We're carrying signed copies of North! Or Be Eaten in the Rabbit Room store, as well as discount bundles of autographed books one and two for only $20! Order now and we'll get the books in the mail. Thanks for reading, and for supporting me and mine.AP
A Rabbit Room Review of the Wingfeather Saga
Hello, friends.My buddy Jonathan Rogers, author of the Wilderking Trilogy, was kind enough to read his review of On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness for the latest Rabbit Room Podcast. Head over to the Rabbit Room to listen, or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes by clicking here. Thanks for listening,APP.S. North! releases next week! Can't wait to hear what you think.
A Letter from Preston in Michigan
Hello, folks.As we gear up for the release of North! Or Be Eaten in three short weeks, I'll be posting reviews and pictures as they come in. For now, though, be sure and visit the "Art by YOU" section to see a picture of the Igiby cottage drawn by 11 year-old Preston. Here's the letter he sent with it:
The High Calling of Bending Low
I just finished Roald Dahl's short autobiography Boy: Tales of Childhood, which was a fine gift from Russ Ramsey last time I saw him. I closed the book with a greater belief than ever in the work God has given me. In the last chapter, after Dahl tells the story of his funny, delightful, and often painful childhood, he says that he worked for a few years as a businessman.“I enjoyed it, I really did. I began to realize how simple life could be if one had a regular routine to follow with fixed hours and a fixed salary and very little original thinking to do. The life of a writer is absolute hell compared with the life of a businessman. The writer has to force himself to work. He has to make his own hours and if he doesn’t go to his desk at all there is nobody to scold him. If he is a writer of fiction he lives in a world of fear. Each new day demands new ideas and he can never be sure whether he is going to come up with them or not. Two hours of writing fiction leaves this particular writer absolutely drained. For those two hours he has been miles away, he has been somewhere else, in a different place with totally different people, and the effort of swimming back into normal surroundings is very great. It is almost a shock. The writer walks out of his workroom in a daze. . . . A person is a fool to become a writer.”I wasn’t expecting to read a paragraph that encouraging when I started this book. I suspect a businessman would read that paragraph and wonder what all the fuss is about. It might sound awfully like complaining. But it isn’t. I sighed a weary, happy sigh because Dahl assured me I’m not as crazy or as wimpy as I’m afraid I am. The same can be said for songwriting too. God has arranged the process (for me, at least) in such a way that after every song is complete, I get amnesia. I think, in the fast-fading thrill of having written a song, that I’ve finally unlocked the secret formula, discovered the missing number, solved the timeless mystery of how to write a song. I have answered for myself the question of whether the music or the lyrics come first! And the answer is--er, wait, I had it a second ago. What was it again? And it’s gone. Even as the last note fades to silence, amnesia sets in. I can't remember how it works. So the next time I pick up the guitar or open the notebook, I do so with fear and trembling, unsure how to proceed. It’s a wonder anything ever gets written.It made me wonder, why did he write at all? Dahl confesses a disbelief in God based mostly on his abuse at the hands of several wicked men of the Church--and it’s hard to blame him. It’s struggle enough to believe, even without a priest beating you with a cane. Then why did he suffer the long toil of the written word? Where did that urge come from? That he wrote books for children makes me think that the suffering of his own youth softened his heart toward the young. Perhaps he hoped to give them some light, some escape, some comfort in their own fear. He was beaten by wretched men at boarding schools, made to bleed, made to grab his ankles and weep while they hit him, sometimes while the Headmaster quoted Scripture. It’s fascinating that this poor boy grew into a tough man who would work to spin fantastical stories for children. I’ve never been a big fan of his stories, though I do appreciate his whimsy.But in this book especially his descriptions of people and of the beauties and horrors of his childhood were vivid. Dahl remembered what it was like to be a little boy. And he remembered that it is terrifying. It reminded me how vital it is that Christians bend low and speak tenderly to the children in our lives. These boys and girls at our churches, in our schools, down the street, are living a harrowing adventure. Every one of them falls into one of two categories: wounded, or soon-to-be-wounded. The depth and nature of those wounds will vary, but they’re all malleable souls in a world clanging with hammer blows. The bigger they get, the easier the target. I get a lump in my throat every night I sing “After the Last Tear Falls” (which I co-wrote with Andrew Osenga), when I get to his line, “After the last young girl’s innocence is stolen...there is love." It's because I’m certain there are people in the audience for whom that line must bring a terrible memory. I sing the final chorus with all the ache I can muster because I want them to believe that love outlives all the pain that ever was.Those of us who write, who sing, who paint, must remember that to a child a song may glow like a nightlight in a scary bedroom. It may be the only thing holding back the monsters. That story may be the only beautiful, true thing that makes it through all the ugliness of a little girl's world to rest in her secret heart. May we take that seriously. It is our job, it is our ministry, it is the sword we swing in the Kingdom, to remind children that the good guys win, that the stories are true, and that a fool’s hope may be the best kind.
Calling All Bloggers!
Dear readers,North! Or Be Eaten releases next month (August 18), and we're trying to let as many people know as possible. One of the ways to do that is this nutty thing called a Blog Tour. Basically, the publisher is offering a complimentary copy of the new book to any eligible bloggers who'll blog about it around release week. If you want to participate, send an email to Kelly Blewett at [email protected] with the subject line "Take Me North!" and she'll let you know further details.As always, thanks so much for all your support. Writing these books has been an unforeseen and overwhelming blessing, and I hope to write many more. Thanks for supporting me and mine in this way.Beware the bumpy digtoad,AP
Maurice Sendak on Children's Stories
Travis Prinzi, a fellow contributor to the Rabbit Room, just posted this quote from Maurice Sendak (one of my favorite illustrators, most famous for Where the Wild Things Are). It rings true with me, and it echoes some of what I said in the Note to Parents:"Most frightening to children is to dream their own figures of fear and find no analogue in anything they hear about or read. Children need to see their feelings, particularly the darkest ones, reflected in their stories. Mitigating the darkness of the fairy tale takes away their power to reassure children that they are not alone in their fearful imaginings, that they are shared and can be addressed." --Maurice SendakAnd I believe that's one of the reasons God gave us art--to remind us we aren't alone.*Illustration courtesy of Cory Godbey. Check out his new website of artists paying tribute to Sendak's work.
A Dragon Day Festival in Kentucky
I was delighted to get this email yesterday:"I teach 1st grade at a small Christian school in Louisville, KY and I read your book to the students daily throughout the second semester and they absolutely loved it! Their favorite things were the interesting characters--the thwaps, toothy cows, horned hounds, etc... We finished the book a few weeks ago and last Friday we hosted a "Dragon Day Festival" for the entire school. My 1st graders came up with four games and a snack and for an hour each on Friday each class came and the first graders told them about your book, lead them in the games, and fed them "Maggotloaf". They are equally excited as about new book coming (one girl in particular is dually disgusted and thrilled about the flesh-eating cockroaches). Though they will be in 2nd grade then, I hope to give them the book to enjoy with their families." Thanks to Mrs. Lackey and all the kids at Portland Christian School for letting me be a part of your school year. Here are a few pictures, along with Mrs. Lackey's notes:
New Art by YOU
I love to get mail. I especially love to get mail when it's a package full of drawings by 4th graders. And I especially, especially love to get mail when those drawings are from On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. Big thanks to Miss Robb's class for all the kind notes and superb artwork.I just posted them in the "Art by YOU" section. As always, be sure and click the picture to zoom in on the details. Here are a few to whet your appetite:
