UPDATE--The winner of Once Upon a Bedtime is Kaitlin Weaver who entered the giveaway on Instagram.
THANK YOU to everyone for sharing your fascinating stories!
If you're an Anabaptist and a creator, you've probably wondered if you have what it takes to succeed outside your cultural bubble.
We have been hindered, I think, by an unspoken belief that we're not good enough.
When I was a little girl in a little Amish school, the teacher [my dad] reminded me at times not to get too full of myself when schoolwork came easily for me and I finished my arithmetic long before Robert Byler did, because if I went to public school, oh my. . . I would very soon find out that I wasn’t nearly as smart as I fancied myself.
Then we moved to Minnesota when I was ten, and I actually had to go to public school. On about the third day, Mrs. Locher had us go up to the chalkboard, four at a time, and work out a math problem. I think she was assessing our skills.
She gave us a 3-digit multiplication problem. I worked it through as I had been taught, one step at a time, three layers under the line, add it up, done.
I looked around. I was the only one who had done the problem. The others didn’t know how.
That was my first clue that maybe my dad was wrong about Amish kids not being as smart as kids in public school.
He isn’t the only one. At times I still run into this subtle message that we need to stay in our own “circles” because we’re not good enough to operate among all those fancy, educated Englisch, or we have nothing to offer them, or they wouldn't be interested in what we produce.
Inspired by Roaring Lambs, by Robert Briner, I feel strongly about pursuing the sort of excellence that can influence not only people inside the Anabaptist or Christian community, but those outside it as well. We have a lot to offer, and I'm always gratified when a creator is good enough to do well both inside and outside of the Anabaptist bubble.
Which brings us to Margie Yoder. I first saw her artwork when her Christmas silhouette panorama showed up on Instagram. And she was offering a free download!
It was incredible, I thought: detailed, creative, precise, and just pretty. I poked around her site. She wasn’t a professional artist or graphic designer, but an Anabaptist mom and missionary who offered Christmas artwork easily as beautiful as anything Out There.
Full disclosure: shades of my dad, I had a moment of disbelief that a Mennonite lady actually produced this Christmas scene. A good lesson for me, honestly. Of course a Mennonite was that good!
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Margie is offering this to YOU! Email her at thebirdandthebrush@gmail.com for a free download. |
On her site, I found that Margie is an illustrator. I loved her style, so I asked her to do the cover and inside drawings for my book, Coming Home to Roost. I'm happy to say she caught exactly the vibe I was looking for and more besides.
Since then, I’ve recommended her to numerous other writers looking for an illustrator.
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| This shows the universality of Margie's work. My grandmas were white and very Amish, but they also knew what a fly swatter was for. |
I don’t know if Laura Rohrer Showalter is a writer who saw my recommendation, but I’m happy to say that she and Margie have collaborated on a new children’s book that is simply delightful.
In Once Upon a Bedtime, a little boy imagines sleeping in homes and beds around the world. Written in rhyme-and-rhythm poetry, the book takes you and your child to Canada, Kenya, and many other places. In each heartwarming scene, you’ll find the same little stuffie and slippers tucked into the picture.
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| There's a heartwarming authenticity to Margie's pictures. She lived in Kenya. This is how Kenyan homes looked and felt when we were there 20 years ago. |
Laura Showalter's writing is smooth and gently cadenced, with the accented syllables naturally falling into the right place with normal pronunciation. I appreciate that a lot.
I hope this book gets picked up by lots of bookstores both Mennonite and Englisch, because it deserves to be out there and available.
And I hope you get a copy and read it to the children in your life.
To order copies or to contact the author:
https://www.laurashowalterbooks.com
To contact the illustrator:
ALSO: A giveaway—
I have an extra copy of Once Upon a Bedtime to give away. To enter, comment on my blog or on Facebook and/or Instagram. One entry/comment per platform.
Include your name and an exotic or unusual place you’ve slept, from Grandma’s musty couch to a sleeping bag under the stars in Alaska to an uncomfortable seat on an international flight. Pull up the memory and tell us about it.
Winners will be chosen on Wednesday, December 20.
Then follow this author's and artist’s example and go do excellent work.
I’d love to win this book- it looks like one my children would love! A few years ago while tenting, we woke up to a bear sniffing around our tent! Didn’t get much sleep after that!
ReplyDeleteI *love* the idea of this book, it looks so cute. I have slept in a little hut on the beach in Cambodia, just mere feet away from the ocean. It's the only time I experienced mosquito netting.
ReplyDeletePat here, a quilter rather than a writer. The little boy in the white tee-shirt looks just like my almost 7-year-old grandson. These illustrations are enchanting! I remember one night long ago when my husband and I were vacationing along the southern Oregon coast, no money to spare, with only a $19 Walmart pup-tent, one sleeping bag and one thin blanket. The campground owner made us one of the best breakfasts ever, fresh picked blueberry pancakes and all the hot coffee we could drink, making that cold cold night worth it! Thanks for offering this book.
ReplyDeleteAs an avid collector of children’s literature I would be ecstatic to win this gem.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the most unusual place I’ve slept is inside a large bamboo pole bean teepee with my 3 oldest grandchildren
My favorite sleeping place as a teenager was a truck stop. Tucked safely in with 13 other people in a converted bus, the soothing sound of diesel trucks running was music to my ears.
ReplyDeleteMy head bumped against the window of a bus driving through the countryside of India, taking us back to our room for the rest of the night hours. The "meetings" (church service) had lasted beyond midnight and we still had been hosted in a cozy Indian home for dinner after that. I'm not sure that I slept on that bus, but I definitely tried 😏
ReplyDeleteI've always had trouble sleeping in cars or planes. I've been on an international flight to Japan and hardly slept a wink. But I slept soundly each night on the wonderful Japanese mat in our host's home. Looks like a charming book!
ReplyDeleteI was once given a bed in a basement room where a Golden Retriever also slept. The dog kept poking its nose into my face & I don't think I got much sleep. For the rest of my nights there, I asked my hosts if I could sleep upstairs on the couch! If I win the book it will probably be a gift for my great-neice. It looks like a good one!
ReplyDeleteThe book looks delightful! I slept in a hammock in a thatch house with a dirt floor
ReplyDeleteIt looks so cute, I’d love to win.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet story I would look forward to reading with my grandchildren.
ReplyDeleteWhile my younger daughter and I were visiting our other daughter and her husband doing mission work in a mountainous region of Mexico, we slept on a large wooden box in a lofted roof top open air room with no pillows and one blanket for all of us. It was a cold sleepless night.
Many years ago, as a young married couple, we were on our way back to ND from a Christmas visit to IN, when we were overtaken by a terrible blizzard. With relief we made it to a travel plaza, and "slept" on the floor of a restaurant along with many other stranded travelers.
ReplyDeleteSuch a cute book. Thanks for introducing us. I’ve slept in many strange places. One was in the Ukraine as a guest. After a meal of jellied, garlic fish, we needed to go past all the makeshift barns to the outhouse. Her hospitality was as sincere and generous as I’ve seen.
ReplyDeleteI'm not one that falls asleep very soon, when I'm away from home. Much less on an airplane..but I actually did just that! In spite of my delirious excitement of returning to my "babies" after having been gone from them for 10 days, I managed to finally fall asleep on our 12 hour return flight from the country of Jordan, arriving in Newark New York 12 hours later. The flight was empty enough we could stretch out comfortably, which was a blessed bonus
ReplyDeletenewark ny. that's my home community. i'm living in haiti currently
DeleteThe most unique place l have ever (not) slept was out in a field on the hood of a manure truck.
ReplyDeleteI would love a copy of this book. We've traveled to and from Kenya with our family several times. Trying to sleep in the airports and on the long flights all made many memories. We were well taken care of tho, and once had the option for a pull out crib for our 8 weeks old son.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds and looks like a delightful book. One of the most unusual places I have slept was on the floor of a church nursery near Paris. Thank you for hosting this giveaway. 😊
ReplyDeleteHi it’s Lois Graber. I totally agree that we’ve got that “not good enough” mentality even though my parents always encouraged us children’s creativity. Thank you for the advice to go and be excellent. A fun memory was sleeping on a trampoline with sisters and a friend so we could watch the meteorites. Kinda bouncy!
ReplyDeleteLoved this article. I think subconsciously I have succumbed to this line of thinking- I appreciate your forward writing style.
ReplyDeleteThe most unusual place I've slept recently was on our deck under the stars with my daughter one evening this fall.
Soon after we were married, we were on a short six hour road trip and our alternator went out... We spent the night in the automotive department waiting room at Walmart, with the TV droning on and on. Not an experience I want to repeat!
ReplyDeleteA friend and I spent the night in a snow cave we had dug out of the bank of snow that had accumulated from the plow clearing our driveway.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing this!
ReplyDelete(Can’t login for some reason.) Claudia: I loved this vote of confidence in Mennonite art!
ReplyDeleteI’ve slept on a lot of gross airport floors, but have better memories of camping out our flat roof with my children.
I spent one night sleeping in the NICU with my son. Rooming in was required before going home so the nurses could be sure parents knew how to take care of their fragile little ones. He’s now a sturdy, healthy 11 yr. old.
ReplyDelete(Amy R) My favorite place to fall asleep is on a cotton mattress on the floor of a mud house in Afghanistan, but I may not be able to return for awhile now...
ReplyDeleteI love her style! I'd love the book. The most exotic place I remember sleeping was in a boat in Alaska. (It was not in the water. My brother just needed a place for us to sleep and his boat happened to have a bedroom and to be fifty yards from his house. Perfect for us!)
ReplyDeleteHi! I’m Leah Bergen. My most fun nights have been sleeping in my cousin’s orchard with my friends. We threw down a sleeping bag and we were good to go. :) bergenleahd@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a great book for my grandma collection! One of our more memorable nights was spent under the stars in our own back yard on a summer night, with our three young teens. We marveled at shooting stars, swatted at mosquitos, and ate junk food until long past normal bedtime. At 2 AM I awoke, the night sky awash in the light of full moon and creating the prettiest shadows I'd ever seen. I awakened my family who begrudgingly acknowledged the beauty but didn't think it warranted a rude stir from deep sleep. 20-some years later though, it's still a great family memory to revisit from time to time.
ReplyDeleteIn November of 2001 (not long after 9-11 BTW) I had a row of three seats to myself for a trans Atlantic flight en route to Belgium. I stretched out and slept much of that short night, waking up to hear a fellow passenger nearby ask someone, "Do you want butter?" Linda Rose
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely book! The most unique place I’ve slept was on a worn mattress in a Tanzanian missionary home— large cockroaches skittering along the edges of the dark room.
ReplyDeleteI was so tired I slept in a bouncing pickup truck, going from Managua to Waslala Nicaragua.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to read this with my 7 year old and I'd like to get your book too!!
ReplyDeleteI'd love a copy of this book! It's adorable. I've slept in weird places, including a hard concrete floor on a thin plastic mat with no pillow and shouting drunk people right outside the flimsy wooden door. It was in a remote village in Tanzania, East Africa.
ReplyDeleteI would love this adorable book! I've slept on a hard concrete floor with only a thin plastic or grass woven mat between my body and the unforgiving floor. Right outside our flimsy wooden door, drunk people passed through the night in their loud revelerly. It was in a remote village in east Africa, Tanzania.
ReplyDeleteThis book looks delightful! I have some little boys who would love to snuggle up and read it! One of the most unusual night's sleep I've ever had was when my new husband and I "accidentally" stayed on TINY Ocracoke Island, NC, on our honeymoon, when a tropical storm hit! It had been a hurricane, so we were thankful it downgraded before it made landfall. We watched out our cottage window as the ocean raged and 70 mph winds made landfall. It was an accidental stay, because this was before smart phones, and we were 19 and 20 years old, and we didn't listen to any news! We found ourselves on the last ferry of the day out to the island, with no return option. 😄 We didn't actually "sleep" much that night!
ReplyDeleteI would love to receive a copy of this book. I have slept among the ruins of a bombed out Christian village in the mountains of the Middle East. Steph Musser
ReplyDeleteTo enter to win this book I will share an unusual sleeping experience. When I was a teenager our Dad had built a new calf barn. Before the calves moved in we had a slumber party with friends and cousins! We hauled piles of pillows , sleeping bags , and thick comforters out there to make cozy beds in the stalls!
ReplyDeleteFaith Martin
The author is sweet and dear. i met her and liked her. i slepted in the hospital a time or two..
ReplyDeleteMy favorite place to sleep was in our little playhouse, with sisters and dolls galore. For awhile, guinea pigs lived under the playhouse, and a rooster served as an alarm clock. Thanks for the recommendation, there's always room for one more book on my shelf. jane
ReplyDeleteMy children would love this book! They are all bookworms like me, even the 1 year old. :) I've slept (tried to!) on an uncomfortable chair in an ER room while waiting till the drs evaluated my son after his bike accident. Many years ago I slept in a tent on Assateague Island with my friends. So fun! Also have memories of trying to sleep on the deck of a cabin with the same friends. :) Waiting around in a rest area a couple hours in the middle of the night when the bus broke down on the way home from a funeral in Wisconsin. A special part of that trip: a certain young man I secretly admired was also along; he is now my husband. :) God moves in mysterious ways!
ReplyDeleteHello Dorcas. Thank you so much for the kind book review of Once Upon a Bedtime.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to call first dibs on Margie, though. 😅 We've been attending the same church for almost 10 years, and dreaming of this book for about half that time.
I'm so glad to see Margie’s art getting recognition. She has an incredible gift.
This book looks like something I’d love to own!
ReplyDeleteI’ve slept on busses, trains and airplanes and trampolines!
