Quantcast

The Secret of Magic by Deborah Johnson

January 21, 2015 by

Source: Penguin Random House
Paperback, 416 pgs
I’m an Amazon Affiliate

The Secret of Magic by Deborah Johnson is a phenomenal look at the racial prejudices that continue to hold tight in Mississippi, Alabama, and elsewhere, even after then end of WWII when black soldiers fought bravely against the Nazis.  Joe Howard Wilson is returning home as a decorated hero after losing not only men in his unit, but one of his good friends, L.C.  He’s musing on his visit with his father, Willie Willie, who taught him so much and worked with their white employer, Judge Calhoun, to ensure he was educated enough to get out and make something of himself.

“Gotcha!

Joe Howard Wilson jerked and his hands went straight to his face, and then to his body, for his gun.  Groping. Feeling. Saying his prayers.  Checking to make sure that he was awake and what had happened in that forest in Italy, all the killing was over.  Checking to make sure it wasn’t happening now.”  (page 1)

Joe is a young man still coping with the loss of friends, only to find that the prejudices he dealt with growing up are still present and an additional pressure he has little patience for after serving for his country overseas.  When Regina Robichard, a young attorney still waiting to hear if she passed the New York bar, is called down to investigate the death of a WWII veteran a year later, she finds that the south is not as black and white as she expects it to be.  She’s sent south with a mission from Thurgood Marshall of the NAACP to investigate the matter.  Regina, the daughter of a relatively famous black female activist, is idealistic and tentative in her approach to those she encounters, particularly M.P. Calhoun, who wrote her favorite book — The Secret of Magic.

“The air in the depot smelled just like everything Southern he remembered.  Even inside, no matter where you were, there was always a hint of the earth and the things that died on it.  You could not get away from the scent of things, from the richness of them, if you had lived, like he had lived, so near to the ground.”  (page 8)

Through a neatly woven narrative, Johnson creates a tapestry of the south that depicts not only the racial prejudices present in the south that are held onto tightly even after WWII, but also the deep connections between the whites and blacks within the small community of Revere, Mississippi.  Like all relationships, at first blush racial prejudice is hatred of the other, but looking deeper Johnson demonstrates that there is a love underneath the comments of “mine” and “our” used by whites in reference to blacks in the community.  Revere is a town that is in transition whether it likes it or not, and in many ways, the change is too quick for some and not quick enough for others — especially those like Peach Mottley who see Regina as the catalyst they need.

The Secret of Magic by Deborah Johnson is gorgeously told, and it is riveting from the first page.  Readers will develop an instant connection with not only Joe Howard Wilson and Regina Robichard, but with the other major and minor characters as they continue to navigate the social constructs that are the same and yet changing.  The fairy tales that peek around the realities of the South provide hope of a new world, but they also are endangered by those who wish to halt change in its tracks.

I haven’t been this blown away by a book in a long while, and this one is a must read and a definite contender for the Best of 2015 list.

About the Author:

Deborah Johnson was born below the Mason-Dixon Line, in Missouri, but grew up in Omaha, Nebraska.  After college, she lived in San Francisco and then for many years in Rome, Italy where she worked as a translator and editor of doctoral theses and at Vatican Radio.  Deborah Johnson is the author of The Air Between Us, which received the Mississippi Library Association Award for fiction.  She now lives in Columbus, Mississippi, and is working on her next novel.  Check out her Website.

 

 

 

 

 

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

The Princess Panda Tea Party by Jewel Kats, Illustrated by Richa Kinra

January 20, 2015 by

Source: Loving Healing Press
Paperback, 52 pages
I am an Amazon Affiliate

The Princess Panda Tea Party: A Cerebral Palsy Fairy Tale by Jewel Kats, Illustrated by Richa Kinra, is a fairy tale in which a stuffed panda comes to life to help young Michelle find the self-confidence within to achieve her goals and brush off the insults and meanness of the other girls in the orphanage.  The illustrations will remind older readers of the pictures that once accompanied our own fairy tales.  Rather than have the typical beauty and able-bodied young girl as the protagonist, Kats has a smart protagonist with cerebral palsy.  Josephine is the mean girl in this tale, and Princess Panda is the fairy godmother.

“Panda Bear Princess patted the beautiful horse.  The pink pads of her stuffed paw tapped at his sides twice.  Just like that, magical wings appeared.”  (page 20)

Michelle merely needs more self-confidence.  While she is different and has many physical challenges, she comes to realize that there is more to her than what is on the surface.  The toy she’s been longing for at the Salvation Army store, which she finally has the money to purchase, is ready to help in any way she can.  While the story text is a little long, my little reader who is only three was riveted by the magical story and the pictures as I read to her.  She loved how Michelle found the strength, with the help of Princess Panda, to practice and achieve her goals despite her physical limitations.  One of her favorite parts of the story was the beautiful Princess Panda and her magical powers — no surprise there.

The Princess Panda Tea Party: A Cerebral Palsy Fairy Tale by Jewel Kats, Illustrated by Richa Kinra, is a story about overcoming challenges, and while there is no explanation of what cerebral palsy is or how it occurs, the book can become a stepping stone for parents and kids to learn about the disease.  Parents should be prepared to answer questions about Michelle and her disease and to teach their own children that making fun of those who are different is not only mean but also makes them look bad in the eyes of others.

About the Author:

Once a teen runaway, Jewel Kats is now a two-time Mom’s Choice Award winner. For six years, Jewel penned a syndicated teen advice column for Scripps Howard News Service (USA) and The Halifax Chronicle Herald. She gained this position through The Young People’s Press. She’s won $20,000 in scholarships from Global Television Network, and women’s book publisher: Harlequin Enterprises. Jewel also interned in the TV studio of Entertainment Tonight Canada. Her books have been featured in Ability Magazine (USA) twice. She’s authored eight books-five are about disabilities. The Museum of disABILITY History celebrated her work with a two-day event. Jewel has appeared as an international magazine cover story four times! Recently, her work was featured in an in-depth article published in “The Toronto Star”. Jewel’s work has also appeared as an evening news segment on WKBW-TV and on the pages of “The Buffalo News”.

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

War’s Trophies by Henry Morant

January 15, 2015 by

Source: Author Henry Morant
Paperback, 246 pgs
I am an Amazon Affiliate

War’s Trophies by Henry Morant is a tumble in the jungles of Vietnam, Seattle, and in the minds of Vietnam War veterans dealing with latent post-traumatic stress.  Lieutenant Jeremy Hall is a new man on Captain Stephan Wozniak’s unit in Vietnam, and the captain is none too pleased about it.  As part of an intelligence unit, Hall realizes that these missions are not always sanctioned and that what happens on these missions are kept hush-hush for more than one reason.  Through a series of chapters that alternate from 1986 and 1966, Morant takes readers on a journey into the fog of war; he fleshes out the corruption, killing, and the only brand of justice that can be found on the battlefield and parallels it to the cutthroat business of the newsroom.

“Today’s talent lacks sophistication.  There was class to this one.  Kids and punks today think a drive-by with an ejaculation from their Uzi or a sawed-off is a big deal.  They don’t take the time to learn how to do someone by hand.  Even the mob has had to import pizza men from Sicily to get any style.  Someone with a sense of craftsmanship, pride in their work.  Besides, there isn’t anyone around here smart enough I’ve run into who could break into the federal courthouse the way this phantom did and do a kill.”  (page 18)

Although both of these men have left Vietnam’s jungles far behind, what happened in the heat of battle has stuck with them over the last 2o years and refused to let go.  These men must prepare to do battle once again in the concrete jungle, and just like Vietnam, there are many casualties — some of them innocent.  Morant’s characters are complex in their emotions and while Hall and Wozniak are similar in build they are foils for one another, which makes their imminent squaring off all the more dramatic.

War’s Trophies by Henry Morant is a wild ride into the darker side of war and its effects on the soldiers who fight them — do they succumb to corruption and greed at all costs or do they cow to the pressure of the mission and commit unnecessary murder.  How strong can a soldier remain under the constant barrage of bullets, bombs, and fear?  Morant has written a thriller that will keep readers turning the pages.

