Tag: Eerdmans Publishers

Today is the Day!

shipping to readers

The last several months at Trinity Christian College have been challenging. Small Christian colleges are working to reach students who will benefit from what we offer in the post-Covid higher education world, but that world is dominated by elite universities, large state schools, and online programs. At the same time, the last several weeks have been extremely exciting for me. The first copies of my book, A Prairie Faith: The Religious World of Laura Ingalls Wilder, have been shipped by Eerdmans, the publisher. These include review copies sent to journals and magazines and complimentary copies sent to scholars, blog authors, and historic sites. Amazon has also been shipping to readers. In January I received my author’s copies and was able to give them out to family members, colleagues at Trinity, and friends at my church. I then purchased some additional books from the publisher for future gifts.

Now the official book release date is today! Links to places to buy the book are below and on my homepage. The Trinity Christian College Bookstore has copies and is featuring it on their webpage. (Full disclosure: my wife Paula works at Trinity’s Bookstore.)

What’s next? I’m working to line up opportunities to talk about what’s in the book. I’ve sent a paper proposal to the Midwestern History Conference, which is held in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at the end of May. It is confirmed that I will be attending Wilder Days at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum in Mansfield, Missouri, at the end of September. On that trip, I will also be speaking at the College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri. I am also hoping to speak at some bookstores and public libraries in the Chicagoland area, and perhaps some of the Wilder historic sites in the Midwest during the summer. I will put up information on this site as dates are finalized.

If you are interested in having me speak at your local bookstore, church, public library, or other community group, please contact me at john.fry@trnty.edu.

Thanks again for all of your support and encouragement over the last eight years!

Links:

Trinity Christian College

Eerdmans

Westminster Presbyterian Church (OPC)

Midwestern History Conference

Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum

College of the Ozarks

Where to get the book online:

Trinity Christian College Bookstore

Christianbook.com – Now has additional information about me and the book at the bottom of the page, under “Author/Artist Review”

Bookshop.org

Thriftbooks

Alibris

Amazon – My author’s page at Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Cokesbury

Lord-willing, you can also get it at your local bookstore.

Summer 2023 Update

There have actually been a number of developments

Greetings. I hope that your spring is going well. Trinity Christian College’s Commencement was held in the middle of May, at a local minor-league baseball stadium. This enabled us to allow students to have as many guests attend as they would like (i. e., no tickets for students to manage, no tickets for staff to check). We also had fireworks. It was a great celebration. Included among the over two hundred graduates were five history majors. I wish Erik, Haley, Julian, Trevor, and Vern all the best.

I had meant to post this much earlier this summer (hence the first paragraph’s description of Commencement…). It’s hard to believe that it’s almost the end of June; Trinity’s summer registration event, Blueprints, was last weekend. But being delayed by Dean of Faculty work at Trinity means that I can report more developments on the book production front. There have actually been a number of developments in the production of A Prairie Faith during the last several months.

At the end of March I received the copyeditor’s report on my book. He had read the entire manuscript. He asked a lot of good questions and made a lot of proposed changes. My assignment was to read through his changes and either accept them or make a different suggestion. In almost every case, I accepted the proposed changes. Overall, his work made the work more straightforward, smooth, and understandable. Many thanks to Tom for his work with the book. It is much improved.

At the end of April, one of Eerdmans’s copywriters also shared with me the advertising copy for the book so that I could make comments and corrections. I suggested several changes, but in general, I was very pleased. In early May, the Art Department at Eerdmans shared with me a draft of their design for the front cover. I was very glad that they could incorporate a picture that I took during my research trip to South Dakota in 2018. I think that it looks really good. I can’t share it yet because of their production timeline. Many thanks to Caroline and Kristine for their work to promote the book.

Then in the middle of May, I received the entire book, laid out and typeset, for me to proofread. It was exciting to see the entire book as it will appear in print. Reading through it in a different form enabled me to catch some things that had snuck by me in earlier revisions. It also enabled me to correct some portions of the book that were wrong because of some confused communication between me and the copyeditor. I also responded to some questions from Eerdmans’ proofreader this week.

Finally, I was able to work with the production team at Eerdmans and an independent mapmaker to create two maps for the book. One is a map of Laura’s travels; the other is a map of the towns around Mansfield, Missouri. Laura did move a lot during her childhood and early adulthood, and during the sixty-plus years she lived in Mansfield, she often visited nearby towns, so there are a lot of place names in the second half of the book. Having these two maps will be helpful to the reader. I really appreciate the publisher’s willingness to include the maps. (I’m amazed that the University of Missouri Press did not include a map in John Miller’s otherwise excellent biography Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder.) The maps were finalized earlier this month. Many thanks to the mapmaker, Daniel, and to Laurel, my project editor.

I believe that the next step in production is for me to look at final page proofs for one last proofreading. At that point I’ll also be putting together the Index. I think that I have most of the index terms selected already, so I will just need to work through the proofs to get the right page numbers.

It looks like the publication date for the book will be February 6, 2024, one day before Laura’s 157th birthday.

