Where I share my love of books with reviews, features, giveaways and memes. Family and needlepoint are thrown in from time to time.
Showing posts with label Donna VanLiere. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Donna VanLiere. Show all posts

Friday, December 24, 2010

Birth of The Christmas Shoes (Guest Post by Donna VanLiere and Giveaway)

When I found out that Donna VanLiere was going to guest post on my blog, I knew that I had to ask her about her book The Christmas Shoes.  My question was how the song/book/movie came about.  The song never fails to bring tears to my eyes (as well as my teenage daughter's), and is one of my absolute favorite songs.  Just a day after requesting this topic for her guest post I was able to cry through the movie as well.  So read the post - and see if you were right as to which came first - the book or the song.

Song to Book to Movie and Back to Book and Song Again
Donna VanLiere
Latest book: The Christmas Journey
www.donnavanliere.com

Ten years ago I traveled to Knoxville, TN in the sweltering heat of July with my husband to visit our friends from NewSong, who were in concert. As we stood backstage in the arena, I could barely hear our friend Eddie because of the other band on stage. It was loud and dark and Eddie bent close to my ear. “I’m thinking of writing a Christmas song.” He gave me a short, two-sentence premise (basically: a little boy who wants to buy a pair of shoes for his mother who is dying but he can’t afford them so some man buys them for him) and then asked, “Do you think that would make a good song?” I said, “I think that would make a good book.”


I began to formulate an outline in my head at the concert and when I returned home I started to write. A few weeks later Eddie called and said they had the song produced and asked if my husband and I wanted to hear it. We listened on speakerphone and I cried when I heard The Christmas Shoes for the first time. The song became a favorite on radio and went to number one on the Billboard Chart, taking just three weeks to get there, faster than any song in history. I told Eddie years later that had he played the song for me in its entirety that I probably would have never been inspired because the story is all there in the song but because he gave me such little information I was able to see the entire book in my head.


The book was picked up by CBS and became a movie and when I was asked to write another Christmas book, The Christmas Blessing, CBS picked that one up, too and NewSong wrote a song of the same name for the movie. My publisher asked to write another book, The Christmas Hope and that one also became a movie with a song by NewSong. The Christmas Secret is set to be a movie for Lifetime in 2011 and I hope it will include a song by NewSong.


The journey continues with the new book, The Christmas Journey. It’s not a novel but rather a narrative filled with watercolor illustrations and still part of The Christmas Hope series of books. It’s a short read (it takes about fifteen minutes to read, which my husband says all books should be that short!) about the journey Mary and Joseph took. I hope this beautiful gift book will become a part of your Christmas Eve tradition or even a part of your celebration on Christmas Day!


Merry Christmas!
Donna


Giveaway Time!

Special thanks to Anne from Authors on the Web for providing a copy of Ms. VanLiere's latest book, The Christmas Journey, for a giveaway.



To enter the giveaway, please tell me your favorite Christmas song, book or movie.  Leave your email address so that I can get in touch with you if you are the lucky winner.

This giveaway is open to US/Canada only and will end on January 15.

Extra entries:
Follow my blog (google connect, Networked Blogs, email subscriber) - anyway you follow is fine.
Follow me on Twitter and Tweet - please leave link.
If you post about this contest anywhere else, it is good for an entry - just let me know where you left it!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The Christmas Journey by Donna VanLiere (Book Review)


Title: The Christmas Journey
Author: Donna VanLiere
Illustrator: Michael Storrings
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

My synopsis: The first section of this beautiful little book tells the Luke 2:1-20 version of the Christmas story.  A story that is well-known to most people.  The author points out though, that when most people imagine the manger scene that all the hurt and pain have been removed.  We just picture a newborn baby, Mary and Joseph, and an angel - happiness and wonder.

The second section of this book tells the Christmas story as it might have happened.  It tells all the same things as the Luke version, but it adds in the human emotions that Mary and Joseph might have felt.  It lets you imagine the  physical pain and exhaustion they must have felt making the long journey to Bethlehem. The fear that must have been present when they realized that Mary was in labor and the only place they could go was a stable.  And then the absolute wonder that this little baby was the Son of God.

The entire book is also beautifully illustrated with pictures, that even in their simplicity, carry much feeling. It was a great book to read at Christmas and one I hope to share with my family for many Christmases to come.    It brought the Christmas story alive for me and made me really think about the faith of Mary and Joseph - and the trust that they  had in one another.   It would make a great gift anytime of year, as Christ's birth was one, that even after 2000 years is still remembered and celebrated - so why just remember it on one day.

~I received a complimentary copy of this book for review from Anne at Authors on the Web.~



The Christmas Journey
Publisher/Publication Date: St. Martin's Press, Oct 2010
ISBN: 978-0-312-61372-3
96 pages


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