It is finally out and will be in stores in late October.

Last October I was invited to a holiday gathering of a local PEO Chapter in Shelburne,VT. At that time Susan Kapsalis, now the chapter president, read this wonderful story. As she was reading, I was envisioning illustrations done by Bert Dodson, who we had done another children’s Christmas book with in 2009, Favor Johnson: A Christmas Story.

After the presentations I asked Susan where she had found this story, for if it was a book that existed I wanted to get it for all my grandchildren. She told me that it was a story circulating on the internet and that the author was unknown. After some research I did locate the story on various websites, all the time getting more excited. I then did a copyright search at the Library of Congress and could not find one, it was meant to be and I could publish this book. I would title it Helping Santa: My First Christmas Adventure with Grandma.

Before I got into publishing, and had more time on my hands, I was able to volunteer at a daytimes women’s shelter in Boston, MA, The Womens Lunch Place. I really had been missing that good feeling one gets when one reaches out, giving and caring about those less fortunate. The basic message of this book was just that, a little boy buys a coat for a classmate who needs one in order to be able to play outside at recess. I wanted to find a charitable organization with that premise. More research, I do love the internet, brought me to Sherri Lewis Wood and her foundation One Warm Coat . I initially left a phone message hoping it would be picked up. Not too worry, she got back to me 5 minutes later, the first of many conversations. A new friendship was made and partnership formed to get the message out so that no one should go without a warm coat this winter. A portion of the royalties generated by the sale of this book will be going to One Warm Coat. Sherri’s conviction for what she is doing and her immediate understanding of how this book can be used as a vehicle to further her cause was exciting.

It made me very happy when Bert Dodson agreed to do the illustrations, I think partly because he enjoyed my enthusiasm for the project, for he has a demanding schedule. His watercolors bring the story and all its endearing characters to life. Bert works with live models and actual locations to achieve the level of realism his illustrations portray. He used an existing store, Hill’s 5 & 10, in Bradford, VT where his studio is so I thought as a small show of gratitude we would change the stores name from that which was in the original story. Other than that the text pretty much remains as I first heard it, a powerful little story with a big message.

I can’t wait until November when I can bring out this beautiful book and read to my 8 little granddaughters!

 

List Price: 17.95
Sale Price: 15.25
Savings of 15%

DESCRIPTION

Grandmas are wise beyond their years and often give us memories to cherish for the rest of our lives. Helping Santa: My First Christmas Adventure With Grandma is the story of one of those enchanting moments.

Told there is no Santa by his older sister, the narrator recalls rushing off to consult with his Grandma who, he was sure, “would be straight with him.”  After roundly and immediately declaring the idea that Santa might not exist to be wholly and absolutely “ridiculous”, she challenges him to become one of Santa’s helpers, and suggests he buy and deliver a gift to someone who really needs it. Thus he learns, as the adventure unfolds, the true meaning of Christmas and what Santa Claus is really all about.

Their adventure, in which a gift is found, a needy recipient located and the good deed accomplished by our hero and his Grandma, is brought to life by Bert Dodson‘s wonderful watercolors capturing all the charm and warmth that the story holds

This popular and for many now a traditional Christmas story exists on the internet and has no author that can be traced to date.

However, not knowing who first told this tale does not lessen the message, which fully encompasses the spirit of Christmas and reassures us that we never have to stop believing in Santa Claus. In the spirit of this belief, we have chosen to contribute to a nationwide organization whose mission is that everyone who needs a warm coat can get one in his or her hometown, easily, free of charge. We will be giving a percentage of the monies earned from the sale of this book to One Warm Coat to support their work.

ENDORSEMENTS

Robin Roberts, co-anchor ABC’s Good Morning America - “A sweet story that beautifully illustrates how a simple act of generosity can have an immeasurable impact. We can all learn something from this incredibly uplifting tale.”

REVIEW

PRODUCT DETAILS

Hardcover: 32 pages, 30 illustrations
ISBN-13: 978-1-59373-093-2
Language: English

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

Bert Dodson is a painter, teacher, author and illustrator. He has illustrated over 80 books for children . He is the author of Keys To Drawing ( North Light Books, 1985), Keys to Drawing with Imagination, (2006) and NUKE A Book of Cartoons, vols. I and II.( McFarland and Co., 1986 and 1988). He co-authored, with noted biologist, Mahlon Hoagland, The Way Life Works ( Times Books, 1995), and Intimate Strangers; The Story of Unseen Life on Earth (ASM Press, 1999, Needam, et all). He was animation designer for the four part PBS television series, Intimate Strangers (1998). He illustrated over 30 opera stories for children, a series commissioned by The New York Metropolitan Opera.

