News/Awards/Events

May 2024 - Book 2  also WINS the 2024 Winter Pinnacle Achievement Award in the Young Adult genre.

Published -November 2023- BOOK 2:  Life Isn't Always Fair (in the series - Life Lessons & Tales of Little MisFit.  Go to Amazon and find Life Lessons & Tales of Little MisFit - Click on  Follow Author under author's name - S.K. Grunin - & Amazon will send you a notice when they have the next book available for purchase in hardback, paperback and e-version.   Audio version will follow later.

2022. Dr. Grunin  - was a speaker for the Gulf Coast Writers Association in SW Florida.  She gave a presentation and answered questions about her book, Life Lessons and Tales of Little MisFit - Book 1:  Life Isn't Always What It Seems.   She also did a book signing.  

September - December 2022 Life Lessons and Tales of Little MisFit - Book 1, Life Isn't Always What It Seems, to be featured at 2022 Vail Film Festival  (see Press Release)

A delightful read by an award winning author that will spark conversations and draw all of the misfits out from their little corners

 

This book is dedicated to everyone who has at least one time or one situation in their lives felt like a misfit

 

City, State – We all have felt out of place at some point in our lives. Life Lessons and Tales of Little MisFit was written by Dr. S.K Grunin, thinking about all of the misfits in the world. While writing the story of Ivy Sue Klutz, or Little MisFit, Dr. Grunin wanted her readers to feel how being different can be challenging in life, but it’s necessary for building character, independence, and eventually leads to success in life.  Dr. Grunin also wanted to have LMF share life lessons in order to help all of those who find themselves in situations at one time or another as misfits.

 

As an adjunct college professor teaching for over 10 years for the University of Virginia, Dr. S. K. Grunin realized that learning some important life lessons at a young age is beneficial to everyone. She also wanted older adults to be able to share their own life lessons with the youth without sounding preachy or boring. Thus, as she was teaching college, LMF [Little MisFit] began to evolve.  Dr. Grunin had some important life lessons that she thought were helpful to her own understanding of how being different was okay, and how it helped her to build resiliency and cope with challenging situations. 

 

“It was as if she was always in my head and I just needed to get some time to sit down without interruptions and let her tell her tales,” says Dr. Grunin. However, working full-time in a career with the US Courts, teaching college part-time and subsequently, working for consulting companies before starting her own company, all the while being a wife and a mother of two boys, Dr. Grunin could not find any meaningful and uninterrupted time to let Little MisFit come out of her head and be put down on paper. Finally, in 2017, with the boys through graduate school, her husband retired and their impending relocation to Florida, Dr. Grunin and her husband arranged to travel to Lisbon, Portugal for a lengthy stay. This time allowed Dr. Grunin to finally focus all of her efforts and have some non-interrupted time to let Little MisFit come to be. 

 

2021 Top 10 Finalist for Author Elite Award in Children's/Middle Grades Category and 2020 Pinnacle Award Winner in category of Young Adult, Life Lessons and Tales of Little MisFit - Book 1: Life Isn't Always What It Seems is the first in a series of seven books that Dr. Grunin is writing. Life Lessons & Tales of Little MisFit is now in dozens of libraries and bookstores worldwide. The book is a great tool to share and read with children, grandchildren or other special persons in our lives and is a great medium for adults to use to share their own life lessons without coming off preachy and, at the same time using humor.

 

Today, LMF serves as an inspiration to many kids and adults alike. Furthermore, Dr. Grunin wants LMF’s persistence to become an inspiration to other generations and those who are different be able to share their own life lessons.  She believes that LMF can be an example of how to use humor to build self-esteem and find one’s own path when appropriate. 

 

Life Lessons and Tales of Little MisFit will be showcased during the 19th Vail Film Festival, an independent film festival that has taken place annually in Vail, Colorado. The event will begin on Thursday, December 1 and end on Sunday, December 4.


Hi Dr. Grunin,     That was fun...excellent job. Time went by too quickly.  Loved being able to talk with you. 

 Below are audio links for our radio interview on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podomatic, show audio, TuneIn, Player.FM, iHeart Podcast Network, Amazon Music, Audible and Google Podcasts.  Also posted on  Facebook.

It was a pleasure to have you with us on our radio show This Week in America with Ric Bratton.  Thank you for an enjoyable conversation. Well done...      Stay safe.

