Children's Choice Book Awards

Winners of the first annual Children's Choice Book Awards--a new component of Children's Book Week--were announced by the Children's Book Council (CBC), in association with the CBC Foundation.

Ian Falconer won the Illustrator of the year award for Olivia Helps with Christmas (S&S) and J.K. Rowling was named author of the year for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Scholastic).

Award-winning titles included Frankie Stein by Lola M. Schaefer, illustrated by Kevan Atteberry (Marshall Cavendish Corporation) in the kindergarten-second grade category; Big Cats by Elaine Landau (Enslow Publishers) for third-fourth grade; and Encyclopedia Horrifica by Joshua Gee (Scholastic) for fifth-sixth grade. [Selah loves Frankie Stein. Can you believe that?]

Children nationwide cast nearly 55,000 votes at bookstores, school libraries and at BookWeekOnline.com. The awards ceremony was held in New York and hosted by Jon Scieszka, National Ambassador for Young People's Literature.

Courtesy of Shelf Awareness

MEME: What have you learned since you became a Mom?

I've learned to trust myself more. Now if I could trust God more, I would really be on to something. :)

I also learned that I write Christian Fiction. This is one of the few genres where I can express my awe and questionings about my life, my purpose and my heartbreaks in one place. I can share it with others without too much fear.

What about you? What have you learned since becoming a mom?

I encourage you blog mommies to stop by the MommyFest today and listen to Kelly McCausey. Also participate in the giveaways. Tomorrow I will announce the winner of my book giveaway. Don't worry I have another book to give tomorrow as well. Have a good day. And if you have twitter, follow me.

Wednesday - May 14, 2008

Guest Speaker: Kelly McCausey
Topic: How Moms Can Use the Internet to Break Out of The “Mommy Box”

Guest Speaker: Tracy Roberts
Topic: Do’s and Don’ts of Family Traveling

Guest Speaker: Val Selby
Topic: Exercise and Weight Loss for Moms

MommyFest Book GiveAway

Today at Christian Fiction I'm giving away a great book with a strong mother protagonists:

A Mending at the Edge (Change and Cherish Historical Series #3)

Based on the life of German-American Emma Wagner-Giesy, the only woman sent to the Oregon Territory in the 1850s to help found a communal society, award winning author, Jane Kirkpatrick shows how landscape, relationships, spirituality and artistry poignantly reflect a woman's desire to weave a unique and meaningful legacy from the threads of and ordinary life. While set in the historical past, it's a story for our own time answering the question: Can threads of an isolated life weave a legacy of purpose in community?

An excerpt...

Women bore the brunt, no matter how dangerous it might have been to remain married to some brute. Women were left to fend for themselves and their children, to pay for the rest of their days for the poor choices they once made. Women suffered they stayed married, chose to live with the disgrace of divorce, or dangled dangerously in between.

You will enjoy this book!

So how do you win a copy?

Share a moment when you felt empowered about your Maternity in three sentences or less.

Paint Real Pictures of Real Struggles to Engage Your Reader

Michelle McKinney Hammond stops by Christian Fiction Blog to answer our spring 1Author Interview Question:

How do you engage your reader?

He[Christ] painted real pictures of real struggles that we can still relate to today and shared how the characters conflicts were solved so that we could learn from example. I think good Christian fiction does the same thing.

In my new novel, Playing God, I wanted people to get a coherent visual of what happens when we take our own lives into our own hands without partnering with God to achieve a victorious end to our personal dramas.

We are all guilty of playing God at some point in time. Whether reacting to a situation that we believe we can fix, trying to fix others, wreaking havoc out of revenge or trying to protect someone beyond our human jurisdiction we've been there done that and have the bruises to show for it. Hopefully these women stories will inspire readers to take a look at their own responses to issues that tempt them to take over rather than letting go and letting God work it out.

Click here to learn more about Playing God: A Novel

CFN: Bye Bye Ragamuffin Diva

Christian Fiction News week ending on Mother's Day...

Y'all I'm tired, but I'm going to take a little time to post this bit of news.

1. My write-or-die chick, Claudia Mair Ragamuffin Diva Burney is retiring from blogging. Stop by ang give her a divalicious farewell. D#$n, D^*n, da#!...(my bad impersonation of Florida Evans in Good Times)

2. Chip has announced a winner of his Bad Poetry Birthday Contest. These bad poets need therapy except me, of course.

3. Brandilyn Collins gives a great review of The Shack.

4. ECPA May 2008 Top Ten Fiction:

1. The Shack, William P. Young
   
2. The Forbidden, Beverly Lewis
   
3. Someday, Karen Kingsbury
4. Dear To Me, Wanda Brunstetter
5. Blink of an Eye, Ted Dekker
6. Chosen, Ted Dekker
7. Dawn's Light, Terri Blackstock
8. The Parting, Beverly Lewis
9. Redeeming Love, Francine Rivers
10. Facing the Giants, Eric Wilson

5. Love's Unfolding Dream in Blockbuster. Saw it today. They were all gone.

6. Baker is looking for an Editorial Director.

I have so much more news to tell, but I'm tired. Hop on the MomFest Party this week. I will be giving away some books for those participating in my Mother's Day Contest.

Dee

Amy's Healing Promises at LifeWay

I'll be doing a booksigning for Healing Promises at Lifeway Christian
store in Alpharetta, GA. from 11 AM to 1 PM as part of their Fiction
Day celebration.

Please stop by! I'd love to see you there!

Directions can be found on my website: http://www.amywalla ce.com in the
Events section.

Amy Wallace

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MomFest 2008 & Books Selah

Happy MommyFest! I've been praying about a new project devoted to mothers who love to read to their children. So in honor of this year's Mommyfest I decided to do it. Books Selah. Right now I will feature great children's books, but eventually I will be selling my own handcraft story books. I'm so excited. Selah will be helping me with the hand sewn books. The blog's layout will change and be complete by June 1. This week you can hang out with me at the MommyFest Blog Party.