Just a Piece of Stone Tour & Giveaway
About the Book
Book: Just a Piece of Stone
Author: Mary Ann Hake
Genre: Middle Grade Historical Adventure Novel
Release Date: April 29, 2025
A Special Stone—A Family Legacy
Suspense and a Hint of the Supernatural
Travel backward in time as the Goldberg family experiences moments of history—including the Holocaust, meeting Leonardo Da Vinci, castles, knights, battles, and thefts. They also face kidnapping, explore caves, flee as refugees, and live under various conquerors. Just a Piece of Stone begins in the United States and moves to Europe and Asia, with each chapter sharing a story about a different boy in a different time period. From grandfather to grandson for thousands of years, Just a Piece of Stone travels the world. Join the adventure!
Click here to get your copy!
About the Author
Mary Ann Hake has published hundreds of stories, articles, poems, puzzles, devotions, curricula, and more (for both children and adults) in periodicals and books plus hundreds of book reviews online. Just a Piece of Stone is her first published novel. The first two picture books in her series about a blind girl, The Smells of the Seasons, received the prestigious Mom’s Choice Award and were featured on the Arkansas PBS summer literacy program, Rise and Shine. She has worked in a bookstore and as a librarian and enjoyed reading to children at story times and conducting summer reading programs. She has also taught writing to children and at writers’ conferences. She continues to work as a freelance editor along with her writing. She and her husband live in beautiful Oregon.
More from Mary
About eight years ago I had an idea: What would happen if a boy found a stone during the time of Moses during the Israelites wandering in the desert and the stone was handed down from generation to generation? I’m not going to say exactly where the rock came from because that’s part of the suspense in the book as readers try to figure out its origin, which is revealed in the final chapter.
So I looked up the approximate date of the Israelites in the Wilderness after leaving Egypt and then figured out how many generations there might be to the present day and the ages of the boys and the grandfathers in each chapter. I decided the stone would be handed down from grandfather to grandson and they would be blessed with long lives so there wouldn’t be too many chapters in the book. It was like putting a puzzle together. I originally planned fifty chapters then realized in the midst of writing that this would be too long for the age group, so I changed to thirty-five, with Old Testament ancestors summarized in the chapter prior to the finale.
I also chose to start the story in the present day with a boy getting a mysterious stone in the mail then go backward in time all the way to the days of Moses. I came up with a list of character names, gleaned from the Bible and historical info, and looked at timelines to choose dates of interesting historical events and places for the chapters’ settings.
This took years researching time periods and culture, and I learned so much. I read, watched videos, and listened to an oral history by a Holocaust survivor, whose facts I used in the chapter set in Nazi Germany. I saved dozens of pages of notes and pictures. Since the original character who found the stone was a Hebrew, I kept the family Jewish throughout the novel. So, in addition to intriguing historical tidbits and accurate locations for Jewish settlements and refugee situations, I incorporated Jewish culture and customs. I also gave the characters appropriate occupations for the settings. A glossary at the back provides pronunciations and definitions of unfamiliar words.
From chapter 2 on each chapter features the boyhood of the grandfather from the previous chapter as we move continue to move backward through time. In the Kindle version, you can click to go to any chapter you wish. Each chapter offers a separate short story within the entire family saga about the prized stone. Throughout the historical tale, we witness God’s protection and care for His followers. I also tried to model people of diverse backgrounds getting along, except, of course, for the authentic historical incidents and battles included.
Last summer when we visited Oregon’s Painted Hills, I met three generations of a Jewish family on vacation. The son is a rabbi and a mohel from New York. I told them about my story and enjoyed visiting with them. He told me the stone should be sapphire, so I changed its color to blue.
A publisher expressed interest early on, but never followed through. An agent said my writing was beautiful but declined representation. The unpublished manuscript was a finalist in the Cascade Writers Contest in 2020. Children who read the chapters one by one begged for more and for the book to be published. Eventually, Elk Lake Publishing offered me a contract then came rewriting and polishing amid many family crises. It takes much time to write, rewrite, and prepare a book for publication. I love the cover Elk Lake created for Just a Piece of Stone.
The tale is great for homeschoolers and as a teachers’ resource, which could be a launch for students’ history projects. I am working on puzzles and activities to accompany the novel and will make these available on my website and to newsletter subscribers. I am also available for online visits with classes or to teach writing to children.
MY REVIEW
I am very impressed by this author. The research for this book is phenomenal. It is a must have in schools and homeschools as well. We are taken on a journey through history where we learn valuable facts that shape history. What I really like is how we travel in time with a different character that highlights important events.
With Biblical figures along the way, the story is deeply rooted in faith and shows how the Jewish people had many struggles. Once again I have to mention the research of this book that definitely is worth noting. The cover for me was eye catching and should attract young people. I can see this book being used in a school setting as a history lesson. You can pick one chapter and expand on it as you follow the character in their time period. We can’t forget the blue stone that is at the center of the story. What does this stone represent? How will the chapters intertwine where we meet Moses?
I appreciate how the book has not only history but a little mystery that will encourage readers to follow the story. They will learn facts and discover the significance of how history impacts each of us.
I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.
Blog Stops
Inspired by Fiction, August 13
Blossoms and Blessings, August 14 (Author Interview)
Simple Harvest Reads, August 14 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)
By the Book, August 15
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, August 16
Artistic Nobody, August 17 (Author Interview)
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, August 18
Library Lady’s Kid Lit, August 19
Texas Book-aholic, August 20
Leslie’s Library Escape, August 21
Guild Master, August 22 (Author Interview)
Holly’s Book Corner, August 22
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, August 23
An Author’s Take, August 24
For Him and My Family, August 25
Fiction Book Lover, August 26 (Author Interview)
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Mary is giving away the grand prize of a $25 Amazon gift card and a copy of the book!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
Four people face a winter storm in the wilderness. Two have lost their way. One has lost his purpose and one has lost his soul.
Award-winning author Gail Pallotta’s a wife, mom, swimmer and bargain shopper who loves God, beach sunsets and getting together with friends and family. She’s a 2017 Reader’s Favorite Book Awards winner and a TopShelf 2020 Book Awards Finalist. She recently received a Top Author Certificate for her new book, Hidden Danger. She’s published seven books, poems, short stories and two-hundred articles. Some of her articles appear in anthologies while two are in museums.
When opera singer Riley Williams agrees to sub as a musical-theater performer on a luxury Rhine/Moselle riverboat cruise, she gets more than she bargained for. Not only must she come up with 250 Broadway songs, she is required to dance with the male passengers. Dance—the subject she nearly failed in her Conservatory courses, and the cause of her recent flop in a European Opera House. To make matters worse, she overhears two terrorists at a café in Antwerp, Belgium, discussing the transfer of deadly agent X to the highest bioterrorist bidders.
Sara L. Jameson won Scrivenings Press’s grand prize publishing contract in January 2021. They released her debut romantic suspense novel, Cruise to Death, in June 2021. Death in High Places, (Book 2 in the Troubled Waters series), released February 2023, followed byVengeance in Vienna, July 2024.