What did you do in the Pandemic of 2020, Gramma??? (I Wrote 2 Books!)

Well, in between cleaning out closets and drawers that hadn't been touched in 30 years, I finished writing two books. 

The first, which came out on Bastille Day (July 14) is a unique rhyming history inspired by the Broadway hit, Hamilton. Liberty-Loving Lafayette: How "America's Favorite Fighting Frenchman" Helped Win Our Independence takes less than half an hour to read (although it took a year and a half to write), explains what Lafayette did in our Revolutionary War in playful rhyming verse.

I like to say that it includes everything that "Guns and Ships" left out!.

I illustrated my book with classic pictures of people and events in the story that are in the public domain. Here's an example:

One early reader had this to say about this book:

". . .a perfect example of how a writer can make history/learning history fun. . .the accompanying art is wonderful"-David Bruce Smith, author of Abigail and John, founder of the Grateful American Foundation, and co-founder of the Grateful American Book Prize

I am happy to report that Libetty-Loving Lafayette has been on the Amazon best seller list (in its category: teen colonial and revolutionar war era) ever since it came out!  Woo hoo!

Here's how it starts:

So listen up, my children, and I'll do my best to tell
How a teenaged French aristocrat served all of us so well.1 
Without his help, we might have lost our fight for Liberty, 
And we’d still be lowly subjects of the British monarchy! 

Liberty-Loving Lafayette: How "America's Favorite Fighting Frenchman" Helped Win Our Independence is available now from:

Amazon link

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Apple iBooks

IndieBound

The second book, Bizzy, the Bossy Boots Elf  (which I actually started writing six years ago), came out last month. A rhyming poem modeled on "A Visit from St. Nicholas,"Bizzy is the 5th in my Santa's Izzy Elves Series. 

It was great fun working with my illustrator, Shayne Hood. These pictures were much more complicated that those in my previous elf stories. Many of the illustrations had all 8 Izzy Elves in them, and one actually had 16!

This paperback and Kindle book is currently only available from Amazon, although there will be more sources soon.

Here's the link:

Amazon

Whew. I guess I better get back to those closets and drawers!

Cheers,

Dorothea