Book News!

News about my books.

NEW! The Barn and the Book

| Melinda Johnson

First came Shepherding Sam – the story of a lonely, angry third-grader named Sam and Saucer, the wise and funny little corgi who befriends him. Sam and Saucer are back and getting ready for Christmas in The Barn and the Book, releasing today from Ancient Faith Publishing!

Barn and the Book cover high res file smallThe Barn and the Book

Sam wants to know if animals (especially Saucer!) can speak at midnight on Christmas Eve. Grace and Macrina are competing to write a story, and Elias is losing his patience. Meanwhile, Sister Anna hopes God will rescue her from teaching Sunday school. Christmas is coming, but hearts are full of secrets and frustrations. The Barn and the Book is a story about the traps we build when we try to see in the dark. We tumble into trouble and confusion on our own, but God can steer us clear of our traps and shine His kindly light into our darkness. This is a chapter book for independent readers aged 7-12, and a read-aloud story for the whole family.

Print, Ebook, and Audio Editions

The print edition of The Barn on the Book is available from the publisher and on Amazon. The ebook edition is available for Kindle and Nook, as an iBook, and on OrthodoxChristianEbooks.com.

Remember Book 1?

Meet Saucer the corgi and his boy Sam in the first book, Shepherding Sam! Sam’s Aunt Eva says he s like a tornado he causes a ruckus everywhere he goes. But Aunt Eva won t give up on Sam, and neither will Saucer, the monastery s corgi puppy. Saucer lives at the monastery, but he dreams of herding sheep. With no sheep in his life, Saucer tries to herd everyone else farm animals, nuns, and especially Sam. Sam doesn’t want to follow anyone, not even a funny puppy. But Saucer knows that if he just keeps trying, he can bring this lonely boy back to the flock.

Meet Ferdinand!

As these two books were being written, I sometimes joked about my imaginary corgi. But now I have a real one! This is Ferdinand – and no, we didn’t bring him home for “book research.” We just love corgis! Just like his imaginary counterpart, Ferdinand is funny, intelligent, loving, strong-minded, curious, and extremely fond of chewing socks! You’ll notice that his ears are flopped over in this picture, and that’s because it’s one of his baby pictures. Corgis are born with their ears flopped over, but they stand up and start swiveling around when the puppy is a few months old.

Ferdinand on the rock garden 9 29 17.jpg

Letters to Saint Lydia Actress for Audible

| Melinda Johnson

It gives me great joy to present Priscilla Sabourin, actress, singer-songwriter, all-around-good-sort, and THE VOICE OF TEEN LYDIA in the upcoming release of Letters to Saint Lydia on Audible.com!

Priscilla Sabourin

When I was writing this book, I could “hear” teen Lydia and Saint Lydia in my mind as I composed their letters to each other. There’s something miraculous about experiencing Lydia’s voice – living, breathing, speaking – outside my imagination. The book suddenly has another dimension.

I chose Priscilla for the role because her voice has that mysterious quality you find in a girl who’s poised in the doorway. Her wings are brushing the past and testing the future. Venturing, lingering. It’s the voice for a coming-of-age story. I can’t wait to share this with you! I heard the first recording last night, flung off my headset, and shouted, “It’s perfect!”

Photo credit: Molly Maddex Sabourin

 

Cover photo by Rob Laughter on Unsplash

Piggy in Heaven

| Melinda Johnson

Such a pile of emotions all at once! I am so happy to have a picture book contract from Paraclete Press and so glad that our much-loved Piggy will be the main character, and so sad, a year later, that Piggy’s book is about Piggy in Heaven.

Piggy was only part of our earthly live for a little over a year, but he was so special and so loved. We still miss him.

I learned many things from this furry little creature, and one of the most important is simply that love is love. All of it. It all comes from the same Source, and it is beautiful in its time and in its variety.

And by the same token, grief is grief. Our immersion in it may be smaller or more complete, but I believe we grieve because we feel our love is blocked off from the person (or guinea pig!) that we love, by their physical absence from us.

I wrote this story, Piggy in Heaven, as part of our grieving. I saw it all clearly with my inward eyes, and that was comforting.

-Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash