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The Penderwicks At Last Blog Tour and Giveaway

May 14, 2018 By Heather Leave a Comment

Genres: Children's

Title: THE PENDERWICKS AT LAST
Author: Jeanne Birdsall
Pub. Date: May 15, 2018
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Formats: Hardcover, eBook, Audiobook
Pages: 256
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Audible, B&N, iBooks, TBD

The finale you’ve all been waiting for: The Penderwicks at Last is the final, flawless installment in the modern classic series from National Book Award winner and New York Times bestselling author Jeanne Birdsall!

Nine years, five older siblings, a few beloved dogs, and an endless array of adventures–these are the things that have shaped Lydia’s journey since readers first met her in The Penderwicks in Spring.

Now it’s summertime, and eleven-year-old Lydia is dancing at the bus stop, waiting for big sister Batty to get home from college.

This is a very important dance and a very important wait because the two youngest sisters are about to arrive home to find out that the Penderwicks will all be returning to Arundel this summer, the place where it all began. And better still is the occasion: a good old-fashioned, homemade-by-Penderwicks wedding.

Bursting with heart and brimming with charm, this is a joyful, hilarious ode to the family we love best. And oh my MOPS–Meeting of Penderwick Siblings–does Jeanne Birdsall’s The Penderwicks at Last crescendo to one perfect Penderwick finale.

About the Author

Jeanne Birdsall grew up in the suburbs west of Philadelphia, where she attended wonderful public schools. Jeanne had lots of great teachers, but her favorites were: Mrs. Corkhill, sixth grade, who encouraged her intellectual curiosity; Mr. Tremonte, eighth grade algebra, who taught Jeanne to love and respect math; and Miss Basehore, second and fourth year Latin, to whom Jeanne (and Mr. Penderwick) will be forever grateful.
Although she first decided to become a writer when she was ten years old, it took Jeanne until she was forty-one to get started. In the years in between, Jeanne had many strange jobs to support herself, and also worked hard as a photographer, the kind that makes art. Some of Jeanne’s photographs are included in the permanent collections of museums, including the Smithsonian and the Philadelphia Art Museum. Her work can be seen in several galleries, including the R. Michelson Galleries in western Massachusetts.
Jeanne’s home now is with her husband in Northampton, Massachusetts. Their house is old and comfortable, full of unruly animals, and surrounded by gardens.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Our family has long been fans of the Penderwick series. We immerse ourselves in their adventures via audio book and have followed the family as they grow up together. The last installment was magical as usual. So many sisters, parents who speak latin, and a beautiful setting from their childhood. Arundel is the place dreams are made of and is the perfect setting for a wedding! Lydia and Batty have much mischief to make.

What we enjoy so much about these books is the atmosphere and the closeness of the family you can feel with each interaction. It ins’t often you find a bunch of sisters who are each unique yet have a sense of unity and loyalty to each pother and their legacy. Each in a different stage of life, yet touching back to get together and to counsel with their parents and siblings. There is a comfort in the dynamic of tradition.

Plenty of animal friends and dogs as well. What would the stories be without the puppies who help Lydia merge with any new place and time. This is a series not to miss and perfect to read all together. Hoping we see a spin off series which continues to track the Penderwicks as they empty the nest and have families of their own. But in the meantime, be sure to pick this up as a Summer read. Thanks so much to Rockstar Book Tours and Knopf Books for Young Readers for allowing us a chance to enjoy the last installment.

Giveaway

3 winners will receive a finished copy of THE PENDERWICKS AT LAST, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule

Week One:
5/7/2018- Bri’s Book Nook- Review
5/8/2018- Christen Krumm- Review
5/9/2018- RhythmicBooktrovert- Review
5/10/2018- Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers- Review
5/11/2018- Reading with Rendz- Review

Week Two:
5/14/2018- Little Red Reads- Review
5/15/2018- Buttons Book Reviews- Review
5/16/2018- Will Read Anything- Review
5/17/2018- Two Points of Interest- Review
5/18/2018- The Desert Bibliophile- Review

The Way to BEA Blog Tour and Giveaway

September 22, 2017 By Heather Leave a Comment

About the Book:

Title: THE WAY TO BEA

Author: Kat Yeh

Pub. Date: September 19, 2017

Publisher:  Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Pages: 352

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook

Find it: Amazon, B&N, iBooks, TBD, Goodreads

 

With a charming voice, winning characters, and a perfectly-woven plot, Kat Yeh delivers a powerful story of friendship and finding a path towards embracing yourself.


Everything in Bea’s world has changed. She’s starting seventh grade newly friendless and facing big changes at home, where she is about to go from only child to big sister. Feeling alone and adrift, and like her words don’t deserve to be seen, Bea takes solace in writing haiku in invisible ink and hiding them in a secret spot.

But then something incredible happens–someone writes back. And Bea begins to connect with new friends, including a classmate obsessed with a nearby labyrinth and determined to get inside. As she decides where her next path will lead, she just might discover that her words–and herself–have found a new way to belong.

 

Little Red Reads Q&A with Kat Yeh, author of The Way to Bea

1. Who would be Bea’s favorite poet and why? What would be her favorite poem?

Bea would have many, many favorite poets and she would have different poets of the week she’d read and smile about, loving whatever it is they do that is different and fun and perfectly beautiful or silly or strange. I don’t think she’d be able to pick a single favorite one.

But she would definitely have a favorite poem.

It would be one that she worked hard to memorize and could recite on demand—and also when no one demands it at all. That poem would be Jabberwocky from Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll.

Bea loves Jabberwocky because of its joyful use of made-up, mashed-up words. She loves the feeling of adventure it has and the way that Lewis Carroll did not seem to give a darn about what anyone else might think. He just wrote what he wanted. Bea would want to draw curly-worded illustrations of the poem on one of the giant canvasses that her mom keeps in the studio and she’d fill the entire blank space with color and strangeness and she’d come to dinner covered in paint and smiling. She’d go online and start trying to learn French and German, so that she could start to memorize those translated versions of the poem – because the foreign language translations of Carroll’s made-up words (like the German Frumiösen Banderschntzchen!) send her over the moon with happiness.

2. What advice would you give to tweens and teens about connecting with their parents?

Hmmm. Because no two humans are alike (and parents are humans, after all, just like you and me), this is not a simple question to answer.

Some parents are open and loving and expressive. Some are quiet and secretive. And there are millions of others in between. All parents are so different that there is really only one thing you can say they all have in common:

There are times they find life just as hard and confusing as you do.

But they’ve also been around a lot longer than you have, so they’ll have experiences to share and things they’ve learned that can help you.

So, talk with them as much as you can. Be honest.
If something is upsetting, try the best you can to express what you need to express. Cry if you have to, then when you’re done, you can try explaining again. If you can’t speak, write it down. If you don’t know what to write down, draw it. Or paint it. Or find a song that says it. There are many ways to tell and show people how you feel.

Listen to what they say even if it feels like they’re saying it for the millionth time.
Ask them what they mean if you don’t understand.
Know that there’s a difference between a parent saying NO! because they’re in a bad mood and saying NO! because something is seriously dangerous or inappropriate or just wrong. I think most parents want to say Yes. They love saying Yes. But they have to be responsible grown-ups and say No sometimes.

Even if it’s hard, try to understand what it’s like to be them. It’s good practice. When you think about how other people feel, you become part of bringing people together in the world.

And always tell the people you love – whether it’s a parent or maybe someone who is a parent-figure for you – like or your grandparents, your aunts or uncles, or a grown-up brother or sister, a family friend or teacher or coach— whoever it is that has that role in your life, make sure you tell them you care.

In THE WAY TO BEA, Bea’s parents seem completely loving and supercool and wonderful, but as we read, we learn that even people who look this way from the outside have flaws. This isn’t the end of the world. It just means you might have to do some figuring out for how you want to handle it. Figuring things out is good practice too.

But then I guess this is all practice, right? I mean, no one is perfect. Whether we are young humans or grown-up parent humans, the best any of us can do is keep practicing and trying to be as true and straightforward and honest and open and giving as we can be.

 

3. If you had to go back and re-do middle school, what would you change?

I don’t think I would change much. As awkward and struggling and confused as I was for so much of middle school, I needed to go through everything I did in order to become the mom and writer and artist and human that I am now.

I think the difficult times we face are a lot like weight-lifting.

You lift heavy weights.
Your muscles hurt.
But that’s the only way they get stronger. They have to go through that.
Then they heal. And feel great!
You lift the next time and you hurt again, then you heal again.
It takes a while. But you keep getting stronger.

Sometimes life hurts. But we work our way through it and become stronger.
And we learn to love and appreciate all the wonderful things around us even more.

So I don’t think I would change any of the hard things that happened,
but I would change one thing.
I wish I had tried talking to someone when things were hard, instead of bottling it up inside. Because we might have to go through some hard things in life, but we never have to go through them alone.

 

4. How can we know if our friends are true? What advice would you give to someone going through friendship growing pains?

You will have many friends. And different friends. Friends you drift away from and go back to and some that you end up leaving behind.
You never know what your next friend may look like. But they are out there. Give people a chance. Treat them the way you’d like to be treated. Be happy and curious and kind.
True friends want you to have all these things.
And they are out there.
Friendships change, like everything else. This doesn’t have to be bad. It could mean that the next amazing person is just up ahead, waiting for you.

 

About Kat:

Kat grew up reading, doodling, and scribbling in Westtown. She worked for many years in advertising and sports marketing, while writing children’s books in the wee hours of the night. She currently lives on Long Island where she can see water every day and explore all the bay and harbor beaches with her family.

Website | Twitter |Instagram| Pinterest | Goodreads

 

Giveaway Details

 

3 winners will receive a finished copy of THE WAY TO BEA, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

9/18/2017- Jennifer Mary G.– Interview

9/19/2017- YAYOMG!– Review

9/20/2017- BookHounds YA– Guest Post

9/21/2017- Word Spelunking– Review

9/22/2017- Little Red Reads– Interview

 

Week Two:

9/25/2017- Mrs. Knott’s Book Nook– Review

9/26/2017- YA Book Madness– Review

9/27/2017- La La the Library– Review

9/28/2017- The Autumn Bookshelf– Interview

9/29/2017- Cindy’s Love of Books– Review

50 Cities Blog Extravagana- Baltimore, Maryland

July 18, 2017 By Heather Leave a Comment

50 Cities of the U.S.A. by Gabrielle Balkan

9781847808707Author: Gabrielle Balkan

Illustrated by: Sol Linero

Format: Hardback, 112 Pages

ISBN: 9781847808707

Publisher: Wide-Eyed Editions

Series: The 50 States

Amazon
To Be Published: September 7, 2017

From the team that brought you The 50 States comes 50 Cities of the USA. Explore skycraper streets, museum miles, local food trucks and city parks from Anchorage to Washington D.C., and discover more than 2,000 facts that celebrate the people, culture, and diversity that have helped make America what it is today.

Cities include Anchorage • Atlanta • Austin • Baltimore • Birmingham • Boise • Boston • Burlington • Charleston     Charlotte • Cheyenne • Chicago • Cleveland • Columbus • Denver • Detroit • Hartford • Honolulu • Houston   Indianapolis • Jacksonville • Kansas City • Las Vegas • Little Rock • Los Angeles • Louisville • Memphis   Miami • Milwaukee • Minneapolis-St. Paul   Nashville • New Orleans • New York • Newark • Newport • Oklahoma City • Philadelphia • Phoenix • Pittsburgh • Portland, MA • Portland, OR • Rapid City • Salt Lake City • San Francisco • Santa Fe • Seattle • St. Louis • Tucson • Virginia Beach • Washington, D.C.

