Wednesday, October 28, 2020

~ SOCIAL BLITZ GINNIE WEST ADVENTURE COLLECTION ~

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 ~  SOCIAL BLITZ ~
--  'GINNIE WEST ADVENTURE COLLECTION'  --
 

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'The Ginnie West Adventure Collection':  By Monique Bucheger

$2.99 (or less) sale price

Purchase Link:  https://amzn.to/3osTi6a&nbsp

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  • Horses, Adventures, and Friendship

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The Secret Sisters Club:
12 year-old BFF’s Ginnie and Tillie form a scheme called “Operation: Secret Sisters,” in spite of Ginnie’s dad’s vow to never marry again. Things get more complicated when Ginnie stumbles across her dead mom’s hidden journals. Ginnie can finally get to know the mother she doesn’t remember and her dad doesn’t talk about—if Dad doesn’t take them away.

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Trouble Blows West:
Ginnie West is certain that defending her twin brother from the biggest bully in sixth grade was the right thing to do. But Ginnie couldn’t be more wrong. When Pierce seeks revenge on Ginnie, Toran sets aside his anger and helps her plot a payback prank at Pierce’s house. Sadly, Ginnie learns that Pierce has a reason for being a bully when she sees his dad drop him to the floor like a ragdoll. Realizing he’s a boy in big trouble, Ginnie and Toran decide to be his allies, because Pierce won’t let them be his friends.

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Simply West of Heaven:
After Ginnie’s dad confiscates her dead mom’s journals, Ginnie counts on her future sister’s help to make Dad change his mind, but Tillie’s not so sure the ghost of Ginnie’s mom will make a good addition to their new family tree. The girls’ world gets flipped upside-down when a blast from the past shows up and makes Tillie go nutburgers. Ginnie is torn between helping her best friend and what could be the answer to her deepest wish.

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LINK TO ENTER GIVEAWAY 

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Monday, October 26, 2020

GREAT ESCAPES SLIGHTLY MURDEROUS INTENT

~  GREAT ESCAPES BLOG TOUR STOP ~
--  'SLIGHTLY MURDEROUS INTENT:
A SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MYSTERY'  --
AUTHOR LIDA SIDERIS
~Post Includes:  Book Spotlight, Unique Guest
Post Shared by the Author, Author Bio & Giveaway~   

 

Slightly Murderous Intent: A Southern California Mystery by Lida Sideris

 

About Slightly Murderous Intent

                                             

Slightly Murderous Intent: A Southern California Mystery  

Traditional Mystery 4th in Series Publisher: Level Best Books (October 20, 2020)  

Print Length : 323 pages ASIN: B08J8C7YJY 

 

There's a shooter on the loose who keeps missing his target. But that doesn't stop him from trying again…and again. It's up to Corrie Locke, rookie lawyer and spunky sleuth, to find the gunman before he hits his mark, Assistant Deputy D.A. James Zachary, Corrie's hunky and complicated frenemy.

When Corrie is stuck with more questions than answers, she enlists a team with various strengths, from weapons to cooking skills, to help her find the shooter. Her computer whiz boyfriend Michael is onboard. So is former security guard Veera. Toss in an over-the-hill informant and a couple of feuding celebrity chefs and Corrie's got her very own A-Team. Okay, maybe it's more like a B-Team.

Can Team Corrie hunt down the shooter before he scores a bulls-eye?

About Lida Sideris

Lida Sideris is an author, lawyer, and all-around book enthusiast. She writes soft-boiled mysteries and was a recipient of the Helen McCloy Mystery Writers of America scholarship award. Slightly Murderous Intent is #4 in her Southern California Mystery series, published by Level Best Books. Lida lives in the northern tip of SoCal with her family, rescue dogs and a flock of uppity chickens. To learn more, please visit: www.LidaSideris.com


MAKE WRITING FUN

By Lida Sideris

Writing is a passion of mine, which automatically equates to doing something fun and exciting, right? Not necessarily. It’s up to each writer to create and find the fun. Kind of like planning a party or a vacation or even teaching kids. Fun may run and hide once in a while, but we can gently reel it back where it belongs.

Remember your early school days? You probably had a stand-out teacher. Exceptional teachers aren’t born that way. They’ve got a few simple tricks up their sleeves, which we writers can borrow. A few suggestions to rev up the fun meter when writing:

– Read before you write. Not just anything, but something inspiring. Something you find well written that contains punchy words, lines and action. Sources might be a newspaper article, a book, a poem or even a quotation. Studying those individuals that you find talented helps to increase the flow of our own writing talent. 

– Take notes. Eminem provided this tip: collect bits and pieces of inspiration wherever you can find them, write them down and save them in a shoebox. Inspiration equals fun. Eminem shuffles through the box when he’s writing a song, and picks out words or lines that might lead him to an idea. I write ideas in a notebook as they pop into my head, and run through them once I’m done with the first draft. Reading these ideas inspires me to make the story shine.

– Don’t forget to do something fun that isn’t writing. We need down time to regenerate. If I don’t utilize downtime now and then, I feel like I’m studying for the Bar Exam…again. Which means there’s a possibility my head may explode. How fun would that be?

But there are deadlines that must be met. This is the part where you remind yourself there are carefree ways to write or rewrite that don’t involve sitting/standing behind a desk. In fact, it doesn’t involve a desk at all. I rework my writing when commuting to work, when watching TV, when walking or petting my dogs. Washing dishes is a great writing stimulator (and makes for clean dishes). Agatha Christie thought so, too. This desk-less writing allows for more relaxed thinking, leading to a flow of ideas. We don’t need to feel pressure while writing.

I remind myself often that I need to put the fun of writing in the forefront to keep that spark lit and find ways to restore the sheer joy of writing. That’s what we signed up for!

***************

Author Links:  
 Blog 
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 Purchase Link - Amazon  
 
 
TOUR PARTICIPANTS:
October 19 – I'm All About Books – SPOTLIGHT  
October 20 – Literary Gold – CHARACTER GUEST POST  
October 21 - Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW  
October 22 – Mysteries with Character – REVIEW  
October 23 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – GUEST POST  
October 24 – I Read What You Write – GUEST POST  
October 25 – Jane Reads – CHARACTER GUEST POST  
October 26 – StoreyBook Reviews – GUEST POST  
October 27 – Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic – GUEST POST  
October 28 – Cassidy's Bookshelves – REVIEW  
October 29 – Brooke Blogs – GUEST POST  
October 30 – Here's How It Happened – SPOTLIGHT  
October 31 – Celticlady's Reviews – SPOTLIGHT  
October 31 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT  
November 1 - Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book - SPOTLIGHT      
 
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Sunday, October 25, 2020

MGMM QUILT BLOCK HISTORY OF PIONEER DAYS

 ~ MIDDLE-GRADE HISTORICAL
NON-FICTION PICTURE BOOK ~
--  'THE QUILT-BLOCK HISTORY
OF PIONEER DAYS:  
WITH PROJECTSKIDS CAN MAKE'  --
 AUTHOR MARY COBB
ILLUSTATOR JAN DAVEY ELLIS
 


 ABOUT THE BOOK {from Goodreads}:

This fun and interesting book presents the history of American pioneers by describing the quilts they made, linking common experiences they had with various quilt patterns. Projects that kids can make are also included - a great way to bring history to life!

-and- 

{from the Educational Resources Information Center @ ERIC.ed.gov}:

The uses and techniques of quilt making are presented in this book which focuses on the quilt patterns as allegory for pioneer history. Pioneer experiences are described and linked visually with appropriate quilt patterns. An activity accompanies each pattern presentation. The work is organized into 10 chapters: (1) "Quilts and History: A Simple Nine-Patch Collage"; (2) "Saying Good Bye: Quilt- Block Bookmarks"; (3) "Going West: Broken Dishes Puzzle"; (4) "Building the Cabin: House-On-A-Hill and Pine-Tree Border"; (5) "Inside the Cabin: Shoofly Box"; (6) "Work to Do: Bear's Paw Greeting Card"; (7) "Food and Clothing: Corn-and-Beans Recipe Folder"; (8) "Special Occasions: Dresden Plate Punch Work" (9) "Weather: Sunshine and Shadows Weather Diary"; and (10) "Following a Star: Hanging Windmill Star." The book concludes with suggestions for further reading and an index.

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR, JAN DAVEY ELLIS {from the Charlesbridge Publishing website}:

Jan Davey Ellis is a native of Ohio. She received her B.F.A. in Painting from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Jan spent most of her childhood reading. She pored over the illustrations of her favorite books, studying the intricate drawings. She took art lessons at the Cleveland Museum of Art, moving from gallery to gallery with a little collapsible canvas stool and drawing boards, in order to sketch different works of art.

When her children were small, Jan would help them to make little pop-up books with secret flaps that lifted up to reveal surprises. She painted her daughter's bedroom with a well-sized mural of a pastoral farm scene. The mural became the basis of a business that she started in collaboration with interior designers to paint walls and furniture. A friend saw her work and convinced her to illustrate her first children's book, MUSH! Across Alaska In The World's Longest Sled Dog Race, by Patricia Seibert (The Millbrook Press).

Jan is the illustrator of Turn of the Century by Ellen Jackson. She says that during her art lessons at the Cleveland Museum of Art, her favorite area was the hall of medieval armor and weaponry. Jan remembers this room as "pivotal in her appreciation and yearning for the images of other times and places." While illustrating Turn of the Century, Jan had the chance to draw and explore 1000 years of history for children.

When she is not busy drawing and painting. Jan enjoys gardening, tennis, jogging, animals, and daydreaming. She has taught after-school enrichment classes and she once built a thirty-foot Chinese dragon with one of her classes.

EXCERPT {Courtesy of the Publisher}:  https://lernerbooks.com/shop/show/10910#wow/11

MY THOUGHTS:

This book was published in 1995 while I was teaching primary grades. I used this book in my classroom as a read-aloud and also as a social studies thematic supplemental text because of the pioneer movement and how it brought many new citizens to our state, California.
 
Besides being filled with excellent historical information, one of the features of this book which I really enjoy is the way in which it is organized. The ten chapters are listed in the above 'About the Book' section of this post from the entry I found on ERIC. (The link is to this post is also provided above.)

The illustrations and activity sheets (blacklines are provided in the book) are very well done. The drawings of the quilt blocks, the chapter headings, and other drawings that present the book's historical text visually enrich the information presented by the author.
 
The activities are varied and interesting. The projects can be made with a minimum of expense because students can used crayons, paint, or colored pencils to complete their quilt projects rather than fabric. I have been sewing for many, many years, so I had a lot of scraps of cotton available. I used to prepare a culinating quilt project from this book by cutting enough scraps for every student to have a fabric project to take home. It was great fun!

I highly recommend this book for teachers, librarians, scout leaders, youth group leaders, day camp leaders, and especially families. Children love to make projects based on a book they have enjoyed, so this gem is the perfect recipe for a successful learning experience--in my humble opinion.

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Find the links to read more great Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday posts from middle-grade authors and bloggers at Greg Pattridge's 'Always in the Middle' Blog.

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Find the links to more great 'It's Monday! What Are You Reading?' (#IMWAYR) posts for children's and Young Adult books over at the Unleashing Readers website.

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~ NEW SEWING PATTERN FABRIC FLOWER TOWELS ~

~ NEW SEWING PATTERN FABRIC FLOWER TOWELS ~