Sparkles Goes to Boston Children's Book Wins Four Prestigious National Awards

Nov. 10, 2010 - PRLog -- CLARKSVILLE, AR — Sparkles Goes to Boston, a children’s fire safety book by Firefighter Dayna Hilton, has won four national awards in the 7th Annual “Best Book Awards presented by USA Book News.

The book has been selected as the Winner in the Children's Picture Book: Softcover Non-Fiction category and a Finalist in the Children’s Book Series, Children’s Non-Fiction category and Animals/Pets: General categories.

Winners and finalists traversed the publishing landscape: Simon & Schuster, Penguin/Putnam, Rodale, McGraw-Hill, John Wiley & Sons, Moody Publishers, American Cancer Society, Sourcebooks, and hundreds of independent houses contributed to this year’s competition.

Southborough Fire Department (MA) is the location of Author Dayna Hilton’s second in a series of children’s books, Sparkles Goes to Boston. The book, which chronicles Sparkles’ big trip to visit Firefighter Jim at the fire station, includes age appropriate fire safety tips which are based on Oklahoma State University Fire Protection Publication’s comprehensive preschool curriculum project for young children. Firefighter Jim, Sparkles, and her two-legged friend, Firefighter Dayna, are the main characters of the book. Chief Mauro and firefighters from the department are also featured in the fun and educationally sound fire safety book. Colorful pictures complement this story about Sparkles.

Hilton stated, “Children under the age of five are at much greater risk of fire-related deaths than others. The group accounts for 11% of fire-related deaths in the United States ~ the highest population for any age group. I was inspired by my work as a firefighter and by my four-legged friend, Sparkles, to create this fun and educationally sound book. What an honor that the book has been selected from such a broad field of children’s book authors and publishers.”

For almost a decade, Hilton and her fire safety dogs have made it their mission to save lives, reduce injuries and decrease property losses from fire. In recent years, she and her fire safety dogs have concentrated their fire safety efforts on pre-schoolers, kindergartners, first graders and their caregivers.

Jeffrey Keen, President and CEO of USABookNews.com, noted that this year’s contest yielded an unprecedented number of entries. Keen says of the awards, now in their eighth year, “The 2010 results represent a phenomenal mix of books from a wide array of publishers throughout the United States.”

This brings the total to six national awards for Hilton’s children’s fire safety books. The books are available at Amazon.com and at book stores.

A complete list of the winners and finalists may be found at www.usabooknews.com.

About the Author

Firefighter and nationally recognized fire safety expert, Dayna Hilton, is known as “Firefighter Dayna” to millions of children and their caregivers. Hilton, a critically acclaimed award-winning children’s fire safety book author and her Dalmatian, Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog, have been credited with helping save several lives. Hilton is the author of the critically acclaimed, multi-award winning book, Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog and the Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog Coloring book.

To learn more about Firehouse Dog Publishing’s children’s books, visit www.firehousedogpublishing.com.

Media Contact: Dayna Hilton, Dayna@firehousedogpublishing.com, 479.754-8652.