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This illustration was sent in by Heather Dent. Since a little girl, Heather’s dream has been to become a professional author and illustrator. Now the time has come to try to make that dream come true.  Right now she works for a small business in Berea KY called Attic Light Studios that transfers old videos and photos into digital files and makes movies for special events like weddings, funerals, and anniversaries.  Her blog is:  http://heatherdentstudio.blogspot.com/.

Anita Nolan is doing a four hour intensive workshop titled, Creating Better Beginnings on June 7th at the New Jersey SCBWI Conference. Here is the description:

It’s vital to make the first pages of your manuscript the best they can be. After all, an editor or agent might read no more than the first few paragraphs before deciding to reject. In this intensive we’ll look at different ways to begin a story and what should be included in the first few pages. We’ll consider what you are revealing about your main character, (and whether it is what you intended!) and whether the character is sympathetic. You’ll rewrite your first paragraphs of your story in this workshop. Bring a printed copy of your first chapter (at least 5 pages, double spaced), paper and pen, (and your laptop if you’d like—laptop is not necessary) highlighter, and be prepared to dig into your first chapter.

I asked Anita if she could share some tips with the writers following my blog. Anita does a great job. You will learn a lot and advance your story if you sign up for her Friday session. Below are a few things from Anita on what a first chapter should accomplish:

As a reader dives into the first chapter, he searches for clues as to what type of story he’s reading. Is it a fantasy? Historical? A fast-paced adventure or a slower-paced coming of age story? Is the voice humorous? Sarcastic? Flowery?

A story’s beginning makes a promise to the reader about what type of story he’s picked up, the pacing, and voice.

Recently I read first pages from one story that promised a fantasy but had no fantastical elements, and from another that had no fantastic elements in the beginning, but the story had an entire secondary fantasy world.

Here are a few things the first chapter should accomplish:

1. Intrigue Reader. Hook them & keep them reading.

2. Introduce either main character/s or theme.

3. Identify what Main character needs/lacks/wants.

4. Identify the obstacles standing in the Main Character’s way.

5. Establish a bond (sympathy) between the reader & Main Character.

6. Present the world in which the story is set.

7. Establish the general tone of the novel.

8. Show Pacing.

9. Show the Voice.

Remember registration ends April 30th at midnight.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Our guest blogger today is author Tony Medina, whose book “DeShawn Days”, from Lee & Low Books, is part of First Book’s Stories For All Project.

“As a child in the Throgs Neck Housing Projects in the Bronx, I did not grow up with books. The only person I saw reading was my grandmother, who occasionally read mass-market paperback fiction and her Bible that was as big as a phone book. If the Bible fell from the top of the dresser where she kept it, it could take your kneecap off and crush your foot in the process! The only time I recall being exposed to children’s books was at school when the teacher took us to the school library and the librarian allowed us to take out Curious George books.

It was as an adult that I really began to appreciate children’s books. I remember being fascinated by the marriage of art and text. The stories and poems were depicted so beautifully and richly that it seemed as if they blended together seamlessly, creating a world by which even adults would be captivated. I knew right then that I wanted to be part of that magic. I thought, if I as a grownup can be taken with the majesty of these portable art galleries and museums, children must truly love them.

Soon after, I began buying children’s books and taking some out from the library. I not only found myself interested in the wonderful stories and poems, I wanted to teach myself how to write them—by reading them. The more I browsed through shelves in bookstores and libraries, the more I noticed that many of the books I came across did not speak to or from the point of view of a kid like me from the projects. I yearned to read about what a child from the ’hood had to say about his life and his world. I remember reading an interview with the African American novelist and Noble Prize-winner Toni Morrison, She said she wrote the books she wanted to read. That nugget of wisdom stayed with me as I made my way to fulfilling my dream of becoming a writer.

By the time I decided to write my own children’s books, a child’s voice began to present itself in my mind. It belonged to a kid named DeShawn Williams, and he was talking about his life growing up in the projects. Not surprisingly, his words seemed to mirror my experiences as a child. Poems in DeShawn’s voice began to take hold of me and I began to write them down. Before I knew it, DeShawn was telling me about the people he loved and lived with: his mother, who was in college; his grandmother, who helped raise him; his uncle, who stood-in for his absent father; his cousin Tiffany, who was like his sister, even though they fought like crazy; and his best friend from school, Johnny Tse, who taught him Karate, which he assumed was from China, but finds out was from Japan. Thus, DeShawn Days, my first book for children, was born.

There was no greater feeling than to see the publication of DeShawn Days, which was initially embraced in manuscript form by my editor and subsequently published by multicultural children’s book publisher, Lee & Low Books. At that time, no books like DeShawn Days were around. The only thing that topped seeing DeShawn Days out in the world was sharing it with children, particularly children who came from a world similar to DeShawn’s. I remember encountering a youngster who had the same name—DeShawn—who was also being raised by his grandmother. This boy exclaimed about me, the author, “How does he know about my life?”

This experience made me realize in a real way, outside of my own literary aspirations, the power of books: how they can matter and make a profound difference in a child’s life, especially when they speak to and from the child’s own experiences and validate his or her life.”

To learn more about our awesome Stories For All Project partner, Lee & Low Books, check out their blog.

The post The Stories for All Project: African American Author Tony Medina on Connecting Multicultural Books with Children of Color appeared first on First Book Blog.

Richard Van Camp is the author of twelve books, including two board books with Orca: Welcome Song for Baby (2007) and Little You (2013).

He recently sat down (online) with Curtis LeBlanc to answer nineteen questions about books, writing and his life as an author. Some highlights: who are Richard’s top three authors? Which bands does he listen to while writing? And what will he be working on next?

Read the full 19 Questions interview here.

See your name in print—and on a dedication page, no less!

William Kowalski, author of three titles in Orca’s Rapid Reads series is running a fantastic new contest through his website. The winner will have Kowalski’s fourth Rapid Read title, Just Gone, dedicated to them.

Contest Details (from William Kowalski’s website):

Have you ever wanted to have a book dedicated to you? Not just signed by the author, but actually dedicated to you, with your name in print for all eternity?

Well, your time has come. Your ship has come in. Your Eagle has landed. I’m running a contest for my readers, and the winner will receive this fabulous prize: my fourth Rapid Reads novel, JUST GONE, which is coming out later this year, will be dedicated to them and them alone. By name. Exciting? You betcha.

What’s the contest, then?

Simple:

Take a picture of yourself, reading any one of my novels, in the most unlikely place or situation you can think of. Then, post it on my Facebook author page by May 1.

That’s it. How to define ‘unlikely’ is up to you. (Just be safe, please.) The title of the book must be clearly visible. You may not use Photoshop or any other kind of enhancement or alteration tool. Other than that, the sky’s the limit.

Then, post your picture on my Facebook author page. Tell your friends to come like it and lol at it. The winner will be the submission with the most likes.

Whoever is featured in that picture or owns the rights to it will earn the right to have JUST GONE dedicated to them by name.

I reserve the right to remove any pictures that are cruel or insulting to anyone. I won’t put anything obscene or disrespectful in the dedication. I really want this to be dedicated to YOU, the winner. So, you agree, by entering the contest, that if you win, you have the right to have the book dedicated to you by first and last name, or first name only if you prefer, and perhaps a brief message, such as “To John Smith, the hoopiest frood in England.”

Capiche?

Go forth and photograph yourselves. Have fun. Don’t get hurt. And make us lol.

Welcome to America, Champ!

If you visit this blog on a regular basis, you know that I am a big fan of Doris and her art.  I have every book she has illustrated and I haven’t held this one in my hand, yet, but I already know I have to add this new book to my collection. I hope Doris will be attending the New Jersey SCBWI Conference in June, so I can get it signed.  (Doris, are you attending?)

Doris says, “The story begins with a wedding in an English village during WWII. While illustrating Champ! my father’s army uniform hung in my studio for reference and inspiration.” Written by Catherine Stier, this book is part of the Tales of the World series published by Sleeping Bear Press.

BOOK LAUNCH 
Clinton Book Shop – 21 East Main St., Clinton, NJ – on Saturday April 6.
If you live nearby, please join us. Doris will be signing books from 11 am – 1 pm.