About the Author:

Henry Morant has been a soldier, sailor and mountain climber and still seeks adventure in the Salish Sea and along the waters of the east coast of the United States. He often can be found at the Schooner’s Wharf bar in Key West, on a sailboat or in a kayak or rower. His first book is War’s Trophies, a thriller based on murder and robbery during an intelligence mission during the Vietnam war and two former army officers’ cat-and-mouse battle for deadly revenge that begins in Vietnam and resolves 20 years later in Seattle.

 

 

 

 

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: ,

Joy Street by Laura Foley

January 7, 2015 by

tlc tour host

Source: TLC Book Tours
Paperback, 46 pgs
I am an Amazon Affiliate

Joy Street by Laura Foley is a slim collection of poems that sometimes use a blunt edge to carve out the truth, while others use needle-like precision to get at the harsh realities of life.  However, despite these sometimes sad topics, there is a light, a sense of hope in many of them that things can be better.  In “Near Miss,” she evokes the stabbing pain of heartache that accompanies the loss of family or a spouse in a way that equates it to death even as it passes her by.  There is a sense that the narrator would rather she be the one to die than her loved one, but at the same time is relieved that she is not dying.

Drift (pg. 26)

I eye-roll Aunt Lizzie, who can’t see me over the phone, tell her I’m
dating a woman now, but at ninety she’s adrift in uncharted seas, till I
say we may marry—and she crests the wave, her kind old voice
soothing: Oh, but Laura, you’re still attractive to men, grasping the rudder
with practices hands.

In “Hindsight,” she looks at the photo of her emaciated father after his internment by the Japanese as a POW after WWII and identifies how different he looked, but her partner is quick to point to their similarities — the eyes of a survivor.  The narrator’s relationship with her father is clearly not as close as she would prefer, but there are ways to connect with a distant father and seek out the things that connect them.

Many of these poems are about making connections, either to family or lovers and potential lovers.  “Voyeur” is a testament to desire and the human need for connection with those we love, even from a distance.  But beyond these intimate connections, there is a connection that we feel with the earth and growth.  In addition to these connections, we all want to be remembered, like in “On Sense.”

Joy Street by Laura Foley is about the joy we can find in interaction and by living. Despite the challenges we face — a relative who doesn’t understand our lifestyles and choices — we can find enjoyment and amusement in these interactions and rise above the darkness of hatred and oppression.  We need to search for the light in any darkness, because that is what makes living worth it in the end.

***Enter to win a copy of Laura Foley’s collection by leaving a comment by Jan. 14, 2015, at 11:59 PM EST. Must be U.S./Canadian resident***

About the Poet:

Laura Foley is the author of four poetry collections. The Glass Tree won the Foreword Book of the Year Award, Silver, and was a Finalist for the New Hampshire Writer’s Project, Outstanding Book of Poetry. Her poems have appeared in journals and magazines including Valparaiso Poetry Review, Inquiring Mind, Pulse Magazine, Poetry Nook, Lavender Review, and in the anthology, In the Arms of Words: Poems for Disaster Relief. She won Harpur Palate’s Milton Kessler Memorial Poetry Award and the Grand Prize for theAtlanta Review’s International Poetry Contest. She lives on a woody hill in South Pomfret, Vermont with her partner Clara Gimenez and their three dogs. Please visit her website for book information or more poems.

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: challenges, giveaway, New Authors Challenge, poetry, Poetry Reading Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2015, reviews, tlc book tours Tagged With: , ,

Going After Cacciato by Tim O’Brien

December 23, 2014 by

Source: Purchased
Paperback, 336 pgs
On Amazon and on Kobo

Going After Cacciato by Tim O’Brien, which was the final read-a-long for the 2014 War Through the Generations challenge, is the story of soldiers in Vietnam as they struggle with courage and honor and fate.  Paul Berlin appears to break from reality and is the daydreamer of the group, but he latches onto the dream of Cacciato, who claims you can walk out of the Vietnam War, across Asia and into Europe, all the way to Paris.  In a series of chapters that alternate from reality to fantasy and back again, O’Brien examines what it means to be a soldier in war, struggling to process all the dangers and lulls in danger around them.  Berlin is an observer, but he is quaking in his boots when he arrives.  However, he has a plan, stay on the outside of everything, don’t get attached, and he’ll make it through.