Thanks again for all your encouragement.

Links:

Trinity Christian College – If you know someone looking for a quality, private Christian education that’s affordable, check us out.

Trinity’s Commencement 2023

Blueprints 2023

Eerdmans Publishers

Freeworldmaps.net – The gateway to the mapmaker I worked with.

A Prairie Faith: The Religious Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder

The book is now officially in production

I will cut straight to the good news: I completed revisions of my manuscript and sent them to my editor at Eerdmans in February, and they were accepted. The book is now officially in production, and Lord-willing it will be published by spring of 2024!

I have not posted to this site for several months because I was uncertain about the future of the project. The anonymous reader’s report I received from the publisher last year was almost entirely critical and negative, and it was a challenge to respond to all the comments. I ultimately did not change everything that he or she indicated needed to be changed. This spring I was telling people at Trinity when they asked that I thought that there was a non-zero possibility that I would be looking for another publisher. I am very glad that the series editors for The Library of Religious Biography decided to approve the revised manuscript. I found out that things were moving forward on March 3, right before Trinity’s spring break.

During break, I put together information for Eerdmans’s marketing department about myself, about the book, and about the book’s expected audience. I also gave my ideas about the cover. One thing that the publisher has insisted upon is that the book’s title be changed. So my title, “On the Pilgrim Way”: The Faith of Laura Ingalls Wilder has been changed to A Prairie Faith: The Religious Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder. They believed that 1) her years growing up on the prairie years were formative for Laura, 2) the word “prairie” connects readers to her literary legacy, and 3) the prairie landscape evokes Wilder’s steadfast but reserved faith. While I did like my title—it was the title of a chapter in By the Shores of Silver Lake and connected to a hymn by Fanny Crosby, my father’s favorite hymnwriter—I can get behind the new title for these reasons.

Next steps include copyediting, layout, and proofreading. I also need to write an index for the book.

Thanks again to everyone for your support and engagement.

Links:

Trinity Christian College

Eerdmans Publishers

The Library of Religious Biography

End of 2022

Thanks for your support and encouragement

Greetings. It has been a busy fall here at Trinity Christian College. Many new faculty members and new administrators began this semester, and the college has rolled out three new initiatives:

  • Wellbeing Wednesdays – Almost all classes are scheduled either on Mondays-Thursdays or Tuesdays-Fridays. That allows students and faculty to use Wednesdays for field trips, research, internships, and catching up on schoolwork.
  • Tuition Transparency and Access – Tuition has been lowered from $33,800 to $19,800, beginning in fall of 2023.
  • Earn, Network, and Learn – The college is partnering with local businesses to provide internships and cooperatives that provide real-life work experience and additional resources towards tuition at Trinity.

If you or someone you know is interested in a rigorous education from a Christian perspective at an affordable price near Chicago, Illinois, please see Trinity’s website: https://www.trnty.edu/.

I am learning my new position as Dean of Faculty, and I have enjoyed teaching the Senior Seminar for History Majors. The seven students presented their research projects on Monday and handed in their final assignments last night. I have to finish grading and enter grades by the end of next Monday.

In early November, I received two readers’ reports from Eerdmans Publishers about my book. One was encouraging, the other was more critical. As a result, the Series Editors for the Library of Religious Biography have requested significant revisions. It is my hope to finish the revisions by the middle of January.

I also presented my research about Laura Ingalls Wilder’s faith two times at Trinity this semester.  On November 5, I gave a “TrinTalk” for Trinity’s Fall Fest celebration.  Fall Fest at Trinity is like Parents’ Weekend and Homecoming put together—there are basketball games, a craft show, a miniature golf course in the library, and other activities. TrinTalks are like Ted Talks given by Trinity faculty members – 20 minute presentations with questions afterwards. They are attended by current students, their parents, alumni, and other members of the Trinity community. Several of my former students who are now alumni came to hear me speak, which was incredibly cool.  Then on November 28, I gave a Faculty Coffee for members of Trinity faculty and staff. Faculty Coffees provide faculty members an opportunity to share their research with colleagues.

Thanks for your support and engagement. All best for your Christmas and start to 2023.

Links:

Trinity Christian College Fall Fest

TrinTalks

Eerdmans Publishers

Library of Religious Biography

End of Summer

Thanks very much to everyone who reached out to me (via email, in person, via Facebook) after I announced two weeks ago that I had received a book contract. You all are the best.

Today all first year students will be moving into the dorms here at Trinity Christian College. There have been some students on campus for the last week or two, including fall athletes, student leaders, and some others. It’s been great to see more students around; they bring life back to a college campus. All the new freshman will be here by this evening. Returning resident students and new transfers arrive by the middle of next week to complete the student body. My daughter moves back to Trinity (she’s a sophomore) this Sunday. Regular courses begin next Wednesday. My three sons start school (two in high school and one in homeschool eighth grade) next Thursday morning. All of this means that the summer is just about over.

It’s been a productive summer:

– I finished my book review of Christine Woodside’s Libertarians on the Prairie for Fides et Historia (the journal of the Conference on Faith and History) in April. (I guess this wasn’t really summer, but I hadn’t mentioned it’s completion on the blog before.)