No shows booked at the moment.

Fixit time, like the rain doesn’t seem to go away.  Ellen Sousa’s magnum opus The Green Garden is about to go to the printer but we are waiting on William Cullina for his promised introduction and, talking of the Fixit of all Fixits he is busy fixing the last trimmings for a new garden at the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden. He must know what Fixit means! The amount of activity on their website is amazing. http://www.mainegardens.org I’ll stick to publishing.

Meantime Bert Dodson has delivered everything for his fall book Helping Santa: My First Adventure with Grandma. His attention to detail and composition is fabulous and the story is a delight. We always give him too little time but he is now in recovery before starting (is there no peace for the wicked?) on his next children’s title with the great and award-winning author Lynda Booth-Sweeny about Daniel Chester French; he of the Lincoln Memorial statue of Abraham Lincoln the Great Man himself.

Nessa Flax dropped by a day or so ago. Nothing to fix it seems but a long natter about possible books to come and the nature of memoir and autobiography and whether they are the same. I’m with Gore Vidal in that autobiography as history is more a question of worldly context and period, and memoir is also history but in a personal context. I’d add that both are often a competition between vanity and self indulgence! The worst of the first come from mendacious politicians like Tony Blair and George Bush and the worst of the second come from all those ghastly and vacuous twenty-something personalities whose horizons never seem to extend beyond their navels.

The Best? Call me eccentric but I think one can be objective about the worst but for the best it is a matter of taste and timing. My random list would include Valentine Chirol’s Fifty Year’s in a Changing World (if you’ve a taste for good journalism and Imperial British arrogance), John Osborne’s A Better Class of Person (the best writing by far despite the theatrical spite) and, if you like academic thinkers as I do, perhaps R.G.Collingwood’s An Autobiography, Richard Cobb’s People and Places and George Steiner’s Errata. All a bit obscure I’ll grant but I’d also happily take The Education of Henry Adams or Grant’s Memoirs to the beach too.

Mine will be slim to a point of honor and entitled “Moving Rapidly On…”

 

List Price: $16.95
Sale Price: $14.41
Savings of 15 %

DESCRIPTION

With all the elements of a classic American winter folktale, Favor Johnson: A Christmas Story has been a favorite Vermont Public Radio story for twenty-five years and is now a bright and lively picture book. Favor Johnson is a compelling curmudgeon, a loner who lives on a farm with his livestock and faithful dog. One cold night near Christmas, Favor finds his outlook on life forever changed by the kindness of a neighbor and is coaxed out of his shell. Writes Publishers Weekly: “[Willem] Lange relates this ultimately uplifting tale with all the sturdy simplicity of a wintry Vermont landscape, while [Bert] Dodson’s judicious use of color in his spare watercolors and a tight focus on the action heighten the drama.”

REVIEWS

via The Reading Tub (c) – “This is a very special story. The illustrations are beautifully done, and the color selection adds to the moods of the story as it shifts from page to page. The first time through it seemed a little disjointed, but with additional readings it smoothed itself out.”

via ForeWordReviews.com (c) 2009 – “Favor finds himself in the position of, while not exactly asking for help, at least accepting it. It changes his life—it changes everyones’ lives. Dodson’s delicate and explicit illustrations are the perfect foil to this unsentimental but completely heartwarming tale. Children of all ages will enjoy the story, and adult readers will laugh out loud at the expressive joke on fruitcake. For all ages.”

via Amazon.com (c) 2009 – “Being a Vermonter, I have had the pleasure of listening to Willem Lange read this story every year on our local NPR station. This story never grows old with me or my family. I am so excited to see this as a children’s book. The story of Favor and his dog, Hercules will touch the heart of everyone who reads it.”

