Second Chapter Sneak Peek
Sherlock the Remarkable Cat Series, Book # 1: Sherlock, the Cat Who Couldn't Meow has a second chapter added to the first. Be sure to check it out! We've also figured out the cover and I am SO EXCITED about it! I can't wait for you all to see it! Please remember that this is a draft and more may be added so it hasn't been edited yet. Again, you can find the downloadable pdf at the bottom of his page, on the Freckles website.

Uniqueness of Series Book Covers
Some of you may not have noticed but Freckles the Bunny Series has a theme going on with the covers. Every book title is always in the form of a sign or on something (Ex. Book 1 was a sign on the door & book 3 was ice on the window). Sherlock now has his own theme as well! On every cover, you will see a photo of the real Sherlock inside of the illustrated one. Sherlock's appearance is going to change slightly as well. In the Freckles books, the characters are more flat. In his series, they will be more rounded and standing out more.  Anastasia will be illustrating the first book in the series as well and we hope to keep her on longer.

Sherlock's Facebook Fan Page
I was trying to list what books I was working on and Facebook wouldn't let me edit the info later so I had to create a fan page a little earlier then I had planned. You can find it here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sherlock-the-Remarkable-Cat-Series/649384561751226

We've started a craft series called "Craft Time with Erika-Elizabeth." It is found on Youtube (our channel) and our website. Erika-Elizabeth will be making crafts that your child can make along with her. We're at a slow start here but we will be adding more videos soon!

Erika-Elizabeth has also started her own parent-approved blog. She wants to share some of her experiences as part of the Freckles team, as well as her experiences in bullying, etc. We felt that since she would be part of writing one on bullying, that other children may want to hear about her experiences.

Due to the fact that we still don't know when we will be returning, we have decided to extend our stay until December. If you know of a school interested in a free story reading, please have them contact me!

We had a wonderful time at St. Philip School here in Saskatoon and they were very kind to us! We enjoyed reading to them, speaking with everyone and especially enjoyed the questions that many of you asked!

I have now hidden almost every page except the main ones. A few were re-named (ex. the News blog is now "News Blog" instead of "News"). I have also replaced the Paypal buttons so that there are some better S&H prices, especially for books. I've also fixed it up so that you can purchase a t-shirt size easier and purchase services (you had to contact me before). This also enabled me to add some package deals. If you take a look around, you will also find a few price drops. One of them is the Pets in the Book package and the Child's Photo with the Freckles Character. Both make great Christmas presents!

Freckles the Bunny Series Holiday Prints

A neat way to send Christmas cards! This greeting photo is one-sided. Displayed here is Freckles but another character can be substituted. Prices are as follows:

1 photo - $1.50
5 photos - $6.00
10 photos - $10.00
25 photos - $25.00

Now what you have probably been waiting for! A sneak peak at the first chapter of Sherlock the Remarkable Cat Series, Book # 1: Sherlock, the Cat Who Couldn't Meow
(Please note that it may still need editing and nothing is finalized yet).
Go to our website and under Sherlock's heading, the PDF file is on the bottom of the page. I would love to hear your thoughts as well, so please feel free to share!
http://www.freckles-the-bunny-series.ca/sherlock-the-remarkable-cat-series.html

We are still working on family trees but you can take a look at the album on the website and our Facebook fan page. I have posted Boots' & Tiger's.

We've added some new playlists and videos to our Youtube Channel!

Playlists:
1. Sherlock the Remarkable Cat Series playlist
2. Craft Time with Erika-Elizabeth playlist
There may be some other playlists that were not mentioned earlier on there as well.

Videos:
1. Freckles the Bunny Series, Book # 4: Freckles and the True Meaning of Christmas Preview
(read by the author)
http://youtu.be/X3jgTHKGi5g

2, Sherlock the Remarkable Cat Series Pre-Intro
http://youtu.be/twRtgIWO7eQ

3. Craft Time with Erika-Elizabeth videos.
- An intro to the shows.
http://youtu.be/KF2cwS2EPf0

4. Pine Cone Feeder Craft
- A how to video that your child can do along with Erika-Elizabeth. Stay tuned for more!
http://youtu.be/lF87wCcHcCU

5. Freckles the Bunny Series, Book # 4: Freckles and the True Meaning of Christmas Trailer
http://youtu.be/X3jgTHKGi5g

6. Many more videos on our channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/FrecklesBunnySeries

We held 2 contests this month. One was because we reached 100 fans, so we were giving away a copy of Freckles the Bunny Series, Book # 3: Freckles Lends a Paw. The winner of that contest was Эль Мариаччи!

