Hello, Internet focus group! Below are two proposed covers for my forthcoming book, “The Little Way of Ruthie Leming,” which will be published on April 9, 2013 (you can pre-order from Amazon here). We not use either one of these, but these are the two under consideration now — and my publishers and I would like feedback from you, especially you readers who stayed with this blog through my sister’s cancer and death, and know the story. For you who aren’t familiar with the story, “The Little Way of Ruthie Leming” is a memoir about my late sister, a country girl who chose to stay in our small Southern town and raise a family. It charts the story of our childhood together, my leaving, her staying, her life here, and her struggle with cancer. It’s a story about how she died with grace, and in the loving arms of our community — and how witnessing that drama changed my heart, and inspired me to move home. It’s a story about community, roots, and the South.

With that background, here are the two covers my publisher is considering now. Let’s call the Rocking Chair and Oak Trees. Please think about them (but not too much — gut reaction is what we’re after), and say in the comboxes which one you prefer, and why. We need your responses below by Monday morning, August 27. 

Rocking Chair