Looking Backward

In July we sold our North Carolina home; the movers came and hauled our things to storage; we helped our daughter move into her own apartment in Raleigh, NC, and watched as our son drove back to Cullowhee, NC, where he now lives and works while attending Western Carolina University. 

The dog and I drove to Alabama to join my husband, Randy, where he has worked full-time and lived part-time for years. Instead of commuting by air, we get to live together and commute mostly by car. We have been spending weekends driving to TN where we plan to build a house. A house we will move into without our children.

It happens to all mothers, and it has happened to me. The babies my life revolved around, and the reasons I wrote a children’s book in the first place, have grown up.

Only an adult Jordan would
 have paid $ for this!

On September 14^th, I watched as my children paid a dollar to dance with the groom, their close childhood friend Andrew Toperzer, at a wedding reception held at his parents’ home in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Jordan & Andrew-
back in the day!

As I gazed across the dance floor at my own kids and our former Minnesota neighbor kids, it was that surreal feeling of disbelief, pride, and surprise. In my mind, I still - and probably always will - picture the children they once were.

My son, Jordan, was a chubby, dimpled five-year-old, and my daughter, Tabitha, a precocious seven years when we bid good bye to the first best friends and neighbors they loved, and moved across the country to Minnesota from Tennessee.

Our new neighbors, Steve and Denise Toperzer, came over with all four of their children in tow to introduce themselves.

Paul, Krista, Andrew, Laura.- all grown up. Unfortunately or maybe - lucky for them- all of my photo albums and most of my pictures taken in their youthful past are in storage.

Paul, their oldest son, was around 13-years-old, and had a look that said he would have rather been anywhere else. In time we came to adore Paul, and even liked his gang of friends I tagged “the lost boys”, but my first impression was that I would have been fine with him being anywhere else!  Ha!

Eleven-year-old Krista, their oldest daughter, was shy and quiet, but her mom let us know that she had just been certified to babysit. My children would soon beg for us to go out alone so Krista could babysit them.

Andrew, whom I would be accused of favoring, was, eight, and the only child who looked enthused to meet us. Of course I favored him- despite annoying me with his biased opinions on anything and everything, he was the kid most apt to do my bidding on any harebrained project I might have- and he didn't mind bending a rule or three.

Laura, their youngest, was a year younger than Tabitha. I don’t remember if she stayed to play that very day, but I do remember that after quietly sizing each other up, it took about a nanosecond for another precocious child and Tabitha to decide they would be best friends forever.

Today and 

only yesterday.

It seems unbelievable that this all took place more than a decade ago. Or that this January 2014  it will be two decades since I was diagnosed with breast cancer and first penned Tickles Tabitha’s Cancer-tankerous Mommy for Tabitha and Jordan. It has been a life-altering journey full of highs and lows, some of them occurring at the exact same time.

I once told a Minnesota audience that not even a telephone fortuneteller (this was before the internet) would have predicted all that had happened to me because it would have sounded too far-fetched.

After all, who in their right mind would have believed I would end up living in Minnesota? Or miss it when I left?

The Nutcracker Publishing Company has given me a career, identity, and recognition outside of my life as a wife and mother. But best of all, it gave me the ability to mesh my personal and professional lives. In between media pitches and book events, there was unicyling club, children’s parties, and even cross-country moves.

While my children were preoccupied with the drama that childhood provides like- the infamous neighborhood war Tabitha and her best friend forever, Laura, fought with the neighborhood kids-I was setting up a web site and establishing my reputation as a writer.

Nutcracker Publishing Company celebrates its 13^th anniversary this October. I have decided it will be my last year. My husband says, and it is true, I am always excited to leave a place behind and venture on to something new, but I still cry when I leave.

In the blogs that follow this one, besides sharing what is going on these days, I thought I would reminisce about the things that happened along the way- the people, places, and even world events that have made it interesting.

Like Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Toperzer!

September 14, 2013
Congratulations! 

Andrew's wedding was quite the party!

