Book Review: The Moon Sisters by Therese Walsh

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The Moon Sisters cover imageAs sisters, Jazz and Olivia Moon could not be more different. Jazz is practical and sensible, and since she’s the older sister she’s also had to be responsible for Olivia, a free spirit who tends to wander where her dreams take her. When their mother dies, most likely from suicide, they respond as expected. Jazz bottles up her emotions and wants to move on. Olivia wants to fulfill her mother’s dream by traveling to the cranberry bogs of West Virginia in search of an elusive natural phenomenon that will complete her story.

Setting off together, the two encounter unexpected obstacles and meet others who will change the course of their journey—tattoo-covered Hobbs whose ink seems to hide more than his skin and crusty Red Grass, who has a hidden interest of his own. As their stories converge, secrets are revealed that threaten to tear them all apart.

The Moon Sisters by Therese Walsh is a story of sisters, mothers and daughters, and the ways that family members can both hurt each other and lift each other up. Lyrically told, the story shows how the secrets we hold close push away those who may help us deal with the difficulties in life.

Even though the sisters are so different, Walsh brilliantly captures the essence of each, revealing their flaws, strengths and vulnerabilities. I found myself lingering over passages, taking in the words to consider their meaning beyond the story Walsh created. I highly recommend The Moon Sisters for adult book clubs or mother-daughter groups with girls aged 16 and up. Issues to discuss include expectations put on family members and how that can affect behavior, making judgments about those who are different than us, forgiveness, and meeting family obligations versus following your dreams.

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

For more information about Walsh and her book, check out my post yesterday about sisterhood and the blog tour to celebrate the book release.

Book Review: Skin and Bones by Sherry Shahan

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Skin and Bones cover imageJack is in a program for people with eating disorders because his parents want him to be there. He knows the truth: his thin frame looks good and he could even stand to lose a few pounds. Jack has been obsessed about his weight ever since middle school when a store clerk assessed his size and handed him a pair of “husky” jeans. He doesn’t think he needs to change.

As he gets to know the other members in his six-week, live-in program he sees people who are just as obsessed with food as he is, some with eating it, some with not eating it. He’s attracted to Alice, a young, anorexic ballerina who has been in and out of treatment several times. As Jack sees the things Alice does to lose weight, he starts to reassess his own point of view. He and others in the program experience group sessions, family meetings, and individual therapy, but it isn’t until one of their own suffers a crisis that the true meaning of what they’re dealing with becomes evident.

Skin and Bones by Sherry Shahan looks at the nature of eating disorders and how they can affect the lives and threaten the health of teens and young adults. With Jack, nicknamed Bones in the program, and his roommate Lard, an overeater, Shahan shows that girls aren’t the only ones who get eating disorders. She also really gets the voice of a teen struggling with issues around food. Jack believes he is healthy. He will do anything to burn off the extra calories he’s required to consume each day. Readers get to see why he thinks the way he does and why it’s so difficult to change that thinking.

Skin and Bones is a great way for moms and daughters in book clubs to approach a difficult topic and discuss it. What is the danger of eating disorders? Why can’t those who have them see their actions are hurting them? How do you react to someone you care about who has one? There are also facts about eating disorders and a list of resources in the back of the book. I recommend Skin and Bones for groups with girls aged 14 and up.

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

Book Clubs Can Help Coax Reluctant Readers to Read More

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If you’re worried that your daughter won’t want to be in a mother-daughter book club because she doesn’t like to read, don’t be discouraged. A book club can be a great place to nurture a love of reading for children of all ages, particularly if you feel that your child’s interest in books has not been piqued. For one thing, when you get together for meetings she’ll see other moms as well as her peers talking about books they enjoyed reading. If she has fun in the social time of book club, it may encourage her to put effort into the preparation time, which involves reading the book.

What if your daughter doesn’t like to read fiction? A book club can include nonfiction, poetry, and many different types of fiction. Reading a variety of genres can help her discover that she likes to read more than she thinks she does.

While it may be true that your daughter can’t choose every book you read in book club herself, you can talk with other members about adding more genres to your selections.

When we started a book club with my youngest daughter, she didn’t like spending much time with a book. She was active and loved being outdoors often, and I worried that she wouldn’t want to stay in the group if she wasn’t interested in the books. But we read lots of different genres in our first year: two non-fiction memoirs, one book of historical fiction, two fantasy tales and one novel about a girl in modern times. The variety helped my daughter get much more interested in reading than she had been previously.

