When my friend Erin sent me this photo of her morning coffee spot where she was reading Lost on the Prairie she said this- “Even though I was familiar with the fantastic cover design of your book, I was still surprised when I finally held it in my hands for the first time. It is such a pleasure to hold. I love its size. It is small but satisfyingly thick- not too thick-but happily substantial. I’m enjoying Peter’s voice, point of view and adventures.”
I loved that because I have to admit when I first got the book I thought it was perhaps too small- smaller than I had imagined it would be, but now Erin has made me think its size is just perfect!
Another thing that has been really special for me is that I am reading the book out loud to my Dad and despite his advancing dementia he is listening and not being distracted like he often can be. I think the story has enough action that it keeps him engaged and because it takes place in the past and that’s where his mind often is these days he can identify with the setting and time period.
One of the care aides at Dad’s personal care home heard me reading to Dad and she said the book sounded so interesting she was going to buy one and send it to her granddaughter in Toronto. She brought in her copy for me to autograph it before she sent it off. How cool is that?
I was also thrilled when Colleen Nelson a Winnipeg author with fourteen books to her credit gave Lost on the Prairie a five-star review on Good Reads. Colleen is the author of Harvey Comes Home which was named the Manitoba Book of the Year for Young People in 2021. Harvey Comes Home was also a Governor General’s Award nominee. Here is what Colleen had to say about my novel.
What an adventure! It starts off with a bang and the action doesn’t let up. I know lots of students in my grade 8 class who will enjoy this book. The back matter is equally fun to read because I got to learn about the author’s connection to the story and which parts were based on fact. The main character grows and changes through his adventures. Honestly, I read this book in a day because it was such fun and so hard to put down. It will be a welcome addition in any grade 4-8 classroom.
All the copies of my book at the Saskatoon library are checked out and yesterday there were 20 holds on the copies in the Winnipeg Public Library.
Did you know I was on the CTV morning news on June 28th? My marvelous marketing manager at Heritage House Monica Miller had arranged for the interview. It was a good experience. We had prepared talking points but Michael the interviewer changed things up a bit so I had to think on my feet, but it went pretty well. I was so grateful for the opportunity to let more people know about my book.
People have continued to send me all these cool photos of my book.
Here is my friend Pearl receiving her copy. Is she excited or what?
This photo is from my friend Mitch. He said he had to stain his deck and read all the other books beneath mine before he would get to read Lost on the Prairie. But when I went to visit him on Thursday he’d already read it and told me I’d done a beautiful job.
My friend Kelly photographed my novel among her collection of books about Asia because she and I got to know each other when we worked at the same school in Hong Kong.
Kristine Scarrow, the President of the Saskatchewan chapter of CANSCAIP (The Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers) included Lost on the Prairie in this photo of her pile of summer reads. That really is exciting for me. I attended a workshop Kristine did on writing as a healing art at a conference a few years ago and it was excellent.
Vic Loewen, a college classmate of mine sent me a photo of him buying my book in Tergerson’s Store in Gimli.
There is lots more news to share, but I’ll save some for my next blog post about the book. I’ll just end with the fact that for the eighth week in a row I am on the McNally Robinson bestseller list.
You can read more about my book on my website maryloudriedger.com
With each post about my book, I am linking to posts I’ve done about books by other Manitoba authors. Here are some more.
What Next? 