Collar Cases #3: Case of the Angry Avians is live!
You can find it on Amazon. The ebook will be arriving later this week. (The audiobook will be available as soon as Audible deigns to ingest the title . . .)
This is Sarah Johnson’s last book as illustrator. We thank her for her creativity and vision! Molly Farnsley will be assuming the paintbrush beginning with Collar Cases #4: Case of the Stolen Scarab (coming early 2023).
Power Pup #2: Power Pup vs. the Grillmaster delivered to betas!
Three days ago, I put out a call to my email subscribers, asking for volunteer test readers for the Power Pup #2 manuscript.
As of today, the manuscript has been delivered to everyone who signed up. If you aren’t on my email list yet or missed the announcement, you can still sign up! The deadline to submit your feedback is Wednesday, Nov. 23. Contact me for more info.
Personal Updates & Critical Book Recommendation
Thank you to everyone who prayed for my dad during his open heart surgery. After suffering through some initial setbacks and unfortunate sickness, he is doing well.
Prayers for increased improvement in nighttime rest and overall stamina are appreciated!
If you saw my October video update, you also know that one of our other parents suffers from a terminal illness.
This has been a difficult time for our family, especially as we try to thoughtfully and joyfully prepare the twins for the temporary loss of a grandparent once she is (to borrow a phrase from my dad’s Salvation Army roots) promoted to heaven.
Our twins turn 4 years old a few days before Christmas. This is a tricky stage, as my daughter in particular is old enough to ask some grown-up questions but doesn’t fully understand the concept of death.
I knew I wanted help breaking down this tough topic in a way that is easy(ish) for the kids to understand, biblically accurate, and framed in a joyful way.
So I turned to my friend Christie Thomas. I think her speciality is sharing spiritual truth with kids in a biblically-accurate but developmentally-appropriate way.
She has a blog post listing the ten best books about heaven for kids. I went through and bought most of them! If you are dealing with death in the life of a young child, I highly recommend you check this out.
Additionally, Christie as an adorable picture book that tackles grief and loss at the same time. It’s called Quinn Says Goodbye, and it’s currently 36% off on Amazon. For $10 and some change, you can get a picture book that will contextualize a painful loss of any kind in a bite-sized story preschoolers can understand.
Honestly, I think every family with young kids needs this book. I bought a stack to give out as presents this year.
Free Kids Classics for Christmas?
Children’s author Leonora Teale has a great kids’ book giveaway contest running from November 9th to the 15th. You can win six animal-themed children’s books for 9 to 12 year-olds in hardback and paperback (worth $65).
Titles include:
• The Incredible Journey
• National Velvet
• The Jungle Book
• The Hundred and One Dalmatians
• Heroes: Incredible True Stories of Courageous Animals
• War Horse
They make a great animal classics book collection, just in time to give as gifts this Christmas season. Enter your email by November 15 for a chance to win!
You can also share the contest and follow Leonora on Facebook and Instagram to get more entries into the prize draw.
That’s all my updates for now! I’ll be back in December for updates on Collar Cases #4, Power Pup #1, and Power Pup #2!