The Nashville Book Festival completed its competition on November 7, 2009 and named The Legend of Barknight Runner Up in the Children’s Book category. The McConnell Family is delighted to receive the recognition and looks forward to competing in several other book competitions this fall.

November 2, 2009 marks the fifth anniversary of Barknight and the first celebration since The Legend of Barknight was published on December 30, 2008. Much has changed since our family first conceived of the story back in 2004. In 2009 alone we have entered several book competitions, donated dozens of books to pet friendly churches and even managed to hand a copy to Food Network personality, Paula Deen. We plan to continue promoting the idea of a holiday for pets where we celebrate and give thanks to those, past and present, that continue to warm our lives.

In honor of this year’s Barknight, we are modifying our website to include new functionality. First, you can share with us how you celebrated Barknight by clicking on the Celebrate Barknight page. Next you can refer the book to a friend. Third, we added a downloadable excerpt that captures the story’s climax where all of the world’s dogs bark at exactly the same time and forever bond themselves to humans as our best friends. Finally, you can send your own Barknight Greeting including an image of “the big bark” right from the website.

Our family is grateful for all of the support and encouragement we’ve received since our book became available. We’re especially touched by those who embrace Barknight and make it a tradition of their own.

Dan, Meg, Kelly, Brian, Kevin, Matthew and Chip