Children’s author D.A. Jennings joins Rich Bennett to share the heart behind her newest illustrated children’s book, Kip and the Land Pirates. Through adventure, imagination, and teamwork, the story encourages young readers to protect the environment while proving that even the smallest acts can make a big difference.

Listeners will hear how real-life experiences with her grandchildren and environmental advocates inspired the book’s message, along with a special reading from the story itself. This episode is perfect for parents, grandparents, educators, and anyone who believes stories can inspire meaningful change.

Guest Bio

D.A. Jennings is an award-winning children’s author known for creating imaginative stories filled with heart, adventure, and meaningful life lessons. Her beloved “Kip” series encourages children to develop character, responsibility, kindness, and creativity through engaging storytelling. She is also the author of the “Mia” chapter book series for middle-grade readers.

Main Topics Discussed

• The inspiration behind Kip and the Land Pirates
• Teaching environmental responsibility through storytelling
• Why children can become powerful agents of change
• Friendship, teamwork, and courage in children’s literature
• How imagination helps children solve real-world problems
• Debbie’s philosophy on writing books that educate and inspire
• The importance of literacy and reading engagement
• The continuing adventures of Kip and Mia
• Lessons children and adults can both learn from fiction
• Using stories to encourage positive change in the world

Links & Resources Mentioned

• D.A. Jennings Website
• D.A. Jennings on Amazon
• Freedom Federal Credit Union
• Chesapeake Bay
• Harry Hughes
• Avendelle Assisted Living

This episode is brought to you by Freedom Federal Credit Union. They're local member owned and focused on doing what's best for our community.

Welco welcome to the Author Pitch, the short form podcast where writers from around the world deliver a powerful pitch for their book and read a standout excerpt in their own voice. I'm Rich Bennett. This is the Author Pitch and your next great read starts here. Today's guest is the reason I started this, D.A.

Jennings, author of Kip and the Land Pirates. So we're just going to start right with the pitch.

So Debbie, first of all, welcome and with the pitch, just give listeners a tight, high impact overview. What the book is, who it's for, why it matters, and besides Kip, what else makes it unique?

Okay, thank you so much Rich. The book is an illustrated book for children.

The heart of the story is the real treasure isn't something you take away, it's something that you protect.

In this book, our lovable little mouse, who we've come to love through all of his other adventures, starts out chasing his own dream to swim in the ocean and build a sandcastle. And along the way, he swept into adventure, rescued by kindness and welcomed his friendship.

Then one moment shifts from the fun and curiosity to responsibility in action. That turning point comes when Kip and the children see a sea turtle trapped in trash.

The children realize right then that the beach isn't a playground, it's someone else's home. Kids could feel helpless. They don't know what to do.

But instead they use their imagination and teamwork to solve a real life problem and they become land pirates. They turn cleaning litter up into a fun mission. The closing line of their chant says it the treasure isn't what we find, but what we leave behind.

With all my children's books, Rich, I always try to have a theme and this one has multiple themes. The major theme in this book is that we need to care for our earth and protect the wildlife. But there are also underlying themes here.

Also, I have four friendship and teamwork, courage and quick thinking. Using creativity to make a difference. Taking responsibility.

Even as a kid, children can learn and adults can learn from this that the greatest heroes aren't the ones with unbelievable superpowers. The greatest heroes are the ones who see a need and take action.

That is one thing I've always loved about your books. Your everybody, kids, adults, is all. They're always learning something from them.

Well, that's what I like to do. Basically. Books have three elements. First of all, they want to engage the reader.

They want to have a connection with their reader that the reader will enjoy. The second is to entertain and oh, my goodness, isn't it fun for magic and, you know, seahorses and outer space and time travel.

Entertainment topics almost seem endless. But then books should also be used to educate about important issues affecting the reader and the world around them.

And I think Kip and the Land Pirates does all this. But wait, there's more. Kip and the Land Pirates also encourages change. And all books don't do that.

And that's one of the things that makes this book unique. Kip's adventures empowers young readers with a life changing message. And I don't use that term mildly.

Yeah.

But that even the smallest among us can lead the way and make a positive difference. Right now, you don't have to be a particular age to change the world. You change it every day. But the little things that we do.

I am really looking forward to hearing this excerpt from the book now. So just when you're ready, go ahead and share it with us. Those of you listening, Debbie is a pro at this. Well, you are.

You're always reading in front of groups and everything, and people love to hear you. Look, me as an adult, I love to hear you read.

So thank you.

The floor is your. I should say the microphone is yours.

Wonderful. Thank you. Well, what I'm going to do is just read the chant that the children develop with Kip in the book.

And there's a couple of things that I need to explain to the listeners so they will understand what something means. In the chant. I use the term paw. Pirate claws. And pirate claws are little tongs, you know, like kitchen tongs that you used to picking up food.

Well, of course, if I'm going to have my little readers picking up trash, I don't want them to be unsanitary. So everything they pick up, they pick up with tongs. And so for the chant, I call them pirate claws.

I like that.

So here are three standards that make up the chant in the book. And imagine them. The beauty of being sung together by four little children and Kip.

We're pirates of the land we have a good plan to help the ones who swim around and those who live on solid ground we're pirates of the land we carry tools in hand Pirate Claws pick up the trash, and bags are where it's stashed. We're pirates of the land. We're sifting through the sand. The treasure isn't what we find, but what we leave behind.

And that's the whole purpose of the book. These are good pirates. They don't take the booty for themselves. They don't. They don't. They're not greedy.

What they're doing is they're taking away what's wrong with the treasure that this earth possesses. And so they take the trash away and they leave the treasure there for everyone to enjoy.

I already pictured all these kids. Why am I thinking, what's the. The. Oh, God. It went right out of my head. Almost like Peter Pan. But there was another one.

I think it was Lord of the Flies with the kids. And that's. When you're reading that. That chant. I'm just picturing all these kids with these made up. You know, as. As kids. We made the pirate hats.

Yeah, that's what I'm picturing with the little wooden swords and everything.

Well, this is wonderful. This just leads me into something that I wanted to share, and that's what the inspiration for the book was.

I'm gonna start with the inspiration for the intent of the book. Then I'm going to share with you the inspiration for how I presented it.

Okay.

So every Wednesday, I facilitate an Adventures of Reading class at Avondale Senior Living in Bel Air. And I love the men and women that I work with. They are so vibrant, so full of life.

Well, one of the ladies in the group, her name is Ms. Connie Beams, she feels passionate about caring for our environment.

And.

And as a matter of fact, she worked for the Maryland State Governor Harry Hughes and his appointments.

Wow.

And during that time, she was his appointment secretary and also his deputy chief of staff.

And during his term, he signed the legislation approving of the Chesapeake Bay agreement, which set into motion the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay. Well, she is still so passionate even though she's retired. And I saw that passion and, you know, just felt we need to continue her efforts.

We need to continue to make sure that we don't fall back on old habits. And is there any better way than the children. The children are developing forming habits.

So, of course, thinking of children, I thought of my grandchildren. And about two years ago, I was with my grandsons, and they wanted to play pirates, but we didn't have the scars for the pirates.

So the boys went upstairs, the. They got their swim trunks, and we took their swim trunks and we Put them on our heads. So we had the pirate scarves and voila, we became pirates.

So I meshed those two inspirations together and that was the genesis for Kip and the Land Pirates.

Oh, wow. That is awesome.

It was wonderful. As a matter of fact, I really do have a picture of my grandson and I wearing those silly little shorts on our heads.

And my other grandson took the picture.

I got to see that. You're going to have to send it to me.

I will. I will certainly show it to you. I might not send it to you because then it might turn up places I might not want it to be.

I would not do that unless. All right, so with Kip of the Land Pirates, what do you hope readers actually feel. Feel after both two part question?

What do you hope kids feel after reading it? And what do you hope adults feel after reading it themselves or even reading it to their kids?

Absolutely. Well, I hope that they feel engagement in the book. I hope they feel the thrill of adventure in the book. I hope they feel the educational element.

But I also hope they've feel that encouragement, that challenge to be a part of something massive. You can do it by yourself, you can do it as a team. But collectively, as the human race, we need to take care of our planet.

So I want them to feel invigorated and realize that having a mission isn't just work. It can be fun. It can be so rewarding, not just to yourself, but to others.

And I think that parents and grandparents and siblings and other readers who read to small children can see that their role is setting a good example. I remember when my daughter was quite young, we took our large garbage can on the rollers and we went up and down the neighborhood collecting trash.

And that was just one way of us showing our community that we cared. I mean, nobody knew we were out there.

I mean, they may have thought we were nuts if they saw us out there, you know, going up and down the area with our big trash can. But instilled in my daughter at the time that we all play a part in keeping our environment nice. So I want them to feel the call for change.

And maybe I feel that so passionately because years ago, before I ever started writing books, I attended a writing weekend and I took different classes from different people. One of the instructors said, well, when you write, what do you want the end result to be? And then he said, are you looking for money?

Are you looking for fame, fortune, what? And people had some wonderful ideas, and all of them, fine, there's nothing wrong with Writing for money.

But when he came to me, he said, what is your purpose for writing? I said, I want to encourage change. And you know what his response was? He stepped back and looked away. He said, well, good luck with that.

Wow.

And that was just like throwing the gauntlet down for challenge.

Yeah.

You know, because I think that we as writers possess the power to make our world a better place.

Absolutely.

And some of the best truths are told through fiction. And that's how we educate our children. We tell them amazing, fun stories. Stories.

But we need to embed into it things that are of value to their character and to their accountability for all that we have. So that's what I hope. I hope it encourages change in all of us.

So for anybody that hasn't read any of the books about Kip, is it okay for them to start with Kip and the Land Pirates, or do you recommend a certain one they should start with first?

Well, all of my books are independent of one another, even the first three Kip books that, if you read them in sequence, actually show his development as a little mouse. He goes from mischief to manners to maturity. But each of those can be read separately. It depends on the child and what they need.

If you have a child that is looking for a turning point in their life to go from being mischievous to learning how to use their imagination, then Cheese, Yes, Please is a great book.

If you're looking for a child that's getting a little bit more mature and you're hoping that they learn how to share through adventure, then share the Cheese is good. If you're looking for just a fun, mischievous way to learn about Kip and learn about missed opportunities.

Opportunities, then Seize the Cheese is a good one.

If you're looking for a Christmas tale of warmth and heart and, you know, real understanding that not everybody has the Christmas season in the same way, we all celebrate it differently then Chris Kip. And the best gift is a good book. Okay, if you are looking for just fun beach adventure, then this is the book. So I'm saying all this.

You can start everywhere. But if you know that your child has a particular focus that they need to be on, then it all depends on that focus.

And maybe the only way you can really find out is just buy them all.

Makes sense to me.

Of course. Of course.

All right, so what's the next thing for you as an author?

Well, right now I am currently working on the third book of Mia trilogy. And Mia is my little Italian mouse who loves adventure. And these are chapter books for young middle school Children.

And she is a fabulous character, not because I wrote her, but because she shares so many of the valuable lessons that I learned from my parents through her adventures. And in Mia, you learn about what it is to have a passion and want to pursue it. And you learn about sibling rivalry.

You learn about how to deal with difficulty. You learn how to handle passing of someone that you love. You also can experience the joy of going someplace you never knew.

Like in her first adventure, she goes to Africa and meets up with these fabulous animals. Some want to be her friends, some want to eat her.

And she finds out that she's more resilient than she thought she could ever be because of what she knows. She puts into practice, and she just goes from there to another adventure.

In her second book, Mia and the Crooked Road, which is about, you don't always go in life where you think you need to go, but sometimes you absolutely need to go there to develop. And in that book, she learns about forgiveness of self and others and what to do when you have no idea what you should do with your life.

And that's going to help others. So in the final book, she is going to go on another great adventure. I will not tell you where, but she is going to find home.

And home is different for everybody. So that's the book I'm working on right now.

And you said the final one from.

The series for this series of Mia. Yes.

Okay.

But you know, I did the first trio, the first trilogy for Kip, but that wasn't Kip's final story.

Right.

Doing these for Mia about her adventures in traveling.

Where can people purchase the book and also follow you?

Okay. Probably the best thing I could do is have people go to my website. And on my website, you will find all of my upcoming engagements.

If they are open to the public, they will be under new events. I do a number of closed engagements, and those won't show up until after the event. But you'll see where I'm planning to go at all of my events.

I have my books. And you can also go to my author's Facebook page. You can go to Barnes and Nobles and order my books through there.

You can go to Amazon and check out my books. You can go to the public library. So I just believe in children's literacy so much.

So everything I can do to get children to read, that's what I'm going to do.

And what is the website?

The website? Oh, it would be helpful if I.

Told you it'll be in the show notes. But still, for those listening.

For those listening, it is D A Jennings. J E N N I N g s@dagenings.com.

Sure.

I'm sure.

Okay. Just wanted to make sure.

It's always good to be sure. I mean, you can also find it if you just go under DA Jennings.

Right.

But do be careful. There's another DA Jennings who is a man. That's not me.

No, it's not. Definitely not you.

Not me.

Definitely not you. Well, Debbie, I want to thank you so much and everybody listening. Thank you for listening to the author pitch. I am Rich Bennett.

And until next time, keep turning pages and discovering new voices.