At the John Locke Foundation discussing Nuclear Literacy for Elementary Students

It was my pleasure to speak at the John Locke Foundation's Shaftesbury Society Luncheon.  I have to admit, I was nervous in front of this nonprofit think tank audience of esteemed movers and shakers.  

My presentation was titled,  Lighting up Minds and Radiating Brilliance: Nuclear Literacy for Elementary Students. 

       Click on the arrow above to view my presentation.

I had nothing to be nervous about as my audience, and the JLF staff, could not have been more charming or supportive when it comes to educating our children about nuclear power plants.

Published on Apr 15, 2013

Amelia Frahm, author of "Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Plant Really Works," discusses the challenge of boosting nuclear literacy among elementary school students. Frahm offered these comments during an April 15, 2013, speech to the John Locke Foundation's Shaftesbury Society. Video courtesy of CarolinaJournal.tv. Watch full-length presentations of JLF presentations here: http://www.johnlocke.org/events/video...

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The Color of Advocacy

There is a  line in the movie Steel Magnolias where Shelby says "my colors are blush and bashful."  Whereas her mother says "her colors are pink and pink!"

Your colors are neither, you are not an expert

I understand Shelby's exasperation.  I feel it toward myself as I am often torn between the colorful topics of cancer and nuclear power. Two distinct topics that I have written children's picture books about.

With my writer's imagination I hear Shelby saying in her Southern accent,  "your colors are breast cancer awareness pink and nuclear advocacy green ."  To which her mother admonishes , "your colors are neither, you are a children's book writer not an expert."

Which is why I am always, amazed, mystified, and extremely honored when, bona fide advocates and experts  of breast cancer awareness and nuclear energy are appreciative of what I do and include me in their initiatives.  

Last September when my "baby" left for college. I left my empty nest in North Carolina to hide out in an apartment in Alabama where my husband works.  Life as I had known it was over, and I was feeling sorry for myself, when I received a call from Christine Andrade, a woman I had never met.  

Christine is the Corporate Sponsorship Manager for the NC Triangle Susan G. Komen Foundation. She called to tell me that she had nominated me for 2012 Maureen Thomas Jordan Spirit of Survivorship Award.  

I was moved, flattered, and  astonished to discover someone had nominated me, and that someone was affiliated with the Susan G. Komen Foundation!  A foundation synonymous with breast cancer pink, but for me pink is synonymous with learning to embrace change. 

In  January I was contacted by John Shanahan, author of the Shanahan Energy Letter and  the founder of Go Nuclear! Inc., regarding my nuclear education programs and children's book about nuclear power.  He appreciated  that I had done both a children's book about cancer and one about nuclear power plants.  As he explained, anti-nuclear advocacy had  not just tarnished the clean green hue of nuclear power plants, but  also nuclear medicine and treatments that benefit cancer patients.

Go Nuclear! is a non-profit global initiative whose mission is to inform and educate our youth and young professionals about nuclear energy and nuclear medicine in the hopes they will pay it forward. John wanted two more advisers to represent the United States and asked if I was interested. 

He was asking me to consider having my name listed amongst the real world equivalent of the PhD-ed  IQ's featured on The Big Bang Theory. Not much for me to consider, of course I was interested!

Along with  flattered, I usually feel overwhelmed and out of my league most the time. It is humbling to be able to call these amazing, intelligent, courageous, colorful advocates my colleagues. 

Like Artist Suzanne Hobbs Baker, Executive Director of PopAtomic Studios which established The Nuclear Literacy Project. This February she  packed up her art supplies and headed across the ocean to explore the European nuclear industry.  Along the way she is blogging about her adventures in Diary of A Nuclear Tourist. 

The color of advocacy is as varied as Suzy's paints, but one thing is certain, coward yellow is not the signature color of any of my colleagues.

Tis the season, so don't get caught with coal in your stocking!   Santa lights his Christmas lights with Nuclear Power. 

Ho Ho Ho... 

