Pat-A-Pan, hand bells, and Bone Warriors

I've watched a lot of Christmas music videos in the last three years to choose what to put on this advent calendar. This has got to be one of the best fan-made videos I have ever seen. It is absolutely amazing.



I found another cute little kid video. This time it's a 3-year-old participating in his first hand bell choir. Grandma is holding the camera.



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My book spotlight today is on Bone Warriors by Bron Bahlman. This guy is a prodigy. He began writing the book when he was 11. He finished it when he was 14. It was published when he was 15, by Sweetwater Books. Just to compare, Christopher Paolini self-published Eragon when he was 17 years old and it was later picked up by a national publisher.

Here's a blurb about the story from the website:

Craving power and lusting for human souls, the wicked necromancer sweeps the land, leaving behind nothing but death and devastation.

Returning home, 15-year-old Derrick and his friend Tweaks find their homes burning and their families missing. They immediately embark on a rescue quest for redemption and retaliation. Such evil cannot be allowed to roam exempt.

Sinister giants, collosal green jungle cats, and undead monsters confront them as Derrick and Tweaks encounter inconceivable threats in the forbidden woods, as well as gain unlikely allies.

The boys soon realize that their only hope to save their families comes from the very creature they cannot trust. But they're running out of time. How can they put an end to the necromancer's terrifying reign?

Sounds pretty good, huh? Believe me, it is. I was lucky enough to get a review copy and once I started reading, it was hard to put down. It's a fairly short book by today's standards, only 278 pages, and I found myself wishing Bahlman had made it just a little bit longer. I could have stuck with the characters for another few hundred pages.

One aspect that particularly stood out to me was the interactions between the hero, Derrick, and his mother. Maybe it's because I'm the mother of teenagers, but it just resonated with me. Derrick's mother acts EXACTLY the way I would with my teenage son and his friends. (I'm sure Bahlman got his inspiration from his own mother, Shirley, who I could also picture doing the same thing.) I won't spoil it by saying what Derrick's mother does. You'll just have to read the book. You can order a copy of Bone Warriors and read two sample chapters at this link.

Unfortunately, there is no book trailer for Bone Warriors. But I did find a fun video about the author, Bron Bahlman.


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Remember to enter the contests going on right now. First of all, there's my Boxing Day Giveaway. Just comment on any or all posts from December 1st to 25th. You'll be entered in the drawing once for each post you comment on. I'll draw names on December 26th.

Win a copy of An Angel on Main Street at Kathi Oram Peterson's blog in ">The Angels in Your Life Contest

Win a copy of the Family Record Keeper at Mary Greathouse's blog.