Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous Mommy [Paperback]

Amelia Frahm (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

Ben Franklin Award Recipient, Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous Mommy, was released October 2001, during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. That same month Rosie O Donnell showed it to a national audience on the popular Rosie O Donnell Show. Approved by the National Oncology Nursing Society. The book captured the attention of Barr Laboratories Inc. , manufacture of the breast cancer drug Tamoxifen even before its October 2001 publication date. The book, its author and her children were featured in Barr's 2001 annual report.

Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous Mommy has been recommended by literary, medical, and entertainment critics across the country and the release of this book helped pioneer cancer resources for families coping with cancer. 

Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous Mommy was written, published and marketed by a cancer survivor who identified intimately with her audience -other survivors- and understood their need for an honest, and reality based children's book about surviving cancer.

The Nutcracker Publishing Company was established in 2000 in honor of Laura Bouldin Karlman, a young mother who died of Leukemia. Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous Mommy was its first title.

Early on the company recognized a need for children's books that would help adults explain sensitive and sometimes unpopular topics to children. Crack Open a Book!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Publisher's children's book about her battle with cancer garners national attention. The thing is she scored...." -- Minneapolis Star Tribune, Business Section, July 28,2002

"...covers even how the delicate infrastructure of day-to-day family issues between husband, wife and children are changed by cancer." --Susan G. Komen Foundation- July 2001

“a great way to get your kids to talk about cancer.”-- Rosie O’Donnell, Rosie O’Donnell Show- Oct. 2001

"A clarity and candor laced with humor and insight. Very highly recommended for school and community library "health issues" collections." -- The Midwest Book Review, July 2001

"Includes the sudden hush children feel whenever their world isn't what they expect." Today's Dallas Woman. Oct. 2001 -- Today's Dallas Woman, October 2001

"It takes a humorous approach to one of the many down sides of battling cancer- being cantankerous. Eye-popping, gloriously colored." -- Today's Librarian, Sept. 2001

"With no "kid-friendly" resources to explain the physical and emotional changes that result from battling cancer, she wrote one...." -- Barr Laboratories, Inc., Annual Report 2001

"Engaging and educating from the dramatic opening to the touching ending, I found myself mesmerized." -- Creative Writing Professor Joann Ludemen Yost, Bethel College, St. Paul, MN Whose mother died of cancer.

"I was so touched, it's not an easy topic to convey and Amelia Frahm's done it." -- Randi Kaye WCCO TV, Minneapolis, MN Daughter of a cancer survivor.

"Support for Kids who have a parent with cancer." -- MAMM Magazine, Special Edition Family Matters- Winter 2002

"This book is a unique and powerful tool that can help any family facing this unfortunate situation." -- Charla McMichael, R.N. B.S.N. Oncology, University of Michigan Hospital. Daughter of a cancer survivor.

From the Publisher

The Nutcracker Publishing Company announced Tickles Tabitha’s Cancer-tankerous Mommy, October 2001, during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. That same month Rosie O Donnell showed it to a national audience on the popular Rosie O Donnell Show. Approved by the National Oncology Nursing Society Tickles Tabitha’s Cancer-tankerous Mommy captured the attention of Barr Laboratories Inc. Manufacture of the breast cancer drug Tamoxifen even before its October 2001 publication date. The book, its author and her children are featured in Barr’s 2001 annual report.

Literary, medical and entertainment critics alike have all recommended this book which was written, published and marketed by a cancer survivor who identifies intimately with her audience –other survivors- and understands their need for an honest, humorous children’s book about surviving cancer.

The Nutcracker Publishing Company was established in 2000 in honor of Laura Bouldin Karlman, a young mother who died of Leukemia. Tickles Tabitha’s Cancer-tankerous Mommy is its first title.

Early on the company recognized a need for children’s books the adult reader would enjoy reading. With that in mind the Nutcracker Publishing Company strives to publish “Children’s Books Adults Will Want To Crack Open.”

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Nutcracker Publishing; 1 edition (October 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970575203
• ISBN-13: 978-0970575203
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 7.6 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #971,504 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Amelia Frahm is the author of the award-winning "Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous Mommy" and the controversial children's picture book "Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works," and is the owner of Nutcracker Publishing Company and creator of Crack Open a Book! Education Programs.

She began her professional career when she was hired by a Texas power company to convince the locals they wanted a nuclear power plant in their own back yard. It was after the Three Mile Island incident and during the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Since then, she has made a career writing, publishing, and presenting niche children's books on controversial topics.

It was a personal crisis that led to her writing career. In 1994, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, her children were two and four years old, and explaining cancer to children that young wasn't a popular idea. Large mainstream publishing houses rejected her book idea. So, in 2001 she established the Nutcracker Publishing Company and published "Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous Mommy."

Within its first year, her book obtained the national acclaim of health care organizations and advocates across the country, including the National Oncology Nursing Society, the Rosie O'Donnell Show and the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which brought along a rollercoaster of opportunity.

In 2011, she jumped on the rollercoaster again with the release of "Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works!

The book was on its way to the illustrator when Japan's Fukushima Daiichi reactor thrust the book's topic under an international microscope.

Like everyone else, Frahm was glued to the TV watching the nuclear emergency unfold. "I was struck by how this real life nuclear crisis often mimicked the pages of my children's book, as we always fear most what we understand least. It made me realize just how relevant a children's book about nuclear power plants is."

"Nuclear Power: How a Nuclear Power Plant Really Works!" was the type of book she had wished for back in the days she worked in the nuclear industry. According to its author, it won't bore kids to tears or scare them to death. It explains nuclear power plants to children in a creative and fun format.

Whether it is about cancer or nuclear power plants, Frahm believes her books make it easier to establish a dialogue, as they educate and entertain both children and adults.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent children's book, July 30, 2001

By 

Ann L. (Hutchinson, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous Mommy (Paperback)

This is a humorous book that deals not just with cancer but with family life. My favorite part is Tabitha's mental picture of Daddy sitting in the time out chair. I wish I had had this book when my children where presented with a close neighbor who had cancer. Wether a child has a parent, grandparent, friend or friend's parent in their life who has cancer, this is an excellent book to use to start talking about it. Because it portrays family life in general in a funny way, it is good for any child.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Helps kids understand how illness can affect a parent's mood, January 27, 2005

By 

Carol Watkins "Psychiatrist" (Parkton, Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous Mommy (Paperback)

Tabitha's mother has cancer and has to undergo chemotherapy. The treatments make the mother's hair fall out and give her a huge appetite. Worse still, the treatment makes her tired and irritable. Tabitha misses their warm tickle games. Tabitha, her brother and even the cat get frightened when their mother gets angry. When their father sees this, he uses love and humor to help provide support. Tabitha finds a way to get her mother to show her old warmth.

The superb illustrations are warm and expressive. When the picture shows the shadow of the angry mother, wig askew, standing over Tabitha, one really gets the sense of how Tabitha experiences her mother just then.

Mood changes are more difficult for children to understand than the more concrete aspects of an illness. This book does an excellent job of showing how these mood The story is realistic without being scarey. This book would be good not just for children of cancer patients but also for children of parents withother chronic diseases such as Hepatitis C. A variety of illness and treatments can cause an individual to be irritable or moody.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "a special book", October 3, 2001

By 

cindy tomek (Bay City, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-tankerous Mommy (Paperback)

I really enjoyed Tickles Tabitha and how this sensitive topic was portrayed. It really hit home and helps children along during a difficult time.