It's Been a While

 Hello,

It's been a while since I was on this blog. Life, Covid, medical problems, new books I've published, and many other challenges seemed to get in the way. I've started self-publishing my own books, and I hope to keep up this blog a little better than I have in the past. 

Pelican Publishing, which was bought by Arcadia, declared my first four books out of print. I have my rights back for those books. I wanted a book for the 75th Anniversary of Grady jumping in the silo in Yukon, OK. The anniversary is Thursday of next week. Grady jumped in the silo on Feb. 22, 1949. We'll be at Grady's 66 Pub in Yukon from 5 to 7  next Thursday. 

We hope to have new books at the anniversary to sign, but we may not be able to get them on time. Jerry Bennett is the illustrator of the new edition. His illustrations are wonderful, and we can hardly wait to have a new book in our hands. This is Grady's new cover.

Besides the new Grady book, I've also published a new Haiku book called  Just "Plane" Haiku. It has many plane pictures which my husband, my son, and I took at different times. It's on Amazon with both a softback and a hardback book available. The new book has  photos of  warbirds, military planes, aerobatic planes, commercial planes, the shuttle, and many other surprising planes. There is also a list of simple definitions included, along with some interesting facts about some of the planes.

  Below is just one of the planes included in my new book called  "Just 'Plane' Haiku" book.

Thanks for reading. I'll write more later. If  you are a teacher and have some of my books, check for art ideas and activities for your classroom on this blog. I have many activities on Pinterest, too.

I also have a new Facebook page. It's  unabelletownsend,author. Be sure and like the page.

Cooking Up Something Special

 

11th Halloweensie Writing Contest

It's Susanna Leonard Hill's 11th Annual Halloweensie Writing Contest, and once again, I've entered it. To enter, I have to write 100 words or less on the topic of Halloween, and include the words "glow-in-the-dark, goosebumps, and goodies" in my story. It's fun to write a story of 100 words or less, but it often means cutting words I hate to lose throughout my story. Below is my entry for this year's writing contest.

HALLOWEEN GOODIES

                                                                            By

Una Belle Townsend

Word count: 100 wds.

 

My Aunt Halley makes me weird Halloween goodies.  Sometimes it’s banana bat wings, crunchy cattails, or peppermint pig’s ears.

This year, I decided to surprise her with a treat. I made glow-in-the-dark pumpkin pudding with tiny black spiders on top.

“It’s delicious,” she said. Soon she shivered and broke out with orange and black goosebumps all over her face, arms, and hands.

What had I done?

Aunt Halley burped a tiny burp and smiled. Then, she burped a huge, smelly burp and giggled. Finally, she belched out a humongous burp and cackled.

“You got me,” she said. “Where’s that recipe?”

 

It's Susanna Leonard Hill's 6th Annual Valentiny Writing Contest

 

It's Susanna Leonard Hill's 6th Annual Valentiny Writing Contest

To enter it, I need to write a story about being brave and it needs to be no more than 214 words. That's because the Valentiny Contest is about Valentine's Day which is on 2/14. 

The title of my story is "Six Secret Valentines" and it is exactly 214 words long since the words in the title do not count toward the total of 214 words. Here it is:

                                              SIX SECRET VALENTINES

Six members of the Alleycats Book Club sat in their clubhouse. “If none of us sent these Valentines,” said Jen, “who did?”

Each Valentine had a different alphabet letter scrawled on its envelope.

“Let’s see,” said Tim. “The letters are — w, k, n, i, e, and d.”

“‘W k n i e d’ spells nothing,” said Joe.

“Let’s think about it,” said Autumn. “We all found a hand-made Valentine on our porch. Someone delivered them late at night. They know about our club.”

Jen shivered. “That’s scary.”

“There are no other children around here,” said Tim.

“Wait a minute,” said Liz. “I saw a light in the old haunted house on the corner.”

“Maybe someone our age lives there,” said Mariah.

 “Tim and I will be brave and go look around,” said Joe.

“No we won’t,” said Tim.

“We’ll all go,” said Liz.

They walked toward the old house and hid in the nearby bushes. A little girl sang as she colored Valentines near a kitchen window.

 “Let’s go back to the clubhouse,” whispered Autumn. “I figured out her name using the six letters. It’s either ‘new kid’ or ‘Wendi K’.”

 “Good,” said Liz. “We’ll make special Valentines for Wendi K. and sneak them on her porch. She might become our newest Alleycat member.” 

