Books
New Children’s Book “Tommy Turtle’s Thanksgiving” Ties Story of Gratitude to St. Jude Donations
Balle Balle Radio™ Entertainment Desk
George R. Smith Jr. has released "Tommy Turtle’s Thanksgiving," a picture book for early readers that follows a young turtle discovering the true meaning of giving thanks during the season’s festivities. The book is the latest entry in Smith’s ongoing Tommy Turtle series, published through Christian Faith Publishing.
According to a description of the series, the Tommy Turtle books follow the character through everyday adventures, with each story designed to impart lessons about kindness and personal growth to young audiences. "Tommy Turtle’s Thanksgiving" follows that pattern, using the holiday as the backdrop for a story about appreciation and consideration toward others, according to the announcement.
Smith has said he began writing after a middle school teacher took notice of his imaginative writing and encouraged him to pursue it. "I wanted to create stories that children would enjoy reading while learning life lessons naturally," he said in a statement accompanying the release. "Tommy’s adventures are inspired by real friendships and designed to spark conversations between parents and their children about what truly matters."
The publisher describes the book as intended to help parents and educators nurture emotional intelligence in young readers, alongside its more concrete lessons on manners and healthy habits.
As with previous books in the series, every copy sold includes a donation to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, according to the announcement. "Tommy Turtle’s Thanksgiving" is available at bookstores and through Apple’s iTunes Store, Amazon, Google Play, and Barnes & Noble.
Studio CarryOnHarry finds the built-in charitable tie-in the most distinctive detail here, and it’s the kind of thing that can matter more to a parent choosing a bedtime book than any plot summary.
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Books
Rockingham Author Lucy Allen Releases Third Devotional, “In Jars of Clay”
Balle Balle Radio™ Entertainment Desk
Lucy Allen has published her third devotional book, "In Jars of Clay," a collection of reflections built around the biblical image of believers as fragile vessels carrying something greater than themselves. The book is published through Christian Faith Publishing and is available now in bookstores and through major online retailers including Amazon, Apple, Google Play and Barnes & Noble.
Allen, a member of Crestview Baptist Church in Rockingham, North Carolina, has written daily devotions for her congregation’s outreach ministry since 2020, according to the announcement. Her writing has also appeared on the websites Christiandevotions.us and Awakeourhearts.com. "In Jars of Clay" follows two earlier devotional works, "The Pond" and "Pearls of Great Price."
The book takes its title and central image from 2 Corinthians 4:7, in which the apostle Paul describes the Holy Spirit as a treasure held in "jars of clay" — ordinary, breakable containers. It’s an image with a long history in devotional writing; other authors have built entire books around the same verse, including a 1999 work by Argentine pastor Claudio Freidzon titled "Treasure in Jars of Clay." Allen’s version, per the publisher’s description, pairs that theology with the Genesis account of humans formed from earth, arguing that the cracks in a clay vessel aren’t flaws but the very places through which light gets through.
According to the announcement, Allen frames the book as addressing brokenness and restoration, structured as short reflections meant to fit into the routines of daily life rather than requiring extended study. "My prayer is that readers will recognize themselves as beloved vessels and understand that their cracks and imperfections are not obstacles to faith but pathways through which God’s grace flows," Allen said in a statement accompanying the release.
For Studio CarryOnHarry, what stands out here is less the book itself than the durability of its central metaphor — writers have returned to "jars of clay" for decades because it does real work: it gives ordinary struggle a theological frame without requiring answers. Allen’s book is the latest entry in that lineage, not a departure from it.
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Katie Willis’s New Poetry Collection “Hidden Hallelujahs” Finds Faith in Ordinary Moments
Balle Balle Radio™ Entertainment Desk
Katie Willis has released a new poetry collection, "Hidden Hallelujahs," a 72-page book that locates expressions of faith in the routines of daily life rather than in formal worship settings. The book, published through Christian Faith Publishing, came out earlier this year and runs 72 pages, according to publishing listings.
The collection centers on what the announcement describes as the "Monday-Saturday mundane" — parking lots, kitchen floors, lunch breaks, bedtime routines — as settings where the author locates moments of spiritual significance. Willis, who works as a poet, mother, teacher and artist, writes from that vantage point rather than from a position of settled certainty. The announcement describes her as someone "still learning" to notice grace amid the demands of family and working life.
"I write as someone still learning to notice God’s grace in everyday moments," Willis said in the announcement. "These poems emerged from the messy, beautiful reality of life as a wife, mother, and working artist. If my words help even one person feel truly seen by their Heavenly Father, then everything has been worth it."
The publisher describes the collection as addressing themes of divine presence, unseen struggle, and what it calls the redemptive power of recognizing God’s work in real time. It’s aimed, per the announcement, at readers who feel overwhelmed or unseen in their day-to-day circumstances.
The book joins a recognizable lane in contemporary Christian publishing: devotional writing that locates faith in ordinary routine rather than in church settings specifically. Other recent titles have taken a similar tack, treating daily tasks and waiting periods as material for spiritual reflection rather than obstacles to it. "Hidden Hallelujahs" is available through Christian Faith Publishing’s website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play and the Apple iTunes Store.
Studio CarryOnHarry sees this as part of a broader current in faith-based publishing right now — poetry and devotional writing pitched less at doctrine and more at the exhausted, distracted reader looking for permission to call an ordinary Tuesday sacred.
Read more People’s Choice stories on Studio CarryOnHarry. Reporting via Live News Vault.
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