Hiking for the Couch Potato Kid: Birds, Bugs, Butterflies and Other Beasties
by Shelley Gillespie
40 Pages, Paperback
Venture Court Productions
42091 W. Venture Court
Maricopa, AZ 85138
info@venturecourtproductions.com
(520) 568-0199

Hiking for the Couch Potato Kid: Birds, Bugs, Butterflies and Other Beasties

Change the world – or at least a child’s world!  Give your child a new view of the world outdoors – and let them use those inquisitive minds and get some exercise.

Hiking for the Couch Potato Kid: Birds, Bugs, Butterflies and Other Beasties is an interactive exploration of the outdoors geared for five to eight-year-olds.  Couch Potato Kid guides children to examine the world from the clouds to the earth, with special attention to their senses.  Full-color illustrations, including some fun images are there to help children “see” the world outdoors and other creatures.

Hiking for the Couch Potato Kid: Birds, Bugs, Butterflies and Other Beasties is a great interactive introduction for young children - in full color - so kids get a chance to explore the outdoors and think about what they see.  Evidence shows that children learn better when they can investigate the outdoors.

Take a hike! Hiking for the Couch Potato: A Guide for the Exercise-Challenged relishes its role as motivator and humorously suggests strategies to get off the couch. Hiking for the Couch Potato gently prods readers to try hiking, advises on hikes and gear, discusses meeting a significant other on the trail, and offers an "Ode to Frozen Green Peas." Recipes, illustrations, and potato information and events add an extra layer of fun to the book. Since it comes from former Couch Potato Shelley Gillespie, Hiking is an authentic experience for anyone who might just want to "Take a hike!"

Biography

A former confirmed Couch Potato and self-professed "slug," Shelley Gillespie became a hiker due to her husband's insistence. Then, she discovered she actually liked hiking! The Gillespies have since hiked or walked on both US coasts and many other scenic locations.

"Hiking for the Couch Potato" was born in 2004 when she wrote the book, but her busy journalism career kept her from finally publishing this humorous motivational effort until just this year.

Gillespie is senior staff writer at The Communicator/copanews.com in Arizona and has won statewide awards for her in-depth journalism.

Hiking in Arizona is a challenge in the summer, so Gillespie can sometimes be found in an air-conditioned, two-story shopping mall or outside early in the morning before temperatures exceed 100+ degrees.

When not writing or hiking, Shelley is cooking for friends and family and supporting worthy causes. Visit her Web site at www.hiking.FortheCouchPotato.com.