Book Giveaway – Come With Me by Holly McGhee

Talented agent and author Holly McGhee has a new book COME WITH ME coming out on September 5th. You can pre-order now. Holly is giving away a copy to one lucky winner.

Here is my review on Goodreads: This picture book reminds us how terrorist attacks and the hatred projected on TV can cause anxiety and fear in our children. The story shows a little girl asking her parents what she can do to make the world a better place. The papa says, “Come with me.” Her Mama says, “Come with me,” and little by little she begins to understands her part in making the world a better place. She says, “Come with me” to the little boy next door and they start to change the world. Come With Me is a wonderful story and message that will help calm the hidden the fears in our children.

If you would like to win a copy, please leave a comment, reblog, tweet, or talk about COME WITH ME on Facebook with a link and you will get additional chances to win. Just let me know the other things you did to share the good news, so I can put the right amount of tickets in my basket for you. Check back to discover the winner.

THE BOOK’S DESCRIPTION:

A lyrical and timely story about a little girl who learns the power of kindness, bravery, and friendship in the face of uncertainty.

When the news reports are flooded with tales of hatred and fear, a girl asks her papa what she can do to make the world a better place. “Come with me,” he says. Hand-in-hand, they walk to the subway, tipping their hats to those they meet. The next day, the girl asks her mama what she can do—her mama says, “Come with me,” and together they set out for the grocery, because one person doesn’t represent an entire race or the people of a land. After dinner that night, the little girl asks if she can do something of her own—walk the dog . . . and her parents let her go. “Come with me,” the girl tells the boy across the hall. Walking together, one step at a time, the girl and the boy begin to see that as small and insignificant as their part may seem, it matters to the world.

THE BOOK’S JOURNEY:

I first met Belgian artist Pascal Lemaitre in 1999—and our friendship has grown closer with each passing year . . .
In the days after 9/11 Pascal expressed his empathy and love and worry by sending me and my daughter a beautiful drawing of a frightened, grieving man planting a flag on empty ground, the flag bearing a bright red heart . . . I’ve always kept this image close in difficult times.

My way of coping with 9/11 was to buy a miner’s headlight to carry in my purse . . . never leaving home without it.
Several years in though, New York seemingly at peace again, I no longer brought the light along.

In the winter of 2016, watching the aftermath of the attacks on Paris with my children—we wondered what to do, all of us feeling so helpless. Shortly after, we watched again as CNN played and replayed an ISIS video targeting Herald Square, the target being the very spot I walk through on my way to work.

So I bought a new flashlight for my purse. This gesture made me feel brave and ready somehow.

Then came the Brussels bombings and lockdown, right where Pascal lived. I reached out to him, just as he had to me all those years before. We emailed every day—he’d tell me what they were doing: walking the dog, continuing to take the subway to his daughter’s school, shopping in the Moroccan grocery store that other people were avoiding.

We talked about how everybody, even the tiniest among us, has a part. There are things we can do, for ourselves and our children, especially when the world seems so full of hate.

We can refuse to live in fear & we can be kind.

Come With Me is written in honor of friendship, bravery, and the fact that we aren’t powerless, no matter how small and insignificant we may feel.
—Holly & Pascal

HOLLY’S BIO:

Holly M. McGhee grew up in the Steuben Valley of upstate New York. Her aspirations varied over the years, from wanting to be a gas-station attendant (she liked the big roll of dollars they usually carried and the smell of gas), to meteorologist (she spent many hours watching the weather channel on her grandmother’s television) to gymnastics. She was especially passionate about being a gymnast, and she built a balance beam in her backyard, from a 4 X 4 piece of lumber and two sawhorses. She eventually gave up that dream, after growing too tall and getting too many splinters.

She started writing in 2007 under pen name Hallie Durand when the character Dessert Schneider barged into her life one morning while she was pleasantly reading on New Jersey transit. Dessert demanded that her story be told, in her own words, and so Holly obliged. She has written three chapter books about her in all (Dessert First, Just Desserts, and No Room for Dessert). Under her pen name, she has also written three picture books, two about a boy named Mitchell who likes to drive and knock things down (Mitchell’s License and Mitchell Goes Bowling) and one about her son Marshall who believes that gingerbread men can run (Catch That Cookie!).
When her first middle-grade novel was sold, she decided to integrate both sides of her publishing life, as a writer and literary agent and founder of Pippin, and from here on you can find her books under her given name Holly M. McGhee.  Matylda, Bright and Tender in Spring 2017 from Candlewick Press and Come with Me, a picture book for all ages, illustrated by Pascal Lemaitre, on September 5, 2017 from G. P. Putnam’s.

PASCAL LEMAITRE’S BIO:

Pascal Lemaitre is the illustrator of several books for children, including Who’s Got Game? The Ant or the Grasshopper? (Simon & Schuster, 2003), Who’s Got Game? The Lion or the Mouse? (Simon & Schuster, 2003)—both New York Times bestsellers—as well as Who’s Got Game? Poppy or the Snake? (Simon & Schuster, 2004), and The Book of Mean People (Hyperion, 2002), all by Toni and Slade Morrison. Pascal also created the artwork for Supercat (Workman, 2002), Supercat to the Rescue (Workman, 2002), and Baby Goose (Hyperion, 2004), all by Kate McMullan, Do Not Open This Book! by Michaela Muntean (Scholastic, 2006), and the Doctor Ted series by Andrea Beaty (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2008). Pascal’s more recent books include Hush Baby Ghostling by Andrea Beaty, Always by Alison McGhee, Let’s Get a Checkup by Alan Katz, Bulldog’s Big Day by Kate McMullan, Goodnight Dragons by Judith L. Roth, and a retelling of Pinocchio by Kate McMullan. He also illustrated Come With Me by Holly McGhee, to be published in fall 2017.

Thank you Holly for sharing your book and its’ journey with us. It is a much needed to remind us that we aren’t powerless, no matter how small. Good luck with the book.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy