Happy Easter…
Happy Spring…
Happy Passover…
…….from all of us at The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!
February Sweet Reads from KiteReaders
February 7, 2013 By Leave a Comment
It’s SWEET READS month at KiteReaders!
KiteReaders, a market leader in rapidly growing Kids Picture eBook market, produces quality picture eBooks for kids and distributes them on Amazon’s Kindle, Apple’s iBooks and Barnes and Noble Nook stores. Owners Chintu and Aarti have been a huge and very appreciated part of our own The Ultimate Guide to Charlie’s creation and success.
“While kids are crazy about tablets, they’ve many choices so we strive to provide them a fun and engaging reading experience! One that helps kids develop valuable literacy skills.”-KiteReaders
- Based in San Francisco Bay area and founded by two Yahoo! alums who are well-versed in mobile & publishing technologies; parents of elementary school children; and passionate about promoting literacy among young children. Check their story here.
- Catalog of quality ~100 children’s book titles
- Seven ebook design awards [competing against best children’s book publishers - Disney, Chronicle, HarperCollins etc.]
- Multiple children’s best-sellers on top three eBook retailers – Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Apple
- KiteReaders’s titles have been featured numerous times by the top three ebook retailers within their respective stores
Read more about KiteReaders HERE and keep checking their Facebook page to see which special deals we have for you throughout this month!
AND KiteReader’s very own team member Sonia has also joined us for a quick stroll memory lane as she shares one of her favorite books as a child, “Abel’s Island” on Jump Into A Book‘s FAMILY BOOK FESTIVAL 2013! http://kyte.ws/XVS4eo
If you haven’t popped by Jump Into a Book lately, please do. We are very excited about our February Family Book Festival and just can’t wait to share the next participant’s story and activity. Hope to see you there!
Valarie Budayr is the founder of Audrey Press and author of the books The Fox Diaries: The Year the Foxes Came to our Garden and The Ultimate Guide To Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. She is passionate about making kid’s books come alive and when she isn’t jumping into a book and creating wildly inventive adventures, she is “mom” to three uber creative children, married to a wonderfully patient man who has come to love yarn, proud owner of one adored cat, and the Fox Whisperer to lots and lots of Foxes (that come and go as they please). You can also find Valarie on Facebook at or on Twitter at @ValarieBudayr.
The Ultimate Guide to Charlie Year in Review and a Free Gift
December 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment
What a wildly wonderful and wacky year 2012 has been.
The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was launched as an enhanced e-book on June 21st 2012 on iTunes on the iBookstore and it was off to the races. Life has been a delightful blur ever since as Charlie touched families, schools, and organizations around the world. Here’s a few of out favorite moments of 2012:
Charlie pdf: Thanks to overwhelming requests and feedback from readers, we opted to spread the “Charlie love” to our friends and readers who asked for a “screen-free’ version of Charlie’s wonderful story and activities. PRESTO: The Ultimate Guide to Charlie in PDF version was born.
The Golden Ticket Giveaway: In September we experienced without a doubt one of the largest and most successful giveaways we have ever offered. With help from the Ultimate Charlie team and Five Very Special Bloggers we gave away an Apple iPad and a slug of other gifts to several lucky winners. I think we are still trying to recover.
An Invitation From Apple: Just in time for the holidays, Charlie got the much coveted nod from Apple’s iTunes to be a part of their Cyber Week “Books Under $2.99″ Campaign.
Charlie hits #1 !!!!(only Indie in the top 100): What a wild ride it was! On offer for the whole month of December The Ultimate Guide to Charlie was in the #1 spot on the iBookstore. Fueled by Charlie buzz, holiday shopping, and an awesome 50% off the $7.99 price, Charlie was like a rocket on the charts. As of 12/26/12, Charlie was still not only charting, but still listed on the “What’s Hot” list and #225 in all book sales. We are still holding the price at $3.99, so if you have not gotten your copy, do it soon! Visit iTunes HERE.
The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and The Chocolate Factory Wins QED Award!!: Publishing Innovation Awards Bestows Prestigious QED Seal to The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
“A well-crafted ebook is essential both from the reader’s perspective, as well as the publishers’—a reader will respond to a well-crafted, beautifully designed ebook. They will feel like they got their money’s worth when they interact with a professional-quality product. A quality ebook is going to be increasingly crucial as a component of a publisher’s brand going forward.”
—Pablo Defendini, Interactive Producer, Open Road Integrated Media
The DailyApp Show Appearance: It was a proud moment as well when the DailyApp Show featured Charlie. Their brilliantly done video helped views and future readers see Charlie and “get” how an enhanced digital ebook is read.
Our Dedicated Bloggers from our Charlie Blog Tour:
They say “it takes a village to raise a child“…well it takes a village to launch a book too! We want to say a huge “THANK YOU” to the wonderful blogs and bloggers who participated in The Ultimate Guide to Charlie Blog Tour:
- Beth Chang
- Erin Long
- Thaleia Maher
- Elizabeth Binz
- Donna Ashton
- Melissa Taylor
- Marilyn Scott Waters
- Emily Parkyn
- Heather Cahoon
- Bernadette Grbic
- JoDee Mason
- Akhella
- Eileen Straiton
- Heather Fontenot
- Bernadette Emerson
- Amy Ambroult
- Nicole Lutzy
- Erica Kloestra
- Anne from the Learning Table.
- Mommy Teacher -Kristen Joyce Stephens
- Katie at Random Stuff
- Shannon Kinney Duh
AND NOW..A GIFT:
As our way of saying “Thank You” for such an amazing 2012, we want you to have the opportunity to print your own…..
Copy of The Book-Jumper’s Manifesto Tree:
Hand-crafted by the imaginative mind of The Fox Diaries and The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and The Chocolate Factory’s graphic/book designer Roscoe Welply, this fun, fact-filled, and colorful poster will help shed some light on the question “what is a book jumper?”
See you in 2013 
Merry Christmas from all of us at The Ultimate Guide to Charlie!
December 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Celebrating the Holidays with a Very Fun Video
December 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment
We’re all ready for the holidays ahead. We hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday season. Now that everything’s finished and we’re just awaiting the big day, I had a little fun making this “Charlie” video. Hope you enjoy it. Today, we’ve learned that the Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is still on the iTunes top 100 chart of Children’s non-fiction on the iBookstore. Thank you for celebrating all of our joys this past year,and for all your support which has taken us all the way to #1 on iTunes/iBookstore. Best Wishes and Happy Holidays.
Children’s Book Reaches #1 on iBookstore-Ultimate Guide to Charlie & the Chocolate Factory
December 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is at $3.99 on iTunes/iBookstore (that’s 50% off!). For non -iPad/iPhone/iPod users, get the pdf version for $9.95 using the code word “holiday” during checkout. Our beloved The Fox Diaries is discounted over at Amazon as well for 10.91, and the e-version (which is read aloud by the author) is 4.99 at both Barnes&Noble and on the iBookstore.
PRNewswire:Family Fun Begins with New Children’s Book, The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
December 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Family Fun Begins with New Children’s Book, The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (via PR Newswire)
MARYVILLE, Tenn., Aug. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Just in time for summer fun, the creative team of Valarie Budayr and Roscoe Welply have written an entertaining and educational new children’s book, The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (http://ultimateguidetocharlie.com/), that will…
Spotlight On a Supporter: Thaleia Maher from Something 2 Offer
November 29, 2012 By 2 Comments
We were so grateful and excited when Thaleia from Something 2 Offer offered to read and review The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with her beautiful family. Here’s an excerpt:
“My children are deprived. They are not allowed to watch Alice in Wonderland or Charlie in the Chocolate Factory (you know the creepy ones with Johnny Depp.) I have to say I am really disappointed in current media’s representation of these two classics since I grew up watching Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory! I really would love to share with my children some of the joys of my childhood!
