Nancy I. Sanders's Blog, page 2

What Is a Good Book for a Baby Shower?

What is a good book for a baby shower?

That’s what my friends like to ask me!

And if you’re like me, you love it when new mommies get gifted books! At the shower for my friend’s first grandchild, they actually had a Red Flyer wagon (to gift to the new family) and it’s sole purpose was to load it up with baby books that they had requested us to bring! So adorable!!!

So I wanted to let you know about my newest book baby!

BEDTIME WITH DADDY will release September 6, 2022!

A companion to the award-winning board book, BEDTIME WITH MOMMY, this will be the perfect addition to gifts for the children in your life. Hugs, prayers, and lots of good-night snuggles make this book so precious for little ones to hold and have…both for Daddy and his own snugglebug!

I know so many of my friends have mentioned that they want to purchase multiples of BEDTIME WITH DADDY for baby showers and even early Christmas gift shopping, so if you’d like to join in the fun, you can pre-order your copies today!

During July, all pre-orders get a 40% discount at the publisher’s house at this link. CLICK HERE to take advantage of this amazing sale and stock up for the babies in your life!

Or if you prefer online shopping, CLICK HERE to pre-order your copies today on Amazon.

I wanted to give you a sneak peak into two of my favorite spreads in this book!

I love penguins. So of course, I had to put a penguin dad and his chick in the book, snuggling together in the snow. I mean, how precious it is that this animal dad cares for his baby for days and weeks at a time, protecting it against the harshest storms on the planet!

And I just love the art in this picture. This daddy’s keeping his baby safe from harm, that’s for sure! Plus, he’s rocking his little one in his arms. Sigh…I just can’t get enough of this illustration. Thank you, Felia Hanakata for such beautiful art in these books!

Thanks for your support of my books. Thanks for sharing the love of reading with the littles you love.

Hire a Writing Coach…Today!

I have an editor who is also my friend. Marianne Hering taught me the ropes on how to write chapter books for young readers when I worked with her on five books in the Imagination Station series for Focus on the Family. She’s the best!

Marianne also mentored me as my editor when we worked together on my early readers, One Sentence Storybooks, for Tyndale and Focus on the Family. She’s the best!

And today Marianne still edits and writes many books herself. And the exciting thing is that she also offers coaching services to other writers. Did I mention to you that she’s the best?!

CLICK HERE to learn more about Marianne and the services she offers as a writing coach.

Wondering if you should hire a writing coach to jumpstart your career? The answer is YES! Hire Marianne today!

Book Review: Howie’s Broken Hee-Haw

Every once in a while you come across a book that truly resonates with your heart that you know will become an important part of your faith journey.

That’s how it is with Howie’s Broken Hee-Haw by Josie Siler.

This isn’t just another book about Palm Sunday.

This isn’t just another holiday book for Easter.

This isn’t just another children’s retelling of Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem.

This is a tug-at-your heart that brings tears of joy to your eyes type of tale.

Howie, a little donkey, is frustrated and ashamed that he can’t bray like other donkeys his age. He tries and he practices but he just can’t get it out right. So when Jesus invites Howie to carry him into Jerusalem, Howie is sure there are other donkeys who can help better than he can.

But Jesus gently explains to Howie that he’s been created for a special purpose! To sing praises to Jesus!

Every child (and adult!) will be encouraged that we are each created for a purpose in God’s Kingdom, even in our brokenness. What a joy-filled message to share with our loved ones this Resurrection Day!

You’ll want to purchase multiples of this timeless treasure to gift to your littles this Easter.

This is author Josie Siler’s debut picture book and it’s a winner! Congratulations, Josie!

Exciting Picture Book Giveway!

I’m excited to invite you to post a comment on my friend’s blog for the chance to win a copy of my picture book, The Very Oldest Pear Tree!

Hop on over to Carol Baldwin’s delightful blog today. CLICK HERE to join in the fun!

And while you’re visiting, be sure to sign up to get all of Carol’s blog posts in your email. She interviews amazing new (and sometimes classic) children’s books and most always offers a giveaway! (Plus, with the delightful interviews she features, it’s a great way to get connected with other children’s authors.) Stay in the know in our KidLit community.

But be sure to hurry! The giveaway ends April 1 and that’s no joke!

Master Class for Christian KidLit Writers

I’ve got some exciting news for children’s writers! My dear friend, Karen Whiting is teaching an online Master Class on how to write devotions for kids, teens, families and adults! Devotions are hot. Devotions are in. Devotions are one of the best kept secrets of how YOU can break into the world of getting published in the Christian market.

