We are pleased to announce the arrival of Jacqueline Marie, Born June 28th, 2008 to mom, JoAnne and dad, Bill.

There is no question that being a big brother is an important job. We recently interviewed William (a.k.a. ‘Bur Bur’) about his experience.

Q: I understand that you are the best big brother in the world, is that true?
A: Yes, it is true

Q: I can tell you are probably a really good helper, how do you help with your little sister?
A: I help her goes to sleep, kiss her, hold her and I feed her one time!

Q: What is your favorite part about being a big brother?
A: I get to snuggle with her. I am a good snuggler

You have been doing a terrific job William, we are VERY proud of you!

We invite everyone to leave comments below! Read the rest of this entry »

The School Library Journal is the world’s largest reviewer of books, multimedia, and technology for children and teenagers. Amy Bowllan, writer for The School Library Journal, recently commented on our new book, Anna Goes Hiking, on her blog. Read the rest of this entry »

It is no secret that the prices for gas have exploded and families are feeling the pain. Recently, Kayak.com, the world’s largest travel search engine, surveyed its consumers about what they plan to do over the summer. More than 64% responded that in order to keep it affordable, they would be staying closer to home.

In response to the survey, “KARE-11’s News on Saturdays” will be interviewing co-author, Kakie Fitzsimmons, Read the rest of this entry »

My son William, (aka ‘Bur Bur’) has been participating for the first time this year in organized t-ball. I think back to the first day a month or two ago and am amazed at how far his whole team has come. With the encouragement of families and coaches, their eye and hand coordination, learning how to be team players, understanding the basics of the game all has come together so well. Read the rest of this entry »

Recently, Kakie Fitzsimmons, Farmer’s Hat Productions™ VP/Founding Partner and co-author of the award winning Bur Bur and Friends™ children’s book series, was interviewed by BusinessWeek Journalist, Jennifer Fishbein and quoted in an article titled “Readers Voice Their Workplace Problems Here are the six things that are driving BusinessWeek readers nuts about their jobs”

The magazine conducted extensive surveys of workplace issues that were important to their readers, (work-life balance, time management, etc.). In response to the results, BusinessWeek has recently launched six blogs on the workplace issues based off of online surveys they conducted. A total of 8494 readers responded. Read the rest of this entry »

By Jodi Nelson, mother of two, 5 and 15 months

As I sit here I am thinking about my 15 month old and his newly developed strong personality. He has formed an opinion about everything good and bad. Take food for example, after experiencing a bad case of the flu he has decided that the only food group he needs to eat is carbohydrates. Bread in particular. We try to get him to taste other things, we use all the “play” techniques to get the food into his mouth, which he humors us by putting it in there and then spitting it out. (Sometimes even laughing as he does it!) Read the rest of this entry »

Local Burnsville-Eagan TV’s Access to Democracy, hosted by Barb Daily and Alan Miller, recently conducted a 28 minute interview featuring Farmer’s Hat Productions™ Leadership team, JoAnne Pastel and Kakie Fitzsimmons. The interview was conducted by Barb Daly. Read the rest of this entry »

Farmer’s Hat Productions Founder featured in the Minnesota Women’s Press.
Click here to read full article
“We want to show reality and what the world truly is like.”
- JoAnne Pastel

by Erica Marston: Minnesota Women’s Press

When JoAnne Pastel couldn’t find storybook characters that her 2-year-old biracial son could identify with, she decided to do something about it. “I was just not seeing a lot of diversity. There were no characters who looked like him, which I felt was really important in helping to build his confidence.” Read the rest of this entry »

Click here to read the full article with images:
Apple Valley Magazine - An interview with Kakie Fitzsimmons, an entrepreneur, single mother and co-author of the award winning children’s book series, Bur Bur and Friends.

By Valerie Tukey - Apple Valley Magazine
January, 2008

Seven years ago, when her son, Isaiah, was born, Kakie Fitzsimmons began to write. As a single mother of a biracial son, she started a journal full of her thoughts, values and struggles in hope of giving it to Isaiah someday. Little did she know that her love for writing personal letters soon would bloom into a career of creating children’s books. Read the rest of this entry »

People often ask how we came up with personalities of the characters in our award winning children’s book series Bur Bur and Friends. Although the characters are based on our kids and their friends in real life, that still doesn’t mean it has been an easy process. When JoAnne came up with the idea of creating a cast of multicultural kids who educate children about sports , outdoor exploration and active play, it was only the beginning. Farmer’s Hat Productions came to life. From there, concept grew on us and evolved into a process that we consider for all of the books that we develop . We began by, creating a general profile of each child/character. As we write each book, we incorporate some of the qualities we see in our kids. Through that process, we came into the realization that we could have an impact on the lives of many children that we most likely will never meet. Read the rest of this entry »

Please join us for story time and a book signing at the Minnesota Children’s Museum in downtown St. Paul on Saturday, May 3, 2008 from 10:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Come on a reading adventure during story time with co-authors JoAnne Pastel and Kakie Fitzsimmons, who will read tales from the award winning Bur Bur and Friends™ children’s book series. These books use a cast of multicultural characters who teach kids about sports, being active and exploring the outdoors. This theme compliments the Minnesota Children’s Museum’s all-new traveling exhibit Run! Jump! Fly! Adventures in Action, which was designed to discover the fun in being physically active in a non-competitive environment. After story time, head down to Kid Spark, the Museum gift store, for a chance to meet the authors and get your Bur Bur and Friends books signed.

Pastel and Fitzsimmons are founding partners of Farmer’s Hat Productions™, a children’s media company that inspires children to develop an interest in sports, outdoor exploration and active play.

CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION ABOUT MUSEUM HOURS, DIRECTIONS CONTACT AND PARKING INFORMATION

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Kids who love Bur Bur and Friends™ have been sending us coloring pages from all over the country and we appreciate that! Clearly they are having fun and are excited to show us their talent. Below are a few coloring samples children have shared from the Sun Country Airlines In Flight Activity Books featuring the Bur Bur and Friends characters. We thank kids from everywhere for sharing their gifts. Bur Bur and Friends is a cast of multicultural characters who educate kids about sports, outdoor exploration and active play through their experiences. Feel free to leave your comments below.

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By Kakie Fitzsimmons, VP and founding partner of Farmer’s Hat Productions, Co-author Bur Bur and Friends children’s book series which educates kids about sports, outdoor exploration and active play.

The other day, I received an email from Amy Bowllan at the School Library Journal. The School Library Journal is the worlds largest reviewer of books, multimedia, and technology for children and teenagers. On this website, Amy has this amazing blog which I subscribe to. Last November, she interviewed my dear friend, co-author and business partner JoAnne Pastel and I about our children’s book series, Bur Bur and Friends. Since that time, Amy and I have stayed in touch on occaision. In the note she sent me, Amy asked me for my thoughts around unspoiling our kids. I sent a note back to her and thought nothing of it.

So early this week, the traffic on our three websites: Farmer’s Hat Productions, Bur Bur and Friends and Bur Bur and Friend Blog was really high and I couldnt figure out where it all was coming from. Then, I found this post Dated March 31st called:

Kakie Fitzsimmons - Growing Kids Through Diverse Learning Experiences

Seeing her post, linking to my post, reminded me of why I enjoy blogging about the things we teach our kids and they teach us. As an author, blogger and writer, when I center my craft around what is important to me, things seem to fall into place. That is true for all of us. When we follow our passion, doors open, plans are revealed, what was unclear comes into focus. We understand our purpose.

Please don’t keep us a secret. We would be humbled and honored if you would consider passing this along to 2 or 3 others you know We love it when people to help spread the word about the good work we are doing and let us know what you think about it.

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The view from JoAnne Pastel’s living room window really does remind you of a storybook world. Trees frame the winter shoreline of Long Lake, sparkling in the sunlight that illuminates the ice on the branches. Look for a moment, it isn’t hard to imagine long summer days where a family fishes together from the shore before taking a stroll through a quiet lakeside neighborhood. It’s quite literally a scene from a children’s book. Several books, in fact.

Pastel is the founder of Farmer’s Hat Productions and the co-author of the company’s four Bur Bur and Friends books. Designed to introduce preschool children to outdoor exploration and active play, the series includes a cast of multicultural characters created to help any child find themselves in the stories. “Early on in the development of Bur Bur and Friends, we tested products at a day care,” Pastel says, “The teacher that worked with us pointed out that the kids wanted to know more about the characters that looked like them. We started to see that while kids do not see color, they do see their identity in the characters. That’s why many of the characters are based on actual kids – we wanted our books to reflect what a real group of children look like, in the real world.” Read the rest of this entry »

1. Reading with kids creates priceless memories for everyone
2. It promotes genuine communications with your kids
3. Consistent reading creates and establishes healthy bonding and love that kids need for development
4. Based on expert reviews all four books are educational and award winning
5. This passes on your value of literacy to children, grandchildren
6. Our books plant seeds that promote healthy lifestyles because they introduce and educate kids to sports, outdoor exploration and active play
7. The interactive point and learn in the back of the books appeal to a wide range of ages
8. Kids who read – succeed. Developmentally, it’s better than watching television
9. Sometimes, kids teach you through their experience of the story lines
10. There will be a day when your child will be grateful for it

For a fun, interactive game after the picnic, where children can go to meet the characters, visit http://burburandfriends.com

To learn more about the values that Bur Bur and Friends strives to reflect, visit http://farmershatproductions.com

This article was written as part of the March Carnival of Children’s Literature project at the Reading Tub. (See March 31, 2008 post.) The theme for march was picnics:

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