Summertime is vacation time for the Angelino family, and the two Angelino boys are excited about their upcoming camping trip. They’re going to the local state park, where they can swim, go fishing, and look for wildlife!

Being on vacation doesn’t mean the boys have to be careful. An encounter with a sneezing deer provides their father with an opportunity to teach the boys about respecting wildlife and staying alert for danger. Knowing more about the park’s wildlife helps the boys have more fun while staying safe. They discover staying quiet and moving slowly makes it easier to see the animals and birds that call the park home.

At the camp, the boys have responsibilities like the rest of the family. When they neglect one of these responsibilities and lie about it, they wind up in trouble—and learn an important lesson.

Beautifully illustrated, A Trail of Honesty teaches children about honesty while explaining actions have consequences. J. A. Angelo’s delightful story is an ideal way for parents to use consequences to teach children how to be better people—not simply to punish them.

Hello book lovers! Today is a day where I will be writing another author spotlight for a well-accomplished author whose work I have loved. As you know book lovers I love learning about authors and the inspiration behind their work, it fascinates me and adds to the depth of the book because the reader will be able to better understand it. That is how the author spotlights were created because I soon discovered that you lovely readers ALSO love learning about author’s, so I am excited to tell you a little bit more about author J.A. Angelo whose book A Trail of Honesty charmed me from beginning to end. I personally would recommend this book to all of those that love children’s books but really the book can be read by anybody as it is flawlessly written and highly enjoyable. With today’s author spotlight for J.A. Angelo, a biography of the author and an interview between us both will be shared, and I hope that you book lovers enjoy reading it! To kick this off here is an author bio about the wonderful J.A. Angelo!

United States’ Army veteran J.A. Angelo is a loving husband and dad to three beautiful children. J.A. and his wife enjoy volunteering in their local school district and are leaders in various non-profit organizations catering towards children. They also donate to various national and local charities to include the Apraxia Kids, Wounded Warrior Project, and the Coalition to Support America’s Heroes. A portion of the book proceeds will go to these great organizations to help children and support veterans and their families.

J.A. Angelo is originally from Zanesville, Ohio and currently resides in northern Virginia. He is a dad to three wonderful children – two daughters (16) and (10), and a son (7). He is also a devoted husband to his loving wife of 17 years. He is also the oldest of eight children – three brothers and four sisters. 

Some of our hobbies include spending time with our family, writing, donating time and materials to charities, and going to the beach.

With J.A.’s next book, the survey at www.jaangelo.com will empower site visitors and social media followers to participate in the survey. It allows readers the opportunity to complete the survey, and after analyzing the results will determine which charities J.A. will select with his next book. In addition to the 20% to those two charities selected by readers, 10% will also go to Apraxia Kids (https://www.apraxia-kids.org).  

J.A. Angelo has worked with children from a variety of cultures and backgrounds teaching them the importance of family values that will continue to benefit them throughout various phases of their life. J.A. and his wife enjoy volunteering within their local school district and are leaders in various non-profit organizations supporting children. They also donate to various national and local charities catering towards children and veterans and their families.

J.A. Angelo will donate an equal amount totaling 30% of his royalties for “A Trail of Honesty” to Apraxia Kids (https://www.apraxia-kids.org), the Wounded Warrior Project (https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org), and The Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes: Wounded Veterans Organization (https://saluteheroes.org).

Now, how wonderful does J.A. Angelo sound?! The author is a truly exceptional writer and I hope that you lovely readers have a read of the author’s work because you will not regret it! Please see below an interview between us both, I hope that you enjoy the author’s answers to my questions, they are incredible and provide some great advice too!

Thank you for joining us today at Red Headed Book Lover! Please tell us more about yourself

Hi! Thank you for having me on to talk about my recent book A Trail of Honesty. This story is based on an actual event that transpired when I was in grade school when I went camping with my family at a local state park. In fact, I went as far as asking the illustrator to draw the characters based on a family portrait around the same time.

Writing has always been a passion of mine. As I continue to age, my writing style progresses with me. I have written congressional testimony, press releases, Questions for the Record, Issues for the Record, and Unfunded Requirements. All of these are documents go before Congress or the congressional staffers.

Could you please tell us readers about your book and what inspired you to write your book?

My dad passed away towards the middle of November 2011. Before his service started early that Thursday morning, Pastor Bounds came up to my family and asked if we had anything we would like to share with the rest of our family and friends. After thinking about it for a while, I decided to write about a camping trip that my family and I took to a local state park. I asked myself, “How can I use this to incorporate a life lesson that my parents taught me when I was younger that can be passed on to all the little kiddos attending the service?” Then suddenly it came to me, at the end of my dad’s eulogy I added “The moral of this story is to not lie to your parents.” Pastor Bounds asked if I would like to read the story or if I wanted him to read the story. I asked if he would mind if he read what would later become A Trail of Honesty. While he was reading my story, some people laughed at some of the parts. I thought to myself, my job here was done. Not only did I incorporate a life lesson, but I also was able to leave some adults spirits by making them laugh. I felt so proud of myself. After Pastor Bounds read my story and at the end of the service, he told me that my story would make a great children’s book. Approximately, seven years later, I decided to find my dad’s eulogy and began contacting various publishers throughout the children’s book industry. A few of the traditional publishers mentioned that they liked the meaning of the story. However, they were not in the market for a camping story. I refused to align my story with what some traditional publishers were looking for, because I wanted to give the world a little piece of who my dad was and allow my family and friends to remember him the way he would have wanted to be remembered. In an additional effort to spread the message that A Trail of Honesty provides to its readers and listeners, I priced the book on the low end of the average cost of a children’s book. I also wanted to donate to some charities more than my wife and I are already, starting with non-profits supporting children and veterans and their families. So, I decided to donate 20% to non-profits supporting veterans and 10% to Apraxia Kids. At the close of every year, I will tally 30% from all of my royalties for A Trail of Honesty and donate to these charities. If I decide to write another book and have it published, I have created a survey on my website www.jaangelo.com for all of you to complete, if desired. I will use the survey to identify two charities to support my next book along with 10% to Apraxia Kids.

