All of the pumpkins in Pumpkins Ville are disappearing and the pumpkin farmers are worried about not being able to support their families because unless they find the pumpkin thieves, they will have no crops for sale. Lilly overhears her father and is determined to do something to help him capture the pumpkin thieves. So, Lilly waits until her family has fallen asleep and then sneaks out of the house and goes down to the pond where the largest pumpkins are to wait for the pumpkin thieves. Her plan is to wait until they show up and then scream for her father to come and catch them.
We first encountered the delightful writing of P.J. Cowan in March with the review of Michael O’Brien and the Magic Hat. I was pleased to be able to request another book from Ms. Cowan and asked for her selection. Tilbee Toadlet’s Trip to Town was the book she sent stating it is one of her personal favorites. I always enjoy a chance to read an author’s favorite work, and I certainly was not disappointed.
Straight into the action and more importantly, into the character’s mind. Blood Of Power Unredeemed, has an open, clear style that creates a fabulous atmosphere, where scenes leap out and grab the reader, pulling all further into the story.
Crosswords, acrostics, logic problems, word search, all of these were a big part of my youth. I could spend hours with a puzzle book figuring out the answers and filling them in. Sudoku had not yet come into vogue, or I’m sure I would have spent many a pleasurable hour working on those as well. With More Kindergarten Sudoku: 4×4 Classic Sudoku Puzzles for Kids
April Hamilton, founder of Publetariat.com, a website designed for indie authors, recently interviewed me about my thoughts on self-publishing, my personal use of Lulu, and the creation of the LLBR. I’ve always been a fan of April’s, ever since both of us participated in the very first ABNA contest. It’s amazing to look back and see how far both of us have come since then, and to see what we have accomplished. To me, Publetariat is my online newspaper of information when it comes to self-publishing. Before visiting all of the other review blogs, I usually stop there at least once a day.
I did enjoy Marva Dasef’s charming Tales Of A Texas Boy, with its bonus insight into past events and lifestyles. Based on her father’s reminiscence, these appealing stories take us back to 1930s Texas during the Depression era when life was very different. Each tale begins with an explanatory paragraph and is embellished with wonderful old family photos appropriate to the story. Modeled on Dasef’s father, “Eddie” narrates with a touch of dialect so natural it was as if I could hear his voice inside my head.
I first came across the writings of Paul Ciccone Jr. last year when I read and reviewed his book, OH Brother. That review went on to become our top review of 2008 and Paul’s book was probably the most talked about. Like Mick Rooney, Paul’s writing definitely commands your full attention and is one that you will want to take time to read and mull over, rather than rush through it.
Here at LLBR, we love to hear success stories from self-published authors and from writers who are using Lulu.com to their advantage. Recently, we were introduced to a website called Theo-Saurus. They provide specialized children’s books for their customers and use Lulu mainly as their printer. We contacted Leah Herde, writer and owner of Theo-Saurus, to learn about about her business and how it works.
I remember coming across a blog post about this contest last year, and I thought about submitting something. But at the time, the deadline was fast approaching and I didn’t have a short story which I would describe as “Southern Gothic.” What is Southern Gothic you might ask?
I have to admit that Thomas Patrick’s book appealed to me because of its book cover. Don’t judge a book and all. The cover itself is not appealing as it appears to be a bad scan of an old sepia photograph or quite possibly a photo taken of a photograph in a frame since there seems to be a shiny glare just across the woman’s face. However, I have a huge respect for the sepia photographs of yesterday and have been known to buy them up when I see them in junk stores and antique places. Yes, I have an odd collection of pictures of complete strangers…your great great grandparents, perhaps? So the old lady in the long dress feeding the chickens out in the yard spoke to me and I knew I wanted to read this book.
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