The Secret Me Book by Rachel Kempster and Meg Leder

  I love this book and it's cover. It is so bright and cheerful that it begs to be picked up and hugged. 

A few weeks ago I received a review copy of this journal.  As I was opening the envelope, I called out to my daughter that I had received a new book.  Being a teenager, she usually rolls her eyes and says "whatever" with a emphatic Kiwi accent.  This time she actually walked into the room, took one look at the book and grabbed it out of my hands and said, "this one's for me", then left the room with while fanning through the pages.  I didn't see the book for over two weeks.  I had to go and excavate in her backpack to find it again.  I noticed that she had boldly inscribed the inside cover in the area that says "This secret book belongs to _________" with her name.  Several other pages are covered with her distinctive script in various bright coloured inks.

Don't be thinking that this book is only for teens, it will appeal to all ages.  It gives you a chance to explore and celebrate what it is that you truly like.  Do you have a ready answer for when you are asked about your favourite movie, book, meal.  The pages in this journal will ask you dozens of questions and leaves you space to write, draw or doodle your reply. Use it how and when you want in the order of your choosing.  There are also survey pages where you will read the responses from others. 

You can keep this book a secret from everyone, or share it with your dearest friends, or leave it as a memory for your children and grandchildren.  However you use, have fun, and I would suggest buying an extra copy as you'll probably want to have a copy to give away to your favourite friend/teen/mother/aunt/son/nephew/niece etc.

Rachel and Meg's website

Thanks to Sourcebooks for my review copy and use of the cover image.

First Nations Friday: Cradle Me by Debbie Slier

I was immediately attracted to the bright colourful pages in this board book.  Each page features a baby in  a cradle board.  This is the traditional method of many American Indian and other First Nations tribes for safely securing and transporting their babies.  While each cradle board serves the same purpose of keeping a baby safe, that's where the similarities end.  Each is shaped and decorated in a style of that particular tribe.   At the back of the book, there are thumbnail pictures of each board indentifying to which tribe it belongs.  The colours are bright and inviting.   The babies have been photographed with a different facial expressions and the description is printed large at the bottom of the page.  There is a space for the reader to write in the translation of that word into their language.

My children loved board books with photos of babies.  They would look at them again and again, never seeming to tire of them.  As a parent, you could use this book for further activities such as asking your child to point out particular colours,  comparing what is the same in the various cradle boards and then what is different.   It would be fun to draw an outline of a cradle board and then help your child decorate it either your tribal or cultural designs.

Thanks to Starbright Books and Netgalley for my digital copy of this book.

Thank -you to Starbright Books for the use of the cover image.

National Poetry Month - Swimming to the Surface by Saskia Maddock

It's National Poetry Month and I have been browsing and reading through a couple of my poetry books.  This morning, I once again picked up my copy of Swimming to the Surface by Canadian Poet Saskia Maddock.  It was a pleasure to have met Saskia at the Eden Mills Writers' Festival in September of 2011.

Every now and then, this book finds it's way to my hands and I read a sampling of poems.  I find it intriguing that the same poem can have a very different impact on me depending on my mood, time of day and overall situation I find myself in.  For me, most books are a read once item, once I finish the story, I am done, but poetry books are a repeat read.  I don't usually read cover to cover, but in bits and bites.  A little bit here and now and perhaps a totally different selection the next time I open that volume.

This morning it was the following poem that stopped me.  I am left pondering who or what is that dragon.  Depression or alcoholism. 

The Dragon

It lies in the corner, in the darkness, breathing softly, quietly
Its presence a comfort---almost...
It slumbers seemingly dead to the world but not to me


I sense it waiting patiently, biding its time
I know it wants me; I feel its need


The awful familiarity of its fire pulling on my soul if I let it,
its tongue flicking ever so gently against the muscles of my belly,
that haunting warmth spreading through me, shockingly
recognizable even after all this time...


I must stand vigilant against the dragon,
against its subtle emissaries who strive to break me;
it drowses quietly in the corner...


I keep watch.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

There has to be a way out; every maze must have a solution.  They have been searching for two years, yet the boys are no closer to solving this maze than they were when they first entered it.  Thomas's arrival in the glade, at the centre of the maze, appears to follow routine, at least for the next twenty-four hours, after which every pattern is broken and things start going crazy.

Thomas arrives in the maze with no idea of who he is and where he's been.  He feels totally lost and confused.  No one answers his questions, they brush them away with the excuse that he is the newbie, he just doesn't understand.  Of course he doesn't understand, none of the boys answer his inquiries.

While reading this novel I felt as though I was trapped in the maze with the boys.  I found my heart starting to race while Minho and Thomas were running to escape the grievers. I still don't know what grievers really are, but they are horribly nasty creatures.  I felt anxious each time they approached a corner of the maze.  In fact, I felt like Thomas, so many questions and very few answers. 

The glade itself is a fairly straightforward place.  Rather simple in fact.  It has housing, farming, and a forest with a burial yard.  The maze and it's reason for existence is complicated.  Then there is a world beyond.  What is happening out there and how does it  result in the boys being locked in the maze.  This story gives me lots to ponder and look forward to.  There are two further novels in this series: The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure.  Coming in August 2012 is the prequel The Kill Order.
Thanks to Random House for the use of the cover image.

Needlework Tuesday - Stitching Bit by Bit

Needlework Tuesday is open to all readers looking for inspiration, encouragement or who want to share their recent needlework project. Introduce yourself in the comments and be sure to leave a link to your current post. Feel free to grab the cute little mouse for your post.

 My Amalia scarf is growing slowly.  Since I reached the halfway point of the edging, I am getting a bit excited.  I can see that I will get this section completed.  Yippee.  For a while it was seeming as though it would never get done, but now I can see into the future (I wish) and imagine it being completed.  I am in the middle of motif 16.

Yesterday I went on a short road trip with a friend.  She is not a knitter, but she was game to go to Listowel and visit The Yarn Factory Outlet.  They carry a huge assortment of yarns by Bernat, Lily, Patons and Phentex.  Of course, I had to make several purchases.  Almost immediately upon arriving home, I started o n a scarf for my daughter using Bernat Twist & Twirl.  These ruffle scarves are cute, though I must admit, that they really don't work for me.  i can't imagine myself wearing one.  This style knits up very fast. 

 A few weeks I showed you the start of my Faded Charms quilt.  I have all the sections pieced and after a week or two of hesitation, have started the machine quilting.  I am using a technique described by Keryn Emmerson in her book Beautiful Quilts as You Go.  I am doing the "Sew and Flip" method.  In this first photo, I have the centre part of the top layered, I have ironed on some freezer paper motifs that I will outline quilt and have used a blue disappearing marker to trace the lines for the pale mauve border.

On the top side I am using a variegated mauve to purple thread from Guterman and on the back a dove grey from Wonderfil.  The quilting motifs are from The Quiltmaker Collection: Quilting Motifs Volume 8.  The one shown by the freezer paper is titled Plump Plume, page 57 and the border is Curled Up, page 58.

After Quilting

Reverse side

 Next step is to add the next section.  In this case, I am adding a section of four rows of charms and a strip of mauve border.  I am going to use the same motif from the centre, though they will be oriented along the length of the strip.  I'll have more photos for you next week.

Giving a Book a Fair Chance

I had decided  that I wasn't going to review any more romance novels since I get very few readers of those posts.  When I finished reading the paranormal romance The Crystal Warrior by New Zealand author Maree Anderson I felt so refreshed that I had to change my plan.  After all, this my blog and I get to write what I want, when I want, and you can choose whether to read or not.

Why did this book change my mind.  I read a lot of books in a wide variety of genres.  My Friday evening is for free reading, works that I don't feel compelled to review; most of them are romances.  This week I started reading The Crystal Warrior.  I had read about fifteen pages, but it wasn't really working for me.  I called it a night.  The next day I felt that I had dismissed the book without giving it a fair chance. As Maree is a Kiwi author and I really have a thing for New Zealand (we'll be travelling there in less than three months, for our third trip), I picked it up the next day and continued reading.  It wasn't very many pages before I was submerged in the lives of Chalcedony, Wulfenite and Pietersite. 

Don't those sound like rock/crystal names.  Exactly, main characters with the name of crystals. Chalcedony, known as Chalcey to her friends, wants nothing more than to open her dance studio.  On her way to a meeting with a potential backer, she is sidetracked into an odd little shop that she had not noticed before.  Pieter, the shopkeeper, asks her to select a crystal from a display.  She feels attracted to one particular stone.  This stone is Wulfenite.

Wulfenite, or rather Wulf, was the leader of a band of warriors that was intent on abducting all the suitable women from the village where Pieter lives.  With no one from the village willing to take a stand against these warriors, Pieter determines he has to take a stand.  Using the most powerful magic he has at his command, he traps the eleven warriors in their namesake crystals and locks them inside until they are released by their true love.  Enter Chalcey into Wulf's story.

I found this story refreshing.  Chalcey wasn't looking for love, she was intent on her business.  She was an accomplished dancer with a dedicated staff and willing clientele.  All she was missing was sufficient financing.  I've read quite a few time travel type romances, and it is always interesting to see how the out-of-time person integrates into the new time.  Wulf handled this well.  He approached it as a warrior would a battle, just a different type of battle.  It was interesting to watch.  I am not a dancer, but I did enjoy the descriptions of the studio and the demonstration dances that Chalcey did with her dance partner.  Almost made me want to sign up for a dance class.

There are currently three books in the Crystal Warrior series.

Chalcedony - from Bernardine Fine Art

Wulfenite - from Minerals Zone  (yellow)


Pietersite - from Shimmerlings Jewelry

Storybound by Marissa Burt - open text available till the end of April

It was a real treat to read Storybound by Marissa Burt.  This YA novel is currently unlocked and the entire text is available to be read on the HarperCollins website.  HarperCollins Canada  HarperCollins USA  Choose the appropriate site and start reading today.

Una is a foster child who has no idea of her history.  All she knows is that she has lived in a lot of families yet not been considered a part of any of them.  She feels invisible at home and at school.  To escape the torments of school, she seeks solace in the library basement.  One day she is forced to sit at a different table and ends up reading an unusual book. It is unmarked and untitled.  Inside the book it has a title "The Tale of Una Fairchild"; what are the chances that their was another person with the same name.

Somehow, this book magically transports Una to another place/school.  In this place, people are referred to as characters, and the students are preparing to become characters in books.

By this point I was totally immersed in this story.  I could hardly put it down.  How could there be a world where students trained to become the beloved characters as well as the evil villains in the books I read. Wow.  Great concept. 

I am not going to tell you any more about the story as I don't want to give away a thing.  I will say that I did not figure out what was going to happen next and was racing through the book to find out.  I didn't want to story to end, but I wanted to know what had happened to create the current situation that pulled Una into that world.

This would be a wonderful story to read with your pre-teen. The cast of characters is quite diverse with heroes, villains, talking animals and ladies in need of rescue, and don't forget Una, who is quite capable of rescuing others.   I know my ten year old nephew would love it.  What are you waiting for, click the HarperCollins link above and start reading.

Thanks to HarperCollins Canada for use of the cover image.