Tricia Brown Books
For Alaskans at Heart
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Reindeer Games
Filed under UncategorizedNov 30
Illustration by Alan Stacy
Alaskan Night Before Christmas
(or how one selfish caribou almost wrecked Christmas for all of us!)
If you’ve read this Christmas story, you know about how Kotzebue the Caribou lands on the naughty list—for a short time, at least—for making Christmas an “all about me” proposition. It’s also the story of how Star the reindeer shows the spirit of Christmas better than Kotz. Alan Stacy painted the illustrations for this cute story of one crazy Christmas Eve in Alaska.
Right now, I’m packing for a flight to Fairbanks/North Pole and a series of school visits that are bound to be fun. This year, I’ll be stopping by University Park Elementary, Ticasuk Brown Elementary, and Nordale Elementary. I’m looking forward to meeting all those great kids!
Meeting my readers is a pleasure that I can’t describe. Most often, I write alone, and read and reread alone. (There’s a lot of mulling over in writing a children’s picture book.) But when I get to read to a big group of kids, their interest and energy feeds me and inspires me to get busy on a new batch of stories. I love visiting schools! Let me know if you’d like me to come to your school this winter, or next spring. Meantime, Merry Christmas to all!
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Gearing Up for Two New Releases
Filed under UncategorizedNov 3
A famous dog from Depression-era Alaska
COMING SOON!I’ve been busy lately reading page proofs on a couple of new books due out this Spring. They’re already posted on Amazon, I see, so if you want to preorder, go ahead.The first is a story that captured my interest years ago when I wrote about a special dog named Patsy Ann for LitSite Alaska and the Alaska Digital Archives. (The grant-funded project allowed me to write online content to support/explain a fraction of the archival photos in the collection.)Anyway, Patsy Ann was an independent sort who refused to belong to any one household. She roamed Juneau and often stayed at the Longshoremen’s Union Hall. She was deaf from birth, but always sensed when a steamship was approaching Juneau, and she hurried to meet each one. She was so popular among the townspeople and the tourists that the mayor named her “Official Greeter.” It’s a sweet story of dog whose presence was so missed, fifty years after her death, the Friends of Patsy Ann installed a bronze statue of the dear girl on Juneau’s docks. So she’s still getting lots of petting. The book will be published by Sasquatch Books of Seattle, Washington.
Heaven on a Highway
TIME TO PACK!
The 4th edition of The World-Famous Alaska Highway, published by Fulcrum of Golden, Colorado, is slated for release this Spring, too. Like the Patsy Ann book, it’s out there and available for preorders now, while I’m about to begin proofing the first round of page proofs. It’s so heavy with detail that I’ve appreciated my editor’s help tremendously. She has a good eye.I hope the new edition inspires many of you to pack up the RV or the car and head north. For fun, I’ve included many stories of early travelers on the road, and some great historical photos. . . plus a good selection of those wildlife photos that I wrote about while we were traveling. Check it out, and start making your plans!Meanwhile—I’m available for school visits and I’d love to come to your favorite elementary school to read any of my children’s books. Just drop me a line to get the conversation going. If you want me to visit before Christmas, I’d be pleased to read Alaskan Night Before Christmas. You can contact me at triciabrown49@hotmail.com.