Here are some fun facts about Baltimore:

  • 7 FOOT KNOLL LIGHTHOUSE Lighthouse keepers in the 1870s lit the beacon lamp every evening and cleaned the lens every morning.
  • B&O RAILROAD MUSEUM Explore artifacts from Maryland’s 1830 Mount Clare Station—the first railroad station in the United States.
  • CYLBURN ARBORETUM This city park has gorgeous trees, gardens, and greenhouses that grow plants for the city’s parks.
  • EMERSON BROMO-SELTZER TOWER Once Baltimore’s tallest building, this 15-story tower is home to 33 artists studios…and a fire station!
  • GREAT FIRE OF 1904  Brave and strong fire horses like Goliath of Engine Company 15 helped fight fires before fire engines were invented.
  • GREEN MOUNT CEMETERY The grave of the person who invented the Ouija board is shaped…like the spooky game!
  • INNER HABOR Paddle boats here are modeled after “Chessie,” a fabled sea monster said to swim Chesapeake Bay.
  • JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICINE was the first U.S. medical school to admit women and use rubber gloves during surgery, both in the 1890s.
  • LEXINGTON MARKET is the place to get Maryland’s famously sweet blue crabs, who can only move side to side—they can’t go forwards or backwards!
  • McCORMICK SPICE In 1889, an entrepreneurial 25-year-old sold these spices door-to-door. Today, some 2,000 people work here.
  • NAACP Founded in 1909 by leaders like W.E.B. Du Bois and Mary White Ovington, this civil rights organization supports equal opportunity.
  • NATIONAL MUSEUM OF DENTISTRY Here, brush a giant set of chompers, see George Washington’s dentures and bizarre vintage toothbrushes.
  • ORIOLE PARK AT CAMDEN YARDS This beautiful ballpark displays statues of Oriole greats like Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer, and Cal Ripton Jr.
  • PATTERSON PARK is a muddy stop on the annual 14-mile Kinetic Sculpture Race; competitors build outrageous, usually bike-powered, floats that travel on water and land.
  • REGINALD F. LEWIS MUSEUM An annual Kwanzaa party celebrates seven principles, like Kuumba: to leave our community more beautiful than we inherited it.
  • THE AMERICAN INDIAN CENTER boasts art programs and a heritage museum with Lumbee art and culture exhibits.
  • THE AMERICAN VISIONARY ART MUSEUM celebrates creative, innovative art like that of Deborah Berger, an autistic “visionary” who created great work from yarn.
  • THE BOOK THING Volunteers give away the some 200,000 books at this hot book spot—for free!
  • THE MARYLAND ZOO is home to Rise and Conquer, two 1.8 lb ravens who are brothers, like to eat cat food and shred telephone books.
  • THE MOUNT VERNON FLOWER MART is the un-official kick-off of lemon stick season, made with a peppermint stick and a lemon—yum!
  • THE MOVIE HAIRSPRAY about 1960s Baltimore, created by local legend and movie director John Waters, is now a Broadway play.
  • THE NATIONAL GREAT BLACKS IN WAX MUSEUM presents life-size wax figures of heroes like Zora Neale Hurston, Nelson Mandela, and Henry “Box” Brown, who, in 1849, mailed himself to freedom.
  • THE PIGTOWN FESTIVAL annually celebrates the neighborhood’s roots as a site of German butchers with great food…and a pig race! Oink!
  • TRANSAMAERICA TOWER For some 35 years, Peregrine falcons have lived on the 33rd floor of this, Baltimore’s tallest building.
  • USS TORSK (SS-423) During WWII, U.S. submarines like this were named for fish. This sub is now a museum, re-painted as a shark!

About the Author

Author  GABRIELLE BALKAN  has worked with Scholastic, Harper Collins and Penguin. She lives and works in New York.

Illustrator  SOL LINERO  lives and works in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her clients include Scholastic, Oprah magazine,   Jamie Oliver Magazine and Wired.

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We are the children's division of Fire and Ice. We review baby board books to middle-grade titles. We also review products and toys for the family. For inquiries on reviews, blog tours, and author interviews contact FireandIce.Heather@gmail.com
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