Thursday, December 24, 2009

Peace on Earth




Image courtesy of Rubino Card Co.

Book Review #35: MRS. CLAUS EXPLAINS IT ALL by Elsbeth Claus; illustrated by David Wenzel



by Elsbeth Claus
illustrated by David Wenzel

Pub. Date: November 2008
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Format: Hardcover, 32pp
Sales Rank: 175,583
Lexile: 1010L What’s This?
ISBN-13: 9781402211058
ISBN: 1402211058
 
Description (from the publisher):
Every year millions of letters to Santa reach the North Pole. Many are requests for presents. And many letters have questions about Santa, the elves and workshops, the reindeer, and, of course, the North Pole.

Now Mrs. Claus has her own gift for you - for the first time ever, she's taking a break from her very busy schedule to answer real questions from children of all ages. Join her on a tour of the North Pole and learn some of the best kept secrets of Christmas from the person who knows it all - Mrs. Claus!

* How does Santa get into my house if we don't have a chimney?

* What is Santa's favorite kind of cookie?

* Where do elves come from?

* Can all reindeer fly?

Beautifully illustrated by David Wenzel, bestselling illustrator of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, this picture book reveals the answers to the questions children always ask - and they're all answered by the woman who knows the most: Mrs. Claus!

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars - Fun for the whole family!

My Thoughts:
"The North Pole: the warmest place on ice." That's a quote from the endpapers of Mrs. Claus Explains It All written by (who else?) Elsbeth Claus and illustrated by David Wenzel. It's a great description of this book as well. 

Everyone knows that eventually, the kids are going to ask questions about the mechanics of how all things Santa really work. How does Santa get into my house, keep all the kids straight, get all those packages delivered in just one night. The list is endless, and not everyone knows how to answer all those questions. That's why its a great idea to have a copy of Mrs. Clause Explains It All within easy reach! You could keep the book hidden and sneakily look up the answers as the questions pop up one by one. Or head 'em off at the pass by reading ahead of time and having the answers ready to impress the kids with just how much you know about Mr. Claus.

I suppose if you're so inclined, you could even share the book with a child, thereby letting them view the wonderfully detailed illustrations that include the heretofor unknown and very top secret multi-level underground workrooms and warehouses and miles and miles of greenhouses hiding under all that snow up at that the North Pole. What, you thought Santa made a worldful of toys in some little dinky back room? Yeah, right. And just where do you think all his food comes from? Personally, I most enjoyed reading about how the elves came to be Santa's helpers and how the reindeer got their names.

As you can guess, I think Mrs. Claus Explains It All is clever, imaginative, and fun and the perfect book to add to your holiday library. No home should be without one. So, be prepared! There's not telling what those kids will ask next!

About the author (from the publisher):
Christi Love created her list of questions for Santa by posing as Mrs. Claus at various events across the country. She firmly believes in the magic of Christmas and especially of the stories that involve Santa Claus. She frequently tours as Mrs. Claus, collecting more questions from children to answer.

Click here to visit the illustrator's website.
 
About the illustrator (from the publisher):
David Wenzel is an extraordinary illustrator and children's book artist, best known for illustrating the bestselling Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and his visualization of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, illustrated in graphic novel format.

Thank you to Liz at Sourcebooks, Inc.
for supplying my review copy.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Wonderful Wins: THE CHRISTMAS MAGIC and THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING


Just in time for Christmas, I was lucky enough to win two beautiful books in a giveaway sponsored by Scholastic, Inc. and hosted by Shauna at Book Giveaways. Though stylistically very different, both books have the most gorgeous illustrations. If I was reviewing these, they would each receive 5/5 Stars.

Thank you to Scholastic and Shauna!



by Lauren Thompson
illustrated by Jon J. Muth

Pub. Date: September 2009
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Format: Hardcover, 40pp
Sales Rank: 945
Age Range: 4 to 7
ISBN-13: 9780439774970
ISBN: 0439774977

Description (from the publisher):
Far, far North, when the nights are longest and the stars shine brightest, the spirit of Christmas fills the air with Magic. Santa gathers his reindeer, feeds them parsnips and berries, and polishes his bells and his sled. Then with great care, he chooses toys for every child in the world. For Santa loves them all dearly — and he knows what each one desires more than anything.

