Noble County Books

Books withNoble County OK Roots

Tonya Holmes Shook writes: "Ihave another book released last June with stories relating to Perry, theland grant kids and about early day settlers of Perry, God's Breakfast Nook: AnAnthology of American Nonfiction Short Stories. I spent my summer vacations withgrandparents in Perry. See Press Release below:"

New Book Reminds Readers ofHow Things “Used to Be”

During the 1940s, a young Tonya Holmes Shook and her sistertook the train from New Mexico to Oklahoma to spend “the summers on wonderfulfarms” owned by their grandparents.

“I remember distinctly about a danger lurking in hiddenplaces on grandmother and granddad’s farm. This danger was two-legged! He alsocrowed. That was the meanest rooster I ever saw!”

“The 1940s are full of memories of squirrel hunting withgranddad—a time when a Black Diamond watermelon was halved on the kitchentable with plenty of spoons sticking out of it and begging you to take a bitewhenever the spirit moved you.”

“After we finished eating the melon, the hogs ate what weleft. It was a time when breakfast consisted of sugar-cured ham or slab baconand eggs, fresh honey and hot biscuits washed down with coffee.

We loved to imitate our Grandpa by “saucering” coffeelike he did. Although it wasn’t an affluent place by any means, the farm gaveus rich memories.”

This is just one of more than two-dozen stories from God’sBreakfast Nook: An Anthology of Americana Nonfiction Short Stories—Shook’snew book that explores the spiritual side of family life. Shook is also author TheDrifters, a fiction book about theMelungeon shantyboat people. Both books are published by Marquette Books ofSpokane, Wash.

The short stories in God’sBreakfast Nook, Shook says, “can bethought of as building bricks of oral history. I have tried to take one littlebrick at a time to build a bit of Americana from my corner of the pasture.”

Other reviewers agree.

“God’s Breakfast Nook is wonderfully written and causes(one) to reflect upon a time when families were much more cohesive than they aretoday … when life was simpler and people loved each other more,” says RandySoutherland, minister of New Hope Baptist Church West in Duncan, Okla.

“I am so impressed with the ‘meat’ your book offers …it’s so wonderful to read something with real substance when so much of whatis foisted on the public … is just Pablum,” says Linda Harris, a registerednurse from Whitesboro, Texas.

“Your book has intertwined God’s message for people whohave the ability to look back over their own lives and see the results,” saysAndy Lowe, a mine maintenance director, inspector and special investigator fromPhoenix, Arizona.

Tonya Holmes Shook was born in Oklahoma and lived in NewMexico and Texas before returning to Oklahoma in l985. She is the author of DisplacedCherokee: Come Home, Come Home, a bookdocumentary that took First Place in the l986 Open Class Category at theOklahoma State Fair. The book was endorsed by the Oklahoma Department ofLibraries.

Shook’s other book, TheDrifters: A Christian Historical Novel About The Melungeon Shantyboat People, iscurrently being reviewed by a screenwriter in Hollywood. In addition to writingbooks, Tonya is an accomplished artist and poet. Many of her works haveChristian themes.

Tonya is available for media interviews and book signings.She can be reached at shookum@pldi.netor 580-439-6912. Article from Marquette Books press release. books@marquettebooks.org

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