Review: The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

Goodreads Blurb

“Once there was a tree…and she loved a little boy.”

So begins a story of unforgettable perception, beautifully written and illustrated by the gifted and versatile Shel Silverstein.

Every day the boy would come to the tree to eat her apples, swing from her branches, or slide down her trunk…and the tree was happy. But as the boy grew older he began to want more from the tree, and the tree gave and gave and gave.

This is a tender story, touched with sadness, aglow with consolation. Shel Silverstein has created a moving parable for readers of all ages that offers an affecting interpretation of the gift of giving and a serene acceptance of another’s capacity to love in return.

My Review: Rated 5 out of 5 stars

It is such a captivating story that is still relevant today. Mother Nature gives, and we take and forget to give back. Our greed has got the best of us. We are destroying our environment with pollution and destroying our eco system. We will eventually be like the tree, nothing left to take and survive. This story is a classical childrens literature that will have us think how we can give back and preserve earth.

Goodreads Author Biography

Shel Silverstein was the author-artist of many beloved books of prose and poetry. He was a cartoonist, playwright, poet, performer, recording artist, and Grammy-winning, Oscar-nominated songwriter.

Shel Silverstein will perhaps always be best loved for his extraordinary books. Shel’s books are now published in more than 47 different languages. The last book that was published before his death in 1999 was Falling Up.

Review: Santa Claus: The Book of Secrets by Russell Ince

Goodreads Blurb

Fun Book for children and the family!After centuries of closely guarding ancient secrets, Santa Claus has decided that the time has come to share the magical mysteries behind Christmas. All of the miraculous happenings that contribute towards making Christmas the most remarkable time of the year are finally to be revealed to the world. Who is Santa Claus and how did he first get his job? What does he really look like? Who are the Elves and what magic do they possess? How do they keep track of which children are naughty and which are nice? All of Santa’s secretes are told in this Wonderful and fun book!

My Review: Rated 4 out 5 stars

I have to start by saying the illustrations on this book are truly remarkable. There is so much detail on each page that brings the story to life. It’s a wonderful book for children to learn how the tradition of Santa Claus came to be. The story is told by Santa Claus. So much detail is explained throughout the book. Santa Claus has become a huge tradition to every child in the world. The spirit of Christmas is still here after so many years. This book is a little longer than other childrens books.

Review: Another Christmas by Susan L. Roth

Goodreads Blurb

Dad decides that the first Christmas without Grandpa would be a good time to take the family to Puerto Rico, where the island culture offers a warm, friendly alternative to the usual celebrations.

My Review: Rated 4 out of 5 stars

This was a sad book since Ben lost his grandfather, and this was the first holiday without him. His parents decided that Christmas could be different and still be Christmas. They decided to travel to a warmer place and decided on Puerto Rico. I was very happy about the location since I was born in Puerto Rico, but unfortunately, I haven’t been there during the Christmas season. Ben’s grandmother brought Christmas with them. She took with her the tree decorations, tree angel even gingerbread cookies my favorite and made the room as cold as possible to make it feel like they were home. They ended dancing to traditional Puerto Rican Christmas music and were able to enjoy themselves even though his grandfather wasn’t there to celebrate with them.

Author Biography

Susan L. Roth creates unique mixed-media collage illustrations that have appeared in numerous award-winning children’s books, many of which she also wrote. Her book, Listen to the Wind, spent a year on the New York Times best seller list. The Mangrove Tree, which was released in 2011 and addressed Dr. Gordon Sato’s mangrove tree-planting project, was the winner of Jane Addams Children’s Book Award. Roth lives in New York.

Review: The Bread Devil’s Guide to Gluten Free by Jennifer Schiano

Blurb

Meet the Bread Devil!Your friendly neighborhood devil equipped with the expertise and quirk to bring awareness to Celiac disease.

You’re invited on an adventure to learn about the basics of Celiac disease and how to ease the challenges living a strict gluten-free lifestyle.

He may look a little scary but underneath the red cape and pointy horns, he’s just a silly, squishy soft piece of bread, here to help you on your celiac journey.

The Bread Devil provides practical tips for navigating daily life and expressing your needs, along with bite-sized facts about food safety, eating out and more.

My Review: Rated 5 out of 5 Stars

This adorable guidebook will help keep people with Celiac disease safe. The illustrations are so fantastic, and I love the adorable bread devil. This guidebook has an abundance of information that was an eye-opener for me. I didn’t know that make-up and personal care products had gluten and that even the smallest 10 mg of a crumb that has gluten can get someone with Celiac disease sick. Jennifer made sure to include the many situations in which cross-contamination can happen and what to do when eating out at restaurants. Storage of food is very important, and if sharing spaces, you want to make sure all surfaces and utensils are free of gluten before cooking. I highly recommend this book for children to teach them how to stay safe, but it’s perfect for adults with Celiac disease to help guide them to safety. Let the bread devil help guide you; you won’t be disappointed with this informative picture book.

Author Biography

Jennifer is a multi-disciplinary artist, illustrator and shop owner with a lifetime of experience navigating a gluten-free lifestyle and celiac disease. Formally diagnosed in her late 20’s, Jennifer spent much of her early life trying to figure out and overcome the autoimmune health challenges she has faced. She is on a mission to bring awareness to Celiac disease and help others grasp aspects of living with the disease that are often dismissed or misunderstood.

Review: SumoKitty by David Biedrzycki

Goodreads Blurb

A stray kitty gets a job in a sumo stable, chasing mice in exchange for food. But when eating like a sumo wrestler slows our feline hero down, he realizes he must train like a wrestler, too. Through hard work and perseverance–and with a little help from a big buddy–SumoKitty is born!

My Review: Rated 4 out 5 stars

A stray cat gets lucky since one of the Sumo wrestlers is scared of mices. This was his big chance to keep warm, eat, and have fun. His eating habits made him get a little big, and now he resembled a Sumo wrestler. He started to train like the Sumo wrestlers and was able to defeat the mice infestation. He got the name Sumokitty, plus they gave him a mawashi with kitty print. I loved that the book provided you with vocabulary for the different moves, outfits, and training locations. The author also provides you with pronounciation for the vocabulary. The illustrations are good. Great educative book for children.

Goodreads Author Biography

In his early years David created stories for his parents and friends. A commercial artist since 1980, his work has appeared in magazines, newspapers, book covers, billboards and even ice cream boxes. The supermarket is like a gallery of his work.

Now he has now returned to his first love of picture book storytelling. He has illustrated close to 30 books including self-authored and award winning Ace Lacewing, Bug Detective series, Me and My Dragon series and his newest series Breaking News Bear Alert, a Junior Library Guild Selection and winner of book the Illinois Monarch Picture Book Award and the Georgia State Picture Book Award. David travels the world extensively to over 100 schools a year sharing his digital book making process with aspiring young writers, illustrators and readers.

Review: Fulfilled: Prophecy of Light by R.J. Crayton

Goodreads Blurb

The final story in the Prophecy of Light series is here!

Kady has been told she is the child of light of the prophecy? But is she. Is her choice the key to everything, or is there more to the prophecy than she’s been told?

My Review: Rated 5 out of 5 stars

What a great ending to this series. I loved all the action and drama Kady went through to save her mom and uncle and unleash the light from darkness. Was happy that I was still the Master of Healing, Master Yaritza. Great turn of events, and the light always overpowers the darkness.

Goodreads Author Biography

RJ Crayton is the author of the three book series. The Prophecy of Light series includes Trapped, Unleashed and the soon to be released Foretold. The Virus series includes Concealed, Exposed, and Contained. The fast-paced dystopian Life First series include Life First, Second Life and Third Life:Taken. She’s also author of the paranormal novel Scented and the short-story collection Four Mothers. Prior to becoming an author, Crayton was a journalist. She reported for several publications, including The Kansas City Star and Education Technology News. Crayton lives in Maryland with her husband and two children. When she’s not writing, she enjoys eating cupcakes, walking, reading, sewing or watching TV (she’s partial to Star Trek, super hero flicks and gripping dramas).

Review: The Vault Inferno Part 1 by T.K. Leigh

Goodreads Blurb

Recommended for mature readers due to strong language and explicit sexual situations.

I never believed in fate. That was something for the dreamers, the romantics, not someone as practical and pragmatic as I.

Fate had nothing to do with me walking in on my soon-to-be husband in a compromising position with his secretary.

Fate had nothing to do with me hopping on a plane to Rome, effectively standing up my former fiancé on our wedding day.

And fate certainly had nothing to do with the handsome stranger sitting across the aisle from me, one who would open my mind and heart to things I never thought possible.

