Turn Your High Jinks into a Children's Book, The Story Behind the Story

Adventures in the Heart of Children's Book Authors

Introduction Before Show Notes

Papa Rick interviews his middle granddaughter Bailey and how they turned their High Jinks at the Canmore Folk Music Festival into their second title in The Adventures of Kaboose, the Rocky Mountain Bear book series.

Bailey and Papa Rick talk about how an event-filled week created the story.

They discuss how writing the story led to reading it out loud and realizing that some of the words were not great for the children reading this story. They edited and reread the story until it sounded right.

Episode Three: Adventures in the Heart of Children's Book Authors.

Papa Rick:

As I mentioned, our mission is to interview children's book authors, help them find an audience and market their books. I would be remiss if I didn't introduce you to my co-authors and grandchildren of this book series, the Adventures of Kaboose, the Rocky Mountain Bear.

The Adventures of Kaboose, the Rocky Mountain Bear Book series, is about the adventurous bear who lives in Big Head in the Rocky Mountains.

Kaboose loves her family, friends, and community. She embraces Mother Nature and all her beauty and encourages all children to enjoy the adventures and the great outdoors.

In this episode, we introduce you to Bailey, my middle granddaughter, the co-author and narrator of our next book, High Jinks, at the Big Head Folk Music Festival.

In the first part of this podcast, I describe in detail Bailey's Adventures at the Canmore Folk Music Festival, which is the inspiration behind our story, Bailey's character in our book, High Jinks at the Big Head Folk Music Festival.

I love Bailey's Insights. These are lessons for everyone's family.

We encourage you to embrace every special family moment because you never know if this will ever happen again.

Writing and recording a story as an audiobook is so much fun, even if you can't fund a print or illustrate children's book.

You can always write your story and record it in an audiobook format today.

The quality of recording on most smartphones is remarkable, and you have a recording studio right in the palm of your hand. If you enjoy the value of our podcast, visit our website, www.kaboosetherockymountainbear.com and join our storyteller's club level with your children or grandchildren.

We aim to produce a new audiobook every three weeks for your family's listening pleasure.

Cheers! Let the adventures begin.

Papa Rick:

Hi everyone. I'm pleased to introduce you to my granddaughter Bailey, in today's story behind the story. Hello, Bailey.

Bailey:

Hi.

Papa Rick:

The story behind the story tells you the events that led to the creation of this story.

The story behind the story is what happened to me, Bailey, her brother Leland, her cousin Kyra, and her friends Linda and Tom.

It was so much fun, and we needed to turn this story into something special that happened to us during the Folk Festival event.

In some stories, such as the Adventures of Kaboose the Rocky Mountain Bear, Bailey is one of the characters.

Bailey chose to be a beaver. Her character is Bailey the Beaver. And Bailey the Beaver is Kaboose's cousin.

Bailey is very adventurous, like Kaboose the Rocky Mountain Bear.

Bailey is one of our audio voices.

In telling the stories of the Adventures of Kaboose, the Rocky Mountain Bear Bailey is the voice behind High Jinks from the Big Head Folk Music Festival audiobook. We hope you enjoy listening to this audiobook.

The Big Head Folk Music Festival is based on the Canmore Folk Music Festival.

The Canmore Folk Music Festival is the longest-running folk music festival in Alberta.

Entertainers and musicians come from all over the world to perform.

The venue and stage are located off the downtown of Canmore, amongst the fur trees and surrounded by mountain views.

The Canmore Folk Festival offers musical entertainment and a wide variety of musical workshops with performers.

It is an interactive experience, a market full of many different. Arts and crafts, a children's interactive area to paint, tell stories with lots of games, and so much more.

In today's story, behind the story, we will discuss with Bailey how this story came to be.

Bailey added her exceptional touch to the creation of this story. The story takes place in the Rocky Mountains, the home of Kaboose, the Rocky Mountain Bear, and Bailey the Beaver.

So Bailey, did you have fun recording the story of High Jink from the Big Head Folk Music Festival?

Bailey:

Yeah, I actually had a lot of fun. There were some mistakes in there, but. It was really fun.

Papa Rick:

And what Bailey's referring to is that when you're recording something, the neat thing about it, you can edit it and you can say things over, but you know what, if you'd make it too perfect, then it's not really like real life.

Real life. Every once in a while, we all make. Mistakes and fumble over words, but that's real life, right?

Bailey:

Yep.

