{What's On Your Kindle?} Cheryl Carpinello on Grandma's & Grandpa's Tales

Grandma and Grandpa’s Tales books 1-3 encourage early readers with fun stories incorporating difference aspects of nature. Book 1, Wild Creatures In My Neighborhood and What if I Went to the Circus, explores the wildlife around neighborhoods and introduces decision-making. Book 2, Singers of Songs and The Not Too Stubborn Humpback, explores a common, but not so common insect, and lets readers see that being stubborn isn’t always good. Book 3, Vampires in the Backyard and A Fish Tale, introduces readers to an extended metaphor and lets them decide if the fish story is real.

Book Information

Release Date: Grandma’s Tales #1 (2016), Grandma’s Tales #2 (2018), Grandma’s Tales #3 (2021), Grandpa’s Tales #1 (2016), Grandpa’s Tales #2 (2018), Grandpa’s Tales #3 (2021)

Publisher:  Silver Quill Publishing

Soft Cover: Grandma’s Tales #1 – 39 pages; $9.99

Grandma’s Tales #2 – 66 pages; $13.99

Grandma’s Tales #3 – 64 pages; $14.99

Grandpa’s Tales #1 – 39 pages; $9.99

Grandpa’s Tales #2 – 66 pages; $13.99

Grandpa’s Tales #3 – 64 pages; $14.99

Amazon Ma 1:  https://amzn.to/3374bEX

Amazon Pa 1:  https://amzn.to/3uHMKpA

Amazon Ma 2:  https://amzn.to/3Jan0X5

Amazon Pa 2: https://amzn.to/34HGt2g

Amazon Ma 3: https://amzn.to/3wELnJj

Amazon Pa 3: https://amzn.to/3GyXTLJ

Cheryl Carpinello taught high school English for 25 years. During that time, she worked with numerous students who didn’t like to read for a variety of reasons. However, she discovered that even the most reluctant readers became engaged in the classroom and in reading when she introduced units on King Arthur and the works of ancient world writers. Upon retiring, she set out to write fast-paced, action-filled stories in these setting to encourage young readers to read more. Her success with readers aged 8-16 led her to reach out to the youngest of readers and those readers just starting out. Revising stories she had written for her own children, she created Grandma/Grandpa’s Tales for ages 4-7.  Her four grandchildren’s conversations created the stories in Book 3 of this series.

If you want more Cheryl Carpinello, don’t forget to check out her Twitter and Facebook pages!  

 What was the inspiration behind your Grandma’s and Grandpa’s Tales series? What sparked the initial idea?

As a teacher, my work with readers, reluctant readers, and non-readers at the high school level fueled my interest in writing stories for elementary/middle school students (ages 8/9-15) in hopes of catching the reluctant readers and non-readers early in their schooling. My vehicles for these stories are Arthurian Legend and the Ancient Worlds. My high school students loved these, even those who didn’t like to read. However, I realized that there were important age groups that I was not reaching, mainly preschoolers and beginning readers.

Finding some short stories I had written many years earlier, I decided to turn these into picture books for a new series: Grandma’s Tales. Now this series has expanded into three books containing two stories each. Each of the books also come with either a Grandma or Grandpa on the cover.

Where do these books take place and why did you choose that location?

The majority of the stories take place in every readers’ own backyard or neighborhood. The exception would be The Not Too Stubborn Humpback. Children ages 3-8/9 are concrete thinkers. They need to identity with what they’re reading with the world familiar to them, hence the stories are set in their immediate surroundings. Even the whales, while not in many neighborhoods, are familiar to kids.

How do you want your readers to come away with after reading your books?

Long term, I hope my stories will spark a flame in them for reading that will continue to grow. Short term, I want the readers to realize that reading and exploring old/new ideas is exciting. I also hope that kids will feel a real accomplishment with each story they finish and will be proud of themselves for being able to read.

Do you have other books?

Yes. My Arthurian Legend consists of my Guinevere Trilogy (Guinevere: On the Eve of Legend; Guinevere: At the Dawn of Legend; and Guinevere: The Legend) and the stand alone The King’s Ransom (Young Knights of the Round Table). In the Guinevere Trilogy, Guinevere, destined to become a queen, and Cedwyn, longing to be a knight, find that making decisions without thinking creates dangerous situations. But these two, both to become legends, exhibit the important cornerstones of Arthurian Legend: Friendship, Honor, and Loyalty. In The King’s Ransom, Gavin, Philip, and Bryan choose to risk their lives and face their fears to prove their mentor innocent of theft and murder.

My ancient Egyptian tales are Sons of the Sphinx and Tutankhamen Speaks. Sons is a time travel thriller back to 1330 AD Egypt with the ghost of King Tut. He persuades 15-year-old Rosa to help him find the burial of his queen and help to clear his family’s name. Rosa’s gift of seeing and talking to the dead may be her downfall. She may even die over 3000 years from home! In Tutankhamen Speaks, the boy king supposedly spoke from beyond the grave to tell his own story.

I have a new series coming out in May/June 2022 which features Rosa (Sphinx) and her cousin Jerome. The first book in the Feathers of the Phoenix series is The Atlantean Horse. This series will meld the ancient/modern worlds in a race to find the five feathers of the Phoenix to raise Atlantis.