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Book Review: A Long Pitch Home by Natalie Dias Lorenzi

Posted on September 13, 2016 by Cindy Hudson

Natalie Dias Lorenzi is the author of one of my favorite recent books for readers aged 9 to 12, Flying the Dragon (read my review). So when she got in touch to ask if I wanted to review her latest book, I was happy to say yes.

Like Flying the Dragon, A Long Pitch Home features a protagonist being uprooted from his home country and coming to live in the U.S. where he must make many adjustments. Despite the challenges, Bilal is up to the task.

To learn more about the author, visit her website, nataliediaslorenzi.com. Now, here’s my review of A Long Pitch Home.

When Bilal is 10, his family moves from Pakistan to the U.S. But Bilal’s father can’t join them; he’s under suspicion of stealing from his company, and he must stay to clear his name. Bilal, his mom, younger sister, and baby brother move in with his aunt and uncle in the Washington, D.C. area, where Bilal works hard to fit in. He finds a connection through playing baseball, making friends when he joins the team. But he’s confused why none of his new friends like the girl on the team, Jordan. In the time Bilal waits for his dad to join them, he will learn lessons in English and in friendship, and he will need to take a daring risk to finally get his most cherished wish.

A Long Pitch Home by Natalie Dias Lorenzi introduces readers to Pakistani culture while telling a story with universal appeal. Bilal is a lot like any 10 year old. He wants friends, he wants to enjoy playing a sport, and he wants to feel like he fits in at school. Most of all, he wants his family all safe and happy in one home. Throughout the book he is on a journey of discovery about a new culture and a new language. But he is also discovering what it means to be a good friend as well as to have good friends, and how sometimes that means risking the approval of others.

Lorenzi weaves in facts about Pakistani culture and Muslim practices seamlessly, bringing Bilal and his family to life while keeping the story of his efforts to fit in and make friends in focus. While there’s a lot going on in the book, it never feels forced. As a result, readers are likely to relate to Bilal and his struggles even as they learn about his religion, Pakistani food and history, playing cricket, and more. I highly recommend A Long Pitch Home for mother-daughter book clubs and any readers aged 9 to 12.

The author provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Book Review: They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel

Posted on September 6, 2016 by Cindy Hudson

With a simple little picture book, They All Saw a Cat, Brendan Wenzel gets across a big concept: that an animal or object looks different to everyone who sees it, because each person and creature sees with a unique perspective.

The child sees a friendly pet, but the mouse sees a terrifying monster. The flea sees a forest of fur, while the bat picks up an outline using its echolocation. The cat goes about its day inspiring different emotions in every creature it encounters. There’s even a little surprise at the end, when the cat encounters itself.

Wenzel uses a variety of styles with his illustrations to show the creatures named and to set a mood. Drawings can be soft and fuzzy or sharp and harsh, depending on what’s depicted.

They All Saw a Cat is sure to be a hit with both children and parents, eliciting calls of “read it again,” from kids until they’ve memorized the words.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Katherine Koller on Writing With Feedback From Her Mother-Daughter Book Club

Posted on September 4, 2016 by Cindy Hudson

Katherine Koller

As a long-time member of several mother-daughter book clubs, Katherine Koller knows that girls tend to be honest with their opinions about what they read. That’s why she wanted her book club members to read her manuscript for a novel she was working on, Art Lessons. Here, she talks about the experience and how it affected her final copy. You may also be interested in reading this interview with the author in the Edmonton Journal.

Art Lessons With My Mother-Daughter Book Club, by Katherine Koller.

I asked my mother-daughter book club to be my focus group for my novel manuscript, Art Lessons. I gave each of our eight mother-daughter pairs a bound photocopy and asked them to write all over it, with any questions or comments of any kind. At the meeting, I was nervous, even though I’d been writing professionally for the last twenty years! But these were my book club girls and moms. We’d been through six whole years of reading excellent books. This was my third mother-daughter book club, with my sixth daughter. But Art Lessons was my first novel.

In our book club format, questions travel around the circle, so everyone gets a chance to answer. I took notes. Lots and lots of notes. The girls and moms offered differing opinions, the same as all our past discussions. I listened carefully to the requests from girls to know more about any one character, and made sure to expand when I went back to rewrite. Girls asked about the characters; moms tended to question details, like how to pronouce Babci (Bab-chi), a Polish word for grandma. Both groups liked the lists in the book.

Because my main character Cassie grows from 7 to 18, her voice changes. The girls loved that they sometimes knew more than Cassie, especially when she’s younger than them. One mom said, “like nothing I’ve read before,” and another described the novel as a “portrait of the artist as a young girl in layers.” Everyone “could see” Cassie’s drawings from her descriptions.

From our book club discussion, I decided that Art Lessons appealed to both teens and adults.

Some questions for discussion about Art Lessons:

How does Cassie’s Polish grandmother, Babci, influence Cassie’s art?
Have you ever felt like Cassie when she’s “floating”? How and when?
Which of Cassie’s unlikely “teachers” did you like best? Why?
How would you feel if you, like Cassie, were sent away for a whole summer?
Which of Cassie’s drawings do you like the most, and why?

I wrote the book to show the development of a girl as an artist, how she observes the world and transforms it to art, how it affects others and herself. I have six daughters, all who are artists in their own way: musician, painter, designer, dancer, singer, photographer. I’ve dedicated the novel to them!

From Mother Daughter Book Club.com

Here is more information about Koller that you may want to know:

Art Lessons is published as crossover fiction for 14 and up and adult audiences by Great Plains Publishing (www.greatplains.mb.ca). Hear Katherine read a chapter, “Tree Day” from Art Lessons at www.katherinekoller.ca

Katherine Koller writes for stage, screen and page. Her trilogy of landwork plays, about industry and Alberta families, includes Last Chance Leduc (2015); The Seed Savers (2009); and Coal Valley: the Making of a Miner (2005). Voices of the Land: The Seed Savers and Other Plays was published in 2012. Her first novel, Art Lessons, about a girl who is transformed by her visual art, will be published by Great Plains Publishing in fall 2016. Katherine recently participated in a Writers Guild of Alberta mentorship on a collection of stories, The Lost Art of Second Chances. Her six-part web documentary on Edmonton youth changing their world, Sustainable Me, is online at www.sustainablemeyeg.ca. Besides writing opera and ballet libretti, Katherine is co-producer of Script Salon, a monthly play reading series, now over two years old, in Edmonton. She is currently working on Madonna of the Wilderness, an opera libretto; plays, Riverkeeper and Hope Soup; and a new novel, Sunflower Season. Katherine’s website is www.katherinekoller.ca

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Book Review: Lowriders in Space by Cathy Camper

Posted on August 30, 2016 by Cindy Hudson

Lupe Impala, El Chavo Flapjack and Elirio Malaria dream of one day opening their own car repair shop. When they hear about a competition that gives away a car load of cash for the winning car, they set out to turn a rusty old heap into a winner. Their quest takes them around the universe gathering special features to make their car really shine.

Lowriders in Space by Cathy Camper celebrates the spirit of hard-work and innovation in pursuit of your dreams. The three friends use a combination of their skills to transform an old clunker into a winner. They get just a little bit of help along the way from our galaxy of stars.

The story is also a celebration of lowriders, cars made to go low and slow. A note at the end of the book explains the history of lowriders and their popularity. Spanish phrases throughout are translated.

As a graphic novel about automobiles, Lowriders in Space should have particular appeal to boys, but girls should also be able to appreciate the story. lllustrations are mostly in red, blue and black, which gives it a kind of retro look. Artist Raúl the Third includes a note that he drew in ballpoint pen to “revisit the excitement” he felt as a kid when he drew. The result is fun, interesting, and may inspire others to pick up a pen and draw. I recommend it for readers aged 8 to 12.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Book Review: Steam Train, Dream Train 1-2-3 and Colors

Posted on August 25, 2016 by Cindy Hudson

From the authors of bestseller Steam Train, Dream Train comes two books to help kids learn numbers and colors.

Steam Train, Dream Train 1-2-3, takes kids on a ride while they learn numbers one through ten. Each page focuses on one number, the illustrations emphasizing that number in several different ways. The book starts with, “One engine holds one happy bear, rolling through the nighttime air. One headlight shines, one whistle blows, one bell rings as the engine goes.”

Young children also learn about the types of cars on a train, as animals ride in the engine, a flatbed car, a boxcar, hopper car, caboose, and more.