Papa Rick:

And you know what kids, parents and grandparents, the neat thing about recording our stories is that Bailey read the story. She made suggestions if some of the words were too difficult to understand or didn't fit appropriately into the story.

And that was half the fun too, right?

Bailey:

Yeah. Adjusting and fixing stuff that didn't make sense or making it more so kids will understand it better.

Papa Rick:

Absolutely. So Bailey had a lot of great suggestions and which meant that we rewrote it a couple of times, in parts and we re-recorded it over again sometimes, but that's the fun behind it.

What's cool? Is that is part of the fun of the story behind the story and when you listen to some of the questions that we're gonna talk about here, shortly with Bailey, you'll find out that this actually was based on a true event and we were able to turn it into an adventure story, a children's book.

Bailey and I would like to share the story behind the story and hopefully inspire you to take your, take your adventures that you've done together as children and parents or children and grandparents and turn them into your own stories.

So please enjoy our conversation as Bailey and I discuss the story behind the story High Jink from the Big Head Folk Music Festival.

So Bailey,

Bailey:

Yeah.

Papa Rick:

You've had many trips to Canmore and Banff National Park. What are your first thoughts when you think about your visits to Canmore and Banff?

Bailey:

Actually, all my visits have been actually excellent. So fun. They're so fun. We go on a lot of adventures. Going around town and stuff, and it's a lot of fun. And what makes this area so special to you? I think it's a big part of my life because I've had so many adventures.

Papa Rick:

Right on. And what's interesting, this story is based on your third time at the Canmore Folk Music Festival.

Why did you wanna return year after year to the festival?

Bailey:

I wanted to return year after year because one year I had so much fun. The next year I had even more fun, and the third year was probably the. My favourite year I've ever gotten there.

Papa Rick:

Folks and kids, even though, this was Bailey's third time, it was actually her brother Leland's, first time at the Folk Music Festival on this trip, we, actually, Bailey got to share with her brother so many things.

Do you remember some of those activities, Bailey?

Bailey:

Yeah. There was rock climbing. There was this bike painting thing. It was in the story where there was paint on the back of the bike.

Papa Rick:

Bailey, actually, what she's talking about is got on a, they had a stationary bike and they hooked up paint to the back wheel, d as Bailey Pedaled, it would spin around and spray paint onto a blank piece of, uh, paper, and then it would turn into a piece of beautiful art, right.

Bailey:

Yeah. And we'd get our faces painted. I remember I was always a cat.

Papa Rick:

Yeah. Bailey loved being a cat. We got some great pictures of Bailey being a cat.

Bailey:

Yeah. And there was like activities. I still have this clique going around the markets and buying some cool T-shirts and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. That was so neat. And, and what Bailey's talking the folk music festival had a huge market area, and local artists and artists from around the world would come and they would display their jewelry or t-shirts or necklaces.

So many different things, food, so many different things to do.

Papa Rick:

What was your favourite thing at the market?

Bailey:

My favourite thing was probably the T-shirt I got. It has the Canmore Folk Music Festival on it, and I've had it. I still have it. Yeah, long time ago, but it used to be huge. Yeah.

Papa Rick:

Right on. And that's the neat thing about it folks is every year they would do up a different different T-shirt.

One of my favorites is they had, an old Volkswagen van, uh, as part of the logo. That was kind of cool too.

So many different T-shirts over the years,

So Bailey, do you remember Linda and Tom?

Bailey:

Oh yeah, I do. Waiting in line. We'd play cards like Uno and stuff. And then when we would, we'd like all sit in our chairs watching the bands and stuff play on stage.

Papa Rick:

Absolutely. And do you remember where Linda and Tom were from?

Bailey:

North America?

Papa Rick:

Yeah. From, they were from, from Portland, Oregon. So it was pretty neat that people traveled from all over the world. Not only the, entertainers came from all over the world. Also what we found was a lot of people in the audience because they loved the Canmore Folk music festival and being surrounded by the mountains.

So can you remember one of the neat things about the the folk festival?

Is like everything of course, you know, a lot of it is is driven by volunteers and getting people to help you know how to offset costs and all that. So they would get local, local retailers to help support different, different rewards for people attending.

And one of the one of the neat things was they had a children's shopping spree at one of the toy stores in Canmore. What was neat? Is Bailey's name got called? Do you remember your name getting called? Yeah. I remember sitting in my chair and I was just like wondering, I was just like looking around and all of a sudden I hear my name being called and I'm like, what?

