Book review: Save The Lemmings – by Kai Strand

Book: Save The Lemmings

Author: Kai Strand

Publisher: Featherweight Press

Date: August 10, 2012

Genre: MG (middle grade), contemporary fiction

Pages: 108, paperback

Price: $8.99

My rating: a wonderful book for today’s young readers

I received this book from the author in exchange for my free and honest review.

I enjoyed this little book. First of all, it is just the right size for the young audience it targets, so is a rather short but good read. Secondly, the author worked her magic into creating believable characters of varying personalities to whom young readers can relate.

Save The Lemmings, by Kai Strand, delves into the interests and conflicts of a girl in her nearly-teen life. The star of her book is Natalie, a twelve-year-old in grade eight. She is smart, a young inventor, and not the trendiest dresser in school – but that doesn’t bother her. She is her own person, a nice girl who is focused on doing well with her life.

With a few ideas from her three best friends, Natalie invents a handy little tool for communication and calls it the Texty-Talker. During her research she comes across an organization called Save the Lemmings and gets wrapped up in wanting to save the little suicidal animals. (Actually, as the author points out at the end of her book, some lemmings die during migration, but it is unintentional and a myth that they’re self-destructive.)

When her invention becomes a nationwide hit and Natalie is thrust into the public limelight ill-prepared, problems arise. There are those who are jealous and the bullying she occasionally experiences increases; she is set up for trouble and falls right into it. Rumours fly. With her reputation at stake, even her friends begin to doubt her, and … well … I’m not going to tell you anymore, except to say, this little book is very fitting for today’s young readers – with all the peer pressure that’s going on.

Warning: in a couple of conversations God’s name is ill-used, but even so – do let your children read Save The Lemmings. It is inspiring for those who want to move forward with their hopes and dreams and not give in to negative peer pressure.

You can visit Kai Strand at www.kaistrand.com

You can find Save the Lemmings listed on my BUY THE BOOK! page.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Book Review: Elephant Summer – by Douglas Jackson Channell

Book: Elephant Summer

Author: Douglas Jackson Channell

Publisher: self-published; sold by Amazon Digital Services, Inc.

Date: April 9, 2009

Genre: fictional story based on non fiction; Nature; YA

Pages: 175

Price: (on Kindle) $2.99

My rating: Exciting, excellent story

I found this book on Amazon and was drawn by the title. I love elephants and, in looking at the description of this book, had to read it. I was not disappointed.

The story opens with everyone running from a rogue elephant, so my attention was captured from the very beginning.

During their summer vacation, three young teenage friends – two boys, one girl – visit the archeologist uncle of the boy telling the story. His uncle is living and working in Kenya, Africa. The three teens become involved in learning about a family of elephants and help with gaining new information about them.

Elephants are amazing, intelligent animals, individual in personality and habits. This story brings to the reader’s attention how wonderful these animals are, and how serious is their plight as they are still being destroyed needlessly and cruelly. It is told through the concern and humour of the young friends who have the privilege of learning first-hand about them. There is adventure, danger, teenage antics, humour, and more, set in the jungle camp and surrounding area. It’s a fun book to read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Well, except for the harsh reality of some scenes which were a little hard to read knowing it does actually happen, but it was handled in such a good way to be suitable for young readers as well. From the title and summary that influenced me to obtain this book, right to the last word in the last chapter, my interest was held. It made me want to be there.

If you like elephants, or enjoy stories about adventures in the wild – in this case, Africa – give this book, Elephant Summer, a try.

You can find Elephant Summer listed on my BUY THE BOOK! page.

Now, apart from the book, and because I love elephants, I’m going to put in a plug here for the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, USA. This is a quote directly off their website: “The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, founded in 1995, is the nation’s largest natural habitat refuge developed specifically for endangered African and Asian elephants.” Check out their website: www.elephants.com and see what they are doing to help these magnificent animals, one at a time.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Book Review: Sinking Deeper OR My awesome brilliant Questionable Heroic Decision to Invent a Sea Monster – by Steve Vernon

Book: Sinking Deeper OR My ~~awesome~~ ~~brilliant~~ ~~Questionable~~ Heroic Decision to Invent a Sea Monster

Author: Steve Vernon

Publisher: Nimbus Publishing

Date: September 1, 2011

Genre: Young Adult

Pages: 168

Price: $12.95

My Rating: a bizarre maritime adventure not to be missed

This book has the longest title of any I have reviewed so far. 🙂

Sinking Deeper OR My ~~awesome~~ ~~brilliant~~ ~~Questionable~~ Heroic Decision to Invent a Sea Monster could be called hilarious, or it could be called reminiscent of younger days – for those of us who are old enough to have “younger days” and who found themselves in impossible situations, or it could be called adventurous, or … well, you get the picture. This book is all of the above and more.

