Jennifer Swanson, Award Winning Author Of The Penny and Rio Series, Celebrates Third Release With Contest For Children

Jennifer Swanson’s award winning Penny and Rio early chapter book series features interactive books that lead to exceptional learning. The month of July 2010 marks the release of the third book in the series, Penny And Rio: The Diamond Collar Adventure. For this release she will team up with Ripple Reader, The Pawsitive Life, The Homeschool Handbook and DogFriendlyCompanies.com to offer a children's contest

The Penny And Rio series of books feature interactive childrens books that lead to exceptional learning. Penny and Rio: The Diamond Collar Adventure, the third book in the series will be released in July 2010. Jennifer Swanson, author of the award winning series, will be teaming up with Ripple Reader, The Pawsitive Life, The Homeschool Handbook and DogFriendlyCompanies.com to sponsor a contest for children.

The contest will run from August 1st to September 30th. Children will be invited to create their own bejeweled dog collar and to submit either a hand-drawing or a photograph of their creation.

Entries will be judged in three categories:

1) Most creative
2) Most colorful
3) Most beautiful

Three $50 giftcards to Barnes and Noble.com will be given to first place winner. Additional prizes to be given by drawing include:

1 of 20 free e-books of the Penny and Rio series from Ripple Reader (www.RippleReader.com)

One $20 giftcard to www.alldogsbigandsmall.com

Two complete autographed sets of the Penny and Rio 3-book series

Three autographed copies of Penny and Rio: The Diamond Collar Adventure

Winning drawings will be published in The Homeschool Handbook (www.thehomeschoolhandbook.com), The Pawstive Life (www.thepawsitivelife.com) and on www.dogfriendlycompanies.com

"I am thrilled," stated Ms. Swanson, "to announce the release of the third book in the Penny and Rio series. This exciting adventure will have kids digging, sniffing and jumping through obstacles right along with the canine detectives as they clear the hurdles to complete this adventure on time. The suspenseful ending will throw children a loop as the dogs use their heads to solve the problem like never before. I hope all the kids will enjoy the further adventures of this series that keeps my wonderful pets, Penny and Rio, near and dear to my heart."

Penny And Rio: The Diamond Collar Mystery will be released July 25th by Mirror Publishing. The book will be available on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com and at the authors website at www.PennyAndRio.com

The first two books in the series were recently released in Thailand. Penny and Rio: The Mysterious Backyard Meeting and Penny and Rio: The Locked Doghouse Mystery have been translated to Thai for marketing and distribution to the children of Thailand. The series is also being distributed in France by Mariposa Press.

Ms. Swanson’s books have won numerous industry awards. Both of her previous books, Penny and Rio: The Mysterious Backyard Meeting, and Penny and Rio: The Locked Doghouse Mystery, have won a Mom’s Choice Silver Awards for Juvenile Fiction – Early Reader. The Mom’s Choice Awards esteemed panel of judges includes educators, media and other experts as well as parents, children, librarians, performing artists, producers, medical and business professionals, authors, scientists and others. They have both been awarded The Dove Foundation’s Family-Approved Seal.

In addition to writing books about dogs, Jennifer is committed to helping animals. She firmly believes in adopting dogs, and has taught her children the same values. In support of this goal, Jennifer donates a portion of her proceeds to a local Jacksonville pet rescue organization, G.R.E.A.T Rescue. The organization rescues and rehabilitates golden retrievers and places them in their new and forever homes. Jennifer has also recently teamed with Pawsitive Pets, a local organization that takes dogs into schools to help children learn to read.

"I hope my books," continued Ms. Swanson, "will inspire children to think creatively and perhaps better understand the canine world. Maybe when they see their dogs sniffing and digging next time, they will wonder if they have dog detectives of their own."

For more information about the third release visit www.PennyAndRio.com. For information about the contest and to enter, please visit www.pennyandrio.com/contest

Ms. Swanson is available for interview and can be reached using the information below or by email at PennyAndRio@yahoo.com. More information is available at her website at www.PennyAndRio.com. Her books are available Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, IndiePendent Books and at her website.

Profile:

Jennifer Swanson has been writing since the age of 5. A 1990 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Jennifer pursued her other love of science and became a prep school chemistry teacher. Her Navy career took her to Norfolk, VA where she was stationed with her husband, Jon.

Her life changed forever when they adopted Penny, their first dog. Penny was a wonderful addition to their family and less than a year later, they adopted Rio, her best pal. Jennifer kept writing during the next several years as she raised three children, supported her naval officer husband and taught both part and full time.

Today Ms. Swanson continues to work on the Penny and Rio series and recently received her Masters in Education. Jennifer is employed as a middle school science instructor for John Hopkins University’s Center for Talented Youth.

Jennifer is an active member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers. She regularly attends the Florida branch of SCBWI’s conferences in Orlando and Miami. She is also a member of the Florida Writer’s Association.

Contact:

Jennifer Swanson
13780 Harbor Creek Place
Jacksonville, FL 32224
Phone: 904-992-6955
Web: www.PennyAndRio.com
Email: PennyAndRio@yahoo.com