What would your advice be for aspiring writers?

Follow your heart. I knew when it was right to publish my book by listening to my heart instead of my mind. Listening to my heart allowed A Trail of Honesty to rank within the top 180k out of over 8 million books. I would say that it was quite an achievement.

In your opinion, what is the most important thing about a book? 

I believe sending a strong message is the most important thing about a book. Teaching children the importance of strong social skills will allow them to succeed as they grow and experience various stages throughout life that require the frequent use of social skills. However, at times, it is important to escape to the fiction world in a spy novel, a romance story, or a heart-pounding thriller.

What is your writing process like?

When I write a story I use a storyboard to lay out the setting, message, and characters. From there, I create an outline to allow me to easily follow along with the flow of the story. Afterwards, I send it to my editor for her to put the “magic” touch on the story and to provide illustration ideas.

What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?

I spend approximately one or two months researching a social skill, and incorporating what I have discovered into the parent/child discussion at the end of my book. I have recently developed a survey using SurveyMonkey to assist me in determining what my readers feel is the next big social issue they would like me to write.

Do you have a set schedule for writing, or do you only write when you feel inspired?

I only write when I feel inspired. Be it through a story I remembered from my childhood that has a direct effect on building social skills or if it has to do with a portion of the parent/childhood discussions.

Do you read much and if so who are your favorite authors?

I read almost on a daily basis, as I am attending the University of Nebraska – Omaha to obtain my Masters in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations. Currently, I am between classes for winter break. However, once classes start again, I am enrolled in Congress and the Legislative Process. With that said, I will need to read two books: Congressional Procedures, and Congress and Its Members.

However, to relax I listen to Audiobooks while I travel to work. Traffic is horrible in northern Virginia and DC. Some of my favorite authors that I have listened to Vince Flynn, Dean Koontz, John Grisham, Iris Johansen and Stephen King. I also enjoy pieces from Sun Tzu, Plato, Archimedes, Socrates, and Machiavelli.

Lastly, when can we readers expect to read more wonderful books from you?  

I am waiting until my survey on www.jaangelo.com ends around the middle of January to empower readers to tell me what social issue they think is important for children to have in today’s age. I have given a few issues on the survey, but I have also included a comment box, per chance I did not include one that people may deem important to address next.

What is Apraxia? Can you tell us Apraxia Kids mission and vision statements, and how they help children obtain speech therapy? Why is it so important to you that you will donate 10% of any book you write to Apraxia Kids?

According to Apraxia Kids, there are two kinds of Apraxia: verbal and global. Verbal apraxia is when children have problems saying sounds, syllables, and words. Global apraxia encompasses the “whole” body. Children with global apraxia will need frequent speech and occupational therapy. At times, progress can be very slow and frustrating. Currently, insurance companies do not cover speech therapy or occupational therapy for Apraxia. The fact that insurance companies do not cover these services for Apraxia are because the services are habilitative instead of rehabilitative. Another reason is because apraxia is a developmental disorder and insurance companies do not cover delays that are developmental.

Apraxia Kids is the forefront non-profit aimed to strengthen the support systems in the lives of children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) so that each child is afforded their best opportunity to develop speech and optimal communication skills. We believe every child deserves a voice. This great organization was not founded until the year 2000. However, it has made great strides in providing speech therapy for kids to ultimately have their own voice.

I have never heard of Apraxia until my son was diagnosed with it approximately two years ago. He has come a long way in his speech thanks to Without Limits in Winchester, VA and Lila Griffith. April, an occupational therapist at SkyClimb Sensory Development Center, is responsible for Wesley’s occupational therapy. When Wesley started out in speech when he was three, he was around 20% speech intelligible. His speech was so bad that not only did other adults and children not understand him, but neither did my wife and I. We had to basically learn a “new” language to understand what he was trying to say. I am pleased to report that after extensive speech therapy, Wesley is now over 90% speech intelligible. With all of the speech therapy he has received over the last five years, not only are we able to understand him, but so do other adults, and more importantly kids his own age. We were worried how other kids would treat him, and finally decided to let him have the public school experience. By the time his Kindergarten school year begin, most kids were able to understand him. However, numerous families are not fortunate enough to pay for speech therapy for the child. Oh, and did I mention most insurance providers do not cover speech therapy for Apraxia. With Apraxia Kids, it provides speech therapy for those without the funds to obtain speech therapy for their child – a service that is required to learn how to talk. Most of those kids that cannot afford speech therapy end up using a tablet with an Apraxia app that allows them to communicate with other people. While there is nothing wrong with that, I cannot help but think that as these kids grow-up that they will grow to resent the tablet and maybe even life – a scary thought for any parent.

Source: Apraxia Kids, www.apraxia-kids.org

Its official book lovers, I am obsessed with J.A. Angelo! If you have liked what you have read about the author and are interested in learning more about J.A. Angelo, then please do have a browse of the links below and be sure to have a read of the preview too! You will not regret it.

Goodbye for now book lovers,

Amazon U.S. – Barnes & Noble – Kobo – iBooks – Indie Bound

J.A. Angelo: Website – Instagram – Vimeo – YouTube – Twitter – Tumblr – Goodreads Author Page