Guest Author, Virginia Wright

Today, I have special guest, author Virginia Wright, at my pad. She has an adorable new Christmas book and coloring book out. She's giving away one copy of the book and one copy of the coloring book. If you'd like to enter the contest, leave a comment below indicating such. If you want bonus points, share your favorite Christmas memory. The winners will be announced Monday.

Without further ado, let me tell you about Virginia's book and let her share some thoughts with you.

Blurb:  Join Timothy, a house mouse, on Christmas Eve, as he tries to survive a cold winter's night, all alone in an old Maine farmhouse. To eat, he must venture out into a terrible snowstorm. Come along with Timothy and meet other interesting forest animals in this delightful children's holiday story.

* Great Christmas Eve bedtime story!

 

My Review:  It's Christmas Eve. Timothy the mouse is alone in an empty house. The residents have moved, and now there are no crumbs to eat. Timothy must venture out into the cold, snowy night in search of food. Timothy fills his bucket with acorns, but is surprised when other hungry forest creatures help themselves to his stash. Things look bleak until Timothy discovers a delightful Christmas surprise.

Timothy the Christmas Mouse is a lovely Christmas story to share with young children. They will enjoy the illustrations of all the forest creatures, and will want to know if Timothy manages to find a Christmas Eve meal. Also included, are some coloring pages. Children will have fun adding their own artistic expressions to the book. Recommended for children ages 3-7.  Five stars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buy the books:

Amazon Story Book

Amazon Coloring Book

Amazon Ebook

Books-A-Million Coloring Book

 

You can watch the video trailer here.

 

 

Interview:

 

1. Thanks for joining us, today! What was your inspiration for writing this book?  The inspiration to write Timothy the Christmas Mouse came after my family bought  an old New England farm house in Maine some years ago.  The house had been empty for about two years before we  moved in. There was a big breezeway and  a barn attached to the main part of the old house.  The former owners had chickens, horses, goats,  and… house mice. I know this about the mice, as we found one mouse after another.  We think that the mice were attracted to the hayloft where it was warm—it was this experience that prompted me to write Timothy the Christmas Mouse.

Sounds like a very cool old house! I don't know about all the mice, though. I'm glad at least they served as an inspiration for your story!

2. What did you enjoy most about writing this book?  Sherry,  as a writer yourself, you know that writing every book evokes different feelings.  With that said, I not only write, I also illustrate my own books.  I want to speak about the illustrations, as I created pages purposely anticipating giggles.  Anticipating the giggles is definitely what I enjoyed the most about  creating Timothy the Christmas Mouse.

I bet there will be a lot of giggles from kids reading your book!

3. Share your favorite Christmas memory. I would love to share my favorite Christmas memory, Sherry.  I was just  four or five years old, and living on a farm in a small country town in Swanville, Maine.  It was Christmas Eve and my parents told me to look out the window as Santa and his reindeer were outside.  I crawled up on a stool and looked out of a frosty window pane just in time to see a red light bobbing up and down in the field by my house.  Of course I assumed it was Santa with Rudolph, so I climbed down off the stool and ran to my bedroom to go to bed for the night as I knew Santa would not come to my house if I did not fall fast asleep.

That's a great memory! I remember my uncle used to take me up to a room on the top floor of my grandparents' house and tell me to listen to the reindeer on the roof. The tapping sounds were pretty convincing!

4. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? I always wanted to be a writer!  Ever since I have been a young girl― I put words to paper. I can remember sitting on the veranda of my parent’s house writing, first it was a little diary with a lock and key, later, as I started growing up it was a pen and pad in hand—back then, I wrote mostly Poetry and Haiku’s. My excitement for writing was realized in 1981, when I sold my first writing to a regional publication Washington County Magazine, but the excitement for writing didn’t stop there, it continued to grow!

So many writers start out when they're kids. I was the same way. I had no idea I'd ever be a published author, though! You've written a lot of wonderful books for children. I'm so glad you've continued writing! 

5. What secret talents do you have? Secret talents…  hmm. I am not certain some would call this a talent, but I hold an “FCC Amateur Extra Radio License.”  In order to receive this top US license,  which by the way is the highest class license you can make, I had to first pass a 5-WPM (word per minute) Morse code exam, then earn other  class licenses, and in the end, to get Amateur Extra License, I had to pass a large theory exam,  and pass  a 20-WPM (word per minute) Morse code exam. I had to decipher words like SOS with dots and dashes, and all other words used in sentences. Those who hold an Amateur Extra license have all privileges on all US amateur radio bands.

That's pretty cool! I don't know too many people who have that ability. Maybe your next book can be a spy book and use some of this knowledge you have!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bio

Virginia Wright (born Virginia Brown March 19, 1958) is an American author and illustrator of children's fantasy fiction and non-fiction books. She first became a published author in 1981 when she sold her first writing--Faith, to a regional magazine in the state of Maine. Faith, The Blessing, and Rosarium are published in an anthology--Soundings by the Poetry Fellowship of Maine. Wright received a World of Poetry Merit Award-- with Rank: Honorable Mention (1987) for her poem, Faith. The poems Picture Memories and Life, Love, Inevitably Death are published in Our Day of Passing Anthology by Ingrid Hall, Franco Esposito, Dennis Higgins, Virginia Wright and a collaboration of 30+ other talented co-authors around the globe. Besides poetry Wright has written six books, her first a children's book, "The Princess and the Castle, A Fairy Tale" (2010) and this was followed by three other fairy tales, The Prince and the Dragon, Crying Bear, and a Christmas classic, The Christmas Secret: Mikey's Story. Wright is the author of an educational non-fiction, short book for all ages, Buzzzzzzzz What Honey Bees Do. Her latest book, Wild Animal Sounds, was released November 2014. As an illustrator, the cover Wright, illustrated for Steampunk Alice by Dennis Higgins won the AUTHORSdb Gold Award (2014).

 
Connect with Virginia:
Blog                                                                                                           

 Amazon Author Page

Facebook                                                                         

 Twitter                                                                                 

 Pinterest

Goodreads

 Instagram

 
Thanks to Virginia for being a guest here!

Before I go, I would like to let you know that as part of my World of Ink  Book Tour, my book Ten Zany Birds, is being reviewed at Families Matter. These are some of the bloggers who organized my tour. If you are a children's writer, and are looking for a company who will promote your book specifically to people who are interested in children's books, World of Ink Network, is a great place to go.