Buddy's Magic Window Wins Award!

 Update on Buddy's Magic Window: A Little Dog's BIG Adventure*

The Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA [ibpa]) last week announced their 33rd annual Benjamin Franklin Award winners for 2020 and Buddy's Magic Window was a finalist in two categories: Children's Picture Book (0-3 years) and Cover Design - Children's/Young Adult.

The Buddy book "brought home the gold" in the Children's Picture Book (0-3 years) category with the stunning nature photography on each page. 

Congratulations, Dennis! (and Buddy)

"Lost in the foggy forest, how will a golden retriever puppy find his way home? Join Buddy as he meets many woodland animals on the BIG adventure. an inspiring tale of bravery, trust, friendship, kindness, and believing in oneself. Award-winning photos guide you on Buddy's magical journey." (IBPA)

*Available from DennisGlennon.com, Amazon.com and bookstores everywhere and reviewed here.

(Buddy's Magic Window, by Dennis Glennon [Dennis Glennon Photography, 2020, 48 pages, $19.95])

Book Review (OT): Every Day is a Gift: A Memoir - Soldier, Senator, Mother, by Tammy Duckworth

Every Day is a Gift:  A Memoir - Soldier, Senator, Mother, by Tammy Duckworth (Hachette, 2021, $30.00, 275 pages)

A Cinderella Story - Soldier, Senator, Mother

Born in Bangkok; educated in Indonesia, Singapore and Hawaii; a PhD; a retired Army pilot shot down in Iraq; a double amputee; bi-racial; a US Senator; and a mother - a truly amazing woman who literally went from rages to riches.

Every Day is a Gift is a '24-hour book' - one you simply can't put down. If you have served in the military, you will relive the camaraderie you experienced. Early sections are tear-jerkers and after a few chapters, I read the rest with my emotions on the surface.

Author Tammy Duckworth had truly internalized the values of service to our nation (video here) and to her fellow soldiers. She was never hesitant to do what needed to be done and to work devilishly hard to attain almost-impossible goals.

". . . my explanation why America is worth it."*

Every Day is a memoir, a non-fiction book that reads like a story because that is precisely what it is - a true story that will leave you inspired to alway do your best and to constantly challenge yourself to achieve your goals and dreams.

You will experience living in Bangkok with not-terribly-welcoming relatives, then in a wealthy compound in Indonesia, and eventually in one room in Honolulu at age 16 trying to support your family by passing out fliers on Waikiki. You will live the shootdown by an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) in Iraq and learn how Duckworth's flight crew carried her to safety (minus one leg), thinking she had died. You will experience living at Walter Reed for months, enduring painful debridements and strenuous physical therapy sessions. You will also learn what Alive Day is and how different soldiers 'celebrate' it.

And you will come out of this vicarious experience a better person.

*https://people.com/politics/sen-tammy-duckworth-recaps-her-action-packed-life-in-a-new-memoir/