Lauren Thompson, known for her extraordinary ability to touch the hearts of the very youngest children, has created an uplifting and beautiful Christmas experience.

Jon J Muth's warm, enchanting artwork thrums with the kind of magic that makes reindeer fly!




by E.T.A. Hoffman
illustrated by Gail De Marcken

Pub. Date: September 2009
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Format: Hardcover, 56pp
Sales Rank: 12,374
Age Range: 4 to 8
ISBN-13: 9780545037730
ISBN: 0545037735

Description (from the publisher):
On Christmas Eve, Godfather Drosselmeier has arrived with gifts of marvel and enchantment for his young godchildren. Delicious dancing figurines, a wonder-tree, beautiful books, an enticing castle, and a handsome Nutcracker doll. Goddaughther Marie falls in love with this bewitching doll and claims him as her own.

Yet when the clock strikes midnight, something terribly amazing happens to these handcrafted toys...they come alive. Marie is swept off her feet on an incredible journey with her Nutcracker in this astonishing classic story by E.T. A. Hoffman. Critically acclaimed artist Gail deMarcken's stunning and gorgeous illustrations capture this spellbinding tale of adventure, honor, and family.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Book Review #34: BEAR PORTRAITS by Jill Greenberg




Publisher:  Little, Brown & Company
Category:  Photography
Format:  Hardcover Book
Publish Date:  11/3/2009
Price:  $26.99/$32.99
ISBN:  9780316031882
Pages:  104
Size:  8" x 10"

Description (from the publisher):
A top celebrity portrait photographer, Jill Greenberg has a unique ability to coax powerful emotions out of her subjects -whether human or animal. Her portraits of bears, collected here for the first time, surprise and engage. We encounter cubs as cute as a child's Teddy, grizzlies that look like they might swallow you whole, and Polar bears seated in Sphinx-like tranquility.

Full-grown brown bears, grizzlies, black bears, Polar bears, and bear cubs are photographed on location against a portrait backdrop. The poses and facial expressions are at turns oddly comedic, pensive, terrifying, and sometimes unexpectedly human. Alive with Greenberg's signature lighting and seen through the unique perspective of her lens, these startling bear portraits bring us face to face with our fears and fantasies.

MY RATING: 5/5 Stars; Highly recommended.

MY THOUGHTS:


I'll be honest and say that when I first flipped though this book, I was downright horrified! All I saw were jaws and claws, and they were terrifying. I'd never seen such detailed closeups of a grizzly's mouth before. I shut the book quickly and thought, there's something odd about those photos - are those bears stuffed? I didn't want to think about it, and I was very disappointed. I'd been thrilled to have the opportunity to review this collection of bear portraits by Jill Greenberg. I wasn't familiar with her work, but who doesn't like a giant cuddly teddy bear?  I was reluctant to look at the book again, but I had committed to post a review so I knew I'd eventually need to take a closer look.


A couple of days later, I sat down and braced myself, literally, to look into the jaws of death. Fully prepared to be able to count cavities, I reminded myself that these were only pictures and they couldn't bite! I started with the introduction and was pleased to find out that, contrary to my previous thought, these bears were all alive and well and not taxidermied specimens. As it turns out, Greenberg herself thought that the bears didn't look alive when she first examined her initial polaroids. Many of the portraits have that effect because Greenberg photographed the bears indoors using artificial light and a portrait backdrop. Once you settle down with the book, the illusion of unreality falls away and the bears "come to life" as their personalities are showcased. As I slowly turned the pages on my second perusal, I wondered, where are all those really scary shots I saw the first time I looked at this book?

