More Lost on the Prairie News

I did a talk at the Community Centre in Drake Saskatchewan about my novel last Wednesday. Some thirty folks were there and many of them were related to my mother’s family in some way and so they had memories of my mother and my grandparents to share with me. It was great to connect with them and talk about Lost on the Prairie. I sold twenty copies of my novel and signed quite a few more for people who had purchased the book previously at McNally Robinson Booksellers in Saskatoon. Thanks to my cousin Loraine and the Drake Library for organizing this event.

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My novel was featured in the latest alumni news bulletin from my alma mater the University of Manitoba. Thanks to my marvellous marketing manager Monica Miller from Heritage House for facilitating this.

I had a nice visit with a group of seniors at the Community Centre in Headingly yesterday. They wanted me to talk about the process of writing historical fiction. I appreciated their comments and questions.

On November 13th I will be promoting Lost on the Prairie at the Christmas market at the Mennonite Heritage Village Museum.

On November 17th I will be giving a talk about Lost on the Prairie to a women’s study group in Carmen. I spoke to the group a couple of years ago and I am delighted I will have a chance to visit them again.

On November 24th I will be giving a talk about Lost on the Prairie at the Starbuck Community Centre.

Here are a few comments I’ve received recently about Lost on the Prairie.

My love for Canadian authors knows no bounds, and this book is one reason why. Love the adventurous perspective of the young protagonist as he is accidentally abandoned on the prairies in 1907. Highly recommend!

– Lori Emilson- curriculum support teacher- Ashern, Manitoba

I can recommend to you MaryLou Driedger’s  Lost on the Prairie, a middle-grade historical fiction novel about a young Mennonite boy travelling from the US midwest to Saskatchewan in 1907. It is a sensitively told adventure, meticulously researched and based on her family history, that pre-teens/young teens will enjoy but that their parents can also! 

– Zilla Jones- winner of The Malahat Review Open Season Fiction Contest

Congratulations on your book “Lost on the Prairie”.  I read it on a nice sunny afternoon and found it very entertaining.  I love “historical fiction” or “fiction based on fact”, and this was certainly in that vein.  I also enjoy reading about the times in which our grandparents and great-grandparents lived.  I am a nostalgic person!   I will give your book to my middle-school-aged grandchildren, emphasizing that they think about the fact that if the 11-year-old Peter can overcome such adversity and challenges, so can they!  And there are many good people around who want to help those in need.  

– Garry Austman (Steinbach, Manitoba)

I just finished reading Lost on the Prairie and I wanted to send you a note. I couldn’t put it down. I especially resonated with your portrayal of Peter’s relationship with his horses.  For me, it brought me back to my own relationship with our ponies when I was a kid.  Also, the rodents, snakes were all animals I encountered, and so I could imagine a picture in my mind’s eye when you described certain scenes.  

Perhaps you are so in tune with boys that age because you raised two of your own, but I thought you really captured that young boy spirit in your book.  It certainly was action-packed and I thought of the movie “Forest Gump”. He seemed to be present at so many important points in history.  Peter’s experiences were wide-ranging and dramatic too.  

Your book invites readers into a different time and into a rural culture, but especially it invites us into the story, which I think is what storytelling is supposed to do.  Anyway, thank you!  I really enjoyed your work! You tell a good story.

-John Braun (Winnipeg, Manitoba)

My novel is continuing to keep me busy and hearing from folks who have read it and enjoyed it remains exciting and rewarding.

Other posts………

Exciting Things Happening With My Novel

My Novel on the Thanksgiving Table- A Mystery

There’s A Mistake In My Novel