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May 7

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Didn’t We Have Fun! Wins 2013 Skipping Stones Honor Award

We’re thrilled to announce that Didn’t We Have Fun! was chosen for an Honor Award from Skipping Stones magazine, as one of 12 books selected for the Multicultural and International Books category.

In the year of our 25th Anniversary, we recognize 25 outstanding books and teaching resources with the Skipping Stones Honor Awards. The honored books promote an understanding of cultures, cultivate cooperation and encourage a deeper understanding of the world’s diversity. They also encourage ecological richness, respect for multiple viewpoints and close relationships within human societies.

The winners are listed in three categories—Multicultural and International Books, Nature and Ecology Books, and Teaching Resources. We believe these unique titles offer an exciting way to explore and understand cultures, places, societies and their histories.

For book reviews, please visit: www.SkippingStones.org

Didn't We Have Fun!, by Hilda Robinson & Jeff KunkelHere’s a full list of the winners in the Multicultural and International Books category.

We’re pleased to join this list of extraordinary books!

Please support these wonderful titles and recommend them to your school and public libraries.

Didn’t We Have Fun!
By Hilda Robinson & Jeff Kunkel, illustr. Hilda Robinson
CrickhollowBooks.com
Picture Book. Elementary grades. ISBN: 978-1-933987-17-0

Queen of the Track
by Heather Lang, illustr. Floyd Cooper (boydsmillspress.com).
Picture book. Elementary grades. ISBN: 978-1-59078-850-9

Tea Cakes for Tosh
by Kelly Starling Lyons, illustr. E. B. Lewis (penguin.com/youngreaders).
Elementary grades. Picture book. ISBN: 978-0-399-25213-6

Unspoken: A Story from the Underground Railroad
by Henry Cole (scholastic.com).
Picture book without words. Elementary grades. ISBN: 978-0-545-39997-5

The Lynching of Louie Sam
by Elizabeth Stewart (annickpress.com).
Novel. Middle and upper grades. ISBN: 978-1-55451-438-0

The Poet Upstairs
by Judith Ortiz Cofer, illustr. Oscar Ortiz (artepublicopress.com).
Picture book. Elementary grades. ISBN: 978-1-55885-704-9

Los pájaros no tienen fronteras: Leyendas y mitos de América Latina
by Edna Iturralde, illustr. Andrezzinho (librosalfaguarainfantil.com/co).
In Spanish only. Grades 6-9. ISBN: 978-958-758-494-3

Finders Keepers? A True Story in India
and its Spanish translation, ¿Es Mio? Una historia verdadera en la India
by Robert Arnett, illustr. Smita Turakhia (www.AtmanPress.com).
Picture books. Grades 1-6. ISBN: 978-0-96529008-1 and 978-0-96529000-5

Three Years and Eight Months
by Icy Smith, illustr. Jennifer Kindert (eastwestdiscovery.com).
Picture book. Elementary and middle grades. ISBN: 978-0-98562378-4

The Whole Story of Half of a Girl
by Veera Hiranandani (randomhouse.com/kids).
Novel. Middle grades. ISBN: 978-0-385-74128-6

Hope and Tears: Ellis Island Voices
by Gwenyth Swain (calkinscreekbooks.com).
History. Grades 5-10. ISBN: 978-1-59078-765-6

Peace
by Wendy Anderson Halperin (drawingchildrenintopeace.com).
Picture book. All ages. ISBN: 978-0-689-82552-1

Please support all these worthy titles!

Apr 26

Great Press Coverage of Loreen Niewenhuis’s Walking Adventures

Loreen Niewenhuis is getting a lot of attention for her well-worn boots.

As you may know, Loreen is the author of A 1,000-Mile Walk on the Beach, published by Crickhollow Books in 2011. Now, she has her second book, A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk, out in a pre-launch phase, and she’s getting a lot of media attention.

