in critical care and doctors didn’t expect him to survive.

My children assured me the proof looked great, but there were some issues that needed addressing.  I stressed over the book, worried about my father, complained about my computer which wasn’t working in the hospital, and tried not to cry when talking to my cousins.

Weeks earlier I had left my home in North Carolina.  My plan had been to drive to northern Alabama where my husband Randy works and lives. Along the way, I was going to hit bookstores, media, and other venues, and pitch my upcoming book.

Instead, at the last minute, I decided to drive straight to St. Augustine, FL, where my cousin, Jerry Vaughn, was hospitalized.  He had recently been diagnosed with a brain tumor and it just wasn’t going as well as we hoped. It was a shock to all of us. Jerry had the distinction of being the only person in our family over the age of 21 that’s never been overweight. He had no bad health habits, still ran, biked, and swam, and looked ten years younger than his sixty-seven years.

He and his older brother, my cousin, Jimmy were young adults when I was born, but I always adored them and they me.  When I left the small panhandle community of Walnut Hill, Florida for the much larger, more liberal, and more sophisticated University of Florida, I spent many a homesick weekend being fed and favored at my cousin’s who lived a short drive from the university.

Last year Jerry and his wife, Elaine drove for miles, out of their way, just so they could get reception and listen to me being interviewed on a radio talk show.  Most of my relatives would have considered that a waste of good gas money.

Jerry passed away not long after I visited.  By then I was at my parent’s home, eight hours away, in the Florida Panhandle.  I had been planning to wait there until arrangements had been made for his funeral and then drive my parents to it, but then my father became ill and was admitted to the hospital. 

Daddy was diagnosed with Parathyroid Disease which is usually not life-threatening, but his prognosis went from bad to worse when he aspirated after a routine procedure that had to be administered prior to surgery. 

Words can’t describe the panic I felt when I heard a code blue being called in my father’s hospital room.  I jumped ahead of a line of people, shut the elevator door in their faces, and then uttered a profanity that a Priest overheard as I took my shoes off so I could run to his room. The room was filled with hospital staff and they were able to revive my father. 

My dad was on a ventilator in critical care for over two weeks, but he surprised his doctors, and has made a remarkable recovery.  He’s still hospitalized and doctors have advised us his recovery will not be quick due to his age and health history, but he was well enough for me to leave. 

My father has asked about Jerry’s wife Elaine, but still isn’t cognitive enough to remember his nephew died, or be told that none of us had attended the funeral. 

Instead, we had kept vigil at his bedside, and for the first time in more than 40 years my siblings and I were together with our daddy on Father’s Day. Too bad he won’t remember it. 

Even in the worst of times, some things are tragically comical. Like listening to my delirious father complain about picking cotton, and yell orders to my cousin Jim.

A month after I left North Carolina, I finally arrived in northern Alabama.  Together, my husband and I, drove back home to North Carolina to celebrate the 4^th of July with our children.  

My summer has been filled with professional triumphs and personal tragedies, laughter, and sorrow. I reflected on this as I hung up the phone with the event planner.

Rejection is common when you’re marketing a book, but summer 2011 has put name-calling and rejection in perspective. This year I've learned to appreciate the joy that’s present when life is ordinary.