Guys, I am so excited, because today we are kicking off the NINE-DAY Victory Celebration Blog Party, co-hosted by yours truly and Savannah Jane McCrary! We're celebrating our two WWII books - We Gave Our Tomorrows (mine) and Trains and Tulips (Savannah's), as well as honoring the Greatest Generation and the sacrifices they made during the war.

We've decided to start things off fun with a blog tag. We're also running a giveaway during the party, and the information for that will be after the tag. So let's get started! 🥳

The Rules

1. Tag the blog party hosts: Savannah @ Blue Flower Story Company and Phoebe @ Black Otter Books.
2. Use the graphic in your post.
3. Answer the questions.
4. If you like, tag other bloggers!

The Questions

1. Who is your favorite hero from WWII?

Now this is always a hard question because I change my answer EVERY. TIME. 😆 But I would say Darlene Deibler. She was a missionary who was captured by the Japanese and held prisoner for years. In her autobiography, Evidence Not Seen, she talks about her experiences and the many times she witnessed God working around her and through her. I really admire her spirit in the midst of difficulties and the love she showed to her captors.

2. What is your favorite nonfiction WWII book?

Probably War and Grace by Don Stephens. I love it because it has so many stories of people in WWII who either were Christians or became Christians during/after the war. There are some well-known figures - Louis Zamperini, Jacob DeShazer, etc. - as well as some lesser-known ones - the British Espionage officer who inspired "Q" in James Bond, or the chaplain to the Nuremburg prisoners.

Of course I also have to give another shoutout to Evidence Not Seen, and to If You Survive by George Wilson, which was one of my most important resources in writing WGOT!

3. What is your favorite WWII historical fiction book?

Haha, you know this answer. What else would it be but Trains and Tulips? 😇 But I also love the short story "Stille Nacht" by R.L. Peterson, and I loved the Tales of the RAF series by Don Patterson.

4. What is your favorite WWII movie?

Division Folgore (1954) by Duilio Coletti; it's an old B&W film about the Italian paratroopers at the battle of El Alamein. We watched it all in Italian without subtitles (!) and I LOVED it! It *definitely* inspired me - I started working on a book about Italian paratroopers, but I only got about three chapters in before getting stuck. I'm planning to go back to it once I finish my current WIP, though!

5. What is your favorite country to read about during WWII?

Hmm . . . I haven't read much WWII fiction, but I'd probably say Britain. I have a great admiration for the indomitable spirit of the British people and how they kept on with a "stiff upper lip" throughout the Blitz. I can't imagine going through something like that!

While I haven't read many books set there (two, I think? and I'm on a third) I also have a fascination with the Pacific theater as a whole. Very different, vicious fighting, but it's always intrigued me.

6. What's a lesson we can learn from WWII?

To stand up to evil when we first see it. Britain and France pursued an appeasement policy toward Nazi Germany in the 1930s, letting Hitler take Czechoslovakia and Austria unopposed, and the world paid the consequences.

I'm going to leave this tag open for anyone to snurch! The more, the merrier! 😁

And now, we move on to . . .

The Victory Celebration Christian YA WWII Historical Fiction Giveaway

Open to residents of the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

One first place winner (US only) will receive signed paperback copies of all four books (Trains and Tulips by Savannah Jane McCrary, We Gave Our Tomorrows by Phoebe Hinkle, The Jewel of Berlin by L.E. Levens, and The Yellow Badge by Addison Crissone), plus an assortment of fun bookish merch (stickers, bookmarks, etc.).

One second place winner (US, Canada, Australia, or UK) will receive paperback copies of all four books.

Enter with your email address and earn additional entries by emailing the giveaway link to others and visiting the authors' websites!

Giveaway runs from May 1st to May 9th.

*By entering the giveaway, you agree to subscribe to the newsletters/blogs of the four participating authors. We respect your privacy, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

*If you're under 21, please just make sure you have your parent or guardian's permission to enter.

For the first-place winner, I'm bundling a signed copy of WGOT with one of my homemade Logan dolls!

Savannah and I are posting pretty much every day on one or other of our blogs, so make sure to check them out! I'm posting on here and on WGOT's website; Savannah is posting on her main website and her history blog.

We also have some other bloggers participating:

• L.E. Levens
• Addison Crissone
• Sophia McCrary
• Journey Bloomfield
• Emily Brown
• Katja Labonté
• H.C. Kingsley

Make sure to check out their blogs as well, and I'll link to their Victory Celebration articles when they post them!

I'm going to do something fun and include a WWII-era song with each post I write on here! 😁 So we're going to start things off with some classic Andrews Sisters:

Come back tomorrow for a post on "Why This Book?" 🫡✌️🪖