Eleanor Lawrie, Author

Nope, it’s NOT too soon to think about the kids on your Christmas shopping list! BUT, it IS the PERFECT time to pick up some great reading material for those back-to-school youngsters.

“..well written, with excellent themes of friendship, family, independence, growth and learning, as well as a wonderful overriding focus on nature and the environment. The stories are fun, informative, full of strong values and have a certain timeless quality about them. Shelby F. Squirrel will be part of my classroom library for years to come.” Dean Purdie, BA, MS Ed, Gr 5 Teacher, Welland Ontario

“I just thought I’d let you know how much the boys, particularly the eight-year-old, enjoyed Shelby. Boys can be very noisy and it was good having them absorbed in Shelby and being quiet!” Michael, grandfather of 3 boys, Isle of Wight

The series is explained for you here: All characters continue to grow up, plots become more complex, stories contain increasingly mature subject matter. BOOK 1 is 24 adventures ideal for bedtime story-reading, BOOK 2 and BOOK 3 are action-packed mysteries of approx 12 chapters each.

The SHELBY F SQUIRREL Series As your child grows, so does Shelby!

BOOK 1 The Complete Adventures of SHELBY F. SQUIRREL and Friends Age 4-10 (Shelby is 3 months old to 2 years)

BOOK 2 The Great FOREST CAPER Age 8-11 (Shelby is an adolescent)

BOOK 3 Where is Virginia? Age 9-12 (Shelby is an adult, and becomes a father)

The SERIES of THREE: $45.00 CAD Separately: COMPLETE SHELBY $25.00, FOREST CAPER $15.00, VIRGINIA $15.00 All books personally autographed (Postage extra)

Please use the Contact Information page on this website if you wish to purchase SHELBY books, or Message me on Facebook.

Have you ever agreed to that free month of Prime? And then cancelled it once your delivery arrived?

Yup, that’s what I did sometime late in 2022. And discovered I was still being charged for it months later when I checked my credit card bill. Prime isn’t $9.99 any more. It’s $20 and change! Per month!!

SO I called Amazon in the first week of February, 2023, and a polite agent fixed it all up for me. REALLY FIXED IT UP! HAH, some fix that was!

I was a TOTAL FOOL not to check immediately to see that things were copacetic.

I really don’t mean to infer that the agent might have been inebriated. In fact, I’m quite sure that wasn’t the case. BUT the mistake was COLOSSAL!!

When I did decide to order some copies using Amazon’s Print-on-Demand system, I discovered that NOT-SO-CLEVER agent had deleted both my personal account and my KDP account!

FUNNY? No, not at all!! I was FURIOUS! And over the next few weeks I discovered that rectifying the colossal mistake, which was NOT MY FAULT, was not going to be possible. And worse still, to add insult to injury, my books are still appearing if you type in ‘Shelby F. Squirrel’ or ‘Eleanor Lawrie’, and under each book it says ‘currently not available’.

I checked that out a couple of days ago.

Still there, but you can’t order them.

No, I’m not dead yet.

NO, I DIDN’T ASK FOR THIS ‘TEMPORARY’ LOOK TO BE CREATED.

IT IS ABSOLUTE ROT! THEY ARE PERMANENTLY NOT AVAILABLE.

SO, what was I to do?

I washed my hands of Amazon. And decided to use another self-publishing platform.

First I inquired about Tellwell. Canadian, although they do print their books across the border in the USA. Very professionally presented, not pushy, by a rep who replied to my email. I have three books, right? Well, the price at Tellwell is minimum $1690 per book to get going. So I had to say ‘no’.

Then I actually did the work of uploading to Barnes and Noble. And got my W-8BEN to circumvent paying USA tax. All good. Then the WHAMMY!

KABLAM! Barnes and Noble doesn’t deliver to Canada!

THEY DO NOT DELIVER TO CANADA!!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT????

But I had been encouraged to do all the work involved, having registered WITH A CANADIAN ADDRESS, but they DON’T DELIVER TO CANADA. Can you even fathom that? Of all the nerve! I did not find out until I tried to order that one copy that they recommend to make sure the printing is OK. Deleted everything and moved on.

Meanwhile, EONS of time are passing me by.

THANKS FOR NOTHING, AMAZON!! I HAVE NO KIND WORDS FOR YOU. NONE!

Bravely, I soldiered on and got all neatly ready to upload onto Ingram Spark. Indie Author friends: if you lived through that that process I have oceans of admiration for your fortitude. I gave up. If uploading was so damned complicated, what might I come up against when I wanted copies, or had to discuss any arrangements about placement etc? I couldn’t face it. Cancelled. Gone. Out of there.

And still I thought I could find the right set-up. Silly me. Imagine that. WHAT A TOTAL SAP I MUST BE!

Draft2Digital sound good? SO SIMPLE! Such promises. But guess what? THEY DO NOT PRINT IN COLOUR!!

Well, that did it for me. If that kind of insanity can exist with outfits set up to ‘help’ authors, I can do without them.

Enough punishment for somebody else’s mistake, I decided! ENOUGH ALREADY!!

I phoned a few printing companies and decided to go with with Printing Legacy in Toronto. No more depending on somebody else. I will keep a decent supply of SHELBY F. SQUIRREL books on hand, available to you, your friends, and family.

Stay tuned! SHELBY HASN’T CHANGED. HE is as ADORABLE, INCURABLY CURIOUS, and NAUGHTY as ever but always abjectly sorry for the trouble he causes his everloving mother and sister.

And he eagerly awaits the news that he will arrive in yet another home where a child will be read to from BOOK ONE, then enjoy those same stories again and again while learning to read independently.

Following the pattern established in BOOK ONE, which finds Shelby and friends have begun to grow up by the end of the book, in another year or so BOOKS TWO and THREE will take that child’s reading into a whole new dimension, as Shelby and his friends become responsible adolescents and face really big problems together. Yes, the plots and reading levels advance through The Shelby F. Squirrel Series, so your child grows with Shelby. Literally….

In BOOK TWO the forest animals face losing their homes, and it is only with carefully planned counterattacks, with everyone in the forest and on the farm taking part, that they beat the odds. For the ending, their victory is proven when a sign is posted at the edge of their beloved forest: FLYING SQUIRREL SANCTUARY.

Not to be shelved, BOOK THREE waits in the wings with the story of Virginia, and her beautiful white fur, who disappears one day while out playing with her brother, Edward. The mystery is solved with the help of a new friend, Nikita, a very clever dog who misses her litter mates and is delighted at the end of the book when she is reunited with all three of them. Along the way Shelby and Petra become parents, as do Peter and Darby. AND one of the babies has white fur like Virginia’s!

Imagine the opportunities for imparting all the wonderful aspects of love, family, companionship, community, joy, hope, victory, and celebration, to the young ones in your family, your classroom, or among your friends.

The SHELBY F. SQUIRREL Series. Books that grow with your child.