This feature showcases an award winning middle-grade book and its author. Susan Thogerson Maas won a Cascade Award for Best Middle-Grade Book for her book, Abbie's Woods: Defending the Nest. We share a book review, and an opportunity to get acquainted with its author in a Q&A.

Featured Book Review of Abbie's Woods: Defending the Nest  

Middle-grade readers, teens and adults will resonate with the many facets of Abbie's Woods. The main character cherishes the beloved woods behind her house and is quick to defend and protect it from harm, even if it means going up against neighborhood boys. There is much at stake in this story: the fragile baby birds in the woods, her parents relationship, and her brother's health. It wasn't easy, but Abbie learns to stop overreacting, and to wait and trust God to resolve the things in life that she can't control. In the process, she developed compassion for others, and made new friends. Abbie's Woods deals with real life struggles, while never ceasing to encourage the reader. ~Reviewed by Deborah S. Tukua 

Author Q&A with Susan Thogerson Maas

When did you decide to become a writer?
As a kid, I loved to read and decided in third grade that I would write children’s books someday. I forgot that dream for a while. However, when I became pregnant with our first child, I decided writing could be a great stay-at-home job, so I began studying the craft, attending writers’ conferences, and writing (and occasionally selling) short articles, followed by Sunday school curriculum and devotions. Children’s books came much later.

What inspired your children’s books?
My books are a combination of my own life experiences and asking the question, “What if?” Picture Imperfect combines my love of photography, experiences with a super-annoying long-term house guest, and imagining similar events through the eyes of a preteen. Abbie’s Woods: Defending the Nest features the woods behind my house when I was a kid, a place I came to love dearly. I added in parental fighting and two boys who seem determined to destroy Abbie’s peaceful sanctuary. My poor heroines don’t have it easy.

What do you like to do when not working on children’s books?
Well, of course, I like to read. And I love to get out into God’s amazing creation —hiking,
camping, gardening, and taking lots of photos. Fortunately Gary, my husband of 46 years, also likes the outdoors. We also enjoy travel and seeing new places. That’s fortunate since we live in Oregon while one son lives in Atlanta (with his wife and our two grandsons) and the other in Japan.

What are you working on now?
I am currently writing a sequel to Abbie’s Woods that includes a grandmother with Alzheimer’s. I still write short devotions, too, many of them nature-based. Several have been published in The Upper Room.

You'll enjoy perusing the stunning photos from Susan's most recent trip, and updates. Be sure to visit her website, www.susanmaas.com. Both of her books are available from Amazon.

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At Home on Holly Creek,

Deborah S. Tukua