Featured book: A Bookmobile Noel

Author: Cleo Lampos

Publisher: Amazon

Genre: Historical Fiction

Series or Stand Alone:  Series: (Dust Between the Stitches, Riding the Rails to Home, A Mother’s Song)

Target Age:  High school to adult women

 

 

 

IT IS MY PLEASURE TO WECOME AUTHOR CLEO LAMPOS TO THE OVER 50 WRITER. CLEO SHARES HER OWN EXPERIENCE AND WHAT RESEARCH HAS TAUGHT HER ABOUT BOOKMOBILES.

 

 

 

CLEO IS OFFERING A GIVEAWAY! SIMPLY LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW TO ENTER THE DRAWING FOR A PRINT OR KINDLE COPY OF A BOOKMOBILE NOEL..

 

 

 

ROLLING WITH THE BOOKMOBILE

 

 

 

by

 

 

 

Cleo Lampos

 

 

 

A pigtailed blonde hunched in her seat, engrossed in the book lying on the scarred desktop. Each turn of the page transported her further from the violence and deprivation of home. The series by Beverly Cleary brought chuckles and a light heart as Henry Huggins tried to take care of his dog, Ribsy. Classics such as Little Women produced the handkerchief from the desk before the older boys noted the tears. Any illustrated adventure from Thor Heyerdahl’s pen illuminated a world beyond the oceans. Walter Farley’s saga of The Black Stallion churned the quest for adventure. The regional stories of Lois Lenski developed empathy for other children in the United States. Through the written page, the imagination and creativity of this child blossomed in spite of the direst circumstances.

 

 

 

 

 

That child was me. The vehicle for the crates full of books was the bookmobile that rolled into the sparse one-room rural schoolhouse in southern Wisconsin. The new supply of reading materials was highly anticipated. I agree with Adriana Trigioni: “People have often told me that one of the strongest childhood memories is the scent of their grandmother’s house. I never knew my grandmothers, but I could always count on the bookmobile.”

 

 

 

The years stacked one upon another: marriage, reading piles of books to my children, storyteller at the local library, missionary biographer at children’s church, special education teacher who read mounds of books to the class to keep them quiet. Significantly, to reach the emotions of the behavior disordered boys who circled my chair. Decades surrounded by life-changing literature.

 

 

 

Joining Jane Rubietta and Lynn Austin in a writer’s support group, my interest was piqued when Lynn researched the packhorse librarians of Kentucky as she wrote Wonderland Creek. Probing further into the WPA and Great Depression, I discovered Mary Utopia Rothrock and her work with the Tennessee Valley Authority. Rothrock’s literary reach to thousands of TVA families through bookmobiles intrigued me. Further investigation into my home state of Illinois uncovered the 1930’s bookmobile in Evanston, Chicago and other large cities as well as southern Illinois, a place where the CCC (Civil Conservation Corp) fought erosion and drought.

 

 

 

The personal touch for the plot brewing in my head came from a stack of letters that my mother wrote and received as a newlywed living in The Dust Bowl of the Great Depression. Two diaries from her pen chronicled day-to-day married life dealing with few resources in cabin camps and near Hoovervilles.

 

 

 

A narrative about a librarian navigating the dirt roads of southern Illinois in a bookmobile grew in my heart and mind as more information unfolded: hobos, quilts, WPA mural painting, the power of personal faith in Christ, and the value of oranges. A Christmas Noel.

 

 

 

The novella, A Bookmobile Noel, is a tribute to the librarians who ventured on muddy roads, snow-covered gravel, and blazing sunshine to transport crates of books to schools, post office drop boxes, and other delivery spots. For poverty-stricken farmers, their wives and children, these boxes of fiction and function filled the long days and nights with diversion and hope. Literacy from a bookmobile with a never-ending supply of knowledge, and comfort.

 

 

 

My fascination with bookmobiles knows no bounds. Currently I facilitate a group of senior and retired citizens on Wednesdays at my church. It is the custom for me to bring books for participants to check out and peruse. Some give a “book report” to promote an especially interesting read. Many of my presentations to the group are based on missionary lives, and the contributing volume is highlighted in my talk. This weekly meeting may not be a bookmobile in the ordinary sense, but my husband has expressed that our car has been reassigned for that purpose. Maybe it has.