Nutcracker Publishing Company

Pink Pumpkins: How My Children Celebrated Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Once upon a time a long time ago, (my daughter used to insist all stories must begin like this) there was no Tickles Tabitha character.  Pumpkins were orange and talking to young children about cancer was more frightening then a Halloween without candy.

Then I was diagnosed with breast cancer and October has not been the same since. At our house it became Pink Pumpkin Month and I spent it promoting cancer awareness and marketing Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous Mommy, my children’s picture book about cancer.

My kids did not just pick out and carve up traditional orange pumpkins. We were purchasing cans of hot pink spray paint, dollar store trick or treat sacks we filled with a pink ribbon craft activity, and making scarecrow hats that looked like Tickles Tabitha.

One year our kitchen was the laboratory where a giant plastic pumpkin head was padded, molded, and turned into a larger than life-sized Tickles Tabitha’s head.  The top section of the Tickles Tabitha costume character my children volunteered to dress up as (I'm doing what my kids call my evil laugh here) and that helped introduced my cancer awareness school program.   

I was reflecting on all that has changed during my recent appearance at the Barnes & Noble Walk With Sally Book Fair.  When my own children were small, talking to them about my cancer raised eyebrows and talking to other peoples children about it was unimaginable. 

So much has changed and much of it due to October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  Today cans of pink spray paint are not necessary, you can  purchase pink pumpkin jack-o lanterns at the local super market. 

It's a good thing, since the kids that helped me are now young adults and what I recall as fond memories of Octobers past are now reasons for my son Jordan to complain about his childhood, and affirmations as to why his sister, the "real" Tabitha, graduated summa cum laude with a psych degree. According to the two of them, it's going to come in handy! 

Happy Pink Pumpkin Month!

Here we are before Jordan left for college...

...and here's Jordan now.

 Probably due to inhaling that pink spray paint.

Celebrating Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Don't Get Too Comfortable!

Amelia Frahm, Author
Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous  Mommy

One thing about breast cancer is you can never get too comfortable. I kicked off October with a trip to the doctor's office. A bug had flown into my ear and I wanted to make sure it was out.  All of it!

My doctor assured me the bug was long gone and nothing to worry about, but when I asked her to take a look at a lump near a lymph node she immediately made me an appointment with an Ear Nose and Throat Specialist.               

                                              

After the ENT guy examined my nodes, mentioned scheduling a full body cat scan, vaporized my perpetual hunger, and told me that he felt better about the one node because the one on the other side was about the same size,  I directed him to the node I was worried about.

As it turned out that node was not a lymph node, but an enlarged cyst.  If it gets infected or any larger it will need to be removed, he told me. Or he could go ahead and  remove it  "NOW"  and prevent me a possible return trip.  

I thought about it for a nano second.  What I thought was, unless he put me under and combined a cosmetic procedure with that needle and knife he would be wielding, I would take my chances. 

So far my odds have been pretty good, at least when it comes to breast cancer.  Eighteen years of remission  and counting...   Happy Breast Cancer Awareness Month!  

Sharing my story with  young fans at the
B&N  Walk With Sally Book Fair in  Manhattan Beach, CA.

Walk with Sally's   

Barnes & Noble Bookfair

      The Literary Showcase, Sept. 1, 2012.

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 Helping Children Feel Smart!

Kieran 

"My daughter Kieran said reading your book made her feel smart!" The child within me wanted to simultaneously jump for joy and break into tears. 
However, since the adult me was sitting at a coffee shop in Victoria, Texas, meeting Kathleen Grones, a reporter for the Victoria Advocate, I squelched that notion and went on pretending to be the grown-up author she was supposed to be interviewing.


Kieran's comment resonated in me in a way that only an adult who was made to feel "not smart” as a child would understand. As a five year old first grade student I was made to feel dumb by a teacher.  Her opinion labeled me in my own mind, and in the minds of other children and teachers, and shaded my entire school experience. 

