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The McConnell Center was lucky enough to interview Vanessa Purdom this month. We interviewed Vanessa about her new book The Caramel Apple Election. Vanessa is a graduate of the University of Kentucky. The Caramel Apple Election is her first book. It centers on teaching children basic concepts about voting and the importance it plays in our society. You can buy Vanessa’s book at http://bit.ly/ VanessaPurdom or at Joseph Beth. The book also has a homepage at, www.caramelappleelection.com, where you can find ideas about holding your own mock election and resources to help with lesson planning. What was your biggest motivation for becoming a children’s author?
My two daughters, Anna (11) and Savanna (8), have been my biggest motivation. When the girls were younger, one of our favorite things to do was to create stories, out loud, together. I would set the scene and then we would take turns adding our own unique parts to the adventure. I also really enjoyed reading when I was a child and wanted to instill a love of literacy in my girls. Writing this book was sort of the next story in our long line of creative story adventures. What inspired you to write a children’s book about voting and elections? The idea was born when I was volunteering in my daughter’s first grade classroom. There was a really negative campaign in our town and I had heard some negative comments from the 6 year olds. I wanted to counter the negative comments, (that kids were obvious-
Vanessa Purdom
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