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Hardcover ~ $12.95 ISBN: 978-1-56145-964-3 Age Range: 7 – 10 My thoughts: Young readers need to learn about the history of this world and its peoples. It helps that this learning is facilitated by cleverly composed fictional tales that include historical information that can be relied upon for accuracy. In the "Dog Chronicles" published by Peachtree this opportunity for educational entertainment is carried to another level - that of engaging the heroics of dogs in the tales and telling the story from a dog's perspective. Well, of course, we don't know what a dog's perspective is, but just for the fun of the story, let's pretend we do as we learn about a sea-going adventure set in the exploration period of 1519-1521. The reason Leo was on board was to keep vermin, particularly rats, at bay. Dogs are hunters by nature and so to eat they will pursue and eat small creatures. Leo was not a pet in the sense that he was loved and petted. He was simply a tool and a la...

My thoughts:   I have been a long-time fan of Dee Henderson's books eagerly anticipating each new release in a series beautifully connected. Her writing skills and story telling expertise render a reader's experience that is full blow enjoyment. Usually entailing her writings with matters of suspense and criminal investigation, the reader's ride through the pages is hard to stop until the very last page of text has been consumed. In her new series featuring Evie Blackwell and her cast of cohorts in crime solving, book one titled Traces of Guilt  begins Evie's adventures as a member of a special task force charged with examining Cold Cases. The task force continues to look into several cold cases in Threads of Suspicion  where she works closely with David as they pursue connections for each of their assigned cases and find that often one clue leads to an entirely different case. I found the first half of this Henderson book less enjoyable than her previous publications. ...

ISBN: 9780763690359 My thoughts: At first glance, one would think this is simply a book about seeing into the windows of one's neighborhood as the day ends and the lights inside come on revealing activities at the close of day. However, as you ponder the pictures and text it leads one to contemplate just what is really going on inside the rooms alight and revealing the lives of those around us. We see that they, just as we, putter about their homes doing the mundane chores and being involved in the act of daily living. Just as you and just as I. So we see the varied homes with varied shaped windows with varied individuals each unique and each somewhat the same as you and I. We are all going about the act of living out the day and are backlite in the windows of our homes. Is this snooping? Is this an invasion of privacy? Is this none of our personal business and encroaching into the lives of those into whose windows we are peering? That just depends on your outlook. I choose to thin...

My thoughts:   It was refreshing to see a book on ancient civilization in Africa and specifically the country of Mali. In the 1300s life in Mali was different from that of today. There was a successful  and wealthy ruler benefiting the country. As with most cultures during the 1300s, children age 11 or 12 took on cares of the adult world. They were apprenticed, girls were given in marriage, and their childhood was ended. Sadly, this is something that remains unchanged in some cultures even today. The girl in the book is instructed in what life would be like for her if she had lived in the Ancient Empire of Mali in Africa. Illustrated in the same hues as the landscape of the region, the pictures take on a rosy, sandstone coloration indicative of the area and touched with the vivid colors that the people of Mali like to incorporate into their clothes. This book is instructive and interesting in that so little is know of this region and period of history in the annuls of Western ...

My thoughts: I do look forward to reading Becky Wade's delightful books. Usually they are very light hearted, chock-full of sweet romance, clean reads, Christian, and contemporary. Seeing the cover of True to  You  really caught my attention because the young lady whose image adorns the book is so lovely and has a sweetness about her gentle look. And on top of that, the dress in the picture is very, very much like one I wore in the late 1950s to one of my bridal showers. When I began reading I realized that the lovely lady on the cover as the book's heroine, Nora Bradford, is from a "monied" family who owns a historic village and who loves books, words, times of long ago, genteel living, and multisyllabic word conversations. She is also a lady with a quirky sense of humour oft times being the brunt of the funny stuff herself. But there is a depth to this story that takes wading into its many pages to realize. Not only is it one of discovered romance and getting-to-kno...

ISBN: 9781540869722 My thoughts:   Former educator Carole P. Roman launched a new career several years ago when she began writing the Captain No Beard stories to entertain her grandchildren. She branched out with her series of cultural books in the If You Were Me an Lived in.... (name of country). Now branching out into the world of science she ventures into what it would be like for people to travel to and establish a community on Earth's nearest planet, Mars. Written in easy-to-understand format that can be understood by preschoolers when it is read aloud to them and later for early elementary children to read themselves. The imagined community has entire families living there. She imagines, as scientists do as well, that they can grow crops in soil comprised of a mixture of Earth soil mixed with Martian soil.  The lack of breathable air, drinkable water, and unlivable air pressure is addressed so the reader will understand why they would have to live in a structure that cre...