Judy Yoder
I love reading books of all age levels. One of my unusual sleeping places when I was about 27 years old back in 1986 I went on a missions trip to Mexico and we stayed in the terrible motel that didn't have really safe locks. The men had us ladies stay in the room with the better locks. Needless to say, I think I slept with one eye open!
ReplyDeleteI have admittedly been coveting this book! Love the art! Once I hiked up into a mountain in Honduras with my brother and some friends to visit an elderly Christian lady. We slept on thin mats that were almost as wide as we were, on the dirt floor of a tiny thatched house where the stars peeped through the cracks and chickens wandered in. Banana trees served as outhouses. The hospitality was beautiful, and I will never forget it.
ReplyDeleteI would love this book! I have slept in a hammock in Nicaragua... on a canvas type of mattress where whoever all was in bed all fell towards the middle - and that in very hot conditions... (also in Nicaragua) on top of the porch roof... on planes and airports to name a few...
ReplyDeleteSuch an adorable book! I have fond memories of sleeping on a trampoline with my sister and 2 cousins as a young girl.
ReplyDeleteI would love to watch my students explore this book! One fond sleeping memory is from when I was fifteen and we went west. My farmer dad would wake up at 4 in the morning and drive the camper for hours while Mom and I kept peacefully sleeping.
ReplyDeleteSuch an adorable book! My strangest place for sleeping was on a trampoline with my sister and 2 cousins. Fun memories of my growing up years! ~Rose
ReplyDeleteI fell in love with this incredibly beautiful book when a friend showed it to me a while back. It is truly an amazing work. Laura and I were friends years ago, but I never see her anymore. I heard she was doing a book and was stunned with how exquisite it is when I first saw it.
ReplyDeleteThis sleeping time is not exotic or unusual, per se, but it is precious to me: when my mom was near the end of her life, I drove home to Virginia various times. We sisters took turns sleeping in her room to keep check on her. One time instead of sleeping on the floor beside her, I crawled into her bed beside her. That was the last night she slept in her bed because we moved her into a hospital bed the next day. That is a precious memory to me, but I had forgotten about it until now. Thanks for asking your question. (I bought that bed at the family sale because I needed a bed.)
I’m not adventurous, so I prefer my own bed whenever possible! But I have spent a night on a trampoline, at a Tanzanian hostel, and in a hospital a time or two. P.S. Thank you for writing; I enjoy your blog and books!
ReplyDeleteI slept in the library of a public school in the First Nations Community of Deer Lake. My bedroom for a whole week was the space between two bookshelves.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to read this book to my grandchildren! I have slept on a Japanese futon in northern Japan....
ReplyDeleteI used to love reading children's books to my daughter when she was younger. She would sit for 45 minutes as a two year old to have picture books read to her. I always had trouble sleeping in my big truck at truck stops when I was driving, but if I get comfortable I could sleep fairly well in my car at a truck stop. lol
ReplyDeleteHaving known Laura well growing up, I’m certain there is potential as well for future projects done with excellence if she so chooses. 😌 It looks like a lovely book!
ReplyDeleteI have a bit of eye glaze here reading all the interesting sleeping scenarios. In contribution-sleeping with my family in a cabin in Colombia close by other cabins with ex-Venezuelan soldiers partying into the early hours.
This book looks so interesting! Thank you for including a few pictures! They’re very well done. Probably the most exotic place I’ve slept is around a campfire under the stars. Which is not very exotic, but … 😊
ReplyDeleteThis book has been on my wish list ever since I first saw it! In our early married years, my husband and I did a lot of primitive camping. Many good memories of all the camping we've done as a family over the years.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up our dad would put a mattress on the flat part of our roof and we slept there all summer. How none of us children fell off the roof is a miracle! I don't think I'd let my children try that!
ReplyDeleteSixty-five years ago I rode an overnight train through vast stretches of Russian dairy farm land. This train was running its regular route to pick up and deliver fresh milk to Moscow. There were dozens and dozens of herky-jerky stops and starts along the way. The repeated clanging and banging of metal milk canisters set my nerves on edge all night long. If that were not enough, the lady in the sleeping berth above mine fell off of her cot and landed on me! This was easily the most exhausting, unusual place that I have ever tried to sleep.
ReplyDeleteOur family had a big old Ford Club wagon similar to your family's back in the early 2000's. One summer, it did not rain for months, and the streams dried up in the meadow and we had to run hoses into the back meadows to feed the cattle. Our family of 8 took a vacation up to Niagara Falls, and enjoyed feeling the mist of the falls and seeing them lighted up at night. To our amazement, when we returned to our campground, a thunderstorm had passed through and ripped the rain fly off our tent and soaked all of the air mattresses! I was thankful for that big old rusty Ford with its long seats to stretch out on and sleep in that night!:)
ReplyDelete