My new book, Rabbit’s Song has a book trailer. That awesome voice on the sound track you hear is one of the authors –S.J. Tucker.
I am truly excited about this project. It was so wonderful to be able to work with such talented and extraordinary ladies.
Mabon Greetings All!
Thanks so much for your continued interest in my books and career, I feel like I have quite the cheering squad at this point. So I am especially thrilled to share my latest news with you – I have just finished the art for my first collaborative picture book. Written by SJ Tucker and Trudy Herring, “Rabbit’s Song” is an engaging tale of mythical proportions. Trickster God comes to Earth to find animals to teach His lessons to man. Based on SJ Tucker’s wildly popular ballad by the same name off of her CD “Blessings,” this picture book the work of several years of intensive conversations between the three of us.
This book is truly a dream come true for each of us. For me, working with such talented and loving people has been a wonderful blessing. The combination of each of our talents has pushed me to create what I consider some of my best illustration work so far.
Meanwhile, the demand for An Ordinary Girl, A Magical Child has been astounding. I realized when my child was born in 1994 there was a need for Pagan children’s books in America, a need that is only just beginning to be met. When An Ordinary Girl was first released in 2005, there were hardly any books for the young Pagans. I receive frequent emails from parents thanking me for giving them a tool to help explain their Paths to their children. I am happy to report that there are now several more Pagan children’s books available. I hope that this small trickle will increase to fill this niche with quality books for our youth.
AN ORDINARY GIRL, A MAGICAL CHILD
Written and illustrated by W. Lyon Martin
Magical Child Books — Trade Picture Book – Available NOW!!!
An Ordinary Girl follows Rabbit, a young Pagan child through the wheel of the Year. Readers follow along with her as she celebrates Wiccan holidays, rituals and spells.
The next book in the series “Aidan’s First Full Moon Circle,” is an interactive picture book. With hidden pictures in the main story, children get to help a friendly squirrel gather acorns for the coming winter, all the while learning the basics of a Wiccan nighttime Full Moon gathering.
And don’t forget my latest book:
Based on a poem by Kelley Magee, “Watchers” is a bedtime story filled with subtle Pagan symbols in the illustrations. The hero, Thomas, is worried about the eyes watching him in the dark. He hatches a plan to capture them only to find out what he fears is really there to protect him.
All books are available on the publisher’s web site: http://magicalchildbooks.com , amazon and other online book stores or your favorite book seller.
At Magical Child Books you can see inside pages of the books, read reviews and even find teaching guides.
Plus, as a special bonus for people placing pre-orders for Rabbit’s Song, you will receive a MP3 file of Trudy and SJ reading the story. This is a limited time offer and is only available for those placing pre-orders for the book.
Freebies:
Remember the monthly coloring pages are archived at http://handcraftedpagan.com . Now that the art for Rabbit’s Song has been delivered to the publisher, I’ll be sending out the next ABC Lesser Known Goddess in the series.
Visits:
To invite me to speak at your school or event, learn more at http://handcraftedpagan.com/workshops/ or email me at lyon@handcraftedpagan.com.
To view my current schedule of events, go to http://handcraftedpagan.com/bio/appearances/ .
Bright Blessings,
Lyon
Hi everybody. I know I’ve been scarce around here. I have a good reason, though!
I’m working on the art for my 4th picture book! The publisher has placed it on the web site for pre-orders. Check it out!
Rabbit’s Song by SJ Tucker & Trudy Herring
http://magicalchildbooks.com/rabbits.html
I am super excited! Well…back to the drafting table.
Blessings,
Lyon
![Jerah "J" Lessor Known Goddesses ABC](http://handcraftedpagan.com/magicalchild/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/jerahs.jpg "Jerah \\"J\\" Lessor Known Goddesses ABC")
July is half way through. Time just seems to go faster and faster as I get older. To the left is a portion of the newest installment for the free coloring pages at Magical Child News. This month features the letter J and the Goddess is Jerah, a Semetic Goddess. Sign up for the yahoo group mailing list to download this and previous free coloring pages.
I joined a new blog group this week called Watercolor Wednesdays. The members have to be watercolor artists doing children’s book illustration. Every Wednesday we receive a prompt for a new painting. This week’s prompt is “this little piggy.” We are to let our imaginations run wild, and mine is working over time. So much so I haven’t been able to decide what to do yet.
Work on Rabbit’s Song is moving along smoothly. The rough layout for the cover has received approval and I am busy finalizing all the changes and tiny details. The publisher will be making the book available for pre-order as soon as the cover receives final approval. The authors and I will all be appearing together in Tennessee for a pre-release party. All the books pre-ordered before the mid October event will be signed by all three of us. I am very excited about this.
I’ve decided that watching the scale inch up over the summer has got to end. I got my bike out of the basement and dusted off the cobwebs yesterday morning. I rode out to the post office and back in the morning. It actually felt kind of good to be doing something just for me. In fact it felt so good that I decided to ride the bike down to A Visual Impact in the afternoon to get my hair cut. (Check out the logo — I designed it for them.) I arrived at the shop without incident, got my hair cut and started on my way home. I took the main drag home (fewer hills) instead of taking the side streets I traveled on my way downtown. That was a mistake. Not only was the traffic heavier, the folks in the cars seemed to think they needed to honk their horns at me as they drove past. The side of the rode is not in good repair, so it was tough going. I gritted my teeth and struggled on until I cam to the rail road tracks. The tracks cut across the road at an angle. I was attempting to pedal my sorry self across them and avoid the worst of the potholes and road debris when a car swooshed by rather closely with horn blaring. It startled me and I took my eyes off the road momentarily to see the car rush past only to have the front tire of the bike catch in the track and get stuck. Needless to say, I kept going and my bike didn’t. OW! I now have a nice pair of matching road rash on my right knee and left leg. 
I wear leather biking gloves, so my hands are undamaged. A good thing because I used them to stop my face from landing in the gravel by the side of the road.
Suffice it to say, I won’t be traveling that section of road again!
Spring is just around the corner, and after the snow we had this year, I am just about ready for it. In a little over a week Ostara will be upon us. This year will be especially powerful as the Full Moon falls on the following day.
This month’s coloring page; the “F” installment of the Lessor Known Goddesses ABCs will feature Flidais, an Irish woodland Goddess. I will be drawing that out this afternoon, so expect your new coloring page by week’s end. It usually takes me several days to get the page perfected.
Speaking of “perfected” my third picture book “Watchers” is currently in production. I put the finishing touches on the last painting on Saturday evening. It took me slightly longer than I anticipated since I had two very important occasions to celebrate last week. One was my daughter’s birthday. Rabbit has turned 14. It’s so hard to believe that the little girl from my first book is all grown up (almost) but she’ll be off to high school next year. We celebrated with my elder daughter, the younger son and the two grandchildren and a nephew. We ate Mexican.
The other bit of news, which will actually mean something more to you that my daughter’s birthday is the next book. I have joined forces with SJ Tucker (http://www.skinnywhitechick.com) to illustrate her marvelous mythological tale “Rabbit’s Song.” She co-authored the story with her dear friend and High Priestess Trudy of “In the House of Mama Dragon” fame. We expect the book to make it’s appearance in about a year.
Watchers is now available for pre-order on Amazon or through Magical Child Books web site (http://www.handcraftedpagan.com/shop/ ). All books purchased through the Magical Child Books’ shopping cart will be autographed, so make sure you let me know who to make the autographs out to when you order yours. Books will be shipped as soon as they arrive.
In other news, “Aidan’s First Full Moon Circle” will be featured in New Age Retailer in Shelf Life – Early Lessons due out in the Spring 2008 issue. Plus, after a couple of set backs, and scrambling to find a qualified teacher, I am proud to announce that the promised teaching guide (http://handcraftedpagan.com/magicalchild/aidanguide.html) for “Aidan’s First Full Moon Circle” is now available on my web site. The teaching guide covers all US school based curriculum requirements and includes a moon based craft at the end. Perfect for home schoolers and Moon Schools. My undying thanks goes out to Natalie Zaman, a NJ Certified Teacher (English K-12), of Broomstix.com for stepping so gracefully into the gap left by my previous guide writer.
If you haven’t heard of Broomstix before, it’s an e-zine for Pagan kids (http://www.broomstix.com ). It comes out around each Sabbat and includes all kinds of wonderful stories, crafts and activities. I will be the features author in their Litha issue. More on that in future updates.
Those of you in the St. Louis area I will be making several appearances:
March 30 1:30-2:30 pm
Story time for families (Free)
Pathways 11419 Concord Village Avenue, St. Louis, MO
call (314) 842-0047 or visit http://www.pathwaysstl.com for direction
April 5 All Day
Spirit Awakening (April 4-6)
The Days Inn, Alton, IL
visit the web site for details http://www.spiritawaken.org/
I’ll be doing book signings all day and giving a workshop – Sacred Art: Creations for Worship and Healing
Also appearing are Ellen Dugan and Mickie Mueller, among others.
April 8 7-9 pm
Sacred Art: Creations for Worship and Healing ($15 pre registration required)
Pathways 11419 Concord Village Avenue, St. Louis, MO
call (314) 842-0047 or visit http://www.pathwaysstl.com for direction
And finally, I am on both myspace and covenspace. If you are there, send me a friend request!
Bright Blessings,
Lyon
Watchers, Aidan’s First Full Moon Circle and An Ordinary Girl, A Magical Child
Magical Child Books – http://handcraftedpagan.com