via Amazon.com (c) 2009 – “”Favor Johnson: A Christmas Story” is a twice-told, classic American Christmas folktale about a Vermont farmer named Favor Johnson and his faithful hound, Hercules. When Hercules is found badly injured by rabbit hunters’ shots, Favor carries him home through the snow . He is met by Dr. Jennings, a neighbor who had bought land from Favor to build a retirement home on. The story of what follows is heartwarming and authentic and has the ring of undeniable truth. “Favor Johnson” has been enjoyed as a Vermont Public radio reading treat for over 25 years. Now the story has been brought to life in this excellent children’s book with beautiful spare water color illustrations. All ages will enjoy “Favor Johnson” and recover some Christmas spirit in the reading.”

via Amazon.com (c) 2009 – “This is a wonderful story to share with your family during the holidays and throughout the year. Favor Johnson is a story of people helping others, and giving to others, just for the sake of it. This book is so well done because it captures the simplicity of that message, and the illustrations are beautiful. I have three young daughters who have already asked me to read it to them over and over. I am always happy to be reading books like this to my children. Favor Johnson will remain a family favorite for years to come! Enjoy.”

PRODUCT DETAILS

Hardcover: 32 pages
ISBN-10: 1593730829
ISBN-13: 978-1593730826
Language: English
Dimensions: 8 x 10.2 x 0.4 inches
Weight: 14.4 ounces

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

Bert Dodson is a painter, teacher, author and illustrator. He has illustrated over 80 books for children . He is the author of Keys To Drawing ( North Light Books, 1985), Keys to Drawing with Imagination, (2006) and NUKE A Book of Cartoons, vols. I and II.( McFarland and Co., 1986 and 1988). He co-authored, with noted biologist, Mahlon Hoagland, The Way Life Works ( Times Books, 1995), and Intimate Strangers; The Story of Unseen Life on Earth (ASM Press, 1999, Needam, et all). He was animation designer for the four part PBS television series, Intimate Strangers (1998). He illustrated over 30 opera stories for children, a series commissioned by The New York Metropolitan Opera.

No shows booked at the moment.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Willem Lange was born in 1935. A child of deaf parents, he grew up speaking sign language and first came to New England to prep school in 1950 as an alternative to reform school in his native New York State. During a few absences from New England, Will earned a degree in only nine years at the College of Wooster in Ohio. In between those scattered semesters, he worked as a ranch hand, Adirondack guide, preacher, construction laborer, bobsled run announcer, assembly line worker, cab driver, bookkeeper, and bartender. After graduating in 1962, he taught high school English in northern New York, filling in summers as an Outward Bound instructor.

No shows booked at the moment.

Related show

• Author: Willem Lange
• Tour: Willem Lange’s 2010 Book Signing Tour
• Date: Saturday, November 20th 2010
• Time: 11:00am
• City: Willem Lange in Bradford, VT 05033
• Venue: Booked Solid
• Address: 157 Main Street
• Venue phone: 802-222-5826
• Country: United States
• Age restrictions: All Ages
• Notes: Willem Lange will do a reading from his book ‘Favor Johnson: A Christmas Story and be available to sign copies along with Bert Dodson, the illustrator.
• Add to Google Calendar | Download iCal

• Author: Willem Lange
• Tour: Willem Lange’s 2010 Book Signing Tour
• Date: Saturday, November 20th 2010
• Time: 2:00pm
• City: Willem Lange in Fairlee, VT 05045
• Venue: Chapman’s Store
• Address: 491 Main Street
• Venue phone: 802-333-9709
• Country: United States
• Age restrictions: All Ages
• Notes: Willem Lange will do a reading from his book ‘Favor Johnson: A Christmas Story and be available to sign copies along with Bert Dodson, the illustrator.
• Add to Google Calendar | Download iCal

• Author: Willem Lange
• Tour: Willem Lange’s 2010 Book Signing Tour
• Date: Sunday, November 21st 2010
• Time: 2:00pm
• City: Willem Lange in Bellows Falls, VT 05101
• Venue: Village Square Bookseller
• Address: 32 The Square
• Country: United States
• Age restrictions: All Ages
• Notes: Willem Lange will do a reading from his book ‘Favor Johnson: A Christmas Story and be available to sign copies.
• Add to Google Calendar | Download iCal

List Price: $17.95
Sale Price: $15.26
Savings of %15

DESCRIPTION

Walter Paine’s Cousin John: the Story of a Boy and a Small Smart Pigtakes young readers to a time when dogs roamed unleashed and ice was delivered in blocks by beefy men with iron tongs. Bert Dodson’s charming illustrations bring the bygone era to life and highlight key points in the story. A simple, elegant tale set in Brookline, Massachusetts a generation or two ago, Cousin John is about awakening and discovery, animals and humans, as experienced by a lonely, curious boy and his pet pig who become the talk of the town. A true story, Cousin John, exemplifies that magic moment in childhood Graham Greene noted, “when the door opens and lets the future in”.

