Start of Summer Book Tour & Disability Pride Month Highlights (So Far)

We're in the midst of summer! For most, summer 2026 has been a time of relaxation and extended vacations. But for me, it's been a time of meaningful hard work as I began a book tour for My Life as an Asthmanaut and a renewed book marketing campaign that tackled many different fronts.

The book tour started as Asthma Awareness Month was about to end. On May 30th in Houtzdale, PA, I visited the Hiller Family Memorial Library to do my first live book reading! 

I took part in a fun asthma-related activity there, too. I was happily surprised when I was gifted beautifully crocheted awareness ribbons from the staff.

Because my next stop wasn't for a few weeks, I kept the promotion machine running by...

passing out book partnership flyers to organizations in my community...

securing an easily findable domain for my website with use of my grant funds (https://www.jakelockett.com/)...

and doing an author interview on Maria Marshall's Picture Book Buzz Blog, which dropped on June 25th! Check it out if you want to read Maria's review of my book and also discover what my favorite local park is: https://www.mariacmarshall.com/single-post/the-picture-book-buzz-interview-w-jacob-lockett-and-review-of-my-life-as-an-asthmanaut

After I marketed about the second stop of my book tour in the Bargain Sheet's Community Calendar...

I went to that event! I'm incredibly thankful I got to read my book to such a special and kind story-timer at the Bellwood-Antis Public Library in Bellwood, PA!

Then July came, which is Disability Pride Month. My publisher pulled out all the stops to support my story for the month, including creating graphics and posting about my Disney endorsement.

I was ready to match their efforts, as I had many plans in store for Disability Pride Month!

With help from my grant, I placed a major book ad in the Bargain Sheet for one week. Hopefully, many people in Central PA saw it!

On July 10th, my book tour took me to the YMCA in Bigler, PA! It's odd to say that I had never been to a YMCA before! How refreshing to read outside, especially to a record number of awesome listeners through the Summer Playground Program!

Also on July 10th, my author interview with Jena Benton's Simply 7 Blog was released, where I shared some advice for aspiring picture book creators: https://jenabenton.com/2026/07/10/simply-7-with-jake-lockett-my-life-as-an-asthmanaut/

Then the very next day (yes, it was a VERY stacked couple of days), an interview I did with Brianne Fleming, a local reporter, was published in not only one, but TWO newspapers: Tri-County Weekend from The Courier Express, & The Progress. If you want to read the interviews online, here are the links:

https://www.thecourierexpress.com/news/clearfield-county-author-releases-picture-book-to-help-children-with-asthma/article_1d3673ce-6a74-4ff8-b9d0-1a565885d58c.html

https://www.theprogressnews.com/news/clearfield-county-author-releases-book-to-help-children-with-asthma/article_2156fa39-91f3-44da-bff4-663605bb473c.html

Or, if you're like me and enjoy reading off the paper itself, scroll down to see the digital scans of the interview that appeared in The Progress, where my book was FRONT-PAGE NEWS! Part 1:

Part 2:

I have more highlights coming up in the next post! Until then, stay stellar!