“They were all among the dead.  The rain fed fungus that grew in the men’s boots and socks, and their socks rotted, and their feet turned white and soft so that the skin could be scraped off with a fingernail, and Stink Harris woke up screaming one night with a leech on his tongue.  When it was not raining, a low mist moved across the paddies, blending the elements into a single gray element, and the war was cold and pasty and rotten.”  (page 1)

As O’Brien blends reality and fantasy, readers will want to believe in the fantasies to cling to the adventure story, which also perilous seems less dire than trudging through rice paddies and jungles in search of the enemy.  There is that pervasive feeling throughout the book of being caught — a hopelessness of the situation and a desire to escape it by any means necessary.  When the only purpose to war is the winning of it, morale gets bogged down in the failures and the confusion, at least this is the case for Berlin and his squad members.

Going After Cacciato by Tim O’Brien is O’Brien at his best, using magical realism to bring forth the realities of the war for soldiers and their internal struggles.  A complex novel with a great deal for book clubs to discuss about duty, honor, courage, and self-preservation.  O’Brien is considered one of the best novelists writing about the Vietnam War and this book proves his skill and compassion.

About the Author:

Tim O’Brien was born in 1946 in Austin, Minnesota, and spent most of his youth in the small town of Worthington, Minnesota. He graduated summa cum laude from Macalester College in 1968. From February 1969 to March 1970 he served as infantryman with the U.S. Army in Vietnam, after which he pursued graduate studies in government at Harvard University. He worked as a national affairs reporter for The Washington Post from 1973 to 1974.

34th book (Vietnam War) for the 2014 War Challenge With a Twist.

Filed Under: 2014 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, 2014 War Challenge With a Twist, challenges, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, purchased, Read in 2014, reviews Tagged With: , ,

Reading Challenge Roundup

December 19, 2014 by

Isn’t this time of year when we assess where we are with our reading?  I’ve taken stock and here are the hard numbers.  I enjoyed most if not all of the books I read this year, and I cannot wait to see what 2015 has in store for me.

2014 War Through the Generations Challenge With a Twist

  • signed up for Expert: Read 2+ books for each war for a total of 12 books
  • read 34 (including 2 per war)

2014 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

  • signed up for Renaissance Reader – 10 books
  • read 38

2014 Portuguese Historical Fiction Challenge

  • signed up for Afonsine – 1 to 3 books
  • read 1

Dive Into Poetry 2014

  • signed up for Dive in and read 7 or more books of poetry
  • read 24

New Authors Challenge 2014

  • signed up for 50 New-to-Me Authors
  • read 84

2014 European Reading Challenge

  • signed up for Five Star (Deluxe Entourage) — at least five books by different European authors or books set in different European countries.
  • read 28 (Italy, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Austria, Scotland, England, Crete, Greece, Ireland, France, Germany, Portugal, Monaco, Hungary, Norway)

Ireland Reading Challenge 2014

  • signed up for Shamrock level: 4 books
  • read 4

How did you do on reading challenges this year?

Filed Under: 2014 European Reading Challenge, 2014 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, 2014 Portuguese HF Challenge, 2014 War Challenge With a Twist, announcements, challenges, Dive Into Poetry 2014, Ireland Challenge, New Authors Challenge

First Impressions by Charlie Lovett

December 17, 2014 by

Source: Viking
Hardcover, 320 pgs
On Amazon and on Kobo

First Impressions by Charlie Lovett is a literary mystery in which the fate of Jane Austen’s reputation as a premier novelist hangs in the balance.  Sophie Collingwood has finished her master’s degree at Oxford when she meets a beguiling Eric Hall, an American traveling through Europe.  In a meeting of the minds, they share one passionate kiss, but after he’s gone to France, she must deal with a lot more than her future after university when the family is hit by tragedy.  As she regains her footing, her sister, Victoria, provides her with the framework she needs to move forward, even if it is in baby steps.  She shares a similar relationship with her sister that Jane shared with her own, Cassandra.

“Uncle Bertram’s books were not arranged by author or title or more perplexing to little Sophie, by size or color.  ‘You have to read a book to understand its place on the shelf,’ said Uncle Bertram.”  (page 26)

Soon as a bookshop worker in Boxhill, Sophie finds that she is unwittingly at the center of a book controversy as two separate customers want her to locate the second edition of book, A Little Book of Allegories, by an obscure clergyman named Richard Mansfield.  Sophie is a bookish woman who loves a good mystery, but this mystery has a darkness to it, especially when one of the customers begins issuing veiled threats to motivate her in her search.  Even as she is afraid, she is still determined to uncover the mysterious connections between Mansfield and Austen, but she also finds herself being romantically pursued by two men.

First Impressions by Charlie Lovett is a literary mystery that is not hard to unravel, but it does make for a fun journey.  When your companions are Jane Austen and Sophie Collingwood, you’ll have little to be disappointed about.  From a young Austen crafting her novels at home and sharing them with her small family and social circle to Sophie finding her way after tragedy, Lovett has created an enjoyable mystery full of companionship, love, and suspense.

About the Author:

Charlie Lovett is a writer, teacher, and playwright whose plays for children have been seen in over 3000 productions worldwide. He served for more than a decade as Writer-in-Residence at Summit School in Winston-Salem, NC.  Check out the Book Club Kit.

 

84th book for 2014 New Author Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, fiction, New Authors Challenge, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, random house, Read in 2014, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , ,

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Pop-Up Book by Lisa Ann Marsoli and Keith Andrew Finch

November 28, 2014 by

Source: Silver Dolphin Books
Paperback, 12 pgs
I am an Amazon Affiliate

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Pop-Up Book by Lisa Ann Marsoli and Keith Andrew Finch is a classic story for the holidays, and many of us who have grown up since the classic television show was first aired remember this heart-warming story.  In many ways, it is an anti-bullying story, but more than anything its about spreading kindness and giving to others.  Rudolph is a reindeer who doesn’t quite fit in, but through his journey and with the help of Santa Claus, who realizes the error of his earlier judgments, he finds that he has more to give than he first thought.

The pop-up book, which is out in time for the Christmas special’s 50th anniversary, gives these classic characters new life for kids of all ages, and for collectors and adults too.  The images are those of the television classic and the story is truncated, but through the simple 3-D images, young readers will be awed by the flying reindeer and the gang.  This is sure to become part of every family’s holiday tradition.  Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Pop-Up Book by Lisa Ann Marsoli and Keith Andrew Finch allows parents to share one of their time-honored classics with their children in a new and engaging way.

83rd book for 2014 New Author Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2014, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Mice Mischief: Math Facts in Action by Caroline Stills

November 26, 2014 by

Source: Holiday House
Hardcover, 24 pgs
I am an Amazon Affiliate

Mice Mischief: Math Facts in Action by Caroline Stills, illustrated by Judith Rossell, has adorable illustrations of 10 mice, and these mice perform circus-like feats.  While one mouse is somersaulting, the other nine are making their beds tidy.  In a round about way, the book starts young readers off thinking about how many mice there are and what they are doing.  The equations also are on the pages, allowing younger kids to see what those formulas look like.

These mice are dividing their time between work and play, and parents can have young kids count each mouse performing each page’s tasks and then add them together to see how many total mice there are.  At the conclusion of the book, all of the mice are rewarded.  Mice Mischief: Math Facts in Action by Caroline Stills, illustrated by Judith Rossell, is one way to introduce young children to math problem solving while providing fun illustrations and new vocabulary words.

82nd book for 2014 New Author Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2014, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , , ,

The Wing Wing Brothers Geometry Palooza! by Ethan Long

November 25, 2014 by

Source: Holiday House
Hardcover, 32 pgs
I am an Amazon Affiliate

The Wing Wing Brothers Geometry Palooza! by Ethan Long is in a comic-book style with the wing wing brothers up to insane antics.  Using the whammer the brothers demonstrate the relative position of objects by shooting each brother out of a cannon hoping to go through a ring of fire.  Kids will learn the difference between in front, behind, below, and above as the birds are flung through the air at alarming rates.  Each illustration is vivid in color, and kids will love these daredevil birds and their death-defying attempts at teaching geometry.  Long has created captivating characters that kids will gravitate to easily.

My daughter loves that part of the book where the birds are creating shapes from smaller and more simple shapes, including a parallelogram.  My daughter may not know these bigger shapes yet, but she’s learning to see how they can be created using the shapes that she does know, including triangles and squares.  By the same token, kids will learn about equal parts and fractions of larger parts.  The Wing Wing Brothers Geometry Palooza! by Ethan Long is a fun way to introduce math to younger readers, and this book meets the Common Core State Standards for math.

About the Author (from Amazon):

I love writing books. I love creating characters, crafting plot, and working with great editors and art directors. I love visiting schools and meeting students and teachers. I love when you read and enjoy my books. And of course, I love when you buy them. I hate garlic ice cream, but I love pizza and sushi. I live in Orlando, Florida, USA with my family, and I love them, too.

81st book for 2014 New Author Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2014, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , ,

Extractions by Melissa M. Firman

November 21, 2014 by

Source: Purchased
E-short story
I am an Amazon Affiliate

Extractions by Melissa M. Firman is an e-short story in which something is not quite right with Kari and her family.  While they have that suburban home, there are some financial issues lurking in the background, but that could just be the tip of the iceberg.  This family is racking up the debt with no end in sight and her impending dental work is only going to exacerbate that situation.  Firman has packed a lot of detail into the first couple of pages of this short story, which according to the Kindle estimate is just seven pages in total.

Whether Kari’s drinking has to do with their financial problems or the fact that she’s cyber-stalking an ex-boyfriend on Facebook, it doesn’t matter.  Something has got to change for this family.  They are in a very precarious situation and something is going to push them over the brink.  Kari is dissatisfied, and she’s searching for something outside herself to make herself content.  An unexpected act of vandalism, however, will have her questioning her own actions.   Extractions by Melissa M. Firman is well done, but will likely leaving readers wanting more.

About the Author:

Growing up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pa., Melissa Firman was convinced she would be a world-famous author before she was 18. When that didn’t quite happen, she earned a B.A. in English/Communications from Cabrini College and worked with various nonprofits. Melissa currently lives in Pittsburgh with her husband of 20 years and their two children.

“Extractions” is Melissa’s first short story published on Amazon. She recently edited young adult author Melissa Luznicky Garrett’s much-anticipated novels “The Prophecy” and “Blood Draw.”

Melissa Firman is currently in the process of writing her first novel and is a freelance book reviewer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Connect with Melissa on her website and blog at MelissaFirman.com or on Facebook at Melissa Firman, writer – www.facebook.com/TheFirmanGroup.

80th book for 2014 New Author Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, fiction, New Authors Challenge, purchased, Read in 2014, reviews, short stories Tagged With: , , ,

Plants Feed Me by Lizzy Rockwell

November 20, 2014 by

Source: Holiday House
Hardcover, 29 pgs
I am an Amazon Affiliate

Plants Feed Me by Lizzy Rockwell includes adorable illustrations of vegetables, fruits, plants, and children to demonstrate the importance of plants in feeding humans.  The book provides the basics of plants and their growth cycle for young children to easily understand, including the need for sunlight and nutrients in the earth.  Children are smiling as they dig holes, plant seeds, water plants, and begin harvesting food.  My daughter and I have read this book several times and each time she tells me something new.  She’ll point to something we’ve talked about in previous readings even before I read it to her.  She is recognizing carrots, lettuce, beets, potatoes, and more.

The author talks about the different parts of edible plants and she labels each vegetable and fruit depicted.  Fruits grow on trees and in bushes, vegetables can grow in the ground and above the ground, and some plants that many think are vegetables are actually fruits.  The pictures are well drawn and easy to understand.  Plants Feed Me by Lizzy Rockwell is a great story for young readers to share with their parents, helping them understand the natural wonders and where food comes from.

About the Author:

Lizzy Rockwell is an illustrator whose artwork can be seen in picture books, magazines, games and on walls. She studied art and art history at Connecticut College, and drawing and illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

Lizzy is the illustrator of over 25 children’s books by a variety of authors including her mother, Anne Rockwell. She is the author/illustrator of Plants Feed Me, Good Enough to Eat: A Kid’s Guide to Food and Nutrition, Hello Baby! and The Busy Body Book: A Kid’s Guide to Fitness.

Lizzy has two grown sons, and lives and works in Bridgeport, CT with her husband, Ken Alcorn, a high school social studies teacher, and their dog Reggie.

79th book for 2014 New Author Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2014, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , ,