My First Lightening Bug

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books, fiction, firefly, Lightening Bugs, reading, summer

I’ve been fortunate enough in my life to have traveled quite a bit, but there are definitely still many items on my bucket list. A hot air balloon ride, seeing a mountain lion and soaking in the natural hot springs of Iceland are big things I can’t wait to do someday. But there are little things too. And this week I was able to cross one of them off my list.

I saw my first lightening bug. Tons of them actually. We were in Michigan for a family reunion walking from the beach to the cabin at dusk and there they were. Every bush was covered with the blinky little lights. They zipped higher each time we reached for them. Just out of reach, they would zap again and dart a different direction. Such mystery they hold.

It was the first time my kids had seen them as well and we all were jumping around pointing and shushing each other. They really are amazing.

The lightening bugs immediately brought this book to mind with its beautiful glowing cover. The author (R. E. Munzing) grew up in Michigan, so I can only imaging the fun of the lightening bug kind of nights he must have also experienced. If you have a tween, this is a read that will give them that summer adventure kind of feel:

Beyond the Firefly Field by R. E. Munzing: By the time he was fourteen, Clayton Curtis realized his whole life would be boring. Living in a middle-of-nowhere piece of the country would have been boring enough, but it was also the land that time forgot. Due to inherit the family home passed down through many generations, Clayton felt doomed to a life in the stone age.

Everything changed when a new subdivision was built a mile from his house. With scrap wood, he and his friends built a large tree house complex. From high in the tree, they saw a glowing faraway field one night and were determined to find out what it was. What they discovered there was beyond epically wonderful, and the boys knew it must be kept secret. They quickly became obsessed with going to see it often, even though being there was changing them and herding them toward a decision they didn’t want to make. They would soon either have to be willing to do whatever was necessary to keep the secret or never go there again.

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All books by BQB and WriteLife Publishing are available from Amazon, B&N or can be ordered from your local bookstore.

 

 

Books by Veterinarians

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authors, books, fiction, non-fiction, Veterinarians

This past weekend I attended an open house at the Colorado State University School of Veterinary Medicine. My kids loved it. They were able to don surgery scrubs and dissect stuffed teddy bears, listen to a cat’s heartbeat and a horse’s digestive system, practice eye-hand coordination techniques required for surgeries, identify skulls and teeth from various animals and more.

Each of the specialties and clubs that are a part of the Veterinary School were present with an activity or an animal and the vet students were very willing to answer questions and offer advice about which classes in high school and undergraduate school helped them the most. Oh, and did I mention the baby goats? Yes, no Vet School open house would be complete without a pen full of baby goats to pet!

Two authors from the BQB and WriteLife family were previously Veterinarians before putting the pen to the paper (or fingers to the keyboard). Gary F. Jones has written two works of fiction and Jack Tuttle has written a spiritual and metaphysical toolbox for life.

Learn more about these Veterinarians turned authors and their books below:

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Gary F. Jones – Author of Doc’s Codicil and A Jerk, A Jihad, and A Virus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Jack Tuttle – Author of It’s A Secret, So Pass It On: A Toolbox for Life

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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*** All books by BQB and WriteLife Publishing are available on Amazon, B&N or can be ordered from your favorite local bookstore. ***

An Interview with the Author of The Children’s Train

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author, books, fiction, Holocaust, reading, refugee children

In today’s world, we are continually being bombarded with stories of atrocities that humankind is inflicting on one another in the name of personal or religious beliefs. For many of us, it seems as though any effort we make to help is a small droplet in an ocean of pain, but we need to be reminded that human kindness always has an effect. Since I live in the world of books, my mind always goes to books and stories as an example, and as I think of human atrocities versus human kindness, I am drawn to a book we recently published – The Children’s Train by Jana Zinser.

The Children’s Train: Escape on the Kindertransport is a novel about a real event in World War II when England arranges to take Jewish children out of Germany by train. It is a novel about the atrocities that humans can inflict upon each other, but also the story of the lives that can be touched when people are passionate about helping each other.  In an interview with the author, Jana Zinser, we find out why she was compelled to write the story.

How did you get the idea for your book?

In doing research for another project, I came across the story of these incredible children and the Kindertransport. I was amazed. I had never heard of it before. I started asking people if they had ever heard of it. Most people did not know what I was talking about, but a few people did and they shared with me what they knew. As each door opened into this piece of history, I became more fascinated.

It’s truly an amazing story. The great evil that forced the unthinkable separation of children from their parents, the sacrifice of the mothers and fathers who gave up everything so that their children could live, and the kindness of England to take these children into their homes is unparalleled. But it’s not that simple either. It’s an unbelievable twisting of tragedy and sorrow, and the endurance of the human spirit.

What was the hardest part of the writing process, and how did you overcome your obstacles?

The hardest part of writing The Children’s Train was living with the characters who were victims of the Nazi world. During all of my writing, I was thinking about what they went through, what they must have been thinking and feeling, and what their suffering means to us. That can be a very dark place when you really start to reach into their experiences and try to understand what happened to them.

I am still haunted by some of the stories I read, and one particular film footage of a woman being dragged from her farm house by Nazi soldiers as her little two-year-old girl chased after her. The mother tried to turn the child back to the house but the little girl, not understanding the gravity of what was happening, only that she wanted her mother, would not budge from her determination to follow her mother. I do not know what happened to them, but I began to think about the choices these parents made, whether to save their children or die together. It is a choice no one should have to make. It was from that point on that the problems of my life came into perspective, and I often think of the incredible bravery and fullness of spirit of the people who suffered at the hands of the Nazis, and I hope the world will never let it happen again. If we do not change because of it, the shame is on us.

What do you hope for your book to accomplish? Is there a particular message you’d like to impart to the reader?

Although it is fiction, I wanted to make The Children’s Train an honest representation of the real Kindertransport children and their families, so that their story would be appreciated. So their experiences would be respected. It’s time the world knows their heart-wrenching story. It’s time we tell them how much they are admired and loved for their sacrifices, and their courageous journey.

In The Children’s Train, Peter reads A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and sees the parallel from the story of oppression and revolution to his own life. I admire the power of Charles Dickens to weave his story with adventures and emotion that created real social change from his books.

I hope the people who read The Children’s Train will see how injustice and persecution of any people affects us all, and possibly find the courage to stand up for others, particularly the children. It’s always about the children. And perhaps there is a little bit of Peter in all of us, with a soul for music and a heart for freedom, which pushes us beyond anything we ever thought we could do.

   

Jana’s book can be purchased directly from BQB or ordered through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or your favorite local bookstore.