About the Author
Bryn Fleming was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, and graduated from Portland State University with a degree in English. She taught creative writing classes at Portland Community College, and has been published in Highlights, Cricket, and numerous poetry journals. Bryn volunteered at a wildlife care center as a teenager, worked in seven different National Parks, traveled and worked in Australia, New Zealand, and the Caribbean where she crewed on sailing yachts and worked at the Oregon Zoo for ten years. She now lives in Central Oregon with rescue dogs Harley and Pippin, shelter cats Amber and Angel, horses Sky and Skookum, and an adopted wild burro Biscuit and mini-mule, Mercy. She is currently employed as a fish biology field technician helping to restore endangered wild steelhead to Oregon rivers.
Author Bryn Fleming Features Animal Rescues in her Range Riders Series for Children
Children’s book author, Bryn Fleming, encourages young readers to stand up for animals and to choose compassion and kindness in her growing Range Riders book series for children. An animal rescuer herself specializing in senior pets, Fleming authentically portrays animal rescue in her books in a non-preachy, heartwarming, and empowering way.
In her first book, Cassie and Jasper to the Rescue (WestWinds Press®, $12.99, 9780882409924, 130 pages) children save a horse from neglect and an abusive owner. Kirkus Reviews said: “Set in an unspecified time uncluttered by cellphones and the Internet, this compassionate adventure plays out . . . Paced at a smooth canter and tugging at the heartstrings. . . a call to action for middle-grade animal lovers.”
In Fleming’s new book, Jasper & Willie: Wildfire (WestWinds Press®, $12.99, 9781941821718, 130 pages, available September 2015) a shy twelve-year-old convinces his parents to let him have a dog. With earnings from his first job, Jasper is finally allowed to purchase a dog from the local shelter. Although his mother urges him to adopt a puppy, he feels an intense bond with Willie, an old giant Schnauzer whose blind eyes seem to see into Jasper’s heart. When wildfires rage nearby, Jasper and Willie set out to help save a little girl and prove Willie’s worth to the others. (Fleming based Willie on a real dog that she adopted.)
In addition to compassion and kindness toward animals, Fleming’s Range Rider series also illustrates positive character traits and difficult issues including: loyalty; respect for parents; courage; forgiveness; and dealing with a bully, abuse, and death in the family. She includes Spanish vocabulary and, to get readers more involved in the series, she provides discussion questions in the back of each book.
“I love adopting senior pets. I have them for a short time, but it’s a good time for them and me. I have been rescuing animals since I could walk and I hope young readers will be empowered to do the same as well as find their own strengths when reading the Range Rider series adventures.”
Inspiring Young Writers
Oregon Children’s Book Author Bryn Fleming
Presents: Angry Aardvark, Timid Tiger
Children’s author Bryn Fleming teaches you to tap into the natural child/animal connection to inspire young readers and writers.
Through exercises such as What Does Your Dog Dream? and Eagle Leaves the Cliff: A Poem in Flight, the author uses animals to inspire young writers. Learn creative animal-related methods to teach technical aspects of writing, like dialogue (Write a Conversation with your Cat), point of view (Butterfly Emerging), and use of sensory detail (Mouse in the Grass).
This presentation will leave you with tools to entice readers to explore the world of animals in poems and stories and encourage kids to write from a deep and natural level.
Pricing*
Half day: 2 programs $600 + $175 travel
Full day: 4 programs $1000 + $250 travel
*Fee includes the right to offer books to students and faculty. No other fees apply. Each location receives one of each book free for the school library.
bryn@brynfleming.com / Facebook: CassieandJasper
