Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Review - The Last Day of Kindergarten

Billy Burgess books , fiction

The Last Day of Kindergarten

BY: Nancy Loewen

ILLUSTRATED BY: Sachiko Yoshikawa

PUBLISHED BY: Marshall Cavendish Children

PUBLISHED IN: 2011

ISBN: 978-0-7614-5807-4

Pages: 34

Reviewed by Billy Burgess

Today is the last day of Mrs. Popinski’s kindergarten class through the eyes of a little girl. She reflects back on the first day of school when she hung up her book pack for the very first time. She remembered playing with the other students during Creative Playtime, dressing up for Halloween and students having birthday parties.

The last day of school was different than the first, as today the students were washing the tables, throwing away old crayons and dried-up paints, and collecting their drawings off the wall. The gather together with the teacher and talk about their favorite summer things and what they looked forward to in the first grade. The kids line up and head to the auditorium for their graduation.

The Last Day of Kindergarten is the heartwarming story of a little girl’s last day of kindergarten. I think every child is sad about their last day of kindergarten, so readers can easily connect with the main character. I believe the book could be a good tool for parents to read to their pre-schoolers about to expect during their first year of school. Plus, I can easily see teachers reading the book on the last day of school. Overall, I loved reading the book and enjoyed the colorful illustrations. I recommend the book to parents and young readers.

*I would like to thank the author for sending me a copy to review.

Review - The Diet Joke

Billy Burgess books , dieting

The Diet Joke

BY: Lisa Pedace

PUBLISHED BY: Big Shot Press

PUBLISHED IN: 2010

ISBN: 978-0-9823404-1-7

Pages: 230

Reviewed by Billy Burgess

Author, humorist and actress, Lisa Pedace, takes a humorous approach on the subject of dieting, a stab at commercial/Hollywood dieting schemes, and jabs at the weigh-obsessed culture where we are fed twenty-four hours a day by the media telling us what we should and shouldn’t do. The Diet Joke is meant to be a reprogramming guide to help you jump start pass the culture nonsense and help you get starting on changing your life for the better, which isn’t easy since we are constantly bombarded with messages/commercials about new food products. We have to learn that these companies are here to make money and that they don’t care about out health. We have to be smart and not let the advertisers brainwash us into buying the products we don’t need. Even our own government wants to control our health, but we are the only one’s with the power to do something.

I was interested in reviewing The Diet Joke because I have been dieting and exercising for the last few months. I found the book to a bit of fresh air from the constant dieting and fitness books that are being released through the media. I loved the reprogramming activities that are at the end of each chapter and the jokes are a riot. I’ll have to pay attention at what commercials are aired during my programs. Overall, I really enjoyed reading The Diet Joke
and recommend it to everyone.

*I would like to thank the author for sending me a copy to review.

Review - Merciful by Casey Adolfsson

Billy Burgess books ,

*This is a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% mine.

Acacia Moirgetes is a 17 year old, living on her own as a librarian. Her life is boring and she is often left feeling lonely. She knows something is missing from her miserable life, but she just can’t put her finger on what it is. All she knows is that she disappears briefly to a strange world and returns back to reality. Or is her reality real?

One day when she vanishes, she doesn’t bounce back. She meets an ex-goat named Amal and two Pyroskia - aka, bodyguards, Blasie and Ash. She learns that she is a Greek God, well a daughter of one, from Olympus. She had been visiting the ‘real’ world, but staying in the real world for such a time does a morphing of your memory, and over time Acacia started to live another life. Now as her memory slowly returns, she must stop the dark forces from destroying Olympus.

I’m not into Greek myths, but I was interested in reviewing this book, as I was getting tried of the overused vampire and werewolf genre that is used in today’s young adult literature. I was expecting a short read, but instead got an almost five-hundred page novel! The cover of the book is breathtaking and sets the mood for the journey into Olympus. Acacia is a fun, energetic characters that both male and female readers can connect to. Fantasy fans will enjoy reading about the Greek myth legends in their new incarnation. Overall, I enjoyed reading Merciful, as it was a bit of fresh air to read.

Review - The DoppleGanger Chronicles: The Great Mogul Diamond

Billy Burgess books , fiction

*This is a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% mine.

Twins Sadie and Saksia Dopple are back to solve another mystery. They are now living with the famous writer Muzz Elliott, who has adopted them. Their best friend Erik Morrissey Ganger is living his dream of becoming a detective by working with private eye/journalist Dorcas Potts. An anonymous note arrives at the Muzz’s mansion, in which she is startled by. Muzz and the twins leave immediately for an express train, but danger awaits them at every turn, as someone is using the twisted plots from Muzz’s novels for real crimes. One of Muzz’s greatest plots was the theft of the Great Mogul Diamond.

Private eye Dorcas Potts and her sidekick, Erik, are racing through the countryside roads in a fast convertible, as they try to locate the twins and Muzz Elliott. There are twists and turns around every corner, and there are dangerous robbers after the diamond.

In this fast-paced third installment of The DoppleGanger Chronicles, author C.P. Taylor takes you on a dark and mysterious ride, mixing in great storytelling. The book is a mixture of a graphic novel and a Sherlock Holmes novel. The illustrations by Daniel Boultwood and Tony Lee are superb, giving the story a gothic, eerie feel. The dialogue is witty and clean-cut. I had never heard of the series before reviewing it, but I am now a fan. It’s cleverly put together for both children and adults to enjoy reading. I highly recommend read it!

