One of my favorite things about writing for children is welcoming other amazing authors to my blog to celebrate book releases. Today I’m happy to host my friend and fellow author, Janet L. Christensen and her new book, CAIRO’s CHRISTMAS JOURNEY (Little Lamb Books, October 2020)! Janet is an award-winning writer, speaker and encourager that loves to captivate audiences with inspiring stories. She is a pastor’s wife, a children’s and women’s ministry leader, and the proud mother of two teenage sons and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Sully.
Welcome, Janet and Cairo!
Janet: Patti, thanks so much for letting me join you today to tell you a little bit more about my new Christian children’s book, Cairo’s Christmas Journey. I hope you don’t mind, but I have brought the main character of the story along to help tell you about his story. Everybody, I would like to introduce you to my friend, Cairo the Cricket.
Cairo: Why, hello everybody!
Janet: So, Cairo, your story is about the night that Jesus was born. Can you tell us about it?
Cairo: Oh, my. I will never forget it. You see, my job is to play soothing music to calm down the sheep at night. Have you ever been around sheep?
Janet: You know, I can’t say as I have.
Cairo: Well, sometimes they just don’t like to go to sleep at night.
Janet: Oh, well, I do know a bit about that. When my boys were little, sometimes they didn’t like to go to sleep.
Cairo: So, you know all about it. That is where I come in. The shepherds say that my lullabies are the best they have heard. I can put the sheep to sleep in no time. Anyway, on that night, we got quite the surprise.
Janet: You did?
Cairo: Yes. I had just finished the sheep’s favorite lullaby and they were all settled down for the night. All of a sudden, we were visited by a bunch of angels. They told the shepherds all about the Messiah being born. And then one of the angels came to talk to me.
Janet: And what did the angel say to you?
Cairo: The angel told me that God wanted me to go to Bethlehem to play my sweet lullabies for the newborn King. I was shocked.
Janet: I can imagine. That sounds like a big job.
Cairo: It was a very important job. But it seemed impossible. You see, I am just a regular cricket with regular sized cricket legs. I didn’t think I would ever make all the way to Bethlehem that night.
Janet: Oh, wow. So what did you do?
Cairo: The angel told me that God would help me on my journey, so I only had one thing I could do. I got to hoppin’.
Janet: Well, that sounds pretty easy.
Cairo: Oh, no! It was anything but easy. You wouldn’t believe the tight spots I ended up in. It was quite the wild night.
Janet: How did you ever make it?
Cairo: Well, Janet. The angel was right. God sent me the help I needed right when I needed it. And I got to meet some excellent helpers along the way.
Janet: So, you finally made it to Bethlehem. How did the Messiah like your songs?
Cairo: Well, it is hard to tell. He fell asleep before I was done.
Janet: It sounds like he liked your music very well. Good job of listening to God, even when things got hard.
Cairo: I will never forget that night. I learned a very important lesson.
Janet: And what was that?
Cairo: That God is there to help us on our toughest journeys. I have remembered that ever since that night.
Janet: That is indeed an important lesson. Thank you, Cairo, for sharing your story with everyone and I bet everyone is excited to read your story when it releases on October 27 from Little Lamb Books. You can find Cairo’s Christmas Journey at many of your favorite booksellers. You can check out all of the latest on this book on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/janetlchristensen or at janetlchristensen.com.
Thanks for joining me today, Janet! CAIRO’S CHRISTMAS JOURNEY releases tomorrow (Oct. 27) and is available through Little Lamb Books or anywhere books are sold.
Sensibility- Seeing well-loved stories in new ways helps keep those stories fresh for future generations.
Sense- Think about an old story you love. As an exercise, reimagine the story from the perspective of a different character or object and write a short scene from your new point of view.
