Welcome to Tomato Enterprises Book Publishing
We produce children's books about western expansion and California history. Click on the titles above for more information about each book.

"Balloon Boy" is Beatty Award winner
The Balloon Boy of San Francisco, by Dorothy Kupcha Leland, was named the 2006 winner of the California Library Association's Beatty Award. The CLA's John and Patricia Beatty Award honors a distinguished book for children or young adults that best promotes an awareness of California and its people.

Balloon Boy is based on the true story of San Francisco newsboy Ready Gates, who in 1853 was accidentally launched in California's first hot-air balloon. In announcing the award, the CLA committee called the book "a light-hearted yet authentic picture of everyday life in 1850s San Francisco."

Learn more about Ready's amazing adventure.