Blog Archives
We Are So Loved and Extraordinary
Live Big: Catch-M is a heartfelt and whimsical journey through self-belief, love, and the power of positivity that encourages readers, especially children, to believe in their dreams and find strength in kindness, gratitude, and connection. What was the inspiration for your story?
The inspiration for my Live Big Series came from my need to figure out how not to live in the dark when hard things happen. I lost a brother suddenly at the age of fifteen. I had no social and emotional learning or life skills to overcome such a hardship at the time. My parents did not either, and we struggled. Over the years, I went on a quest to discover ways back to my YES, to live my best life with meaning.
At a symphony with my husband, I do not know if you would call it God or divine inspiration, but it was like something whacked me over the head and said, “Kat, you need to write books about the power of a smile to help kids and everyone, live their best lives together.” I knew nothing about being an author. I was forty. I had never even met an author, but I honored the call. The best moments of my life are now watching kids hold my books like a lifeline. I hope my books help kids learn life skills to overcome adversity and live with full brave hearts, filling their heart’s treasure with the gift of CATCH-M love. How fun to all shine and share love’s wondrous power everywhere as we catch CATCH-M together!
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
The two most important ideas I wanted to convey in my Live Big Series were the power of our smile and how to live our best lives together. Our smiles are such outward expressions of how we live in our hearts. Our hearts are the wellspring of life. If we can fill our hearts daily with the gift of love’s wonder, the power of CATCH-M, we can live big in our magical kingdoms and achieve our wildest dreams together. Albert Einstein said, “If you look deep into nature you will understand everything better!” The African animals in my Live Big Series all pursue their wildest dreams. The readers watch these animals discover three powerful secrets to catch CATCH-M every day and build full brave hearts where they can live big together!
The art in this book is fantastic. What was the art collaboration process like with the illustrator Jomike Tejido?
Jomike Tejido is an incredibly talented artist who started as an architect but found his spark by designing picture books. I have been fortunate to work with him because my Art Director, Neil Gonzales, recognized his talent. The three of us had a blast imagining how to convey the fear of a little spark, alone in the dark, facing its fear and becoming so brave-hearted that it could shine and share love everywhere. Jomike’s work takes readers on a wondrous journey through time where readers can consider how the universe, Mother Earth, and all its inhabitants came to be. What a gift to think each of us are chosen and designed to be here because we are so loved and extraordinary! If and when we believe, we too can shine and share love’s wonder everywhere!
Is this the first book in the series? If so, when is the next book coming out, and what can your fans expect in the next story?
Live Big With CATCH-M is considered the first and last book in my Live Big Series. It explains the history of CATCH-M and how the gift of love’s wondrous spark came to live in all of our hearts. It can be the first book you read, in the middle, or the last. The book number on Live Big With CATCH-M‘s cover is an infinity symbol to represent the fact that love never ends and love always wins over fear. The next book fans can expect is a Live Big Playbook, a dynamic, fun workbook to inspire us to live our best lives as we catch CATCH-M every day together and build our heart’s treasure.
Author Links: GoodReads | Amazon
Book 1 of 4: The Live Big Series
Set long ago in history, in one of the best-illustrated children’s books in Kat’s best-selling, multi-award-winning Live Big series; readers follow a little love spark named CATCH-M who wakes up in the dark. No other sparks are there. CATCH-M feels alone and scared. After struggling with crazy emotions, CATCH-M finds his full braveheart and discovers how to think bigger, creating a magic moment that changes everything! BANG!
CATCH-M does good, shining and sharing love’s wondrous power everywhere. Millions of miraculous CATCH-Ms create wonders like Mother Earth, where we all can experience the fun of love and friendship. But in the wilds of East Africa, Baby Cheetah and Zebra struggle with crazy emotions too. Can they find the gift of CATCH-M, love’s wondrous spark in their hearts, and listen, using love’s powerful secrets to live big with full bravehearts?
Live Big with Catch-M’s inspirational message makes it the perfect gift for every age. Everyone, everywhere, will delight in learning love’s powerful secrets—shhh—DREAM BIG, LOVE BIG, and THINK BIG—to catch CATCH-M love every day and be extraordinary stars in our stories together!
The Wonder of Our World
SOAR: A Soul’s Quest follows a young eagle on a quest for self-discovery and spiritual enlightenment. What inspired the setup of your story?
Soar’s journey acts as a metaphor for all human existence and builds on the themes of our international award-winning first book: The Legendary Quest: For Professionals Seeking Inner and Outer Excellence and Authentic Fulfilment.
In working together, we envisioned creating a body of work that reflects our views and collective philosophy on life, which we believe is rarely reflected in the prevailing media and cultural messages that people tend to receive.
I truly believe that there’s a Soar in some capacity in all of us. All of us are capable of living the best possible lives we can and becoming the best versions of ourselves. So, the idea of Soar came from the verb soar. We evaluated hundreds of words, but that kind of stuck in the end as we could find none better.
There’s a lot of literature in the modern world about how eagles are really special. They live in communities. They can fly enormous distances without moving a wing and they are among the highest-flying birds. It gave us a great fabric for the story because we practically wanted the reader to soar on the wings of the eagle and experience the wonder of our world.
Is there anything about Soar that came from yourself or your life experiences?
Yes, many parts of Soar were inspired by our journeys. It embeds real life experiences all through the story. So many of our readers have also found the same.
The story of Soar is, we believe, broadly applicable to human experience across the globe, regardless of all demographic and social factors. This story is for everyone, regardless of age, race, gender, or any other identifier. The story is equally applicable for, and to, any preferred pronoun.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Soar highlights several critical issues and conflicts we collectively face! Soar experiences challenges with authority, hierarchy, cognitive rigidity, and lack of growth as well as xenophobia in his community. Soar’s journey highlights many conflicts (within and outside us) that we face and then provides an approach to resolve them. Soar’s journey highlights the importance of growth mindset, openness, willingness to accept alternative perspectives, and seek wide and vivid life experiences to enrich oneself. Further, the journey highlights the importance of grit, resilience, continuous growth, acceptance, gratitude, and forgiveness. The journey challenges the reader to reflect and assess their own cognitive biases and presumptions!
What is one thing you hope readers take away from your book?
We truly hope that readers embark on their own authentic journeys of life and recognize that the journey is at least as important as the destination.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website | Amazon
SOAR: A Soul’s Quest, is the stirring story of a young eagle who sets out in quest of self-discovery and spiritual enlightenment. So come and sail on Soar’s wings! Like most fables, the narrative unfolds as a series of encounters with inspirational creatures who teach Soar critical life lessons. Ultimately Soar learns, as psychologist Dr. Jillian Rigert puts it in her testimonial-“what it means to live a life true to himself and teach others to do the same.” Soar comes to learn the importance of self-discipline, intuition, altruism, trust, and interdependence.
Mahalo Does Not Mean Trash
When a young boy from California visits his cousins for the first time in Hawaii, he becomes confused about why people keep calling each other trash. What starts as simple misunderstanding blossoms into frustration and anger between the young cousins. It takes a patient Pupu (grandmother) to explain the real meaning of Mahalo and teach the children a valuable lesson about their Hawaiian culture.
Mahalo Does Not Mean Trash is an educational and inspiring story about family, traditions, and culture. Written by AJ Paki Perkins and his three teenage children, they work together to create this fascinating and outstanding children’s book. This is more than just a story about the meaning of Mahalo; it is the blending of cultures and sharing of one’s heritage. It is also a lesson in gratitude and appreciation for each other and the land that we live on.
One of my favorite parts of this magnificent book is the resources at the end. Hawaiian words can be confusing to non-natives, especially the pronunciation. The authors have included a pronunciation guide and a list of Hawaiian language words with their definitions. This children’s book is on the longer side, at over 60 pages, but the colorful illustrations play well with the vibrant setting of Hawaii. The character’s expressions really add to the story and keep children engaged. While some of the dialog can get confusing, it is a beautiful lesson for small children on diversity. The details the authors have included make this story personal and relatable.
Mahalo Does Not Mean Trash is an engaging and beautiful written children’s book that teaches about the culture of Hawaii and the importance of gratitude. Children will love reading about the cousins as they spend time with the Pupu and Papa and experience the wonderful things that the island of Hawaii has to offer.
Pages: 65 | ASIN : B0BMSKP91Z
LITERARY TITAN 