My thoughts:     There are three books, to date, in the "Faith that God Built" book series. I have reviewed two others and found them entertaining, enlightening, and educational with true to Scripture "telling." The story of the Philippian Jailer can be a bit scary to young children. With Paul and Silas being locked up in a dark, frightenting jail is a bit hard on young imaginations. Gary Bower lets the reader into that Frightening Philippi Jail where bugs, slugs, an other creepy crawlies abound in the cold and dark. But he tells about it in an imagination and mind-grabbing use of rhymes with rhythm and cadence akin to the "This Is the House that Jack Built" nursery rhyme. So tuck in your funny bone and get ready for a fun yet frightening, repetive rhyming, re-telling in text and wonderful illustrations about Paul and Silas in the Philippi Jail. Gary Bower's fabulous use of rhyme coupled with his sense of humor and splashed across the pages with Barbar...

My thoughts: Most folks who enjoy the rollicking rhyme of the folk story in verse or rhyme "This Is the House that Jack Built" want to pass the joy of the chant, song, rhyme, repetition for which this nursery rhyme is famous. Now if you love that, you will absolutely love Gary Bower's new set of Biblical rhymes in the same style and cadence as the House that Jack Built. I previously reviewed  A Patch on the Peak of Ararat (A Faith that God Built Book) and enjoyed it so very much that I looked forward to more from Mr. Bower. And I am again so very pleased. The Hurry-Up Exit from Egypt  just rolls along and it builds with excitement as Moses and the Israelites cross the Red Sea and the Egyptians get swamped by the water. And as I read it I could feel the "hurry-up exit from Egypt" building with perhaps a touch of what those Israelites felt as they exited Egypt. But this is intended as a children's picture book with story in rhyme. That is just what it is. And...

My thoughts:   The world of "board books" for young children is evolving into a more substantial story book that encompasses a broader age spectrum. Obviously board books will hold up better in the hands of the young child and obviously lifting-the-flag is a means of engaging and capturing a young child's attention. And this My Lift-the-Flap Bible Stories  is just that - a board book with a variety of flaps for the child to peek under. The book also has more story or text than the typical board book. This is great because young children can and should be taught to sit for longer readings at an early age. So this book encompasses that broader spectrum of ages - the young listener and the later young reader. The Bible stories span the entire Bible with key stories for the child. The flaps reveal another part of the story - kind of a before and after scenario. And under the title of each story is the Scriptural reference so you can actually read the entire story straight fro...

My thoughts:   The author has taken a real girl and a real family who interacted with Susan B Anthony and were involved in the campaign for women to receive the privilege to vote - women's suffrage. The story revolves around an event in California. Today when girls and women are allowed to vote, work at careers of their own choosing, and participate in activities once frown upon or forbidden, it is hard to imagine an America where women could not be active and could not vote. It has not been that long since women's lives were so vastly different. While Marching with Aunt Susan  is the fictionalization of an actual family interacting with Susan B. Anthony and their involvement in the suffrage campaign, it brings out the history of the time and the need for societal changes. And while eventually the country did pass laws allowing women to vote and making it unlawful for children to work long hours and not attend school, women were still "kept in their place" by much of ...

My thoughts:  Prolific author Carole P. Roman has turned her attention from stories and journeys around the world to that of counseling and a scale of one to ten that children can use to rate hurts and disappointments in life. The illustrations by Bulgarian Mateya Arkova, who has previously illustrated several of Roman's books, are quite lively and colorful. Using water colors and a whimsical style of cute forest animals with bright, bold eyes she has squirrel being counseled by rabbit and bringing the entirety of forest critters into the group therapy. Squirrel is traipsing along the forest with an armload of acorns and he trips spilling them into a stream where they get completely away from him. Squirrel being saddened by this loss is comforted by rabbit and then rabbit proceeds to use a system of rating a hurt or disappointment from one to ten as a means of identifying the gravity of an event. The text is really thin which I find unusual for a children's book and the depth o...

Do opposites really attract? John and Nora might just be the perfect match. Find out in True to You , book one in Becky Wade's new series! Genealogist and historical village owner Nora Bradford has decided that burying her nose in her work and her books is far safer than romance in the here and now. Former Navy SEAL and Medal of Honor recipient John Lawson is a modern-day man, usually 100 percent focused on the present. But when he's diagnosed with an inherited condition, he's forced to dig into the secrets of his past and his adoption as an infant, enlisting Nora to help him uncover the identity of his birth mother. Finding the answers they're seeking will test the limits of their identity, their faith, and their devotion to one another. Celebrate the launch of Becky Wade's new series by entering to win a fabulous prize pack and $100 cash card! One grand prize winner will receive: A copy of True to You A $100 Visa cash card A prize pack hand-picked by Becky Ent...

My thoughts:   If you are not familiar with the lovely hymn "All Things Bright and Beautiful" you should really find it and listen, read the beautiful lyrics, and let it wash over your entirety. To teach a young child the concept that everything that God made, and He did make everything, is beautiful is a wondrous thing to accomplish. To begin that lesson, the lovely words and tune to All Things Bright and Beautiful paves the way. This bright and cheerful board book with softly padded cover (and even slightly rounded corners) and a nifty carrying handle can be a first step in helping you teach your wee little one that the Lord God made all things bright and beautiful. I absolutely love the cute, bright, colorful illustrations that grace the pages of this little book. The textured "glitter" that accents the illustrations is an appealing addition that will "brighten" the day and the reading for the little ones. This is a wonderful little book to give your li...