It was not until college that I realized I was not a dunce. My first clue came in the mail. It was an acceptance letter to the University of Florida, from which I graduated with a PR degree. Not bad for a girl whose first grade teacher assigned her a "D" in citizenship, and who was placed in the slow reading group.

  Suzy Hobbs Baker,Executive Director of
        PopAtomic Studios, the parent organization
for the Nuclear Literacy Project. 

Recently, I received an e-mail from Suzanne Hobbs Baker, Executive Director at PopAtomic Studios, informing me that Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant ReallyWorks! had been listed as recommended reading on the premier posting of the Nuclear Literacy Project's website. Needless to say, it felt good.

There was the so-called "dumb" girl's book right alongside books written by some really smart authors and nuclear experts, including Gwyneth Cravens' The Power to Save the World, and Terrestrial Energy by William Tucker.  

Although being victimized by education bullies did not make my life easy, it has made life interesting and infused a passion within me that might not otherwise exist.

This is why I have a deep appreciation for professionals and educators who provide information in a format that even us "dummies" will understand.

That is what the folks at the Nuclear Literacy Project are doing. This past year, the nuclear industry took the heat for the devastation and destruction caused by horrible natural events that led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster. 

After the incident, anything nuclear - including my children's book - became an easy target for anti-nuclear bullies predicting doom and assigning blame.

My Facebook page was bombarded with photos and comments intended to make me appear irresponsible for writing a children's book on nuclear power. Once again, I felt like that first grade child who had received a "D" in citizenship, until members of the Nuclear Literacy Project came to my rescue.

The organization is composed of a diverse group of thinkers from a variety of backgrounds who recognize the gaps in nuclear education and are striving to bridge them.

They shared accurate and factual information on my Facebook pages that helped distinguish fact from fiction and they did it in a way that my non-technical audience could understand. That is the genius of the Nuclear Literacy Project. It strives to provide education without humiliation or condemnation.  It is with much admiration and appreciation for the Nuclear Literacy Project that I say thank you for what you are doing and congratulations on your website:  Nuclearliteracy.org. 


May you continue to make children of all ages feel smart!

The Nutcracker Publishing Company is pleased to be associated with The Nuclear Literacy Project and would like to thank them for supporting our efforts to educate young children about nuclear power plants. To learn more about The Nuclear Literacy Project and their history of successful outreach please go to Nutcracker Publishing Company/The Nuclear Literacy Project.

Nuclear Literacy for Dumb People

With Neill Holmes at the Crabtree Valley Marriott in Raleigh, North Carolina, where I was guest speaker for the Crabtree Rotary.

My presentation was titled: Nuclear Literacy for Dumb People. I talked about nuclear literacy and gave them a preview of my elementary school program.

There were NO dumb people in my audience, instead I was surrounded by one of the friendliest and most intelligent groups I have had the pleasure of meeting.

Taking Nuclear Power on the Road to South Alabama

My parent's backyard. 

Below are highlights of my author road trip to South Alabama.  I visited schools in Baldwin County and Escambia County, Alabama.  I grew up across the state line in Escambia County, Florida, on a farm in the Walnut Hill community.  So when I was not visiting schools, I got to visit family and childhood friends I have not seen in years. The thing I love about Walnut Hill is the people who always welcome me back, like it was only yesterday, and not 30 years ago since I moved away.  

My first school was Daphne East Elementary, not to be confused with Daphne Elementary.  Daphne, Alabama is a beautiful town near the Gulf Coast, which meant I skipped the school cafeteria food and opted for Gulf Coast seafood.

 Daphne East Elementary students and media specialist Rhonda Campbell, who set up my visit and made sure it went without a hitch. I spoke to approximately 700 students and their teachers.

The winner of our Chubby door prize was Miss Jennifer Nelson's 4th grade class.  Miss Nelson was out that day and I'm pictured with Ms Linda McCann.



The next day I visited Daphne Elementary.  I'm pictured with their librarian, Mrs. Elizabeth Davis.











I think the entire school turned out. I'll always remember this visit as the reason I finally purchased my own set of speakers for my laptop! I had difficulty using their equipment and could not get the audio to broadcast for my video. Daphne Elementary thought me receiving a science and technology award was hilarious.

More about my visits to Baldwin County Schools can be found here: Daphne Kids Power Up: Author teaches about nuclear power, fear of the unknown. Thank you Jessica Jones for including my story.




I completed my first week of author presentations visiting Escambia Academy in Canoe, Alabama. It is a small private school that still goes K-12th grade.  It is also where my brother John Solomon graduated high school.

The kids were excited to have an author visit and each class asked to have their photo taken with me.  I shared both of my books including Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous Mommy.  Sadly, it's a topic the children were familiar with.





I owe a debt of gratitude to Tri City Ledger reporter Janet Little Cooper. Despite the hectic schedule of a news reporter, she attended my presentation at Escambia Academy.  You can find her article on my FB page here: EA students learn about nuclear power.

Not all my time was spent doing author school visits, and for the first time in at least 25 years I got to enjoy spending Mother's Day with my mother.

Amelia Solomon Frahm and her mother, Amelia Patricia Solomon.

 The last school I visited was W.J. Carroll Intermediate where I spoke back-to-back to three classes of 150 students.  These were older kids who were looking forward to the end of the year in about six days, yet they were attentive and interested in nuclear power and writing.

Children today learn very little about nuclear power in school which perhaps explains why none of the sixth graders thought my book was too juvenile.

One young man told me he was already working on his own book!

I am back home, alone with my laptop.  It's a beautiful day in North Carolina, but I am missing you Alabama people!

Don't Let the Dog Out!

Author Amelia Frahm with Gloria Cooper on WTZT-11, Athens, Alabama.

On my way to South Alabama, where I have several author school visits scheduled, by way of North Alabama, where my husband Randy works full-time and lives part-time.  Randy and I have a commuter marriage. A 3-M plant in Decatur, Alabama has been his work base for the past six years and he commutes between his job there and our home in North Carolina. 

Now that our kids are grown, I join him whenever possible.  It was during one of my visits that I discovered a" local and loving it" show called Cooper & Company that airs on WTZT -11 in Athen's, Alabama.  ZTV-11 as it's known is owned, operated, hosted, and produced by Gloria and Jamie Cooper. 

Although Gloria interviewed me, she and her husband Jamie, remembered by many as the Country Rover, could and should write their own book.  

Zoro & Gloria Cooper

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of being a guest on ZTV-11,  meeting the Cooper's, their staff, and their dog! 

Anyone watching the show heard Jamie yell, "don't let the dog out!" He was talking to me!  When I opened the door to enter the station I was met by  Zoro.   

As always, it's the dogs I meet that make my author road trips most interesting!

Please let us know how you like "Nuclear Power - How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works" by writing a review on askDavid.com

This year we got our Easter Eggs from Nukie Nuclear Power Plant!

I was welcomed home to North Carolina by the IRS, garden weeds, birthdays and an Easter Egg Hunt to plan. Hello Spring!  I hit the ground hopping.

Fortunately, the Apex Chamber of Commerce was en route to the bakery where I had ordered party foods and birthday cake.  I picked up my copy of the Apex Magazine.  I am so appreciative to my hometown Apex Chamber of Commerce for featuring my story in this year’s edition of the Magazine. 

When I see this photo, what I remember is that I had a bald spot on the top of my head at the time (which, fortunately, is not visible due to the angle of the camera). I had been diagnosed with stress related alopecia.  A lot has happened since that photo… for one thing my hair grew back!

My Dimple Dumpling & his dad.

This March, the Dimple Dumpling, mentioned on the dedication page of my children’s book about nuclear power, turned 20 years old.  He still has the dimples, but my son Jordan is no longer a dumpling.  On Easter, my daughter Tabitha, who along with her brother inspired Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous Mommy  turned 22 years old. I am now the mother of two adult children.  I don’t feel near as old as their birthdays make me.


Even the neighbor kids have grown up on me.  I was stunned to discover two of my Cancer Dancers will be heading to high school next year!

For those grown up kids, and as a tribute to my book about nuclear power, this year we got our Easter Eggs from Nukie Nuclear Power Plant and put on a glow-in-the-dark Easter Egg Hunt.  It was the brilliant and bright idea of my daughter, who recruited her brother and her boyfriend, and even some unsuspecting adults, to help stuff 600 plus eggs with glow in the dark items.  

Nuclear Easter Eggs.

The results were awesome!  Wish we had more photos, but what took hours to plan took the kids a few minutes to find. 

Taxes, Easter and birthdays are now sweet memories. My media moments are archived on audio and print, and behind the scenes I am getting ready to head to Alabama for my next author school visit.


This time last year, my daughter, Tabitha, and I were loading mousetraps with orange Ping-Pong balls and filming the video explaining what makes a nuclear plant nuclear. 

Tabitha & our neighbor Deven Robtoy.

My neighbor called to ask where we crouched when the tornado that devastated parts of our region of North Carolina swept through.  She and her children had been in the bathroom.  Tabitha and I had been happily preoccupied and clueless about the weather. I think of that day every time I play the video to a school group.

I never imagined then all the schools I would visit and the laughter that video would provide to so many elementary students or the behind the scenes story I would tell them about it.

Pinning the tail on the bunny.

While on the road during my last school visit I was interviewed, along with athlete Brian Jordan and educator Mindy Keller, by Neil Haley, host of the Total Education Network. Neil airs an educational talk show seven days a week that focuses on local and national education news.  Neil has been in education for years, but a children’s book about nuclear power?  That got his attention.  You can check out my interview here:

Listen to internet radio with Total Tutor on Blog Talk Radio


         

Charleston Chew the Easter Pug.

Mousetraps and Ping-Pong Balls: Explaining Nuclear Power to the Media

With Suzie Wiley and Derrick Shull, after my appearance on Talk of the Town  at WYAM TV-51, in Decatur, Alabama.  As always, they made me feel so welcome.  On the show we talked about Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works!  I explained how mousetraps and Ping-Pong balls factor into my school presentations.

I had the honor of being a guest on the show several years ago to discuss my children’s picture book about cancer.  After today’s show Derrick shared with me how he had given his mother a breast cancer survivor, a copy of  Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous Mommy, after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had read it to her students so they would understand what she went through.  He was so appreciative.  It's moments like this that keep me motivated!

I’ve had a lot of “moments like this” this week.  Check out:

Call to Action: Educate and Encourage Students about Nuclear Science posted on the ANS Nuclear Cafe,  by Bethany Cargle, Marketing Specialist for RCS Nuclear Corporation.

Our latest press release:

Educating Students about Nuclear Science: Mousetraps and Ping-Pong Balls

Apex, NC, March 20, 2012 —“Do power plants really use mouse traps and Ping-Pong balls?” Just one of the questions students who celebrated National Engineers Week got answered by attending the school presentation of  Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works! sponsored by RCS Nuclear Corporation.

Amelia Frahm, author of the children’s picture book, described a fission chain reaction using a metaphor of Ping-Pong balls and mouse traps in order to help children understand how energy is produced in a nuclear power plant. RCS Nuclear donated Frahm’s book to Charlotte, North Carolina elementary schools and sponsored the author reading.

As a supplier of nuclear and related engineering personnel, RCS Nuclear likes to encourage young students to become engineers. “These students are the future for industries we supply engineers to, and it is the company’s responsibility to prepare them now,” said Carlos Garcia, founder of RCS Nuclear.

Since its release in December, Frahm’s children’s book explaining nuclear power plants and the related school presentation she has implemented have been used by corporations like RCS Nuclear to focus attention on National Engineers Week, and by schools like Van Vleck Elementary in Van Vleck, Texas who used the program to kick off National Nuclear Science Week. Frahm’s school presentations helped celebrate in a manner that grasped the attention of elementary and intermediate students.

“I try to engage children using concepts they understand and find entertaining, like when I ask what Chubby does on his day off, he goes fission,” said Frahm.

In attendance at Frahm’s Steele Creek Elementary book reading in Charlotte were five sessions of 50 students; in total, approximately 250 fourth and fifth graders. Prior to the reading, the students were asked if they knew what nuclear engineers did or how nuclear energy was created. Students could not give an answer; however, they listened carefully as they learned how a nuclear plant works from the point of view of a lab rat, a blue bird, and a fat cat, who are characters in the book. Then they laughed as they enjoyed a video created by the author, which demonstrated the mouse trap and Ping-Pong ball fission chain reaction.

More information about Frahm's school program and contact information to schedule an author book reading may be found on the link School Programs at NutcrackerPublishing.com.

Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works! costs $9.95 and is available from the publisher,  Barnes & Noble bookstores, online at Amazon.com, and at other bookstores.

About RCS Nuclear Corporation

RCS Nuclear is a Trade Name for RCS Corporation. Ranked the #1 Fastest Growing New Small Business in America by Entrepreneurmagazine, Since 1994, RCS Corporation has provides Professional Staffing Services to the Nuclear and Energy Industries throughout the United States and Internationally.

About Nutcracker Publishing Company

Nutcracker Publishing Company was founded in 2001. The company publishes children's books that educate, entertain, and make it easier to establish a dialogue between children and adults about difficult subjects such as cancer and nuclear power. Information on educational programs for schools and other organizations can be found at the company’s website. Nutcracker Publishing Company is based in North Carolina.

Fukushima One Year Later: My Children's Picture Book.

Not even the great Zoltar could have predicted my career in children's books or the world events that would affect it.  

In the aftermath of Fukushima’s nuclear disaster most people are surprised to discover I almost did not publish Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works!, but prior to the Fukushima incident my book's topic evoked more bored yawns than invitations to visit elementary schools.

So much attention has been placed on what went wrong at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant due to natural disasters most of us have forgotten that the Nuclear Industry had and continues to have an unsurpassed safety record.

That record is what made my book a tough sell to the general public and even some in the nuclear industry. I was contemplating paying off my illustrator and just placing my children’s book about nuclear power plants on hold when the tsunami hit Japan.    

If ever I have received a “sign” to do something, that appeared to be it.

 Nuclear Power: How aNuclear Power Plant Really Works! was released December 29, 2011. 

I no longer worry about my book’s topic being considered boring.  If anything, boredom has been replaced with irrational fear.  

Children’s picture books are never as simple and easy to write as they appear. My “Nuke Book” is a creative look at a factual subject and it had to be technically accurate.

None of the professionals I market my book to or parents who purchase my book would expect anything less than for me to have sought out the opinions and critiques of the nuclear industry.  People who have worked within the industry and understand what they are talking about. 

Unfortunately, during the aftermath of Fukushima’s nuclear disaster these industry leaders and experts have often been by-passed in favor of commentators with more sensationalized points of view.

People I would have never considered a legitimate source for even a fictional children’s picture book about nuclear power have been considered expert sources on the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Fukushima changed everything, including my mind about publishing a children’s book about nuclear power.  Public perception of nuclear power plants remains an issue for the nuclear industry and even my children’s picture book about it.  The bored yawns I encountered have been replaced by raised eyebrows, genuine interest and sometimes irrational fear.  

I am in the returning lane of my author school visits/ marketing road trip. I have lit up the roads from North Carolina to Texas with stops along the way in both Florida and Alabama.  Most educators tend to read a book before critiquing it, and these past few months I have had the privilege of meeting with many of them.  As they have pointed out, nothing eliminates fear like education. 

What better way to educate a classroom full of elementary children about nuclear energy than a book about it? 

Amelia Frahm with Bethany Cargle, Marketing Specialist for RCS Corp. and students at Steele Creek Elem. School, Charlotte, NC.  RCS donated my book  to area schools and arranged my visit to celebrate National Engineers Week.