About Flying Pieces of Macaroni & Cheese:
By Jeanne Smither Osio, Illustration by Lisa Osio Lavin
It starts with a childhood dream. Add a bit of humor and wit, a dash of talent from a mother and daughter team, and what have you got?
Two years ago, it was just a dream. Now, the 136-page, hardcover book is a fantastic reality for the mother and daughter team of Jeanne Smither Osio and Lisa Osio Lavin.
It started as a collection of funny poems for Lisa's two children. Jeanne says, "We both started writing poems and emailing them to each other, without a real idea of what we would do with the poems.
It was just for fun at first." Soon, Lisa, a full-time insurance agent, and full-time mom, found that she didn't have much time to write. But, Jeanne kept writing and writing.
A local real estate agent, Jeanne was born and raised on the Monterey Peninsula. Her father taught school for 32 years in Monterey, and was "a very funny guy", as anyone who knew him will tell you. Jeanne tells us that his sense of humor is everywhere in this book.
"Finally, I can do something with the 'funniness' I lived with everyday throughout my childhood". Even through high school, Jeanne's dream was to be an author of children's books. "I always wanted to write stories, but I didn't know they would be in the form of wacky, silly poems. I guess you never know what's going to happen until you put the pen to the paper."
The next step was to figure out who could provide some basic illustrations. Lisa spent many nights on the internet, researching "illustrators for hire."
During a brief "mom and daughter meeting" about the style of illustrations the two had in mind, Lisa drew a couple of rough ideas on the back of an envelope.
Jeanne exclaimed, "You should do the illustrations!" Lisa was shocked, since she always thought of her drawings as 'doodles'. But she accepted the challenge and never looked back. Lisa says, "I really enjoy my full-time job as an insurance agent, meeting with my clients and such, but I will admit that it's just pure fun when I need to draw pictures of Bigfoot at a party, or a rooster with the flu."
Although the cover states 'ages 7 and up', anyone young and old will enjoy this book. Jeanne and Lisa said that they almost put 'Ages 7 to 107' on the cover, but they didn't want to leave out anyone who might be 108 or beyond.
They acknowledge that working on the book and collaborating as a "Mother/Daughter Team" was the key in envisioning and completing this book. As a team, Jeanne's life-long dream of writing children's books is now a reality. Their partnership and teamwork kept the momentum going and the feedback from one another aided in creating this very enjoyable book for children and families.
>> Buy this book on Amazon: Flying Pieces of Macaroni & Cheese! 100 Laughable Poems
The book is also available locally at Sprout San Francisco on Union Square.
Signed and personally inscribed books can be purchased direct from Jeanne and Lisa's website at www.kykatpublishing.com, where all orders are shipped for free to the U.S. states.
Their website also offers gift wrapping at a minimal cost and a hand-written gift card, to make the perfect "personalized gift", shipped directly to the recipient of choice.
You can also order by phone by calling 831 275-0319.
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Excerpt from Flying Pieces of Macaroni & Cheese:
The Twister of Fear
The scariest ride at the fair this year,
Was the fastest ride, The Twister of Fear.
Reaching speeds that were death defying,
Absolutely, positively terrifying.
I yelled, I trembled, I shuddered, I cried,
I screamed, I shook, I was petrified!
My face was drenched from sweat and tears,
My pulse was pounding inside my ears.
I covered my eyes, I cringed, I shivered,
I held my breath, I gasped, I quivered.
I almost threw up and that's the truth,
But, bravely, I stepped up to the ticket booth.
