Book Title: Delaware at Christmas / The First State in a Merry State by Dave Tabler Category: Adult Non-Fiction, 134 pages Genre: Christmas Publisher: Dave Tabler Publication Date: July 1, 2025 Content Rating: G. Family friendly throughout. No sex, violence or foul language.
Book Description:
Explore the rich tapestry of holiday traditions that have shaped the First State’s festive season across the centuries. From colonial customs to modern-day celebrations, “Delaware at Christmas” unwraps the fascinating stories behind the state’s most cherished Yuletide practices.
Discover how Delaware’s diverse communities have contributed to its unique holiday landscape:
Uncover the origins of iconic traditions like the Wilmington mummer’s parade and beach town “Christmas in July” festivities
Learn about the evolution of holiday decorations, from simple colonial adornments to elaborate Victorian displays
Explore the influence of immigrant communities, including Polish, Italian, and Hispanic holiday customs
Delve into forgotten practices like the holly wreath industry that once thrived in southern Delaware
Examine how wartime and economic shifts shaped Christmas observances throughout the state’s history
Filled with captivating anecdotes, historical photographs, and little-known facts, this book offers a comprehensive look at how Delawareans have celebrated the holiday season from the 17th century to the present day. Whether you’re a history buff, a holiday enthusiast, or simply curious about Delaware’s cultural heritage, this meticulously researched volume provides a joyous journey through time.
“Delaware at Christmas” is an essential addition to any First State bookshelf, offering:
In-depth exploration of religious and secular holiday traditions
Profiles of notable Delawareans who influenced Christmas customs
Insights into how national trends and local innovations shaped Delaware’s experiences
A treasure trove of holiday memories from generations of Delaware families
Unwrap the magic of Delaware’s Christmas past and present with this definitive guide to the state’s holiday history. Whether you’re a lifelong resident or a curious visitor, “Delaware at Christmas” promises to enrich your understanding and appreciation of the First State’s joyous spirit. Buy “Delaware at Christmas” today and embark on a joyful exploration of holiday traditions in the heart of the Mid-Atlantic!
Ten year old Dave Tabler decided he was going to read the ‘R’ volume from the family’s World Book Encyclopedia set over summer vacation. He never made it from beginning to end. He did, however, become interested in Norman Rockwell, rare-earth elements, and Run for the Roses.
Tabler’s father encouraged him to try his hand at taking pictures with the family camera. With visions of Rockwell dancing in his head, Tabler press-ganged his younger brother into wearing a straw hat and sitting next to a stream barefoot with a homemade fishing pole in his hand. The resulting image was terrible.
Dave Tabler went on to earn degrees in art history and photojournalism despite being told he needed a ‘Plan B.’
Fresh out of college, Tabler contributed the photography for “The Illustrated History of American Civil War Relics,” which taught him how to work with museum curators, collectors, and white cotton gloves. He met a man in the Shenandoah Valley who played the musical saw, a Knoxville fellow who specialized in collecting barbed wire, and Tom Dickey, brother of the man who wrote ‘Deliverance.’
In 2006 Tabler circled back to these earlier encounters with Appalachian culture as an idea for a blog. AppalachianHistory.net today reaches 375,000 readers a year.
Dave Tabler moved to Delaware in 2010 and became smitten with its rich past. He no longer copies Norman Rockwell, but his experience working with curators and collectors came in handy when he got the urge to photograph a love letter to Delaware’s early heritage. This may be the start of something.
Book Title: And She Was Never the Same Again: A Multigenerational Memoir by Natasha Pryde Trujillo Ph.D. Category: Adult Non-Fiction 18 yrs +, 285 pages Genre: Multigenerational Memoir Publisher: Violet Echoes Press Release date: April, 2024 Content Rating: PG-13:discusses trauma, near-death experiences, grief
MY REVIEW
And She Was Never The Same Again is a multigenerational memoir by Natasha Pryde Trujillo. Each chapter is a glimpse into the life of Natasha’s family. These touching and, at times, heart wrenching chapters share some of the happy and the sad moments in her life.
I don’t read a lot of nonfiction, but I am very glad I made an exception with And She Was Never The Same Again. Some moments felt familiar to me and some moments brought tears to my eyes. I find that most books have a little somethin’ somethin’ in them for everyone. It may bring for the a memory of your own, about your grandmother, your father, your sister, your brother…
And She Was Never The Same Again is thought provoking and once I started reading I didn’t want to stop.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of And She Was Never The Same Again by Natasha Pryde Trujillo.
4 Star
“Dr. Trujillo has done an exceptional job of opening her life of grief and loss for her audience to experience. The intentional nature in which this book is written provides a welcome comfort of hope. Her words encourage her audience to look at those ‘isms’ we humans all own and instead of wanting to avoid seeing them, to look at them and learn how to navigate and accept; especially when it is too late to share those sentiments when you could have.”—Feathered Quill Book Reviews
Book Description:
And She Was Never the Same Again is about you. It is about your family and your friends, everyone you’ve ever met, and all the strangers you have yet to meet.
It takes you on a journey of gains and losses that stretch generations, cultures, identities, and decades of time. It awakens you to the inevitable and makes you look at things most people want to avoid seeing. It explores near-death experiences; medical, individual, and intergenerational trauma; the stigmatized death of a partner; perfectionism; athletics; first loves; and the gaping holes that become permanent fixtures within us when those we love the most die.
You will feel, you will learn, you will grown, and you will never be the same again.
Dr. Trujillo is a counseling and sport psychologist, consultant, educator, author, and human. Labels don’t make her better or worse-equipped to deal with inevitable grief throughout life. She’s passionate about the power of storytelling and wanted to illustrate nuanced ways we cope with grief. Like you, she’s had losses and decided risking vulnerability may encourage others to redefine relationships with loss to live more holistic and intentional lives. She hopes this limited collection of stories can build the realization that there’s no “right” way to grieve.
Book Title: Undomesticated Women, Anecdotal Evidence from the Road by Anna Blake Category: Adult Non-Fiction (18+), 325 pages Genre: Travel Memoir Publisher: Prairie Moon Press Release date: Oct 2023 Content Rating: PG. oblique mention of dysfunctional family, no sex, drugs, etc
Book Description:
Welcome to our year of living compactly. My dog, Mister, and I took to the road pulling our A-frame trailer, the Rollin’ Rancho. I’m a traveling horse trainer/clinician, who became a non-essential worker during the COVID-19 lockdown. Then, in 2022, we bounced back. We were nomads looking for horse training adventure and liver treats. Work paid for the trip; it was part clinic tour, part travelogue, part squirrel hunt. But mostly an unapologetic celebration of sunsets, horses, RV parks, roadkill, diverse landscapes, and undomesticated women.
It’s a book made of made of adjectives and nouns, blue skies and tornado watches, resorts and reservations, open roads to the horizon, and one-lane dead-ends. We emerge from the truck in a cloud of dog hair and sunflower shells, like disoriented and scruffy rock stars in a GPS haze, not entirely lost or found.
This book isn’t about training, although there are horses in it. It’s a follow-up of Stable Relation, my first book, but my life changed in ways I would never have guessed, so don’t expect the usual sequel. Undomesticated Women is a travel memoir, a peek behind the curtains of what my job is like. I wanted to see this beautiful country, do some time travel, and explore thoughts and memories now that I’ve become a gray mare.
Mister would tell you it’s his memoir about being tasked with the unreasonable job of guarding me against a wild range of dangers. Like eating dinner late.
I’m an animal advocate, award-winning author, solo RV traveler, old-school feminist, dog companion, unabashed lover of sunsets, and professional horse trainer/clinician. I’m sixty-nine years old. I’ve done just about everything and done it well. No longer auditioning.
My books include: Stable Relation, A memoir of one woman’s spirited journey home. Relaxed & Forward: Relationship advice from your horse. Barn Dance, Nickers, brays, bleats, howls, and quacks: Tales from the herd. Horse Prayers, Poems from the prairie. Going Steady, More relationship advice from your horse. Horse. Woman. Poems from our lives. Undomesticated Women: Anecdotal Evidence from the Road
I was born in Cavalier County, North Dakota, in 1954, the youngest daughter in a farm family. Now I live at Infinity Farm, on the flat, windy, treeless prairie of Colorado with a herd of reprobates, raconteurs, and our moral compass, Edgar Rice Burro. Previously, I was a self-employed goldsmith, showing one-of-a-kind artwork in galleries from coast to coast. My Denver studio and gallery was shared with generations of good dogs.
Early writing included a few screenplays, one of which was produced independently, and articles for several periodicals. Every Friday since 2010, I have posted an unconventional and popular blog about life on the farm and horse training. My unique perspective combines Calming Signals and Affirmative Training for a special method of understanding, training, and respecting animals.
Book Title: Lifeline to a Soul / The Life-Changing Perspective I Gained While Teaching Entrepreneurship to Prisoners by John K. McLaughlin Category: Adult Non-Fiction (18+), 234 pages Genre: Memoir Publisher: Lifeline Education Connection Release date: April 2023 Content Rating: PG: A handful of expletives.
Book Description:
2023 PenCraft Seasonal Book Award Spring Competition. Winner in the Non-Fiction – Autobiography genre
Lifeline to a Soul takes the reader inside the fence and chronicles the victories and challenges one man faced as a first-time teacher in the strange world of prison life.
John McLaughlin spent half his life bootstrapping his start-up business to an industry leader. His desire to teach what he spent his career learning led him on a remarkable journey through the gates of a minimum-security prison where he taught entrepreneurship for almost three years. John has an MBA, a teaching certificate, and a marketing management certificate from Harvard Extension University. John enjoys riding a tandem bicycle with his wonderful wife, Reba on the greenways of Charlotte, North Carolina where they live with two extremely spoiled cats, Moe and Joe. You can learn more about John’s current teaching program at: https://www.lifelinetoasoul.com/
Book Title: Lose It For The Last Time 2nd Edition by Amy Newman Shapiro Category: Adult Non-Fiction, 240 pages Genre: Weight Loss, Nutrition, Healthy Living, Self Help, Publisher: Snewman Media Release date: November 2022 Content Rating: G for no inappropriate language, no violence, no sex.
Book Description:
When it comes to losing and keeping off the pounds, Amy Shapiro knows what works, what doesn’t, and why.
In her completely revised and updated edition of LOSE IT FOR THE LAST TIME she incorporates the latest scientific research that has advanced our understanding of why we gain weight and the best practices for taking it off —for good. In addition, she introduces us to the technology that has changed how we exercise and track physical activity with tips on using it to our best advantage.
This new edition contains the same easy-to-follow plan for permanent and healthy weight loss that Amy has used successfully for many years in her private practice to help people like you win the constant battle against losing weight and gaining it back. She shares her secrets for successfully making small, sensible lifestyle changes, along with strategies for using a non-diet approach to lose weight.
Amy will make your dream of long-term weight loss a reality by:
Helping you lose weight in a nonrestrictive way that makes it easier to keep it off
Offering surprising, simple substitutes for replacing habits and behaviors that pack on the pounds
Showing how it’s possible to eat fewer calories without going hungry or depriving yourself of the foods you love
Explaining how to dine out and enjoy party and holiday food without gaining weight
Demonstrating how to make exercise a part of your life without joining a gym or playing a sport
Providing practical, easy-to-live-with suggestions and techniques for staying motivated and focused on long-term success
Teaching you how to set realistic, measurable, and doable weekly goals
It’s time to get healthy and lose weight for the last time and stop yo-yo dieting and the health risks that come with it. Here are the answers for reaching and maintaining a healthy weight so you can experience the real health benefits of permanent weight loss.
Amy Newman Shapiro RDN, CDN, RYT200 is a registered dietitian, nutritionist. She holds degrees in both psychology and nutrition and is a certified personal trainer and a certified yoga instructor. As a professional speaker Amy promotes wellness in corporate, clinical, and private settings. She also offers wellness coaching and integrative and functional nutrition in her private practice based in Long Island, New York, where she and her husband reside. This is her fourth book.
Book Title: Lifeline to a Soul by John K. McLaughlin Category: Adult Non-Fiction (18+), 234 pages Genre: Memoir Publisher: Lifeline Education Connection Release date: April, 2023 Content Rating: PG + M
Book Description:
Lifeline to a Soul takes the reader inside the fence and chronicles the victories and challenges one man faced as a first-time teacher in the strange world of prison life.
LIFELINE TO A SOUL has been selected as a winner of the 2023 PenCraft Seasonal Book Award Spring Competition. We hope this award inspires you to keep writing and helps you reach new heights in your career. The PenCraft Seasonal Book Awards recognizes books of remarkable literary quality, artistic excellence, and popularity with readers. Lifeline to a Soul exemplified these criteria as a winner in the Non Fiction – Autobiography genre.
John McLaughlin spent half his life bootstrapping his start-up business to an industry leader. His desire to teach what he spent his career learning led him on a remarkable journey through the gates of a minimum-security prison where he taught entrepreneurship for almost three years. John has an MBA, a teaching certificate, and a marketing management certificate from Harvard Extension University. John enjoys riding a tandem bicycle with his wonderful wife, Reba on the greenways of Charlotte, North Carolina where they live with two extremely spoiled cats, Moe and Joe. You can learn more about John’s current teaching program at: https://www.lifelinetoasoul.com/
Book Title: On The Edge of Shattered: A Mother’s Experience of Discovering Freedom Through Sobriety by Kimberly Kearns Category: Adult Non-Fiction (18+), 252 pages Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir, Self-Help Publisher: Glass Spider Publishing Release date: November 2022 Content Rating: PG-13 + M: Intended for adults only, contains information on alcoholism
Book Description:
Before she stopped drinking for good, Kim was lying to herself and everyone she knew about her daily habit—sneaking morning sips of vodka behind her husband’s back, emptying bottles of wine and hiding the evidence from her family, and convincing herself that nothing was wrong and everything was under control. Until she realized that it wasn’t, and that her dishonesty could cost her everything she loved. What would happen to her marriage if things continued in this way? And how could she be a mother to her young children if she remained trapped in this cycle of abuse? Deciding she had to make a change, Kim threw herself into a new life of sobriety seven months into the Covid-19 pandemic. But only after severing the chains of bondage did she realize how much work there was still to do. Opening the doors to buried memories and past traumas was only the beginning. Throughout her journey to sobriety, Kim would come to terms with the secrets and lies told by her parents and loved ones, allowing her a clarity and freedom she never before thought possible.
Kimberly Kearns is a wife to an incredible husband and a mother to three beautiful children. She currently lives in Need-ham, Massachusetts. She continues to tell her story of sobriety and inspire others every day on her blog at kimberlykearns.com, and through her Instagram account @asoberandstrongmom. Kimberly co-hosts the podcast The Weekend Sober and is a writer for the Webby Award-winning narrative podcast F*cking Sober: The First 90 Days. Writing has always been an escape for Kimberly, even as a little girl. Being able to express herself in words and getting lost in her imagination has served as a source of comfort to her as far back as she can remember.
Book Title: ‘Tis the Season to Feel Inadequate; Holidays, Special Occasions and Other Times Our Celebrations Get Out of Hand by Dorothy Rosby Category: Adult Non-Fiction (18+) , 258 pages Genre: Humorous Essay Publisher: Unhinged Press Release date: November 2022 Content Rating: G – appropriate for general audience as defined above
Book Description:
Christmas comes but once a year; chaos never ends! Happy Halloween, merry Christmas and joyful Lumpy Rug Day. We didn’t make that up. Lumpy Rug Day is celebrated every May 3, though “celebrated” might be too strong a word. It’s the American way to create a celebration for everything, then turn it into a chore or worse, a nightmare. ’Tis the Season to Feel Inadequate is a collection of humorous essays about holidays, special occasions and other times our celebrations make us feel not-so-celebratory. It’s understanding for those who think Christmas form letters can be honest—or they can be interesting. And it’s empathy for anyone who’s ever gotten poison ivy during Nude Recreation Week or eaten all their Halloween candy and had to hand out instant oatmeal packets to their trick-or-treaters.
Dorothy Rosby is a syndicated humor columnist and the author of four books of humorous essays. She’s the 2022 global winner of the Erma Bombeck Writers Competition, sponsored in part by the Erma Bombeck Writers Workshop. She lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota, 20 miles from Mount Rushmore, something she’s very proud of though she’s not on it—yet.