Thursday Ramblings - May 26, 2011

Billy Burgess ramblings ,

I watched Disorganized Crime that I bought yesterday for $3.00. I watched it over and over as a kid, and surprisingly it is still good today. I also picked up He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Season One - 10 episodes for $3. The week before I bought a 4 movie pack for $5.00, The Funhouse, Phantasm 2, The Serpent and the Rainbow, and Sssssss. About ten years ago, I saw the first twenty minutes of The Funhouse on the Scifi (now SyFy) channel, but I had to leave and didn't catch the rest of the movie. So, I was thrilled to find the movie on DVD. I enjoyed the movie, even though it was a little silly, but it is still better than most recent horror movies. I watched Phantasm 2 for the first time and enjoyed watching it.

Review - The Brothers Foot: A Hare Raising Story

Billy Burgess books , fiction

The Brothers Foot: A Hare Raising Story

BY: Steve Cormey

ILLUSTRATED BY: Ronda Eden

PUBLISHED BY: AuthorHouse

PUBLISHED IN: 2009

ISBN: 978-14389-4269-8

Pages: 55

Reviewed by Billy Burgess

Foot was a rabbit who liked to play with his rabbit friends - Fluffy, Bunny O’Hare, Carrot Top, and Big Ears Ernie. His best friends in the whole wide world were his two brothers, Foot-Foot and Foot-Foot-Foot, and they liked to play rabbit games - hop, flop, skip, and thump! But their favorite thing to do was singing a happy song in the briar patch. Their song was so much fun; hunters would join in and sing along.

The Brothers Foot is a simple picture book about three brothers who love to sing and play. The illustrations are adorable. In the back of the book are the lyrics to the Foot-Foot Song. Along with the book that I reviewed, I received the music CD, featuring one song - The Foot-Foot Song, and a DVD containing The Foot-Foot music video. Overall I enjoyed reading the book and I recommend it to parents and younger readers.

*I would like to thank the Illustrator for sending me a copy to review.

About the Authors

Meet Steve Cormey

A third generation Coloradan, Steve Cormey has entertained the people of Grand County and Colorado for over thirty years. An award winning songwriter, he has written, produced and released six very successful CDs while playing an always full schedule of live performances.

His background in Folk ,bluegrass, rock and traditional music is evident whether live or on CD. Colorado Blue, Somewhere with a Beach, Never Summer..forever home, Walking Stick and the all solo-acoustic Pure & Simple CDs offer a potpourri of musical styles, and his Old Fashioned Christmas is a Yule Tide favorite. Steve’s live performances show off a talented mix of danceable music, humor and fun!

Steve makes his home in Grand County, Colorado. Although he has entertained in Australia, South Africa, Mexico, the Caribbean, Hawaii and around the country, you can usually catch his act in the shadows of the Never Summer Mountains of Colorado.

Meet Ronda Eden

Ronda Eden was born in Adelaide, South Australia and spent her childhood dreaming about horses. She’s spent most of her adult life wandering around in a state of confusion over what she really wanted to do and now, middle-aged, she’s living her childhood dream. Ronda’s been a factory worker, Chinese cook’s assistant, pharmacy assistant, teacher, storyteller, writer, waitress, bartender, dishwasher, cleaner, touring art curator, gallery owner, horse trainer and artist A.O.T. (Among Other Things).

Ronda’s hobbies include the joy of hiking, climbing, wind surfing, belly dancing, jogging, traveling, swimming, daydreaming, listening to music and of course, horse riding. Apart from the later, none of these activities get much of her attention these days. Especially travel! Ronda loves it right where she is, doing exactly what she is doing. Ya’see, Ronda lives in Laramie, Wyoming with her husband Mernie and together they run a horse boarding operation with 60 horses, 2 mules, a miniature donkey and a tough, bad boy tomcat. Ronda still manages to be an artist A.O.T (Among Other Things) in between feeding, riding and shoveling poop, but the horses come first. She does travel during the summers, but a couple of the horses go with her and together they cover hundreds of miles on the endurance trails of the Mountain Region. Ronda plans to be hoisting her creaky ole body onto a horse and riding high well into her old age!

Review - The Magic of Finkleton

Billy Burgess books , fantasy

The Magic of Finkleton

BY: KC Hilton

PUBLISHED BY: CreateSpace

PUBLISHED IN: 2011

ISBN: 978-1-456-57029-3

Pages: 184

Reviewed by Billy Burgess

After their house is mysteriously burnt, the Finkles learn that their Uncle Harry had died the exact same night, and he left all his belongings to them, including his general store. The Finkles pack up what didn’t burn in the fire and move to Finkleton to start a new life. The three children are Jack, Lizzy, and Robert, who are all uniquely different from another. Jack is the oldest and thinks he is the brightest. He enjoys numbers and organizing things. Lizzy is the bookworm of the family, and Robert is the youngest.

The family moves into the apartment above of the general store. Lizzy is sad that all of her books were burnt in the fire, but instantly became happy when her father told her that Uncle Harry had a library in a secret room in the store. Most of the books are non-fiction, and Lizzy wants to read them all. Robert investigates the store and finds a strange room filled with hourglasses that are labeled and has a string attached to each of them, but one of the strings was broken.

The family reopens the store, with a few customers complaining about all the rain because Finkleton use to have the perfect weather for farming. A stranger named Mr. Lowsley shows up several times asking about land he could buy. Robert doesn’t like this man, and believes that he is up to no good.

Then, Robert pulls on a wood lever hidden in the store and the rain suddenly stops. Did Uncle Harry control the weather in Finkleton? Why does Mr. Lowsly want to buy land in Finkleton?

When I received this book in the mail, my first thought was “This is a dazzling cover.” After reading the page and a half prologue, I was hooked into the world of Finkleton. It was a nice change to read an original book that doesn’t involve vampires and werewolves. I got a kick out of the kids bickering back and forth in the beginning of the book and enjoyed it when they started to work together to solve the mystery of Uncle Harry’s store. The Magic of Finkleton is a great read for both children and adults!

*I would like to thank the author for sending me a copy to review.