Category Archives: Family history

by | April 15, 2026 · 7:17 am

New Book Review and My Little Cat Toby

There is a lovely new review by Tabi on “Tabi Thoughts.” Here is a quote:

Scrap is a story of forgiveness and making peace with the past. It will resonate with readers who appreciate introspective writing, stories about healing and complicated family relationships.

You can read it here:

Tabi thoughts about SCRAP

One of the characters of Scrap is my little cat Toby. He was an all black cat, and the story is bittersweet, especially bitter. It also is one of the memories that I choose to “interrogate” in the book. Because my cat Meesker was very reminiscent of Toby in looks and personality, and I just lost Meesker when he passed away in the bathroom while I was out of town and the pet sitter was here, it’s an old wound rubbed a little raw. Here is a pic of Toby.

 

Tour Schedule:

March 21: Joy Neal Kidney (review)

March 23: Liz Gauffreau, (review)

March 24: Marie Ann Bailey, (review)

March 25: John W. Howell, (excerpt)

March 30: Miriam Hurdle, (companion story)

March 31: Review Tales (review)

April 2: the bookworm (review)

April 9: Ashley’s Books, Cozy Home Delight (review)

April 13: What’s That Book About (guest post)

April 15: Tabi Thoughts(review)

April 23: Lavender Orchids (review)

April 27: The Reading Bud (review)

May 4: Chelsea’s Books (review)

May 4: Smorgasbord (excerpt)

May 6: Brotman Blog (review)

May 7: The Reading Bud (interview)

May 14: True Book Addict (guest post)

May 19: True Book Addict (review)

May 21: The Book Connection (review)

Follow the tour with the hashtag #ScrapSalvagingFamily

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by | April 13, 2026 · 9:19 am

Are Those Fairy Tale Monsters in SCRAP: SALVAGING A FAMILY?

I wrote a guest post, “From Grimm to Golden Books: Writing Myself Out of the Fairy Tale,” for What’s That Book About–about the fairy tale influence on my new memoir Scrap: Salvaging a Family. 

You can read it here:

From Grimm to Golden Books

 

Illustration by Walter Crane for “The Almond Tree” (or “The Juniper Tree”)

I would love it if you could leave even a 2 or 3+sentence review of Scrap at Amazon and/or Goodreads if you give it a read!

 

Tour Schedule:

March 21: Joy Neal Kidney (review)

March 23: Liz Gauffreau, (review)

March 24: Marie Ann Bailey, (review)

March 25: John W. Howell, (excerpt)

March 30: Miriam Hurdle, (companion story)

March 31: Review Tales (review)

April 2: the bookworm (review)

April 9: Ashley’s Books, Cozy Home Delight (review)

April 13: What’s That Book About (guest post)

April 15: Tabi’s Thoughts (review)

April 23: Lavender Orchids (review)

April 27: The Reading Bud (review)

May 4: Chelsea’s Books (review)

May 4: Smorgasbord (excerpt)

May 6: Brotman Blog (review)

May 7: The Reading Bud (interview)

May 14: True Book Addict (guest post)

May 19: True Book Addict (review)

May 21: The Book Connection (review)

Follow the tour with the hashtag #ScrapSalvagingFamily

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by | April 10, 2026 · 11:38 am

The “Cottage” in Scrap

This week, Ashley at Cozy Home Delight reviewed Scrap: Salvaging a Family. 

[The book] brings up that complicated space where grief, resentment, anger, love, and even forgiveness all exist at the same time. The book does not try to simplify those feelings or resolve them neatly. It allows them to exist together, which felt very honest.

I thought I’d share a photo related to my memoir. I write about the cottage my father bought for us to reburbish. This is what it looked like near the beginning, although you really can’t see some of the details I describe in the book. But it gives you what I saw when we first pulled up outside it.

This cottage came with a dirt floor which had been applied over the old linoleum. And yet somehow my father supposedly found a pair of pristine white ice skates with red pompoms in my size in the dirt crawl space (Michigan cellar) underneath.