Well, they were still there, but they weren't nearly as numerous as I had first thought. This time around, I found much more to charm, delight, and intrigue me.  Pictures of the cubs are just adorable. What I hadn't expected was the playfulness and range of emotion displayed by the adult bears.
On this second and closer examination of the portraits, the bears took on a quality of humaness as the photos captured looks and poses of coyness, flirtatiousness, brooding, and calculation. Charmed as I was, I came to appreciate the inclusion of the more ferocious photos. As much as I wanted to humanize these bears and think that I could relate to them, they are dangerous, carnivorous creatures. I think you have to look at the bears in all their grand magnificence to appreciate what a gift it is to have this glimpse at their existence.


Jill Greenberg has done an outstanding job with this collection. I highly recommended it. Photographers will appreciate the quality of the photos and the techniques that define Greenberg's signature style. Bear and nature lovers will enjoy the range of moods captured forever of these wild creatures. And any thoughtful group of people would surely enjoy conversations on art, environmentalism, or animal conservation that would be sparked by these provocative photographs. I've enjoyed this book immensely, and I'm so glad to have taken a long second look at it.

Jill Greenberg regularly shoots advertising and celebrity portrait photography for clients such as Dreamworks, Sony Pictures, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Time, and Entertainment Weekly. She resides in Los Angeles with her husband, children, and dog, Scooter.

Jill Greenberg also has published the book MONKEY PORTRAITS.

Audiobook Giveaway: HOLLYWOOD MOON by Joseph Wambaugh; read by Christian Rummell


Thanks to the generous folks at
Hachette Book Group,
I have been authorized to
 give away three (3) audiobook copies of
HOLLYWOOD MOON
by Joseph Wambaugh
read by Christian Rummell

Rules for entering this giveaway are at the bottom of this post.



read by Christian Rummell

Publisher: Hachette Audio
Category: Fiction
Format: Audio Book
Subformat: CD (Audio)
Edition: Unabridged
Publish Date: 11/24/2009
Price: $39.98/$49.98
ISBN: 9781600247743
Pages: 0

Description (from the publisher):
There's a saying at Hollywood station that the full moon brings out the beast--rather than the best--in the precinct's citizens. One moonlit night, LAPD veteran Dana Vaughn and "Hollywood" Nate Weiss, a struggling-actor-turned cop, get a call about a young man who's been attacking women. Meanwhile, two surfer cops known as Flotsam and Jetsam keep bumping into an odd, suspicious duo--a smooth-talking player in dreads and a crazy-eyed, tattooed biker. No one suspects that all three dubious characters might be involved in something bigger, more high-tech, and much more illegal. After a dizzying series of twists, turns, and chases, the cops will find they've stumbled upon a complex web of crime where even the criminals can't be sure who's conning whom.

Wambaugh once again masterfully gets inside the hearts and minds of the cops whose jobs have them constantly on the brink of danger. By turns heart-wrenching, exhilarating, and laugh-out-loud funny, Hollywood Moon is his most thrilling and deeply affecting ride yet through the singular streets of LA.

RULES FOR ENTERING THE GIVEAWAY:

• Leave a comment on this post telling me you would like to win. Include an email address with your comment so that I can contact you if you do win. Use a spam-thwarting format such as geebee.reads AT gmail DOT com or geebee.reads [at] gmail [dot] com

You must leave an email address in order to qualify. If I can't contact you, you can't win!

• You can earn an extra entry by being or becoming a Follower or Subscriber of this blog and telling me about it in a separate comment.

• Blog about this contest and provide me with the link to the post in a separate comment, and I'll give you yet another entry.

• Tweeting about this contest and providing me the link in a separate comment will get you one more entry. I've added a Retweet button at the bottom of every post.

• Stumble this blog, Digg it, or Technorati Fave it, whatever, and leave a separate comment for another entry.

• Winners must provide a U.S. or Canadian street address. Hachette is unable to deliver to P.O. Boxes.

Deadline for entry is 11:59 p.m. EST on Wednesday, January 13, 2010.