LINKS to listen to radio interview with Dr. SK Grunin about Life Lessons & Tales of Little MisFit - Book 1:  Life Isn't Always What It Seems:

http://www.bluefunkbroadcasting.com/root/twia/westwoodbooks11.mp3

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2b6d9002-856c-4ffa-9dd9-d64776f3612a/This-Week-in-America-with-Ric-Bratton

https://www.audible.com/pd/This-Week-in-America-with-Ric-Bratton-Podcast/B08JJP7M24?qid=1609034292&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=7568DQQ1EHT3TTJZFEMQ

https://open.spotify.com/show/4BmdTMgAZI4Sv1X5lyP5ij?si=m3irp7ZwS0qBxRcHxb5x6g

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-america-ric-bratton/id725684127

 https://tunein.com/podcasts/Politics/This-Week-in-America-p172036/

 https://www.iheart.com/podcast/256-this-week-in-america-with-31041920/?cmp=web_share&pname=fb&campid=s&keyid=1323465525&fbclid=IwAR2hHN5MgXqu5B6bHAuZFiwYS8JefZY4-ajmCzQZeRKnh1lrF23izl9mn-8

https://player.fm/series/this-week-in-america-with-ric-bratton

https://podcasts.google.com/search/this%20week%20in%20america

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/thisweek1/episodes/2021-02-04T09_39_57-08_00


All the best, Ric  Bratton

 www.thisweekinamerica.us


             

  2020 PINNACLE BEST BOOK AWARD FOR YOUNG ADULTS - Awarded December 2020 to Life Lessons and Tales of Little MisFit - Book 1:  Life Isn't Always What It Seems  

The National Association of Book Entrepreneurs 2020 Awards - See link below to see all Categories and the Awards for each (only one award per category)   


http://www.bookmarketingprofits.com/PinnacleAwardsFall2020.html


December 2020  - Life Lessons & Tales of Little MisFIt -autographed copies now available at Barnes and Noble in Naples, FL - If you don't live in Naples, FL you can order an autographed copy direct from author on this website




 November 6, 2020 Interview with Dr. S.K. Grunin about Life Lessons of Little MisFit on Story Time with Ketaki at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDPVlVaUDpcFlvyBTahDLvg 

This is a You Tube Interview for authors of Children's Stories.   

September 2020 Vine Publication Naples FL. - cover story about Life Lessons and Tales of Little MisFit -  Book 1:  Life Isn't Always What It Seems.   click on link to read story - Inspiring the Next Generation.  https://pubmanager.n2pub.com/share/fl/EJQVAlqw 

August 2020 Vine Publication Naples Florida - article about SKG Creations and how the donations are going to help the farm workers of SW Florida during the pandemic.  

NEW International Book Review for: Life Lessons & Tales of Misfit - Book 1: Life Isn't Always What It Seems by S.K Grunin

By SAMAMA, Aug 4 2020 07:23PM

This is the first time I ever became a fan of an 8 year old bad-ass girl who hit bullies with her metal lunch box for trying to look under her skirt and clobbered guys for bullying other girls – ladies and gentlemen, this little girl was from the 1950’s, and she was hilarious.

 At many points, it felt like the child version of me was talking in the book ‘Life Lessons & Tales of Misfit’. “I just couldn’t see the point in taking a nap, isn’t that what sleeping at night was for?” - exactly me all the time until I turned 12 and my studies hit me like a stone. This book, in an adorable way, made me feel that it’s okay to be different. It made me wish I had read this book when I was younger.    I grew up in a house full of boys so my Tom boyish ways were never frowned upon as I was happy with the boyish toys we already had at home, I loved wearing my brothers’ childhood clothes, and loved watching WWE wrestling and Top Gear with them, although I’d still go ecstatic for clothes with pictures of Barbie on them. While my tom boyishness weren’t frowned upon by my family, it surely was by the society. They’d tell me to wear more girly clothes, sit like a girl (???) and talk softly – like a girl. I’d go to my family and tell them all this, and they’d soothe me in a way that now, as a grown-up, I feel nothing but amused when people tell me how to act like a proper, decent girl.

 It’s the first time in a long time I didn’t want a book to end. Every childhood issues were described in the cutest ways for children to learn and understand easily. This book taught us that life isn’t what it always seems and its okay – it’s okay to be different. I can’t wait for the second part of this book to come out!

 5/5 stars for the adorable children’s book.   See more reviews or get your copy on Amazon by clicking this link:

https://www.amazon.com/Life-Lessons-Tales-Little-MisFit/dp/1528912292/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8#customerReviews 

June 25, 2020 – Naples Village School TV premiered in their on-line Knight Time TV Series for children, the 10-minute video of author SK Grunin’s reading of the introduction to Life Lessons and Tales of Little MisFit – Book 1: Life Isn’t Always What It Seems.   

July 1-25, 2020 - Two of SK Grunin's paintings are being shown as part of an art exhibit for the 2020 Art Poems exhibit at the Arts for Act Gallery located in the River District at 2265 First Street, Fort Myers.  Hours 11 am - 5 pm Monday through Sunday.   The published book of the exhibit can be purchased on Amazon at:  https://www.amazon.com/ArtPoems-2020-Art-Poems-Collaboration/dp/B085RSFHQB    Dr. Grunin's two paintings (Vibrant Sunset and Life's Journey through Nature) can also be seen by clicking on the artwork picture found on this website.