 

 

 

As the little girl with a love of books, through the healing grace of God, I am now “living the dream”.

 

 

 

Back cover for A Bookmobile Noel

The Great Depression deepens across the United States in 1935. Dorothy Wagner lands a job as book mobile librarian for the Illinois Library Relief Fund. Packing her feed sack dresses in a cardboard suitcase, Dorothy rides the Illinois Central Railroad train to Deer’s Woods, the southern-most part of Illinois. Dorothy enjoys her accommodations boarding with Pastor Ray and his wife, Evie. But the news that Lieutenant Tom Nelson from the Civil Conservation Corp will drive her from towns to schools rubs her sense of independence. Eventually, the hobo jungles, quilters, graphic artists, school teachers and desperate farmers that Dorothy meets on her book route present glimpses of life that she had not experienced in Chicago. As the weeks pass, Tom and Dorothy discover the true mean of Christmas in the midst of economic deprivation.

 

 

DON’T FORGET TO LEAVE A COMMENT TO BE PLACED IN THE DRAWING TO WIN A PRINT OR EBOOK COPY OF A BOOKMOBILE NOEL  BETWEEN NOW AND SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10TH AT MIDNIGHT MST.

BY LEAVING A COMMENT, YOU GRANT PERMISSION FOR YOUR EMAIL TO BE REVEALED TO THE AUTHOR IF YOU ARE THE WINNER TO FACILITATE RECEIPT OF YOUR BOOK.

 

 

 

Cleo Lampos read extensively about the Great Depression through diaries, journals and books over several decades. A retired teacher with a library science background, Lampos researched the packhorse librarians and the advent of the bookmobile until a story formed in her heart and mind. The author of historical fiction and nonfiction based on this time period, Lampos lives in the Chicago area where she and her husband are urban gardeners and involved in church ministry.

 

 

FEATURED BOOK:  Love’s Final Sunrise

AUTHOR:  Catherine Ulrich Brakefield

PUBLISHER:  CrossRiver Media Group

GENRE:  Christian Futuristic Amish-Suspense 

SERIES OR STAND ALONE:  Stand alone

TARGET AGE:  15 to 85

 

 

 

IT IS MY PLEASURE TO WELCOME AUTHOR CATHERINE ULRICH BRAKEFIELD TO PATTI'S PORCH. CATHERINE SHARES ABOUT BLENDING THE PAST WITH THE FUTURE.

 

 

 

CATHERINE IS OFFERING A GIVEAWAY! SIMPLY LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW TO ENTER THE DRAWING FOR AN EBOOK COPY OFLOVE'S FINAL SUNRISE.

 

 

 

MIXING THE OLD ORDER WITH THE FUTURE

 

 

 

by

 

 

 

Catherine Ulrich Brakefield

 

 

 

I never dreamt galloping across the Amish countryside while foxhunting would trigger my imagination for a futuristic novel.

 

 

 

Back in the late 1990s, my first experience in meeting the Amish was foxhunting in the outskirts of a quaint little Amish community in Ohio. Then, when I became a writer for the Michigan Traveler Magazine, I learned about the Amish settlements in Michigan.

 

 

 

I wanted to write a Thanksgiving Day article that articulated the kind of Quaker lifestyle our forefathers lived. I didn’t know of any Quakers who lived in Michigan, and decided the next best thing would be the Amish. While foxhunting in the Marlette area, I noticed the Amish signs and a few Amish buggies. So off I went.

 

 

 

Acquiring more knowledge than I needed for my article, I wrote additional pieces mainly featuring the Amish in Michigan. Not only did I write about them, and increase their sales potential, my husband and I started to purchase their wares. We bought produce, acquired a blacksmith for our horses, purchased heifers, bought our wood floors from them, even had our sheds made by the Amish.

 

 

 

I learned how the Amish functioned and prospered in our automated world. Their families thrived without modern conveniences. No electricity, no cars, no television, not even a radio—and no cell phones. In fact, the unity of children, teens, adults, and grandparents flourished.

 

 

 

Have you noticed that in the last fifteen years, more movies and even more preachers have focused on the last book of the Bible than any other? I began my own research, studying the New King James Version Scriptures.

 

 

 

I read and reread the scriptures referring to Christ’s return —Watch, pray, and alert the elect are the three things which jumped off the pages at me.

 

 

 

“And unless those days are shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened”     Matthew 24:22 (NKJV)

 

 

 

Amidst the peace and harmony of living among The Old Order Amish is where my heroine, Ruth Jessup finds herself. Away from the humdrum pitfalls of our modern society. The Amish people live a simplistic lifestyle—without cell phones, computers, and micro-wave ovens.

 

 

 

Wrapped around a sweet romance, my heroine and hero meet upon the brink of an EMP (Electromatic Pulse) Attack. Within the pages of Love’s Final Sunrise, I include Scriptures, Amish common-sense know how, recipes, and home remedies.

 

 

 

Here is a section of the back jacket of Love’s Final Sunrise for your review.

Once the huntress—she is now the hunted.

New Yorker Ruth Jessup and Amish-bred Joshua Stutzman live in different worlds. But their lives collide into catastrophic proportions as they battle wits against a psychopath and the New World Order.

After Ruth wakes from one of her reoccurring nightmares, she prepares for the day’s fox hunt, rides down a lonely stretch of road in Owenson, Michigan, and is suddenly immersed in her nightmare.

Fleeing for her life and suffering from amnesia, she finds herself in an hourglass of yesteryear. No televisions, radios, cell phones, or computers, only buggies and lanterns, planting and canning.

If not for Joshua, Ruth would be lost and homeless. An attraction blossoms, but the chaos of the biblical seven-year tribulation blankets the world. Can Joshua’s Amish ways help them survive these next three-and-one-half years?

And without the mark of the beast, will they escape the executioner’s axe?

 

 

 

GIVEAWAY: Catherine has been on my Step into the Light Radio show many times before. Have you had a chance to read any of Catherine’s books? Wilted Dandelions, Swept into Destiny, Destiny’s Whirlwind, Destiny of Heart, and Waltz with Destiny? What do you look for in a good read; educational, historical accuracy, romance, adventure, or pleasure?

I WILL DRAW THE NAME OF ONE FORTUNATE PERSON FOR A DIGITAL COPY OF LOVE'S FINAL SUNRISE. DRAWING CLOSES TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6^TH AT MIDNIGHT MST.

BY LEAVING A COMMENT, YOU GRANT PERMISSION FOR YOUR EMAIL TO BE REVEALED TO THE AUTHOR IF YOU ARE THE WINNER TO FACILITATE RECEIPT OF YOUR BOOK.

 

Catherine, after readers have read Love’s Final Sunrise, what can they do to help make this novel more successful?

 

The best way to help me, or any author, is to write a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Goodreads. These are the most common spots. However, my publisher, CrossRiverMedia.com has opened their reviews for the public to utilize. https://www.crossrivermedia.com/product/loves-final-sunrise/

 

Bookbub is another great place you can post a review.

 

Only when we hear from our readers, do we know if we succeeded in making our characters and story real enough for our readers to immerse themselves in every page and feel the magic when their imagination takes flight!

 

For more information about Catherine and her books, please see:

 

Website: https://www.CatherineUlrichBrakefield.com 

 

Link to book:

https://www.crossrivermedia.com/product/loves-final-sunrise/

Be first to know my latest news and giveaways by signing up for my Newsletter: https://www.catherineulrichbrakefield.com/newsletter-sign-up-form.html

CrossRiver Media Author page;   https://tinyurl.com/bdfwp44c

Amazon Author Page and learn about my newest books:  https://tinyurl.com/s72y46ce

Author Facebook:       https://www.facebook.com/CatherineUlrichBrakefield/

Goodreads:  https://tinyurl.com/2p9d7x6d

BookBub:        https://www.bookbub.com/profile/catherine-ulrich-brakefield?list=about

Blog: Hope, Hearts, and Hoofbeats    https://tinyurl.com/4ebuu63p

Visit me the 16^th of every month on Heroes, Heroines and History  www.HHHistory.com

 

 

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