• Winners will have 48 hours to respond to my email announcing that they have won; if I don't hear from a winner, I will draw another name.

Thank you to Anna
at Hachette Book Group
for making this giveaway possible.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.

Audiobook Giveaway: I, ALEX CROSS by James Patterson; read by Tim Cain, Michael Cerveris


Thanks to the generous folks at
Hachette Book Group,
I have been authorized to
 give away three (3) audiobook copies of
I, ALEX CROSS
by James Patterson
read by Tim Cain, Michael Cerveris

Rules for entering this giveaway are at the bottom of this post.





read by Tim Cain, Michael Cerveris

Publisher: Hachette Audio
Category: Fiction, Suspense & Thrillers
Format: Audio Book
Subformat: CD (Audio)
Edition: Unabridged
Publish Date: 11/16/2009
Price: $39.98/$49.98
ISBN: 9781600247682
Pages: 0

Description (from the publisher):

You can't run.


Detective Alex Cross is pulled out of a family celebration and given the awful news that a beloved relative has been found brutally murdered. Alex vows to hunt down the killer, and soon learns that she was mixed up in one of Washington's wildest scenes. And she was not this killer's only victim.

You can't hide.

The hunt for her murderer leads Alex and his girlfriend, Detective Brianna Stone, to a place where every fantasy is possible, if you have the credentials to get in. Alex and Bree are soon facing down some very important, very protected, very dangerous people in levels of society where only one thing is certain--they will do anything to keep their secrets safe.

Alex Cross is your only hope to stay alive

As Alex closes in on the killer, he discovers evidence that points to the unimaginable--a revelation that could rock the entire world. With the unstoppable action, unforeseeable twists, and edge-of-your-seat suspense that only a James Patterson thriller delivers, I, Alex Cross is the master of suspense at his sharpest and best.

RULES FOR ENTERING THE GIVEAWAY:

• Leave a comment on this post telling me you would like to win. Include an email address with your comment so that I can contact you if you do win. Use a spam-thwarting format such as geebee.reads AT gmail DOT com or geebee.reads [at] gmail [dot] com

You must leave an email address in order to qualify. If I can't contact you, you can't win!

• You can earn an extra entry by being or becoming a Follower or Subscriber of this blog and telling me about it in a separate comment.

• Blog about this contest and provide me with the link to the post in a separate comment, and I'll give you yet another entry.

• Tweeting about this contest and providing me the link in a separate comment will get you one more entry. I've added a Retweet button at the bottom of every post.

• Stumble this blog, Digg it, or Technorati Fave it, whatever, and leave a separate comment for another entry.

• Winners must provide a U.S. or Canadian street address. Hachette is unable to deliver to P.O. Boxes.

Deadline for entry is 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday, January 10, 2010.

• Winners will have 48 hours to respond to my email announcing that they have won; if I don't hear from a winner, I will draw another name.

Thank you to Anna
at Hachette Book Group
for making this giveaway possible.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.

Audiobook Giveaway: THE IMPERIAL CRUISE by James Bradley; Read by Richard Poe


Thanks to the generous folks at
Hachette Book Group,
I have been authorized to
 give away three (3) audiobook copies of
THE IMPERIAL CRUISE
by James Bradley
Read by Richard Poe

Rules for entering this giveaway are at the bottom of this post.



Read by Richard Poe

Publisher: Hachette Audio
Category: History
Format: Audio Book
Subformat: CD (Audio)
Edition: Unabridged
Publish Date:11/24/2009
Price: $39.98/$49.98
ISBN: 9781600243950
Pages: 0

Description (from the publisher):
In 1905 President Teddy Roosevelt dispatched Secretary of War William Taft, his gun-toting daughter Alice and a gaggle of congressmen on a mission to Japan, the Philippines, China, and Korea. There, they would quietly forge a series of agreements that divided up Asia. At the time, Roosevelt was bully-confident about America's future on the continent. But these secret pacts lit the fuse that would-decades later-result in a number of devastating wars: WWII, the Korean War, the communist revolution in China.

One hundred years later, James Bradley retraces that epic voyage and discovers the remarkable truth about America's vast imperial past-and its world-shaking consequences. Full of fascinating characters and brilliantly told, THE IMPERIAL CRUISE will forever reshape the way we understand U.S. history.

Click here to visit the author's website.

RULES FOR ENTERING THE GIVEAWAY:

• Leave a comment on this post telling me you would like to win. Include an email address with your comment so that I can contact you if you do win. Use a spam-thwarting format such as geebee.reads AT gmail DOT com or geebee.reads [at] gmail [dot] com

You must leave an email address in order to qualify. If I can't contact you, you can't win!

• You can earn an extra entry by being or becoming a Follower or Subscriber of this blog and telling me about it in a separate comment.

• Blog about this contest and provide me with the link to the post in a separate comment, and I'll give you yet another entry.

• Tweeting about this contest and providing me the link in a separate comment will get you one more entry. I've added a Retweet button at the bottom of every post.

• Stumble this blog, Digg it, or Technorati Fave it, whatever, and leave a separate comment for another entry.

• Winners must provide a U.S. or Canadian street address. Hachette is unable to deliver to P.O. Boxes.

Deadline for entry is 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, January 8, 2010.

• Winners will have 48 hours to respond to my email announcing that they have won; if I don't hear from a winner, I will draw another name.

Thank you to Anna
at Hachette Book Group
for making this giveaway possible.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!
THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Lookalikes

Ah, Summer! Winter is barely upon us, but summer is never far from my thoughts.  Both of these books have summer themes and will be on my reading list for 2010. SUMMER HOUSE was published in June of 2009. The finished book in the U.S. has a different cover, but this is the cover I fell in love with. LOCAL KNOWLEDGE was published in January of 2009, but I only just heard of it by way of Mary at Bookfan's latest Mailbox Monday post. Has anyone out there read either one?


LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
by Liza Gyllenhaal

About the book (from the publisher): From an exciting debut author—a novel about three people haunted by the mistakes of their past and their plunge into an uncertain future.

Maddie Alden has always longed for more than her small town could offer. Now that it’s being overrun by wealthy New Yorkers looking for a respite from the city, Maddie has gotten herself a lucrative new job in real estate. And her first sale brings her a charismatic new friend who is everything Maddie longs to be. Little does Maddie realize that the glamorous Anne will shake up her quiet marriage— and will force Maddie to face the truth about the past, and the terrible secret she shares with her husband and his best friend…

SUMMER HOUSE
by Nancy Thayer

About the book (from the publisher):After years of wandering from whim to whim, thirty-year-old Charlotte Wheelwright seems to have at last found her niche. The free spirit enjoys running an organic gardening business on the island of Nantucket, thanks in large part to her spry grandmother Nona, who donated a portion of land on the family’s seaside compound to get Charlotte started. Though Charlotte’s skill with plants is bringing her success, cultivating something deeper with people–particularly her handsome neighbor Coop–might be more of a challenge.

Nona’s generosity to Charlotte, secretly her favorite grandchild, doesn’t sit well with the rest of the Wheelwright clan, however, as they worry that Charlotte may be positioning herself to inherit the entire estate. With summer upon them, everyone is making their annual pilgrimage to the homestead–some with hopes of thwarting Charlotte’s dreams, others in anticipation of Nona’s latest pronouncements at the annual family meeting, and still others with surprising news of their own. Charlotte’s mother, Helen, a Wheelwright by marriage, brings a heavy heart. She once set aside her own ambitions to fit in with the Wheelwrights, but now she must confront a betrayal that threatens both her sense of place and her sense of self.

As summer progresses, these three women–Charlotte, Nona, and Helen–come to terms with the decisions they have made. Revisiting the lives and loves that have crossed their paths and the possibilities of the roads not taken, they may just discover that what they’ve always sought was right in front of them all along.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Giveaway and Book Review #33: SIMON'S CAT by Simon Tofield


Thanks to the generous folks at
Hachette Book Group,
I have been authorized to
 giveaway five (5) copies of
SIMON'S CAT
by Simon Tofield.

Rules for entering this giveaway are at the bottom of this post.




Category: Humor
Format: Trade Paperback
Publish Date: 9/24/2009
Price: $12.99/$0.00
ISBN: 9780446560061
Pages: 240
Size: 8-1/2" x 6"

About the book (from the publisher):
Simon Tofield's animations have taken YouTube by storm. Now, the feline Internet phenomenon makes his way onto the page in this first-ever book based on the popular animated series. SIMON'S CAT depicts and exaggerates the hilarious relationship between a man and his cat. The daily escapades of this adorable pet, which always involve demanding more food, and his exasperated but doting owner come to life through Tofield's charming and hilarious illustrations.

My Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars

My Thoughts: 
Fun! Fun! Fun! I laughed and giggled my way through this collection of cat cartoons and had to fight to keep it out of the hands of my family so I could finish it. They kept hanging around wanting to know what was so funny. But I couldn't spoil it for them -- they just had to wait their turns. And everybody loved it. Whether you're a cat lover or a cat hater, you'll find plenty in this book to support your position.

SIMON'S CAT is by turns endearingly, sweetly, naive and then downright irritating and aggravating. But he's always funny. Tofield's simple line drawings depict the daily agenda of a cat's life from surveillance of a miniscule (non-existent?) bug to stalking, subduing, and shredding the living room couch. I think the funniest panels are the ones which prove true every paranoid thought you've ever had about cats being in charge of humans.

SIMON'S CAT is a very funny little book, and it would make a great stocking stuffer for anyone who has ever encountered a cat!

If you'd like to take your chances on winning a copy, just keep reading.



Click here to watch the Simon's Cat videos.

Click here to visit SimonsCat.com

Simon Tofield is an award-winning animator who lives in London.

RULES FOR ENTERING THE GIVEAWAY:

• Leave a comment on this post telling me you would like to win. Include an email address with your comment so that I can contact you if you do win. Use a spam-thwarting format such as geebee.reads AT gmail DOT com or geebee.reads [at] gmail [dot] com

You must leave an email address in order to qualify. If I can't contact you, you can't win!

• You can earn an extra entry by being or becoming a Follower or Subscriber of this blog and telling me about it in a separate comment.

• Blog about this contest and provide me with the link to the post in a separate comment, and I'll give you yet another entry.

• Tweeting about this contest and providing me the link in a separate comment will get you one more entry. I've added a Retweet button at the bottom of every post.

• Stumble this blog, Digg it, or Technorati Fave it, whatever, and leave a separate comment for another entry.

• Winners must provide a U.S. or Canadian street address. Hachette is unable to deliver to P.O. Boxes.

Deadline for entry is 11:59 p.m. EST on Wednesday, December 30 2009.

• Winners will have 48 hours to respond to my email announcing that they have won; if I don't hear from a winner, I will draw another name.

Thank you to Anna
at Hachette Book Group
for supplying my review copy and
for making this giveaway possible.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.

Book Review #32: THE SECRET LIFE OF PRINCESSES by Virginie Hanna; illustrated by Cathy Delanssay




by Virginie Hanna
illustrated by Cathy Delanssay

Pub. Date: October 2009
Publisher: Langenscheidt Publishers, Inc.
Format: Hardcover, 26pp
Sales Rank: 269,623
Age Range: 4 to 8
ISBN-13: 9780843714760
ISBN: 084371476X

About the book (from the publisher):
Come discover what the fairy tales left out! Peek behind foldouts and flaps to uncover a treasure of royal secrets from some of your favorite fairy tale princesses. The life of a Princess is one of diamonds, ball gowns, and handsome Princes . . . but it’s also filled with little secrets. How did the Princess feel the pea? What lies in Sleeping Beauty’s spell book?

