I’m delighted to announce that The Unbreakable Child, by Kim Michele Richardson, will be released on October 1, 2010 by Behler Publications — second edition, bigger and better.
The Second Edition will have a Professional Readers Discussion guide, and a percentage of all earnings will go to Maryhurst, a KY residential treatment home for severely abused teens.
1. On recent hikes, I’ve engaged in Tadpole Rescue Missions. Last week, we had a great deal of rain, which caused the stream where the tadpoles live to flow farther down the forest canopy. The tadpoles were washed down with the extra water, where they thrived for a time. This week, however, we haven’t had rain, and I’ve found tadpoles in small puddles of water which are drying up. To give those tadpoles a better chance of frogging out, I’ve been moving them from the puddles back to the main body of the stream.
Here’s one of the puddles:
Here’s a rescuee in transit:
And here is the tadpole in the stream, where he/she is safer.
2. Our garden is looking great, and almost every day, I’ve been pigging out on lettuce — making Caesar salad, to be exact. Soon the onions will be ready to pull, and just today, I saw tiny , brand new tomatoes.
3. I want to highly recommend Kim Richardson‘s memoir, The Unbreakable Child, to anybody who hasn’t yet read it. And just today, this news story broke. More and more victims’ voices are being heard.
4. I’ve been active on both Goodreads and on Red Room. I’ve set things on Goodreads so that my posts on TN Text Wrestling posts show up there, but on Red Room, I’ve started a separate blog. TN Text Wrestling is still my main home on the web, but check out Goodreads and Red Room if you haven’t — they’re fun for readers, writers, writers who are readers, and readers who are writers. *grin*.
Please go check out Kim Richardson’s interview with attorney William F. McMurry, over on her blog. What an inspiration! My hat is off to Mr. McMurry for everything he does to help people and to make this world a better place. He’s a real-life hero.
This book was written by Kim Michele Richardson, and I can’t recommend it highly enough: five stars out of five, two thumbs up… heck, I wish I had more hands so I could give it more thumbs up.
The Unbreakable Child is a beautifully-written memoir which chronicles heart-wrenchingly grim experiences: Kim grew up in a Catholic orphanage and was brutally abused by the nuns and the priest to whose “care” she was entrusted.
As I read the book, my heart went out to the young Kimmi: such a strong, brave little girl. Though she endured unspeakable horrors, she managed not only to retain her capacity for love and joy but even to nurture it, becoming as an adult a much-loved — and much-loving — wife and mother.
And reading the book, I rooted for the adult Kim, as she worked with her lawyer along with forty-four other former orphans to bring to light terrible abuses which had been sanctioned by the Church.
As a little girl, Kimmi wanted so much to be loved. I cried for her; I wanted to travel back in time and give her hugs, to take her far away from that terrible orphanage and to tell her each and every day what an wonderful little girl she was and what an amazing woman she would grow up to be.
Throughout those horrible years at the orphanage, Kim endured treatment which ran the gamut from physical, mental, and emotional abuse to ice-cold neglect. I applaud her with all my might that she was able to escape that soul-crushing spectrum with her heart and mind intact, not only to enjoy a life of love and joy with a forever family of her own, but I also applaud her for her indomitable spirit and courage in writing her memoir, a force for good to help and inspire so many.
Thank you, dear Kim, for your compassion, for your courage and your grit, and for your boundless loving heart. The world needs more people like you.
Most of the tadpoles hang around together in clumps. This one, however, is doing his best to swim upstream, and judging by his Wiggle Factor, you can see how he’s made it farther than any of the others through sheer determination.
This little fellow is going to make a fine, strong frog!
During yesterday’s hike on the mountain, I found a tiny bit of snow left from Old Man Winter’s (hopefully) last blast:
There wasn’t much snow off the mountains, however, and I’m happy to report that our lettuce, cabbage, and onions survived the cold snap. We’ll be planting more garden goodies soon: tomatoes, corn, and potatoes.
The forest is getting greener and greener:
Though I’m more of a cool-weather person, I’ve always enjoyed Spring. But it wasn’t until I began hiking that I fell in love with it. Seeing the forest come to life day by day, by spending a great deal out of time outdoors, I feel a part of it myself.
It’s a blessing I will never take for granted.
Things are going well with Patchwork Stained Glass, my novel in progress. I finished Chapter Three last night, and tonight, I’ll dive headlong into Chapter Four. Like the tadpole above, I’ll do my best to swim, swim, swim upstream with strength and confidence as I build and develop my story.
And thanks so much, Denise, for the shout-out about my debut novel, Mirror Blue! You put me in great company, with Kimmi and her just-released memoir, The Unbreakable Child.
Release day for Mirror Blue — tentatively scheduled for May 1 — is getting closer and closer. Yippee! For updates, watch this space or check out my web site.
I have exciting news to share: my friend Kim Michele Richardson has written a wonderful memoir, The Unbreakable Child. It will be released April 1, and it’s available for pre-sale at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books a Million, Borders, Chapters Indigo, and Target.
Don’t miss Kimmi’s book! It’s truly special. And check out her Web site and her blog, too.
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