We also held our usual contest for the upcoming book. It was for a copy of Freckles the Bunny Series, Book # 4: Freckles and the True Meaning of Christmas. The winner of that contest was Valery Ozerskaya!

Congratulations to both the winners! Unfortunately, due to the lack of fan involvement, this will be our last contest for now. Perhaps once we develop a little larger of a group, we will try again. We want to thank everyone that has participated in the past! It has been greatly appreciated!

As you know, I have been working on a new chapter book series based on Sherlock, our cat. I had been arguing with myself over the title and I've finally chosen one. The series will be called, "Sherlock the Remarkable Cat Series." You will sometimes see characters from Freckles the Bunny Series as Sherlock's brother is Boots. I am planning many things for this series and while I am finding that I sometimes have little time to do things, Freckles will always be first. I have only begun writing the series (between writing books 5 and 6), so I am not sure yet as to what you can expect. I promise it will be as great and entertaining as the other series is! Expect to see humor, a lot of Boots' family, cross-overs and more!

1. Upcoming School Visit:
Freckles III, Stew II and I will soon be visiting St. Philip's School here in Saskatoon. We are very excited to meet the students there as well as the teachers! Our visit is planned for October 22nd.

2. Book Edits
We edited books 1 through 3.
- Books 1 & 2 had some small edits of text and we've changed some things. These will soon say 2nd editions. Book 1 also had a craft added to it as it didn't have one and book 2 did.
- Book 3 needed some text edits as it seems we missed quite a bit. We apologize greatly for this and promise to do a better job next time. We also added a craft to this book. This will also be a second edition book.

3. Book Crafts
Each book will now have a craft in the back of them. The previous books that didn't have one, have now had them added. This will continue on throughout the Freckles series.

4. Pre-ordering Book # 4
We have decided to extend the pre-orders to October 20th, 2014. Every pre-paid, pre-order will receive a set of 6 character stickers (each main character included) or a Freckles pencil.

NEWSLETTER
Our first newsletter is out. Inside contains a special log in. The place to put the code is found on the main page and once signed in, it will take you to a hidden page with monthly downloads, online games and more!

ST. AUGUSTINE SCHOOL - SASKATOON
    We had a wonderful visit with the pre-kindergarten to grade 4's. The teachers and students made us feel quite at home. Thank you so much for your hospitality and we hope to visit you again! For any other schools in Saskatoon, please get in touch with us as we'd love to drop by yours! This is of course, free.

NEW PRODUCT
    We've added a new product. The photo sample is in this post. You can now send in a photo of your child for us to place a posed Freckles or another character into. These are book 3 and on's characters. We would be happy to sign or add your child's name at no additional charge. This is $10 CAD and can be found on our website's Misc. page.


FRECKLES THE BUNNY SERIES, BOOK # 4; FRECKLES AND THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS VIDEO TRAILER
    We've finally finished the video trailer for the book. Our usual preview with the first 6 pages read and in flip book format will be out early next week. In the mean time, we thought you might enjoy viewing various pages of Anastasia's illustrations. Be sure to take a look! It has some pictures that you won't see in the book preview.
http://youtu.be/Vh56fTsIX

BUYING OPTIONS
    We realize that purchasing through Paypal on our website can be a pain. We are now taking orders through the contact link as well and we will figure out the shipping for you, then send an invoice. In this way, we will be able to charge less while you still use Paypal. Other payment options are as follows:
Interact E-Transfer (works well if you are with a major bank in Canada). I am also told that this is only possible if you have online banking access.
Send us a Money Order or Certified Check after we let you know the total with shipping.
Personal/business checks will only be accepted through schools and libraries. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Lots to tell you!
1. We will be sponsoring a New York Times best selling author for his book launch, so stay tuned for that.

2. I will be posting the contest details later today/tonight. Don't forget to enter!

3. You can now sign up for a monthly newsletter. See details here: Newsletter Page. You may find the occasional coupon in there.

4. There are new downloads on the Freckles Fun page.

5. Our website is now www.Freckles-the-Bunny-Series.ca because we bought a domain name this weekend.

6. More children's book reviews coming onto my personal website soon!

7. We are now ready to read to schools VIA Skype and in person (for local areas).

8. The book cover will probably be out this week! Once this is done, the preview will be out shortly after that.

9. I am currently working on a new series of chapter books that I hope to have out for the new year. I will post more details once I've progressed a lot further.

First off, you can keep an eye on the books on Amazon. They have been getting reviewed. I've also listed them on this website. Find it here:  http://vickianne-caswell.weebly.com/my-books-reviews.html

The video preview for "Freckles the Bunny Series, Book # 3: Freckles Lends a Paw" is up on Youtube or our Freckles the Bunny Series website.