In The Secret Life of Princesses you’ll find out incredible secrets from some of your favorite Princesses, such as Cinderella, Thumbelina, and Snow White, and many more. Full of intriguing secrets and tidbits, this book takes children beyond the happily-ever-after ending of their favorite fairy tales, giving them the rest of the story. Beautiful full-page illustrations bring these princesses to life. Secret flaps and hidden envelopes reveal tongue-twisting magic spells, hidden messages, and more to keep your little princess endlessly entertained. There’s even a hidden pocket for her to write down her own secret!

Features:
  • Fully interactive! Secret envelops and flaps invite children to hunt for secrets.
  • Tongue twisters and rhymes make this a blast!
  • Featuring popular princesses that everyone knows and loves (Cinderella, Thumbelina, Sleeping Beauty) and some new ones for American children (Scheherazade, Donkey Skin). There is no other book like this that takes little readers beyond the fairy tales they know so well, giving them more material for the imagination – every kid wants to know what happened after the end of the story, and now they can!
  • Stunning full page illustrations, glitter and foil make this a truly beautiful book.
My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

My Thoughts:
I bought this book for my six-year-old niece and had it delivered to my office. When I showed it to my (female) co-workers they literally gasped at its beauty! There was a chorus of "Oh, she'll love it!" and "I want one!" It's definitely a book to treasure.

Twelve classic princesses, all gorgeously illustrated, reveal their secrets in little fold-outs and secret envelopes. If you've ever finished a fairy tale and thought, "But how did . . . " or "What about . . ." this book offers the chance to fill in the blanks.

The pages of the book are a lightweight cardboard and should stand up well to multiple readings and investigations of little hands.

My only complaint about THE SECRET LIFE OF PRINCESSES is that I would have liked to see more variations of skin tone. Of 12 princesses, only Scheherazade is not light-skinned. The Snow Queen might possibly be Asian, and Snow White is, of course, a brunette. One princess is a redhead. Thumbelina has masses of dark hair. That leaves 7 pale-skinned and fair-haired beauties to rule the pages of this book. I've seen more variation in this illustrator's work. I wish it had been represented in this book. However, the publisher has also released a book called PRINCESSES OF THE WORLD which I have on order. I think it will make a lovely companion book.

THE SECRET LIFE OF PRINCESSES is a seriously enchanting collection of artwork and whimsey. Too bad I have to turn it over to a six-year-old!

About the Authors (from the publisher)
Virginie Hanna was born in 1971 in Maine et Loire, France. From a very young age, she would invent stories and always dreamed of being a children’s storybook writer. She studied and practiced psychology for many years, and incorporates this knowledge of and sensitivity to children’s issues into her writing. She now divides time between her writing and her family.

Cathy Delanssay was born in 1976 in Nord à Douai, France. She’s illustrated many popular children’s books in France including: Give Me the Moon, Mieux que dix fees (Better than Ten Fairies), Le Bal des fees (The Fairy Ball), Le Murmure des dieux (The Whisper of the Gods) and many more.


Click here to visit the website of the illustrator.


Back in the saddle again!




Well, howdy! How y'all doin'? Hope everyone is O.K. I've missed you!

I feel like I've been gone for a year, and my fingers are just itching to unleash everything my brain has been hoarding these last few weeks. I've got a lot of reviews to post as well as a bunch of new giveaways to announce. I probably won't ever really catch up, but I'm just going to jump on it and get to it. It's good to be "home"!

Monday, December 7, 2009

Giveaway Winners -- ANGELS: A Pop-Up Book and A SEPARATE COUNTRY (audiobook)


!! CONGRATULATIONS !!
We have some winners!



The winner of ANGELS: A Pop-Up Book is:

#33  Jaime






The winners of audiobook copies of A SEPARATE COUNTRY are:

#1 Zibilee
#39 Sue
#47 Barb




All winners have been confirmed.

Thank to everyone who entered.
Be sure to check out Hachette's Contest Page
for links to more giveaways.

Thank you to Hachette Book Group
for sponsoring both of these contests.
 
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