And then that's because before we had to do this thing on this paper with checklists, and if you got all them right, your name would be called to win the prize to go to the store. Right. And I remember walking up being so confused. Nervous too of why they called. My name gave me this bag of this, um, like toy that you push its belly and then like a ball shoots out of its mouth.

And that was so cool. And then I remember going, I think it was the next day, right? We went to the store and I got a butterfly wand. And a butterfly tea set. It was really neat to actually, I think all of us were so excited for bailing and her name getting drawn, and she got to go up onto the, onto the main stage and they presented her with, as she described, , she got a prize before she even got the, the main prize, which was the shopping spree at the Canmore Toy Store.

So it was neat that the next day going down and Bailey presenting her card and the store was excited for her and they explained how to do it.

Bailey:

Yep.

Papa Rick:

And away you went. Right.

Bailey:

The one of my funniest things that I remember about that though is I did win, but I won mostly because I had Kyra with me. She was really helping me out with the questions as I was quite little to probably get them all right.

Papa Rick:

Right. So again, folks, that's part of, you know, your cousins helping you out and supporting you and, and, and us sharing the, our time together as a family and with friends also. So that was neat.

Do you remember running up on the stage to get your prize?

Bailey:

Yeah, I do. I remember getting up.

I don't know if someone walked up with me. I think some, I think Kira did, but I remember walking up and the guy on stage was like, here you go, good job. And walking back, all these people clapping and looking at me and I was like, wow. Yeah. Very neat. Very neat. And, and it was, it, there was a lot of people there, so it was kind of neat to go up and, and, feel like you were an entertainer, right?

Yeah, on a stage. I didn't really know how to feel. I was like happy that I won, but I was still like, it was still processing in my head. Of everything that was going on in that moment.

Papa Rick:

So kids and parents and grandparents over the next several months. Myself, Bailey, Kyra, Leland, Kaitlyn, and Cooper will record many Kabooses about The Adventures of Kaboose the Rocky Mountain Bear, and we would love, love to share them with you.

We've actually set up a Kaboose's Kub Club and we have three different levels. So we hope that you'll go to our website at, uh, kaboosetherockymountainbear.com and just learn about, how you can support us in our, adventures with Kaboose the Rocky Mountain Bear.

The neat thing about it is you'll be hearing, stories written by myself, Bailey and Kyra and Leland and Kaitlyn and Cooper, and then they're going to actually bring the stories to life through our Kaboose.

So we hope you'll enjoy that. So Bailey, what do you like about reading these stories of The Adventures of Kaboose the Rocky Mountain Bear.

Bailey:

I like reading them because it brings back memories of those really good fun times. Yeah. Going to the Folk Festival, that was like, that's one of my favorite memories of spending time with family winning, and it was just a lot of fun.

Papa Rick:

For sure. And, and you know, you think about that, when I am I guess I'm talking to the parents right now. The grandparents is, you know, all had this opportunity to relive some of our fondest memories, uh, with our, our children and our grandchildren, and to actually be able to put them into words and then.

Bailey:

Possibly draw them. , is so, so much fun.

Papa Rick:

So we hope that this gives you a little inspiration and I hope Bailey's given you a little inspiration about how you can capture those memories and get to relive them, which is so neat.

Papa Rick:

Is there anything else you'd like to share with, the other kids listening on to this?

I'd say just really fun to, you know, go on all these memory trips and to like, tell your story of how fun it was for you and how you can just tell everyone else your story of for sure.

Papa Rick:

And that's, that's part of, what Bailey's saying is, is being able to relive those moments. I don't think, I think enjoying.

Some of your past memories and, and you know, we've talked about this before, myself and Bailey and, and my other grandchildren, and, and sometimes you think, oh, you know what, I'll, we'll just go back the next year and do it again. But life doesn't quite work that way all the time. So there's things that, can, can get in the way and um, and that's what makes.

Papa Rick:

Doing something like this even more special is you're able to relive those moments and maybe you can never duplicate them exactly the way they were. You just have to build new adventures. Right, Bailey?

Bailey:

Exactly.

Papa Rick:

And what else would you like to share when you think about creating these Kaboose's stories.

Is there something that you think the people can learn from this?

Bailey:

They can just learn about each character and their adventures with, you know, and going to the camera and stuff, and how they had a blast and telling all their stories of how it was.

Papa Rick:

So folks, we wanna thank you for listening to.

Bailey and I talk about the story behind the story, and thank you, Bailey. This has been fun.

Bailey:

This has been super fun.

Mentioned in this episode:

Free Kaboose's Activity Pages for you and your family to write and draw your adventures!