Jane Kirkland
Author and President, Stillwater Publishing

Jane was a best-selling computer book author when, one day, she spotted a Bald Eagle soaring over the parking lot of her grocery store. That moment changed her life. Today she is the award-winning author of No Student Left Indoors: Creating a Field Guide to Your Schoolyard, as well as the award-winning series of Take a Walk® books for young readers. Get the brochure…

Rob Kirkland
CFO and Editor, Stillwater Publishing

Rob Kirkland is an author, consultant and trainer who specializes in various IBM products, including Lotus Notes and Domino, Websphere, and WebSphere Portal. He is our resident computer software and networking guru and our go-to guy for editing. He is also the one person who keeps Jane sane. Before Rob caught the computer bug, he was at various times a bank lending officer and a lawyer.

Becky Prante
Events Coordinator

Becky Prante is the personal assistant to Jane Kirkland. She is currently attending Montgomery County Community College majoring in Elementary Ed and plans on transferring to West Chester University in the fall. Becky thinks this is a great working experience and she is soaking up all the information she can from Jane and the rest of the team. Jane and Becky have known each other for about 12 years. Becky does many different jobs for Take A Walk. She is the school and seminar support and personal assistant. She also does office administration work and field work.

Kae Tienstra
Public Relations

Kae Tienstra is our publicity and media relations coordinator. She is the proprietor of KT/PR and Literary Services, a public relations and literary agency she manages with her husband Jon. Kae has been working with Jane for a number of years, adding a lifelong love of nature and gardening to her contributions as publicist/agent.

Melanie Palaisa
Editor and Researcher

Melanie has worked with Jane and Dorothy for years, first as a Development Editor for several of the “how To” computer books they authored, and now as an Editor and Researcher for the Take a Walk® Books. Melanie loves being outdoors and learning about nature. Her background is in horticulture and botany but her career path has taken her in many directions from greenhouse production to commercial computer publishing, contract technical writing, medical writing, and finally back learning about nature for Take a Walk® Books. She is currently enrolled in the Master of Sciences program for Biomedical Writing at the University of Sciences in Philadelphia.

Dorothy Burke
Editor and Researcher

For many years before Jane discovered nature and began writing Take A Walk books, Jane and Dorothy co-authored “how to” computer books together. When Jane began working on the Take A Walk books, Dorothy immediately turned her writing, research and editing—and even some of her artistic—skills to helping Jane with the books and websites. She still maintains her job in the Philadelphia area teaching computer skills, working on websites, and consulting.

Peggy Jackson
School Events Coordinator

Peggy Jackson organizes our author visit programs. From planning to managing the visit in person, she works with teachers, administrators and parents to ensure a successful, fun, and educational day for all. Peggy is also a talented artist and photographer whose work appears in Take a Walk® books. She is the married mother of five and lives in Levittown, PA where she was raised with her sister, Jane Kirkland, and six other siblings.

Denise Hansen
Educational Advisor

Denise is an Educational Advisor to Stillwater Publishing and Take a Walk® Books. She monitors and manages the educator sections of our websites and helps to align our books to State and Federal Academic Standards. She is a fifth grade teacher in the Upper Darby School District in Delaware County, PA where she manages an after-school environmental club for students which meets weekly. Denise is currently enrolled in a Master’s of Environmental Education program at Slippery Rock University. She has developed a course she teaches during the summer months called “Literacy and the Environment”.

Peter Moses
Advisor, Singer/Songwriter

Peter composed and performed our official Take A Walk® song, “In Nature”. His specialty is music for preschool and early elementary children. To learn more about Peter and to hear some of his original music go to www.petermoses.com or search his name on www.cdbaby.com. To hear the office Take a Walk® song, click here.

Catherine’s work has appeared in our book, No Student Left Indoors:Creating a Field Guide to your schoolyard. Catherine also writes sections of our website. Her posts focus on the topic of school gardens, gardening with children, gardening as environmental education, and the importance of native plants. She is owner of Yellow Springs Farm in beautiful Chester County, PA. Yellow Springs Farm is focused on the creation, installation, maintenance and restoration of landscapes using native plants and environmentally sound principles as a foundation. Please visit the Yellow Springs Farm website.