There is nothing that pleases us more than to find out that one of our T-Netters has become a published author. Long-time teacher Carol Goodrow has done just that.

With the publication of her third book, Kids Running: Have Fun, Get Faster & Go Farther, Carol has completed her “healthily-ever-after” trilogy of children’s books, all written to encourage schoolchildren to find joy from fitness, literacy, and healthy eating.

Carol started her educational career as a tutor in 1972. She fell in love with teaching reading, so she enrolled in grad school and became a teacher. She has taught in Tolland, Connecticut since 1978, in both special education and regular education. Now - with inclusion - she teaches a combination of special and regular ed.

Using 3 genres to appeal to a great variety of children, Carol engages kids in the world or healthy living. As a trendsetter, she created some of the first children’s web sites to deal with running and healthy habits for kids, starting with CoolRunning.Com in 2000. She now works on kidsrunning.com. It is from the work on these sites that her books were born.

Amazon.com

Happy Feet, Healthy Food, Your Child’s First Journal of Exercise and Healthy Eating (2004, Breakaway Books) is Carol’s best selling book. It’s a full-colored yearlong information and journal. Each weeklong double-page spread highlights a physical activity, and a healthy food with exercise suggestions, recipes or snack ideas. In the journaling section there is space for children to record their exercise by writing a work, sentence, or paragraph, as well as a time-tracker to record up to an hour of daily exercise. The journal page also includes a section to draw (or receive stickers for) eating healthy foods. In addition there is a creative writer and artist block for the child to do just that – be creative.

Written for elementary and middle school children but popular with all ages, Carol keeps a Happy Feet book on her kitchen table and uses it daily to record her own exercise and healthy eating. For her, it acts as a tried-and-true teacher incentive chart, in book form and it keeps her going!

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The Treasure of Health and Happiness (2006, Breakaway Books)
At the request of a third-grade class who wanted the healthy message of Happy Feet, Healthy Food in a story, Carol wrote this chapter book. It’s the story of a child (Hannah) who is on the verge of becoming a couch potato. Through a dream adventure with a dog, the main character discovers the joy of healthy habits. You’ll follow a child who thinks she can’t believe that she can.

High praise for Hannah as she travels through The Treasure of Health and Happiness using her silver glittery pencil to complete her footprint map. My second grade students cheered for Hannah's successes as she learns about healthy food and exercise. What a wonderful story about determination and making good choices.

Linda Rallo, Second Grade Teacher

Carol uses all three books in her after-school Happy Feet, Healthy Food Kids’ Club, but it is this book – the chapter book, that Carol feels has the most powerful effect on the children. They want to embrace healthy habits along with the main character and even better from a teacher’s point of view, they want to KEEP READING! Carol involved that previously mentioned third-grade class in the beginning stages of writing the book and revised many sections based upon their suggestions.

Amazon.com

Kids Running: Have Fun, Get Faster & Go Farther (2008, Breakaway Books)
This is Carol’s newest book. It’s a how-to book and more. Through 4 kid-characters, each with different abilities and goals, children are introduced to the world or walking, running, jogging, fun runs, and again the joy of exercise. The book is made appealing to kids of all ages. It has training tips for the future Junior Olympians, getting started tips for the back-of-the packers, jokes, poetry, and riddles for us all. Fully illustrated, as are all of Carol’s books, the colorful graphics delight our senses.

Becoming an author/illustrator was very exciting for Carol. As she says, and we agree, no one knows and understands children better than teachers. We encourage you to check out Carol’s books.

Carol Goodrow’s books can be purchased from Amazon.com or other online bookstores as well as from kidsrunning.com or carolgoodrow.com (Carol’s author site).