It's time to be thinking about doing a little holiday shopping. A good book isn't too expensive and makes a great gift.

"Yo Yo and the Great Flood," written, illustrated, and self-published at $22.95 by Claudia Coleman, is a wonderful story. A Southern Pines native, Coleman has loved horses and dogs all of her life. An artist for 40 years, she is well known in the area for her work.

Yo Yo, our equine hero, is based on a horse of the same name owned by Coleman for 24 years.

While young children will enjoy the story, there are just too many words for them to read alone, so I suggest it for a family read over the course of several evenings. Adults will like it as well.

Yo Yo and his buddy, Tracker, a dog, hear about animals affected by a flood and decide to offer their help -- unbeknownst to their owners.

They have all sorts of adventures and meet many interesting characters along the way.

Coleman relates that the next book in the series, "Yo Yo and the Sharon Trail," in which Yo Yo and Tracker get involved in a treasure hunt, is coming soon.

Coleman will sign copies of her book from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 30, at The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines.

Another book with a local connection is "A Lifetime Spent Doing What I Loved to Do," by Thomas L. Hamm Jr. (iUniverse, $21.95).

Many Moore County residents know Tommy Hamm as a member of the Mello-Larks, a musical quartet that was quite the thing back in the 1940s and '50s when mellow music and harmony was all the rage.

After Hamm moved here, the Mello-Larks, the makeup of which changed quite frequently over the years as singers came and went, were revived for a number of years, performing locally at various events.

This book, which began as a labor of love for his children, is a memoir of Hamm's life from its beginning and up through his move to Pinehurst, including his years in the Coast Guard, his 25 years in show business, and another 25 in the music end of the advertising business.

Hamm doesn't hesitate to share both the good and the bad about those years.

I enjoyed reading his remembrances of the big band days.

The book is available at amazon.com. at the present time.

Suzanne Adair offers "Camp Follower" (Whittler's Bench Press, $19.95), the third in her Revolutionary War series.

It is the end of 1780. Helen Chiswell, who writes "society" news for a loyalist publication in Wilmington, is offered a plum assignment. In fact, it's probably too good to be true.

She is to pose as the widowed sister of a British soldier in order to write a feature about Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton of the 17th Light Dragoons.

But why send Helen? That all comes out in this many-layered mystery.

I have enjoyed Adair's other books, "The Blacksmith's Daughter," and "Paper Woman," but I do recommend reading the first two before starting this volume. The story itself can stand on its own, but readers will have a better understanding of the characters.

Contact Faye Dasen at fdasen@thepilot.com or 693-2475.