Durham Author Donates His New Books, CDs To Duke Children's Hospital

J. Mark Boliek hopes “The Mahogany Door” book and soundtrack will help cheer young patients.

November 1, 2011 (Durham, NC) – J. Mark Boliek, the author of the new fantasy-adventure book for young readers entitled “The Mahogany Door,” has donated 18 books, along with the all-original CD soundtrack that accompanies them, to Duke Children’s Hospital & Health Center at Duke University.

Duke’s Child Life Specialist Tracy Lamar, who is in charge of toy and book donations to the hospital, has placed the donated books in libraries at Duke Children’s Hospital: in the playroom for inpatient children and families, and a library in the classroom in the Children’s Health Clinic for outpatient visitors.

“I also handed out a book and CD to a patient who has been hospitalized multiple times recently,” she noted. “As an avid reader, she was excited to have a new book to read. Her mother was thrilled as well. She had heard of the book already.”

“The Mahogany Door,” which has been called “recommended reading” by Midwest Book Review, is the story of three friends who were separated for years by a tragedy, but who must now reunite to fulfill a destiny in the fantasy world of Bruinduer before that world collapses. One of the friends doesn’t remember Bruinduer, another has worked hard to forget it, and the other’s reasons for returning are suspect. Ultimately the fast-paced adventure book is about facing fear, friendship, perseverance, and trusting a higher power for guidance.

“I want children, young and old, to have as much fun reading this story as I had writing it,” Boliek said. “I also would like them to know that this is an allegorical tale about my life, and that circumstances happen that are beyond our control. But as the narrator says and I have come to believe, ‘…that hope always exists.’ “

“The Mahogany Door” and CD are available at The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh, the Moravian Books & Gifts shop in Old Salem, NC, Chambers Arts in Cary, and from the author’s website at www.jmarkboliek.com. The regular ebook is available for Kindle, Nook, and iPad users from Barnes & Noble (BN.com), Amazon, and from Apple’s iBookstore. The enhanced version, which features embedded music from CD, is also available from the iBookstore for iPads, iPhones, and the iPod Touch.

For more information on “The Mahogany Door,” visit www.jmarkboliek.com.

About Duke’s Children’s Hospital & Health Center:

Duke Children’s Hospital & Health Center, located in Durham, N.C., is nationally ranked among the best in pediatric health care programs. Caring for children is our number one priority, from routine check-ups and immunizations to the treatment of life-threatening injuries and illnesses. At Duke Children’s, we provide hope and the most advanced health care available. Offering innovative procedures including stem cell and bone marrow transplants as well as a variety of support services for our patients and their families, Duke Children’s cares for children from around the world. We are also a critical local resource - taking care of 60 percent of Durham's children with more than 70 percent of patients coming from central North Carolina. For more information please visit www.dukechildrens.org.