Steve Vernon, known for his very creative storytelling, has written this enjoyable story based in the fictional laid-back fishing community of Deeper Harbour, Nova Scotia. His main character, who is relating the adventure, is a fourteen-year-old boy trying to do the right thing, but – as a member of a rather dysfunctional but loveable family – he is persuaded to do the unusual and ofttimes the outlandish, by his two best friends – one being his grandfather!And it’s his grandfather who adds the most to the craziness.

The emotional thread is that this teen boy, whose name is Roland, is determined to find a way to stay in Deeper Harbour. His parents are divorcing and his mother has decided to move to Ottawa, Ontario, taking him along. He has to do something to change her mind. What he ends up doing is creating a sea monster, but – through events that grow and grow – what transpires is far greater than anything he ever could have imagined.

I would like to tell you more but I don’t want to spoil it for you. What I will say is Steve Vernon included everything – humour, adventure, suspense, sadness, mystery, hilarity, unexpected twists and turns to keep the reader involved, and did I say it’s funny? It’s funny.

Oh, and I will also say … I urge you to add this action-filled, entertaining book to your ‘to be read’ pile. It’s great for middle-grade readers right on up to, and including, grandmas. (I very much enjoyed it. 🙂 ) Its short chapters are very convenient when one does not have much time to read in one sitting, but you really won’t want the time between readings to be long.

This book has been noticed in high places, which the author will tell about, so … Please come back on Thursday, January 31, for my entertaining interview with Steve Vernon. He is offering a copy of “Sinking Deeper OR My ~~awesome~~ ~~brilliant~~ ~~Questionable~~ Heroic Decision to Invent a Sea Monster” for one of you who leaves a comment after that interview. you’ll love it!

You can find Sinking Deeper OR My ~~awesome~~ ~~brilliant~~ ~~Questionable~~ Heroic Decision to Invent a Sea Monster listed on my BUY THE BOOK! page.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Reminder: book giveaway January 22, and news!!

Hello everyone! I have exciting reminders and news for you!

REMINDER #1:

This is to remind you of the giveaway of one of Sue Harrison‘s books tomorrow. If you have left a comment, you have a chance to win!! If you have not left a comment HERE, what’s stopping you? You have until 6 PM EST, Tuesday, January 22 to do so.

REMINDER #2:

If you are keeping note of my COUNTDOWN CLOCK, you will see there are only three days to go! To go? Go where, you might ask?

hint 1: On the morning of January 24 the first installment of an exciting monthly feature will be posted.

hint 2: It is a help for writers. You won’t want to miss this!

hint 3: It is offered by an accomplished author.

This is a great time for you to sign up for email notifications of new posts on my blog.

NEWS:

If you have been following my blog, you will know that we have been under added stress with cancer diagnosis, surgery, recovery, and waiting for test results. Those results were received this morning — the lengthy pathology report summed up that my husband is cancer free! When I called and told him he laughed with relief. It is such a load off us with all else going on. I think when he walks in the door tonight I might cry with happiness. 🙂 What he doesn’t know until he gets home is that we are going out to celebrate tonight with our family (eight or nine of us) to dinner at Swiss Chalet. It feels like a new day.

I heard on the radio this morning that today, January 21, is known as Blue Monday. As my sister-in-law said: “Blue Monday debunked!!” 🙂 It also is known as International Hug day. I can assure you, my husband is going to be sufficiently hugged today, starting with me! 🙂 A big Thank you, to everyone who prayed.

Reminders: Leave a comment for your chance to win a book; sign up for email notifications to new posts on my blog; come back to find out what the special feature is all about. Full details on that tomorrow when the winner of Sue Harrison’s book is announced.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

Book Review: Mother Earth Father Sky – by Sue Harrison

This is a slightly edited repeat, first posted June 24, 2011. I am re-posting because I have had the pleasure of an interview with the author, Sue Harrison. After the interview (coming January 17) she will be giving away one of her books to one of you – winner’s choice which title! 🙂

Book: Mother Earth Father Sky

Author: Sue Harrison

Publisher: Doubleday

Date: June 1990

Genre: Prehistoric fiction

Pages: 313, hardcover

Price: US $19.95; CDN $24.95

My rating: Amazing, startling, satisfying read

Mother Earth Father Sky is the first book in a trilogy that takes us into the lives of an ancient North American people in Alaska. If that sounds boring, don’t be fooled.

To be honest, I hardly know what to say about this book. At the writing of this review, having just finished reading it I’m barely back to the here-and-now, and the story of Chagak is still fresh in my mind. To say that Sue Harrison wrote an amazing prehistoric fiction novel scarcely describes what she masterfully accomplished. Over the course of nine years she studied, researched and lived in her creative mind the tale of a long ago culture in Alaska, focusing on one Aleut woman’s struggle to survive and overcome a very harsh reality. That woman, Chagak, lived in a primitive time consisting of warrior tribes, legends, crude customs, myths, and magic, but also love, family ties, and community. The author made it all come alive through the power of the written word in a very easy-to-read style. I was held from the beginning of this book to its last page – left wanting to read more about the people I had come to know.