BOOKLIST review

The luxurious Queen Mary ocean liner once sailed with diapers drying on clotheslines suspended over the ship’s emptied swimming pool. Why? This was part of an unusual cargo transported by luxury liners in 1946: tens of thousands of “soldier brides” and their children who immigrated at the end of WWII to reunite with the U.S. servicemen they had married overseas. This entry into the Tales of the World series shines a vivid light on war’s upheavals by focusing on fictional Thomas, a nine-year-old boy who faces leaving home, friends, grandparents, and his beloved cricket for the U.S., a new father, a new school, and the strange sport of baseball. A wedding cake made by friends’ saving up sugar and powdered eggs for weeks and a view from the train into London of the Blitz’s devastation bring home war’s everyday hardship and trauma. At the same time, Thomas is moving into a hopeful future. Heartfelt watercolor illustrations bring to life the anxiety and tentative joys of this unique historical situation. — Connie Fletcher

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Last Saturday on Global TV, Jill Daum from Kidsbooks discussed the latest releases for young readers. Check out the video below for her top picks, including our very own Seven (the series).

In recognition of International Women’s Day, we’re excited to share the cooperative efforts of some of our wonderful women writers! They’ve decided to review each other’s new spring titles in the spirit of collaboration. Here, Karen Krossing showcases four new YA titles from fellow authors Leanne Lieberman, Shelley Hrdlitschka and Robin Stevenson!

Check out Karen’s reviews on her website.

So, here's the deal.

I do a lot of covers for a lot of people these days. Sometimes when I whip up something for a client it doesn't exactly work for their book and I have to give it a second go. It's all part of the process. It happens.

Unfortunately, this means that I'm left with a pretty decent cover that doesn't have a home.

Covers are just like people, right? Every cover wants to be loved and every cover deserves a home.

Also, I'd like to at least get my money back for the stock images. That's a part of it too.

With that in mind I've decided to implement the First Annual Pre-Made Cover Extravaganza! (You know it's important because it's in caps.)

Here's how it works: Have a look at the covers below. If you think one of them might work for something you've written all you have to do is drop me a line at novakillustration@gmail.com (or leave a comment in the comments section) and it can be yours.

I'll remove the novakillustration.com watermark, plunk in your title and your author name, and even putz around with the fonts a bit if you think you'd like to try something different. If you like most of the concept but want to make some changes I'm sure we can work out a price that'll make every happy.

I'll do all of that for a measly $40. (Payable through Paypal) 

Come on, that's a serious deal. Final images will be sent to you in printable 300dpi quality, as well as three sizes for all of your online needs.

Deal city, people. Deal city.  

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Steven



COVER 1 - AVAILABLE


COVER 2 - AVAILABLE


COVER 3 - AVAILABLE


COVER 4 - AVAILABLE


COVER 5 - AVAILABLE


COVER 6 - AVAILABLE


COVER 7 - AVAILABLE


COVER 8 - AVAILABLE


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COVER 17 - AVAILABLE

“Welcome to the studio, Dahlia!  I am so glad to meet you!  Your entrance made me smile! Now let’s get down to business!  Tell me about yourself? “.

When I create a new character I have to find out who they really are and what makes them tick! Will they be loud and boisterous?  Will they be shy and hold back? Will  they run to meet the world or hide behind trees and bushes?  It’s great fun to imagine!

Since Dahlia is new, let’s walk this process together. Let’s get a good look at her and ask ourselves some questions.

Here she is, in her great BIGness.  As you can see, Dahlia is running!  That gives us our first clue. She is ready to meet the world!

(Another little tidbit you can use when creating a character.  It is a link to writing a character profile. I can get your wheels turning!)

http://www.squidoo.com/CharacterProfiles

In order to decide WHO Dahlia is, I  look into her face. Her eyes are not like our eyes, but expression and body language are quite helpful.

Dahlia is running.  Dahlia is laughing.  Dalia is carrying a flower. Dahlia is practically leaping off the ground!  I can almost hear the ground shaking!  So, she is a “ground shaking” happy elephant.

But wait!  She has no tusks!  That tells me she is a baby elephant. My imagination is taking off now!  Dahlia tromps!  … but no…  I found out that tromp is not a word… (hmmm…it seemed so fitting).  So, Dahlia thumps, stomps, tramples and plows through!  Thank you dictionary.com!  Love all those words!

Looking again at this picture, I see that Dahlia is also clumsy.  She trips, stumbles, tumbles, plunges, sprawls and topples. Even so, she is not bothered by falls.  She simply rolls over and gets back up to her feet laughing!  “What great fun!” she gigglies, “Let’s do it again!”

This tells me that Dahlia does not take herself too seriously. She is playful,  but is she smart?

More of her qualities may surface once the other characters in her story emerge.   Bring on the monkeys!

Filed under: My Characters

I was lucky enough to get an Advanced Reader Copy of Chip and Dan Heath’s new book, DECISIVE: How to make better choices in Life and Work. You may know the Heath brothers from their previous books, SWITCH: How to Change Things When Change is Hard and MADE TO STICK: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. They are adept at taking massive amounts of research on topics with widespread appeal and distilling the information into something that can be used in daily life. In DECISIVE, they discuss decision-making and make it practical. Here, I have applied many of their ideas in a simple checklist: What manuscript should you write next?

Courtesy of the Heath Brothers amazing insights into the applicability of much research, these are practical ideas to help you make the best decision possible. If you want to know more, DECISIVE will be released on March 26, available now for pre-order.

You just wrote, “The End.” And you hit the SEND button. The manuscript is off to the editor.

What now? How do you decide on the next project?

Build a Career

An agent once asked this question: What is the next logical book for you in terms of building an audience that will support your career?

Do you see the criteria embedded in that question:

• Build an audience
• Support your career

Is that what you want? A career with a growing audience? Then, you probably need to stick with the genre of your first book, and turn out a second book that will appeal to the same audience. If you wrote a mystery and it sold well, write another mystery—different, better, but definitely appealing to the same audience.

But it may not be that easy. Maybe several genres interest you and you want to try something new. But that might risk your career, because you aren’t building a consistent following. How do you sort out all your ideas and commit to the next project? Here are 15 questions to ask yourself.

15 What Next Questions

1. Don’t Get Trapped in Too Small a Framework. The decision is rarely one like this: Should I do Mss A or not? Instead, try to look at a range of options. Here are ideas that I have, A, B, C, D, and E. Which of these would appeal to the same audience as my first success?
2. What else you could write in the same time period. If it takes you six months to write a novel, what else could you get written in that time period? What project deserves that time commitment?
3. What if you couldn’t write the Mss you had planned to write next? What would you write then? For example, if you were planning a picture book biography of Shirley Temple and one was just published to great acclaim, maybe it’s not the best time for this story. So, pretend something similar just happened to your pet idea. What would you do then?
   
   
4. Could you write the openings of several different manuscripts and THEN decide which one excites you the most? Multi-tracking sometimes allows the cream to rise.
5. Look at the career of someone you admire and want to emulate. At a similar point in his/her career what was the next book published? Or, look at a musician or actor/actress and find parallels in their careers. For example, Sean Connery could have gotten stuck in the 007 role and never found his way to new projects. Instead, he has regularly “reinvented” himself by taking risky roles that led to an expanded career. Is it time for you to write that “breakout” book you’ve been planning?
   

You have a choice to make and the choice will affect your future and your career as a writer. What will you write next? There are no right or wrong answers, only answers that please you. You’re in control. I know–that’s scary! But that’s another post.

Hey, Chip and Dan–What will YOU write next?

While many families in British Columbia enjoyed spending some time together as our province celebrated its first ever Family Day, host of the CBC’s Titles and Tate Nikki Tate-Stratton got in the Family Day spirit by discussing three novels focused on the same family: Sara Cassidy’s Slick (Orca Currents), Windfall (Orca Currents) and Seeing Orange (Orca Echoes) all feature the same family, although the protagonists are two different siblings.

Listen to Titles and Tate here.

Slick: Liza, determined to prove that her mother’s boyfriend is no good, starts researching the oil company he works for. Liza discovers a lawsuit against the company for compensation that is long overdue to Guatemalan farmers. She starts a group at school called GRRR! (Girls for Renewable Resources, Really!) and launches an attack on Argenta Oil. As her activism activities increase, her objections to her mother’s boyfriend become political. She is learning to separate the personal from the political, but when her mother discovers her plans for a demonstration outside the Argenta Oil head office, the two collide in ways Liza least suspected.

