Concert Katie

Book Review: Prince

Katie January 19, 2021 0 Comments

Prince is a part of the Little People, Big Dreams series and is geared towards kids.  This is a pretty quick read about Prince from a child to a superstar and contains a bunch of really great illustrations!  The end of the book has a timeline about Prince’s life.  While I generally knew about Prince’s life once he hit superstardom, I didn’t know about him growing up and writing his first song which I learned about from this book! I also really loved the illustrations, they are a lot of fun!

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

In this book from the critically acclaimed, multimillion-copy best-selling Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the life of Prince, one of the most iconic performers in music history.

From a young age, Prince was obsessed with music. Even though he couldn’t read it, his talent—whether on piano, drums, guitar, or vocals—turned him into an icon. Combining funk, disco, soul, and almost every other genre out there, his songs are some of the best-loved all around the world. Prince knew that he didn’t have to be like anyone else to be a star—and there was no one quite like Prince. This inspiring book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the music legend’s life.

​Little People, BIG DREAMS is a best-selling series of books and educational games that explore the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream.

This empowering series offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardcover versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. Boxed gift sets allow you to collect a selection of the books by theme. Paper dolls, learning cards, matching games, and other fun learning tools provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children.

Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!

Book Review: Am I Weird?

Katie January 12, 2021 0 Comments

Am I Weird is a book about trying to fit in at school in your middle years.  Although I am now an adult, this was a tough time for me too so I really related with Eva.  There is a group of girls at school that Eva tries to talk to, and while they do include her in activities and sleepovers, they tend to talk over her and ignore her and she doesn’t like it.  She wonders if this is because she is a weirdo.  She does have one best friend, who tells her that she is not a weirdo and after talking to her parents they no longer to try force her to be included in the friend group.  I think this is important – find your group (even if it is just one other person) and do your own thing.  That is what makes you special.  It can be hard to avoid and ignore the mean girls – but you do you and you’ll end up ok in the end.

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

Eva feels insecure like she’s a middle school misfit.

This is the story of a young girl who longs to be invited to the parties and included in the sleepovers but feels invisible and ignored. Is it because she’s artsy, and her fashion tastes are peculiar? Is her niceness mistaken for boringness? Or is she an actual weirdo?

As Eva questions everything about who she is, can the love of her parents and the wisdom of a loyal friend help her regain a sense of self-worth?

Am I Weird is a compelling chapter book that speaks to the not-so-hidden fears every middle schooler has about fitting in, feeling insecure and staying true to yourself even when it’s scary.

Book Review: The Unicorn Diet

Katie January 4, 2021 0 Comments

Trigger Warning – this book is probably not for you if you have an eating disorder or disordered habits.

This book begins with “An Ode to Diet Landia” that mentions beaver’s anal glands and I am immediately wondering what I have gotten myself into.  A few more pages in of disgusting toilet humor and I knew I found a book I would enjoy. I have been dieting lately, I mainly just track my calories and try to eat less than I would of things that I like and not try any sort of “fad” diet. This book agrees with that – to a point – the fad diets don’t work and depriving yourself or forcing yourself to only eat cabbage all the time won’t work long term.  But knowing all the ins and outs of food and how your body reacts to them can be super boring.  Fortunately, the author agrees with me there too so the book is written in such a way that the important things are all bolded already (no highlighter required) and it isn’t just massive walls of text, there are photos throughout as well!

Since I am trying to lose weight without really “dieting”, I figured I would find some tips within this book – and I was right.  These tips I pulled out may work for you too, but if they don’t, check out the book to see other things that may speak to you and your eating habits more directly. Some problems I realized I was having was I need to follow “don’t exercise to eat”, I tend to eat more candy then I should and then try to bike off those calories. It makes an unhealthy relationship with eating an exercising so I need to stop that.  I also need to track everything. The author comments even gummy vitamins and supplements.  I have not been doing this and I’ve also not been tracking condiments. I never realized how quickly those could add up until it was all laid out for me.  I also had to cry a little at the realization that I need to measure out the spoon of peanut butter I want and a spoon of the recommended serving, “compare them and then cry a little.”  (I am glad I am not the only one who has trouble with nut butters).  The book also opened my eyes to figure out WHY I eat – because I am bored and the food is right there? or because I am hungry?  Seriously even advice from Island Now is something that helped me get to where I wanted to be without even being there when it came to my weight loss supplements and my diet. While I groaned at the list of homework at the end of the book, I’ll start looking into doing it soon because in the end, I am only hurting myself.

If you are looking at a new way to lose weight – a smarter way to lose weight – definitely look into the Unicorn diet.  It will teach you more about carbs, calories, proteins and how much you should be consuming. It will also ask you to take a look at your current diet and see what changes you should be making to your eating lifestyle.  While all this content could be super boring and sciencey, this author presents everything in a very fun way, complete with poop jokes.

I received a free ecopy of this book from Reedsy Discovery in order to write this review.

About the Book

Book Review: Soul Girl

Katie December 31, 2020 0 Comments

Soul Girl drew me in with its tagline, “For souls that don’t know where they’re going but are in the rush to get somewhere…”  I sometimes feel like I have no future, I have no realistic 5-year plan and I have no idea where I’m going but I could say that I might be in a rush to get there.  The author, Kristina, early in the book pointed out “you are not alone, not now, not ever.” and while it may seem like I am the only one with these struggles, I very clearly am not because if I was – Kristina wouldn’t have gone through this as well and she would have had no reason to write this book to help out the rest of us!
A lot of these self-help books are “this is what I did, and you can do it too”, but Kristina notes that her Mom taught her independence and how to be self sufficient when she was a child and she sent her to buy the crayons she needed for school.  Yes, Kristina tells us what she did, but in addition to that she asks the readers questions to figure out things for themselves.  Much like her Mom and the crayons, Kristina is teaching us to think about ourselves positively and find our strengths that will ultimately lead us to being self sufficient for ourselves in a way that we need it, even if that may be different than what Kristina needed for her life. Another quote that resonated with me was “if I could travel alone, I could do anything in the world.” and while it may not be possible for everyone, I did find traveling alone does have a sort of liberating feel to it. You don’t have to make plans based on what everyone else wants to do, you can sleep late if you want and no one will be groaning at your for missing out on time sightseeing. You do what you want when you want and that’s an empowering thing.

If you are looking to look deeper inside your soul and find out more about yourself, then I think you should give Soul Girl a read.

I received an e-copy of this book in order to write a review for Reedsy Discovery!

About the Book

Soulgirl is a gentle and empowering self-help book written memoir style for girls who won’t settle for second best.

If you’re running from place to place, relationship to relationship, in the hope of finding a home and peace for your heart, and in search of bringing real meaning to your life, then Soul Girl has so much to share.

You see, the author was one of those girls whose outward life was packed with adventures, parties, trips, education abroad– none of which she was born into– and it was fun while it lasted. But she’s been always haunted by a feeling of not quite belonging, of being lost, of not knowing where she was heading inwardly.
While living in six different countries she realized something– the more places she moved to, the more bridges she burned, and the more disconnected she felt within.

Over the past two years everything’s changed. She’s stopped searching for answers and permissions outside herself. This is her story. She hopes it will inspire you too.