Non-fiction Feature: Having Fun While Saving Money by Janiera Eldridge

For our very first Non-fiction Feature, we have a special music-inspired, complete-the-sentence interview with Janiera Eldridge, the author of Having Fun While Saving Money.

COMPLETE THE SENTENCE:

1. What the world needs now is

more money and less fighting over it!

2. I like it in the city when

the lights are burning bright and the music is thumping.

3. I can't win, I can't reign, I will never win this game without

some coffee and a hella amount of motivation.

4. I've got my heart set on

becoming a professional author.

5. It's time to try

yoga,

I think I'll try

sushi since my cravings for it has recently sky rocketed.

6. You can try as you may, bring me down but I say

you're hater and will get yours some day.

7. If I were a boy, even just for a day, I would

go out of the house looking anyway I pleased because glamor can be overrated.

8. You know I really got a thing for ___ guys.

blue eyed dark haired

9. When you try your best but you don't succeed

try,try,try again and never ever give up!

10. Tonight, we are young so let's

light up the town and get lost on each other, this night is meant for two.

ABOUT JANIERA ELDRIDGE:

I'm 20 years old and not always sure where I want to go in life all I know is that I love to write! I've worked as a freelance writer for the past 2 years which mixes what I love to do with something I have to do, work! I write entertainment news when I'm not reading or studying at Entertainmentparadise.net.

Even though my first book is non-fiction my next book will be fiction. There are a lot of crazy characters in my head just dying to get out! I'm a reading and movie addict and nothing makes me happier than a good book or movie (except for the love of my wonderful family). I'm currently pursuing a business management degree although my dreams to make a career writing will never fade.

Author Links:

Blog: This is From my Heart

Twitter: @lazenbeauty

Facebook: Having Fun While Saving Money

Goodreads: Author Profile

ABOUT THE BOOK:

A book packed with ways for you to have fun with your family, friends or by yourself without spending a lot of money. It even gives you ways to have fun and make some money. There are no get rich quick schemes, just ways to have fun and earn rewards while doing it!You also will keep plenty of money in your wallet along the way!

SOUNDS INTERESTING?

Smashwords.com

Goodreads.com

Barnesandnoble.com

Review: 50 Underwear Questions by Tanya Lloyd Kyi

SUMMARY FROM GOODREADS.COM:

You are what you wear (underneath)!

Most of us take our underwear for granted, but throughout history our undies have revealed a lot about who we are (king or peasant), how we work (in fields or factories) or the shapes we value (manly calves or tiny waists).

The third book in Annick's 50 Questions series tackles questions such as "What's that smell?" (Medieval Europeans thought bathing made you sick) and "Did boxers arrive in the Nick of time?" (When blue jean model Nick Kamen stepped out of his denims to reveal his boxers, sales of the underwear soared.)

Underwear has played a role in ancient crusades, city sieges and even modern economic predictions. Obviously, it's time to uncover the facts about everything from loincloths and T-shirts to bloomers and lingerie. Young readers will laugh their pants off at the accompanying cartoons and get the bare, but fascinating, facts about the history of our unmentionables.

MY TAKE:

I'm a trivia buff, so I was definitely excited to read this book.

As the name suggests, 50 Underwear Questions answers 50 underwear questions. The books are divided by time period, starting with ancient times up to the present. I learned quite a few new things thanks to the book. For example, the word "jocks" came from the term "jock strap".

The topic can be a little bit boring for kids and those with short attention spans (like me), that's why it's great that there are activities, like how-tos, jokes and discussion questions, which help to break the monotony. The illustrations and bright colors are the book's strong points, as it matches the playful tone which the author uses.

Thanks to NetGalley and Annick Press for providing me with an e-copy.

THE GOOD:

1. Funny illustrations and bright colors.
2. Creative layout and elements.
   
3. Witty quips.

THE BAD:

1. The topic can get boring sometimes.

FAVORITE QUOTE/S:

It can't be bath time yet. It's only March!

READ IT IF:

1. You like trivia.
2. You enjoy learning new things but don't want to read a boring encyclopedia.
3. You want to learn about the evolution of underwear.

RATING:



SOUNDS INTERESTING?

Review: The Travelling Restaurant: Jasper's voyage in three parts by Barbara Else

SUMMARY FROM GOODREADS.COM:

In the reign of Lady Gall (Provisional Monarch of Fontania), the word ‘magic’ is forbidden...

When 12 year old Jasper Ludlow’s parents flee the city, he gets left behind and finds refuge on The Travelling Restaurant, a sailing ship captained by old Dr Rocket and crewed by feisty Polly.

Jasper faces challenges, adventures, storms and hungry pirates. Should he go in search of his parents, or his lost baby sister? Who should he trust? And why is Lady Gall hunting him?

MY TAKE:

The world needs more feel-good stories right now and The Travelling Restaurant is definitely a good one.

When his family flees his town in order to escape Lady Gall, Jasper gets left behind ala Kevin McCallister in Home Alone 1 and 2. He ends up on The Travelling Restaurant and, along with the ship's captain Dr. Rocket and the ship's cook Polly, he sails off in search of his family. Along the way, he must dodge Lady Gall and her minions.

The Travelling Restaurant has an old-school vibe reminiscent of the Boxcar Children and Encyclopedia Brown series. Of course, that could just be me, but I felt like I was reading an old series that made me feel like a kid again.

Since majority of the story takes place on The Travelling Restaurant, food descriptions abound. As a fan of food-related books, movies and television shows, this was a big bonus for me. The author makes use of parentheses and changing font size to insert side comments or to emphasize certain points, which was a good idea and makes me think that this would be a fun book to read aloud.

Thanks to NetGalley and Gecko Press for the e-ARC. Publication date of The Travelling Restaurant is on March 1, 2012.

THE GOOD:

1. The plot. Though you can kind of guess where the story is going, there are still enough surprises and twists to keep it from being boring.
2. The food. What's not to like about sentences like these?
   

   There were cream cakes, cream pies and creamy milk shakes. There was runny cream in jugs, and bowls of whipped cream.
   

3. The dialogue and writing style.

THE BAD:

1. Some people might find the style a little bit old-school or boring.

FAVORITE QUOTE/S:

"Decide while you're packing?" Jasper suggested.

"Decide while we're packing!" said Dr. Ludlow as if he'd thought of it himself.

READ IT IF:

1. You like action-adventure books.
2. You like food.
3. You like stories about princesses, princes and magic.

RATING:

SOUNDS INTERESTING?

Fiction Feature: Nate Rocks the World by Karen Pokras Toz

For our very first Fiction Feature, we have a guest post from Karen Pokras Toz, the author of Nate Rocks the World.

So many people ask me where I came up with the idea for Nate Rocks the World, my middle grade novel about a 10 year old boy who draws cartoons that come to life in his head, starring himself as the hero. My answer is always the same – my three children of course. My oldest son is an artist, my daughter, when she was younger loved to make up stories with all her dolls and animals, and my youngest son loves to role-play.

But it’s not just my three children. The truth is, there is a lot of myself in Nate Rocks. I am a dreamer. I always have been, and I suspect I always will be. No - I didn’t dream of being an action hero or a cowboy as Nate does. My dreams usually involved singing and dancing on a stage (which looking back now is quite funny since I was the shyest little girl ever and really can’t dance or sing.) My favorite show was The Donny and Marie Show. For those who didn’t grow up in the 70s – this was what was called a “Variety Show.” There were a bunch of them on – Sonny & Cher, Captain & Tenille, & The Jackson 5 to name a few. But my favorite was Donny & Marie. They would come out on ice skates and sing, do some comedy sketches, and sing some more. My parents always let me stay up late on Friday nights to watch them.

I used to pretend I was Marie Osmond – I had the big hair and big teeth, so it was only natural. My parents had wood floors that I could pretend ice skate on with my socks. Then I would use what ever I could find to be my microphone. Marie was ‘a little bit country’, but I preferred to be rock n roll. My cat was my audience as I put on my show. Sometimes I would tape record it on our clunky old machine, never to be played for anyone’s ears but my own. It was fun being an international superstar in my own head.

Dream big and rock on!

ABOUT KAREN POKRAS TOZ:

Karen Pokras Toz is a writer, wife and mom. Karen grew up in Orange, Connecticut and currently lives outside of Philadelphia with her husband and three children.

In June 2011, Karen published her first middle grade children’s novel for 7-12 year olds called Nate Rocks the World. The second book in the Nate Rocks series, Nate Rocks the Boat, is to be published in the spring of 2012. Karen is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI), Association of Independent Authors (AIA), and the Independent Author Network (IAN).

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Ten-year-old Nathan Rockledge cannot catch a break. After all, life as a fourth-grader can be hazardous - what with science projects to deal with and recess football games to avoid. Everyone, including his best friend Tommy, seems to have bad luck when hanging around Nathan. Throw in an older sister who is a royal pain, a dad who is stuck in the past, and a mom who keeps trying to poison him with her awful cooking, and poor Nathan’s life as a fourth-grader appears to be completely doomed.

Armed only with his sketchpad, his imagination, and his wits, Nathan Rockledge navigates the perils of the fourth grade in style, to emerge heroic, as Nate Rocks, proving that even a ten-year-old can accomplish great things.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING:

Author Karen Pokras Toz has a definite five star winner right here. Nate more than ROCKS! Great book for kids of all ages and for parents too. Characters that are true to life and a story that will definitely make you smile, laugh and endear you to one smart and talented young man named NATE!

-Fran Lewis, Author and Radio Talk Show Host

I picked this book out to upload to my Kindle to "bribe" my son into reading....it's always a fight. He LOVES the book and thinks it is his own autobiography! He too has a 13 year old sister that acts just like Nate's older sister. He read for almost an hour the other night and wouldn't even let me read one page to him, he wanted to do it himself. My son is a 10 year old 4th grader and I could not have found a book more perfectly suited for him! THANK YOU to the author!!

-KristyS, Verified Amazon Reviewer

This is a fascinating and fun story that middle grade boys are going to love. Toz definitely has a finger on the pulse of this market. She knows what’s exciting to them and uses it to create a page-turner that will leave them wanting more.

-The Children’s and Teen’s Book Connection

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE NATE ROCKS SERIES:

Website: www.karentoz.com

Blog: http://kptoz.blogspot.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/karenptoz

Twitter: www.twitter.com/karentoz

Amazon: http://amzn.to/txbX0Z

Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/uviYpn

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5009570.Karen_Pokras_Toz

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQgnRIqW6G4

SOUNDS INTERESTING?

Review: I Dare to Say edited by Hilda Twongyeirwe

SUMMARY FROM GOODREADS.COM:

A young woman at last finds love, only to discover, after the death of her baby and her man, that he was married, had eight children, and died of "slim," or AIDS.

A girl hides under a blanket in her dormitory while the Lord's Resistance Army, in search of child brides, pushes an armed child soldier through the window so they can take their pick of the terrified girls.

Not long after her ritual genital mutilation, a girl on her way home from school is beaten by four men, then delivered to an old man who will be her husband, a standard marriage practice.

In I Dare to Say, African women speak out in their own words, sharing poignant tales of womanhood, revealing how they cope and survive, and confiding their dreams and hopes for themselves and their children. They tell not only of atrocities and pain but also of motherhood, marriage, love, and courage, a testament to the bond among women from all cultures.

Dramatic, sometimes heartbreaking, often inspiring, I Dare to Say vividly brings to life how political instability, ethnic rivalries, and traditional religion shape the daily life-as well as the future-of rural African girls and women.

MY TAKE:

Where do I even begin? It took longer than I expected to finish reading this book, because I felt so angry while reading. My anger wasn't because the writing was terrible. I was angry at the experiences that the women in this book went through.

I Dare to Say is a project of FEMRITE, the Uganda Women Writer's Association, and their partner organizations Austrian Development Corporation, African Women Development Fund, Africalia, German Embassy in Uganda, and IRIN. The book is divided into four parts. The first part is about surviving abuse and the second part is about facing AIDS, while the third part is about resilience and surviving war and the fourth part is about female genital mutilation.

Through this book, we are able to get a peek into the lives of African women. Prior to reading this book, I was already aware of the poverty, civil wars and other issues that are plaguing Africa right now, but to actually read stories of real women and not just news articles, it made more of an impact emotionally.

Some of the stories got my blood boiling. Let's just say that I'm not a fan of women being treated like second-class citizens. And what's worse, it's not just the men who are treating women poorly. Women, whether it's relatives or co-wives, treat their fellow women badly sometimes too. The appalling health conditions really bothered me as well. In college, we saw, sometimes firsthand, the struggle that the poor and those living in far-flung areas have to go through to get access to healthcare. The women in these book had to go through the same things and it just makes me sick.

Growing up in a country which, according to Newsweek, is the 17th best country in the world (out of 165 countries) and the best country in Asia to be a woman (based on: "justice and treatment of women under the law; access to health; access to education; economics and workforce participation; and political power"), I have been blessed with plenty of opportunities that I may not have gotten had I been born elsewhere. The women in I Dare to Say were not afforded the same opportunity and for some of the women in this book, they felt resigned to their fate and felt a fierce loyalty to their culture. However, it's easy to see the strength that majority, if not all, of the women featured have to get through their ordeal.

What's great about this book is that it's not a one-sided book, showing only the negative things. For example, we see good husbands and bad husbands, and get to hear the story of female circumcisers and the women who underwent female genital mutilation.

All in all, this is a very good book that people should read, even if they're not a fan of heavy reads and memoirs.

Thanks to NetGalley and Lawrence Hill Books for providing me with an e-copy. Publication date of I Dare to Say will be on February 1, 2012.

THE GOOD:

1. The stories are powerful and moving.
2. Different issues are covered and from different angles instead of just one.
3. You get a real feel for the culture of the women.

THE BAD:

1. It's a pretty heavy read at times.

FAVORITE QUOTE/S:

I wondered why culture and customs are always invoked and become sacred and unchangeable only when women try to fight for their rights.

READ IT IF:

1. You would like to read stories about the ordeals and triumphs of African women.
2. You are curious about African culture.
3. You want to read an interesting biography.

RATING:



SOUNDS INTERESTING?

Review: Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe by Shelley Coriel

SUMMARY FROM GOODREADS.COM:

Big-hearted Chloe Camden is the queen of her universe until her best friend shreds her reputation and her school counselor axes her junior independent study project. Chloe is forced to take on a meaningful project in order to pass, and so she joins her school’s struggling radio station, where the other students don’t find her too queenly. Ostracized by her former BFs and struggling with her beloved Grams’s mental deterioration, lonely Chloe ends up hosting a call-in show that gets the station much-needed publicity and, in the end, trouble. She also befriends radio techie and loner Duncan Moore, a quiet soul with a romantic heart. On and off the air, Chloe faces her loneliness and helps others find the fun and joy in everyday life. Readers will fall in love with Chloe as she falls in love with the radio station and the misfits who call it home.

MY TAKE:

I wasn't too optimistic while I was reading the first few chapters of Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe. I found Chloe to be a bit needy and insecure, and I thought that her (former) friends were kind of shallow and extremely mean. By the 5th chapter, though, I was hooked.

From being one of the more popular girls at school, Chloe suddenly finds herself a loser. Her former friend Brie has smeared her reputation with baseless lies. Adding to her woes is her new guidance counselor who vetoes her independent study program and urges her to do her independent study program on the school's radio station.

Chloe's voice was very authentic, and I had no trouble imagining this high school junior and her life. The neediness and insecurity that Chloe showed is typical of most teenage girls, and thankfully, by the end of the book, she had already learned to control it. Her growth made it easier to like her and sympathize with the events that happen in her life.

