Second Crusader Challenge

The Challenge:

Write a flash fiction story (in any format) in 100 words or less, excluding the title. Begin the story with the words, “The goldfish bowl teetered” These four words will be included in the word count. 

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional, and not part of the judging criteria), see if you can write the story in your own genre (eg if you’re a horror writer, write a horror story; a romance writer, a romance story, etc).  (want to read more? visit Rachael Harrie's Blog)


My Entry:

The goldfish bowl teetered
          tumbled and toppled
Oh dear! Oh my!
  bumbled and boppled


What to do? What to do?
  flailing and flapping
grasp this! grasp that! 
          whirling and wobbling


I only made matters worse 
  smacking and smashing 
off the table top
  battered and bashing


The goldfish paniced inside
  splishing and splashing
This way and that! 
  darting and dashing

I watched it dance, spellbound 
  coiling and circling
Round and round it went 
  Whirling and waltzing


Hypnotizing 
          mesmerizing
                    fascinating
  captivating
                    Watching it 
  careen and plunge
Thwack!

#FridayReads

A few weeks back, I noticed a few of my Tweeple (twitter friends) posting what they were reading along with a hashtag of #FridayReads. It has always been fun to see what different people are reading. It is an insight into their likes, dislikes, and possibly character.

And it is a great way add new books you are unfamiliar with to your personal library.

I started reading at an early age. I can remember sitting down at the kitchen table when I was in kindergarten and reading my books out loud to my mother. Being an only child, growing up in a relatively closed neighborhood, children my age seemed to be very scarce. Also, moving around a lot and traveling long distances, I needed to busy myself with things that would pass the time. Books, were my escape, my time travel, and my companions.

It wasn't until I started college that I took an hiatus from reading for pleasure. Once I graduated, I got married, and seeking out my career path consumed me. My Muse seemed to have taken an extended vacation. I didn't realize she was gone until 20 years later. That's when I received my e-reader. Once I got that, and got back into reading, my Muse decided to visit briefly--to check in on me, so to speak.

I've now finished the entire Sword of Truth Series, and was at a loss of what book I was going to read next. Then, I found #FridayReads and a whole slew of other readers all telling me what they were reading. This is one way to get recommendations and to see what is popular each week. Now I am a reviewing member of GoodReads and LibraryThing, and sometimes, just sometimes, I win new, or about to be released books (in exchange for reviews of course).

Since I received my Sony e-Reader over a year ago, I have gotten back into reading. Which, in turn, has gotten me back into my writing. Without books, I would be lost. Stephen King has said "If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that." And it really is as simple as that.

If you want to read more, you can visit the FridayReads Blog. And I would like to invite you to join in on Twitter or Facebook and help promote it, or just tell us all what you are reading! And don't forget, it's every Friday, every where in the world!

Cat Secrets Review

Cat Secrets by Jef Czekaj

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


So, you want to know all about cat secrets? You have to read this book! This is the only book that will tell you! But you must pass their tests before they will reveal their secrets. Do you have what it takes?

Oh the fun of 2nd person point of view. Jef Czekaj really gets the reader into the book and each page is leaving you wanting more. Would make a great read to little ones to get them trying to act like a cat!



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Future Imperfect Review

Future Imperfect by K. Ryer Breese

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Product Description

Ade Patience can see the future and it's destroying his life. When the seventeen-year-old Mantlo High School student knocks himself unconscious, he can see days and decades into his own future. Ade's the best of Denver's "divination" underground and eager to join the heralded Mantlo Diviners, a group of similarly enabled teens. Yet, unlike the Diviners, Ade Patience doesn't see the future out of curiosity or good will; Ade gives himself concussions because he's addicted to the high, the Buzz, he gets when he breaks the laws of physics. And while there have been visions he's wanted to change, Ade knows the Rule: You can't change the future, no matter how hard you try.

His memory is failing, his grades are in a death spiral, and both Ade's best friend and his shrink are begging him to stop before he kills himself. Ade knows he needs to straighten-out. Luckily, the stunning Vauxhall Rodolfo has just transferred to Mantlo and, as Ade has seen her in a vision two years previously, they're going to fall in love. It's just the motivation Ade needs to kick his habit. Only things are a bit more complicated. Vauxhall has an addiction of her own, and, after a a vision in which he sees Vauxhall's close friend, Jimmy, drown while he looks on seemingly too wasted to move, Ade realizes that he must break the one rule he's been told he can't.

