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Terri Kelley, M.Ed, is the author of dozens of books for children and adults including the Writing is a Process series, the chapter book series Gingerly, as well as many others. Her passion for writing and reading began when she was a very young girl. She was raised in Copperas Cove, Texas where she grew up outside the city limits where she enjoyed riding horses and having lots of freedom to explore her environment. It was an idyllic childhood.
Terri is the mother of three adult children: Melynda, Jessica, and James. As they grew, each of her kids provided Terri with many fond memories which she incorporates into some of her writing. Now that they are adults, Terri enjoys her children’s successes and keeps in close contact with each of them.
In her life, Terri has held a couple of different careers. Her previous one was as a teacher, reading specialist, and gifted and talented specialist in Tomball, TX where she met and learned from some of the best educators and administrators that the world has to offer.
Education has always been important to Terri and, as a result, she has earned a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction as well as completing over thirty hours towards a Doctorate in Educational Leadership. It was during her time spent teaching and earning her higher level degrees that she became aware of the kinds of books children enjoyed reading. She also noticed areas of life, education, and learning in need of good children’s books. You will find many of her books respond to these needs.
Terri is very happily married to her best friend, Michael. Together, they live in Oakridge, OR with their black Labrador, Oliver. Terri and Michael enjoy traveling together, fishing, going to the movies, and, of course, reading great books. They have many good friends and family with whom they enjoy spending time as well.
If you’d like to contact Terri, please do so by visiting her website: www.terrikelleybooks.com
Reviewed by Katelyn Hensel for Readers' Favorite
Almond Eyes by Terri Kelley is a lovely children’s concept book, which encourages acceptance of the differences that make each child unique. Sometimes, diversity is a confusing topic to children. They don’t understand it when adults comment on their “Almond Eyes” or any other kind of feature. To them, everyone in the world is the same until parents open up their eyes to the differences that exist.
This particular book focuses on how each child has different eyes and how to explain the differences that exist in the world, and that every child has beautiful eyes in their own way. Almost every eye in the spectrum is represented, including some of the more “out of the box” kinds of eyes like blind eyes, glass eyes, and cross-eyes. The book includes a lot of information in an cute and informative way that will definitely appeal to younger children.
I thought that the colors and illustrations went with the text very well. The illustrator, Alwin Galera Fernandez, used a combination of bright and happy colors to create a visual message for the children that really helped the point of Terry Kelley’s story sink in. The best part of the book was the amount of inclusion that occurs. This is definitely a great book for an older pre-schooler or a kindergartener so that they can be introduced to the idea of differences in a safe and friendly manner. I would definitely buy this book for my own kids. Almond Eyes is a really helpful start into the world of diversity.
