Meet P.J. HarteNaus | Author

We had the good fortune of connecting with P.J. HarteNaus and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi P.J., is there something you can share with us that those outside of the industry might not be aware of?
What’s one thing about your industry that outsiders are probably unaware of?

We don’t fit the typical publishing mold. I want folks to know that we are a unique publishing service at Whistleslick Press. We are a mother and daughter duo who help people realize their dream of publishing their own manuscript, avoiding the pitfalls that can occur.

Hello, I’m P.J. HarteNaus, educator and author of the award-winning, anti-bullying series Belden Boy, Canary Song, and other beautiful hard covered children’s books. Years ago, I wanted to be a published author, but fell into the vanity printing trap which was not only costly, but communication was at a standstill with the companies I found. I knew there had to be a better way for a self-publisher like myself. I learned the hard way and wanted to share my story and successes with others at a fraction of the cost. That is when my daughter Kelly, a designer by trade, and I joined forces in 2021 to create Whistleslick Design. As an educator, I wanted to help others take their manuscripts to print.

My story goes back twelve years to the driftless area of Galena, when I was asked to help restore a one-room schoolhouse built in 1859, Belden School. Finding the school’s journals in the town garbage and listening to the stories of the elderly students of the last class in 1943 was my mission. Placing those stories into my first chapter book, The Adventures of Peter McDugal, was my gift to honor the oral history from the students, the Belden School and citizens of the Galena area. The first book led to three more to complete the story of Peter and his pal, Franky, who was a bully back in the 1890s. The series highlights different perspectives, from victim, to bully, to girl bystander who has a disability, helping the students make friends at Belden School back in the day!

We worked with Northern University outside of Chicago this past year, honored to be part of their spring project, We travel to many schools and markets with Mary Jane, our ’53 bookmobile, selling my buckets of books amidst hay and flowers off the bed of the truck. Recently, we traveled to Golden, Colorado, speaking to an audience from the Country School Association of America at the Colorado School of Mines about my novel Canary Song, “where miners struggle to earn a living, lonely children toil endlessly in an orphanage, and miracles don’t often happen.” It was the perfect setting for my story. Our colored picture books also are popular for any age, especially “Mary Jane”… yes, our bookmobile has her own story!

But our story doesn’t stop there. We just completed our 8th year in the Belden School celebrating young budding authors as they write and illustrate their own hard covered book! The Belden Boy Writing Camp is a popular event and welcomes children and teens every summer.

Our mission is simple. We want books in the hands of children…stories that have a wholesome message of love, understanding and kindness towards others including animals. We want to instill the love of reading and writing through my books. Being vegans, we chose to take a healthy portion of our proceeds to help fund animal rescues and farm sanctuaries. We are unique and this is who we are!

P. J. HarteNaus
Kelly Scrima

www.whistleslickpress.com

Visit us on Instagram @whistleslick_press
pjhartenaus@whistleslickpress.com

Books available online and in Golden, Colorado at the Golden Mercantile COOP

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
It has been a bumpy and costly ride, one that I never dreamed would continue the way it has…right down to the numerous books I’ve written. But all along, I’ve had children in my mind, knowing what they would like to read and what they might like to experience to enhance their love of reading. Hence, the Belden Boy Writing Camp was created after my initial discovery of the one-room school that needed restoring. Writing an anti-bullying series was important for me to do…I was bullied as a child and, frankly, saw the same thing happen to children in my 4th and 5th grade classes I taught. It was then I decided to tie in the children’s series to reflect the one-room school, Belden School, to give the children the best experience possible when sitting in the wooden desks at the camp, envisioning the characters sat there too so long ago. I also in my last year of teaching in 2016, I wrote the third book in the series with my literacy class, asking what they thought the characters should do next in the story. I then dedicated the book to them and to all my past students of 35 years. There were and still are many challenges along the way, but I am able to rise above it, knowing that what I do is important to children in this day and age….the ability to recognize and understand bullying from different perspectives and know that it happened long ago, too.
We are a unique brand, incorporating everything we think is important. From reading a book and being able to write a story to express yourself, to connecting to the past and understanding the importance of history.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Where I live now is the only area in the North American Continent that has the unique and beautiful ‘driftless area’. It is a part of the Mississippi Valley and it is lush with hills, valleys and caves. But it is the history that drew me to the region. Civii War soldiers and generals including Ulysses S. Grant lived here at one time making the town of Galena a tourist destination. Black Hawk and even earlier, the Mississippian Native Americans, also lived on the land.

But I think my friends would enjoy the shopping and dining in the quaint town of Galena, a town that ‘time has forgotten’ as they say. The beautiful old structures add to the character of the town.The haunted tours highlight Galena’s spooky past that apparently is still ‘alive’! But first, we would make a trip to Galena Cellars, a winery that sits in the rolling hills a short drive from town. It is here on their farm, that you can sit back and relax, having a glass of wine while looking out across the land. This alone, makes my friends come back year after year!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
First and foremost, my shoutout goes out to Kelly Scrima…my creative designer with marketing, layout of books and being the ‘drive’ behind what Whistleslick Press has become and can be in the future. I could never do what I do without her energy and ideas. She is my partner and right arm. My family is also instrumental in helping set up and drive “Mary Jane” to and from events, carrying buckets of books and being available at a moment’s notice.

Website: www.whistleslickpress.com

Instagram: @whistleslick_press

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/pjhartenaus

Facebook: www.facebook//:whistleslickpress

Other: email……pjhartenaus@whistleslickpress.com

Image Credits
credits go to Kelly Scrima and P.J. HarteNaus