– I finalized my book proposal and sent it off to Eerdmans in May.

– I presented a paper at the Midwest History Conference in Grand Rapids in June.

– I spoke at LauraPalooza in July.

– I received a book contract from Eerdmans and signed it in July.

– Last week I completed a book review of Pioneer Girl Perspectives for The Annals of Iowa.

– This morning I wrote three and a half pages of a possible introduction to the book.

I hope to keep reading for the book project once school starts at least once a week. I got a list of books to read from Mark Noll, one of the editors of the Eerdmans series I’m writing for, about American religious history. I also hope to do more thinking and writing. I will try to keep up the blog as much as I can.

Thanks for following. Best wishes to all who has someone in their home who returns to school during the next several weeks.

Links:

Trinity Christian College

Fides et Historia and the Conference on Faith and History

My Libertarians on the Prairie blog post

My LauraPalooza post

My book contract post

My Pioneer Girl Perspectives post

The Annals of Iowa

Book Contract

It’s August.  The summer has gone by quickly.  Last week I was completely off the grid camping with my family in Western New York.  It was a great time.  Now I’m back and the countdown to the start of classes here at Trinity Christian College—three weeks from yesterday—has started.

I am happy to announce that last month I signed a book contract with Eerdmans Publishers.  The book is tentatively titled “On the Pilgrim Way:” The Faith of Laura Ingalls Wilder.  The book will be a biography of Wilder that pays particular attention to her faith.  It will appear in Eerdmans’s series The Library of Religious Biography.  I am very thankful to David Bratt and Heath Carter for their efforts and encouragement.

I’ve projected ten chapters, and my current plan is to write two of them each summer between now and 2022.  I can get some work done during the school year, but I imagine that most of my writing will be done during the summer.  Eerdmans has graciously given me that much time to complete the manuscript.

Thanks to everyone who has given me encouragement throughout the project so far.  Now the real work begins…

Links from this post:

Trinity Christian College

Eerdmans Publishers

The Library of Religious Biography

Heath Carter’s Twitter Page: #ReligiousBio

State of the Project

It’s time to take stock of where my project on the faith of Laura Ingalls Wilder has led me so far and where it is heading.

In January of 2016, I began this blog. The plan was to investigate Wilder’s faith and write an article for a history journal about it. I also had the idea that the article could be the core of one chapter in a book on how Wilder’s work engages topics of interest to readers in the twenty-first century. Many readers of this blog walked with me as I read through the Little House books, the best biographies of Wilder, and other books in the spring and summer of 2016. Last fall, I presented a paper on Wilder’s faith to the Conference on Faith and History. It was there that several individuals suggested that consider writing a book-length biography of Wilder with particular attention to her faith.

The idea of writing a spiritual biography of Wilder was confirmed by students when I taught an Honors Seminar on the Little House books during the spring 2017 semester. There also seemed to be enthusiasm for the project when I gave an invited lecture at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in February. And it received general support from many old friends and Wilder scholars I saw at the Laura Ingalls Wilder: A 150-Year Legacy conference in Sioux Falls at the end of last month. So writing this book is currently my intention.

Last week, I sent a book proposal to Eerdmans Publishers in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The book would be part of their series titled The Library of Religious Biography. I projected that there will be ten chapters. If I can write two chapters each summer, the manuscript will be complete in five years. Both the series editor and an in-house editor at Eerdmans are receptive to the idea. So we will see what happens next.

This summer, I will be speaking on Wilder’s faith two times. At the beginning of June, I will be on a panel at the Third Annual Midwestern History Conference in Grand Rapids. The panel is titled “The Uses of Public Memory in the Rural American Midwest.” My paper title is “Little House and Little Church: Memory and the Church in the Published Works of Laura Ingalls Wilder.” My paper will suggest that the Midwestern upbringing of both Wilder and her daughter Rose Wilder Lane influenced the depiction of the church in Wilder’s works. However, because Wilder and Lane had strikingly different experiences in the church—and therefore strikingly different memories of the church—those differences also influenced how the church is described, especially in the Little House books.

In July I will be speaking at LauraPalooza. This year the conference is titled LauraPalooza 2017: Little Houses, Mighty Legacy: 150 Years of Laura Ingalls Wilder. I am on their agenda first thing on Friday morning. The conference is sponsored by the Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy and Research Association and held in Springfield, Missouri. Many of the attendees at this conference will be people who just love Wilder and the Little House books, not academics. Probably a large percentage of them will be women. My talk is just titled “‘On the Pilgrim Way’: The Faith of Laura Ingalls Wilder.” The title is taken from Chapter 23 of By the Shores of Silver Lake, which describes the first prayer meeting and worship service in DeSmet, SD, in 1880. I am hoping to roll out some of my observations about Wilder’s faith for this broader audience. It is also my hope to stop at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum in Mansfield, Missouri, on my way to the conference.

Meanwhile, this summer I hope to continue to read and post about what I read. Thanks for being part of my work.