Steam Train, Dream Train Colors brings splashes of color while staying true to the overall look of the series. Animals, such as dinosaurs, monkeys, a giraffe, lion and others, ride the train. Some defy their normal colors, like a pink hippo and the purple bear. Others, like the white polar bear and the grey elephant, are more natural looking.

Both books feature soothing colors that evoke evening light, and they are great books to encourage little children to get sleepy while being read to.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Book Review: Two Across by Jeff Bartsch

Posted on August 22, 2016 by Cindy Hudson

Stanley and Vera bond when they meet as teen contestants at the National Spelling Bee. Named rare co-winners, they see each other once a year when they return as former champs. They each understand the quirky upbringing the other has experienced, which may be why they decide to fake their own wedding so they can start over fresh. But will they know how to remain together once their friendship turns to something more?

Two Across by Jeff Bartsch is a story that looks at what happens when two highly intelligent but emotionally developing people get together. Once they create their scheme for a fake wedding, they get comfortable telling lies to all the people who are important to them. Stanley creates the most elaborate web, faking his college enrollment and helping students cheat to support himself. When the lies catch up to them, their relationship isn’t strong enough to hold them together. But they are not happy apart either. It’s only when they discover truths about their own personalities that they are ready to try being a couple again.

There’s a bit of mystery involved in the story too, as Stanley and Vera are both avid crossword solvers and creators. When they are apart, they send coded messages through crosswords they hope the other will discover. It’s an interesting concept that may interest readers in creating their own puzzles.

While I thought the pacing of the novel was a little slow, the story is sweet and there is much for mother-daughter book club readers with girls aged 15 and up to think about and discuss. The book delves into issues of truth, honesty, ethics, and commitment, all topics that mothers and their teen daughters will benefit from talking about.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Book Review: Spud by Jon van de Ruit

Posted on August 18, 2016 by Cindy Hudson

Young John Milton (aka Spud) lives with his family in South Africa during the days before apartheid ends. He’s landed a scholarship to a prestigious boy’s boarding school and takes up residence in a house with a group of boys who become known as the Crazy Eight. Through his diary, Spud chronicles his adjustment to boarding school life and the challenges he faces fitting in, as he is one of the few boys his age (14) still waiting to develop.

Spud by John van de Ruit is lighthearted and funny even as it takes on serious topics that many boys will identify with. Spud knows he’s vulnerable because many of the other boys around him are bigger and stronger. He manages to find a middle ground that allows him to fit in enough to avoid most bullying without becoming a bully himself.

Other issues he’s working on include figuring out how to talk to girls and how to be a boyfriend; making friends, dealing with embarrassing parents, and experiencing loss. Tender moments, wise observations, and a bit of South African history and politics are sprinkled in amongst Spud’s escapades.

My daughter gave me her copy of this book and suggested I review it. She first picked it up thinking it would be similar to Roald Dahl’s hilarious memoir, Boy. While it was different from her expectations, she enjoyed it and recommends it. I believe Spud is especially appealing to boys aged 11 to 15, but girls should also enjoy reading about what boys this age are thinking.

Book Review: Living Large in Our Little House by Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell

Posted on August 15, 2016 by Cindy Hudson

When Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell and her husband Dale built their 480 sq. ft. home on a lake in the Ozarks, they had no idea they would end up living in it full time, or that they would be at the forefront of a tiny house movement across the country. Yet since 2007 they have shared these tight quarters with up to six dogs at a time, and Kerri gives advice to others on how they can transition to smaller abodes as well.

In Living Large in Our Little House: Thriving in 480 Square Feet with Six Dogs, a Husband, and One Remote—Plus More Stories of How You Can Too, Fivecoat-Campbell recounts the couple’s journey and also highlights how other couples, singles, and families with children across the country are “living large” and living happily in a small space.

Fivecoat-Campbell, who is also a journalist, writes with candor about the struggles she and her husband have faced as well as their triumphs. She’s also quick to point out that she’s not a tiny purist, as she and Dale have space for storing equipment and other items on their property. But I didn’t find that to lessen her core message that scaling back and living simply brings rewards of many kinds.

Living Large in Our Little House is part memoir, part how-to, and totally inspiring. Anyone considering downsizing is sure to get ideas that will help them plan for getting what’s most important to them when making the move.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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