School visits

Colleen has spent a lot of time in elementary schools. Not only as a student, but also a classroom volunteer, library volunteer, and elementary school secretary. 

Showing kids how fun reading, writing, and art can be is so exciting! Everyone is a storytellter, no matter their age. Anyone can learn to draw and paint. 

Colleen looks forward to sharing her experiences writing and illustrating. Programs vary depending on the age group and needs of the educator/school. Please contact for pricing.

Linden, The Story of a Tree - Like The Giving Tree, Linden watches over those who care and love for him. UNLIKE the Giving Tree, Linden’s love for his community isn’t expressed through sacrifice. This is ultimately a more positive message for kids.

Themes: nature, garden, love, community, friendship, rebirth, death, life-cycle, protect, mother earth

“Featuring a positive message of friendship and community, Linden: The Story of a Tree by author and illustrator Colleen Muske is a charmingly heartfelt, gorgeously illustrated, picture book celebration of the simple joys of loving one’s community. An original story about the many ways nature supports and surprises us. Linden: The Story of a Tree is a perfect pick for family, daycare center, preschool, elementary school, and community library picture book collections for children ages 4-7.” —MIDWEST Book Review

Brave Old Blue - Unsure and a little afraid, an old horse arrives at a rescue farm, hoping to find his forever home.

After traveling down a winding road, a pickup truck pulling a trailer stops at a farm. When the trailer opens, an old horse steps out. Old Blue, alone, unsure, and trying hard to be brave, has arrived at a horse rescue farm. But what will happen here? 

As it turns out, there is a warm greeting waiting for Old Blue. Friendly pats, fresh carrots, soft voices, and tender hands welcome the old horse. And there is a young girl, Bobby, who is eager to show Old Blue around. With the big blue sky high above rolling green hills and horses galloping through the pastures, Old Blue takes it all in.

It’s not easy letting down one’s guard, though, as past fears and disappointments are never far from the old horse’s thoughts. Will Bobby be able to comfort, soothe, and assure Old Blue that he has found his forever home?

Kirkus Review - "A heartwarming charmer. Readers will root for this horse all the way."

Booklist - Limited text, artfully formatted, incorporates horse terminology as Bobby guides Old Blue through the barn and fields: “Afternoon blankets the paddock” while “wind canters down the canyon.” The soft artwork’s tawny palette creates a warmly pastoral tone, and gentle characterization reiterates the story’s comforting message.

How To Draw A Tree -  The key to drawing a tree—or anything, for that matter—is to understand your subject. How do you get to know a tree? Use all your senses!

Would you like to draw a tree? Here’s how. First, you’ll need to make friends with your tree. Feel it. Smell it. Listen to it. Look at your tree from close up and far away. Notice all the things that make your tree special, from the shape of its leaves to the variety of colors hidden within.

Publisher's Weekly - "Embracing geographic and seasonal variability, LaRochelle’s observational text coaches would-be artists using simple tactics for noticing. After a basic directive (“Go outside and find a tree”), suggestions encourage appreciation of each selected subject’s varied attributes, including texture, color, shape, leaves, branches, and more (“Some trees smell like a chest in your attic”). Featuring background textures, Muske’s undulating artwork emphasizes arboreal diversity, with scenes featuring nonrecurring children, depicted with varied skin tones, spending fall, winter, spring, and summer days among species such as a live oak, Norway spruce, and Joshua tree, shown in endpapers. Emphasizing perception over creative technique (drawing-specific instructions never materialize), the creators successfully underscore the importance of mindful attentiveness as a first step toward art-making. Ages 3–7. "

Booklist - Issue: August 1, 2025

How to Draw a Tree.

By David LaRochelle. Illus. by Colleen Muske

Aug. 2025. 32p. Minnesota Historical Society, $18.95 (9781681343211). PreS–Gr. 3

Drawing starts with observing. Step by step, the author encourages readers to fully experience

each aspect of different trees, including the textures, colors, and shapes of the bark, branches,

leaves, and roots. Readers are urged to touch a tree, to examine its leaves, to determine the

shape of a tree, and even to lay down under it and listen to the sounds it makes. The illustrations

depict trees as part of the environmental setting, providing subtle clues about where each plant

would grow based on different habitats: Is there a lot of water nearby? A dry desert? Is it hot or

cold? In an isolated or congested area? Considering the details of the illustrations is good

practice for making a drawing. Only after children explore ways to really see a tree are they

encouraged to try to draw it. Labeled pictures at the end identify the trees so readers can go

back through and match up the names with the larger spreads. A variety of people interact with

trees throughout this unique and thoughtful book.