The Detroit Free Press started it off with this feature by Ellen Creager,
who writes the Michigan Traveler series:
“Battle Creek woman took ‘A 1,000 Mile Great Lakes Walk’ and found adventure, herself”

It ends with a wonderful summary of the philosophy behind Loreen’s Great Lakes walks and her books:

When Niewenhuis tells people she’s been walking the lakes, “quite a few have said, ‘I’ve always meant to . . .’ and they name that thing they didn’t do,” she says.

“I tell them, that thing, you have to do it. You have to have that thing, that place, that goal. You need to make time for it,” she says. “You’ve got to do it when you can.”

That Free Press article then was picked up by some other major media:

USA Today
“Walker treads solitary journey around Great Lakes”

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“Michigan woman trekked around Lake Michigan”
(Although, not surprisingly, I don’t think they know that Crickhollow Books is a Milwaukee-based indie press.)

It’s been picked up as well by Muncie’s Star Press, and in a few other places.

Loreen now has a big batch of advance copies of the second book, A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk, for some early author events in Michigan. The new book chronicles another epic trek, one she did in 2012, tromping another 1,000 miles of shoreline that included parts of all five Great Lakes.

She’s arranged a flurry of pre-launch talks and book events, at Michigan indie bookstores and libraries. If you want to catch an early book signing or talk, you can see a full list of coming author events and appearances for A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk here at her Lake Trek website.

Our thanks to Ellen Creager, the Detroit Free Press‘s Michigan Traveler, for kicking the media coverage into high gear!

Official pub date for Book 2 is June 1.

Apr 5

Teachers & Librarians – Request A Free Ebook of Jingo Fever

For a limited time (through April 2013), Crickhollow Books is offering teachers & librarians a free eBook copy of Jingo Fever, a historical novel for middle-grade readers.

Based on extensive research by the author, Stephanie Golightly Lowden, the story is set in the summer of 1918 in a small town in northern Wisconsin during World War I.

In a quiet and thoughtful way, the 128-page novel addresses issues of bullying and bigotry, in the context of anti-German sentiment during the First World War.

The story focuses on Adelle Klein, a young girl from Milwaukee, who experiences anti-German sentiment (from ethnic slurs to over-zealous patriotism), which escalates to a moment of mob behavior with threats of violence against her uncle Mike, a local German-American fisherman (thwarted by Adelle’s courage).

Jingo Fever offers “rich material for deep classroom discussions” as one elementary teacher said.

Published 2011, the book was a finalist for Book of the Year Award from ForeWord magazine, a national competition for the book books from independent presses.

Here are details on how to request your free eBook copy of Jingo Fever today!

Mar 28

More Praise for Didn’t We Have Fun!

A painting by Hilda Robinson from Didn't We Have Fun!

Recent praise for for Didn’t We Have Fun! includes a very nice review by Ilene Cooper in American Library Association’s Booklist.

ALA Booklist is one of the big and influential review periodicals for libraries nationwide.

“Robinson, an artist, shares with today’s readers what life was like growing up in a closely knit African American community during the 1950s. . . . The artwork is both evocative and invigorating with lots of reds and greens. Creating with oil pastels, Robinson draws viewers in, whether the picture is of a girl in a white party dress sitting on a kitchen chair, or a group of girls playing hopscotch. This is a lovely offering that makes a past world come alive once more.”
— ALA Booklist Online, Ilene Cooper (1/31/13)

Skipping Stones magazine also had good words, saying:

“Through colorful oil pastel paintings and engaging storytelling, Robinson share her memories . . . a welcoming book about the joys of childhood.”
– Skipping Stones Magazine

Skipping Stones is a great multicultural magazine for teachers and students, based in Eugene, Oregon, with wide distribution across the country. Published 5 times a year, it’s a nonprofit effort that encourages “communication, cooperation, creativity, and celebration of cultural and environmental richness.”

Many thanks to those recent reviewers!

