These last many months, I have been working on a few different writing projects. The main one is my new novel, Awakening—scheduled to be released in the next few weeks! While I was writing that book, I had an idea for a picture book for young kids. In part, because my children are always asking to read my books and while I think The Light Series and now Awakening are perfect for teens and up, I don’t think they are right for kids younger than 13 or 14. So from their little pleadings, a fun, messy, lovely (I just described my kids 😉) picture book was born. Extraordinary is officially out today!!!
Extraordinary contains the message I wish we could all fully, truly internalize—we are extraordinary because God made us extraordinary, and there is never a moment when He and His angels are not with us. While the world may say we are ordinary, the world is wrong. Because as sons and daughters of the creator of the universe, We are far from ordinary, we are, in fact, quite extraordinary (one of the first lines of the book 😊).
Knowing that we are physical beings, God gave us physical gifts in the sacraments. I wanted to highlight the first three, so our children could begin to understand what they have been given. The sacraments of Baptism, Reconciliation, and Holy Communion are beautifully shown in the book.
Extraordinary is illustrated by my friend Katie Sisk (very soon to be Katie Ennis—Gavin is a very blessed man!). Katie did an incredible job of bringing my words to life in all of their fun, messy wonder! I am incredibly, incredibly grateful for her!!!!
Early in the process, I showed my kids some of her sketches, and my oldest son asked if he could help her color in the pictures. Such a good idea! From that suggestion, An Extraordinary Coloring Book was created. It contains the same lovely story and drawings as the picture book, except the images are uncolored to allow the child in your life to become Katie’s co-illustrator. My kids love this idea. I hope yours do too!
Because the world needs to hear of God’s extraordinary love for each of us now more than ever, Katie and I would like to give the ebook version of Extraordinary away for free. Here is the link for your free e-version. You are very welcome to share this link with anyone you think would enjoy Extraordinary.
After you read the ebook, please consider leaving a review on Amazon. Reviews are so very helpful!
Oh, and if you would like to hear me discuss Extraordinary, here is an interview I did with Danielle Bean back in January.
Very gratefully yours!
~Jacqueline