In spite of the swing towards video and audio communication, reading remains a core competency.  It is through reading that one develops a strong vocabulary.  Reading also stimulates the imagination in ways that simply watching a movie cannot.  Studies have shown that children who learn to read well at a young age have a lifelong advantage over those who do not.  And it is during their pre-school years that children develop the critical foundation of skills that will allow them to be successful in life.

But in the modern age of non-stop TV, movies, and video games, it can be a challenge to catch and hold a young child’s attention with a book.  It can seem so . . . well, boring.

Enter author/illustrator Steve Ouch, “discoverer” of the colorful, zany world of SteamPotVille.  A fantasy world that slips into your dreams, populated by wonderful animals, and where everything turns topsy-turvy.
                                             
This is a book that you and your child will both love.  Covering 40 pages, the tale of SteamPotVille is told in lyrical rhymes, with each stanza accompanied by illustrations that can only be described as breathtaking in their detail.  It is one of those books that will become an instant favorite, delighting, captivating, and entertaining.

Through his book and promotional campaigns, Steve Ouch is actively supporting literacy for children.  He endorses the Books for Kids Foundation, and is using the viral power of Social Media to raise awareness for children’s literacy.

SteamPotVille is appropriate for children ages 9 and under, and those of us who still treasure some of the wonderment of childhood in our hearts.

Karen Shackles
Author, Speaker, forty-something lover of children’s books, and avid reader since the age of five.

(see my current project)