Book Review: Little Shepherd by Cheryl Malandrinos

Little Shepherd by Cheryl Malandrinos
reviewed by Elysabeth Eldering



PRODUCT DETAILS
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Paperback: 16 pages
Publisher: Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc (August 21, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1616330856
ISBN-13: 978-1616330859
Product Dimensions: 9 x 8 x 0.1 inches


Belief. Faith. Miracle.

In Little Shepherd, Obed is given the responsibility of keeping watch over his first flock of sheep. While keeping a watchful eye, the angels from Heaven appear to the shepherds and proclaim the birth of the Savior. Obed and his father and the other shepherds make their way to Bethlehem to see the new King. Obed worries that the flock will not be safe if they all leave, but leaves anyway. Upon returning, he sees that the flock is unharmed and exactly in the same spot he left them.

I have to agree with other reviewers that this is a great Christmas story and is definitely from a different viewpoint. My problem with the story is that the age of 5 seems to be too young to really be given a flock of sheep to herd or to have the fears the Obed experiences when asked to come to Bethlehem to see the newborn babe in the manger.

The story is truly a delight in all other aspects in that it takes the reader through the journey of what those shepherds many years ago experienced. I think Ms. Malandrinos brings a delightful way to tell the Christmas story to readers. A glimpse in the day of a young boy trying hard to find his place in the village.

I encourage families to sit down and read the Little Shepherd and then explore the story from reading the Bible. Have a little faith and stay strong to your beliefs and you can witness a miracle.

Cheryl Malandrinos is a freelance writer and editor. A regular contributor for Writer2Writer, her articles focus on increasing productivity through time management and organization. A founding member of Musing Our Children, Ms. Malandrinos is also Editor in Chief of the group’s quarterly newsletter, Pages & Pens.

Cheryl is a Tour Coordinator for Pump Up Your Book, a book reviewer, and blogger. Little Shepherd is her first children’s book. Ms. Malandrinos lives in Western Massachusetts with her husband and two young daughters. She also has a son who is married.

You can visit Cheryl online or the Little Shepherd blog.

Book Tours continue

Tomorrow, I'll be posting a review for Cheryl Malandrinos' book, Little Shepherd, as part of her virtual book tour. Don't forget about her giveaways as outlined here.







Remember to check out the VBT Writers on the Move ongoing book tour (see schedule on side bar). We have many new authors and some great information to pass on to you all.







Donna McDine is winding her tour down this week for her book The Golden Pathway, so don't forget to catch up with her.









Lori Calabrese's tour starts next week and here is the schedule. Stop the many stops and see what Lori has to offer us. I'll be hosting Lori on the 16th with a review of her book The Bug That Plagued the Entire Third Grade, and Lori will be stopping by throughout the day to answer any questios you may have.

LORI'S BOOK TOUR SCHEDULE:
November 2 - Mayra's Secret Bookcase

November 3 - Ingrid's Notes

November 4 - Penny Lockwood Ehrenkranz's One Writer's Journey

November 5 - Book Dads

November 8 - Brimful Curiosities and The Children's Book Review

November 9 - Mrs. Hill's Book Blog

November 10 - Miss O's Library Land

November 11 - Tara Lazar's Writing for Children (While Raising Them/PiBoIdMo

November 12 - N.A. Sharpe's Realms of Thought

November 15 - Beverly S. McClure's The Story of a Writer

November 16 - Elysabeth's Stories

November 17 - Raising Itty Bitty Bookworms

November 18 - There's a Book

November 19 - The Iron Bodkin

November 30 - Into the Wardrobe





I hope to do a tour the first of the year showcasing the five new books in the state series that will be available. It is a busy time, so just bear with me on working up some new information for a short tour - may only be about a week or so long. See you all in the postings - E :)

Promoting through virtual book tours

As many of you know, I participate in the VBT Writers on the Move virtual tour which is an ongoing, monthly tour where we host a group of authors. We offer an array of articles, book reviews and author interviews. See the schedule on my side bar for who is beig hosted by whom. I will be hosting Mari Taylor on this blog on the 6th, Heather (my illustrator for the remaining JGDS books) will be hosting Nancy Famolari on the 9th. I'll be featured on Robert Medak's blog on the 22nd and Heather will be featured on Carolyn Howard-Johnson's blog on the 8th.

My good friend Donna McDine is in the midst of her virtual book tour for The Golden Pathway, a historical fiction story about the Underground Railroad. I'm not on her schedule to host her but I will be posting a review of the book tomorrow for her. Her tour has been running since the 7th of September and runs through the end of this month. You can find more on her tour schedule by clicking her name above. Donna is also part of the VBT Writers on the Move and these planned stops are part of her full tour. Stop by and see what Donna has to offer many writers.

Another of my friends, Cheryl Malandrinos, author of the Little Shepherd is starting her 75-stop tour tomorrow. For a full schedule, please visit Cheryl's blog. I will be hosting Cheryl on the 29th of this month with a book review. Cheryl is running two contests concurrently for this tour, which offer readers opportunities to win two different prize packages. Both are open to all, even overseas folks. For the details of the contests, please stop by Cheryl's Pump Up Your Book site. She is offering a package worth about $65 for those who comment during the tour and a package worth about $97 for those who have purchased a copy of the book since its release in August and through the end of the tour. For more on the Little Shepherd, you can follow the book on it's own blog.

The last of my friends (that I'm aware of or participating in a tour with) is Lori Calabrese, author of The Bug That Plaqued the Entire Third Grade. Apparently, there are two tours going on for this book, one through the Indie-Debut roup and one that she is doing in November. If you are subscriber to her newsletter, The Book Bugz, and follow her tour and leave comments, letting her know you are a subscriber, you will be eligible for a prize package. The othe part of the tour starts November 3 and I will be hosting Lori here on the 16th with a review of her book. For more information on both tours, please visit Lori's site and find out where she will be heading on this new adventure.

Other than participating in the VBT Writers on the Move tours, I've not planned any more for my series, yet. I'm working on a new aspect for the study guides (not taking them away as they are geared for individual books, but an added bonus for the series) and so I'm not concentrating on promoting my books like I should. I really need to promoting myself as well but just find myself tied up with work and other aspects of writing that I haven't spent as much time promoting (well, okay not true since I've been gone almost every weekend since the middle of August at one event or another - Love to Learn homeschool conference in Charlotte, NC; Mint Hill's Sunday in the Park in Mint Hill, NC (on the outskirts of Charlotte); Springwater festival in Williamston, SC; Celebration of Books in Highlands, NC; Geofest through the SC Geographic Alliance in Columbia, SC; and the SCBWI-Carolinas fall conference in Charlotte, NC). I'm at a loss this month since I only have one festival scheduled and it's local - the Sugarfoot Festival in my town. Next month I'll be at the CBF in Charleston, SC the first weekend of the month and the following weekend at the Savannah Children's Book Festival - I can't wait for this one; been planning and thinking of it all year. I guess I should work on some more virtual tours for my series since I do have more books available. For those of you following my JGDS series, all information on new releases can be found at either the JGDS blog or the JGDS website. Keep checking back for new books and for the info on the added bonus to the study guides for teachers and homeschoolers and co-ops.

For now, find an author, follow a virtual tour and have fun reading some new books.