Humor columnist Burton W. Cole‘s third “faith, fun and farm pranks” children’s novel, “Bash and the Chocolate Milk Cows,” was released May 1 from B&H Publishing Group, a division of LifeWay Christian Resources.
Cole’s second novel, “Bash and the Chicken Coop Caper” (2014, B&H Kids), won the prestigious 2015 Selah Award as Best Novel for Middle Grades on May 20.
“It’s been a good month,” said Cole, a proud member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists
“Bash, Beamer, Lauren and the rest of the gang are doing cartwheels all through the chicken coop. Except Beamer. He can’t do cartwheels. He’s doing somersaults. It’s quite a joyous mess.”
The Bash series of humor/adventure tales about kids romping on a northeast Ohio farm began with “Bash and the Pirate Pig” (2013), which also was a top three finalist for the Selah Award and a top 10 finalist for Christian Retailing’s Best Award for Children’s Books.
“I love sharing the silliness and pure joy of the goofy escapades I remember my siblings and cousins pulling growing up in the country, and how the love and discovery of God was such a natural part of all those awesome adventures,” Cole said.
The Selah Awards, which are presented at the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference, this year in Ridgecrest, North Carolina, included hundreds of titles entered from 29 publishing houses in 14 genres.
Burton W. Cole
Cole is assistant metro editor at the Tribune Chronicle in Warren, Ohio. His award-winning humor column, “Burt’s Eye View,” has been appearing weekly in the Star Beacon of Ashtabula, Ohio, for 22 years and in the Tribune Chronicle for 19 years.
The journalist grew up on a farm in northeast Ohio and attended a small-town church with a slew of cousins and buddies. That same boyhood inspires his colorful and comical novels today.
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A condensed version of this article originally was published in the June 2015 edition of the member newsletter The Columnist.