The pair must overcome their addictions and embrace their love for each other in order to do the impossible: change the future.

My Review:

I won an Advanced Uncorrected Copy of this. I will ignore those grammatical errors which I saw, which weren't too many, and reserve judgement. :) (I'm sure the copy editor will catch them before release)

So, on with the review.

Written for the young adult audience, the language used was quite unique to me. I've never really read a book that went directly into the head of the person and pretty much read like he spoke. For me, this was an interesting experience. I am one who tries to write proper. It was instilled in me through my career at school and one thing I have a hard time breaking away from. So, to read this as if someone were talking to me directly, telling the story in his own voice, was different for me. However, I did find it quite easy and quick to read. It was like I had sat down with Ade and he told me his story.

The story itself was also interesting, taking a new twist on addiction and learning to live "clean". It did seem to have all the basic elements of the addiction and clean up process, at least that I could see. I've never experienced it myself, but I was totally into the whole story wanting to help Ade and his quest to clean up his life. Or, at least, it was an interesting ride through his trials of learning to live in the here and now, and not some distant future.

I think this would be a good book for the early adult audience as it does incorporate the addiction aspect as well as some sexual situations and adult words. However, it was quite tactfully done with much left to the imagination, rather than the "in your face" visuals.

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A little thing I forgot!

I wanted to post these pictures on my previous post about Green Eggs and Ham.




We do not eat pork in our family, so the ham was left out! :D






So, here they are, without further comment, for your enjoyment! :D

My Favorite Picture Book Blogfest

He is Sam

He is Sam-I-Am

That Sam-I-Am

That Sam-I-Am

We do so LOVE

that Sam-I-Am

Do you like

Green Eggs And Ham?

I do so love them,

Sam-I-Am.

I do so love

Green Eggs And Ham!

Would you read it

Here or there?

I had to read it

here or there.

I had to read it

anywhere.

My son even loved

Green Eggs And Ham

We do so LOVE them

Sam-I-Am.

Would you read it

in a house?

Would you read it

to a mouse?

We’d love to read it

in a house.

We’d love to read it

to a mouse.

We loved to read it

here or there.

We’d love to read it

anywhere.

We so LOVE Green Eggs And Ham.

We so love them, Sam-I-Am.

Would you read it

in a box?

Would you read it

to a fox?

Yes in a box.

Yes to a fox.

Yes in a house.

Yes to a mouse.

We would read them here or there.

We would read them anywhere.

We would read Green Eggs And Ham.

We so LOVE them, Sam-I-Am.

Would you? Could you?

in a car?

Read it! Read it!

Here it is!

We would so,

could so,

in a car.

You may like them.

You will see.

You may like it in a tree?

In a tree?

We would so, could so in a tree!

Even in a car! You silly bee!

We would read it in a box.

We would read it to a fox.

We would read it in a house.

We would read it to a mouse.

We would read it here or there.

We would read it anywhere.

We so LOVE them, Sam-I-Am.

A train! A train!

Could  you, would you

on a train?

Definitely on a train! And in a tree!

In a car! Sam! You silly bee!

We definitely could read it in a box.

We definitely could read it to a fox.

We will read it to a mouse.

We will read it in a house.

We will read it here or there.

We will read it anywhere!

We so LOVE it, Sam-I-Am.

Say!

In the dark?

Here in the dark!

Would you, could you in the dark?

Hmmmm, maybe we could

in the dark.

Would you, could you,

in the rain?

We would so, could so in the rain.

In the dark. On a train.

In a car. In a tree.

We so love them, Sam, you see.

In a house. In a box.

To a mouse and to a fox.

We will read them here or there.

We will read them anywhere!

Do you like

Green Eggs And Ham?

Of course

we like them,

Sam-I-Am!

Could you, would you

to a goat?

We so would,

so could,

to a goat!

Would you, could you

on a boat?

We can so, can so, on a boat!

We will so, will so, to a goat.

We will read it in the rain.