My thoughts:   I have often sat in worship service or at Bible study and heard the comment, "The Bible is God's love letter to you." And that is very true but we tend to relegate that choice phrase to the background of our memories and read the Bible without completely realizing that it is, in fact, God's love letter to us. To you. To me. To each and every man, woman, child. The author has carried that thought to fruition in an absolutely lovely book for girls. She has taken the stories of 14 women or girls in the Bible and shown how God loves (loved) them. Then an application is make where the young girls reading the stories can see how God loves them and has show this love in His love letter to them. In the very first story which is about the very first girl, the reader learns about Eve who sinned when she chose the forbidden fruit and ate thereof. But that is not the end of the story. No, God covers  Eve, forgives her, allows her to live. The application - tucked a...

About the book:  After a devastating heartbreak three years ago, genealogist and historical village owner Nora Bradford decided that burying her nose in her work and her books is far safer than romance in the here and now. Unlike Nora, former Navy SEAL John Lawson is a modern-day man, usually 100 percent focused on the present. However, when John, an adoptee, is diagnosed with an inherited condition, he's forced to dig into the secrets of his ancestry. John enlists Nora's help to uncover the identity of his birth mother, and as they work side by side, this pair of opposites begins to suspect that they just might be a perfect match. But can their hope for a future survive their wounds from the past? Watch for Chat With Vera's  review on May 20th. GIVEAWAY Begins May 11 ENDS May 30 @ 12:01 a.m. EDT Open to USA addresses only. a Rafflecopter giveaway About the Author:  Becky Wade is a native of California who attended Baylor University, met and married a Texan, and now ...

It's never too early to help kids learn about the variety of career opportunities that await and get them excited about their future. 100 Things to Be When You Grow Up (ages 8-12, $9.99) by Lisa M. Gerry ISBN: 9781426327117 Softcover $9.99 National Geographic Kids Ages 8-12 My thoughts:  This is a delightfully colorful book just brimming with attention grabbing graphics that will intrigue, interest, and entice young minds and hearts about what people do when they grow up and what they, too, can become. The amount of information on each is great and not above the intended targeted age of reading audience. While the attitude presented about each job is positive and sounds interesting, I like that a serious tone is also achieved as needed. Photography is, as it always is in a National Geographic publication, amazing. The nuggets of factual information about the wonderful opportunities that await upcoming generations of adults is great. About the book:  From beekeeper to ice-cream...

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware Today, Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter filed eight felony charges and one misdemeanor charge against Ryan and Richard Tate , respectively CEO and founder of vanity publisher Tate Publishing & Enterprises, for alleged fraudulent business practices. According to local news station KFOR, The charges include four felony counts of embezzlement, one felony count of attempted extortion by threat, two felony counts of extortion by threat, one felony count of racketeering and one misdemeanor count of embezzlement. Since the businesses ceased operations in January, the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Unit has received 718 complaints from authors or musicians who contracted with the companies. Complaints from customers range from failure to deliver products and services that had been previously paid for; failure to pay royalty earnings, per contractual agreement; and refusal to return files unless the customer agreed to pay a $50 pro...

ISBN: 9781496410986 Paperback $14.99 My thoughts:   I found Deep Extraction  a book that captured my attention from the cracking of the spine. I know that much of our world is now controlled by computers, but truly would not have thought that a pacemaker could become an instrument for murder through hacking. My thoughts aside, the author brought so many layers into the storyline that this reader was kept wondering just who did what and my suspense was kept on edge until the very end. The family of Nathan Moore was a loving and pretty normal family. Of course, they were moneyed and lacked for nothing. But they loved one another, went about their daily lives of work, homemaking, and school just as most folks do. But in the depth of their lives, lies were being lived out unknown to those around. I found the character development tops and the plot complicated yet not so convoluted that it could not be comprehended. The touch of romance was sweet and well-handled. The action scenes...

ISBN: 9781467794107 Hardcover $19.99 Grade Level 2 - 5 My thoughts:   Introducing young readers to real people in picture book biographies is a fabulous way for them to begin learning about those who shaped the world. It is also a wonderful method to introduce and encourage reading of non-fiction works to young readers. Most Americans have used a Webster's Dictionary at one time or another but few have the slightest clue as to how a dictionary was compiled, when, and by whom. In Noah Webster's Fighting Words  the story begins with America's path toward shaping American English as we know and define it. The story reveals the feisty nature of Noah Webster and how he pushed hard to establish verbiage that was uniquely American in sound interpretation and spelling. Illustrations that will surely capture the attention of the most reluctant reader add interest and direction to the text that is factual yet with a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor that keeps it lively and entertaining. ...