We are just two weeks away from the release of Grandma Snuggles and one week away from my very first virtual book launch event!
That means it’s time to begin celebrating! And what better way than to offer a three-book giveaway? Read on to peek at one of my favorite spreads in the book, to hear all the details of the book launch, the ten-week blog hop, and… of course, to enter the giveaway! Continue reading
It’s a very Happy Book Birthday to Little Mole Finds Hope so I thought I’ d dress up as him to celebrate…
This brave little mole, who sometimes feels sad and doesn’t know why, has finally burrowed out of his hole and made his way onto a bookshelf near you! And we have three brand-new copies away!
Read on for your chance to win this book, but first, just in case you’re wondering what this new picture book is all about, let me share one of my favorite reviews, from children’s author Matthew Paul Turner, who said:
A wonderful story about discovering beauty and light amid sad feelings and dark places, this book is a gift to both children and parents. With adorably vivid illustrations and tangible descriptions of hope that kids will understand, Little Mole Finds Hope will bring love, light, and curious conversations to every family’s bedtime reading.
Thank you, Matthew, for those lovely words! And now, here’s a peek inside the book, via the one minute video, news of a ten-week blog hop, and your rules for entering the giveaway…
To celebrate the release of my two new board books, Good News! God Made Me! and Good News! It’s Christmas! I’ll be embarking on a ten-week blog tour!
From October through December, these two new board books will be reviewed by children’s pastors, homeschooling parents, and authors, all of whom are passionate about children’s literature.
At each stop there’ll be a giveaway of Good News! God Made Me! which will be open to residents of the USA, UK and Canada, and will be sponsored by Our Daily Bread publishers.
Visit the links below to enter!
Oct 7: Mary Costello: Children’s Lit LoveOct 14: Amy: Raising Little DisciplesOct 21: Liz Millay: Steadfast FamilyOct 28: Deborah: A Delightful GlowNov 4: Natalie Thompson: Living by the PageNov 11: Bethany: Mom of Wild ThingsNov 18: Christie Thomas: Christie Thomas WriterNov 25: Laura Thomas: Laura Thomas WriterDec 2: Kayla: Baby DevotionsDec 9: Julia Ball: Ministry Mom
To celebrate the release of The Wonder That is You I’ll be embarking on a ten-week blog tour, all from the comfort of my own home!
Each week from now until September this premium picture book, that captures the universal joy parents feel when welcoming a new child into the family, will be reviewed by bloggers, children’s pastors, parents and authors who will each offer a giveaway of the book. That means ten chances to win!
Mark your calendars now for the first stop on Monday July 22nd with Natalie Thompson at Living by the Page.
HERE’S THE ENTIRE BLOG HOP:
Seventeen years ago Children’s Ministry Director Vanessa Myers sat in her yearly review at church. All eyes were on her. And all she wanted to do was quit. In Vanessa’s words:
I listened, helplessly, as my peers and employers critiqued the job I was doing.
You’re good at this, but you need to work on this.
Don’t do that again.
We don’t like it when you do this. Can you do more of this instead?
The list of comments grew and grew. I know there had to be some positive ones but the negatives echoed in my head.
What I was really hearing was: You’re not good enough. We don’t like you. You stink.
These are the first words you’ll read when you open up the pages of Rise Up: Choosing Faith over Fear in Christian Ministry
Do you want to know what happened? Vanessa didn’t quit. She rose up; chose faith over fear; and then seventeen years later, wrote a book about her experience. Meet Vanessa Myers, as I interview her about her journey as a Children’s Minister and her hopes in writing the book.
If you serve in ministry, or you know someone who does, you’ll also want to enter the giveaway of this wonderful new release. 
Continue reading
Rarely has one of my blog posts received such a heartfelt response as last week’s review and giveaway of Joanna Rowland’s beautiful book, The Memory Box. Thank you to the 68 people who entered, and all who shared from the heart about how loss has deeply touched your lives. I want you to know that I prayed for each of you.
If you didn’t win the book, please do order a copy. It truly is a wonderful resource. Many thanks to Beaming Books for hosting the giveaway.
And the winners are…
As hard as it is to believe, we have reached the end of our eight week blog tour celebrating the release of God Made Mommy Special and God Made Daddy Special.
So that means that if you didn’t yet choose that one-of-a-kind special gift for Father’s Day, you have just one chance left to win a free copy of both these cute books. Just visit Children’s Ministry colleague DeDe Reilly to read her review and enter the giveaway.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the tour, everyone who entered the giveaways, and everyone who took the time to leave those all-important reviews. They mean more to me than you will ever know.
Now that my virtual author tour has ended, I’m about to begin a real-life one, over the pond, in England. This time next week I’ll be visiting three Primary schools in the north of England, where I was born.
I hope to encourage these children to discover what it is that God made them good at, to work hard at it, pursue their dreams, never give up, and see what our great God can do. Because I know that amongst those listeners, there’ll be authors, and illustrators, and athletes, and physicians, and teachers, and wonderful parents… they just don’t know it yet.
Stay tuned for photographs of my visit there and in the meantime, read about what happened at my very first author visit to Sutton Oak Primary School, England.
If you’ve peeked inside the pages of God Made Daddy Special you’ll have seen these adorable images of animal babies with their dads…
These wonderful illustrations were drawn by Estelle Corke, a British illustrator 🙂 living in the south of England.
Now if you’ve ever wondered, like me, where illustrators come up with their ideas, or what they do with sketches they’ve drawn but can’t be used, or how long it takes to develop characters, then you’ll want to take a trip to my next blog stop on the Mommy and Daddy book tour, where I sat down with Michelle Huddleston to chat about the books.
As well as seeing a little live interview with me, you’ll get to read all Estelle’s answers to the questions above, plus more. (Can you guess which of these animal daddies and their babies she had never drawn before: was it Daddy Octopus or Daddy Skunk?)
Find out here and enter the two-book giveaway!
It’s always fun to be featured on another writer’s blog and so, when children’s author Laura Sassi, (author of the Amazon #1 best-selling zoo book, Goodnight Ark) invited me to share five fun facts about my new mommy and daddy books, I was excited.
Head on over to her blog today to find out what those five fun facts might be, and while you’re there, be sure to enter the sixth giveaway of God Made Mommy Special and God Made Daddy Special.
PS… If you happen to be a grandparent, you’ll LOVE fun fact #5!
UPDATE! Congratulations to Jennifer Scopel on winning the giveaway!
What are you going to give, or hoping to receive for Mother’s Day this year?
Just for fun, I thought I’d try to find out what the most popular Mother’s Day gifts might be and in my search, I came across a fascinating article on USA Today entitled The 19 Best Mother’s Day Gifts of 2017.
What would your guesses be? Top of the list was the ‘Gift of Scent’, closely followed, somewhat predictably, by the ‘Gift of Flowers’, and in at number three came the ‘Gift of Security’ (an indoor camera….as IF!)
I scanned quickly down the list, searching, searching for the gift I hoped to find, whizzing past the gifts of style, and beauty, and technology and ‘chic’, and nowhere, nowhere, did I find what I was looking for… I couldn’t believe it, but the ‘Gift of READING’ simply didn’t make it into the top 19. As a children’s book author, and an avid reader, I have to say: That is… Just. So. Sad.
And so, in an effort to compete with USA Today, I stopped by author Traci Smith’s blog, to offer my top THREE recommendations of children’s books, newly released for Mother’s Day 2018, any one of which would make the PERFECT ‘Gift of Reading’.
So, don’t delay, pop over there now and be sure to enter the third giveaway of God Made Mommy Special and God Made Daddy Special.
Visit Traci Smith.