I am pleased to be hosting Nancy Stewart today as she guest posts here on Acting Balanced as part of her Virtual Book Tour for Katrina and Winter: Partners in Courage
What Makes a Hero a Hero?
With the release of my new biography of Katrina Simpkins, Katrina and Winter: Partners in Courage, I’ve been doing a bit of thinking on just what makes a person heroic. It’s a complicated question-or is it?
We all have notions of what makes a hero. And there are historic standards by which to measure and answer the question as well. We see a feature or footnote on the TV news and say, “Now that’s a hero!” But, why?
When I hear the word hero, I immediately think of Katrina. She is a hero to me. She was handed a hard lot in life through no fault of her own. She was born with Proximal Femoral Focal Deficiency, a condition that causes one limb to be shorter than the other. In Katrina’s case, her right leg is the one affected, so she must wear a prosthetic leg.
She not only copes. She flourishes. She not only never feels sorry for herself. She’s the first to help others. She not only tries to do well in everything she attempts. She excels.
Katrina is a hero of the first water.
An excerpt from the book sums it up:
About the author:
Nancy is the bestselling and award winning author of the four Bella and Britt Series books for children: One Pelican at a Time (eighteen weeks on Amazon Bestselling List), Sea Turtle Summer, Bella Saves the Beach and Mystery at Manatee Key. All are published by Guardian Angel Publishing.
One Pelican at a Time and Nancy were featured in the PBS Tampa special, GulfWatch. Pelican has won the Literary Classics Seal of Approval, Readers Favorite Five Star Award and was nominated for a Global eBook Award.
Her travels take her extensively throughout the world, most particularly Africa. She is US chair of a charity in Lamu, Kenya, that places girls in intermediate schools to allow them to further their education. Nancy is a frequent speaker at conferences, including the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
She and her husband live in Tampa and St. Louis.
You can find out more about her by visiting http://www.nancystewartbooks.com
About the Book:
All Katrina Simpkins longs to be is a normal girl. Because she must wear prosthesis as a leg, she feels anything but. When she meets and befriends Winter, the tailless dolphin, at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, everything changes, including Katrina’s whole life.
We all have notions of what makes a hero. And there are historic standards by which to measure and answer the question as well. We see a feature or footnote on the TV news and say, “Now that’s a hero!” But, why?
When I hear the word hero, I immediately think of Katrina. She is a hero to me. She was handed a hard lot in life through no fault of her own. She was born with Proximal Femoral Focal Deficiency, a condition that causes one limb to be shorter than the other. In Katrina’s case, her right leg is the one affected, so she must wear a prosthetic leg.
She not only copes. She flourishes. She not only never feels sorry for herself. She’s the first to help others. She not only tries to do well in everything she attempts. She excels.
Katrina is a hero of the first water.
An excerpt from the book sums it up:
I just want to be a normal somebody, Katrina once said.She was that and so much more. She was courageous in ways most peoplenever have to be. Every hour. Every day.A hero’s courage.A hero’s heart.A normal girl called Katrina.If I may, I might add, A normal hero called Katrina…
About the author:
One Pelican at a Time and Nancy were featured in the PBS Tampa special, GulfWatch. Pelican has won the Literary Classics Seal of Approval, Readers Favorite Five Star Award and was nominated for a Global eBook Award.
Her travels take her extensively throughout the world, most particularly Africa. She is US chair of a charity in Lamu, Kenya, that places girls in intermediate schools to allow them to further their education. Nancy is a frequent speaker at conferences, including the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
She and her husband live in Tampa and St. Louis.
You can find out more about her by visiting http://www.nancystewartbooks.com
About the Book:
