Thursday, July 31, 2008

El Yunque Book Signing was a great success!

Now that I'm back from Puerto Rico, it's time to let you know how the book signing at El Portal Rain Forest Center in the El Yunque Rainforest went. First, I would like to give a heartfelt thank you to everyone at El Portal Rain Forest Center, especially Zoriada Rosa, Regional Manager for the Easter National Parks Service. We were so warmly welcomed and so well looked after which made the whole day even more enjoyable. I would also like to thank Mr. Rodriguez, the publisher of "There's a Coqui in My Shoe!", for making me laugh more than I have in a long time. He is the most quick witted person I have ever met and kept us laughing all day with his one-liners. My stomach muscles hurt after spending four hours with him.

Here I am with Mr. Rodriguez and Marisa de Jesus Paolicelli, the author, and Pablo Cruz, Forest Supervisor, from the El Portal Rainforest Center. The day was a huge success and there was lots of traffic for the entire time we were there. Mrs. Rosa informed us that we had sold well over 100 books that day which was a record for the store. Thank you to everyone who made the day such a huge success.

If you are ever in the El Yunque area of Puerto Rico, make sure that you visit the El Portal Rain Forest Center. The facility is absolutetly beautiful and is the entrance to the actual rain forest itself. For more information about the center, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/caribbean/ .

Here are a couple more photos of the day:

Here is Marisa and I meeting some of the visitors to the Center and the book signing.

Here Mr. Rodriguez is making us laugh again. What a fun day we had.

Here is Mr. Rodriguez and Marisa with my family, my husband Kevin with the girls who are not cooperating as you can see. I couldn't resist, though. Afterall, how often does one get a chance to take a photo with a legend?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hello Tanja, and congrats on your beautiful book! I am sure the whole family is very proud of you. Looking at this picture makes me laugh, because when do the little ones really ever cooperate for photos without some serious bribes LOL! I haven't seen a picture of Kevin in a while, and he reminds me so much of his Dad (My step-father). My best to all of you :o) Pamela