Christmas Twist
The night in history that fascinates me more than any other is the night when Jesus was born. While the Bible tells us certain things–that the birth happened in Bethlehem, in a stable, that three kings from the east followed a star to that stable and that the birth was announced to shepherds by a group of angels–but there is so much we don’t know. There are so many places where we can use our imaginations to fill in the blanks. Cheryl G. Malandrinos gives her take on what might have happened that night in her book Little Shepherd.
This book follows Obed, a young shepherd barely five years old, from the hills where the angels appeared to the Bethlehem stable and back to his sheep. Obed doesn’t quite understand everything that happens that night. He is especially confused about why the shepherds are more concerned with seeing the baby the angels spoke of than protecting their sheep.
I really enjoyed this book. Malandrinos did a wonderful job of capturing both the confusion and the wonder that Obed experienced that night. I could easily picture the wonder in his eyes by thinking of one of my sons in his position.
As I write this review, my sons are fighting over the book. The toddler loves the colorful illustrations. The nine-year-old and seven-year-old are arguing about who gets to read it first. Any book that captures the interest of all three of my sons has definitely earned its place on my bookshelf.
Cheryl Malandrinos is a freelance writer and editor. A regular contributor for Writer2Writer, her articles focus on increasing productivity through time management and organization. A founding member of Musing Our Children, Ms. Malandrinos is also Editor in Chief of the group’s quarterly newsletter, Pages & Pens.
Cheryl is a Tour Coordinator for Pump Up Your Book, a book reviewer, and blogger. Little Shepherd is her first children’s book. Ms. Malandrinos lives in Western Massachusetts with her husband and two young daughters. She also has a son who is married.
You can visit Cheryl online at http://ccmalandrinos.com or the Little Shepherd blog at http://littleshepherdchildrensbook.blogspot.com/.
News
Ever feel like there are not enough hours in the day to all that needs to be done? If you are a parent, an employer, an employee, a student, or even just a human, you probably feel that way at least once a week! Around here, that has been the norm for the summer.
In June, I had some unexpected surgery. Well, it was expected. Only it was expected to happen at the end of the summer. Knowing the surgery was coming, I had a list of things I planned to accomplish this summer. The biggest things on my list were outlining three novels that I have had in mind for some time now and organizing a clothing closet the women at my church are starting in August. Then my symptoms got worse and the surgery was moved up.
I was supposed to take six weeks off of work. Where the clothing closet was concerned, that made sense to me. I mean, my mid-section had just been cut open and a portion of my anatomy removed. Lifting boxes was not something that I wanted to do. But I thought that writing would be acceptable. It’s not a physically taxing thing. Mentally draining at times, perhaps. I understood my inability to write while I was taking the pain meds. Those things dulled the pain, but also made my brain feel rather fuzzy. I didn’t expect to be able to write much with my head feeling that way.
But even now, six weeks post-op and 4 weeks after I quite taking any pain meds, I am having trouble concentrating. Have I dulled it too much with the silly little Facebook games I’ve been playing? Are there really no more tales for me to tell, no more stories for me to write?
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