By Michael Ireland
Senior International Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
PERRYTON, TEXAS (ANS) -- Author Gary Rinker’s debut book, The Very Best Toy, has won the USA "Best Books 2011" Award from USA Book News in the Children’s Picture Book Softback fiction category. USA Book News is the premiere online magazine and review website for mainstream and independent publishing houses.
Jeffrey Keen, President and CEO of USA Book News, said this year’s contest yielded an unprecedented number of entries, which were then narrowed down to over 500 winners and finalists in over 140 categories covering print, e-books and audio books.
Keen says of the awards, now in their ninth year, “The 2011 results represent a phenomenal mix of books from a wide array of publishers throughout the United States. Winners and finalists traversed the publishing landscape: Simon & Schuster, St. Martin’s Press, Random House, Penguin, Harper Collins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill, John Wiley & Sons and hundreds of independent houses contributed to this year’s outstanding competition.”
Keen added, “Our success begins with the enthusiastic participation of authors and publishers and continues with our distinguished panel of industry judges who bring to the table their extensive editorial, PR, marketing, and design expertise.”
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Cover Artwork for 'The Very Best Toy.' (Submitted photo). |
The Very Best Toy was published by Maverick Books, Inc., the publisher of John R. Erickson’s bestselling series of Hank the Cowdog books and audios.
So, what is the very best toy? Playing with Dad, of course!
The book captures how -- through a child’s imagination -- a dad becomes a swing, a horse, a trampoline, and more!
Author Gary Rinker has been the business manager for Maverick Books, which publishes the popular Hank the Cowdog series by John R. Erickson for twenty-six years. He has produced The Hank Times, the cowdog's fan club newsletter which goes out four times a year and includes games, puzzles, crosswords, and other fun activities. Rinker also created both Hank's race and chase travel game Tornado and a Hank Card Game.
Rinker, who lives in Perryton, TX with his wife Kim, daughter Lisa, and sons David and Kevin, graduated from Wayland Baptist University (1986) with a degree in Accounting.
Rinker said: “Working with Hank all these years has been a great thing. It's been nice to be associated with something that has brought laughter and joy to so many families and kids all these years.”
Rinker, who lives in Perryton, TX with his wife Kim, daughter Lisa, and sons David and Kevin, graduated from Wayland Baptist University (1986) with a degree in Accounting.
Rinker said: “Working with Hank all these years has been a great thing. It's been nice to be associated with something that has brought laughter and joy to so many families and kids all these years.”
Father Involvement and Child Development
According to the NCCIC, the National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center, which operates under the jurisdiction of the US Department of Health and Human Services, “Mothers and fathers interact differently with their children and impact language development differently. For example, studies of just mothers show that they ask more questions, while fathers ask fewer, but more open-ended, questions than mothers.”
A publication by the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning presents the changing role of fathers, how fathers impact children’s social-emotional development, and how child care providers can support their involvement. (http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/briefs/wwb16.pdf ).
This work says that the bond between father and child(ren) “can increase through positive play interactions, such as reading a story or singing a song.” It also says that “father-child relationships can impact the relationships children have with peers, and the quality of emotions shown during play between father and child(ren) can predict, to some extent, social competence.”
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Author Gary Rinker (Submitted photo). |
With his beautifully-illustrated book, Rinker taps into these important reasons for fathers to be engaged in their children’s lives. It is a great book to sit down with your young children and grandkids and will help promote the father-child and grandfather-grandkid connection this Christmas.
“I wrote my poem about a dozen years ago. It came to me one day when I was sitting in a chair and my daughter Lisa seemed to be trying to climb me. That’s when I asked her, ‘Why are you climbing on me? Do I look like a tree?’ and that was the start of my poem,” Rinker told ANS .
“After writing it, I always thought it would make a great book. However, I had no luck with a couple of publishers and never was able to find an illustrator on my own,” he said.
“Then, a couple of years ago, Josh McDowell was in our town leading a youth revival. I decided to print out a copy of my poem, wrote my name on it, and handed it to him the last night with only time to say it was something I wanted to share with him.
“Well, a couple of months later I got an email from someone in Mr. McDowell’s office saying, ‘He was very impressed with the poem that you wrote, “The Very Best Toy,” and was wondering if he could use the poem for some of his presentations. Josh thinks that your poem will really help to encourage fathers and he would love to share it with them.’
After hearing that, I decided I HAD to find an artist and turn my poem into a published book. I still wasn’t having any luck finding an illustrator. Then, Doug Riggs, who had been an adult leader in our church when I was in high school, was back at our church leading a revival. I decided to ask him if he knew any illustrators.
“He said he didn’t but that he would check around and get back to me. After a few months, I got a call from him saying he had contact information for a couple of people and sent me samples of their drawings. That’s how I met Rawderson Rangel...over the Internet...because it turned out he was a church pastor in Brazil!
“He read my poem, sent me some sample illustrations for my book, and I knew that at last I’d found my illustrator!” Rinker said.
“We believe our book will encourage dads to spend time playing with their kids. And, it can be as simple as picking them up and swinging them around or laying in the floor while they climb around you. Whatever it is, they will be making memories that will last a lifetime.”
Illustrator Rawderson Rangel is a church pastor and has worked as an illustrator since 1993. He has been published in Brazil, Portugal, Spain, and this is his first work in the United States. He lives in Curbita, PR – Brazil with his wife Mayre and their children Pedro Henrique and Anne.
For a complete list of USA “Best Books 2011” Awards, visit www.USABookNews.com .
Copies of The Very Best Toy can be ordered at www.hankthecowdog.com or fromwww.amazon.com .
| ** Michael Ireland is the Senior International Correspondent for ANS. He is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB UK, a British Christian radio station. While in the UK, Michael traveled to Canada and the United States, Albania,Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany,and Czechoslovakia. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China,and Russia. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649, at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can make a donation online under 'Donate' tab, then look for 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' under 'Donation Category' to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.' Michael is a member in good standing of the National Writers Union, Society of Professional Journalists, Religion Newswriters Association, Evangelical Press Association and International Press Association. If you have a news or feature story idea for Michael, please contact him at: ANS Senior International Reporter |  |
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