Farkle Shark, You Are Not Stupid by Rita Emmett

Rita Emmett is a best-selling author of several books including The Procrastinator's Handbook and The Clutter-Busting Handbook.

Her books are published in 32 countries and have sold over 310,000 copies worldwide.

She wrote her first picture book, Farkle Shark, You Are Not Stupid because she knows tons of children who might not be smart in school but they know a lot about trains or insects or they can fix things or they have the determination to stick to a hard job or they can make people laugh. Yet often --- because someone bullied them or made fun of them --- they are convinced that they are stupid. She based this book on an Einstein quote: "Everyone is a genius.But if a fish is judged by how well it climbs a tree, it will live its entire life feeling stupid".

Rita hopes that this book will ignite in children the understanding that everyone is a genius. Twice Rita rode mules to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back. This has nothing to do with her book. She just wanted you to know that.

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About the Book

“Everyone is a genius. But if a fish is judged by how well it climbs trees, it will live its entire life feeling stupid." ~This quote, attributed to Albert Einstein, is the theme of Farkle Shark, You Are Not Stupid.

Farkle Shark was feeling blue. His big sister Sparkle criticized the way he talked. But when Big Bully Boy called him stupid because he can’t climb trees, Sparkle jumped to her brother’s defense. Her advice, followed by a wild adventure, changed his attitude … and his life.

This fun and funny book will bring on laughs, cheers and an understanding of important life lessons about bullies and feeling stupid. (Haven’t we all felt that way some time in our lives?) Four to eight-year-olds and beginning readers will love Farkle’s story.

Get it Today on Amazon!

Keep reading for a guest post from the author:

Trying a Different Genre by Rita Emmett

Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a writing project where you don’t know what you’re doing … but you know it is what you are supposed to do?

I found myself on that type of journey – not knowing where the path would lead. I felt called to write Farkle Shark, You Are Not Stupid --based on a quote attributed to Einstein: “Everyone is a genius. But if a fish is judged by how well it climbs a tree, it will live its entire life feeling stupid.”

My first draft was 2,000 words. Attended a seminar, heard books should be 800 words or less. and decided to trim it a bit.

Then took a webinar and learned each page must be written to the illustration. Reviewed my text and realized the first 4 pages were the same two fish talking to each other.

Boring.

So I decided to give my character, Farkle goofy sayings. Big sister Sparkle would mock him and ask to imagine if that were true. Then a cloud would float over their heads while she imagined whatever it was he said.

I went to FIVERR.com, selected an illustrator (who turned out to live in Romania) and placed my first order.

Farkle’s opening goofy saying was: “Holy Mackerel Manhole”. I envisioned a mackerel popping out of a manhole in the middle of the street and bystanders looking astonished.

Brilliant, yes?

The next day, my 11-year-old neighbor (one of my readers) told me all kids will think that a manhole is a man’s butt hole.

Oh.

After several awkwardly worded emails, that is exactly what the Romanian artist thought also. If you read the book and see the mackerel popping out of a mailbox, you will be one of the few people who know that “Holy Mackerel Mailbox” was not the original quote.

Jumping into a totally new genre meant that every day I discovered something new to learn, but the journey was great fun. I loved every minute of it (even the embarrassing awkward manhole moment of it)

Moral of the story: if you feel driven to write something totally out of your comfort zone, but don’t know where to start … make the decision that YES, you will do it.

Then do your homework. Learn as much as possible. Each time you can’t figure out the next step, keep learning. Google it. You might stumble across articles, webinars or Youtube explanations that move you along.

And if you find yourself feeling stupid because you can’t figure out the next step, allow me to recommend a newly-released book where a shark named Farkle will teach you that JUST because you don’t know how to do THIS thing, it doesn’t mean you’re stupid.

Rita Emmet’s book, Farkle Shark, You Are Not Stupid is available at Amazon.com. Her procrastination book is still being sent to agents and, yes, Rita is cranky about it.