Another thing that the novel had going for it was the way that Ms. Coriell portrayed the characters' relationships. The dynamics between the characters felt unforced and genuine. Trust me, I know what it's like to have an ill grandmother and a worried mother who would simultaneously want to help my grandmother and want to freak out, and what it's like to have best friends turn on you. Ms. Coriell definitely got it right. I'm also very glad that Chloe didn't go Bella (read: co-dependent) on Duncan, although there were a couple of moments when it felt like she was on the verge of it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Amulet Books for providing me with an e-copy. Publication date of Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe is on May 1, 2012.

THE GOOD:

1. Believable characters. The characters were so well-fleshed-out that it felt like there were no minor characters.
2. Cute love story.
3. Chloe. Chloe was a character that might annoy you at first, but she's actually quite loveable. Think Polyanna, but less saccharine-sweet.

THE BAD:

1. Chloe's shoe obsession. I'm not a fan of shoes, so I didn't really get the whole shoe love that Chloe had going on. If you're a shoe fan, though, I think you might find Chloe's observations accurate and her shoes envy-worthy.
2. There was a twist near the end of the story that felt unnecessary.

FAVORITE QUOTE/S:

I raised Duncan's hands to my lips. First I kissed one palm, then the other. "When you feel lonely, I'll be there."

Duncan stared at his palms and wrapped his fingers around my kisses.

READ IT IF:

1. You like YA novels with a believable cast of characters.
2. You like YA novels were it's not just about the lead female character getting a boyfriend.
3. You like fashionable heroines.

RATING:

SOUNDS INTERESTING?

Review: Giants Beware by Jorge Aguirre

SUMMARY FROM NETGALLEY.COM:

Make way for Claudette the giant slayer in this delightful, fantastical adventure!

Claudette’s fondest wish is to slay a giant. But her village is so safe and quiet! What’s a future giant slayer to do?

With her best friend Marie (an aspiring princess), and her brother Gaston (a pastry-chef-to-be), Claudette embarks on a super-secret quest to find a giant—without parental permission. Can they find and defeat the giant before their parents find them and drag them back home?

MY TAKE:

I've always been a fan of strong heroines. There are too few of them, in my opinion, so Giants Beware! is a welcome addition to the world of (children's) books.

Like Lady Alanna and Lady Kel from Tamora Pierce's Tortall, Claudette is a brave girl who thirsts for adventure. When I first saw her on the cover, I thought Claudette was a boy. She looks quite boyish with her short hair and tunic.

Claudette is a tough-as-nails girl who doesn't back down from bullies who try to hurt her, her friend Marie or her little brother Gaston. Gaston is by far my favorite character, because he's a cutie pie who wants to be a pastry chef. He reminds me of those kids on Junior Masterchef. Too bad there are no recipes at the end of the book for the dishes he comes up with, because they sound delicious. Aside from becoming a pastry chef, Gaston also wants to make swords. It may sound a little weird to be a pastry chef/swordsmith, but I think it's a brilliant idea to add this to the storyline. When we were kids, we had lots of dreams and we knew that you can have more than one dream come true at a time. Some of us forget that as we grow older.

The authors should definitely consider shopping this around to networks like Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel, because this has all the elements needed to make a hit television series for both pre-teens and adults alike.

Thanks to NetGalley and First Second for the e-copy. Publication date of Giants Beware! is on April 10, 2012.

THE GOOD:

1. Interesting characters. All the characters are interesting, charming and funny.
2. Drawing style. The drawing style is cute and makes me feel like I'm watching cartoons.
3. Story. The story isn't just about one character, and there are virtually no cliches here.

THE BAD:

1. There are weird thin white lines on the pages. I'm not sure if this will appear in the finished product, but this is probably just a product of scanning the pages.

FAVORITE QUOTE/S:

READ IT IF:

1. You like strong heroines.
2. You want a good quest story that doesn't follow the usual formula.
3. You want an entertaining read that doesn't take too long to finish.

RATING:

SOUNDS INTERESTING?