Of course, if you suspect your child has an underlying difficulty in understanding how to read, the tactics above may not help. You may want to talk to her teacher about diagnosing possible learning disabilities if you see her struggling to decode words that she should be able to understand.

Book Review: Peter Panda Melts Down by Artie Bennet, Illustrated by John Nez

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Peter Panda Melts Down cover imagePeter Panda is a typical toddler, happy one minute, throwing a tantrum to get what he wants the next. That’s part of what makes Peter Panda Melts Down such a great picture book for parents to read with their young children. They can see themselves in Peter’s situations, and maybe laugh a bit about all the drama.

As Peter and his mom go about their daily lives, they do things like go to the grocery store, visit the library and stop by the playground. At each stop, Peter is happy for a while, but then when something happens like he drops a toy in the car, or asks for sweets he can’t have at the grocery store, or has to leave the playground, he melts down. Mama Panda is very patient…most of the time. Author Artie Bennett has captured the ups and down that make getting through days with a toddler so difficult sometimes, and he’s done it with humor.

Reading the book is a great way for parents and kids to look at all those situations during calm moments and possibly talk about what to expect the next time they happen. Illustrations by John Nez do a great job of capturing the expressions to go along with the emotions expressed in each setting. It all comes together to make Peter Panda Melts Down a book to read again and again.

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

Book Review: Ice Dogs by Terry Lynn Johnson

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Ice Dogs cover imageFourteen-year-old Vicky Secord’s dad taught her everything she knows about sled dogs and survival in the remote area of Alaska where she lives. But since his death a year ago, she feels lost without his guidance. Even worse, she feels she may have been able to save him if she would have been with him the day of his accident. Out on a sled run one day she comes across a teen boy injured in a snow mobile accident. When he leads her in the wrong direction to get home, they end up lost. It will take everything Vicky knows to get the two of them and the dogs safely home.

Ice Dogs by Terry Lynn Johnson is a story of courage and survival that is also fascinating for its details of dog sledding. Young readers will love the insights they get into the relationship between a musher and her dogs as well as reading about Vicky’s evolving friendship with the boy she rescues, Chris. Vicky is vulnerable because she’s young and doesn’t have the benefit of more experience, yet she knows enough to make decisions that will get them through the direst situations.

Discussions in mother-daughter book clubs could center around being prepared for the unexpected, and making your way to safety even if you’re in unfamiliar urban environments. The group may even be inspired to take a wilderness skills and survival workshop together. Also, Vicky’s relationship with her mom and the difficulties they experience after her dad dies is a good topic to discuss. I recommend Ice Dogs for groups with girls aged 9 to 13.

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

Book Review: The Longest Date by Cindy Chupack

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The Longest Date cover imageUntil she was thirty-eight, Cindy Chupack had plenty of material to write about what it was like to be single. Her New York Times bestseller, The Between Boyfriends Book, scripts for five seasons of Sex and the City, and other writings were all produced drawing on her experiences. But once she got married, Chupack turned her observations on what it’s like to be a spouse, and to her surprise found that all her training as a girlfriend didn’t prepare her for being a wife.

With her characteristic charm and humor, Chupack has written about how she made that transition in The Longest Date: Life as a Wife. Through her candid portrayal, readers get to see both small and large issues that face the happy couple, including merging their possessions, reconciling differences in neatness, getting a (rather large) dog, and the strains of trying to get pregnant.

Chupack says one of her favorite aspects of marriage is that your partner in life can be your “partner in crime,” a sort of “full-time, live-in enabler” when you both want the same things. When you don’t? Then sometimes you have to be “willing to admit you’re the villain” in the story. Chupack isn’t afraid to lay out the details when talking about the rewards and the challenges she and her husband faced as they lived their first years together. The Longest Date is sure to strike a chord with anyone who’s made the transition from girlfriend to wife, or anyone who is contemplating getting married soon.

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

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Interview and Book Giveaway: Kelly Murphy, Author of Historical Heartthrobs

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Today I’m taking part in the Zestbooks Historical Heartthrobs blog tour.  You can enter to win a copy of Historical Heartthrobs, which I reviewed yesterday, by leaving a comment about who you would pick as a favorite heartthrob from history before midnight (PST), February 14 (Valentine’s Day!). Please note: the giveaway is closed. Congratulations to BN100 on winning! Check out the other stops on the tour. And see what author Kelly Murphy has to say about her book, the heartthrob that didn’t make the list, and more.

Kelly Murphy Interview

Kelly Murphy photoBio:

Born and raised among the sprawling cornfields of rural Pennsylvania, Kelly Murphy now writes from her child-sized apartment in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Her articles have appeared in Brokelyn, Brooklyn Based, Chic Today, NCTE’s The Council Chronicle, and various other publications. A Penn State graduate, Kelly currently works in publishing.

Interview:

You say in your introduction that History wasn’t really your thing when you were in school. How did you develop an interest in it?

KM: It wasn’t so much that I developed an interest in history later in life. Rather, I developed an interest in people and their stories. They say truth is stranger than fiction, and some of the strangest truths come from the people who shaped the world we live in today politically and culturally. I mean, Lord Byron had a pet bear–that’s nuts, even for the Romantic Era. So figuring out how these quirky stories inform our social narrative drew me in.

What made you want to create a list of historical heartthrobs?

KM: Well, here’s the thing–it’s hard to interest teens (and adults, for that matter) in this kind of subject matter as it’s traditionally presented. What people can’t get enough of, though, is scandal and drama and minute details of everyone else’s sex lives. Incidentally, many of our important historical figures had pretty saucy personal lives, but you might have to dig through a 300-page tome to find out about it. In this case, I did the digging for the readers.

Did you have difficulty winnowing the list down to 50?

KM: It actually worked sort of in reverse of that. I worked closely with the publisher to meticulously craft a list of exactly the right figures who came from a broad spectrum of backgrounds and offered a wide variety of charming characteristics. Certainly there were people it broke my heart not include, though.

If you could have included one more person, who would it have been and why?

KM: Nice segue, Cindy! My editor and I chatted a lot about including Barack Obama, but in the end we decided not to for many reasons. He’s definitely a fox, though.

Do you have a favorite heartthrob on the list?

KM: A bunch, of course. I have pretty eclectic taste. Someone I’ve been thinking about a lot of late is George Sand, who was so epically progressive and also seemed to have every bohemian of the time wrapped around her finger, regardless of gender. No one even remembers what she wrote. She was just doing her thing–I love that!

How did you conduct research to come up with all the facts, quotes and other tidbits you write about each person?

KM: Oy, this was definitely the hardest part. Because the figures included range from scientists to gangsters to women’s lib movement leaders, it was tough to find reliable sources of info all in one spot. I spent a lot of time on JSTOR perusing scholarship on some, searched old newspaper and gossip column clippings for others–even watched films and video interviews with more recent public figures.

How long did you spend researching?

KM: I researched as I wrote and uncovered new factoids about each historical figure, so the whole process overall took about seven months. Seven intensive months.

Is there anything else you’d like to say to readers at MotherDaughterBookClub.com?

KM: Thanks for reading! Definitely let me know who your favorite heartthrob is.

Book Review: Historical Heartthrobs by Kelly Murphy

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Historical Heartthrobs cover imageToday I’m featuring a review of the book Historical Heartthrobs. Check back in tomorrow when I’ll be taking part in the blog tour, where I’ll be featuring an interview with the author and a giveaway of the book. Here’s the review:

Quick, think of a famous heartthrob! Chances are you didn’t think of someone from the past, but a book by Kelly Murphy with Hallie Fryd is hoping to change that. Historical Heartthrobs: 50 Timeless Crushes—from Cleopatra to Camus is a fascinating look at some of the people who have intrigued and captivated people throughout time.

Some of the featured heartthrobs are expected—Cleopatra and T. E. Lawrence—while others are totally unexpected, like Benjamin Franklin and Nellie Bly. The people included can be vastly different. The common thread, as we’re told in the introduction, is that “one way or another, the 50 people in this book made other people swoon.”

Author Kelly Murphy conducted lots of research on each heartthrob, and she’s distilled that research into a short biography and photo or painting of each person listed that gives a bit of history and the reason for inclusion on the list. Each bio reads quickly, with pull-out quotes, interesting tidbits, and even a heat factor rating. It all adds up to a lot of fun.

Murphy tells us in the introduction that she wasn’t all that interested in history while she was in school. Her book is sure to catch the attention of history buffs and those, like her, not all that attracted to history. It tells the story behind the story of historical figures and includes popular figures that don’t often make the history books, like athletes, dancers, clothing designers, surfers, scientists, and more. I recommend Historical Heartthrobs for readers aged 14 and up.

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

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