Book Review: A Different Kind of Hero

Katie November 26, 2011 2 Comments

A Different Kind of Hero is a book by Leah Beth Evans.  It tells the story of a monkey that is named Tomagochi.  He is a resident of the rainforest along with some other animals – in particularly his friends Peshe the tiger and Mocho the Tucan.   Tomagochi is sad because he doesn’t think that there is anything special about him!  His friends try to tell him that everyone has something special about them.

Tomagochi realizes that his friends are right when he is put to the test.  The rainforest comes under attack by men with big equipment and axes.  Tomagochi leaps in to action to try and save the rainforest and realizes that he is special after all because he is brave!

This is a great book to teach children the lesson that everyone is special and the illustrations really bring all the characters and the story to life. It is sure to keep your child’s attention.

Buy links:
Amazon
Kindle
Nook
iPad

About the Book

The rainforest is under attack. One monkey is determined to save it. His name is Tomagochi.

He’s brown. He’s small. He’s plain.

But when a group of men enters the rainforest armed with bulldozers and axes, Tomagochi the monkey springs into action to defend his natural habitat.

While larger animals like Peshe the tiger run and hide, Tomagochi charges into battle. Will he be victorious? Join Tomagochi as he fights to protect his home and discovers just how special it truly is.

About the Author

Laura Beth Evans was inspired to write her story as a 4th grade student after studying about the rainforest. She continues to enjoy writing stories and poetry. However, he story A Different Kind of Hero has always been one of her favorites.

Colleen Gedrich’s Bio:
Colleen, a lifelong resident Throop, PA, earned a BFA in illustration from Marywood University in 2002. Since that time, she has worked part-time as a freelance illustrator specializing in animal-themed work. S

he enjoys creating her art using mostly watercolor and pastel. As a dedicat
ed animal rights activist and full-time program coordinator for International Society for Animal Rights (ISAR), Colleen lives her dream of joining her passions for animals and art to promote a more harmonious world with a touch of beauty. Recent works produced by Colleen include t-shirt and invitation designs,children’s book illustrations, and book covers. Colleen has also teamed up with her very talented artist mother, Kathy Holmes Gedrich, and paints murals for children’s nurseries.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Book Review: Word Savvy by Nancy Ragno

Katie November 23, 2011 2 Comments

I am calling this a Book Review, but really, word savvy is more of a guidebook that you should keep with you if you consider yourself in any way, shape or form a writer.  Minoring in Journalism in college, a lot of these words have been hammered in to my head, but a lot of them I still struggle with.  (effect, affect, for one!) For a while I tried to tackle some of the words I struggled with and practice using them until I think I’ve got it.  I’ll continue to do that, but having Word Savvy nearby will definitely help me make sure that I am choosing the right word, especially with the fill in the blank quizzes after the definitions and examples of the words. I may have to print some of these out and fill in the blanks in my free time and see how I do.

The book consists of 9 chapters –

1 – Avoid the No 1 Mistake of Today’s Writers

2 – Attacking the Wrong-Word Problem

3 – Master 76 commonly confused word pairs

4 – Conquer 52 commonly misused words

5 – Purge 25 no-no’s from your speech & writing (one of my pet peeves  – “could care less” is one of them!)

6 – Use tricky singulars & plurals with assurance

7 – Some surprising ways errors occur

8 – How to catch wrong-word errors

9 – Talk the Talk: Keeping abreast of buzzwords (very helpful if working on a resume!)

Anyone who is working on NaNoWriMo this month should definitely look in to getting this book and using it for when you are in the editing process (probably next month, right?) If you intend to get your book published you definitely want to make sure you are choosing the right words in your novel so that editors won’t think that you’re some sort of dummy 😉

Check out the book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Word-Savvy-Right-Every-Time/dp/1599633035/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1320106118&sr=8-2

About the Author

Nancy Ragno is co-author of the language arts series, World of Language and its predecessors, Silver Burdett & Ginn English and Silver Burdett English. She earned her M.A. at New York University and is a former teacher, lecturer, and textbook editor.  In addition to her textbook series, she had written plays, biographies, and nonfiction for the midle grades and parts of numersous programs in language arts, reading, literature, speech, spelling, and social studies for major publishers.  Her biography is included in Marquis’ Who’s Who.

Originaly from Philadelphia, she currently resides in Knoxville, Tennessee, where you may often find her at Close Encounter Village in the Knoxville Zoo, where she works as a volunteer, explaining bio-facts to visitors and assisting with there close up and personal” encounters with birds and small animals. Her interests include organize gardening, wild life research, and playing the bassoon. During her college years, she was first-chair bassooist of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, and she maintans her interest in music and support of local musical organizations, with special emphasis on the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra.

Visit www.wordsavvy-therightword.com for more about choosing the right word.

Book Review: Care For Creation

Katie November 20, 2011 3 Comments

Care for Creation is a rather short book, coming in at only 32 pages, however its message packs quite a punch.  Each page tells about how we should do things to help care for our earth.  It tells how pollution will lead to us being unable to see the moon and the stars at night and how Adam and Eve were created in order to care for animals, not to pollute where they live.  Each message is also backed up with a bible quote.  It is a great book for a young child who is just learning about our environment and what things they can do – as simple as recycling – to help care for our planet.  At the end of the book there are some questions to help you figure out what you can do to help.  No matter how small, every bit helps!

Christy Baldwin Bio:Writing has been a passion of Christy’s since she was very young. As a child, she loved to write stories for her grandfather and poems just for fun. She lives in Mason, Ohio with her family and is active in church, Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts and volunteering with various organizations. Christy has a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Cedarville University and a master’s degree in Special Education from the University of Scranton. She is a stay at home mom who enjoys spending time with her kids and being involved in their schools. Her previous children’s titles include Nine Things Nathan Noticed at Night and Remembering Wilma.

Book web site:
http://www.CareForCreationBook.com

Christy Baldwin Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001044000739

Tribute Books website:
http://www.tribute-books.com

Tribute Books Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Archbald-PA/Tribute-Books/171628704176

Tribute Books Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/TributeBooks

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Book Review: A True Phoenix by Michelle Reichartz

Katie November 17, 2011 0 Comments

A True Phoenix is by up and coming author Michelle Reichartz.  It tells the story of Lexi who is a bit of a book worm and appropriately enough, works at a bookstore.  When she has a bit of an altercation with her boss, she ends up in a foreign place she’s never seen before – the home of her favorite band!  The 3 members of the band, Kip, Jordan and Shep, all help her work through her struggles that she has had since childhood – her parents divorce, being picked on at school, being placed in the home of her Aunt because her mother couldn’t care for her, and ultimately what happened with her boss.  As she leaves them to go back home, she hears a song playing… one that she had never heard before.  Would she ever end up hearing it again?

The day I chose to read this book I was incredibly tired because I was up a bit too late the night before.  My plan was to read half of the book before I was able to get some sleep in and then finish the rest at a later time.  However, I could not stop reading this book and I needed to know how and why she ended up with her favorite band – and how they knew so darn much about her situation!  Was she dreaming? What was going on!  So I powered through and read the whole thing in one go because I needed answers!

I won’t give away what happened – because obviously I want you all to check out the book – it comes out TODAY!  But I was quite pleased with the ending, perhaps a little shocked and surprised too.  I think you all will enjoy this book and I urge you to help out independent authors like Michelle in helping her make her dreams come true!  The book is available for purchase at http://schulerbooks.com/

 About the Book

Most of them are dismissed as a passing experience; forgotten, never to be
thought of again. Then there are those things we encounter that change the
course of our lives. It may be as simple as a painting, a book, or a piece of
music.

But for Lexi Matthews, that event was something far more tragic.
Something she would much rather forget. For as long as she can remember; her
life has been nothing but struggles, each one seemingly more painful than the
last. As she bounces from painful moment to painful moment, the only constants
present in her life to cushion their blows are her best friend Zander, her job, and
her favorite band; Phoenix Rising. Her day to day life had become defined by
her routine; a never ending vicious cycle, and a constant search for the peace
missing in her life.

Then one day the tragic moment she never saw coming finally came.
Lexi is brutally raped by her boss. In the midst of this Earth-shattering series of
events, she finds herself thrown from the world she knows and into the presence
of Phoenix Rising. Thrown from her world and into theirs, Lexi would be forced
to examine each and every piece of who she thinks she is or what she thinks
is her life. During their time together; she would transcend the boundary set
in place by the stage and discover each band member’s own similarly painful
and tragic moment. With their help she would be forced to confront not only
this moment, but also the deepest and darkest of her secrets. With hers, three
friends in turmoil would find friendship again. Together they would unite against
their darkest demons and discover the path to true happiness.

About the Author

Michelle Reichartz was born in West Allis, WI. At a very early age, her passion for reading developed into a passion to write, and she has been writing ever since. After graduating from Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, MI she returned home and quickly set about taking her passion for the written word to the next level. With the completion of her first novel coming quickly, her promise as an up and coming young author soon became evident.

Like Michelle on Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/MichelleLReichartz

Follow Michelle on Twitter: http://twitter.com/WriterMichelle

Book Review: Slippery Willie’s Stupid, Ugly Shoes

Katie November 13, 2011 4 Comments

Slippery Willie’s Stupid, Ugly Shoes tells the story of Willie Wiggles, a boy who has the most slippery feet there ever was.  Usually he slips and slides all over the place, but his Mom got him some special shoes.  These shoes are the stupidest and ugliest things Willie has ever seen, and he doesn’t want to wear them to school.

When he gets to school, everyone is laughing so hard at him they fall over!  On his walk home from school because he was so upset, cars start crashing at the site of his shoes because they can’t stop laughing!

It turns out that Willie was so upset over his shoes, he had a bad dream about them!  When he actually wears them to school, everyone loves them and wants their own pair!

Being disabled and having worn leg braces to school during various times during school, I can definitely relate to Willie and being paranoid that everyone will laugh at me.  Although, usually no one even noticed them.

At the end of the book there is an interactive guide with actions you can do that relate back to the book like wearing something you think is ugly to see what your classmates reactions are or volunteering with kids that are “different” (I’ll clue you in – they’re really not!)

There are also some discussion questions as well that you can discuss with your child after having read the book.

Book web site:
http://www.slipperywillie.com

Larry Peterson Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/larrytpbx

Tribute Books website:
http://www.tribute-books.com

Tribute Books Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Archbald-PA/Tribute-Books/171628704176

Tribute Books Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/TributeBooks

Buy links:
http://tribute-books.com/shop.html#children8

Excerpt:
http://www.freado.com/read/9129/slippery-willies-stupid-ugly-shoes

Looking for readers to share their thoughts about accepting differences at:
http://slipperywillie.blogspot.com/2011/01/share-your-thoughts-about-accepting.html

About the Author

Larry Peterson was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. As a freelancer, he has written many newspaper columns for local publications. Slippery Willie’s Stupid, Ugly Shoes is his first children’s book. Peterson has lived in Pinellas Park, Florida for the past 28 years.

 I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Book Review: Accused by Janice Cantore

Katie November 7, 2011 0 Comments

Accused by Janice Cantore is full of suspense.  Although it is nearly 400 pages, it was a book I just could not put down and could not read each page fast enough!  The beginning of the book talks about how the main character, Carly, was involved in a shooting and how she got moved to juvenile and she didn’t want to be there.  We find out that the mayor has been shot and one of the suspects is a juvie, who asked for Carly specifically.  Carly’s mother helps young kids get back on their feet and this was one of the kids she was involved with.

The story gets very involved very quickly with some corrupt police officers, conspiracy theories, ex husband’s, etc.  It may seem like a lot, but the sub-plots are carried through in such a way that it doesn’t disturb the main plot of who killed the mayor, and also gives you a lot of background information about Carly, her co-workers, friends and family.  This is the first book in a series so I suspect it had the extra information to introduce us to the characters, assuming that the series will continue with the same people.

Either way, this book was so well written and enjoyable, I will be reading the other 2 whenever they are released!  Accused will be released in February 2012.

About the Book

As a cop, I like to see the bad guys get what they deserve. But life just doesn’t work that way.

When a troubled youth is arrested for the murder of the mayor, Detective Carly Edwards is pulled off her boring desk job in juvenile and summoned to the crime scene.  Homicide thinks it’s a quick, open-and-shut case, but Carly, despite her initial judgment, comes to believe the young man is innocent.

Carly’s ex-husband and fellow police officer, Nick, appears to be on her side –professionally and personally.  He’s determined to show Carly that he’s a changed man and win her back, but she isn’t convinced he won’t betray her again.

As the investigation progresses, Carly suspects a cover-up and strikes out on her own, uncertain whom she can trust.  But when danger mounts, she begins to wonder if she made the right choice.

Detective Carly Edwards hates working in juvenile—where the brass put her after an officer-involved shooting—and longs to be back on patrol. So when a troubled youth, Londy Atkins, is arrested for the murder of the mayor and Carly is summoned to the crime scene, she’s eager for some action. Carly presses Londy for a confession but he swears his innocence, and despite her better judgment, Carly is inclined to believe him. Yet homicide is convinced of his guilt and is determined to convict him.

Carly’s ex-husband and fellow police officer, Nick, appears to be on her side. He’s determined to show Carly that he’s a changed man and win her back, but she isn’t convinced he won’t betray her again.

As the investigation progresses, Carly suspects a cover-up and strikes out on her own, uncertain whom she can trust. But when danger mounts, she begins to wonder if she made the right choice.

About the Author

Janice Cantore is a retired Long Beach police officer who now writes suspense novels to keep readers engrossed and leave them inspired. Her years of experience on the force lend authenticity to her stories . Accused is the first in the three-book Pacific Coast Justice series.

Book Review: Where Has Oprah Taken Us? By Stephen Mansfield

Katie October 31, 2011 0 Comments

There is no doubt that Oprah Winfrey has heavily influenced a lot of the American people and even some non Americans all over the world as well.  In Where has Oprah taken us, The Religious Influence of the World’s Most Famous Woman, Stephen Mansfield looks in to Oprah and her life as a spiritual being.

The book starts out innocently enough, telling of Oprah’s early life and how her mother didn’t know who her father was, but decided that it was Vernon Winfrey.  She bounced back and forth between her mother and father’s house and while eventually it was found out that Vernon was not her father, he treated her as his daughter just the same.  Oprah was promiscuous as a teen and ended up pregnant but lost the baby shortly after it was born.

The story goes on to chronicle Oprah’s start on television and how poor ratings affected her and only wanted to make her do better and in to the birth of the Oprah Winfrey show.  It talks about how she had some crazy show topics in order to compete with Phil Donahue who was the top daytime host at that time.

Then the book goes on to completely rip apart a lot of the “gurus” that Oprah has had on her show and how Oprah needed to do more background on these people and what they were saying before having them on the show to spread it to her viewers, which ate up everything she mentioned making many, many books she has had on her show Bestsellers.

The book was interesting to me, because I am not the biggest fan of Oprah myself.  I have to agree with a lot of the author says about how she doesn’t do her research (But my biggest pet peeve when it comes to her is how she compares ANYONE who has girls screaming for them to the Beatles!)  It is only 5 chapters, but each one is decently long and broken up in to smaller sub-chapters.  The end of the book has a lot of information about the research the author did and an in depth index in case you are looking to look up just certain topics that Oprah has had on her show.

About the Book:

An evocative exploration of Oprah Winfrey’s religious beliefs, from her rejection of her Baptist upbringing to her controversial rise as “an icon of church-free spirituality.” When it comes to psychic readings, here are the best psychics and mediums at Heraldnet.com that one can get help from to be nudged towards the right path.

Born into poverty in Mississippi in 1954 and rising through talent, hard work and despite tragedy—she was raped at the age of nine and lost an infant son at 14—Oprah Winfrey has become one of the wealthiest, most powerful, and most popular women of her age. These facts alone would make Winfrey worthy of study, yet what makes her of even more profound impact on American society is her decision to champion the cause of “New Age Christianity.” She is, as Christianity Today has proclaimed, “a postmodern priestess—an icon of church-free spirituality.” Rejecting her Baptist roots, Winfrey has become a champion of the Course in Miracles, a seminar in which Christianity is reinterpreted in terms of self-actualization, personal divinity, and self-empowerment. She has also become a disciple of Eckhart Tolle, the increasingly popular teacher of a form of spirituality that blends Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and Christianity.

Author Stephen Mansfield explores the Winfrey spiritual phenomenon—much as Mansfield has with figures like George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Pope Benedict XVI, and Winston Churchill.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”