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Adé: A Love Story by Rebecca Walker

November 12, 2013 by

Source: TLC Book Tours and New Harvest
Hardcover, 128 pages
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Adé: A Love Story by Rebecca Walker reads like a memoir, but it is fiction.  A young, American woman who has felt unmoored since her parents’ divorce, even at an Ivy League school until she falls into the web of Miriam, a free-spirited twenty-something whose eager to lose herself in the passions of others, particularly by having sex with men.  At the end of the school year, she and Miriam decide to see the “real” Africa and Middle East, traveling first to Egypt and slowly moving into more southern territories.  While Walker’s novella is considered a love story, it is far from overtly romantic, and it is more a search for identity, an identity that is strong and unwavering.  This nineteen-year-old, who later becomes known as Farida, is searching, always searching and consciously taking note of her place in the world.

“I was nineteen years old to Miriam’s twenty-one.  I felt raw and unfinished, where she seemed complete and self-assured.  I was a child of divorce and felt like I came from a thousand places — each one holding a little piece of me, and I drifted among them with no way to gather them up.  Miriam was from just one place, Miami, and more specifically, the moneyed enclave of Coconut Grove.” (page 4)

As they are touring Egypt, both young women are searching for something more authentic in their experience, rather than the tourist traps of Cairo and Giza, where Walker’s prose refers to tourists as flies around a plate of food.  Just from these early moments and descriptions, the reader can garner a sense that Farida is still searching for a home, a place where she not only feels worthy but safe and loved.  These tourist traps are not what she has come for her, with her “copper-colored” skin and “brown eyes the shape of almonds.”  As the narrative shifts away from Farida and Miriam’s experiences and becomes more focused on Farida’s alone, the reader gets a sense that something has shifted in the narrative — something more serious has come.

Even after she meets Adé, a Swahili Muslim from the Kenyan island of Lamu, Farida has succumbed to the feeling of belonging in these nations’ she’s visited, with their small villages and welcoming people.  Their romance is slow, and yet fast.  They begin with meetings at night after he works and walks throughout the town, then things heat up even faster after she reveals her passion for him.  Although this relationship blooms quickly and breaks her away from the past she’s known in America, her sensibilities have never strayed too far outside those democratic principles, and it is those principles that sets her apart in a world she’s come to think of as her own. Adé: A Love Story by Rebecca Walker is not a traditional story of love between a man and a woman, but of finding the love that can lift you up, complete you, and make you stronger even in the most adverse circumstances — and there are plenty of those here as the Persian Gulf War begins in the background.

About the Author:

Rebecca Walker is the author of the best-selling memoirs Black, White and Jewish and Baby Love, and editor of the anthology Black Cool. She is also the editor of the anthologies To Be Real, What Makes a Man, and One Big Happy Family. Her writing has appeared in Bookforum,  Newsweek, Glamour, Marie Claire, The Washington Post, Vibe, and Interview, among many other publications, and she blogs regularly for The Root. For more information, please visit her Website and follow her on Twitter.

 

ENTER to win 1 copy of Rebecca Walker’s Adé: A Love Story by leaving a comment below by Nov. 18, 2013, at 11:59 p.m.

This is my 77th book for the 2013 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, fiction, giveaway, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2013, review copy, reviews, tlc book tours Tagged With: , ,

The Super Duper Princess Heroes: How It All Started by Sanjay Nambiar

November 7, 2013 by

Source: Umiya Publishing
Hardcover, 32 pages
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The Super Duper Princess Heroes: How It All Started by Sanjay Nambiar is the story of three ordinary girls — Oceana, Kinney, and Sammie — who stumble upon a silver bag one day in the forest.  Once they put on the magical tiaras, Oceana, Kinney, and Sammie garner some fantastic super powers and become the Super Duper Princess Heroes!  However, like anything, there’s a catch, and in this case, that catch is the magical powers come with responsibility.  The book is tailored to those in Kindergarten or perhaps even preschool with help from mom and dad.  The pictures are vibrant in color, though the book is clearly geared toward young girls, rather than boys.

Using nearly current vernacular, such as “awesomeness,” the author is sure to engage young readers in his fanciful princess world.  While the girls have less than ordinary names for the most part, the Fairy Teacher Mother Superstar Queen does — her name is Betty.  Some of these titles, however, can be a mouthful for youngsters, and readers may simply shorten them to Princess Heroes and Fairy Queen or Superstar Fairy.

Another unique feature in the book is when one of the princesses flies a prince across a river — the page shifts from left to right to top to bottom reading in the book.  This gives young readers a sense of the princess and prince flying upwards.  It would be interesting to see how the author may consider using a similar technique and perhaps other interactive features if the book were turned into a series.

The Super Duper Princess Heroes: How It All Started by Sanjay Nambiar hit the spot for my little one, who is not near kindergarten quite yet, because she’s in princess mode.  Everything is about princesses, including this year’s Halloween costume, unless it’s about fairies — in that case, Tinker Bell.

About the Author:

Sanjay Nambiar grew up in Carson, CA, where he overcame a gang- and drug-riddled environment with the help of a closely-knit family and a focus on education. He graduated with honors from U.C. Berkeley, with degrees in Economics and Neurobiology, and earned an M.B.A. from UCLA. He now is a freelance copywriter in Los Angeles, CA. Through his books, Sanjay hopes to inspire readers and convey positive messages to kids. He won a Mom’s Choice Awards Silver Medal and a Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Awards Gold Medal for his debut book, “Maybe (A Little Zen for Little Ones)”. He also is the author of the award-winning “Still There? (A Little Zen for Little Ones)” and “Remember the Stars (A Little Zen for Little Ones)”. In 2013, Sanjay published “The Super Duper Princess Heroes: How It All Started,” a picture book that subverts the princess paradigm and encourages girls to be empowered while retaining the cuteness of the princess aesthetic.

This is my 76th book for the 2013 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2013, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , ,

The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Vol. 3 by Joseph Gordon-Levitt

November 6, 2013 by

Source: It Books
Hardcover, 128 pages
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The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Vol. 3 by Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a collection of stories from 82 contributors out of the 35,905 contributions to the Tiny Stories collaboration on hitrecord.org — and the profits from the sale of the book will be split among the 82 contributors, which include writers and artists, and the Website.  Some of these stories are so small, they consist of just one sentence, while others are several sentences.  All of them are accompanied by an image, which is an interpretation of the words on the page or vice versa.  Some images and stories together will make readers laugh, but most of these stories are guaranteed to generate at least a smile.  Here are a few of my favorites:

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There are very few images with color, but those that do have color, do so for a purpose relevant to the story they portray.  The book is clearly a winner, especially for those that have very little time to read or even look at art — this book combines both, and there are some talented artists in these pages with varied imaginations.  The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Vol. 3 by Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a great diversion when there is little time between appointments or tasks.

About the Author:

HitRECord founder and director Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s acting career has managed to garner a massive popular appeal while maintaining a widely respected artistic integrity. He recently starred in Christopher Nolan’s Academy Award-nominated Inception and received Golden Globe, Independent Spirit and People’s Choice award nominations for his performance in (500) Days of Summer. Currently earning rave reviews for his performance in 50/50, also starring Seth Rogen, his upcoming films include David Koepp actioner Premium Rush and Rian Johnson’s sci-fi thriller Looper, with Bruce Willis.

Filed Under: fiction, giveaway, Harper Collins, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2013, review copy, reviews, short stories Tagged With:

Milk and Other Stories by Simon Fruelund, translated by K.E. Semmel

November 5, 2013 by

Source: K.E. Semmel, translator
Paperback, 110 pages
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Milk and Other Stories by Simon Fruelund, translated by K.E. Semmel is a collection of short stories translated from Danish to English.  This slim collection is not only nuanced, but powerful in how it uses stripped down prose to examine complexities in human relationships.  From the brothers who clearly have become estranged and strive to rekindle their brotherhood to a young poet coming to terms with a professor who is not as he remembers, these short stories are subtle enough to get under the skin and powerful enough to make an impression on the psyche.  Fruelund’s stories are short but no less indelible than a well-written novel; and at no point in the English translation will readers feel that something isn’t right — in fact, these stories seem both distinctly Danish and English.

Many of these stories seem to touch upon what the cover suggests — spilt milk.  The idiom everyone knows is “There’s no point crying over spilt milk,” but how true is that saying…should we not cry over the adversity we face and simply move on or is it okay to dwell and cry over those events even if they cannot be changed.  For instance, in “What Is It?,” a father helps his son from a second marriage move out of his shared apartment and into another, thinking all the while about failed marriages — of which the father has had three — and how similar patterns can play out in the lives of loved ones.  What advice could he possibly offer his son; how do they relate knowing that the father left his mother for a third marriage; and how does the son move on from one relationship to the next without questioning it?  Although some of these questions may not be answered, Fruelund provides the reader with enough to chew on.

From ” Hair”:  “Frands stands and goes out to the yard.  Yellow apples lie in the grass.  He walks to the garage looking for something to sit on and finds an old recliner.  With some effort he hauls it outside.  He sits facing the house and takes a nip from the bottle.  He lets his eyes wander over the house’s whitewashed facade.  Even in the half-dark it seems stained and porous, and he can see spots where the plaster has been cracked by frost.  The real estate agent had talked for a long time about how charming the house was.  An artist villa, he’d called it.  With space for children.  It was exactly what they were looking for, Mette had said.” (page 40 ARC)

Milk and Other Stories by Simon Fruelund, translated by K.E. Semmel, is about ordinary people facing some pretty typical situations, but what makes each one unique is the parts outside the stories that we cannot see and that are only hinted at.  Fruelund explores not only jealousy and infidelity, but also regret and many other complex emotions that each of experiences with not only family but wives, husbands, lovers, friends, and neighbors.

About the Author:

Since the publication of his first book in 1997, Simon Fruelund has been one of Denmark’s most delightfully entertaining writers. He possesses a rare gift for creative reinvention. From his early realist-inspired stories (“Tide,” “What is It?” and “Hair”) to his later “pointillist” work (“Man on the Bus,” “Civil Twilight”), Fruelund finds new ways to express and shape his ever-developing artistic vision. He is the author of five books, among them Mælk (1997) and Panamericana (2012). His work has been translated into Italian, Swedish, and English, and his short stories have appeared in a number of magazines across the U.S, including World Literature Today, Redivider, and Absinthe.  For nine years Fruelund worked as an editor at Denmark’s largest publishing house, Gyldendal, but is now writing full time.

About the Translator:

K.E. Semmel is a writer and translator whose work has appeared in Ontario Review, the Washington Post, Aufgabe, The Brooklyn Review, The Bitter Oleander, and elsewhere. He is the Publications & Communications Manager of The Writer’s Center, an independent nonprofit literary organization based in Bethesda, MD that offers over 300 workshops in writing annually and hosts around 50 literary events a year. It was recently named by Poets & Writers Magazine as one of 8 “places to go nationwide for writing classes”. For his work translating Simon Fruelund’s fiction, he has received a translation grant from the Danish Arts Council.

This is my 75th book for the 2013 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: ARC, challenges, fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2013, reviews, short stories Tagged With: , , ,

Sense & Sensibiliy by Joanna Trollope

October 31, 2013 by

Source: TLC Book Tours and Harper
Hardcover, 368 pages
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Sense & Sensibility by Joanna Trollope is the first of the books in Harper’s Austen Project in which six bestselling contemporary authors use Jane Austen’s famous novels as a basis for their own modern versions.  With so many modern day versions, spin-offs, and continuations of Austen’s classic books, the expectations for the project are likely high, but this first rendition is a mixed bag.  While sticking very close to the original plots, Trollope’s main contribution to the original is an exaggeration of the characters — Elinor has too much sense (even more than Austen’s version) and Marianne is overly dramatic at every turn — and the introduction of modern technology, like Twitter, YouTube, iPods, and Facebook.  Although the exaggerated characters could be considered parody in a way, in some scenes they come off as merely annoying.

“It had been made plain to Sir John, from a young age, that the luxury of making choices in life simply did not exist without money.  Money was not an evil.” (page 42 ARC)

The social conventions of Austen’s time continue to play a role here, with characters motivated to find matches with money because without them, they will be destitute.  But in this modern society, it is hard to see that women would have just this option open to them, unless they are as shallow as Lucy Steele.  In fact, Elinor takes a job, at least part time until she completes her degree, but most everyone else seems content to sponge off their richer relatives, without much gratitude — though with relatives like these, it would be hard to muster gratitude.  Trollope clearly understands the foils that Marianne and Elinor play in the novel, and her exaggerations of their character in a modern society of social media may seem a bit much, but for young women constantly surrounded by their faults and mistakes, it might be believable.  Elinor, here, seems to represent a need in society for privacy, a greater need than society seems willing to allow unless people completely withdraw from society.  She’s strong, but at the same time, she’s vulnerable, as she pines for Edward.

Trollope has done a superb job with the youngest sister, Margaret, a young girl struggling with her emotions after her father’s death, being pushed out of the only home she’s ever known (Norland), and moving to a new school without her friends.  Bill Brandon is still reserved and quietly watching in the background, still considered boring by Marianne, and still caring, but there is a dynamic Trollope adds that will have readers cheering for something that was not in the original.  Meanwhile, John “Wills” Willoughby is even more dastardly in Trollope’s novel, yet he is still partially redeemable if you can buy that marrying for money is still a motivator in society, which it might still be among the more wealthy families.  Sense & Sensibility by Joanna Trollope is more focused on the excess in modern society as seen through her take on Marianne, Margaret, Elinor and the other characters, which can be extrapolated from their reactions to events and relationships.  Although readers would expect a more cohesive melding of the modern world with Austen, Trollope has created a new commentary on society that applies more easily to the modern world’s emphasis on excess and self-promotion.

About the Author:

Joanna Trollope is the #1 bestselling author of eighteen novels, including The Soldier’s Wife, Daughters-in-Law, Friday Nights, The Other Family, Marrying the Mistress, and The Rector’s Wife. Her works have been translated into more than twenty-five languages and several have been adapted for television. She was appointed to the Order of the British Empire in 1996 for her services to literature, and served as the Chair of Judges for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2012. She lives in London and Gloucestershire.  Find out more about Joanna on her website.  Photo credit: Barker Evans.

This is my 74th book for the 2013 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: ARC, challenges, fiction, Harper Collins, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2013, reviews, tlc book tours Tagged With: , ,

Halloween Sleepwalker by Thomas Freese, illustrated by Fran Riddell

October 30, 2013 by

Source: Schiffer Publishing Ltd.
Hardcover, 64 pages
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Halloween Sleepwalker by Thomas Freese, illustrated by Fran Riddell will be an instant hit with kids from the colorful images that are American Gothic with a pop culture twist in style to the story that will have their imaginations zooming. The images are crisp and at times resemble scrapbooked pages with cut out designs and stickers, but they’re so engaging, there’s never a wasted moment.  The illustrations match very well with the dialogue and the plot, and kids will be excited to see where Shelby Sanford’s adventures take him in the night.

Shelby Sanford has a family who fears things that go bump in the night, but he’s not afraid of anything, not even on Halloween.  He wants to roam the streets and greet the witches, beasts, and ghouls, but most of all its the stories his family tells that sets his wheels turning.  My daughter and I read this book together the day it came in — she could hardly wait to get the plastic wrapping off of it before we began.  She just loved the cover, and was delighted as we read the adventure together.  She pointed to the scary Halloween things she recognized and watched as Shelby met every test.

Halloween Sleepwalker by Thomas Freese, illustrated by Fran Riddell is so well done, I’m sure that this will become a traditional favorite in our house every Halloween — at least until our daughter is too old for trick-or-treating.  I know my daughter would recommend it, and I certainly do too.

About the Author:

Thomas Freese is an author, storyteller, and artist. He has written 10 books and performs over 20 educational and entertaining story programs.

About the Illustrator:

Fran Riddell is a teacher, artist, cartoonist, and illustrator living in Lexington, Kentucky.

This is my 73rd book for the 2013 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2013, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , ,

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

October 29, 2013 by

Source: Purchased
Paperback, 440 pages
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Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld — our October book club selection — is a steampunk novel set during the onset of WWI.  Alek is whisked away in the middle of the night by his two teachers on a midnight run with one of their Austrian walkers, which they claim is practice for the coming battles.  Meanwhile, in England, Deryn is hoping to join the British military service as a boy even though she has very feminine features and is very light compared to other boys in their young teens who are signing up.  There is fact mixed with fiction, creating a fanciful landscape of genetically engineered animal ships and weapons alongside the mechanized beasts of gears and metal.  Alek is learning to run the walker at night, while Deryn is learning the ropes as a midshipman.  While things take a turn for the worse for both of these young people, both find their gumption to push through and find solutions, though not always the best or most satisfying.

When the story lines converge, it’s interesting to see how Deryn reacts to Alek’s self-importance and how timid Alek becomes in the presence of a science he’s only read about and never come in contact with.  Westerfeld has melded these modern ideas with the past in a way that makes the world he’s created seem like an alternate to the real past.  While the characters are coming of age in the time of war, there is still an innocence about this boy and girl that clings to them, and it’s clear that neither of them truly has a sense of fear when it comes to war — perhaps because of their sheltered lives and that the war they’ve encountered thus far has been minimal.  Both seem to believe that they are invincible, throwing themselves blindly into action.

The subordinate characters are not as well developed, except for Dr. Barlow who is a Darwinist engaged in the science of weaving together living beings.  The interplay between Barlow and the young teens is fun at times, but also enigmatic as each is hiding secrets from and about each other.  Count Volger is an interesting caricature who shines the most in his one-on-one fencing session with Alek.  The real stars of the novel are the Clankers’ machines and the beasts created by the Darwinists.  Westerfeld does weave in some facts, but it’s unlikely that younger readers would see which is fact versus which is fiction without reading the Afterword.  Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld is an adventure that young adults will enjoy for its fast-paced action and teenage bantering.

What the Book Club Thought:

Most of the book club enjoyed the book and seemed to prefer Deryn’s character more at first than Alek, but the ways in which the stories converged was well done.  One member even indicated they would give it five stars because they couldn’t see how Westerfeld could have made it better, at least in structure.  Most of the club said they would be interested in reading the second part of the series.  The mixing of the facts with the fanciful seemed to work with everyone in the book club, though two members had not finished reading at the time of the meeting.  The machines versus the genetically engineered beasts was an interesting angle, but the way in which the story is told demonstrated both sides so well that it enabled readers to see both sides of the story, rather than just see one as the enemy of the other.  This book was well balanced, adventurous, and touched on WWI, though a modified version of it.  Westerfeld also includes notes in the back about what facts were changed and which were maintained, which we felt was a good addition for those not as familiar with the time period.

About the Author:

Scott Westerfeld’s teen novels include the Uglies series, the Midnighters trilogy, The Last Days, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and the sequel to Peeps. Scott was born in Texas, and alternates summers between Sydney, Australia, and New York City.

 

This is my 72nd book for the 2013 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, purchased, Read in 2013, reviews, Simon & Schuster, young adult fiction Tagged With: ,

Half Popped by Jeff Feuerstein, illustrated by Dayna Brandoff and Alex Miller

October 28, 2013 by

Source: Burger Night Publishing Partners
Paperback, 44 pages
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Half Popped by Jeff Feuerstein, illustrated by Dayna Brandoff and Alex Miller is a cute little story about Kenny the Kernel who is not a fully popped piece of popcorn and feels alone.  He’s stuck at the bottom of a bowl of fully popped popcorn, and he feels as though he’s an outcast.  However, on his journey through the fridge and pantry, he comes to discover that those who are different have something to offer and that their uniqueness makes them just as desirable.  Kenny takes a long time to realize that he’s not alone and he’s not an outcast, and it doesn’t happen until he returns to the bowl to be eaten.

The story has a good message, but there are moments in the text, which tries to hard to rhyme at certain points, that lose the natural rhythm of the story, making readers stumble reading aloud to younger kids.  The combination of photography and illustration gave the impression of images with stick-figure faces stuck on like stickers.  My daughter didn’t find these images engaging enough to sit still to read the book, but she’s also more into books with flaps and hidden things for her to interact with than she is with books that are read to her.   She may not be the target audience for this book — perhaps someone who is age three and older.  Half Popped by Jeff Feuerstein, illustrated by Dayna Brandoff and Alex Miller has a great story about learning to see the good in yourself and the good in others who are different, but the images could have been better and the text tweaked a bit to make it less awkward in places for those reading aloud.

About the Author:

Jeff Feuerstein has been writing since he was strong enough to hold a pencil. However, none of it was legible until much later. A New York sports fanatic with an affinity for Chinese take out and vintage t-shirts, he fills the time between by walking, thinking and dreaming up new characters. Jeff has worked in the film business since graduating from the Syracuse University S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

About the Illustrators:

Dayna Brandoff just loves a good art project. As a mother, she was eager to create a children’s book that parents would actually want to read “again!” (and again. and again.) As an entrepreneur and all around “do-er,” she was thrilled to be able to help make it happen. Dayna is a Brooklyn-based professional organizer. She founded Chaos Theory Inc in 2007.

Alex Miller is an artist, imagineer, and creative individual that is passionate about what he does. When he is not elbow-deep in his sketchbook he is still thinking of fun and fantastic ideas for his next project. Inspired by everything around him, Alex is on a life long journey to inspire others with his art. With a line here, dash of color there, Alex just wants his work to bring a smile to anyone that views it.

This is my 71st book for the 2013 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2013, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Polarity Bear Tours the Zoo: A Central Park Adventure by Sue de Cuevas, illustrated by Wendy Rasmussen

October 25, 2013 by

Source: STRATEGIES Literary Public Relations
Hardcover, 36 pages
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Polarity Bear Tours the Zoo: A Central Park Adventure by Sue de Cuevas, illustrated by Wendy Rasmussen has such realistic illustrations, the people and animals in the zoo pop out from the page.  Polarity is a polar bear who yearns for adventure, and she does have one in the Central Park Zoo after it closes and she finds her bars broken down.  The images are bright and the poem is well rhymed, which is tough to do well.  From visiting the sea lions to trying to dance with carousel horses and clock animals, Polarity finds that the adventure she’s on has its pros and cons.   She wanders about enjoying herself at first, but soon her bubble is burst…again and again.

The crux of the story resembles the grass is always greener on the other side mantra that things that we don’t have are always better than what we do have, but like Polarity bear, most of us find that what we have is just what we need and we should be happy and content.  It also seems like there could be a series of adventures in store for this bear in other books.  Polarity Bear Tours the Zoo: A Central Park Adventure by Sue de Cuevas, illustrated by Wendy Rasmussen, is well illustrated and written, though the verses are a bit long for my daughter (age 2) to sit through without much interaction.  However, crafty parents can find things for kids to locate in the pictures and name if their child’s mind starts to wander.

About the Author:

Sue de Cuevas has been telling children’s stories all her life, but this is the first one she wrote down. As Sue Lonoff, she spent thirty years as a teacher and administrator at Harvard University, retiring in 2011. She also writes scholarly books and articles and is a specialist on the Brontë sisters.

About the Illustrator:

Wendy Rasmussen developed a passion for drawing people and animals as a child growing up in rural New Jersey. After graduating from Drew University with a B.A. in biology and art, she worked as an art director in the advertising industry for 14 years. In 1989 she became a full-time freelance illustrator and established Mill Race Studio. She has illustrated over 25 books, most of which involve animals.

This is my 70th book for the 2013 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2013, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , ,

The Artist’s Way for Parents by Julia Cameron

October 24, 2013 by

Source: Finn Partners and Penguin
Hardcover, 288 pages
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The Artist’s Way for Parents: Raising Creative Children by Julia Cameron with Emma Lively and foreword by Domenica Cameron-Scorsese is less a how-to manual of creative activities for parents to engage in with their children, and more of a series of situations to emphasize the advice Cameron gives about how to cultivate creativity in children and ourselves.  From providing children with simple tools like paper and colored pencils to paints and free time on their own, rather than televisions, computers and video games, Cameron says that parents must adjust to new routines that incorporate their children, but also must remain open to creating a safe place in which children and parents can act creatively.

Each parent should begin by writing three pages per day of their thoughts and feelings before their child gets up for the day or even during snatches of quiet time, just to clear the decks.  Secondly, parents and children (depending on their age) embark on a once-weekly dual adventure, something that can be looked forward to, such as going to the zoo or a museum.  The final tool she offers is creating a bedtime ritual, which can either be reading a bedtime story together, singing songs, sharing the day’s highlights, and many other ways of unwinding.  Some great activities that can be done together including sharing the creation of meals with children through simple recipes, cutting out holiday decorations each season, visiting a florist or pet store to talk about each species and its requirements, and learning how to make instruments out of household objects.

Another part of the process is to create a creativity corner for both parent and child, which is where projects can be worked on together or in the same room but separately.  Cameron also talks about the benefit of allowing children to explore their own creativity without parents over-directing or re-directing their children’s activities.  One great aspect of the book is the discussion on reading together but separate books, and how that it is still considered sharing quality time together even if the parent and child are doing separate activity.  Separate activities in the same space are just as good as working together on projects, so long as the parent and child share their experiences with one another through discussion.

There are moments that come off preachy about faith and God, but overall the message is about nurturing children and their creativity without neglecting the well being of the parent or their own creativity.  It’s about seeing the possibilities in ourselves and our children without hindering growth and exploration.  The Artist’s Way for Parents: Raising Creative Children by Julia Cameron with Emma Lively and foreword by Domenica Cameron-Scorsese is a solid book that helps parents create the right mindset for themselves and their children, but only offers a few activities to consider.

About the Author:

Julia Cameron has been an active artist for more than thirty years. She is the author of more than thirty books, fiction and nonfiction, including her bestselling works on the creative process: The Artist’s Way, Walking in This World, Finding Water, and The Writing Diet. A novelist, playwright, songwriter, and poet, she has multiple credits in theater, film, and television.

Latest endeavor: Julia Cameron Live, an online course and artists’ community led by Julia. It is the most comprehensive discussion she has ever done on The Artist’s Way, and the first time she has allowed cameras in her home.

These are my 69th book for the 2013 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, New Authors Challenge, nonfiction, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2013, Reference, reviews Tagged With: ,

Camelot’s Court by Robert Dallek

October 22, 2013 by

Source: Harper Collins
Hardcover, 512 pages
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Camelot’s Court by Robert Dallek (who was inspired to write the book after a poll similar to a recent one in Politico) is a highly detailed account of the Kennedy White House, but it also provides an inside look at the political machine the United States has become — from the bureaucrats with aspirations to rise above their stations to the military with its tunnel-vision to stop Communism at all costs.  One of the big takeaways from this book is JFK’s ambition to become president even when he won his first House seat — it was clear that he was bored with “small time” politics and merely cared about big picture issues, particularly foreign policy.  Dallek repeats most of what people already knew about Kennedy — that he liked the ladies, had an illness he hid from the press, and came from a rich family with some skeletons in the closet.  However, what Dallek provides is a comprehensive look at how dysfunctional an executive branch can be, particularly one with a young president at the helm who surrounds himself with the smartest of men (those that accepted the positions) and is forced to keep on less-than-desirable men for political reasons.  The interplay between the groups, the president, and even the brothers Kennedy is contentious, but it also becomes paralyzing.  However, it was not beneath Kennedy to use underhanded tricks or to dupe the press to get what he wanted.

“As Rusk sat in Kennedy’s living room, waiting to see the president-elect, he noticed a copy of the Washington Post sitting prominently on a coffee-table — it announced Rusk as secretary of state.  When Kennedy entered and saw the headline, he ‘blew his top,’ asking Rusk if he was the source of the leak.  Told no, Kennedy called Post publisher Philip Graham to chide him for printing the story.  After Graham explained that Kennedy was the one who had told him, Kennedy said, ‘But that was off the record.’  Hardly, since it was exactly what Kennedy wanted; Kennedy had no interest in giving Rusk a choice of accepting;”  (page 99 ARC)

Dallek carefully demonstrates his statements through dialogue from the men in the room with Kennedy when foreign policy issues were discussed, citing their own books, statements, diaries, and/or notes — not to mention the declassified government documents.  There are even quotes from Jackie Kennedy about private conversations she had with her husband or from conversations she overheard.  What’s telling about the situation when Kennedy was president is that he had the book knowledge from FDR and other presidents to guide him in building the best team, but that circumstances outside his control and his inability to ignore advice and go with his gut instinct often landed his administration in political hot water, like after the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.  The defeat left a bad taste in the administration’s mouth, which may have fueled the military’s fire to win anywhere at any cost against Communism — hence the entry into the Vietnam War.

For those interested in Kennedy the man, this is not the book; but for those interested in how an idealist with big aspirations and big ideas about solving foreign policy issues gets caught up in the political machine and essentially worn down, this is the book for you.  Camelot’s Court by Robert Dallek is not a linear tale, but does touch upon the forces at work against the Kennedy Administration and how the administration pulled the wool over its own eyes when it came to foreign policy issues.  In many ways, the book chronicles a young president’s dream of greatness that fell short of its goals, not because of an assassination, but because of inexperience and failing to ask the right questions.

About the Author:

Robert Dallek is an American historian specializing in American presidents. He is a recently retired Professor of History at Boston University and has previously taught at Columbia University, UCLA, and Oxford.

These are my 68th book for the 2013 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: ARC, challenges, Harper Collins, New Authors Challenge, nonfiction, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2013, reviews Tagged With: ,

Short Reviews of 3 Children’s Books

October 17, 2013 by

Over Dewey’s 24-hour read-a-thon, my daughter and read three books she picked out of the library since I really didn’t have that much time to participate, but I did want to share our impressions of these books.

Freight Train by Donald Crews is a Caldecott Honor Book with few words and vibrant pictures written in 1978, it’s amazing that the book is still so relevant today.  The freight trains still run, and the parts of the train are still the same.  But this book strives not only to teach young children about the parts of a train and how it gets from one place to another, moving on through the day and night, but it also teaches colors with each part of the train a different color.  My daughter was engaged while I read and repeated each color with me, but she loved watching the train go as I flipped the pages.

Where’s Walrus? by Stephen Savage is similar to the Where’s Waldo? books I remember, but with a goofy looking Walrus.  The trick of this book is that many of the other images are gray, similar to the walrus, making it harder for kids to discern the walrus from his surroundings.  It’s a book about observation and recognition.  My daughter and I had fun with this book, as did her daddy.  We made it two games in one  — the first pass we found walrus and on the second pass we found the zoo keeper who was trying to get him back into the zoo.  She liked this one so much she wanted to keep playing it several more times in a row…and she’s almost got the word walrus enunciated correctly.

Halloween Forest by Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by John Shelley is a book of poetry, or at least that’s how it reads…like the children’s books of my childhood (i.e. Little Miss Muffet).  The illustrations are engaging and unique, and in many ways would seem scary to young kids, since it is a forest made of bones.  However, my daughter is fascinated by the pictures and not scared at all by the bone forest, which could be related to the empowering statements of the poem-like lines in which the child is not scared but demands her trick-or-treat dues.  The little one and I enjoy this one a lot, and it is perfect for the current season.  Our library actually has shelf sections based on holidays and seasons, which is where I found this one for her and I to read.  Really engaging visually and textually.

 

That’s it, what good children’s books have you shared with your kids that you both enjoyed?

These are my 65th, 66th, and 67th books for the 2013 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: borrowed copy, challenges, children's fiction, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2013, reviews, Scholastic