Candace E. Salima

Alvin and Candace E. Salima

A wonderful lady, Candace Salima passed away this morning at 10:48. She had been suffering for a long time, and finally succumbed to Progressive Bulbar Palsy. I'm so glad I was able to visit her on Thursday for a short time, and am grateful to my school's principal, Mr. Ben Pugh who let me take part of the day off to hurry to Orem to see her. I'm so grateful for the little note she was still able to write to me. She is with her husband Alvin again, whom she lost back in 2014, and missed so much. They are back together again. I am so grateful for my understanding that this life is just one part of our eternal journey.
Please consider donating to help funeral expenses HERE.

Kanab Elementary School

Kanab Elementary

Today, I got to go down to Kanab Elementary for a school visit, and drive through some gorgeous country doing it. I left early in the morning, and got to watch the almost-new moon rise, and then the sun rise as I was driving. Very pretty!
I had a great time visiting with the Buckaroos of Kanab Elementary School. Their school song is so great, and I enjoyed listening to it. I got to give two presentations, one to the younger grades, and one to the older, and both times it was really fun! The kids who volunteered to help with the little play we put on were great sports, and did fantastic jobs! I'm so glad I was able to visit their school. The students, faculty, and staff were all friendly and fun to talk to. I loved the visit! I hope the kids learned some good ideas about writing their own stories!

(Almost!) A Best Seller! (For Like 5 Whole Minutes!)

The other day, Lindzee Armstrong did a St. Patrick's Day book giveaway for quite a lot of books, including one of mine (Felicity~ A Sparrow's Tale). At the same time, this same book was on a subscriber magnet sale with Mybookcave, and additionally, Ebookdaily decided to featured Felicity~ A Sparrow's Tale, something which I had not expected. (But which I liked, a lot!) As a result, downloads for that particular book shot quite high. Which was great. But I also like the fact that the sales of my other books also went up. Felicity and the Fire Stoppers got up to #4 in its category, which I was pretty excited about. I did some giveaways hoping that would get it up to #1 at least for a short time, but it didn't get there. Still, it was, for a very brief time, at #4 in its category of Children's Bird Books, and I thought it was pretty sweet!

Feature on Ebookdaily.com

ebookdaily.com is featuring my book, Felicity~ A Sparrow's Tale today!
It came as a pleasant and very welcome surprise!

ebookdaily.com is a website that features free books each day in several different genres including Children's.
The other books featured in Children's are Stolen Luck by Jaclyn Weist, a friend of mine, and Jenny's Amazing Wig by Betty Smith.

From Julia's Kitchen by Marsha Ward

From Julia's Kitchen Owen Family Cookery
(c) 2017 by Marsha Ward

This isn't a book review, because I haven't read the book yet, but I'm excited, because one of my favorite authors, Marsha Ward, has just released a new book.

From Julia's Kitchen is both a recipe book and a story, and if it's anything like Marsha's other books, it's a great one!

Author Marsha Ward

Marsha is the author of several books, including Spinster's Folly, a finalist in the 2012 Whitney Awards, and The Man From Shenandoah.

Whitney Awards-Middle Grade Finalists

Middle Grade is a genre that is very close to my heart. My last few books have been middle grade, and as a result, I have had the great privilege, several times, of going to elementary schools and talking to kids about literacy, and the importance of telling their own stories. I love middle grade books, and so I wanted to highlight the books and authors of Middle Grade who were nominated for the Whitney Awards this year.

Summerlost (c)2016 Ally Condie

Ally Condie wrote Summerlost, a book that sounds absolutely amazing, and one that will emotionally connect with its readers. I love getting absorbed completely by books like this!

On Amazon, the product description says "A tender and compelling contemporary novel for young readers about facing loss and finding friendship..."

Wrong Side of Magic, The
(c) 2016 Janette Rallison

Janette Rallison, a lady whom I know is a great writer because I've read many other her other books, branched into Middle Grade, to my delight, and wrote The Wrong Side of Magic. James Dashner had this to say about her book: "Whimsical, exciting, funny, adventurous--all the things I loved about books growing up."

Mysteries of Cove: Gears of Revolution
(c) 2016 J. Scott Savage

J. Scott Savage, one of my favorite authors of all time, has added book #2 to his fantastic steampunk series, Mysteries of Cove, with Mysteries of Cove: Gears of Revolution. Trenton and Kallista continue their adventure, searching for Kallista's father, Leo Babbage but they get more than they bargained for when they run into the Whipjacks on one side of a civil war and The Order of the Beast on the other side! But the Whipjacks and the Order of the Beast may be the least of their worries as dragons start to gather.

Red: The True Story of Red Riding Hood
(c) 2016 Leisl Shurtleff

Leisl Shurtleff's book Red, The True Story of Red Riding Hood is a New York Times Bestseller, and sounds like a book Middle Grade readers would eat up as greedily as Red's pal Goldie eats up porridge!

Ghostsitter (c) 2016 Shelly Brown

Brand new author, Shelly Brown, author of Ghostsitter, has produced a novel that sounds exciting, thrilling, and scary! Protagonists Tiffany Hart and Justin Henderson team up to fight against ghoulish demons to save their lives, and the afterlives of a few ghostly friends!










I'm really looking forward to reading these five books as a member of the Whitney Academy to vote on the winner. I'm not looking forward to deciding a winner though, because I already know that picking my favorite is going to be pretty tough!