Amarillo author King Hill has gone outside his normal realm and written an enchanting novella for kids ages 11-18, after the daughter of a friend asked him if he would consider writing a book for their age group.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hill decided to take on the challenge. It is his fourth novel in four years, and he said this one is \u201cfun, fanciful, whimsical, spirited, full of twists and turns and above all, about kindness,\u201d with a happy ending.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe title came from the action of the book itself,” Hill said. “It\u2019s called ‘Lost and Found,’ which brings back the lyrics from the old gospel song, \u2018Amazing Grace\u2019 \u2026 \u2018I once was lost but now I\u2019m found\u2019.”\u202f\u202f\u00a0\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
Having been a teacher and educator in private and public schools, he said it always affected him to see children who were struggling with issues. \u201cYoung people have a lot of challenges in their lives and some that are obvious, and some aren\u2019t, but they always touched my heart,\u201d he said.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI based this novel on a runaway, and I needed a heroine and a safe home where a runaway could go, so I set out to find one,\u201d he said. Hill was intrigued by the warmth and enticing smells emanating from bakeries, so he sought out the Kind House Ukraine Bakery, and that\u2019s where he met Glenda Moore, who founded the bakery to help the Ukrainian people.\u202f<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is kindness incarnate. We became friends. I appreciate and embrace her cause to help the people of Ukraine,” Hill said. “Glenda embodied all the characteristics of my heroine, so she became my lead character, Emma McCurdy. I needed a good image for the cover of the book. So, Glenda has an adopted Ukrainian daughter named Zhanna Logveneko, and Glenda and her graciously agreed to let me use her image on the cover of the book.\u201d\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGlenda allowed me to come to the bakery, watch the volunteers as they went about their tasks,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Hill said he also had to learn about the foster care system and enlisted social worker Jessica Hoskins for the process \u2014 who also became the basis for one of the novel\u2019s fictional characters.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u202fThough the book is a short, quick read \u2014 ideally suited for those ages 11-18 \u2014 it is also a book for all ages, Hill said. “Many adults have enjoyed it and have commented about giving it to their children or grandchildren, friends and nieces and nephews.\u201d\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
Characters also include a fanciful dog and cat, which can talk and are very discerning \u2014 determining people who are good from the bad.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
“\u2018The animal characters are based on pets that friends of mine have. I studied them and noticed their characteristics and involved them into being characters in the book,” Hill said. “The dog is based on a terrier mix, Bella, who belongs to Barbara Bowman, an actress and friend who takes Bella with her on her trips. The beautiful Siberian cat, Sasha, also belongs to a friend.\u202f”\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the book, the lead character, Emma, tells her adopted daughter, \u2018All animals talk, most people are just too busy talking themselves that they don\u2019t listen,\u201d he added.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
Upcoming book signings<\/strong><\/p>\n There will be two book signings, the first being 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18, at Kind House Ukraine Bakery, 4715 S. Western. All proceeds from book sales at that event will be donated to Ukraine.\u202f\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n The second signing and reception will be in the Courtyard at Las Tiendas, 6666 Amarillo Blvd., from 7 to 8:15 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25.\u202f\u202f The event is being sponsored by Rebecca Via, owner\/founder of Couture Marketing Group, and Melissa Stanley, owner of Las Tiendas.\u202f\u202fHill’s other books will also be available to purchase.<\/p>\n Hill\u2019s late father, renowned artist, Jack King Hill, once had a studio in Las Tiendas where he and his wife found a way to make room for Melissa Stanley to have a space to do her artwork while she was a student at WTAMU.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n Reviews for ‘Lost and Found’<\/strong>\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA great adventure for all ages!\u201d \u2013 Carla Summers, middle school counselor<\/p>\n \u201cMy daughter loves it. I love it. We are both hooked on Mariah ad Emma, along with Bella and Sasha. We couldn\u2019t put it down and wanted to keep reading until the end.\u201d \u2013 Barbra Teisdale, parent and homeschooler<\/p>\n \u201cWhat an adventure! What fun character! What a great story!\u201d \u2013 Constance Cummings, realtor and podcaster<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amarillo author King Hill has gone outside his normal realm and written an enchanting novella for kids ages…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[46661,359,3135,5604,26702,18,117,19,17,2602,713,856,842,716],"class_list":{"0":"post-66539","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-amarillo","9":"tag-books","10":"tag-books-u0026-literature","11":"tag-childrens","12":"tag-childrens-literature","13":"tag-eire","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-literature","18":"tag-overall","19":"tag-overall-positive","20":"tag-positive","21":"tag-u0026"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}