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Happy Birthday, Cupcake! by Terry Border

November 20, 2015 by

Source: I’d Rather Be at the Beach
Hardcover, 32 pgs.
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Happy Birthday, Cupcake! by Terry Border, which is for ages 5-8 and which my daughter received from Vicki, is a cute little picture book.  Kids have cupcakes for their own birthday parties, but what kind of birthday party would a cupcake have?  Cupcakes, muffins, and other food stuffs would have a tough time in certain party situations, and the photos are amusing.  Cupcakes and others with little bendable metal arms, and during a limbo, a cupcake could lose her frosting.

Cupcake and her friend muffin are contemplating carious birthday party adventures, and each time muffin brings up the reasons why certain parties might not be a good idea.   The puns are entertaining for adults as well, but its the visual fun that will keep younger readers engaged, along with the rhymes.  These photos are fantastic little art pieces that are whimsical and endearing.

Happy Birthday, Cupcake! by Terry Border was a great little book for my daughter to practice the sight words she’s learning in preschool.  My daughter loved the end of the book, but I loved the limbo party best.  We had a great time giggling and pointing out some great party fun and silly moments.

About the Author:

Terry Border has spent the vast majority of his life in the Indianapolis, Indiana area. He graduated from Ball State University with a B.S. in Fine Art Photography in 1988. Then, because he wanted to be practical and not be an artist (he is from Indiana after all), he worked as a commercial photographer for many years.  In 2006 he started what he calls his Bent Objects project, mainly because all the other blog names were already taken. Basically, the project concerns adding wire to ordinary objects to help pose them as living characters, usually telling a story, and then photographing them.

Mr. Border has two books containing collections of his Bent Objects published by Running Press, and is now working on a children’s book for Philomel (a footprint of Penguin Publishing). He has a contract with Universal Publishing to make 2013, and 2014 wall calendars, and supplies American Greetings with various greeting card images. There are also, supposedly,  several Bent Objects jigsaw puzzles for sale somewhere in the world, but he has never actually seen one in person.

Filed Under: borrowed copy, challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2015, reviews Tagged With: , ,

Longbourn’s Songbird by Beau North

November 19, 2015 by

Source: Meryton Press
ebook, 300 pgs.
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Longbourn’s Songbird by Beau North, set in post-WWII America, touches upon the Deep South’s continued segregation, and the desire to maintain the old ways where women are concerned even though they stepped up in may cases to fill men’s jobs when they were away at war.  North has created a complex novel through which Will Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet have very different lives and expectations.  Lizzie has locked her heart away after her time away at school in Charleston, while Darcy has struggled to keep his own passions in check as he builds his textile empire.  North has focused less on the class expectations and differences, and more on the societal changes and the implications of those changes on the Deep South.

Lizzie is as strong-willed and teasing as ever, and Darcy is as mysterious and aloof, bumbling around in society. However, dark secrets lay beneath Mr. Collins piousness, Charlotte’s practical nature, and Bingley’s ever-sunny disposition.  North goes deeper into these characters motivations, pulling out the truth behind the facade.

While there were things that seemed a little out of place — maybe just by a few years — they did not detract from the story.  Lizzie is a songstress with a captivating voice, and Darcy is at a disadvantage and is captured in her nest before either realizes how things have changed between them.  But North knows how to keep readers interested by blowing up the Austen world, rearranging it satisfactorily, and making it her own.  Longbourn’s Songbird by Beau North is a wonderful addition to the Austen world, but it’s also much more than that.  It delves into the issues of segregation, women’s place in society, the rights of minorities, and post-traumatic stress disorder that accompanies so many soldiers home from war.

About the Author:

Beau North is a native southerner who now calls Portland, Oregon home with her husband and two cats. She attended the University of South Carolina where she began a lifelong obsession with English Literature. In her spare time, Beau is the brains behind Rhymes With Nerdy, an internet collective focused on pop culture. This is her first novel.  You can connect with Beau on Twitter, Facebook, or via http://beaunorth.merytonpress.com. If you’ve enjoyed this book, we welcome your fair and honest review on Goodreads and Amazon.

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Filed Under: 2015 War Through the Generations - Read Any War, challenges, fiction, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Over the River & Through the Wood by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Kim Smith

November 13, 2015 by

Source: Sterling Children’s Books
Hardcover, 32 pgs.
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Over the River & Through the Wood by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Kim Smith, is a modern story of the Thanksgiving trip to grandmother’s house over the river and through the woods.  Rather than merely travel by sleigh, these family members take cars that run out of gas, trains to cities to find rental cars are all gone, and other modes of transportation when grandmother invites them over for dinner.

The way is paved with snow and these families are eagerly picked up by a horse and sleigh. Even the families are updated from the traditional mother and father with two kids to include not only mixed race families, but also a gay couple with children.  It was a lovely, inclusive touch.  What was a little disappointing was the text, as it didn’t rhyme as well as younger readers would expect.  They are unaware of slant rhyme and for little readers it could be hard to modify a word to make the rhyme work.

Over the River & Through the Wood by Linda Ashman, illustrated by Kim Smith, is a cute book about what it means to spend time together as a family, even with your extended family.  It’s especially wonderful when you not only have memories to share over the holidays, but when you come from different places and backgrounds.

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, poetry, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Water on the Moon by Jean P. Moore

November 10, 2015 by

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Source: TLC Book Tours
Paperback, 244 pgs.
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Water on the Moon by Jean P. Moore is a spiral of mystery in which Lidia Raven, the mother of teenage twin girls, has her life upended by a pane that crashes into her family home.  Raven’s life already had jolted off track when her husband left her for another man, and she chose to parent her children on her own, leaving a prosperous career for the suburbs.  Behind the home, the apple orchards stand guard, watching over the new generations as the previous generations’ secrets remain hidden in passages beneath the house and among the surviving generations.  With nods to Byron’s poetry and to the bravery and passion of Amelia Earhart, Moore’s prose is winding, meandering through Lidia’s concerns about her daughters, her obsessions with the flyer who crashed into her home, and her difficulty in letting go of her past life with her husband.  Her neighbor, Polly, takes the Raven family in as the house is restored and the FBI investigation wraps up, and this woman is a sage, offering sound advice to those willing to listen.

Since the breakup of her ideal family, Lidia has spent a lot of hours worrying about when the next shoe would drop and upend her world again.  She’s been in protectionist mode for far too long, and with help from Polly, she learns to be more open and more flexible, but she also has to face some of the ghosts in her family’s past.  While the intricacies of the family mystery are interesting and the pilot’s obsession with Earhart are engaging, the main story often gets lost in the references to Byron and to Earhart.  The story would have felt less distant if the reader could have connected closer with Lidia and her heartbreak.

Water on the Moon by Jean P. Moore offers tidbits of conflict that are resolved either too quickly or barely resolved.  Lidia is a character that seems underdeveloped emotionally, and while the daughters are on the periphery, they have greater depth.  Lidia’s character falls in love too quickly, is easily spooked, and has a stubborn streak when her heart is broken.  Without Polly, Lidia would have plugged along in her life without making any real changes, and in this way, she redeems the novel for this reader.  Polly’s life is fascinating, and her sage advice will remind readers of those grandmothers who carefully steer loved ones in the right direction.

About the Author:

Jean P. Moore began her professional life as an English teacher, later becoming a telecommunications executive. She and her husband, Steve, and Sly, their black Lab, divide their time between Greenwich, Connecticut and the Berkshires in Massachusetts, where Jean teaches yoga in the summers.

Her work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, and literary journals such as upstreet, SN Review, Adanna, Distillery, Skirt, Long Island Woman, the Hartford Courant, Greenwich Time, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Water on the Moon was published in June of 2014 and won the 2015 Independent Publishers Book Award for Contemporary Fiction. Visit her on her website, on her blog, and Twitter.

Filed Under: challenges, fiction, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews, tlc book tours Tagged With: , ,

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (audio)

November 4, 2015 by

Source: Public Library
Audiobook, 9 CDs
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Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, narrated by Jenna Lamia and David Ledoux, is one of those young adult novels that adults who can engage in magical worlds will enjoy.  Boundary wood in Mercy Falls, Minn., is populated with wolves, and while most of the time they keep to themselves, there are those incidents of attacks and the inevitable backlash by hunters with guns.  Sam Roth and Grace Brisbane have lingered just on the outskirts of one another for six years, and while Grace was bitten by wolves as a child, she barely remembers what happened, other than the beautiful white-gray wolf who was their rescuing her and his piercing yellow eyes.  The woods near Grace’s house are where she sees the wolves in the winter, but never in the summer, and she’s fascinated by their grace and beauty.

Her obsession with the wolves does distance her from her friends, but she doesn’t seem to mind until they begin disappearing.  Sam is a boy with a dark family history, who was “saved” by Beck as a young boy.  Grace and he instantly connect, and only his glittering yellow eyes reveal who he truly is.  Grace is then swept up into a world she marginally knew existed, and her first love consumes her.  Jenna Lamia is a believable teenage girl, and she has the right timber and pace for Grace’s character, and David Ledoux provides fantastic depth to Sam’s character in the narration.  On audio, this book shines in the darkness of the snow-lit woods.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, narrated by Jenna Lamia and David Ledoux, is a stunning opener to a paranormal series of books for young adults.  Stiefvater creates dynamic characters who are forced to deal with tough issues in unreal situations, and these characters are unforgettable.  Like many books in this category, there is a series, but this one has a lot of potential.  I’m looking forward to the next audio installment.

About the Author:

New York Times bestselling author of The Shiver Trilogy, The Raven Cycle, and The Scorpio Races. Artist. Driver of things with wheels. Avid reader.  All of Maggie Stiefvater’s life decisions have been based around her inability to be gainfully employed. Talking to yourself, staring into space, and coming to work in your pajamas are frowned upon when you’re a waitress, calligraphy instructor, or technical editor (all of which she’s tried), but are highly prized traits in novelists and artists. She’s made her living as one or the other since she was 22. She now lives an eccentric life in the middle of nowhere, Virginia with her charmingly straight-laced husband, two kids, two neurotic dogs, and a 1973 Camaro named Loki.

Filed Under: audiobooks, borrowed copy, challenges, fiction, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2015, reviews, Scholastic, young adult fiction Tagged With: , , , ,

I Want to Eat Your Books by Karin Lefranc and Tyler Parker

October 30, 2015 by

Source: Sky Pony Press
Hardcover, 32 pgs.
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I Want to Eat Your Books by Karin Lefranc and Tyler Parker was a fun read to get us in the mood for Halloween.  Eric is followed by a zombie to school, but rather than a brain-sucking zombie, he’s chased by a book eating zombie.  Halloween allows the dark and scary to surface in town, and Eric is scared when the zombie approaches.  When the zombie eats his book, the kids and teachers are running scared and trying to save their books.  From fiction to nonfiction, this zombie does not discriminate.  However, teachers would prefer if this zombie kid would read the books, rather than eat them.

Once in the library, the zombie is enlightened to the power of reading.  Eric hands him a book that changes his outlook.  While he is a zombie, he has manners and asks that Eric read to him.  This change is magical, and soon he’s devouring books in a completely new way.  Someone on the paranormal wire must have heard about the goodies in the library and passed along the news, because soon the school library is attracting mummies and zombies.

I Want to Eat Your Books by Karin Lefranc and Tyler Parkeris a fun book about the power of reading, and the knowledge that books can provide.  My daughter and I took to shouting, “I want to eat your books!” as the zombie made his way through the school, and by the end we were giggling.  This book is sure to create bookaholics like me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Mind Your Monsters by Catherine Bailey, illustrated by Oriol Vidal

October 29, 2015 by

Source: Sterling Children’s Books
Hardcover, 32 pgs.
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Mind Your Monsters by Catherine Bailey, illustrated by Oriol Vidal, has a modern style of illustration that brings neighborhoods to life, even as the monsters surface from behind buildings.  These monsters are wreaking havoc in town, terrorizing parents and children.  From zombies and vampire bats to one-eyed and furry monsters, people are unsure how to handle these monsters and their destruction.  Turned over cars, chewed up mailboxes, and more.  Parents are scared for themselves and their children, and without a solution in sight, they are prepared to leave town.

Wally decides that he’s going to take a different approach.  He’s going to talk to them.  When that doesn’t work, he throws his sister at the monsters because he considers her evil enough to fight them — or so it is implied.  He employs other tactics, using tricks and treats, lollipops, and more.  When the parents make the decision to leave, their escape is blocked by a giant ogre.  Everyone is fearful and wants to run, but there is no escape and no where to run to.  Wally, in a desperate plea, asks them to please stop terrorizing the town.  Through the use of his manners, he’s able to get through to the monsters.  The monsters stop making messes and begin to cleanup.

Mind Your Monsters by Catherine Bailey, illustrated by Oriol Vidal, is a colorful and fun way to introduce the idea of using manners to children.  There’s the promise of more fun when the monsters agree to return again.  Most little kids know that “Please” is considered the magic word, and this book plays with that knowledge.  It demonstrates that manners are important in communicating with adults, monsters, and others.  The one thing missing from this story is the use of “Thank You.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

The Runaway Pumpkin: A Halloween Adventure Story by Anne Margaret Lewis, illustrated by Aaron Zenz

October 23, 2015 by

Source: Sky Pony Press
Hardcover, 40 pgs.
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The Runaway Pumpkin: A Halloween Adventure Story by Anne Margaret Lewis, illustrated by Aaron Zenz, features adorable pumpkins.  The single-toothed pumpkin boy is dreaming big in this story, and while he talks of running off to play mummy or fly on brooms with witches, his mother is supportive.  Although she wants to protect him from the things that go bump in the night, his mother is aware that kids want independence and want to grow up faster than their parents are ready for.  She knows that without his blanket he’ll be scared at night, so she offers to pack it for him.  Her support does not go unnoticed by the little pumpkin.

We’ve probably read this more than a few times since it’s come into the house, but she loves the adventures of the little pumpkin.  Her favorite parts are when we see his mother watching over him from under the straw on the hayride or in the distance behind some bushes.  It’s like a little game of hide-and-seek.  By the end of the book, we’re both ready to enjoy the adventures of both mother and son pumpkin.

The Runaway Pumpkin: A Halloween Adventure Story by Anne Margaret Lewis, illustrated by Aaron Zenz, is cute and has a great message about giving children some independence to think and do on their own, but it also cautions that parents need to be ready in the wings to step in when they are needed.  My daughter’s favorite parts are when the little pumpkin dresses like a pirate and wears a fake mustache.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez

October 22, 2015 by

Source: Public Library
Paperback, 168 pgs.
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Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez, is part one in a series of graphic novels about a mysterious house and its locked rooms.  Keyhouse is an unlikely mansion in the Massachusetts town of Lovecraft, and it sits on an island separate from the rest of the town.  It’s a clear set up for a horrifying tale.  The three Locke children are left with their barely functioning, alcoholic mother when their father is murdered at their summer cabin outside San Francisco.  The family starts over across the country, only to be caught in a web of darkness they can’t see until it’s too late.

