Peggy Archer
Children's Author

Children's author, Karen Kulinski, loves trains! Her father was a railroad engineer. She is the curator of the Railroad Museum in her hometown of Griffith, Indiana. What better topic for her to write about than trains! The Cabooseman's Garden is her first published children's book.

THE CABOOSEMAN’S GARDEN
by Karen Kulinski, illustrated by Eileen De Sando

Moving to the farm is not easy for Jack, but Tuesdays make all the difference. That’s the day that the cabooseman throws him chalk wrapped in newspaper comics and a small package of coal to help keep his family warm during the winter. Spring comes and Jack decides to thank the cabooseman by planting a garden next to the railroad tracks. It takes some creative thinking and determination to make it happen, but with Jack’s hard work, and a little help from his family, the garden is a success. Now the problem is how to let the cabooseman know that the garden is for him and that it’s Jack’s way of saying thank you.

THE CABOOSEMAN’S GARDEN gives readers a glimpse into life in the Midwest in the 1930’s, when every freight train ended with a caboose. Written with great action and dialogue, this book is for anyone who loves trains. The Flesch-Kincaid Grade level is 2.5.
ISBN-10: 1470087073
ISBN-13: 978-1470087074  Read More 

In my picture book, NAME THAT DOG!, I decided to name one of my puppies for the Fourth of July Day holiday. I feel very blessed to live in a country where I am free—free to vote, to say what I think, and to practice my religion—and I thought that it would be good to show that love for my country by naming one of the dogs in my book for Independence Day.

I decided to make it a ‘list’ poem. I began by listing all the words that I could think of that had anything to do with the Fourth of July. I had freedom, independence, liberty, parades, marching bands, fireworks, America, picnics, ice cream and many more.

From my list, I chose Liberty for my puppy’s name for the letter ‘L.’

I started putting the words together, looking especially for good rhythm and rhyme. Then I thought, how great it would be to have this poem ‘sound’ like the Fourth of July as well. Maybe I could give it the rhythm of a marching band?

Here’s what I ended up with.

Liberty

Marching bands
Fire trucks
Flags held high.
Barbecues
Hot dogs
Ice cream, pie.
Firecrackers
Fireworks
up in the sky.
Little puppy
born on the
Fourth of July.

I hope that you enjoy this great holiday! I hope it makes you think of all that the Fourth of July means to you, and that it reminds you of the freedoms that have been won for us and protected over the years. And that we all continue to work to protect those freedoms.

Happy Independence Day to everyone!
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