Katie Newcomb

Balthazar the Pink Katie Newcomb

In this early-reader book, readers meet Balthazar, an adorable little hedgehog who loves everything pink. Through photographic examples, Balthazar shows the world how pink is truly a superhero color and should be loved by everyone. The book's inspiration comes from the author's son; who, at two years-old, proclaimed his favorite color was pink. Becoming discouraged by the barrage of retailer insistence on labeling a gender to certain colors, Author Katie Newcomb decided to create a story to help debunk pink's gender label. She chose to share the story using photographs captured by a smartphone to purposely give the book both a personification of hedgehogs, as well as an easy-to-relate, everyday format. Katie Newcomb is a lucky mom of two beautiful boys and a freelance writer who cut her scripting teeth on some of the best marketing gigs in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (including the Betty Brinn Children's Museum and the Milwaukee Brewers), and then put her chops to work writing children's books. She also runs her sole-proprietorship marketing agency, Giving Tree Events, LLC (www.givingtreeevents.com), where she focuses on creative copywriting, special events management, and gives a portion of all fees back to community-based non-profits. The hedgehog family featured in Balthazar The Pink was created by Erin Slattery-Black. Erin uses the skills she mastered while working as a professional costume designer and technician to oversee her family's business, Lyla Tov Monsters (www.lylatov.com). Her familiarity with monsters goes back over ten years, to when she worked as a costume designer for Sesame Street at the Jim Henson Company - a job which earned her two Emmy awards. She has also taught costuming at New York University, as well as working as a freelance illustrator, sculptor and designer for television, film, live theatre...and now for Balthazar The Pink.