 

Blazer's Taxi

Blazer's Taxi   

My latest book, Blazer's Taxi, arrived during the summer of 2020. It had taken a long time to get here, and was a great surprise for Clydesdale lovers and for those who know the former OKC Blazer's Coach, Doug Sauter.

I first found out about the story of Blazer and Taxi when I attended an Oklahoma State Fair in OKC. On a poster was a story of the two horses--a Clydesdale and a mini-horse. After reading the poster and hearing the story from Sauter, I knew I'd have to write it. 

I asked my friend, Vickie Kastl, who is a wonderful artist, and who had taught my children, if she'd like to illustrate my story. She did.

The book was published by SFA Press, and is available from TAMU Press. Doug Sauter, Vickie Kastl, and I also have copies to sell. 

I'm pictured with Blazer and Coach Doug Sauter.

I'm so Grateful

 I'm so Grateful                                                                                    December 31, 2020

As I write this blog tonight, I think of so many 2020 events. Many were so bad, sad, or scary, but there were many good things to come from this year, too.

As a former teacher, I saw so many "new teachers"-- the parents who had no ideas what their children needed to learn and found that teaching can be an exhausting job. However, parents plugged along and many actually enjoyed their extra work load. It was extra special time with family projects that sometimes made it exciting. I think many parents decided that they had underestimated the workload of the average teacher who, like them, might have a family, too.

As a parent, I was glad not to have small children at this time--I'd want them socializing with other children and being inquisitive in the world around them--but in this 2020 year, that was stifled. However, children were able to learn more from the parents who did provide extra learning opportunities, and those children continued to flourish.

In the medical field, brave men and women had to wear PPE constantly. They endured long hours with little rest. They stood for days and gave covid-19 tests to so many who drove up. However, these heroes endured the loss of some family time and visiting with their friends. Unfortunately, while saving many lives, they too, lost loved ones.  

As a volunteer, I continued donating to causes and working with those that I could. Many older citizens had to quit volunteering, though, and I imagine that laid heavily on their hearts. However, others, who now had extra time, and sometimes no job, stepped up and volunteered.

As an author, I was glad to see so many writers, illustrators, and local citizens reading to children. Not only were picture books read, but also poetry and chapters from middle grade books. Many of the picture books read are now on YouTube. Others were read on Zoom or Facebook. Many children could still hear a story, and hear it over and over.

As a museum lover, I was glad to see so many programs in history, science, and art shown on Facebook and Zoom. Children in Oklahoma learned from educational programs presented by the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center, the Edmond Historical Museum, the Oklahoma City Zoo, and Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom. There are too many other educational programs in this region to mention, but I was so glad to see how they took part in educating the children who couldn't come to them.

Many of us thought of ways to help the children--our future. We didn't want them to get behind in school. We wanted to contribute to their education. We wanted to volunteer, to help others in any  possible way that we could. And, we did. There were many unsung heroes.

It was an  unusual year, but just sit down and think of a few good things that happened to you. Forget the sad, bad, and ugly things that happened. You're still here. You can breathe, read, write, pray, forgive, and forget. Let's forget the bad and just remember the good. I bet every day, you can think of something that didn't happen to you, and that's a good thing. Isn't it? 

I'm grateful. How about you?

A Little Bit About My Books

                            A Little Bit About My Books

Titles and brief descriptions of my books.  

             
My newest book is Blazer's Taxi, which is published by Stephen F. Austin Press.  It is the story of a man looking for the perfect Clydesdale to become the mascot for the Oklahoma City Blazer's hockey team. Locating a black and white Clydesdale horse named Hamish and changing his name to Blazer is just part of the story. The man, who looked for a couple of years to find the perfect horse, is Doug Sauter. He was the coach of the Blazer's team.

                                     Books by Doodle and Peck Publishing Co.

Scanner—A school librarian adopts a stray Scottie who listens to children read. He is zapped by the scanner, and now he can read. He also listens to children read in the library.

Scanner and the Icky, Sticky Gum   Scanner falls head first into a trashcan, and an icky, sticky situation begins. Thank goodness the card catalog lists a book in the 648’s with the solution to his sticky problem.

Clancy—A goat finds a delicious treat (wood) on the farm and searches for more. When he discovers the outhouse, he rips off some of it. The farmer, at the same time, runs up the hill to get to the outhouse. What happens next?

 Toby and the Secret Code—A Choctaw adventure story of two boys who pretend to be code talkers like Toby’s great-great grandfather. They learn some Choctaw words and some code talker words used during World War I.

Ben and the Missing Pony A Choctaw story of two young boys who find an injured horse. They decide to care for him and hope to keep him. When the horse isn’t getting better, and posters appear seeking the horse, the boys have to decide what to do.

Sunsets and Haiku—A book of sunset photographs with haiku poetry. Photos were taken by the author.

Books by Pelican Pub. Co.

Grady’s in the Silo –The story of a cow in Yukon, OK that jumps in a silo in 1949. She stayed there for five days.

The Oklahoma Land Run –The story of a boy helping his dad stake a claim during the first land run in 1889.

The Great Elephant Escape –Two elephants are lost in the Southeast Oklahoma woods for almost 3 weeks in 1975.

Racecar Driver’s Night Before Christmas—Santa is a racecar driver in a Christmas Eve race.     .

Grady's in the Silo

 Grady's in the Silo

Winner, 2004 Oklahoma Book Award for Juvenile Literature

2004 IRA/CBC Children's Choices Selection

Accelerated Reader program Selection

Scholastic Reading Counts Selection

On Pinterest I have some information, pictures, and activities on Grady. Besides the Grady's in the Silo board, I also have a board on cow activities.   pinterest.com/unatownsend

Here are some YouTube video links below:

youtube.com/watch?v=vnH_LHBJZ6k

youtube.com/watch?v=Wv32aUK91kQ

https://youtu.be/OEf6WOGTaW4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfTrxwVAWTE

https://youtu.be/payKQhPIeP4

Here's some resources from Pelican (my publisher) and Ag in the Classroom. Hope you find something you want to create.

https://www.agclassroom.org/ok/resources_classroom/doc/books/gradybook.pdf

https://www.news9.com/story/15902404/yukons-biggest-celebrity-in-1949-grady-the-cow

Ag and Beef Link Activities

 Scroll through all the activities and short videos from this site. Find printable worksheets and more here:
https://www.pabeef.org/resources/supporting-families-at-home-with-beef?fbclid=IwAR3Oxi-J7Bdyyi-IePxrHAxiwS1wNULMha701_RaV6s2qtXYKYiFjgnUaxM

"Even today, the appeal of a community (a global community, even) joining together to find a way to help "this old cow" makes a terrific tale.

Daily Oklahoman

"Artley's good-humored, vividly colored cartoon art, featuring comically hyperbolic expressions on the faces of characters--human and bovine alike--provide the entertainment."

Publisher's Weekly

Just a quick paper bag puppet for Grady.

Grady's in the silo, and Bill Mach is trying to figure out how to get  her out.

Rescue Grady: An Engineering Challenge

Overview:

In 1949 Grady the Cow became stuck inside a Silo in Yukon, Oklahoma. Una Belle Townsend wrote a children’s book about her saga titled “Grady’s in the Silo”. In this lesson, students will be challenged to design a creative way to safely rescue Grady from the Silo.

Materials:

•      Silos, some suggestions:

o   Empty Oatmeal Containers (or similar)

o   Rolled up poster board or cardboard

o   PVC pipe

o   Jumbo Mailing Tubes (recommend min 4” diameter)

•      Small cow figurines (Herefords would be best!)

•      Miscellaneous materials for constructing rescue equipment, some suggestions:

Yarn	Felt
Straws	Craft Foam
Cardboard (empty cereal boxes)	Pipe Cleaners
Toilet paper and/or paper towel rolls	Craft Sticks

•      Scissors

•      Masking Tape

The Lesson:

1.      Divide students into groups of 3-4.

2.      Introduce the lesson by starting the book “Grady’s in the Silo” by Una Belle Townsend. Stop reading on page 10 (where the farmers are at the coffee shop talking about how to rescue Grady).

3.      Introduce the Engineering Design Process (a sample is attached, or do a web search to find one that meets your needs).

a.      Define the problem: Grady is stuck inside the silo and we need to get her out without hurting her or damaging the silo.

b.      Generate Concepts: Here you could have your students individually brainstorm some possible ideas. They can write out their ideas and/or draw pictures.

c.       Develop a solution: groups should discuss members’ ideas and choose one to build and test.

d.      Construct and test prototype: group members work together to construct and test their design

e.      Evaluate solution: Did it work? Why or why not? How can we improve?

f.        Present solution: Each group will present their solution to the class. As an extension to this project, you can teach proper letter writing technique by having the students write a letter to Farmer Bill explaining their idea.

K. Wardlaw – July 2017