20 days until Christmas
Braden Bell grew up in Farmington, Utah and graduated from Davis High School. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in theatre from Brigham Young University and a Ph.D. in educational theatre from New York University. He and his wife, Meredith live with their five children on a quiet, wooded lot outside of Nashville, Tennessee, where he teaches theatre and music at a private school. An experienced performer, Braden enjoys singing, acting, reading, gardening, and long walks with the dog. He loves every single second of Christmas.
Please take a minute to visit Braden at one of the links below:
WEBSITE | BLOG | TWITTER | FACEBOOK
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LDSWBR: What is your favorite Christmas song/hymn? Does it have special meaning to you?
BRADEN: “Oh Holy Night.” I have ended up performing this song at different stages and points in my life, each of which had a great deal of meaning. It’s rewarding to sing, and the line, “Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother” is a beautiful distillation of Christ’s mission and the charge he gives his disciples.
LDSWBR: Do you get together with friends/family to play board games on Christmas or New Year’s? What games do you like to play? Do you have a favorite game from your childhood?
BRADEN: We used to play Monopoly on Christmas Eve. It helped pass the seemingly endless hours. One year, my grandparents came and stayed with us and we played “Pit.” That’s not my favorite game, but those memories are so warm and I cherish them so much that the game makes me happy anytime I see it.
LDSWBR: If you could recommend only one book from those you read this year, what would it be and why?
BRADEN: Oh goodness, I am so bad at these questions! I should probably say The Bible or The Book of Mormon and leave it at that. However, the book that left the biggest impact on me was “The Reluctant Blogger.” I stayed up all night to read it, laughing and crying so hard that I shook the bed and woke my poor wife up several times. It challenged me, entertained me, and made me think and the characters seemed so real to me. Another very compelling read was “Wall of Faith” by Jason Lloyd Morgan. Okay, I need to stop now!
LDSWBR: Thanks, Braden!
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Penumbras (Middle School Magic #2)
BRADEN’S WEBSITE (Discounted Price) | AMAZON | KINDLE | BARNES & NOBLE | NOOK
Conner, Lexa, and Melanie are back! Just when they think life is normal again, a dangerous shadow creature begins to hunt them. The trio must develop their powers in order to conquer this new peril and protect their school. Filled with action and even more magic, this book continues the exciting adventure in the Middle School Magic series.
Are there any games that remind you of a specific person?
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NO PURCHASE NECESSARY; entrants must be 18 years or older; open to residents of continental US only; giveaway begins December 3, 2013 and all entries must be received by 12:00 Midnight December 23, 2013 Mountain Time; to enter, complete the required entry on each post and any additional entries of your choice if listed; LDS Women’s Book Review reserves the right to determine what is considered a thoughtful comment as per each post’s required entry; giveaway prizes include a $50 Amazon gift card and a variety of book prizes donated by featured authors; the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning; LDS Women’s Book Review is not liable for technical problems which may affect entry into the giveaway; winner identity will be verified by email address; winner will be selected December 28, 2013 by use of a sequence generator on random.org; winner will have until January 4, 2014 to claim their prize; if any prize winner forfeits or does not claim prize, prize will be re-awarded to next winner in sequence; all prizes will be awarded; limit of two prizes per entrant; this contest/giveaway is not associated with Facebook, Twitter or any other entity unless otherwise specified; by entering the giveaway you give LDS Women’s Book Review the right to publicize your name on the LDS Women’s Book Review blog; winner agrees to release LDS Women’s Book Review from any liability as a result of winning; email comments and questions to LDS Women’s Book Review – ldswbr (at) gmail (dot) com; giveaway subject to Utah regulations; VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
**Book Prizes (as of 12/5/13 – more to be added to this list!)**
- Rocky Road by Josi S. Kilpack (personalized copy)
- Shannon’s Hope by Josi S. Kilpack (personalized copy)
- The House at Rose Creek by Jenny Proctor (signed copy)
- Penumbras by Braden Bell (signed copy)
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23 Responses to “Penumbras by Braden Bell – Countdown to Christmas 2013”
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I haven’t read any of Brade Bell’s books yet, but it’s kind of fun to see a Portuguese word used in the title of book written in English. I read ‘The Reluctant Blogger’, and liked it a lot.
