Thank you to award-winning and prolific author Janice Spina for having me as a guest on her blog! Janice writes in many genres and supports other authors in their journeys. Interview an Author on Jemsbooks.blog: Valerie Ormond! | JEMSBOOKS
Tag: books
-
Believing In Horses Out West Released!
I released my third novel, Believing In Horses Out West, on Friday, and it’s been a whirlwind couple of days! This book takes young Sadie Navarro on an adventure to a Montana ranch to check on a horse she rescued. While there, she makes new friends, learns about ranch life, and encounters a mystery.
New York Times Bestselling Author of Sgt. Reckless: America’s War Horse, Robin Hutton, described the book as “A thrilling coming-of-age story filled with love, lessons, and finding one’s purpose in life…”
On book launch day, the book achieved an Amazon #1 New Release ranking!
The next day, the book debuted at Freedom Hill Horse Rescue’s Spirits & Steeds festival for a book signing where I had the chance to meet readers, volunteers, and tons of wonderful people who stopped by to talk about all three of my books.
Books are available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, the Believing In Horses website, and retailers worldwide wherever you buy books. I greatly appreciate my readers and those who have encouraged me to keep on writing through the years; thank you for helping me reach this milestone!
-
Coming Soon – Believing In Horses Out West!
I’m excited to announce that Believing In Horses Out West will be published in October! This standalone novel in the Believing In Horses series takes our heroine on an adventure like she has never seen before. Want to know more?
Sadie Navarro rescued a mare from an auction accomplishing what she thought was the most important mission of her young life.
Now, that mare is headed to a ranch in Montana and a home Sadie knows nothing about.
She wants to make sure the horse is in good hands, but Montana is far away and a different world from Maryland.
Will fourteen-year-old Sadie need to stand up to rugged cowboys to protect her special rescue horse?
Details to follow, but the book will be available in paperback and eBook formats and distributed worldwide. I thank all my readers for their wonderful support of my first two books and hope you will enjoy the latest ride!
-
Actively Learn with “Believing In Horses, Too”
Educators from Actively Learn discovered Believing In Horses after the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test featured an excerpt of the book in its 2015 annual test. Following discussions, Actively Learn decided to feature two excerpts from Believing In Horses, Too in their creative curriculum. Actively Lean uses a new approach to learning by providing free English Language Arts (ELA) and other content embedded with standards-aligned assignments to help students learn.
Tessa Polizzi, Actively Learn’s Senior Manager of Product & Content, identified the following assignment from Believing In Horses, Too, which thrilled me because it was one of my favorite chapters. She said:
“I started reading Believing in Horses, Too thinking that I’d look for an excerpt connected to Sadie and her dad, but then I came across the chapter “New Kid on the Block.” I love this one. It stands alone as a story pretty well on its own, connects to an experience that kids are familiar with (making a new friend), and touches on some of the hard situations that kids face in their lives.”
See the “New Kid on the Block” assignment to engage your learners!
Tessa also asked if she could develop a curriculum based on an excerpt for the “Bullies Don’t Rule” chapter, another one of my favorites. I think they did a great job on this lesson, too!
I hope these might be additional help to those homeschooling or to introduce young readers to a new and fun way of learning. And thank you to Actively Learning and Tessa for bringing these stories to more readers.
-
Touch of Class Award
An artist from Maryland hand-paints each unique Touch of Class Award Growing up as a horse lover in Maryland, I never imagined I would win an award like Maryland’s Touch of Class Award someday. The Touch of Class Award honors Maryland horses, individuals, teams, organizations, or events that demonstrate national or international excellence. The Maryland Horse Industry Board honored me and my second book, Believing In Horses, Too, for our winning entry in the 2019 EQUUS Film and Arts Festival Literary Awards.
The Department of Agriculture’s Maryland Horse Industry Board (MHIB) Executive Director Ross Peddicord said, “We have so many talented artists in Maryland – writers, artists, filmmakers, photographers, and more – and Valerie is one of them.”
Valerie Ormond displaying awards leading up to the Touch of Class Award selection The Board’s official announcement read, “Valerie Ormond’s second novel, Believing In Horses, Too, won a Gold Medal in the Military Writers Society of America Book Awards; 1st Place in The Authors’ Zone Book Awards; Best Y.A. Fiction in the Stroud Arts Book Festival; Best Book in Juvenile Fiction in the Pinnacle Book Achievement Awards, and Best Veterans Fiction in the EQUUS Film and Arts Festival Literary Award. Congratulations!”
Past winners of the Touch of Class award have been world champion Maryland horses, mules, and riders. Disciplines have included dressage, eventing, hunters, jumpers, jousting, steeplechase, polo, mounted shooting, rodeo, driving, pentathlon, polocrosse, endurance, therapy, and racing. Individual winners have been barn owners, facility managers, horse trainers, competitors, breeders, filmmakers, writers, and photographers. Maryland established the prestigious Touch of Class Awards program in September 2011.
The award is personally rewarding to me as I see my Believing In Horses books as a coalescence of my horse, military, research, and writing experiences. The Believing In Horses, Too fictional story is based in Maryland and highlights equine therapies, show competition, rescue horses, veterans, and military families. I appreciate the state of Maryland for supporting me and my work with this remarkable touch of class.
