About EFFE
EFFE Books, Inc. is a new small business located in Winter Park, FL and the proud publisher of the Earth Facts for Earthlings (EFFE) book series.   We’re committed to helping ourselves and others learn more about this incredible and complex world we inhabit while enjoying the learning experience.  Many people, turned off by early academic experiences, don’t willingly revisit some of the subjects we write about.  Even a reminder of those experiences—for example, the word “geography”—can produce glazed eyes or even groans.  We can’t change anyone’s past, but we can help shape our futures.  Rediscover a sense of curiosity and adventure.  Rediscover the excitement of learning with EFFE books, dedicated to:  reluctant learners and willing ones, the easily bored and the persistent, those who know geography is fun and those who wish it were.

Meet the EFFE Team

This photo was taken in March 2006 at our first-ever book signing at BORDERS® bookstore in Oviedo, FL.  From right to left:  Author Kathy D. Stewart, Ph.D.; team chef (and business partner) Joe Funaro, Ph.D.; research and production assistant Vera Johnson; illustrator Bobby Rees with “EFFE Baby” #1 (born January), managing director Tom Funaro, and book designer Martine Cameau with soon-to-be-born “EFFE Baby” #2 (born just a few weeks after this photo).   Not pictured:  Our geography advisor Al Butler, CMS; illustrator April Chorba; and line editor Ed Van Buren.

About the Author
Kathy D. Stewart, Ph.D., is passionate about learning and equally passionate about igniting enthusiasm in others.  She earned her doctoral degree in experimental psychology from The University of Georgia in 1983.  Following graduate school, she served a tour of duty as an officer in the U.S. Navy and then joined the corporate world.  Bored and bewildered learners look the same in all settings, she says, and she continues to look for ways to reach them.  (We would have written “us,” but then she would have dragged us into her laboratory again and bombarded us with . . .)

Stewart was born in North Carolina and grew up in the Bahamas.  She has also lived in Mexico and Puerto Rico and traveled extensively. She currently lives in Florida.

Honorary EFFE Team Members
Many people volunteer time and energy to help us with each book.  Some people contribute ideas; some review one or more parts of the book; and some review all of it (many times).  Many other people contribute indirectly.  In each book, we recognize  special contributors as Honorary EFFE Team Members.  We very much appreciate all of them, as well as countless others whose work has contributed to our books.

EFFE Music
Catch the EFFE spirit by listening to our theme song, ‘A Whole New World of Cool’.  We even have two versions of it to accommodate different musical tastes!  Written by husband and wife songwriters Jim Ernsberger and Kelli Stewart of Little Island Music, the songs are performed by The Rapabees.  Lead singers DeDe and BuZz (yes, that’s how he spells it) are joined by an amateur backup group for even more fun in the ‘Rapabees Mix’ version.

The Stewart-Ernsberger songwriting team is hard at work developing a series of learning songs to complement the EFFE book series.  The first CD should be available by the end of the year.