middle grade

Uncovering Tutankhamun’s Tomb by Candace Fleming Tour and Giveaway

August 31, 2021 By Heather Leave a Comment

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the THE CURSE OF THE MUMMY: Uncovering Tutankhamun’s Tomb by Candace Fleming Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

About the Book:

Title: THE CURSE OF THE MUMMY: Uncovering Tutankhamun’s Tomb

Author: Candace Fleming

Pub. Date: September 7, 2021

Publisher: Scholastic Focus

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook

Pages: 304

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org

Award-winning and critically acclaimed author Candace Fleming presents the edge-of-your-seat true story of the search for Tutankhamun’s tomb, the Western public’s belief that the dig was cursed, and the battle for ownership of the treasures within.

During the reign of the New Kingdom of Egypt, the boy pharaoh Tutankhamun ruled and died tragically young. In order to send him on his way into the afterlife, his tomb was filled with every treasure he would need after death. And then, it was lost to time, buried in the sands of the Valley of the Kings.

His tomb was also said to be cursed.

Centuries later, as Egypt-mania gripped Europe, two Brits — a rich earl with a habit for gambling and a disreputable, determined archeologist — worked for years to rediscover and open Tutankhamun’s tomb. But once it was uncovered, would ancient powers take their revenge for disturbing and even looting the pharaoh’s resting place? What else could explain the mysterious illnesses, accidents, and deaths that began once it was found?

REVIEW: What a fascinating book! When I was younger I wanted to be an archeologist and this book fed right into those dreams. With historic photos, maps, diagrams, artifacts and stories the author has fully fleshed out the backstory behind finding the ancient Egyptian tombs. I enjoyed reading about the men involved in the expeditions, including the workers. Also included are black pages with myths, legends and tales of cursed objects and supernatural activity surrounding the tombs. With an air of Raiders of the Lost Ark, the book is factual and historically correct for students of all ages. Thanks so much to the publisher for the sneak peek of Uncovering Tutankhamun’s Tomb. All thoughts are my own.

About Candace:

Candace Fleming awarded herself the Newbery Medal in fifth grade after scraping the gold sticker off the class copy of The Witch of Blackbird Pond and pasting it onto her first novel—a ten-page, ten-chapter mystery called Who Done It? She’s been collecting awards (her own, not Elizabeth George Speare’s) ever since.

Today, Candace is the versatile and acclaimed author of more than forty books for children and young adults, including the Los Angeles Times Book Prize honored The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of the Russian Empire; Boston Globe/Horn Book Award-winning biography, The Lincolns; the bestselling picture book, Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!; the Sibert-Award-winning Giant Squid; and the beloved Boxes for Katje. She contributed the chapter on Katharine of Aragon to Fatal Throne. Photo credit: Michael Lionstar.

Giveaway Details:

3 winners will win a finished copy of THE CURSE OF THE MUMMY, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

8/24/2021	Kait Plus Books	Excerpt
8/25/2021	The Momma Spot	Review
8/25/2021	Lifestyle of Me	Review
8/26/2021	#BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog	Excerpt
8/27/2021	A Dream Within A Dream	Excerpt
8/27/2021	Rajiv’s Reviews	Review
8/28/2021	YABooksCentral	Interview

Week Two:

8/29/2021	Log Cabin Library	Excerpt
8/29/2021	BookHounds ya	Review
8/30/2021	Two Chicks on Books	Excerpt
8/31/2021	Little Red Reads	Review
8/31/2021	Jaime’s World	Excerpt
9/1/2021	Locks, Hooks and Books	Review
9/2/2021	@lexijava	Excerpt
9/3/2021	Two Points of Interest	Review
9/4/2021	hauntedbybooks	Review
9/4/2021	Enjoyingbooksagain	Review

Week Three:

9/5/2021	The Bookwyrm’s Den	Review
9/6/2021	Books and Zebras @jypsylynn	Review

Alone by Megan E. Freeman

January 29, 2021 By Heather Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Alone on January 12, 2021
Pages: 416
Format: ARC
Buy the Book • Goodreads
four-stars

Perfect for fans of Hatchet and the I Survived series, this harrowing middle grade debut novel-in-verse from a Pushcart Prize–nominated poet tells the story of a young girl who wakes up one day to find herself utterly alone in her small Colorado town.

When twelve-year-old Maddie hatches a scheme for a secret sleepover with her two best friends, she ends up waking up to a nightmare. She’s alone—left behind in a town that has been mysteriously evacuated and abandoned.

With no one to rely on, no power, and no working phone lines or internet access, Maddie slowly learns to survive on her own. Her only companions are a Rottweiler named George and all the books she can read. After a rough start, Maddie learns to trust her own ingenuity and invents clever ways to survive in a place that has been deserted and forgotten.

As months pass, she escapes natural disasters, looters, and wild animals. But Maddie’s most formidable enemy is the crushing loneliness she faces every day. Can Maddie’s stubborn will to survive carry her through the most frightening experience of her life?

Review

I’ve been a fan of books in verse since Lisa Schroeder’s book Far From You. Freeman’s Alone flows as easily as Schroeder’s and is captivating. The 12- year-old MC, Maddie is stranded, left behind, with only a dog to keep her company. Against all odds, she must survive. Readers will want to know what she is up against, how she endures the elements, natural disasters and uncertainty. I loved Maddie’s grit and determination, as well a her decision to use the local library to research her options. Toward the end there a are beautiful references to poetry, hope begins to bloom.

