View the world from a magical place, as a dream takes young Kate on a flight through the night sky. Her adventure shows young readers that dreams can be fantastically beautiful. Remember your dreams, write them down and believe every night!
Come with Me (ages 3 and over, March 2019, by KDP) is the fourth children’s book by Tracy Ahrens of Momence, Illinois.
In Come with Me, Kate finds herself in a dream, walking through a secret door in her closet and into the outdoors. With four steps and her arms outstretched, Kate takes flight, soaring with white doves, riding silky swans, weaving through the branches of trees and catching pink flower petals floating in the wind. She is wrapped in lullaby breezes under the moon and stars, and carried higher in cloud mittens before waking in her bed.
Proceeds from the sale of this book benefit the Kate Amato Foundation based in Florida. Kate Amato passed away in November 2016, at age 11, from Stage 4 alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, an aggressive soft tissue cancer that attacks skeletal muscles.
It was through social media that Tracy learned of Kate’s cancer battle. At the time, Tracy was also fighting breast cancer. Kate passed away from cancer while Tracy was still fighting hers. Tracy discovered that when she was a child, many of her interests were similar to Kate’s. The art for Come with Me had been tucked away in a folder for years. When Tracy uncovered the story, she realized that the character was like Kate in many ways, including her love of music, adventure, animals and smiling. She named the main character after Kate and concluded that this book’s purpose is to assist the Kate Amato Foundation.
To honor her life, Kate’s family created her Foundation with a mission to find safer, smarter and more effective treatments for children with cancer. Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in children. For those who survive, the side effects of treatment cause long-term health problems. The mission of the Kate Amato Foundation is to fund innovative, nontoxic treatments for childhood cancer. The vision of the Foundation is to support innovation that accelerates the pace of progress in pediatric cancer research. Learn more at www.KateAmatoFoundation.org.
Kate Amato captivated the world through social media with her beautiful smile and spunky spirit, said Lisa Amato, PhD, Kate’s Mother. She was a ray of sunshine, warming hearts with her bright and cheerful personality. Kate was intelligent, creative, kind, funny and feisty. She loved having fun, often spearheading projects and performances and instigating adventure at every opportunity. Above all, she was compassionate, often helping others – whether it was rescuing an injured animal, helping a neighbor, comforting a friend, or making cards and gifts for those she loved.
“Come with Me beautifully captures Kate’s kind, caring and adventurous spirit,” said Lisa Amato. “I can see her sweet face smiling with delight as she guides little minds on a fanciful flight.”
Come with Me was named Honorable Mention, Picture Books 6 & Older, 2019 Purple Dragonfly Book Award and 2019 Book of the Year, Storybooks for Kids, Creative Child Magazine Awards. Follow the book news on Facebook at @Come.With.Me.Book
“With the words “silence will sing with lullaby breezes,” Tracy Ahrens conveys the transcendence of flight in dreaming, the magic of soaring to the farthest reaches of the night sky and then back to earth to fly among the trees. Come with Me is a journey of beauty and inspiration,” said Loren Logsdon, professor emeritus at Western Illinois University and Eureka College (Illinois).
“As the author herself battled cancer, Tracy Ahrens was inspired by the strength and tenderness that young Kate Amato had as she also fought this terrible disease,” said Anna Grob, children’s book author and illustrator of the Wild Animal Survival Series. “Come with Me gently carries the reader through the beauty and wonder of life. Never forget your dreams. They will magically take you to where you want to be.”
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Author Tracy Ahrens, Momence will be signing and selling her children’s book, Come with Me at Barnes & Noble in Bourbonnais, Illinois from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday, September 7.
September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and Come with Me is helping a childhood cancer research foundation – the Kate Amato Foundation based in Florida. The Come with Me book character is named after Kate.
Come with Me book is aimed at children ages 3 and over. All royalties from the book are donated to the Kate Amato Foundation.
Come with Me won Honorable Mention in the Picture Books 6 & Older category at the 2019 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards. It also was named as the 2019 Creative Child Magazine’s Book of the Year in the Storybooks for Kids category.