This bestselling novel is not newly released but was published in 1990. I was fortunate to be gifted a copy and I’m so glad to have received it. If you come across Mother Earth Father Sky and you are not offended by the cruel reality and graphic descriptions of the belief system of prehistoric man, then do grab the opportunity to read this book.

You can find Mother Earth Father Sky listed on my BUY THE BOOK! page.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings!

At what speed do you read?

As you know, I love to read. I love to immerse myself in a book and not come out until absolutely necessary. That word ‘necessary’ covers more ground now, but on those days I can claim some time for myself just to read – and read only – it is delicious time well spent.

How fast do you read? Do you know? Does it even matter? My reading time varies, but once I’m into the story I cover a lot of ground in a fair amount of time.

Last year I came across the neatest thing! Perhaps you have seen this yourself. It’s a test to find out how fast you read at your normal speed. I tried it then, but I don’t remember my results. I tried it again this morning. Now, I’m not a speed reader by any stretch of the imagination; I tend to savour each word and scene as I go along which doesn’t even put me into college student reading speed. But, at my pace I apparently would be able to read War and Peace in twenty-six hours and ten minutes. That’s not bad considering the size of that book, and I’ve been nibbling away at it for months to now be a little over half way through it. (As an aside, I am enjoying War and Peace – it’s just that I don’t have a lot of time to spend on reading only, and without interruption, or reading only that one novel, or I’d be further along – and likely finished it.) The test also told me I can read two books on my Kindle before recharging, assuming an average book has 136,604 words.

I thought you might be interested in trying it for yourself. Just click on this link and have fun with it: INTERACTIVE READING SPEED TEST

You may find that if you do the test again you will be given an excerpt from a different novel to read and probably come up with different results.

Do you know how fast you read? Try the test and let me know how it compares with what you thought.

Watch for an exciting, special feature and page to help writers — soon to be incorporated into my blog!

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

In this New Year do you resolve to, or hope to?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Can you believe this is “the year of our Lord, two thousand thirteen“? 2013! To me, that seems a strange number; it feels different somehow.

I think the beginning of a new year always brings with it that ‘starting fresh’ feeling, the way the outdoors looks after a fresh fall of snow — all sparkly and clean. The new year comes in like that — sparkly and clean with nothing marring it or tracking it up. We want our new year to be that way … unmarred with no tell-tale tracks. We want to start fresh, leaving the mistakes and disappointments behind.

Have you made any resolutions? For the past several years I have not recorded or purposely written a list of New Year Resolutions. The many times I fell short, and then felt guilty about failing, led me to give up that emotional self-abuse.

Or are yours more like “hope to’s”? What I usually do is simply think about what I want to try to change in the new year, which is sort of making resolutions but it often happens less deliberately. It could be called my list of “hope to’s” instead.

My goals this year are centered around reading, writing, and attitude – none of which should be a surprise to you. 🙂

READING: You have no idea how many books I have collected over the years with the intention of reading them someday. The problem with that is my TBR (to be read) stash continues to grow as I keep adding to it and have less time to read. The older books are still waiting and the newer ones keep coming. My husband gave me an e-reader for Christmas (a Kindle) so now I have a growing digital TBR book stash! (What complicates it further is that I found a “free e-books on Amazon” daily list. Oh woe is me! but how delightful at the same time.) To say I love books is almost an understatement. My plan is for some of them to be reviewed on my blog, a few old ones, but mostly new titles. I have a waiting list.
WRITING: Of course I hope to continue writing picture book drafts and working on the ones I already have. I also hope to finish writing my novel this year. As for my blog, I’m now trying to formulate a better plan regarding my posts. I will still be writing book reviews, interviewing authors, posting about other things in between, but possibly something else will also take shape on my blog if I can get it worked out. Being better organized along with the habit of scheduling would be very beneficial. I have not signed on for the extra writing challenges this year that I enjoyed the past few years, as much as I would have liked that. Perhaps it will give me more chance to catch up on emails, blogging, and the book writing I mentioned. Maybe next year I will be able to try some of them again.
ATTITUDE: As you know, my word – since my birthday in November – is GRATEFUL. I have not made it my habit yet, but that is something I am aiming for – to become consciously grateful every day for something. And to say out loud (to God as well as to myself) — “I am grateful!” I believe in every circumstance there is something for which to be grateful, and once found it changes one’s attitude and perspective, and releases the stress – at least a little. I believe an attitude change will help me handle things much better, including the combined challenges as a wife, caregiver, and writer.

Perhaps I have set resolutions for 2013, but I prefer to call them goals … goals that I hope to achieve – not just in 2013, but as positive long-term life-affecting choices.

How about you – what resolutions or ‘hope to’s’ have you made for 2013?