So mark your calendars for Saturday, April 23, 2022! And CLICK HERE to learn more about this event and how to register. It’s just $69 and that’s an investment in your writing career you’ll be glad you take.

Oh, did I mention that not just one, but TWO, (yes 2!) editors will be also popping in to tell you how you can submit to them!

Marianne Hering, editor at Focus on the Family who acquires parenting articles and tips and hacks, will be sharing what she’s looking for…and then inviting you to submit to her paying market!

And Michelle Medlock Adams will be talking with us to let us know all about her brand new children’s imprint with End Game Press. She’ll be sharing tips on how to submit your children’s book to her!

So join me and the other wonderful Christian children’s writers at Write2Ignite! This April.

And if you haven’t ever plugged into this amazing community of KidLit writers who have a heart for God, hop on over to our website and get plugged in!

CLICK HERE to follow our blog and stay in the know with all things Christian and all things KidLit from board books to young adult. (To get our blog delivered directly into your inbox, just scroll down along the right hand side of the blog page until you see the information where you can sign up.)

CLICK HERE to sign up and receive our monthly newsletter where you’ll learn more about our private critique groups and facebook group and picture book critique services (and more!) that make us a community you’ll want to be part of.

How Bunny Hopped into a BOARD BOOK: Five Fun Facts About BUNNY FINDS EASTER by Laura Sassi 

Bunny Fact  #1:  My own confusion as a child about the real meaning of Easter inspired me to write BUNNY FINDS EASTER.  

As a little one I loved dying Easter eggs and hunting for jelly beans, but I didn’t make the connection that Easter is when we celebrate Jesus’s resurrection until I was in grade school. So with my own children, I made extra sure to connect all the wonderful traditions of Easter to the real meaning of the holiday. For example, while nibbling jelly beans with my little ones, we’d ponder how they were good, just like God, who in His goodness, sent us Jesus. Or, while marveling over the first buds of spring, I’d connect that to our new life in Christ. These conversations eventually became the spark that got me writing this story.

Bunny Fact  #2:  BUNNY FINDS EASTER was written to be a board book from the beginning. 

Since I wanted my story to serve as a faith spark for littlest ones and was also keen to try my hand at a board book, I mapped the story out with that format in mind from the get-go. That meant fewer spreads (10 or so instead of 14) and very short text so that the words wouldn’t crowd the pages and would also allow the illustrations to tell part of the story. To help me get this just right, I read lots and lots of board books. (Special note: This is a must if you are interested in pursuing this format.)

Bunny Fact  #3:  I chose to write BUNNY FINDS EASTER in rhyme because it fit the feel of the story and Bunny’s personality.

After playing around with prose versus verse, I decided to tell the story using short bouncy rhyme because I thought it captured Bunny’s bouncy personality. Rhyme also resonates with youngest readers. (Special note: Choosing to write a story in rhyme is a tricky proposition. My opinion is that it should only be tried if you can execute it flawlessly in terms of both rhyme and meter, and if the rhyme makes sense for the story.)

Bunny Fact  #4:  I originally envisioned lift-the-flaps, but simplicity (and probably production costs) prevailed.

Since my hope from the beginning was that BUNNY FINDS EASTER could be used as the sweet spark for conversation with littlest ones about the real meaning of Easter, I thought I would help parents navigate that by including short explanations on each spread explaining how each moment depicted points to Easter in some way. For example, on the spread with the hot cross buns, there was an added phrase: “Is this Easter?”  And in then in a sidebar (or potentially under a flap) were the words: “No, but the cross shape reminds us of Easter.”

In the end, my editor and I agreed that those mini-explanations broke up the flow of the story. Still, it is my hope that families reading the book with their little ones will use the sweet illustrations and text as a spark for conversation about how all those items and traditions can remind us of Jesus: the real gift of Easter.

Bunny Fact  #5:  My prayer from the beginning has been that the book will serve as a fun conversation starter about Easter and JESUS!

Do you pray over your written projects for God’s wisdom and blessing, asking that the words you pen would be pleasing to Him?  I do. And because I do, my writing, in a sense, becomes a way giving my time and talents (which He has so generously given to me) back to Him.  And I am so excited, now that it is out, to see how God will use BUNNY FINDS EASTER.

BUNNY FUN

For a very meaningful (and fun!) activity, host a special book walk! You can do this with your own children, in your neighborhood, at your local Christian school, or with your children’s ministry at your church! Just click on the link below to download and print instructions for hosting your very own book walk with kids this year and celebrating Laura’s newest board book, BUNNY FINDS EASTER!

bunny-finds-easter-book-walkDownload

BIO:  Laura Sassi has a passion for telling stories in prose and rhyme. She is the author of six books for children including the best-selling Goodnight, Ark, which was a 2015 Christian Book Award Finalist; Goodnight, Manger; Diva Delores and the Opera House Mouse, which won First Honor Book for the 2019 Best in Rhyme Award and is a 2021-2022 Iowa Goldfinch Award Nominee; Love Is Kind, which was a 2020 Anna Dewdney Read Together Award Honor Book; Little Ewe: The Story of One Lost Sheep and Bunny Finds Easter, her new board book with Zonderkidz! 

Laura Sassi, Author

Bedtime E-book and Memory Maker!

For Christmas we like to exchange Christmas cards and small gifts with our neighbors. We live on a cul-de-sac and the community mailbox is in our front yard, so every day each one of the 12 families who live on our street come to visit our mailbox. If we’re outside doing yardwork or working in the garage, they often stop and say hi and chat for a moment.

So this Christmas as our gift to the families with little children on our street or with grandchildren who come to visit, we gave them each a gift of my newest book, the bedtime board book, Bedtime with Mommy.

It was such a joy to my heart, then, to chat with one of our neighbors last week and she told me that her one-year-old’s favorite book is now Bedtime with Mommy! She said that every night they HAVE to read it together with him when they put him to bed. And they can’t skip a word or he knows.

My other neighbor stopped to get her mail a few days earlier and said she bought a second copy of Bedtime with Mommy to give to her second grandbaby who was born this year (after getting our Christmas gift of the first copy). She asked me to autograph it to him personally, so I did. Fortunately, her grandbabies live close by.

I know that so many of us grandparents have grandchildren who live far away, so I’m excited to share that my book Bedtime with Mommy is available in e-book format on a new storytelling platform, Make Momentos. With Make Momentos, adults can record their own audio narration of a children’s e-book and send it to a special child in their life. The best part is, the gift is a permanent keepsake that can be passed down to future generations. So even for mommies and grandmamas whose snugglebumpkin is close by, you can even create a keepsake for your special little ones.

I was invited to write a guest blog post for Make Momentos this month on creating meaningful bedtime routines. Click here to read it.

Merry Christmas Gift for You!

Merry Christmas from me to you!

This year I have an exciting gift for you, a beautiful new ezine, The Heart of Christmas. I want to thank you personally for following me here on my blog as a fellow KidLit writer.

Inspirational. (Because you inspire me in so many ways.) Poignant. (Because life is full of poignant and meaningful moments.) Full of hope and good cheer. (Because you do so many things throughout the year to bring hope and cheer to my heart, too!)

Click below to download this free gift from me to you!

2021-christmas-ezineDownload

And thank you to the amazing women who put this beautiful Christmas Ezine together and the wonderful writers who gifted their talents to this project! Ruth Schmeckpeper and Elizabeth Daghfal, the editors and creators behind this project. And authors Marlene Houk, Stephanie Smith, Kathi Bloy, Chris Stratton, Beth Ann Ziarnik, Susan Marlene, Kris Orkin, Marilyn Nutter, Krisann Blair, and Lori Z. Scott.

And while you’re enjoying this cozy Christmas read, here’s my brand-new favorite Christmas song this year. CLICK HERE to enjoy Glory Hallelujah! by Selah.

Merry Christmas!

#HeartofChristmas #amtrustingHim

PERFECT CHRISTMAS GIFT!

https://www.endgamepress.com/store/p/bedtimewithmommy

I’ve got great news for you today! Yes, my publisher is having a Black Friday sale today through Monday with 30% off!

BEDTIME WITH MOMMY is the perfect gift for giving this year, especially if you love to give gifts to your local ministries. Toys with Tots, Sanctity of Life volunteers, Shoebox ministries, and more! This year be intentional and gift little ones a gift that helps build a strong foundation of faith from babies and up.

BEDTIME WITH MOMMY is a sweet adorable padded board book, just perfect for bedtime reading. But it’s so much more that that. It teaches young mommies to pray with their little ones. To sing hymns and songs of worship together. To read a Psalm and find comfort and hope. To snuggle and pray a blessing over their child.

I know so many of you have told me you want to use this book to give to your children or grandchildren or local ministries this year.

Now is a good time to purchase multiples…and my publisher is offering a Black Friday sale to help!

CLICK HERE to purchase Bedtime with Mommy directly from the publisher.

