1) Tell us about yourself:

My name is Leslie C. Philp and I am a junior at Arizona State University as a journalism major in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication with an emphasis on public relations. I worked for a local newspaper, The Mesa Legend, for two years when I started my college courses at Mesa Community College before transferring to ASU, and decided to narrow my scope of interest from news writing to public relations. I have an identical twin who is pursuing a nursing degree through a hybrid program with Northern Arizona University and Mesa Community College.

I sought out an internship with Five Star because I wanted to learn more about how the publishing world works and how I would fit into the fold with the degree I am pursuing. I thought the best way for me to understand the public relations side of a publishing company was to dive in and gain some experience with the guidance of veteran publisher, Linda F. Radke.

2) What inspired you to pursue book publicity as a career path?

I have always been interested in the publishing world and I wanted to learn about the process of publishing, from the beginning of a project to the end of one. I am a huge book nerd! I think that there are so many opportunities for a person to grow and learn from someone else's creativity as well as just to immerse yourself in a really good book. I think storytelling is timeless, whether we're reading from paperbacks or Nooks, the art of storytelling will continue on for centuries. I am passionate about learning and books bring knowledge.

3) What's one new thing you learned from your internship so far?

I have learned so much! I think transitioning from editing news articles and features pieces to editing children's books has been a learning curve for me. Because I have a background of an APA style that comes from trimming wordiness, etc, and can break the rules when it comes to sentence structure as well as using fragments, I have to keep in mind that when I'm incorporating new edits or reading through a story, I'm looking for everything to flow properly as well as grammatical errors.

4) What are your three favorite books of all time and why?

The first one would have to be The Pokey Little Puppy from Little Golden Books because it is a story from my childhood and a book that I can still recite to this day because my mother read it to my sister and me so much. The second would be Dr. Seuss's ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book because I love the zany, off-the-wall rhymes and characters such as the zizzer zazzer zuzz - which is my favorite! This book inspires me to be authentic in my own craft for stories that I want to create for children. The third book that is one of my favorites is called Flying Leap which is a collection of short stories by Judy Budnitz. Her stories are very different and creative, inspirational for reinventing a writing style.

5) What Five Star Publications book is on your reading list this summer?

I have been helping with a new series that is currently in production for children. It is the Burton the Scarecrow � Friendship Tales from the Farm series. I can definitely say that kids are going to love it! It's so adorable; I want to buy every one in the series!