Tour Schedule:

March 21: Joy Neal Kidney (review)

March 23: Liz Gauffreau, (review)

March 24: Marie Ann Bailey, (review)

March 25: John W. Howell, (excerpt)

March 30: Miriam Hurdle, (companion story)

March 31: Review Tales (review)

April 2: the bookworm (review)

April 9: Ashley’s Books, Cozy Home Delight (review)

April 13: What’s That Book About (guest post)

April 15: Tabi’s Thoughts (review)

April 23: Lavender Orchids (review)

April 27: The Reading Bud (review)

May 4: Chelsea’s Books (review)

Mary 4: Smorgasbord (excerpt)

May 7: The Reading Bud (interview)

May 14: True Book Addict (guest post)

May 19: True Book Addict (review)

May 21: The Book Connection (review)

Follow the tour with the hashtag #ScrapSalvagingFamily

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by | April 2, 2026 · 11:48 am

A Big Thank you to Scrap Reviewers or Reviewers of Scrap or Scrappy Reviewers!

I just found a review of Scrap: Salvaging a Family from Jeyran Main. I love it!

Castle’s prose is spare yet evocative. The flash form intensifies the emotional resonance, allowing each vignette to stand alone while contributing to a cohesive emotional arc. Readers who appreciate memoirs that experiment with structure while remaining grounded in emotional truth will find Scrap especially compelling.

Jeyran Main

Additionally, the Poetic Book Tour began today with a review at The Bookworm. I found it interesting that The Bookworm reads the book as poetry. I am thinking that the flash pieces might be read as prose poetry. The line between flash nonfiction and prose poem is different for every reader.

Tour Schedule:

April 2: the bookworm (review)

April 9: Ashley’s Books (review)

April 13: What’s That Book About (guest post)

April 15: Tabi’s Thoughts (review)

April 23: Lavender Orchids (review)

April 27: The Reading Bud (review)

March 31: Review Tales (review)

May 4: Chelsea’s Books (review)

May 7: The Reading Bud (interview)

May 14: True Book Addict (guest post)

May 19: True Book Addict (review)

May 21: The Book Connection (review)

Follow the tour with the hashtag #ScrapSalvagingFamily

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by | March 30, 2026 · 6:37 am

Blog Tour for SCRAP is Over at Miriam Hurdle’s Blog!

Put on your cap to follow Scrap (I can’t help myself with these Scrap rhymes) over to Miriam Hurdle’s The Showers of Blessings blog! A big thank you to my sweet friend Miriam for hosting Scrap and me.

I worked on the memoir-in-flash for 18 years, and over that time I did end up with at least two different complete traditional versions. Then I decided to write Scrap in hybrid, using a lot of flash nonfiction, as well as poems, essay, etc.  Of course that means that there are stories that did not make it into the book. Miriam is sharing one today!

MIRIAM’S BLOG

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I’m looking forward to the blog tours for my new book Scrap: Salvaging a Family, published by ELJ Editions.

First up are friend blogs!

Joy Neal Kidney, March 21, book review

Liz Gauffreau, March 23, book review

Marie Ann Bailey, March 24, book review

John W. Howell, March 25, book excerpt

Miriam Hurdle, March 30, companion story to Scrap

Going to be on Sally Cronin’s Smorgasbord on May 4!

Then there is an April and May tour through Poetic Book Tours, schedule in link.

POETIC BOOK TOUR FOR SCRAP

Click on the book image to order at Amazon.

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by | March 25, 2026 · 4:00 am

Tap Your Feet Over to SCRAP at John Howell’s Fiction Favorites!

Tap your feet over to see Scrap on John W. Howell’s blog

John W. Howell’s Fiction Favorites

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I’m looking forward to the blog tours for my new book Scrap: Salvaging a Family, published by ELJ Editions.

First up are friend blogs!

Joy Neal Kidney, March 21, book review

Liz Gauffreau, March 23, book review

Marie Ann Bailey, March 24, book review

John W. Howell, March 25, book excerpt

Miriam Hurdle, March 30, companion story to Scrap

Going to be on Sally Cronin’s Smorgasbord on May 4!

Then there is an April and May tour through Poetic Book Tours, schedule in link.

POETIC BOOK TOUR FOR SCRAP

Click on the book image to order at Amazon.

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Filed under #ScrapSalvagingFamily, Book Review, ELJ Editions, Family, Family history, Flash Nonfiction, flash nonfiction, hybrid memoir, Memoir, Nonfiction, SCRAP: SALVAGING A FAMILY, Scrap:Salvaging a Family

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by | March 24, 2026 · 6:15 am

Blog Tour for Scrap: Salvaging a Family: Check Out Marie Bailey’s Review!

