Zonderkidz; 32 pages; $6.99; Amazon

Yes, I'm well aware this isn't really a "Fall Reads" book, but it is autumn and technically a activity book is a book, so here I am writing this review!

What exactly am I review?

Well, I'm reviewing The Berenstain Bears: Christmas Fun Sticker and Activity Book by Jan & Mike Berenstain. Published by Zonderkidz (a trademark of Zondervan), the 32-page book has over 50 reusable stickers.

You might remember me reviewing The Berenstain Bears: Bear CountryFun Sticker & Activity Book earlier this year. This book is very similar, containing puzzles and illustrations to color.


The activities in the book includes:

ZonderKidz; 160 pages; $12.99; Amazon

During my early elementary days in the late 1980s, I was a big fan of The Berenstain Bears books by Stan and Jan Berenstain. I tried to collect every little picture book I could find in the series. Eventually, I got interested into other books and the Berenstain Bears titles just rested on a bookshelf collecting dust. Later, I let my aunt borrow the books for her kids to read, but I never saw the books again. Over the years, I have recollected several of those books; most of them I found at thrift stores.

Now available in bookstores from ZonderKidz is "The Berenstain Bears: Bedtime Devotional" by Mike Berenstain, the son of the late Stan and Jan Berenstain. It features 90 different devotions for young readers.

The small-size book kicks off with a one-page "Bedtime Prayer." The rest of the book is divided between nine chapters/sections - "God Loves You Very Much," "Be Kind and Helpful to Others," "Be Forgiving," "God's Gifts and Blessings," "Be Thankful," "Be Courageous," "Be a Good Friend," "Have Faith," and "Be Joyful."

Each devotion features one Bible verse, followed by a short story involving either Brother, Sister or Honey. Almost all the devotions have a "Carry, On Cub!" paragraph, which basically sums up the life lesson that was in the story. There is also a short rhyming prayer with every devotion.

2. Enter the link to your terrifying tale in the haunting list below (enter your Blog Name and the direct link to your post answering this week’s question. Failure to do so will result in a curse).

 

3. Visit other haunters in the list and comment on their posts. Try to spend some time on the blogs reading other posts and possible become a new creeper.  The purpose of the hop is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.
 

One of my hidden talents is cross stitching, so I would probably make bookmarks that features a jack-o-lantern with the words "Happy Halloween!" on them.

Linky List:

The author has taken a few minutes out of her busy schedule for a Q&A about her newest novel.



When did you become interested in storytelling?

When I was little, I spent tons of time in my grandpa’s shop listening to farmers, cowboys, and hunters tell each other stories while they worked on tractors or waited for the fur buyer. There’s an art to storytelling, a science to carrying on a conversation with your listeners, and those guys and gals were masters. I fell in love with the way they talked—their voices, speech patterns, and dialects—as much as I did with the adventures they were relating. Maybe more. When I learned to read, it opened up a whole new world of storytelling for me. I realized that people could write books as a job. Once I realized that, I never wanted to do anything else.

What was your first book/story published?

In 2014, I published Halo Bound, the first book in the Redneck Apocalypse series. I finished out the fourth and final book in the Redneck Apocalypse this past February with God Killer, and now with Jubal Van Zandt and the Revenge of the Bloodslinger, I’m starting a whole new series.

What inspired you to write Revenge of the Bloodslinger?

Everything from videogames, comic books, and good anime to friendships, nightmares, and my grandpa. But the initial spark came one night a few years ago, while I was talking with a friend about the way he viewed time and how neither of us felt we had enough of it. To cheer him up, I wrote him up a couple hundred word flash fiction about a self-centered thief who snuck into the garden of time while his beautiful partner fought off the immortal guardian. Jubal and Carina were born.

What character in Revenge of the Bloodslinger is the most like you, and in what ways?

Now available from Woolly Mammoth Books is On Top Of The World: Until The Bell Chimes by author David Lamb.




The author has taken a few moments from his busy schedule to answer a few questions about his novel.


When did you become interested in storytelling?

I’ve been addicted to storytelling since the sixth-grade, when I wrote a short story and my teacher let me read it to the class at the end of the day and kids gave me a big applause when I finished.

What was your first book/story published?

A romantic-comedy about a relationship between two college students from different cultures who fall in love at first sight until her mom finds out and has a heart-attack—Do Platoons Go With’ Collard Greens? I went on to produce it as on off-Broadway play which ran for more than ten years and was a blast.

What inspired you to write On Top Of the World?

Believe it or not it, even though On Top Of The World is a romantic –comedy, it was inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement. Specifically, when a sculptor sympathetic to the movement created a sculpture of Jay-Z as Scrooge accusing him of capitalizing on the movement by selling t-shirts that said Occupy. I was fascinated that this guy from public housing in NY had momentarily become the symbol of the 1%. I asked myself, if Scrooge were alive today, what would he look like, my answer a handsome, egotistical music star with talent coming out the wazoo. And the love of his life, other than money, Belle, would no longer be a Victorian lady-in-waiting but beautiful lawyer whose love transforms the shy nerd that school was in college into a star, only to realize too late that she’d help create a top-charting monster. And the story would be a love story unfolding in both their voices and his road to redemption on the night of Hollywood’s biggest event, when he has to take the journey of a lifetime to heal his feelings of not being worthy of love and to become the man she originally fell in love with.

What character in On Top Of The World is the most/least like you, and in what ways?

Warner Bros., Not Rated; 926 minutes

Is there one television series that is your guiltiest pleasure, even though it's not very good?

For me, this would The Vampire Diaries.

Loosely based on the young adult books by L.J. Smith, The Vampire Diaries debuted on the CW in 2009 and quickly gained a small following. While it was somewhat a Twilight Saga ripoff during it's first few seasons, the series has finally grown into it's own show.

Due to the Kansas City Royals going to the playoffs and then the World Series last year (which they won), I got behind on the seventh season of the series; so far behind that I eventually decided to just wait for the DVD to release to get caught up on the season.

While I do like the series, I have always believed it has been held back from being really good due it's lackluster scripts and the bland performance by Nina Dobrev as the main character, Elena Gilbert. Most fans threw a fit when she left at the end of the sixth season, but it didn't bother me one bit.

The seventh season has a different format to it. The first half of the season picks up a few months after the sixth season finale, where the Heretics have taken over Mystic Falls. These episodes normally end with a flash forward set three years into the future. The second half of the season, which mostly deals with the huntress plot, is set three years later (in the flash forward timeline), though there are a few flashbacks.