About Kelly Bookamer

Kelly Phillips Bookamer is a poet, picture book author and elementary special education teacher.  She has taught grades pre-K to sixth over the past twenty years. Kelly has an undergraduate degree in Anthropology, a master’s degree in Special Education and an advanced certificate in Autism Spectrum disorders.

Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, her poem “A Bright, Sunny Day” was published in the syndicated Dear Abby column in newspapers across the country. Kelly is a 2020 Stony Brook Southampton Children’s Lit Fellow and a member of SCBWI and 12×12.  She lives in Westhampton, Long Island with her husband, two boys and their dog, Nimbus.

What I Care About

Until the age of about seven or eight, a child’s brain is in a lower frequency called theta, which is a dream-like state of imagination, much like hypnosis.  Children observe and absorb information for the first seven years of their life.  All of this downloaded, recorded information becomes their beliefs, personality and ultimately their reality.

Authors of picture books have a big responsibility. We must create books that foster a growth mindset and allow children to view the world as a friendly, loving place filled with opportunities for failure, growth, change and ultimately, greatness. I want to remind children of what they were born knowing, but “forgot” along the way. My wish is for children to remember that they are powerful creators with unlimited potential. All possibility lies inside a person’s thoughts, feelings and beliefs. Everyone is a superhero with super powers in their own right… if they believe they are. That is why I write empowering stories for kids.

Bio List

  • Writer

  • Reader

  • Poet

  • Word Lover

  • Organic Food Eater

  • Meditator

  • What-If Asker

  • Spiritualist

  • Quantum Creator

    Quantum Physics in a nutshell:  It is the opposite of what you have probably learned about seeing and believing.  It means you will see something show up in your life after you believe it.

    Believing is seeing…

Some of Kelly's Favorite Quotes

~Viktor Frankl
~Albert Einstein
~Abraham Lincoln
~Walt Disney
~Maya Angelou
~Babe Ruth
~Malala Yousafzai
~Neal Thompson
~Michael Jordan
~Anne Frank
~Ashleigh Brilliant
~Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
~Meister Eckhart
~Aristotle

Fun Facts About Kelly

She was a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2008. She spoke about how she changed her life using the Law of Attraction after reading Rhonda Byrne’s book The Secret.

She is a certified trainer for Jack Canfield’s Success Principles.

In college, as an anthropology major, she lived with a Navajo family in Canyon De Chelly, Arizona for a week, with no shelter and no running water.

Her favorite food is anything related to a tomato…And burrito bowls (with lots of salsa!).

Her favorite movie is The Pursuit of Happyness.

She and her family have a frog named Leapy that has outlived its life expectancy by five years! (She thinks it likes their Berkey-filtered water!)