What a creative day today. I was encouraged by my husband and producer of our KAPOW! book series to create an overview of Amanda’s backyard world and all locations in Oh Hoppy Day! and Sadie’s Purpose (and this will definitely serve us well in my 3rd KAPOW! book too). We are so thrilled to be in illustration production with Sadie’s Purpose (our 2nd KAPOW! book).
This backyard wildlife overview of Amanda’s world can be a very important component when producing multiple books and movies in the same location area. He explained my KAPOW! mission and of course I accepted. And, our ultimate KAPOW! mission is to help serve and support all of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Centers with KAPOW! book funds for animal care. They are heroes to me!
It has been so wonderful putting together Amanda’s backyard world on paper and the locations where she enjoys, interacts, experiences all the nature adventures and appreciates all her wildlife friends from her backyard.
A little history on how I created Amanda’s character for our KAPOW! book series. It is three-fold. First, Amanda’s character is an expression of my heart when I was a young child. I love to integrate moments from my childhood in our book illustrations. Second, and I am so thankful to include our backyard experiences with the wildlife in our KAPOW! book series. I hope to inspire children to love, admire, and respect nature and wildlife around them like I did when I was young. Of course, this love that is my heart for nature and wildlife has grown so much more as an adult. I hope to even encourage adults to see the beauty and purpose of nature and wildlife through our KAPOW! wildlife stories and my Kapow Moments photography. I believe we can all coexist and live in harmony with the wildlife around us. I hope these KAPOW! book stories touch the hearts of children, adults and all animal lovers. They are very dear to my heart.
And third, the name Amanda was inspired by my beautiful Grandmother, Dorothy Amanda. She was an incredible and a very strong woman in my life. She taught me a respect for life, to be thoughtful, have attention to detail and live life on purpose. I remember moments where she showed me and my sister how to make homemade jam, discover and marvel nature, admire and respect the animals in our local community, how to iron our clothes, and always making special family memories with us girls. To enjoy the simple things in life like a yummy bowl of vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup and mixed nuts on top while watching our favorite childhood TV show. My Grandma was truly dedicated to her profession to serve the people as a registered nurse. She was also a nature lover at heart. She loved to feed the hummingbirds and created a backyard haven for wildlife that was around them. She would volunteer her time at the SPCA and always be looking for ways to donate items needed for animal care. She is such an incredible inspiration in my life. I miss her every single day. I love you, Grandma! And, I am truly grateful for the love from my parents and my grandparents.
This picture featured is inspiration for our 2nd KAPOW! book, Sadie’s Purpose. Sadie would sleep in her ground nest near our house until she was ready to conquer her fear. I can’t wait to share her amazing story in our KAPOW! book, Sadie’s Purpose with all the nature and wildlife lovers out there. She is simply pure cuteness. She is KAPOW!
KAPOW! Tracie