Well, now I can with Jump Into a Book’s The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Wow, Audrey Press’ and Valarie Budayr’s Jump Into a Book concept is absolutely amazing! You will get to experience a book like no other! Yes, it is digital. Yes, it is media, but the great oldies but goodies are here to stay! This digital option allows for expanded learning before or after reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. (I just downloaded the audiobook from our local library!) I know they are going to be very excited to hear the book before we watch the video. After that we will be diving back into The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for even more fun!”
To read the rest of Thaleia’s review and see the awesome pictures of her kids enjoying Charlie activities, go HERE.
ALSO!! WE have VERY exciting News! Apple’s iBookstore and our friends at KiteReaders have selected Charlie to be included in their Cyber Week “Books for $2.99″ Promotions!
Not only is this a huge honor for us, but an excellent opportunity for you get get your copy of Charlie for a greatly reduced price!
Want grab a copy? GREAT. This promotion only goes until 12/4/12 so don’t delay. Go HERE to get your copy!
Happy Thanksgiving!
November 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and The Chocolate Factory!
Creating Books In a Virtual Space: The Road to Charlie
October 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Many people are amazed when they find out The Ultimate Guide to Charlie was created by two people (graphic designer Roscoe Welply and myself) who live an ocean apart. We live in different parts of the world. I’m here in the States and Roscoe lives in France. This means we are in completely different time zones.
“How did you do it?” they ask.
“Thank goodness for modern technology!” is my common reply.
But in reality, I also often wonder “what if.” What if Roscoe and I shared an office, or even lived in the same city?
I think if Roscoe and I went to the same building every day to create The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and The Chocolate Factory we would have something entirely different. One of the best aspects of creating virtually is space, we give each other space to take the creative journey.
The Process: I write the material first. As my text is being handed off to our editor Bernadette Emerson, I go onto crafting, cooking and photographing all of the various activities. Once the edit is complete everything is handed off to Roscoe. It’s a well orchestrated dance that has worked for us through two books now.
Roscoe takes book images, thoughts, and ideas, designing it out in a couple of months. Every now and then he’ll ask a clarifying question, but basically he’s just “over there across the pond” creating away. On ceratin days we would get a message
which said,” “on this day you can see “Charlie”. It’s known as a Reveal Day and a Reveal Day is charged with an energy of anticipation and excitement that I don’t even think Santa Claus could capture. I know that Bernadette and I start watching our computer screens on Reveal Day the minute we wake up in the morning.
I’m sure Roscoe can feel us staring through the screen. He’s even been known to send a little message saying ,”just a little bit longer.” We wonder sometimes if he does this on purpose to heighten our anticipation!
How we keep it all “together.” For the Ultimate Guide to Charlie, we worked exclusively in Basecamp. For those who don’t know, Basecamp is a web-based project management and collaboration tool. It allows multiple people to share To-dos, files, messages, schedules, and milestones. For future books we’re looking at “creating in the cloud” meaning we all have access to planning and creation that can be viewed in real time.
Other People Involved in the “magic” ) Along the way, we joined forces with Chintu and Aarti Parikh of KiteReaders, who came up with an animation plan that completely interlinked and hyperlinked the book, making it all the more interactive. KiteReaders expertise was the icing on an already amazing book. It’s a true testament to what can be done virtually.
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Valarie Budayr is the founder of Audrey Press and author of the books The Fox Diaries: The Year the Foxes Came to our Garden and The Ultimate Guide To Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. She is passionate about making kid’s books come alive and when she isn’t jumping into a book and creating wildly inventive adventures, she is “mom” to three uber creative children, married to a wonderfully patient man who has come to love yarn, proud owner of one adored cat, and the Fox Whisperer to lots and lots of Foxes (that come and go as they please). You can also find Valarie on Facebook at or on Twitter at @Bookjumper.
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