Local mother-daughter children’s book team achieves top rankings on Amazon

On Thursday, Nov. 30, a local mother-daughter author and illustrator, Heather Herzog and Cat Eskey, witnessed their preschool counting book, “Bunny Bath,” rise to the top of Amazon’s Best Seller charts. On that day, it rose to the top of Amazon’s “Best Sellers in Children’s eBooks” chart, fluctuating from No. 26 to No. 11, out of thousands of Amazon titles. The ebook had been offered during the week in a free promotion, according to Penny Eifrig, CEO of Eifrig Publishing and publisher of the book.

Herzog (author) and Eskey (illustrator) were also amazed by other breakthrough Amazon rankings in November and in early December. The book was named “No. 1 New Counting Release for Toddlers and Babies,” by Amazon on Nov. 20, and recently, Herzog was listed in the top 10 percent rank out of 700,000 overall Amazon authors.

“’Bunny Bath’ is such fun for preschoolers and kids of all ages, with its seven, zany little bunnies hopping into the bathtub,” said Herzog, in a press release. “and children love the repetition, counting, and rhyming in phrases like, ‘knock, knock, knock, turn of the lock, and hop, hop, hop.’ But, we had no idea the book would catch on so quickly.”

Herzog’s daughter, Eskey, who illustrated the book, said she was inspired to create her illustrations long ago, when the family lived in southern California and had a vegetable garden where rabbits would come to nibble and visit. Herzog began writing the book then, and would share it with her daughter at bed-time. Eventually, the family relocated to State College, and has enjoyed living in central Pennsylvania for over 20 years.

According to Eifrig, the author donated 200 pre-release copies of the book to Mount Nittany Health hospital earlier this year, and will donate a few more copies to each of the elementary school libraries of the State College Area School District this winter.

“We donated ‘Bunny Bath’ books to all babies born at the hospital last April, which was really fun,” said Eifrig. “The author and the illustrator believe in literacy, a goal they share with Eifrig Publishing. It is such a pleasure to contribute to furthering literacy with the children in our community.”

Herzog, Eskey and Eifrig are all graduates of State College Area High School (Herzog ’77, Eskey ’11, Eifrig ’86). Herzog continues to live in State College and has a masters’ in education from Harvard University. Eskey earned a B.S. in communication sciences and disorders from Penn State two years ago, and recently moved to Boulder, Colo., where she now teaches yoga.