Survey Results

I would like to thank the readers who voted in our recent poll asking, "What would you like to see more of here?"

Giveaways just barely squeezed out guest bloggers, with book reviews coming in third. No one voted for author interviews, which kind of surprised me.

I'll do my best to add more giveaways, but I pay the shipping on these books 9 times out of 10, which is why I might not have as many as some other bloggers. Speaking of giveaways, I am running two excellent giveaways during my LITTLE SHEPHERD VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR '10.

Follow me along my tour trail and comment on my tour stops to be eligible to win a gift basket full of goodies retailing for $65. I am also running a giveaway for those who purchase a copy of Little Shepherd.

So far the reviews for Little Shepherd have been excellent. There are already five, 5-star reviews posted at Amazon. I hope you'll consider purchasing a copy for a child this Christmas.



Go to the Pump Up Your Book tour page at http://www.pumpupyourbook.com/2010/09/08/little-shepherd-virtual-book-tour-october-november-and-december-10/ to find my entire tour schedule. You can find details about the two giveaways by visiting http://www.pumpupyourbook.com/2010/09/27/giveaways-announced-for-little-shepherd-virtual-book-tour-octnovdec-10/

Cover Art for The Little Shepherd Boy by Cheryl C. Malandrinos

This is officially a jump up and down, squeal like a little girl moment. When I checked my email tonight, Lynda Burch, owner and publisher of Guardian Angel Publishing had sent me a copy of the cover art for my book, The Little Shepherd Boy, which is due to be released this fall.

I was already familiar with Eugene Ruble's work before he was contracted to design The Little Shepherd Boy, so I knew the cover art would be wonderful; but I had that tense moment before the file popped up on my screen that said, "What if I don't really like it?" I hope that's normal.

I absolutely love this cover! I'll have to send Eugene a note of thanks this week, so I don't forget. My intentions are good, my brain is not always there. I also need to stop referring to this as my book. Eugene and I are collaborating on this project, so it's really our book.

I would appreciate some feedback from you, the readers of this blog, and hopefully future fans of Obed's story, The Little Shepherd Boy. What do you think of the cover art?

Thanks for all your support. Look for more information regarding The Little Shepherd Boy as we get closer to release time.

December Special Feature: A Little House Christmas Volume II

Our next featured book in December dips back into my Laura Ingalls Wilder collection. In 1997, HarperCollins came out with the second volume of A Little House Christmas.

While the first volume concentrated on Christmas time in Wisconsin, Kansas, and along Plum Creek, Volume II starts off by moving east to Malone, New York, where a young Almanzo Wilder is growing up on his father's farm. Farmer Boy, is the only book that Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about her husband's childhood, and it recently led to a new documentary by Dean Butler and Legacy Documentaries. Dean played Almanzo Wilder on the 1970's television show, Little House on the Prairie. For more information about this documentary, please visit my blog Laura's Little Houses or the website for the Wilder Homestead.

Also included in A Little House Christmas Volume II are the Christmas stories from By the Shores of Silver Lake, The Long Winter, and These Happy Golden Years. The Long Winter has always been my favorite of the Little House books and in this one we get to see Almanzo and Cap Garland portrayed as hereos when they travel sixty miles to find seed wheat so that the town can survive until the trains begin running again in spring.

Once again, Garth Williams's illustrations have been colorized to bring the Little House stories to life in a wonderful way. Both covers for these books are beautiful--not that one would expect less from Garth Williams--but I love the picture of Ma bending down to put the little blue coat with the swan's-down collar and hood on Grace that comes from Laura's telling of Christmas Day and the Boasts' visit in By the Shores of Silver Lake.

A Little House Christmas Volume II will be treasured by any young girl who receives it...and even big girls like me who still love the timeless Little House books.

December Special Feature: A Little House Christmas

In 1995, HarperCollins compiled some of the Christmas stories from the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder into a beautiful large collector's hardcover titled, A Little House Christmas. This book is the next selection for our special featured books in December.

Christmas time in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, on the prairies of Kansas, and along Plum Creek come alive again in this special collection with colored Garth Williams illustrations. The introduction to this book starts off as follows:

"ONCE UPON A TIME, a little girl named Laura Ingalls lived in a little log cabin in the Big Woods of Wisconsin with her Pa, her Ma, her big sister Mary, and her baby sister Carrie. Laura had many adventures as she traveled west across the prairie with her family in their covered wagon..."

Every year new fans are drawn to the Little House books. New generations of children learn about the pioneers through the eyes of a young girl who experienced it. And it is Laura's romantic view of the world that attracts fans to the love and support of family that flows in abundance throughout the Little House books.

Also included in this first of two volumes, are the words and music to "Merry, Merry Christmas!" by Mrs. T. J. Cook.

A Little House Christmas would make an excellent gift for the Laura Ingalls Wilder fan in your life.

December Special Feature: Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien

Here's a special treat for the holidays that my husband surprised me with a couple of years ago. J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, wrote a letter to his children every year for Christmas. These letters told stories of life at the North Pole and included colored drawings or sketches. Sometimes, the Polar Bear or Ilbereth the Elf would include a note, adding more life and humor to the stories.

Letters from Father Christmas (Houghton Mifflin Company) revised in 1999, includes new letters and pictures never before published. While this book contains only a few examples of Father Christmas's shaky handwriting, almost all of the pictures have been reproduced and the book also includes "the alphabet the Polar Bear devised from the Goblin drawings on the walls of the caves where he was lost."

It is impossible for me to describe the beauty and wonder included within this book's pages. Reproductions of the fronts of envelopes, detailed drawings and sketches, and the actual letters with printed text underneath, work together to create a stunning collector's item. Even if you're not a fan of Tolkien's other work, you'll certainly admire and enjoy Letters from Father Christmas if you are partial to coffee table books surrounding Christmas or are a lover of Christmas books that the entire family can share.

I'm not sure where my husband found this hardcover copy, but it is available online at Amazon.com and there is a paperback version also available. Personally, I think it's better to spend a little extra to get the hardcover because the cover art is beautiful and it makes the book easy to display on a shelf.

Letters from Father Christmas is one book that should be in the home of every person who loves the spirit and magic and Christmas!