Tyler is struggling because he blames himself for his father’s murder.  He never could please his father, and they often argued, but he did not really want his father to die.  Bode is the youngest, and he escapes the sorrow through his imagination, flying around the Keyhouse as a ghost, while his sister, Kinsey, struggles to remain unseen by everyone in their new school.  What these kids are unaware of are the childhood antics their father and uncle used to get up to as children in Keyhouse, and even their mother is only mildly aware of some stories.  Rodriguez’s artistry is gritty and the violent scenes are well rendered.  The ghost-like characters are gorgeous, swirling as they move from place to place.

Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez, is a great opener to this dark fantasy series, and the twists and turns are unraveled a little at a time to keep readers on their toes.  There are dark forces at work in this house, and they will stop at nothing to open all of the locked doors.

About the Author:

Joseph Hillstrom King is an American writer of fiction, writing under the pen name of Joe Hill.  Hill is the the second child of authors Stephen King and Tabitha King. His younger brother Owen King is also a writer. He has three children.

Hill’s first book, the limited edition collection 20th Century Ghosts published in 2005 by PS Publishing, showcases fourteen of his short stories and won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection, together with the British Fantasy Award for Best Collection and Best Short Story for “Best New Horror”. In October 2007, Hill’s mainstream US and UK publishers reprinted 20th Century Ghosts, without the extras published in the 2005 slipcased versions, but including one new story.

About the Illustrator:

Architect, artist and illustrator. He started his career with myth based illustrations for card games, and then jumped into the world of professional comics working with IDW Publishing. In addition to his current work in Locke & Key, his collaborations with IDW include Clive Barker’s The Great and Secret Show, Beowulf, George Romero’s Land Of The Dead, as well as several CSI comics and some covers for Angel and Transformers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: borrowed copy, challenges, fiction, graphic novel, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2015, reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Underdays: Poems by Martin Ott

October 21, 2015 by

Source: Bostick Communications
Paperback, 72 pgs.
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Underdays: Poems by Martin Ott is a collection that seeks to dissect human motivations to love, to hate, to soldier on, and more.  His poems express this search through a dialogue within their lines and between one another, almost like people in deep conversation.  Readers may see this technique as an extension of his days as a U.S. Army interrogator, as Ott continues to dig deeper to find kernels of truth and fact.  He opens with a poem that examines the undercarriage of retirement, what does it mean to retire, how does it feel.  In the poem, it’s clear that there is an expectation about retirement that does not come to pass:

From "The Interrogator in Retirement" (pg. 3)

He wants to love recklessly
but his eyes remain desert
dry, unable to view clear skies
without seeing the curtains,

He examines this new found freedom with a critical eye. How do you move beyond what came before, even if you have no further obligations and you’re beholden to only yourself and your desires?  Ott creates tales that unfold and fold unto themselves, taking readers on winding journeys — much like those in real life that are never a straight line from point A to point B.  His images are fresh and nuanced, and will force readers to rethink their own perceptions of retirement, work, and death.

From "Survivor's Manual to Love and War" (pg. 6)

Death is a loving dog
with no children or chew toys
to occupy its attention.
It will lick you into submission,
this inevitable pack instinct,
to join the vast departed.

He examines what it means to face death and how alluring it can be when things are hopeless, but he also counters these examinations with a look at how much we do to stave off death and avoid it altogether just so we can eek out just a little bit more time with loved ones. Ott’s images will stay with readers long after poems are read, like a man who turns into “a dragon … sucking fumes in motor pools” or the clacking of Salinger’s typewriter on the battlefield sounding “like gold fillings against wet pavement.”

Some poems seem to be about the mundane, like why he doesn’t set the clock in his car or why he doesn’t carry an umbrella, but these poems, too, become something more — a time travel journey with kids or the hidden dangers of the umbrella and how it can die just from being opened.  Underdays: Poems by Martin Ott, winner of the , turns over the rocks in our lives to find the darkness, the humor, and the introspective nature we hide as we trudge through daily activities.

About the Poet:

Born in Alaska and raised in Michigan, Martin Ott served as an interrogator in U.S. Army military intelligence. He moved to Los Angeles to attend the Masters of Professional Writing Program at USC, and often writes about his adopted city, including in the novel The Interrogator’s Notebook (currently being pitched by Paradigm as a TV pilot) and poetry books Captive, De Novo Prize Winner, C&R Press and Underdays, Sandeen Prize Winner, University of Notre Dame Press (Fall 2015).

Social and political themes are prevalent in all of his books, particularly Poets’ Guide to America and Yankee Broadcast Network, coauthored with John F. Buckley, Brooklyn Arts Press and his short story collection, Interrogations, Fomite Press (Spring 2016).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: bostick communications, challenges, New Authors Challenge, poetry, Poetry Reading Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , ,

Ava the Monster Slayer by Lisa Maggiore, illustrated by Ross Felten

October 16, 2015 by

Source: Sky Pony Press
Hardcover, 32 pgs.
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Ava the Monster Slayer by Lisa Maggiore, illustrated by Ross Felten, is another hit with my daughter with its comic book style illustrations.  It’s like a beginner’s comic book.  She is hooked.  Ava is a young girl with a favorite stuffed animal and an active imagination, which is fueled by the stories of her older brother.

When her mother tells her that her stuffed animal is in the dryer, she is determined to save him from the monsters in the basement.  She transforms herself into a monster slayer with a cape, a crown, and pink rain boots when she realizes that she’s on her own in her quest.  There are action sequences, moments of tension in which Ava’s confidence is shaken, and large old-school “Pow” and “Wham”-type exclamations.  She is on a mission to save her friend, Piggy, despite the dangers.

Ava the Monster Slayer by Lisa Maggiore, illustrated by Ross Felten, is an origin story, and it seems as though there are more adventures to come for Ava.  My daughter adores these adventure stories, and this one has great illustrations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2015, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss

October 14, 2015 by

Source: Public Library
Hardcover, 208 pgs.
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Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss has a cover that glows like the radium discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie, and the collage format allows the text, photos, illustrations, and documents to inform one another in a unique way.  Not only does Redniss use interviews with scientists, A-bomb survivors, and Marie and Pierre Curie’s own granddaughter, but she also utilizes Marie Curie’s own words from her diaries and letters.  The book chronicles not only the discovery of Radium and Polonium, but also how Marie and Pierre came to be working and living their lives together, as well as Marie’s life after the death of her husband.

What’s interesting about this book is that it not only examines the history of discovery and the resistance to commercialization held at the time by the Curie’s and other scientists.  There are some points in the book where the transition between the historic events and the more recent consequences of Curie’s discoveries could have been smoother, particularly the section about the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant meltdown that comes right after Marie has lost her husband and moves with her daughters closer to Pierre’s father.  Beyond that, those who have studied Curie in school may not know about her work with hospital X-ray units or how her work was carried on by her children.

Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss condenses a lot of historic fact into a small volume and offers supporting documentation for her findings.  This collection would be a great addition to school classrooms and could help make a hard-to-understand subject easier to digest.

***Another thank you goes to Bermudaonion for bringing my attention to this one***

About the Author:

Lauren Redniss is the author of Century Girl: 100 years in the Life of Doris Eaton Travis, Last Living Star of the Ziegfeld Follies and Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie, A Tale of Love and Fallout, a finalist for the 2011 National Book Award for nonfiction. Her writing and drawing has appeared in numerous publications including the New York Times, which nominated her work for the Pulitzer Prize. She was a fellow at the Cullman Center for Scholars & Writers at the New York Public Library in 2008-2009, became a New York Institute for the Humanities fellow in 2010, and is currently Artist-in-Residence at the American Museum of Natural History. She teaches at Parsons the New School for Design in New York City.

Filed Under: borrowed copy, challenges, graphic novel, Harper Collins, New Authors Challenge, nonfiction, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2015, reviews Tagged With: , ,