Robin House Press

One year ago we were finishing up work on our first children’s picture book, “Once Upon a Robin”, and took a picture with the librarians at the Allen County Public Library’s Aboite Branch. We did a lot of developmental work on the book there and received much encouragement. This week I went in to the Aboite branch and was delighted to see our book on the shelf! Thanks again to the , and to librarians Kris and Courtney. You’re the best!

Preparing bookmarks to take into classrooms for each student. This week I’ll be reading our book to seventeen K - 2 classes in Fort Wayne Community and Southwest Allen County schools to celebrate Read Across America; by the end of the week we’ll have shared it with more than 600 students since its publication last April. “Once Upon a Robin - A Story of Hope for Children” is a rhyming picture book about Robins and the promise of Springtime with sweet, relatable illustrations by Hannah Scheele. If you live in the Fort Wayne area and have a child or grandchild whose teacher would be interested in a classroom visit, please message me. It’s a joy to spend time with the children! ❤️

Six weeks until Springtime! Are you ready? The nests are so visible this time of year. They remind us of the new life coming. 🪺

Ten Weeks until the First Day of Spring! What’s YOUR favorite thing about Spring? 🪺💐☀️

We love this! Thank you, Officer Woods and Tinsley. ❤️

Good afternoon Fort Wayne. So much goodness happening today. Tales with Tinsley, a pilot program with Shambaugh Elementary, is just getting started. 📖 🐕 Second graders get a little story time with their favorite K9 pal to help ease the anxiety of reading. Officer Woods and Tinsley take some time once a week to meet with some students so the kids can read to Tinsley. No shame, anxiety, guilt or judgement comes from reading to our pup. He actually reduces those things. Studies show this helps kids gain confidence at the uber important skill and can help prepare them for success. This process also helps our Tinsley learn patience, how to sit still for long periods and improves his listening skills. Stay tuned for more on this program. Thank you Shambaugh for this awesome pic of Officer Woods and Tinsley working hard today.🚔🐕

How special! Hannah Scheele is a gifted artist… and a delightful friend. These kind words spoken about her are true! Thank you King Gyros!

One hundred books arrived this week; 95 are already sold! Very excited to be doing author/illustrator visits and . We’re looking forward to bringing the love of books to little children.

We have a very special relationship with Hannah Scheele, the illustrator of Once Upon a Robin. On her blog, Hannah shares how her childhood dream to be a published illustrator was fulfilled. We LOVE a great story; what a privilege to be part of Hannah’s. ❤️

How I Became a Published Picture Book Illustrator of Once Upon a Robin How a little girl's dream came true. When I was in early grade school one of the first things I ever wanted to be was a book illustrator. I loved art and looking at the pictures in books because I struggled to learn how to read thanks to dyslexia. I remember the teacher reading books in front of our...

When you’re packing up for weekends or vacations, remember to take books along… reading with children will benefit EVERYONE… and make sweet memories!

We did six classroom visits in May to read “Once Upon a Robin”! Four kindergarten classes at Abbett Elementary School, a homeschooling cooperative gathering, and a class of two and three year olds were our audiences! 😍 The kindergartners were particularly interested in the large Robin and the marble eggs in the basket. They were almost in disbelief when their teacher showed the book on the large screen. The co-op group students were aged 5 to 12 and were prepared with many questions. We won’t say the younger class was our favorite because that’s not true. 😉 We will, however, say that it included the little girl who inspired the child in “Once Upon a Robin”. ❤️

If you’d be interested in a classroom visit by Lois and Hannah during the summer or next school year, leave a message in the comments, or contact us at [email protected] and we will be in touch! The time of the Robin has come!

“Once upon a Robin” is available on Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C15G7M75

During the “Once Upon a Robin” project, each word, phrase, illustration, and page layout was chosen prayerfully, carefully, and intentionally. Six words were prayerfully omitted and I’d like to share them now: “To the eggs that never hatched”.

During the illustrating process, Hannah miscarried twins. We’ve all seen bird eggs broken on the ground. And we’ve seen eggs left in the nest when other eggs hatched and the baby birds grew and flew. In our book we chose to illustrate three eggs and three baby robins but we know that is frequently not the reality.

I honor Hannah today as a courageous young woman, a gifted artist, a wonderful collaborator, and a loving mom. ❤️

(You can read Hannah Scheele’s own words at Peaceful Paint Drop)

We did our first school visit on Thursday and read “Once Upon a Robin” to Mrs. S’s enthusiastic kindergarten class at Abbett Elementary School in Fort Wayne. What a delightful time we had. The 18” Robin in the background was a BIG hit with the students; their teacher messaged me with this: “On the playground the kids saw a bird. They ran up to me to point it out saying it was a bird like you read about in your book! We decided it must have been the robin’s friend.😁“ It was a very rewarding morning and we’re looking forward to sharing our book with other classes soon! “Once Upon a Robin” is available on Amazon and at BarnesandNoble.com. 😍

The hardcover edition of “Once Upon a Robin” is now available on Barnes and Noble’s website. Thank you to all who’ve purchased the book! We sincerely appreciate the positive feedback. ❤️ (Paperback is available on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com)

Once Upon a Robin: A Story of Hope for Children|Hardcover Discover Once Upon a Robin: A Story of Hope for Children by Lois Nelson Smith, Hannah Scheele and millions of other books available at Barnes & Noble. Shop paperbacks, eBooks, and more!

This is the “crisis of faith” moment in our picture book “Once Upon a Robin”, illustrated by . It’s also a PERFECT illustration of the weather in Fort Wayne, Indiana today! 45 degrees. Feels like 36. Winds. Sleet. WHERE IS SPRINGTIME?! What’s the weather where YOU are? 💨🌧🤔

This week is National Library Week and Robin House Press would like to acknowledge and thank the staff at the Aboite branch of the Allen County Public Library for their encouragement and contributions as we developed and produced “Once Upon a Robin”. We especially want to recognize Aboite Branch manager Kris and Children’s librarian Courtney. This picture was taken in the study room next to Kris’ office and is now referred to as “the incubator”. Thank you, , for providing resources for local authors! Hannah Scheele Lois Nelson Smith

Today is World Book Day and Robin House Press is delighted to announce that our first children’s picture book, “Once Upon a Robin: A Story of Hope for Children”, is published and available for purchase on Amazon.com. The paperback and ebook are available NOW! The hardcover will be available in early May.

The Amazon listing has the “Look Inside” feature which will give you a preview of the upbeat rhyming text and the endearing illustrations Hannah Scheele created.

“Robin”, as the book has affectionately been nicknamed, is the story of a robin who visits a young child. The child’s expectations are that Springtime has arrived and frequent visits from Robin will follow. But Robin disappears. Where is Springtime? Where is Robin? Will they come again? The story unfolds - and resolves - with surprises and joy!

The time of the Robin has come and we invite you to join us in celebrating!

Once Upon a Robin: A Story of Hope for Children Once Upon a Robin: A Story of Hope for Children

Welcome to Robin House Press!

This first day of Spring 2023 seems the perfect day to announce we will soon be publishing our first book! Written by Lois Nelson Smith and illustrated by Hannah Scheele, “Once Upon a Robin” is a sweet picture book with rhyming text and endearing illustrations which delightfully capture a child’s perspective.

Robin House Press was formed by Lois with the intention of publishing not only her own books, but with a vision toward providing publishing knowledge and capabilities to other new authors. Our website is currently “under construction” and will be introduced shortly.

We would be most appreciative if you would “like” and “follow” us for updates and “share” our page so others can meet our Robin when she arrives. Thank you for joining us and Happy Spring! LNS for Robin House Press ❤️