I remember that almost every time we went to my grandparent’s home when I was a kid, we would dig out their old “Uncle Wiggily” board game in the basement and play it with whatever cousins were around. I haven’t played it since, but I will always associate it with them!
Night games remind me of my childhood friends (not that I play night games anymore!) :)
How did I miss knowing about this site? Really happy to know about it. Thanks Braden Bell for your Facebook post that led me to it and best wishes for a wonderful Christmas and great success with your new book.
Welcome, Gwen!
Braden, to say I was shellshocked to see that you had listed The Reluctant Blogger as one of the books you’d most recommend this year would be an understatement. I am so incredibly appreciative. (So much so that I reverted to my worst bad habit of overusing adverbs.) I’m glad you enjoyed it and I look forward to sharing your series with my nine-year-old who has just recently developed the habit of devouring Middle Grade series whole. Thanks again and best of luck with book three.
I don’t have a game that reminds me of just one person. I do have great memories of hanging out with family and friends and playing games like Wig Out or Apples to Apples! :)
Totally! The game Monopoly always has reminded me of my brother, and the many nights that we stayed up playing that game!
Scrabble reminds me of my sister, my cousin, and my friend. My sister, because we’ve played hundreds of games. My cousin, because she introduced me to it before I became an addict. And my friend because we’re pretty well matched and she’s about as addicted as I am. :-)
Penumbras is a FABULOUS book!
When I was a really young girl my OLDER BROTHER and I would stay up all night on Christmas Eve playing all our old games…as we knew we were getting new games in the morning :)
I haven’t thought about that for a long time…thanks for asking :)
Chinese Checkers reminds me of my Great-Grandma Laney. Haven’t thought of that in years! Fun question!
Spin the Bottle reminds me of my best friends that was challenged to stand up on a wall and shout that she was a fool. Dominoes will always remind me of my parents who love to play Mexican Train and Chicken Foot.
I loved the book the Reluctant Blogger also.
Most of the games that I own/have remind me of my oldest brother. He was always the game player and game collector when we were growing up. And now that we are adults, he still loves games and introduces us to so many fun, new ones. One of his latest games that really love to play is “Pandemic”–a cooperative game where all the players win together or lose together. Very fun!
Whenever I see a deck of cards I remember playing “Presidents” with my mom growing up. She and I would play it all the time together.
Catch phrase always reminds me of my little sister because as the only two unmarried people in my family we are often thrown together as a “couple” and as such are usually put on the same team for this wonderful random game. As such we have gotten really good at reading each others thoughts and can usually spout off a random movie quote that has some obscure meaning that could possibly be related to the word(s) we are having the other person guess (if you squint and tilt your head to the left a bit) and the other person knows exactly what we are getting at. It is brilliant.
Cranium reminds me of my grandma because she is always so funny when playing that with her.
I have “Penumbra’s” in my To Read list. I read the first book in this series and loved it!!!
I can’t play Skip-Bo without thinking of my grandma. She LOVED that game and we would play for hours.
no games that remind me of anyone. Haven’t read the books but the look like some my kids would love
I love O Holy Night, and I really appreciate your insight into this song. I haven’t really listened to ALL of the words before, but now I will!
Triple Yahtzee reminds me of my Grandmother Mimi, and Masterpiece reminds me of my Mom. Anyone else remember that game? It was a game where you had auctions for artwork and clipped the prices to the back of them. I always thought it was weird that they picked what I thought was one of the uglier paintings to be in the center of the game board, but I think they had a couple different versions of the game and the other board looked better. Anyhow, it’s hard to find now and expensive if you do, so I’m hoping to borrow my parents’ sometime and see how my husband likes playing it. I loved it when I was younger!
Oh, there are definitely some games that remind me of particular people – Apples to Apples reminds me of one of my friends who ALWAYS tries to argue for his card, Ticket to Ride reminds me of my aunt who introduced it to me and my parents. Games have some fond memories for me.
It would have to be the card solitary. My grandma who is now passed away always played that when every we came over. She would always try to teach us but for some reason we could never get it. I finally get it. I hope she sees that!