The Donkey This Christmas

I’ve been traveling and hosting guests this week, but wanted to update you on the latest news about The Donkey In the Living Room.

For those of you who didn’t follow last year’s holiday hoopla, The Donkey In the Living Room is a book I wrote that invites kids to unwrap a different figure from the manger scene each day leading up to Christmas. After revealing the figurine–say a lamb or an angel–they then read the Christmas story from that character’s perspective.

Last year I created and self-published the book for my own kids and nieces using simple pre-purchased illustrations, but after others began buying the book, we realized it had potential to inspire a new family tradition for others as well.  This year, then, I had the pleasure of working with B&H Kids (a division of Lifeway) to fully illustrate and release a new version of the book that can be more widely distributed.

Although the actual paper books (and possibly toys!) won’t be released until 2014, during this 2013 holiday season, B&H Kids will unveil the e-book which you can buy here for just $3.99.

You can also pick up the narrated e-book for your kids to follow along with on your iPad or iPhone using the iBooks app. [If you don’t have iBooks on your apple gadget, download it here free.]

The e-book has many advantages. It can be downloaded onto iPads and iPhones and Kindles and other gadgets which make it travel-friendly over the holiday season when kids might be at Grandma or Grandpa’s instead of home on some nights. You can also send a sample e-book (a few pages) to someone else who you think might like this book OR you can send them the whole e-book as a gift. (Just go to the Amazon page for the book and look in the right hand column, indicated by arrows in the picture below.)

My hope is that your family, and many others, will find what my family has–a simple and meaningful way to spend time together, celebrating the true reason for Christmas. [Listen to me talk about my family’s tradition here in this short video clip.]