From a 2014 letter from Allegra, describing the story behind Little Stories from Mike’s House.
I scribbled notes about our little ones’ activities and comments and tucked them in a cupboard to “someday write a book”. But “someday” actually came rather immediate, because I was so motivated that whenever I could find a free moment–which was rare–I’d quickly get out my high-school graduation gift of a manual typewriter, and try to put together at least a sentence or two of a manuscript, from all those notes in the cupboard… I sent it to The Editor, Moody Press, Chicago.
The LORD clearly had to be in it because “The Editor” responded almost immediately with a contract.
The rest is history. The book was published in 1960, and believe-it-or-not, has been re-published and requested ever since.
In fact, it is now being printed in other languages–so currently, “Mike,” “Mark” and “Connie” are speaking Hungarian…having just shifted from describing their life in Romanian!
Mike is now 62 years old! We joke about his opening comment in the book, which begins: “Hello! My name is Mike, and I guess I’m just about as old as you are!”