Author Interview: Kelly Wilson Mize

Meet Author Kelly Wilson Mize!

Follow her and connect with another fellow Christian KidLit author on social media today!

Website: Kelly Wilson Mize

Instagram: kelly_wilson_mize

Twitter: @kellywilsonmize

Facebook: @kellywilsonmize

FEATURED BOOK

The Beautiful Story Within Me

by Kelly Wilson Mize

Art by Mark Brayer

Support your local bookstore and order it in. Or order it online at:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

The Beautiful Story Within Me is a lyrical tale of love and redemption. Bringing the classic adage, “Don’t judge a book by its cover” to life with a surprising twist, the vibrantly illustrated book, rooted in simple Biblical truth, is an enchanting adventure for both children and adults.

INTERVIEW

Q: Please tell us the story behind the story of why you wrote this book.

A: A few years ago, when I was an elementary librarian, I started thinking about all the books on the library shelves that were never or rarely checked out. Sadly, most of those books were overlooked because their covers were old and worn out. Many of the tattered books were full of wonderful stories and ideas, but were literally being ‘judged by their covers.’ I often spent time repairing the worn books the best I could, so that more children could enjoy them. But books age, just like we do. Does that make their content diminish? I started comparing the characteristics of people–all of us loved and treasured by Jesus–to books on a library shelf.

The age-old advice, “Don’t judge a book by its cover” is not only wise, but it’s also Biblical. I wanted to write a book that took the old adage and brought it to life in a way that was uplifting–one that I hoped would be encouraging for people of all ages.

Note: The gray cat in the book is a tribute to our family cat, Chester, who lived to be 15. Chester grew up along with my children and died not long before I finished The Beautiful Story Within Me. Since my library students always loved to hear storiesabout animals in the library, I wanted to make sure there was a cat in my story. And I knew the perfect model! I also gave my illustrator photos of my children when they were young, and he drew two of the kids in the crowd scene to resemble them.

Q: Can you share the journey you took to get this book published?

A: I have been a freelance writer for the past 20 years. Before this book, I had a lot of relative “success” doing contract work for publishers. On paper, I had a ton of writing experience, but still had not ever written a full-length, stand-alone piece that was completely mine. So, a couple of years ago, I took the plunge. I consulted with a writing acquaintance who had recently self-published two picture books. I asked her lots of questions about the publisher she worked with to create her books, and ultimately chose the same independent publishing company she used (Palmetto). And here I am! It’s been a moment-by-moment learning experience for me, and I am thankful to have had the opportunity to have my own book published–and available to readers all over the world. All in God’s time. 

Q: What other kinds of writing do you do along with your picture book?

A: I’ve written a variety of material for both children and adults, online and in print. Over the years, I’ve written articles, devotionals (for kids and adults), and children’s curriculum for Lifeway Christian Resources on a regular basis. Several years ago, I interviewed a number of well-known people in the faith-based community for Lifeway’s ParentLife magazine. My most memorable interviews were with Patricia Heaton (from Everybody Loves Raymond) and Max Lucado. I will always treasure those experiences and feel so grateful for the opportunities I’ve been blessed with.

When my children were small, I also wrote a weekly community column in a newspaper for a while (remember actual paper newspapers?!). 

I still write devotionals, short stories for compilation books, and curriculum whenever I can. I feel like writing, with the purpose of encouraging others (and myself!), is a God-given mission. I am always open to new writing/speaking experiences and look forward to seeing what God has in store for me next.

Q: Do you have a word or two of advice for your fellow KidLit authors?

A: Work hard, pray hard, and learn as much as you can from experts in the field. But also–try not to compare your success to the success of other writers. We all have our own gifts and each person’s journey is unique.

If you love to write and feel called to it–make time to write! But don’t let writing become your entire identity. If you do, the inevitable rejection and setbacks will discourage you and affect your confidence in a way that is unhealthy. Remember, you are a whole person, with great worth and many talents, not just writing!

NOTE FROM NANCY

Not too long ago, I connected with Kelly because we both recently joined an amazing network of Christian writers at just about the same time, AWSA, the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association. When I learned about Kelly’s book and we began networking together, I fell in love with this beautiful picture book she has written. It moved me in such a powerful way I bought 4 copies to give as Christmas gifts this year! First of all, I encourage you to read Kelly’s book. You’ll see how powerful of a message it has for us as writers and for every child of God. Secondly, I encourage you to join AWSA and take advantage of this amazing community of Christian writers. Don’t go into the new year alone!

Thank you, Kelly, for sharing your amazing story behind this anointed book here for my blog readers.