Tish Rabe's Blog

One of the things I love about writing children's books is you never know what's going to happen during the creative process. When I wrote Sweet Dreams Ahead Time for Bed I asked Gil Guile, who hand-paints all her drawings to add my grandson's favorite stuffed animal, a dark green octopus, to this picture.When Gil delivered the final art the octopus was bright PINK. Oops! I knew that would upset my grandson, but Gil was nice enough to paint it all over again. Yay!
Sweet Dreams Ahead Time for Bed

🥰I love getting messages like this...
"...I love your books! I started out buying “On beyond bugs” for my niece and nephew and they absolutely loved it! You are now part of our tradition, for whenever I see them, I give them one of your books and they get so excited! The only problem is that there are soooo many good ones, it’s hard to choose which one to give them first! Thank you so much for your work, they are easily the best children books on the market.
Have a wonderful day!"

People often ask me how I write my rhyming science books and I tell them it takes a LOT of research. When I was doing the research for my new book about my hometown "Mystic by the Sea is the Best Place to Be". I visited the Naval Submarine Base and learned that this orange suit is what sailors wear if they have to evacuate from a submarine underwater. The good news is- that rarely happens! (See the photo on Tish Rabe's Facebook, Twitter or Instagram)

When I first started writing rhyming books I had a computer program called “A Million Gazillion Rhymes” which helped me. I just typed a word into the program and it came back with lots of rhymes. Over the years, I have been doing this for such a long time, the rhymes just pop into my head and now all the books I write are in rhyme. When I get stuck (and sometimes I do!) I go back to the best -Dr. Seuss- for help!

#talktotish

Exciting news! I am writing a children’s book about my hometown, Mystic, Connecticut, in partnership with the Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce! It features the Mystic Aquarium, Seaport, Olde Mistick Village and the Submarine Base. Yesterday, I met Clara the sea lion at the Mystic Aquarium and fell in love! The book is due to be released in July and I can't wait. tishrabe.com

I was honored to be asked to record my books "Sweet Dreams Ahead Time for Bed" and "Days Can Be Sunny for Bunnies and Money" for CRIS last week. CRIS is the Connecticut Radio Information System that provides recordings for people who have visual, learning, emotional, intellectual or physical disabilities. I have volunteered to record books and songs for them in the future and I'm grateful for the work they do. To learn more go to www.crisradio.org

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Did you know that Tish has given many, many interviews? Each week we will feature one of the questions she has answered, so that we can "Talk to Tish!" #talktotish

Hey Tish, you have so many books that feature animals. Do you have any pets?

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(photo credit:Elizabeth Saede)

Tish: I have loved cats and kittens since I was a little girl. My husband and I always adopt “rescue cats” who are living in a shelter because we want them to have a good home. Our first cat was called “Eddie” and somehow we ended up calling him “Eddie Spaghetti” (as you know I love to rhyme!). We both are musicians, I’m a singer and my husband plays bass and banjo, so we named our new rescue cat “Willie Nelson Rabe.” This is a picture of Willie!

Our kids get along MOST of the time,

but their BIGGEST fight by far

is about who’s going to sit where

when they get in the car.

So we came up with a plan.

We call it “Kid of the Day”.

It might work for your kids.

We do it this way…

When you’re Kid of the Day

it is YOUR turn to pick

where in the car is

where YOU want to sit.

You get the first slice of pizza,

you choose what’s on TV

I’m amazed, but it’s working.

They all seem to agree.

I admit I can NEVER remember

whose day is ...

We’re helping our kids learn to SAVE

and we told them why.

If they save enough then THEY

can choose what they will buy.

You might think w

hat your kids are

saving for is a big mistake,

a toy that they don’t need or

something fragile that might break…

Let them buy it, anyway.

If things don’t work out then

NEXT time they save for something

they might think again.

Ben took his eggs, went to the store

an

d bought ten baseball bats.

He already had a zillion, but

we did NOT mention that.

Whe...

Our daughter Fern loves to earn eggs.

She works for Farmer Prickles

who makes super-delicious

world famous pickles!

I don’t know how Fern does it,

but she has a knack

of tossing cucumbers over her shoulder

into one perfect stack.

She earns eggs for her basket

and she thinks it’s fun.

Her first basket is full.

She needs another one.

If your kids enjoy doing something

and getting paid, too,

look around your house and you’ll find

there’s a LOT they can do.

Just to share… I tried tossing a cucum...