We will read it on a train.

In the dark and in a tree!

In a car! You silly bee!

We will read it in a box.

We will read it to a fox.

We will read it in a house.

We will read it to a mouse.

We will read it here or there.

We will read it ANYWHERE!

We so love

Green Eggs

And Ham!

We love them so

Sam-I-am

You do so love them

So you say.

Try it! Try it!

And you may

try it and you may I say!

Sam!

If you will let me be

We will read it.

You will see.

And so we read it.

Again and again.

We read it in a boat.

We read it to a goat.

We read it in the rain.

In the dark and on a train.

In a car and in a tree.

It was so good, so good you see!

We read it in a box.

We read it to a fox.

We read it in a house.

And we read it to a mouse.

We read it here and there.

We read it ANYWHERE!

We do so love

Green Eggs And Ham!

Thank you!

Thank you,

Sam-I-Am!

So fun to say, even today! Dr. Suess has always been one with whimsical, magical words and phrases. It has always been fun to have them roll off the tongue! It was one of my son's favorite, must-read books. He learned to "read" it, and The Foot Book, at the age of 2. I think it was one of the deciding books that made him actually learn to read. By the time he was 3, he was reading by himself, really reading! But he didn't enjoy this book so much by himself. He loved it when I read it with him. He learned my expressives (is that a word??), my tone, my character I tried to embed into Sam, and that other guy. He truly had fun with it. 

It was hard to read, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and still keep the same tone, characterizations and fun going. 

I did not like it, Sam-I-Am. 

But in the end, when all was said and done, and he was reading books before he went into pre-school, to find out none of the other kids knew how to read yet, to find out in Kindergarten that he was reading at a 3rd grade level, to find out in First Grade he was accepted into the gifted program, well....it was worth all those readings....over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. 

Hey, it's really not so bad...

this reading here and there
this reading everywhere!
as long as we do it
together!

To this day, I quote it when I just don't like something and things don't go my way. :) 

"I do not like it Sam-I-Am" So fun, and a cute way to remind us of our childhood!

This is my contribution to Megan Bickel's "My Favorite Picture Book" Blogfest. 

Poetrees review

Poetrees by Douglas Florian

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Upon receiving this book you will immediately know it is quite unique. The spine is the top and you open the book by flipping up, not from side to side. A rather interesting quirk that leaves me kind of frustrated because, you know, when you are used to doing it a certain way, change is rather hard to get used to! :P So if you pick this book up to read it, try to remember to flip it up! :D

The poetry in this is short and whimsical while educational. I loved learning about the different and exotic trees. And the author really does a wonderful thing by stretching or changing the direction the words are going in order to punctuate the word choice. He's also incorporated words within the pictures as well. I loved how this is presented in this way.

I also liked the fact that this book includes a glossary (or rather, a glossa-tree as everything is about trees). It not only introduces the young reader to poetry and different types of trees, it also introduces them to a very pertinent part of books. When you need to know what a word means, it is a mini-dictionary. I like that this includes one and thus, encourages the reader to expand his/her vocabulary.






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After The Leaves Fall Book Review

After The Leaves Fall by Nicole Baart

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I heard this on one of my talk shows I listen to, said his wife and staff members couldn't put it down and it was offered free on Amazon Kindle on Valentine's Day. I had no idea what this book was about. But I wanted to read it anyway.

Once I started, I was sucked in. The main character was real and down to earth. Her mom left, her dad died, and she went to live with her grandmother on a farm in some small town. Her life turned upside down and semi-bitter, her faith became questionable as she went on through her life trying to find her way. Despite the many differences between her life and mine, I felt I could connect with her on a deeper level. I saw myself in her thoughts many times. Her uncomfortable-ness with others, her feelings of invisibleness, her falter of faith, her independence, and her lack of direction and where she fit in -- I've seen it all within myself growing up.

I really enjoyed reading about Julia's growth and her "one step forward, two steps back" dance with life. Because, isn't that how life operates? And who really is your one constant in life? It wasn't her mother, her father, her grandmother and it surely wasn't Thomas. Julia finally realizes who her constant is at the end.

Julia's story is not complete at the end of the book. Be warned and anticipate purchasing her sequel. :)



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