I am still reviewing other children's books and posting them on this website and the Youtube channel. I am a little slower right now as I am trying to get things ready for my illustrator, for book 4, as well as preparing book 3. Many of you may not realize, but Freckles' world is a bit complex. Many of the stories and future stories, repeat locations. To be able to re- write about these locations later on as well as try to keep things the same (for the children and for us), I've created models of the homes, on The Sims 3. (It also keeps us from having a character roll through a wall instead of an open door) This tends to make the work a lot easier too. The Christmas book, book 4 is probably the longest and more detailed story by far. We are using many locations compared to our usual 2 or 3 and including family members (moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas, brothers, sisters to name just a few). In book 3, we are adding in siblings to the story, except for Stew's (I imagine they are still settling in to their new home). I do believe that this book is going to knock the socks off of the last 3 (the one now included). This is the reason why it is taking so much work.

We've also been posted in a blog, with a review. Thank you Sandra for doing this for us! You can find the link below.
http://sandrabennettauthor.com/news/

Many people probably wonder why I say we all of the time, when it is usually me doing everything. It's simple. I consider this whole operation a team. I could not do these books without the help of my husband or Anastasia Drogaitseva. My husband edits the books and aside from Anastasia drawing the characters to life (and I love working with her by the way), she has also been a great help in teaching me how to use some of the Aspects of Photoshop. As well, my ideas come from my daughters experiences and my bunnies. My daughter is great at listening to the stories and critiquing them as well as wanting to be a part of these books. She is actually the one who drew the carrot for book 1's back cover and the pickle for book 2's back cover. I am looking forward to seeing what she draws for the other books. As well, we are about to give her a bigger role, but I don't want to say too much yet. She is very pleased! So now you see why it's a "we" and not a "me." There would be no "me" without that group of "we" and I can't tell you how blessed I feel to have each of them in my life.

It's been a busy couple of weeks here and about to get busier! The video and flip book preview will be out sometime next week so please keep watch! This is for book # 3. As well, I am hoping to share some exciting news by the end of the month if luck will have it. I'm also in the works of creating a couple more videos for you. A little advertising for the books and possibly a little more (watch for the real, full grown Donut as well). These are always found on our Youtube channel. If you don't want to miss them as soon as they are out, you can subscribe to the channel.

I will be offering Skype readings to schools and libraries in the Fall for those interested. I've already posted one video and will be posting another somewhere between the middle and end of this month. Be sure to check them out and please share!

I've been doing children's and young adult book reviews. You can find them and interviews with the authors on my personal website. http://Vickianne-Caswell.weebly.com These books are read with my daughter and we have also posted video reviews of the books on the channel as well as an Author's Blog that I have created.

I've been out to my daughter's school once already and will be making one more trip in to read one of the books that are not yet published.

We will be doing another contest for a free copy of book 3 so please keep watch on our Facebook fan page! You will be required to like the page again.

We've added the following page add ons, to the Freckles Fan Page on Facebook:1.  Youtube videos - shows latest videos (see Youtube Channel for the others).
2.  Pinterest - shows our boards.

These can be found across from the about section, where you see Photos, Events, etc. Simply click on the # with the plus sign beside it (at the end of the list) and it will show you the other page add ons. We hope to have more in store for you soon & a couple of possible, exciting announcements.

We've also made a fun page with some of the real animals in & not in the books. They have cute little sayings with them. I have tried to make sure they are children friendly. Feel free to share them. You can find the page on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/StuffTheCatDoesntWantYouToKnow

First, we hope you are all with your loved ones and having a Happy Easter!

Secondly, Alissa Thompson, our illustrator for books 1 and 2 is leaving us. Her schooling is starting to take up more of her time and she needed to concentrate on her studies, instead of the series. We enjoyed working with her and she will be missed. Good luck with your schooling Allissa!

We have found another illustrator. Her name is Anastasia Drogaitseva. She is a very talented young lady from Russia and are looking forward to continuing on with her. Here is a sneak peak at the characters on our new logo that she created. We hope you like the new illustrations!

To view more of her works, visit: http://stasushka.deviantart.com/

I've put a new album online entitled, "Props, Toys and More!" It has some of the toys and things the real animals use. It also has some stuff we created for the story and a toy that is real & placed into the story. Currently, there are only 3 photos in this album, but we will be trying to get your more, so stay tuned! You can find them on the "Photos, Videos and More" page. Be warned: some of the pictures may give hints to what is in the next story.