Alone challenges readers to examine what they could and could not live without. We see the ultimate value of human contact. It leaves a message of resilience and nature’s ability to start over. In a time of pandemic, the author asks us to assess what really is highest in the hierarchy of needs.

Content: guns, violence. There is one scene which us particularly disturbing. Parents and teachers will want to pre-read.

Thanks so much to Aladdin for the captivating read.

About the Author

Megan E. Freeman attended an elementary school where poets visited her classroom every week, and she has been a writer ever since. She writes middle grade and young adult fiction. Megan is also a Pushcart Prize–nominated poet. An award-winning teacher with decades of classroom experience, Megan taught multiple subjects across the arts and humanities to students of all ages. She lives near Boulder, Colorado. Visit her online at MeganEFreeman.com.

THE DRAGON THIEF by Zetta Elliott Tour and Giveaway

January 26, 2021 By Heather Leave a Comment

Little Red Reads is happy to be hosting a spot on the THE DRAGON THIEF by Zetta Elliott Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Enter the giveaway below!

About The Book:

Title: THE DRAGON THIEF (Dragons in a Bag #2)

Author: Zetta Elliott, Geneva B (Illustrator)

Pub. Date: January 12, 2021

Publisher: Yearling Books

Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, eBook, audiobook

Pages: 176

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon , Kindle, Audible, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org

STEALING A BABY DRAGON WAS EASY! HIDING IT IS A LITTLE MORE COMPLICATED, IN THIS SEQUEL TO REVIEWER FAVORITE ‘DRAGONS IN A BAG’.

Jaxon had just one job – to return three baby dragons to the realm of magic. But when he got there, only two dragons were left in the bag. His best friend’s sister, Kavita, is a dragon thief!

Kavita only wanted what was best for the baby dragon. But now every time she feeds it, the dragon grows and grows! How can she possible keep it a secret? Even worse, stealing it has upset the balance between the worlds. The gates to the other realm have shut tight! Jaxon needs all the help he can get to find Kavita, outsmart a trickster named Blue, and return the baby dragon to its true home.

Grab the other book in the series!

Dragons in a Bag

Review: What a fun premise! Dragons in Brooklyn, a Ma who’s a witch and a transport machine in the middle of a downtown park. Zetta Elliott leads middle grade readers on a quest to find and capture baby dragons all while avoiding time traps and tricksters. Jaxon has so may discoveries about himself, his heritage and his potential. Time travel can be dangerous! Fast paced and easy to read fantasy with colorful characters. We loved it!

About Zetta:

I’m a Black feminist writer of poetry, plays, essays, novels, and stories for children. I was born and raised in Canada, but have lived in the US for over 20 years. I earned my PhD in American Studies from NYU in 2003; I have taught at Ohio University, Louisiana State University, Mount Holyoke College, Hunter College, Bard High School Early College, and Borough of Manhattan Community College. My poetry has been published in New Daughters of Africa, We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices, the Cave Canem anthology The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South, Check the Rhyme: an Anthology of Female Poets and Emcees, and Coloring Book: an Eclectic Anthology of Fiction and Poetry by Multicultural Writers. My novella, Plastique, was excerpted in T Dot Griots: an Anthology of Toronto’s Black Storytellers, and my plays have been staged in New York, Cleveland, and Chicago. My essays have appeared in School Library Journal, Horn Book, and Publishers Weekly. My picture book, Bird, won the Honor Award in Lee & Low Books’ New Voices Contest and the Paterson Prize for Books for Young Readers. My young adult novel, A Wish After Midnight, has been called “a revelation…vivid, violent and impressive history.” Ship of Souls was published in February 2012; it was named a Booklist Top Ten Sci-fi/Fantasy Title for Youth and was a finalist for the Phillis Wheatley Book Award. My YA novel, The Door at the Crossroads, was a finalist in the Speculative Fiction category of the 2017 Cybils Awards, and my picture book, Melena’s Jubilee, won a 2017 Skipping Stones Honor Award. I received the Children’s Literature Association’s Article Award for my 2014 essay, “The Trouble with Magic: Conjuring the Past in New York City Parks.” I am an advocate for greater diversity and equity in publishing, and I have self-published numerous illustrated books for younger readers under my own imprint, Rosetta Press; 3 were named Best of the Year by the Bank Street Center for Children’s Literature, and Benny Doesn’t Like to Be Hugged was a first-grade fiction selection for the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee. Dragons in a Bag, a middle grade fantasy novel, was published by Random House in 2018; the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) named it a Notable Children’s Book. Its sequel, The Dragon Thief, was named a Best Middle Grade Book of 2019 by CBC Books. Say Her Name, a young adult poetry collection, was published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in January 2020; A Place Inside of Me: a Poem to Heal the Heart from FSG was named a 2021 Notable Poetry Book by the National Council of Teachers of English. I currently live in Evanston, IL.

Click here if you’re not sure how to pronounce my name.

I’m represented by Johanna Castillo of Writers House.

Photo credit: me!

Find out about the illustrator Geneva B HERE!

Giveaway Details:

3 lucky winners will win a finished copy of THE DRAGON THIEF, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

1/18/2021	Two Chicks on Books	Excerpt
1/19/2021	Thepagesinbetween	Excerpt
1/20/2021	BookHounds YA	Review
1/21/2021	She Just Loves Books	Review
1/22/2021	Nay’s Pink Bookshelf	Review

Week Two:

1/25/2021	Nerdophiles	Review
1/26/2021	Little Red Reads	Review
1/27/2021	Midnightbooklover	Review
1/28/2021	The Bookwyrm’s Den	Review
1/29/2021	Momfluenster	Instagram Post