Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Stepping Outside the Classroom with Greta Burroughs

Recently, I talked with Greta Burroughs about her teaching days and her books. Greta Burroughs loves to read. No matter where she is, there is always a book close at hand. Her love of reading began at an early age and blossomed over time to include many different genres, her favorite now being fantasy.
As a preschool and elementary school teacher, Greta tried to instill the joy of reading in the children she worked with. Books were an important part of her classroom and story time was the highlight of the day.
It has been a while since Greta was in a classroom but she had lots of experience in reading to children of various ages and remembers what they enjoyed listening to. She tries to incorporate that knowledge into her work as an author and believes it makes her a better writer of children's books.
"Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat" was written several years before the book was published. The manuscript was put away while she concentrated on her career as a freelance journalist and before that in aviation education. When medical issues kept her from being able to work outside the home, the writing bug hit her and the old manuscript was dusted off, rewritten, illustrated and published.
"Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat" is a collection of five stories about a couple of friends who learn valuable lessons while out on their adventures. There are illustrations to go along with each chapter and questions at the end of each story. The target audience is ages 5-8 but the book can also be read aloud to younger kids.
Greta has also published a young adult fiction fantasy novel entitled "Gerald and the Wee People". Wee People was written for teenagers but adults also enjoy the exploits of the two main characters as they literally fall into another world and interact with the villagers, helping them to defeat a forest god intent on destroying their world. Greta has plans to write a sequel called "The House on Bo-Kay Lane."
Her one nonfiction narrative, "Heartaches and Miracles" describes the roller coaster ride she has been on fighting an autoimmune disorder called ITP. In this book, the author and several other ITPers give an insight into this chronic blood disorder and try to give words of encouragement to others trying to cope with ITP. "Heartaches and Miracles" is also Greta's way of telling the world what ITP is, how it affects its victims and that it is more widespread than most people realize.
That is not the end of her literary itinerary; Greta has several other children's and young adult books in mind for the future--and hopefully, she'll come back and tell us about them.

1 comment: