Offthebookshelf.com
Deb Thompson
In December 2008, between consulting jobs and with too much time on her hands, Ms. Thompson decided to fill her time by writing a series of children's books; the common thread was that they would be told from the perspective of the family dog. At the end of December 2008, after completing two of the books in the series (Alsey & Me: The Story of a Dog's Best Friend and Alsey & Me: Spreading Holiday Cheer), Ms. Thompson's husband brought out a box of old letters dating back to 1916. After reading through some of the letters, she told her husband, "We have to publish these. This isn't just a story about your family; this is a rich piece of history." With that, she and her husband transcribed about 100 letters, added historical information, and published Letters From the Old Glory Box: A Captivating Story of Life in Rural North Carolina During WWI As Told Through Personal Letters. Over the next year, Ms. Thompson wrote and published another non-fiction but humorous work (It's All About the Bike: The Chaotic Life of an Amateur Bicycle Racer's Girlfriend), and also took four stories written by a friend (James E. Bodenheimer), edited them, and designed and published four more childnren's books (Katie's Kite, Bruno and the Porcupiney Pizza, Bravest Little Duck, and Frances and Her Shiny Chair). She has written and designed three other children's books since then that she has not yet published (God is Everywhere, A Special Love, and Alsey & Me: A Special Valentine's Day). Her children's books address situations relevant to today's children, including divorce, new families after divorce, being different and understanding that it's a good thing, celebrating our differences because that's what makes us each unique, being yourself and not giving into peer pressure, and losing a loved one. Ms. Thompson most recently wrote and published a collection of short-stories (September 2010) titled Breaking the Hippocratic Oath, which contains five unique stories, a few with very surprising endings, that range from drama to humor to science fiction. Ms. Thompson is currently working on several new writing projects, in her spare time.
All Books By This Author:
- Letters From the Old Glory Box: A Captivating Story of Life in Rural North Carolina During WWI As Told Through Personal Letters
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A rich account of life in rural North Carolina during and soon after WWI, as told through personal letters written between 1916 and 1920. The story of the Hopkins-Strickland families and their friends has all the elements of a book that you won't want to put down:
- romance, as young men and women were vying for each other's affections
- boys going off to fight in WWI
- the Spanish Influenza pandemic
- undisguised adoration by one woman for another
- use of local vernacular and colloquialisms of the day
- a look at the culture & day to day lives of a rural community during that timeThe final letter in the collection, written on February 14, 1920, provides a wonderfully romantic ending: At the end of the letter is a 4-line poem that is also a marriage proposal. Part 1 of the book provides historical background on the people and events in the book; the letters, about 100 in total, are transcribed in Part 2.
- Genres: History