Because if fate is real, if fate is pulling the strings, if fate is in charge of each person’s destiny, she’s cruel and unforgiving.

Why would fate want me to experience a connection as I never had in my life, only to remind me it’s fleeting?

Why would fate give me everything I never knew I always wanted?

Why would fate let me have a taste, then crush those dreams?

He could never be mine.
I could never be his.
And his deception may just be my breaking point.

My Review: Rated 5 out of 5 stars

OMG, this ending is unexpected. Now I need to pick up book two to find out this messed up plot of Fate. T.K. wrote a great plotted series that will keep you wanting more of that hot and sexy Dante. I didn’t see this ending coming, though. Happiness sometimes is short-lived or is fate sometimes, not what you expect it to be.

Goodreads Author Biography

T.K. Leigh, otherwise known as Tracy Leigh Kellam, is the USA Today Bestselling author of the Beautiful Mess series, in addition to several other works. Originally from New England, she now resides outside of Raleigh with her husband, beautiful daughter, three cats, and special needs rescue dog.

When she’s not writing she can be found training for her next marathon (of which she has run over twenty fulls and far too many halfs to recall), having impromptu dance parties with her daughter, or planning her next trip to parts unknown.

Review: Bachelor Remedy by Carol Ross

Goodreads Blurb

She’s the most unconventional woman he’ll ever meet…and the cure for a perennial bachelor?Raised by her healer grandfather, former army medic Ally Mowak knows her alternative approach to traditional medicine puts her at odds with most of her Alaskan town. That includes Tag James, the rugged transport pilot with the sprawling family and political ambitions. Ally couldn’t be more wrong for the aspiring senator. Then why does everything feel so right when they’re together?

My Review: Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Carol truly knows how to write a novel filled with so much love and happiness. It had such a fun ending to a story filled with character. I loved how Tag and Ally first met and the disagreements they had while you could see the sparks flashing between them. It touched my heart that both characters had a 16-year age gap, and both felt the sparks but thought maybe the difference in their beliefs would conflict. I could relate with Ally and Tag’s age difference since me and my boyfriend and I have a 19-year age gap. I understood all the thoughts of what people would say or think. Everyone always has an opinion, but age is only a number. It that person makes you happy age is not something that should prevent the two people from dating or marrying. I love all the emotions I felt throughout the book. I almost felt like a teenager in love with all the emotional feelings and jealousy. Truly, a book that will make you see difference can be seen as positive.

Goodreads Author Biography

USA Today and national bestselling author Carol Ross grew up in small-town America right between the Pacific Ocean and the Cascade Mountains, in a place where you can go deep sea fishing in the morning and then hit the ski slopes the same afternoon. The daughter of free-range parents, she developed a love of adventure and the outdoors at a very early age. She’s grateful for the “research material” that every questionable decision, adrenaline-charged misstep, and near-death experience has provided.

Upcoming Book Event: Kate Golden

About this Event

Please join us in welcoming author Kate Golden as she celebrates the release of her newest book Half City. She will be joined in conversation with Hannah Bonam-Young.

Welcome to Harker Academy for Deviant Defense. Keep your daggers sharp, and your wits even sharper.

Viv Abbot is an average twenty-one-year-old girl. She lives in an expensive city where the rent is too high, works long hours at a thankless job, and is dating a guy she doesn’t even like in the hopes of winning her prickly mother’s approval.

She also happens to be a demon hunter.

Ever since her father’s murder, she’s been forced to hunt deviants alone, meaning everyone, including her family, sees her as an outsider…until the day she crosses paths with a dangerously alluring demon, Reid Graveheart. The reformed deviant tells her of a school for people just like her: Harker Academy for Deviant Defense. If she enrolls, she’ll learn to hone her craft, work with other hunters, and never be alone again.

But Viv has a deadly secret. One that not even her new friends at Harker can know about, not if the school might hold the answers to untangling the myster surrounding Viv’s father’s death. When strange occurrences begin to plague the students, Viv will have to figure out who she can trust, all while trying to ace her classes, avoid falling for a demon, and make it through her first year at Harker in one piece. How hard could that be?

Special Instructions
  • You can register for the event HERE
  • You MUST purchase a copy of the book Half City from our store location in order to gain entry into the event.
  • Kate will personalize your copy if Half City.
  • There will be a photo-op with Kate.