Brenda Redman was inspired to write a second book after the success of her previous children’s book, How’s Peanut? Redman is the author of A Silly Willy Christmas which is available for purchase now. Brenda will be travelling to surrounding communities in the near-future to highlight her newest piece of writing.
Right now, you can purchase A Silly Willy Christmas at Sapara’s Drug Mart, YNWP, Sask Books, and Chapters Indigo. You can also purchase the book through Brenda by going to her website and going to the contact page. Redman said, “I have a book signing this weekend at the Whipple Tree in Esterhazy introducing A Silly Willy Christmas. Next week is Library Week and I will be at Esterhazy and Churchbridge Library’s reading my books to the children. In November and December I will be travelling to craft sales with my books and going into schools to read my new book for the Christmas Season! I also have been to MacDonald School in Stockholm sharing how I published both books to the grade 7’s. I have to say the funnest part was reading A Silly Willy Christmas to the Grade 7s. They all sat in a half circle just like reading time. It was great and I would love to do more of this in the future.”
Publishing one book is a phenomenal accomplishment. When asked what inspired her to write a second book, Brenda said, “When my daughter became pregnant with her second child, the baby was due at Christmas time! I felt this was the perfect opportunity to try writing a Christmas book and introduce the new grandchild and continue on with Peanut (my first grandchild) in a new book.”
The author mentioned her favourite things around the Christmas season. “To me it was being with family, preparing food (enough to feed all of Saskatchewan), sitting down to eat with family spread out everywhere, the noise, the laughter and of course the anticipation of Santa. Christmas to me means family and I especially wanted family to be part of this book. I pondered on all of those things and I was able to come up with a way to incorporate all that in my Christmas story and keep the grandchildren as the heart of the book. I added a bunch of silliness and A Silly Willy Christmas was written one afternoon. I loved the flow and rhythm of the book and it all came natural due to being a grandmother to Peanut and Muffin. Of course I tried it out on Peanut at bedtime and she got so into it. We would laugh and laugh at bedtime when I was to be putting her to sleep telling her this story. So to see it come to life with pictures is so exciting.”
The book was sent to YNWP and Heather Nickle was the publisher (she published How’s Peanut?). Nickel mentioned how A Silly Willy Christmas is a story so many can relate to with just the right amount of silliness. Heather did the setup of the pages and after the drawings were completed she put the whole book together. Redman said, “Heather knows I like colour and has captured everything perfectly right down to the font that we use in both books. She definitely has a magic touch with the final production and look of the book!”
Speaking about the illustrations, Redman knew she would use the same illustrator as before Wendi Nordel. “She just gets me and all my silliness. She’s one busy lady and was so fortunate she had the time to work on this book with me. The talent this lady has is outstanding. She brings my words to life in all her drawings. We have become very good friends even though we haven’t ever met each other face to face in person. Wendi and I share a bond through our work. We communicate through phone calls, texts and emails. It took Wendi a couple of months to complete the drawings. There was so much detail we both wanted in this book and Wendi captured each page with such fun, silly, vibrant pictures. I shared my vision on how I saw the book in pictures.” Nordel shares valuable insight and together the pair would come up with the drawings. Wendi created all the drawings. Nordel starts with a pencil sketch and in the end paints all the pictures by hand. The author has all the drawings from both books, some are displayed in her home and some she has given away as gifts to her kids and family.
Friesens printed all the books and Redman used the same publisher, illustrator and printing company. Since she was happy with her first experience, she felt there was no need for changes.
Brenda mentioned, “My son has developed my website, which is the next step in wanting to get your work recognized. Brenden did a fabulous job and I’m excited to share it with everyone.” Check out www.brendaredman.com. Starting next week the books will be at Tanlgz in Churchbridge and Cre.ate in Langenburg. Brenda will also be at the Churchbridge library on October 20th from 1-5 p.m. Her first book, How’s Peanut?, has done very well and is recognized by Saskatchewan Books and was a finalist with the Indie Book Awards for Children’s Educational Books. A Silly Willy Christmas is on the Sask. Books website.