Tag: book review

Book Announcements, Children's Books, Poets & Events, writing

Meet Ellen Kolman: Children’s Book Author

Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld
A portrait of Ellen Kolman, an award-winning author from Ohio, smiling with glasses and wearing a floral-patterned shirt, against a blue background. The text beside her highlights her passion for teaching children about kindness and Jesus.

Prolific Pulse Press LLC is proud to welcome award-winning Ohio author Ellen Kolman’s latest book to our collection.

Meet Ellen Kolman

Ellen Kolman has spent more than 35 years teaching and entertaining children in church and Christian school classrooms. Few authors know young readers as well as she does.

Her stories grow directly out of that work. Her students inspire tales about kindness, forgiveness, empathy, and friendship, the values she has nurtured in classrooms for decades. The result is books that delight children and give parents and teachers natural openings for meaningful conversations.

Ellen’s work has already earned recognition. Her picture book Crabby Abby the Decorator Crab’s Big Heart is an Ella’s Way award winner for promoting kindness through children’s literature, and a Children’s Book International finalist.

While we are featuring books published by Prolific Pulse Press LLC, you can find all of Ellen’s books here:

Ellen Kolman Website

The Books

Colorful book cover featuring cartoon sea creatures including a crab, fish, and seahorse. The title reads 'Crabby Abby The Decorator Crab's BIG Heart' with awards for children's literature visible in the corner.

Crabby Abby the Decorator Crab’s Big Heart Illustrated by Kaelen Felix. Dive under the sea with Crabby Abby, a decorator crab whose big heart shows young readers what kindness and friendship look like. Kaelen Felix’s vivid, colorful illustrations bring Abby and her ocean friends to life.

Crabby Abby is a decorator crab who literally looks like a sparkly boutique on ten legs! Abby’s clothing choices are unusual but so is Abby. Decorator crabs use whatever materials are nearby to camouflage themselves from predators. Abby is not worried about her safety; she just wants to pile on all the clothing and accessories she can because she loves them all! There is also a coloring book available!

Purchase Your Copy Here

Illustration of a colorful underwater scene featuring cartoonish sea creatures. The title 'The Search for a Star: A Crabby Abby Christmas' is prominently displayed, along with author and illustrator names.

The Search for a Star: A Crabby Abby Christmas Illustrated by Kaelen Felix Crabby Abby returns for a holiday adventure beneath the moonlit sea. Just in time for the Christmas season, it makes a heartwarming gift for families, classrooms, and Sunday schools.

It’s Christmas Eve in Ruby Reef, and no one under the sea is more excited than Crabby Abby the Decorator Crab. Covered from claw to shell in bows, baubles, and sparkly trinkets, Abby looks like a walking Christmas boutique!
The whole reef has gathered for the town tree-lighting ceremony when Daniel the Lionfish notices something is missing: there’s no star at the top of the tree. Daniel reminds everyone why the star matters so much. It was a star that led the wise men to Bethlehem to worship the baby Jesus.

With the lights waiting and Christmas almost here, Crabby Abby, Daniel, and their friend Lavender Urchin set off on an undersea quest to find a star. Along the way, they hear someone crying, and the friends stop to offer help and loving kindness to a sea creature in need. Could their new friend be exactly what they’ve been searching for? Will sharing God’s love turn out to be the truest blessing of Christmas?

Warm-hearted and full of ocean charm, The Search for a Star: A Crabby Abby Christmas is a faith-filled picture book for children ages 4 to 8. It celebrates the true meaning of Christmas and the story of Jesus’s birth, along with the joy of friendship, teamwork, and kindness. It’s a perfect Christmas Eve read-aloud, Advent story time, Sunday school lesson, or stocking stuffer for young ocean lovers.

Purchase Your Copy Here

Cover of 'Who Is Jesus? Easter Devotional and Coloring Book' featuring a cartoon depiction of Jesus with open arms, surrounded by colorful flowers and Easter-themed illustrations.

Who Is Jesus? Easter Devotional and Coloring Book A hands-on way for children to learn about Jesus during the Easter season. Devotional readings pair with coloring pages, making it a natural fit for families, children’s ministries, and Christian classrooms.

Spark your child’s curiosity and deepen your family’s faith this Easter season with Who Is Jesus? Easter Devotional Book—an engaging resource designed to bring parents, educators, and children together for meaningful conversations about Jesus.

Built around ten thoughtful questions—including “Does Jesus pray for me?” and “Does Jesus want me to be kind?”—these interactive devotionals invite children to explore who Jesus is and what His love means for their daily lives. Each question features a key Bible verse, a short, child-friendly devotion, space for personal reflection, one or two thought-provoking discussion prompts, and a guided prayer to help children speak to God with confidence and trust.

Young readers can practice reading the devotions aloud and sharing their insights. Families can gather to read, reflect, and pray together—creating intentional moments that strengthen both faith and connection.

Ideal for home use, Sunday school, Christian classrooms, or homeschool settings, Who Is Jesus? Easter Devotional book offers a simple yet powerful way to prepare hearts for Easter. Through Scripture, creativity, and honest conversation, this devotional helps children discover who Jesus is—and how deeply He loves them.

Purchase Your Copy Here

Every Reader Starts Somewhere

Every leader, teacher, and professional was once a child learning to read.

Before the degrees, the job titles, and the quarterly goals, there was a picture book. Someone sat beside us, turned the pages, and showed us that words open doors.

That is why we believe children’s books deserve a place in every serious conversation about education, careers, and community. Early reading builds the communication and critical-thinking skills every workplace depends on. Stories teach empathy and perspective long before any leadership training does. And for educators, librarians, and therapists, books are essential tools of the profession.

Why We Publish Children’s Books

Creating a children’s book is real professional work. Behind every title are months of writing, editing, illustration, design, production, and marketing. At Prolific Pulse Press, producing books like Ellen’s is some of the most meaningful work we do.

These books are made for the people who put stories to work every day: parents and grandparents reading at bedtime, teachers building literacy in the classroom, librarians, and children’s ministry leaders. The young readers they reach today will be the colleagues, founders, and leaders of tomorrow.

Please join us in congratulating Ellen Kolman. Pick up a copy for the children in your life, share this post with an educator who would love these books, and tell us in the comments: what book from your childhood still stays with you?

A Fun Video

Ready for a bonus?

Complete the Contact form and request a coloring page. You will receive a complimentary coloring page!

Book Announcements, books, children's books, Children's Books, nature

Meet Mr. Krippet: How Two Toddlers and One Mysterious Sound Inspired a Children’s Book

Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld

Every story starts somewhere. For Mr. Krippet, the illustrated children’s book by veteran educator Emma L. Sembly, it started on an autumn stroller ride through the park, when a twenty-two-month-old asked a simple question. Here, in Emma’s own words, is how Mr. Krippet came to be.

In Emma’s words

“Aunt Emma!

Do you hear it?

I hear a krippet.”

It was my turn to take my twenty-two-month-old fraternal great-nieces on their daily stroller ride through the park near their grandmother’s house. It was a balmy autumn day, and I had been looking forward to taking them on an “adventure” in the park. I could never predict what new perspective they would bring into my consciousness. Children have a way of doing that, don’t they? Some minor thing that we adults take for granted appears magical and mysterious to them, and their wonderment often reminds grownups not to take the ordinary miracles of living for granted.

The girls, being twins, were just learning how to enunciate words so that others could easily understand them. But their private twin language had not prevented them from exploring and expressing to everyone their discoveries of the world around them.

So, when Sierra questioned if I had heard what she identified as a krippet, she was very intentional about confirming a particular sound, among all the other sounds that we had identified as we explored the surroundings. We had parked their stroller, and the toddlers had freely moved about. They pointed to and commented on the leaves, weeds, flowers, and grass, honking geese, various twittering birds, rocks, dirt, pebbles, and the stream nearby. Therefore, as peaceful as it was that afternoon, the air was full of the sounds produced by the collective natural community.

Sierra had distinguished a sound that she attributed to a krippet. I never saw the source of the sound, but she was resolute. Her sister, Sienna, absolutely agreed. I had my suspicions, of course. (You, too?) But his true identity remains one of life’s great mysteries, and that, Dear Reader, is a very good thing.

From the park to the page

That afternoon’s mystery became Mr. Krippet, the most industrious, well-mannered, and well-respected member of the meadow. Known for his magnificent tenor voice and his skill as a shoemaker for the ants, he spends the warm months singing, working, and making friends. But winter is coming, and Mr. Krippet has nowhere to live and nothing stored away to eat. Will he make the baker’s acquaintance, and earn a place by the fire, before the first snow falls?

Brought to life by Lesley Scoble’s charming illustrations, with a foreword by poet Zaneta V. Johns, Mr. Krippet is a gentle read-aloud about kindness, hard work, planning ahead, and good manners. Its enriched vocabulary and rhythmic voice make it a favorite for bedtime, classrooms, and libraries.

What readers are saying

“I am enchanted by this simple and beautiful tale. With lush descriptions of the meadow and lovely portrayals of those who inhabit it, Emma L. Sembly takes us on a loving journey to a warm and cozy finale.” — Marjorie A. Schenk, Voice Artist

“Educationally, I liked how Ms. Sembly very gently pushes an enriched vocabulary through descriptions of characters and settings… Mr. Krippet is a great book for the elementary library as well as for a child’s personal library.” — Kirk P. Mullen, Retired School Psychologist and Reading Teacher

Watch the Book Trailer

Emma L. Sembly Get your copy today!

Meet Emma Sembly

Announcements, poetry

Congratulations to Chyrel J. Jackson for Winning the POTY Book Awards!

Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld
Cover of 'Sisters Roc'N'Rhyme Presents Unsung Canaan Ballads: A Collection of Poems' by Chyrel J. Jackson, featuring a stylized illustration of a woman playing an acoustic guitar with a colorful background of buildings and trees.

Poet Chyrel J. Jackson Wins 2026 POTY Book Award for Unsung Canaan Ballads

Chicago-area poet and bestselling author Chyrel J. Jackson has been named the 2026 POTY Book Awards Winner in the Non-Fiction–Poetry category for Unsung Canaan Ballads: A Collection of Poems, the first solo release in her Sisters Roc ’N’ Rhyme series.

Poet Chyrel J. Jackson has been selected as a Winner in the 2026 POTY Book Awards, presented by PersonsOfTheYear.com. Her collection, Unsung Canaan Ballads: A Collection of Poems – Sisters Roc ’N’ Rhyme Solos, Part One, took top honors in the Non-Fiction–Poetry category.

The POTY Book Awards recognize outstanding work among each year’s field of entries, honoring books for their quality and accomplishment. In announcing the award, organizers congratulated Jackson on the achievement and encouraged her to celebrate the honor with her readers, publisher, and supporters.

Unsung Canaan Ballads marks Jackson’s first solo collection under the Sisters Roc ’N’ Rhyme banner, the creative partnership she shares with her sister, poet Lyris D. Wallace. Published by Prolific Pulse Press LLC, the book gathers poems rooted in the African American literary tradition that has shaped Jackson’s voice since childhood.

“I’m deeply grateful to the POTY Book Awards for this recognition. These poems carry the voices of people whose stories too often go unsung, and I’m honored that they’ve found their audience.” said Jackson.

Raised in the South Suburbs of Chicago, Jackson writes in the spirit of the literary ancestors she admires. She earned her first literary nomination in 2021, when her poem “Love Unspoken,” published in the Heart Beats Anthology, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. In 2022 she contributed to the #1 bestselling anthology Not Just Anybody Can Be Dad. With Wallace, she has co-authored SistersRoc’N’Rhyme Presents Poems in the Key of Life, Mirrored Images, and Different Sides of the Same Coin, and the duo’s work appears in numerous anthologies, literary journals, and international magazines. Jackson is also a 2025 poet laureate of the Garden of Neuro and a #1-ranked Amazon bestselling author.

“We could not be more pleased with this outcome. Chyrel J. Jackson is an excellent poet and writer, and we are thrilled for her success. Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld, Prolific Pulse Press LLC.”

Unsung Canaan Ballads (ISBN 978-1-962374-68-2) is available in paperback from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Bookshop.org, and Walmart.

About Chyrel J. Jackson

Chyrel J. Jackson is an award-winning poet, Pushcart Prize nominee, and #1 bestselling Amazon author from the South Suburbs of Chicago. Together with her sister Lyris D. Wallace, she writes as part of Sisters Roc ’N’ Rhyme, creating written legacies one book at a time. Learn more at sistersrocnrhyme.blogspot.com and linktr.ee/ChyrelJ_Jackson66.

About Prolific Pulse Press LLC

Prolific Pulse Press LLC is an independent publisher of poetry and literary works. Visit www.prolificpulse.com.

Author page: prolificpulse.com/chyreljjackson

Poet Chyrel J. Jackson Wins 2026 POTY Book Award for Unsung Canaan Ballads

Announcements, Book Announcements, books, Children's Books, illustrator, interview, kindness, Poets & Events, writing

Writer Talk with Emma L. Sembly – With her Debut Children’s Book “Mr. Krippet”

Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld

From Classroom to Children’s Books — An Interview with Emma L. Sembly

For Emma L. Sembly, every story teaches a lesson, and every life is a story.

Emma is a life-long storyteller and lover of stories. As a child, Emma loved telling fantastical tales, starting with a captive audience consisting of her little sister. After she grew up, Emma continued to create stories that her students loved.

With a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Elmhurst College and a master’s degree in reading from Johns Hopkins University, Emma set out on a thirty-seven-year journey as an educator in the Baltimore City Public School System, where she taught children with different abilities on both elementary and high school levels. During that time, she also created stories for her own daughter and niece, then for her grandchildren and great nieces.

Now, Emma creates stories for children of all ages, especially the young at heart.

Emma also has a podcast, Just Folks: Conversations with Emma, in which she provides a platform where regular, everyday humans can share their own stories with listeners of all persuasions. Life lessons shared.

Drawing and writing poetry are among Emma’s favorite things to do. She also enjoys planting red flowers around her home. And when she’s not chatting it up with her kitty of thirteen years, she’s having a blast with both of her Favorite Number One Grandchildren.

“What I have learned as a writer and podcaster, is that our stories, our bedtime stories, our fables, are the gateways to life’s lessons,” Emma says, “and we all have a story to tell.”

https://emmaleesembly.com/
https://www.prolificpulse.com/emmalsembly

In a meadow full of chirping, squawking, climbing, crawling creatures, Mr. Krippet is the most industrious, well-mannered, and well-respected of them all. Known for his magnificent tenor voice and his skill as a shoemaker for the ants, he’s spent all summer singing, working, and making friends. But winter is coming — and Mr. Krippet has nowhere to live and nothing stored away to eat. Will he make the baker’s acquaintance — and earn a place by the fire — before the first snow falls? Written by veteran educator Emma L. Sembly and illustrated by Lesley Scoble, with a foreword by celebrated poet Zaneta V. Johns, Mr. Krippet is a gentle, richly imagined tale about dedication, preparation, and friendship. It’s a natural companion to classic fable-and-fall stories about industriousness and community — perfect for bedtime, classroom read-alouds, and quiet corner adventures. Author: Emma L. Sembly – Illustrator: Lesley Scoble – Foreword: Zaneta V. Johns

Get the book: https://www.prolificpulse.com/emmalsembly #MrKrippet #ChildrensBooks #ReadAloud #BedtimeStory #KidsBooks

Announcements, Book Announcements, book launch, Book Reviews, Celebrations, novella, Short Fiction, short story

Echoes of Destiny – Short Stories of the Unexpected by Glennie Moore is Now Released!

Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld

About the Author

Glennie Moore is a semi-retired substitute teacher who enjoys writing Christian fiction, weaving elements of the gospel in every story. She holds a B.A. in English from North Carolina State University and a Master of Divinity in Biblical Counseling from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. She enjoys teaching Sunday School and Bible study as well as family gatherings, photography and observing nature.

About the Book

In Echoes of Destiny – Short Stories of the Unexpected, nothing is as it appears and everything changes once destiny arrives – unannounced. This collection of short stories and a novella explore what happens when life takes an irreversible turn and it’s the stranger we meet, the enemy we fear or the unseen spirits who guide us toward our destiny. Journey through time where the past collides with the present and the ordinary with the extraordinary.​

​In Inside the Flame, a woman escaping an abusive marriage seeks refuge in a cabin by the lake until an intruder on the property shatters her peace. But the stranger she holds at gunpoint rekindles a love she thought was lost forever.

​In Unlikely Allies, two feuding coworkers are stranded on a desolate country road only to be “rescued” by a dangerous hate group. Can they put aside their grievances and trust one another in what becomes a literal fight for their lives.

In Picture Perfect, travel photographer, Kayla, on assignment in the beautiful Bahamas meets a grieving widower with his young daughter and finds unexpected love. But his heart is lost in the past until a benevolent spirit reveals the love they secretly share – in the perfect picture.

​In The Unquiet Guest, Shoney Harris, owner of a bed and breakfast restored from an old plantation home, is visited by the ghost of an enslaved man seeking justice for a centuries old murder he never committed. Only Shoney can free him from the hidden lies of the past.

​In Echoes of Destiny, the title novella, two infants who miraculously survive a tragic accident capture the townspeople in a cultic devotion and a prophecy declaring them bound by divine intervention. Decades later, their paths unexpectedly cross and they discover the destiny the townspeople spoke over them. Feeling the heavy mantle of expectation placed upon their heads, they must decide if their undeniable connection is one of true love or the lingering echoes of a past that won’t let go.

In this collection, stories of mystery, revelation, love, and the twist of fate, takes us on a journey that proves it is the unexpected that truly defines us.

What Others Have to Say

In Echoes of Destiny by Glennie Moore, strangers become lifelines, enemies become allies, and lives collide in unexpected ways when ordinary people face extraordinary moments. A woman frightened of an abusive marriage finds unexpected comfort beside a lonely lake. Two rivals trapped in a nightmare must depend on each other to survive. Mysterious prophecy binds two souls across decades. Filled with suspense, romance, heartbreak, and hope, this collection will leave readers questioning whether destiny is written or created by the choices we make.

Munmun Samanta author of Yellow Chrysanthemum

Echoes of Destiny by Glennie Moore is aptly named. As you read each story, you recognize a crossing of the future into the present. Each character has a specific purpose of revealing the secrets of the past and showing how they affect the present and the future. Each story shows the supernatural part of life that is out of our control. The collection of short stories and the novella will keep the lover of a love story tuned in.

G. Elaine Sneed – Customer Contact Specialist

These short stories are exceptionally well written, and the way suspense is built is breathtaking. Each story is phenomenal in its own right. Which one was my favorite? Honestly, I don’t know. Every time I finished one, I was convinced it was my favorite… until I read the next. Each story brought something fresh and compelling that made it hard to choose just one. Scripture was woven in perfectly.

What stood out most to me is how these stories highlight the value of relationships. They remind us not to minimize their importance. When relationships begin with strain, they can only get better. And when they begin well, they establish a standard for what greatness in relationships can look like. These stories beautifully echo what Glennie Moore says: “It is the unexpected that truly defines us.” That idea lingers long after the stories end. It causes me to reflect on my own relationships. I found myself asking: What will I do when the unexpected brings me joy? And how will I respond when my relationships bring unexpected sorrow?

Lori Jones Moss – Author of My Heavenly Father’s Eyes: A Relationship-Building Study, Mental Health and Professional Life Coach

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