I don’t think anybody has read as many versions of Scrap: Salvaging a Family as my friend Marie Ann Bailey. Flap your wings (you see what I’m doing there, right? flap/scrap) over to her blog to read her review of the finished product!

MARIE’S REVIEW OF SCRAP

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BLOG TOURS FOR SCRAP:

First up are friend blogs!

Joy Neal Kidney, March 21, book review

Liz Gauffreau, March 23, book review

Marie Ann Bailey, March 24, book review

John W. Howell, March 25, book excerpt

Miriam Hurdle, March 30, companion story to Scrap

 

Then there is an April and May tour through Poetic Book Tours, schedule in link.

POETIC BOOK TOUR FOR SCRAP

 

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Filed under #ScrapSalvagingFamily, Book Review, ELJ Editions, Family, Family history, flash nonfiction, Flash Nonfiction, hybrid memoir, Memoir, Nonfiction, SCRAP: SALVAGING A FAMILY, Scrap:Salvaging a Family

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by | March 23, 2026 · 5:00 am

SCRAP Blog Tour is Happening at Writer Elizabeth Gauffreau’s Blog

Tap into Scrap at Elizabeth (Liz) Gauffreau’s blog! Check out her review of Scrap: Salvaging a Family.

Liz’s Review of SCRAP

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BLOG TOURS FOR SCRAP:

First up are friend blogs!

Joy Neal Kidney, March 21, book review

Liz Gauffreau, March 23, book review

Marie Ann Bailey, March 24, book review

John W. Howell, March 25, book excerpt

Miriam Hurdle, March 30, companion story to Scrap

 

Then there is an April and May tour through Poetic Book Tours, schedule in link.

POETIC BOOK TOUR FOR SCRAP

 

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by | March 21, 2026 · 9:39 am

The Blog Tours for Scrap Begins with Joy Neal Kidney’s Delightful Blog

Thank you so much, Joy!!!

JOY NEAL KIDNEY

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I’m looking forward to the blog tours for my new book Scrap: Salvaging a Family, published by ELJ Editions.

First up are friend blogs!

Joy Neal Kidney, March 21, book review

Liz Gauffreau, March 23, book review

Marie Ann Bailey, March 24, book review

John W. Howell, March 25, book excerpt

Miriam Hurdle, March 30, companion story to Scrap

 

Then there is an April and May tour through Poetic Book Tours, schedule in link.

POETIC BOOK TOUR FOR SCRAP

Leave a comment

Filed under #ScrapSalvagingFamily, Book Review, ELJ Editions, Family, Family history, Flash Nonfiction, flash nonfiction, hybrid memoir, Memoir, Nonfiction, SCRAP: SALVAGING A FAMILY, Scrap:Salvaging a Family

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by | March 20, 2026 · 6:00 am

TODAY IS THE DAY: OFFICIAL RELEASE OF SCRAP: SALVAGING A FAMILY

In addition to it being the Happy Scrappy Scrap Release Day, the book’s STARRED!!!!!!!!!! Kirkus review came in last night. What a surprise that is. Only 10% of Kirkus reviews are starred. (I had no idea, but I looked it up).

“…a powerful, painful family saga that slowly gives way to hard-won understanding. A richly detailed, harrowing account of household mayhem and the struggle to forgive.”
—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

AVAILABLE AT AMAZON

Almost twelve years ago, I was blogging about the various patterns that are found in Scrap. And the book already had that title then! I can hardly believe it, although the book did not look anything like it does today. Anyway, one of my posts was about the motif of scrap. Here is the most important part of that post:

Today is one of my non-emotion patterns: SCRAP, which happens to be the title of my book. The motif of scrap(s), trash, theft, salvaging, and re-use runs through many scenes. Scrap represents destruction and chaos until scraps can be salvaged and re-used.

On the more positive side of trash and scrap, when I was a kid, my father sold teepee burners to dumps and then started his own garbage business. When Dad had his own business, he used to find all kinds of usable trash. He brought me boxes of books and costume trunk clothes that had been thrown into dumpsters.

When my grandmother entered the nursing home, she left behind with my parents a Victorian crazy quilt, made of irregular scraps. I think of it as a guiding image for my book.

Like most crazy quilts [of that era], the scraps are velvet and satin and embroidered with designs. Many of the designs are floral.

My father uses scrap metal to make art:

The metal flowers are my favorites.

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The quilt can be found in Scrap: Salvaging a Family, as can my father’s metal creations.

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