Mar 26

New Great Lakes Trek Book Coming Soon

A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk, by Loreen Niewenhuis

She’s back! A new book by hiker/writer Loreen Niewenhuis is coming in June.

A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk is subtitled One Woman’s Trek Along the Shorelines of All Five Great Lakes. On the heels of the success of her first book about a long walk around Lake Michigan in 2009, Niewenhuis decided to take another long walk on the beach . . . a  new epic trek she took in 2012 along selected portions of the lakefronts of Lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan, Superior, and Ontario.

While her earlier book (A 1,000-Mile Walk on the Beach) circumnavigated a single lake in its entirety, her new book looks especially at the ways the lakes are connected in a great flowing eco-system of freshwater.

The book also touches on a broad sweep of human history, especially The War of 1812, a conflict with many significant battles that occurred on the eastern Great Lakes.

Although her new book is not officially released until June 1, Loreen will have advance copies soon and is setting up speaking engagements now. Contact her directly if you’d like to arrange an appearance at a bookstore, library, nature center, outdoors club, literary group, book club . . . whew, so many connections for this interesting book!

She does a delightful talk with many slides and stories from her two long hikes.
Loreen Niewenhuis –  Author Events

Mar 18

Saving Sailing Author to Speak at International Sailing Summit

Nicholas Hayes, the author of the book Saving Sailing, will be a featured speaker at the International Sailing Summit, Aug. 18–20, 2013, in San Francisco.

Launched at the 1999 World Championships in Geelong, Australia, the International Sailing Summit is a major networking event for the sailing industry, attracting many of sailing’s top speakers.

Nick will be speaking about the core message of Saving Sailing: that the secret to sustaining and rebuilding complex, time-intensive traditions like sailing (or other pastimes that have seen slow but steady decline in recent decades) is to refocus on a multi-generational spirit that many hobbies and pastimes once were built upon, finding time to seek out and value all-family activities and the spiritual basis of recreation.

Saving Sailing is subtitled: The Story of Choices, Families, Time Commitments, and How We Can Create a Better Future.

It’s a forward-thinking, positive-action book, and we’re pleased that it’s had a broad readership and considerable influence in sailing circles since its publication in 2009.

Mar 12

Didn’t We Have Fun! Selected as Finalist for National Indie Press Award

Didn't We Have Fun!, by Hilda Robinson & Jeff Kunkel

More great news! Didn’t We Have Fun! by Hilda Robinson and Jeff Kunkel is a finalist for a Book of the Year Award (Picture Book category). This competition run by the folks at ForeWord Magazine is one of the best of the national indie-press recognition programs.

The wonderful book, set in Philadelphia, is a celebration of African-American family life, and features the colorful, jazzy pastels of celebrated artist Hilda Robinson, whose work is prized by collectors and museums around the country.

Hilda paints evocative, vibrant scenes of her own childhood, growing up in a closely-knit African-American neighborhood. The images are so positive, showing a loving view of family life, reading and appreciating books, studying, chores, playground games, church-going, and social events.

It’s so unbelievably hard for a small micro-press like Crickhollow to get recognition, even for books as worthy as Didn’t We Have Fun! – a book we honestly think should be in every public and school library in the country.

Many thanks to the thoughtfulness of the Book of the Year Award judges for this finalist recognition. The winners of the top Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards will be announced at the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in Chicago, June 28th.

We hope this fine book will take home a top prize at the ultimate announcement of the winners. But hearty congrats to all the other Book of the Year Award finalists.

For more about Didn’t We Have Fun!, or to order for your home, school, or library, visit the title information page.

Mar 11

Swamp Whisperer Wins Texas Award

The Swamp Whisperer, by Sylvia Dickey Smith

We just heard that The Swamp Whisperer by Sylvia Dickey Smith won the Best Novel of the Year Award from the Press Women of Texas.

The humorous mystery/thriller features Sidra Smart, a fledgling private detective and ex-preacher’s wife, and cranky old swamp-rat Boo Murphy – two independent women who do not suffer fools (of any gender) gladly, to say the least.

We’re thrilled to see Sylvia receive this honor, adding to the recognition this same group gave several years ago to her historical novel, A War of Her Own, a World War II homefront novel loosely based on her mother’s experiences working in a naval shipyard during the war – a real-life Rosie the Riveter character. That novel also went on to win second place at the national level from the National Federation of Press Women.

The Press Women of Texas is an organization with a fine history. It was founded May 10, 1893, in the Windsor Hotel in Dallas, by a group of writers attending the Texas Press Association meeting. Led by Aurelia H. Mohl of Houston, the new association aimed to encourage Texas women writers and illustrators in their literary work. Notably, the Texas Equal Rights Association, also supported by Mohl, was founded on the same day and in the same hotel.

For more about The Swamp Whisperer, visit the title information page. It’s available in softcover or eBook editions.

Click here for more about A War of Her Own.

Mar 9

Crickhollow Announces Crispin Books Imprint

Crickhollow Books officially has a sibling imprint; it’s called Crispin Books. This March, we’re adding all recent Crispin Books onto this website, so that they can all be found in one place.

What’s different about Crispin Books?

Crispin is mostly focused on getting a foothold in genre fiction (mystery & fantasy series in particular).

It is also the imprint we’ll use for many of our eBooks. Sometimes we’ll first release a softcover edition as a Crickhollow title, and later issue the eBook as a Crispin title. We’ve just done that, for instance, with A War of Her Own. (We figure it really doesn’t matter to the reader what the publisher imprint is; that historical novel by Sylvia Dickey Smith is the same great award-winning story in either format, under either imprint.)

But it does matter to distribution channels, to bookstores and trade buyers. So we get to choose different distribution strategies for the imprints. Itasca Book Distributing takes good care of our Crickhollow Books. And we use super-flexible short-run channels to get Crispin Books titles to Ingram, a national wholesaler. This allows us to get a lot more titles out into the world, especially in the mystery or fantasy multiple-title series that Crispin will tackle. The availability of the books to you, the reader, is the same either way. Believe me, as we get an increasing number of titles in print, inventory levels are a huge factor on a small indie press. We need all the flexibility we can muster.

So the Crispin Books imprint is just a way to issue more types of books, especially genre fiction in series – all good reads, with the great storytelling & overall quality that you expect from Crickhollow – that we might be distributing slightly differently.

It’s all one big happy family of indie-press literature!

Mar 5

The Secret of Successful Writers – Storytelling Skills

How To Write Your Best Story, by Philip Martin

How To Write Your Best Story:
Advice for Writers
on Spinning an Enchanting Tale
by Philip Martin

Crickhollow Books  •  June 2011
Trade Softcover • 128 pages
$14.95 softcover
$6.99 eBook

“This is a gem of a book – a must-read for anyone who wishes to craft the ‘best story’ possible.” – Raymond Bial, author of more than 80 books for children and adults, including Amish Home, The Underground Railroad, and Where Lincoln Walked.

Buy softcover from Amazon.com

Buy softcover from Barnes&Noble.com

Buy Kindle edition

Buy Nook edition

“A good writer is basically a storyteller,” said Isaac Bashevis Singer, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

“I find that most people know what a story is until they sit down to write one,” according to Flannery O’Connor.

Beginning writers often wonder: how do I get published? This book looks at what really makes fiction work: good storytelling!

This book explores three key elements that fuel the magic of story: intriguing eccentricity, delightful details, and satisfying surprises. Emerging writers will find advice here to help them improve almost any work of fiction (or narrative nonfiction); just add the spice of story!

Philip Martin is an experienced editor of many books of advice for authors. Previously acquisitions editor for The Writer Books, he has also written A Guide to Fantasy Literature and award-winning books on traditional culture. He lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

For more, visit the title information page for How To Write Your Best Story.

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