REVIEW

via The Reading Tub (c) – “This is, first and foremost, the story of a young boy’s strained and painful relationship with his father. I wish there were more authors like this one.”

via Amazon.com (c) 2007 – “But as he tells his story it seems that his father too, is having difficulty trying to figure out how to approach his own son — be a father. In an early section of the book, Mr. Paine suggests that his father’s father, too, was a remote and stern presence. At least his dad tries, and one of the most successful tries was when he showed up one day with a small pig in his arms. Boy and pig take to each other immediately and soon young Walter has a friend to accompany him in his rambles through the woods and neighborhood.We get to go along on some of these rambles, thanks not only to Mr. Paine’s very accessible prose but to some truly wonderful illustrations by Bert Dodson. The illustrations, book design — even the font and paper selection make this just the sort of book one would like to have in ones personal library. It is also touching to note how Walter’s dad becomes increasingly involved with his son’s life after the arrival of Cousin John.”

PRODUCT DETAILS

Hardcover: 96 pages
ISBN-10: 1593730578
ISBN-13: 978-1593730574
Language: English
Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.3 inches
Weight: 12 ounces

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

Bert Dodson is a painter, teacher, author and illustrator. He has illustrated over 80 books for children . He is the author of Keys To Drawing ( North Light Books, 1985), Keys to Drawing with Imagination, (2006) and NUKE A Book of Cartoons, vols. I and II.( McFarland and Co., 1986 and 1988). He co-authored, with noted biologist, Mahlon Hoagland, The Way Life Works ( Times Books, 1995), and Intimate Strangers; The Story of Unseen Life on Earth (ASM Press, 1999, Needam, et all). He was animation designer for the four part PBS television series, Intimate Strangers (1998). He illustrated over 30 opera stories for children, a series commissioned by The New York Metropolitan Opera.

No shows booked at the moment.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Walter Paine is a career journalist. He spent 24 years as editor-in-chief and publisher of the Valley News, a regional daily based in West Lebanon, New Hampshire. He founded the innovative Montshire Museum of Science in Norwich, Vermont. He and his wife now live on an 1803 farmstead in Enfield, New Hampshire.

No shows booked at the moment.

Bert Dodson is a painter, teacher, author and illustrator. He has illustrated over 80 books for children . He is the author of Keys To Drawing ( North Light Books, 1985), Keys to Drawing with Imagination, (2006) and NUKE A Book of Cartoons, vols. I and II.( McFarland and Co., 1986 and 1988).He co-authored, with noted biologist, Mahlon Hoagland, The Way Life Works ( Times Books, 1995), and Intimate Strangers; The Story of Unseen Life on Earth (ASM Press, 1999, Needam, et all). He was animation designer for the four part PBS television series, Intimate Strangers (1998). He illustrated over 30 opera stories for children, a series commissioned by The New York Metropolitan Opera.His work appears in Vermont Life, Northern Woodlands, and Dartmouth Medicine.  He regularly exhibits his watercolors and drawings. He has drawn and painted over 200 portraits. He lives in West Fairlee, Vermont, and works in his studio in Bradford, Vermont.

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

List Price: $17.50
Sale Price: $14.88
Savings of 15 %

Grandmas are wise beyond their years and often give us memories to cherish for the rest of our lives. Helping Santa: My First Christmas Adventure With Grandma is the story of one of those enchanting moments. Read More…

List Price: $17.95
Sale Price: $15.25
Savings of 15 %

With all the elements of a classic American winter folktale, Favor Johnson: A Christmas Story has been a favorite Vermont Public Radio story for twenty-five years and is now a bright and lively picture book. Favor Johnson is a compelling curmudgeon, a loner who lives on a farm with his livestock and faithful dog. Read More…