Rising Stars: Meet Dr. Dawn Menge of Wrightwood, CA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Dawn Menge

Hi Dr. Dawn , we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My author journey began while I was working towards my credential. I was asked to write a math book, and I created Queen Victoria’s visitors and included the moderate/severe students in my classroom. We created a little skit and traveled around the local high desert to teach other about our students and their abilities.
When I published the book, I renamed it after my grandmother Vernita and included all of the children in our family. It immediately won first place in the EVVY awards, and I was received interviews. I was asked what I was doing next. I hadn’t planned on writing anything else. I love to travel and decided to expand Queen Vernita’s Visitors to include my family, friends and coworkers in future adventures. To date I now have fifteen published books, the series has won over ninety literary awards and 200 film awards.
Queen Vernita’s Visitors include adventures in New Orleans, Alaska, Baja Mexico, Kona, Hawaii, a Paddleboat trip, Astronomy, Tucson desert, and Wyoming. I also created another series based on a king and queen and a dragon. Queen Giggles and King Teddy Bear raise a baby dragon named Precious. Precious will have many more adventures as she travels around to other kingdoms looking for a family.
I have just recently returned from Ghana, Africa visiting with the Cheerful Hearts foundation. Their mission is to help keep the children from the local fishing village out of child labor and sex trafficking. I donated 75 of my books and brought 25 books that belonged to my author friends for the children to increase their literacy skills.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Being an author was a lot of work. It’s so much more than writing a story down. There is publishing it, marketing, author visits and creating a storyline that will impact others.
At one point I was feeling discouraged and did not know if I should continue with my author journey. I was being stalked by several evil women, and they were doing their very best to destroy my life. I had joined the Society of Children’s books writers and illustrators and attended their conference in Los Angeles. I was getting ready to leave and decided to stay for the last speaker. It was Kwame Alexander, and he had a wonderful speech called, “Say yes!”
I decided to say yes to new opportunities within my author career. I have been a romance and children’s literature judge, I write book reviews for a children’s literature magazine, and I have been on the board of a literacy nonprofit. I now belong to two groups and am increasing my in-person speech opportunities around the world. I am now working on spreading literacy around the world and I am having a wonderful time interacting with children around the world

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have been teaching students with Moderate/severe disabilities for almost thirty years. I have a PHD in Curriculum and Instruction and I specialize in transitioning for our students. I teach my students who are fifteen to twenty-two life skills such as supported employment, money management, self-care, self-efficacy and more.
I am most proud of the impact I’ve been able to make to others during my educational journey. During my educational and authorship careers, I have been able to help increase literacy for the immigrant population, emergent readers and those that want to bring adventure and knowledge into their child’s life.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
The qualities I possess that have helped to make both of my careers successful is the ability to keep going despite the hardships of life. It does not matter to me if someone else does not value what I am bringing into the world. It only matters to me that I have a positive impact on others around the world. In essence I stay the course of my passions and loves to bring joy and literacy enrichment to others.
I have now begun a new program in which I am helping others to turn their experiences and passions into the written word. I have created a new workbook that delves into others experiences and what they want to share with the world.
Eight reasons why we share our experiences with the world. click on the link below to receive my free ebook.
go.landofquailshouse.com

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.landofquailshouse.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/dawnmenge
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/dawn.menge1
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/queenvernita