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Apple Valley Magazine – An interview with Kakie Fitzsimmons, an entrepreneur, single mother and co-author of the award winning children’s book series, Bur Bur and Friends.

By Valerie Tukey – Apple Valley Magazine
January, 2008

Seven years ago, when her son, Isaiah, was born, Kakie Fitzsimmons began to write. As a single mother of a biracial son, she started a journal full of her thoughts, values and struggles in hope of giving it to Isaiah someday. Little did she know that her love for writing personal letters soon would bloom into a career of creating children’s books. (more…)

By Kakie Fitzsimmons, VP and founding partner of Farmer’s Hat Productions, Co-author Bur Bur and Friends children’s book series which educates kids about sports, outdoor exploration and active play.

The other day, I received an email from Amy Bowllan at the School Library Journal. The School Library Journal is the worlds largest reviewer of books, multimedia, and technology for children and teenagers. On this website, Amy has this amazing blog which I subscribe to. Last November, she interviewed my dear friend, co-author and business partner JoAnne Pastel and I about our children’s book series, Bur Bur and Friends. Since that time, Amy and I have stayed in touch on occaision. In the note she sent me, Amy asked me for my thoughts around unspoiling our kids. I sent a note back to her and thought nothing of it.

So early this week, the traffic on our three websites: Farmer’s Hat Productions, Bur Bur and Friends and Bur Bur and Friend Blog was really high and I couldnt figure out where it all was coming from. Then, I found this post Dated March 31st called:

Kakie Fitzsimmons – Growing Kids Through Diverse Learning Experiences

Seeing her post, linking to my post, reminded me of why I enjoy blogging about the things we teach our kids and they teach us. As an author, blogger and writer, when I center my craft around what is important to me, things seem to fall into place. That is true for all of us. When we follow our passion, doors open, plans are revealed, what was unclear comes into focus. We understand our purpose.

Please don’t keep us a secret. We would be humbled and honored if you would consider passing this along to 2 or 3 others you know We love it when people to help spread the word about the good work we are doing and let us know what you think about it.

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The view from JoAnne Pastel’s living room window really does remind you of a storybook world. Trees frame the winter shoreline of Long Lake, sparkling in the sunlight that illuminates the ice on the branches. Look for a moment, it isn’t hard to imagine long summer days where a family fishes together from the shore before taking a stroll through a quiet lakeside neighborhood. It’s quite literally a scene from a children’s book. Several books, in fact.

Pastel is the founder of Farmer’s Hat Productions and the co-author of the company’s four Bur Bur and Friends books. Designed to introduce preschool children to outdoor exploration and active play, the series includes a cast of multicultural characters created to help any child find themselves in the stories. “Early on in the development of Bur Bur and Friends, we tested products at a day care,” Pastel says, “The teacher that worked with us pointed out that the kids wanted to know more about the characters that looked like them. We started to see that while kids do not see color, they do see their identity in the characters. That’s why many of the characters are based on actual kids – we wanted our books to reflect what a real group of children look like, in the real world.” (more…)

For Immediate Release: Mar 21, 2008 – The Mom’s Choice Awards is an annual competition that recognizes authors, inventors, companies, parents and others for their efforts in creating quality family-friendly media products and services. These awards are designed to help teachers and parents choose excellent educational products for kids. For more information, go to http://momschoiceawards.com

Bur Bur and Friendsâ„¢ received this prestigious recognition from an esteemed panel of judges that include educators, media and other experts who are parents, children, librarians, performing artists, producers, authors, medical and business professionals and others. (more…)

The School Library Journal recently featured Farmer’s Hat Productions in an article about the children’s book publishing scene in Minnesota. The article, titled: Land of 10,000 Publishers: Minnesota Children’s Book Publishing, dicusses the evolution of the industry throughout the state. Read the article below By Claire Kirch — School Library Journal, 3/1/2008

Minneapolis is a book lover’s paradise. There are dozens of neighborhood bookstores, a sleek new $125 million Minneapolis Central Library, and Open Book, the nation’s first facility devoted to the literary arts. No wonder it was dubbed America’s most literate city last year.

But one of the best-kept secrets is that Minneapolis and nearby Mankato have evolved over the past 75 years into major publishing hubs for the school and public library market. “[Minnesota publishers] are at the forefront in children’s nonfiction publishing,” says Wendy Woodfill, a children’s and young adult librarian at nearby Hennepin County Public Library. Susan Carr Brown, a children’s and teen librarian for Minneapolis Public Libraries, adds that local publishers do a great job supplementing the school curriculum and filling library shelves with rich information that kids need for classroom assignments and just pure fun. (more…)

Farmer’s Hat Productions™ Receives National Parenting Award

MINNEAPOLIS (February 5, 2008) – Farmer’s Hat Productionsâ„¢ , a Minneapolis company created by two mothers of multi-racial children, has recently been nationally recognized for the second time by the renowned iParenting Media Awards. The company won the award in the “2008 Best Product” category for its fourth book, “Anna Goes Hiking”, and for its Anna Doll. Both products are included in the Bur Bur and Friendsâ„¢ children’s series. (more…)

February, 2008

Welcome to the world of Bur Bur. In this award-winning new children’s book series “Bur Bur & Friends,” young readers wander through a potpourri of adventurous outdoor activities with either Bur Bur and his family or Bur Bur’s multihued friends and their families. The books offer an earnest look at biracial families from a child’s point of view: In “Bur Bur’s Fishing Adventure,” young Bur Bur sets out on a fishing excursion with his daddy, who is Caucasian. Near the end of the tale, father and son deliver their hard-earned prize to Bur Bur’s African-American mom, and the sweet family delights in the day’s catch. (more…)

Kakie Fitzsimmons is vice president and founding partner of Farmer’s Hat Productions, which recently was awarded for Bur Bur and Friendsâ„¢ Product Line

By Katie Mintz, courtesy of Sun Newspapers

One Apple Valley woman is turning her passion for writing, and literally her son, into an award-winning venture.

Kakie Fitzsimmons is co-author of the “Bur Bur and Friends” children’s book series with a cast of multicultural characters, including Mateo, who is based on her 7-year-old son. (more…)

By Kate Kunkel, Lake Minnetonka Magazine
February, 2008

The view from JoAnne Pastel’s living room window really does remind you of a storybook world. Trees frame the winter shoreline of Long Lake, sparkling in the sunlight that illuminates the ice on the branches. Look for a moment, it isn’t hard to imagine long summer days where a family fishes together from the shore before taking a stroll through a quiet lakeside neighborhood. It’s quite literally a scene from a children’s book. Several books, in fact. (more…)

Farmer’s Hat Productions founders featured in Momtalk Magazine:
JoAnne Pastel, a former stockbroker, who decided to stay at home when her son was born, realized she needed something else to do. She discussed this with a “life coach,” and together they realized there was a spark in JoAnne’s voice when she mentioned that she wanted to write children’s books. As a result, JoAnne forged ahead and began writing a draft of her first book. During that process, she decided to invite her friend, Kakie Fitzsimmons, to join her in this endeavor. (more…)

By Nancy Crotti, MinnesotaBusiness Magazine

JoAnne Pastel and Kakie Fitzsimmons couldn’t find books that featured young children of all ethnicities playing and learning together. So they decided to develop their own line of books, toys, children’s clothing and accessories that encourage diverse populations of kids to learn about sports and outdoor activities. (more…)

MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 27 /PRNewswire/ — Farmer’s Hat Productions, a Minneapolis company created by two mothers of bi-racial children, has recently been nationally recognized by the renowned iParenting Media Awards. The company won the award in the “2007 Greatest Products” category for its first three books in the Bur Bur and Friends children’s book series. (more…)

You can purchase it on Amazon or at http://burburandfriends.com/products

Farmer’s Hat Productions is pleased to announce the release of their fourth book, Anna Goes Hiking. In this story, Anna goes on her first hiking experience with her mom and dad and learns many things along the way. During this adventure with her parents, she discovers nature including different animals and insects. (more…)

Farmer’s Hat Productions is proud to announce that our Bur Bur and Friendschildren’s books have been named among the Greatest Products through the iParenting Media Awards. The Bur Bur and Friends book series uses a group of multicultural characters who educate kids about self-esteem sports and outdoor exploration. The series was created by two mothers of biracial children who were unable to find any books of this kind in a series. The reviews were done by iParenting.com, a Disney Internet Group media property, is a premier media site focused on parents. This award-winning network includes more than 40 Web sites devoted to the entire family lifecycle and Points on Parenting radio show. The reviewer feedback emphasizes that these books should be on every parent and child’s wishlist. (more…)

Amy Bowllan, a writer from the School Library Journal continues her interview with authors of Bur Bur and Friends. The School Library Journal is the worlds largest reviewer of books, multimedia, and technology for children and teenagers.

A.B. JoAnne, at what point did your son’s imaginary friend, Bur Bur, come alive to you? I know as parents and teachers, stories unfold around us, all the time, yet you capitalized on yours. Please share when that moment came to you, and what advice can you give aspiring authors?

When William came home one day from daycare and started calling his imaginary friend Bur Bur, I loved the way it sounded. (more…)