Windfall: Life is full of challenges for thirteen-year-old Liza. She is already having trouble coping with the death of a local homeless man when she learns that her family’s apple tree will need to be chopped down. If that wasn’t enough, the new principal at school keeps blocking her attempts for a positive outlet by refusing permission for every project that GRRR! (Girls for Renewable Resources, Really!) and BRRR! (Boys for Renewable Resources, Really!) proposes. Liza starts to feel like she needs to create change in her world without seeking permission. When she chooses the school grounds as the site for her latest endeavor, she may have gone too far.

Seeing Orange: Seven-year-old Leland has trouble writing, but he loves drawing. He so dislikes his teacher that he conjures up Delilah, an imaginary seeing-eye dog to help him into class each day. When a neighborhood painter recognizes Leland’s gifts as an artist, Leland grows more confident about the world as he uniquely sees it. And when his family’s cat goes missing, it is Leland’s keen observation skills that lead to finding him. Leland’s newfound confidence helps him both confront and sympathize with his teacher, who only wishes Leland could be a bit more focused.

Kit Pearson, award-winning children’s author, will discuss her new books, The Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth, and talk about her life as an author at the next Victoria Children’s Literature Roundtable on Monday, January 21. The Whole Truth won the CLA Book of the Year Award for Children and the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Award in 2012. The Whole Truth was shortlisted for the Bolen Book Prize 2012.

Event Details:
January 21, 2013
7:30 pm

The VCLR is open to the public. Members free, drop-ins $5, students $4. Meetings are held at the Nellie McClung Branch Library, 3950 Cedar Hill Road. Doors open at 7 pm.

For more information about the Roundtable, call 250-598-3694, find it on Facebook, or visit: www.victoriachildrensliteratureroundtable.blogspot.com.

Please join me at Park Road Books for a book signing

on Saturday, January 26 at 11 a.m.

4139 Park Road
Park Road Shopping Center
Charlotte, NC 28209

Bring the kids! We’ll have snacks!

“This entertaining early reader features Fiona, a girl who really, really likes to stop and smell the roses…The text is interspersed with black-and-white illustrations that do a stellar job of conveying both leisure and frenzy. A clever early reader with challenging vocabulary and some food for thought to boot.” –Kirkus Reviews

“Pearce’s succinct text will amuse emerging readers with her only slightly exaggerated references to the hectic pace of modern life. Ritchie’s fluid, cartoon-style illustrations are equally adept at conveying the story’s speedy absurdities (Mom consuming an entire plate of meatloaf in one gulp) and its more relaxing moments (Fiona smelling the flowers). Best of all, everyone gains an appreciation of the other’s sense of timing—including where and when each is appropriate.” –Booklist

If your PAL book was published in 2012, we want to make sure that your book is included for consideration in the 2013 Crystal Kite Member Choice Awards! The deadline for submitting your book is January 31, 2012.   

How do I make sure my book is a contender for the 2013 Crystal Kite Member Choice Awards?

1.      Go to and click on the Awards tab to familiarize yourself with the guidelines for the Crystal Kite Member Choice Awards.

2.      Make sure that your SCBWI membership is current! Only current members of SCBWI are eligible for the Crystal Kite Member Choice Awards. Not sure when your membership expires? Log in at SCBWI.org and click on “Membership Renewal.” Your member expiration date will be shown at the top of that page.

3.      Log in at scbwi.org and update your publication information! Click on “Manage Profile” and be sure to enter the name and publication date of your most recent book. Then, choose your publisher from one of the drop-down menus. If you have any trouble updating your profile, feel free to call our offices at 323-782-1010 during business hours (9 AM – 5:00 PM, Pacific, Monday – Friday) and someone will be happy to assist you.

4.      Already entered your book? To check to see that your book has been entered visit your regional home page at SCBWI.org (click on the Member Home button and then the text “See what’s going on in your region”! and then click on the Crystal Kites tab.Crystal Kite . In the salmon colored bar above the Search by Author or Title box will be your entered title. If your title is missing,  then update your publication information. At this page you can also see all the books already submitted for consideration for your region so that you can start reading them before voting begins.

5.     One major question we had  last year was about publicizing your book. We want you to promote and publicize the Crystal Kite Awards and remind people to vote! We just can’t allow promotion or publicizing of individual titles.  For example, you can tweet, Facebook and otherwise state: “Don’t forget to vote for your favorite in the Crystal Kite Awards”!..or words to that effect. However, publicizing a specific title will lead to disqualification of that title.

Don’t forget to read through the Crystal Kites Member Choice Awards page  where you will find further information, dates for 2013 and a link to the Frequently Asked Questions page.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Nook Kindle PDF iTunes on the iPad, look for it in the iBook Store

If you are self-employed, you are worried about health care. I know: I had surgery in July and it took six months to get all the bills cleared up.

The new Affordable Heatlth Care plan goes into effect in 2014, with enrollment beginning October, 2013, when self-employed persons can sign up for one of a tier of products. The Small Business Administration has just started a new website and blog about health care to help educate the public. Here are some places to start:

• Top 3 Things Small Businesses Should Know About the Affordable Health Care Act
• Key Provisions under the Affordable Health Care Act for Self-Employed Individuals
• The Affordable Health Care Act timeline
• Interactive Tool designed to help you find insurance coverage now.

Hands down, the Internet beats the old days when writers had to go to the library to research a topic. Now anyone can retrieve information with a few computer clicks. I frequently use Google in my searches and have discovered the following ways to improve results:

• Use the asterisk (*) as a wild card with the words you’re searching. For example, if you wanted to search for me on the Web but couldn’t remember my last name but knew I was a children’s author, you could type Ronica * children’s author and related sites would pop up, providing my last name.
• Use the minus sign before words you want to exclude from the search. Using a similar example, if you searched solely on my first name, Ronica, and a bunch of “Ronica Smith” sites showed up, you could eliminate Ronica Smith from your search by typing Ronica -Smith.
• Put quotation marks around a word or two (such as “Ronica Stromberg”) to pull up sites only with the word (or words) as quoted.
• To find the word you’re searching for on a Web site that came up, hit Control-F (Command-F on a Mac) and enter the word you’re searching for again. This will highlight the word you’re searching for. I’ve found this useful when a Web site has page after page of text but no clear indication where the word or phrase I’m searching for may be.
• To restrict search results to a specific URL, add site: in front of the URL. For example, dognapper site:nytimes.com would pull articles printed about dognappers at The New York Times domain.
• To find sites similar to one you’re using, type related: before the URL of the site (as in related:nytimes.com).
• Use two periods between numeric ranges to find information about a range. For example, if you wanted to find information about gasoline prices between 1970 and 1980, you could type gasoline prices 1970 . . 1980. Writers of historical novels may find this particularly useful for research.
• To use Google as a dictionary and look up the definition of a word, type define: immediately followed by the word.
• To find the current weather in a town (in case you are about to set off on a book talk or other trip), type weather in followed by the town’s name.
• To convert currency or measurements, use search formats such as 50 pesos in US dollars or 100 kilometers in miles.
• To find the title of a song that lyrics come from, type some of the more distinct lyrics followed by :lyric. For example, when I type want to be a paperback writer:lyric, several sites appear, letting me know this line of lyrics comes from the Beatles’ “Paperback Writer” song.
• To get alerted about breaking news on a topic, go to http://www.google.com/alerts and enter the topic and your e-mail address. Google will then e-mail you the next time news on the topic appears on the Internet. I know a lot of authors type their name or key words from their works into this site to track online publicity and, also, to check whether their writing is being plagiarized.

Instead of doing a general search of the whole Internet, I may have only a specific area I want to search. The following are my favorites.

blogs     http://www.google.com/blogsearch

books     http://books.google.com/

finance     http://www.google.com/finance  This search of the latest financial news may be of particular interest to business and financial writers.

images     http://images.google.com  This site can be misleading. When I searched on “F. Scott Fitzgerald,” the name of one of my favorite authors, photos of him–and a bunch of other people–cropped up. Had I not already known what F. Scott Fitzgerald looked like, the site wouldn’t have helped much.

news     http://news.google.com/

patents     http://www.google.com/?tbm=pts

videos     http://www.google.com/videohp

Kid Lit Reviews would like to welcome Anna Alden-Tirrill, author of A Cat Named Mouse: The Miracle of Answered Prayer, which will be reviewed here tomorrow and can be read HERE! A Cat Named Mouse: The Miracle of Answered Prayer is a middle grade novel. Annie, whose cat is named Mouse, will discover a lot about faith and prayer while searching for her lost Mouse. Welcome, …