I Accidentally a Children's Book

A little over a year ago, I was contacted by my former neighbor Bob, who had for me a most surprising proposition.

See, Bob and I live in the Lehigh Valley, as I've mentioned many times.  Years ago, when Bob was growing up, the Valley was home to Hess's Department Store's flagship location.  It was kind of a big deal, although I'm just a bit too young to remember it as such.  Anyway, everyone loved Hess's at Christmas, because the decorations were out of this world - and because of a little fellow called Pip the Mouse.

Pip was the star of the annual puppet show that was performed at the main store in Allentown every year.  Bob has very fond memories of this little guy, memories he wanted to pass on to his grandson Nathan and any other grandchildren who come along, and that's why he asked for my help.  He had the basic structure of a new story about the character, and permission from Pip's creator to go forth and publish it, but he was hoping I could help him polish the manuscript.  So I did.

And then Bob had it illustrated, and colored, and lo and behold, look what we got for Christmas - the right to call ourselves authors of a children's book.

Pip the Mouse and His Magical Christmas is available for purchase from Amazon.com for just $10 per copy.  It details a story being told by a grandfather mouse to his grandson Max, about how their family became part of Santa's annual visit to the Lehigh Valley on account of Pip's actions one year.  Readers will accompany Pip as he treks through our beloved Valley in search of Santa, visiting several well-known landmarks.  The illustrations are adorable and the story is too, if I do say so myself.

I hope that whatever you celebrate, your holidays are peaceful and fun and full of the people you love, and that you enjoy a healthy and prosperous New Year.  Thank you for continuing to read the words that fall out of my head; it means a lot to me!