middle grade | Ad Librum Aeternam

Hello, dear folks!

(There's a surprise at the end of this article, so read on! ;))

As a newly minted bestie of Books Forward Friends (which means I'm one of their book reviewers now, yay!), I was offered the amazing opportunity to take part in a diverse picture book series kickstarter event. Indeed, Dr. Rachel Kowert penned books about the everyday children under the series title Tales from Cloud Canyon. She created her Kickstarter campaign to fund what the author describes as "a picture book series celebrating the everyday child, doing everyday things, with their everyday abilities for ages 3 and up."

Honestly, this was too much of a good intention and kind, thoughtful project that I simply couldn't pass over. So, here I am. 🙂

Dr. Rachel Kowert's teaser trailer for her diverse picture book series Tales from Cloud Canyon is touching, surprising, and eye-opening. I do enjoy her statistics, her bluntness, the kind thoughts towards the "ones forgotten by books", and the fact that we see her against a sweet but charming background. It speaks of reliability and passion.

Here it is so you can be taken aback and touched as well:

Sounds sweet and fantastic, touching even, right? How about you take a look at the series' Kickstarter page? Consider donating, even just 1$, as every amount helps. If you can't donate, write or shout about it on social media, will you? That would be tremendously helpful to, in turn, help children relate to characters like them with abilities like theirs. Wouldn't that be great for once? For every child to see themselves in literature?

I know I never saw any disabled child in books when I was younger, and I always felt even more forgotten or pushed away from society… I would have loved to read about a cardiac child like me! Who sought refuge and friends through reading like I did (and still do somehow).

So, her project resonates with me. I want every child to know they are worthy and talented in their own ways.

The Author: Dr. Rachel Kowert

Dr. Rachel Kowert is a research psychologist with her current research being primarily focused on the social impact of online games–but hang on, she's an online gamer herself! Now, that's both mind-blowing and fun to hear such crucial information about someone who actually experiences the topic first-hand. As a huge gamer myself, I'm rather intrigued by what she has to say and so far it's quite healthy, for example how she evaluates the potential for video game play to mitigate symptoms of PTSD among veterans. Honestly, that's just plain inspiring. 🙂

I love her research (which I will read as soon as I can purchase her books on the topic!) and her good intentions. Also, she has a YouTube channel called Psychgeist where she focuses "the psychology of the era: the science of video games."

If you want to learn more about this incredible professional, go to her website.

And now, it's tiiiiime fooooooorrr theeeee…

Surprise Giveaway!!

Tah-dah!

Everyone who leaves a comment here and over my Instagram posts which relate to Dr. Rachel Kowert's series Tales from Cloud Canyon has a chance to win the picture book Pragmatic Princess.

Here are the cover and blurb:

An A-Z compilation of short stories about self-reliance designed for children aged 3-8+.

Within each story in Pragmatic Princess, the main character in is confronted with a typical childhood challenge (e.g., a fear of trying something new or schoolyard bullying) and models a wide range of skills and ideas to navigate these challenges, such as problem solving, flexible thinking, and resourcefulness. The use of real-world situations and a diverse cast help helps foster observational learning and the successful acquisition of the skills modeled in each of the stories which span intellectual, social, emotional, and moral development.

The characters of Pragmatic Princess were developed to represent a range of shapes, sizes, abilities and disabilities, and traditional and non-traditional families. It was important to incorporate diverse backgrounds into the characters' lives for them to reflect the diverse world we live in. It was equally important that these details were not the central theme of the stories themselves as our shape, level of ability, and what our family unit looks like are just some of the many parts of who we are and not necessarily the defining feature of our stories.

On Monday, June 20^th, I will choose a winner among those who commented, and randomly at that to make it fair, and then I will contact the winner so you can receive the beautiful book via mail, thanks to Books Forward. :)

How awesome is that?!

See you on June 5^th with the sequel to this article and another chance to win the giveaway! More comments = more entries for you. 😉

Genre: Middle Grade, Magic, Fantasy, Adventure, Quest for Self, Modern, Fairy Tale

Pages: 198
ISBN: 9781631631771
Format: Paperback, eBook
Publication date: October 16th, 2018
Publisher: Jolly Fish Press
Type: Novel

*A special thanks to NetGalley and Jolly Fish Press for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.*

The Blurb:

Gracie lives with her mother in our world, though she suffers from “story glimmers”, which are memories from what happened in the book Gertrude Winters wrote about her. Indeed, Gracie and her family as well as her best friend Walter are all characters from Bondoff, a magical world that Winters created. They got out of the story, unbeknownst to the author, in order to save themselves from Cassandra, the evil stepmother who wants to get her hands on the magical book and control everything.

But is everything as it’s been told to Gracie? She wants to talk to Gertrude Winters to ask more about Bondoff and the book, but what she will find will be more dangerous and life-altering than she could have imagined.

Will Gracie come out it strong?

Is there a choice to make to be who you truly are?

Introduction:

You know when a book cover grabs your attention, then the blurb just compels you to read the book and the story just amazes you? That’s exactly what happened for me with Unwritten by Tara Gilboy. As soon as I saw it on NetGalley, I knew I had to request it. Fortunately (to me, at least, haha), my request was granted.

Thanks a lot, NetGalley and Jolly Fish Press!

The Positive Sides:

The best positive side has to be how this story tells of an identity quest. It asks important questions while never being boring and it gives the reader the sentiment/feeling of being in control of one’s destiny and actions, to choose who we want to be. Perfect and extremely moving!

As for the writing itself, it is sweet but honest with an emphasis (rightfully so) on Gracie’s turmoil of emotions. What a ride! Speaking of Gracie, I extend my thought to the characters because they felt alive to me. Gertrude did feel off sometimes and sounded trite in her dialogue, but Walter (Gracie’s friend), her mother, Cassandra, and the rest popped out of the story to me (see what I did here?).

Now, I can’t reveal spoilers (goddammit, how I hate those pesky nuisances!), BUT I can tell you two things:

1- The plot twist with Gracie halfway down the road is PER.FECT.ION!

2- The very last sentence gave me so many feels I had tears in my eyes! It sums up the story pretty well and it’s quite a nice touch there.

Moreover, the theme of Unwritten is fundamental and wonderful at the same time. Fear not, it is NOT force-fed to us, no. It flows with the rhythm of the story and it’s just so precious. It focuses on choosing who you want to be and staying true to that person. Amazing! And so vital.

Oh, and I wasn’t bored even ONCE! It captured my attention from cover to end, never failing. It held my interest all the while. There were enough action scenes (yes, where Gracie has to make quick and hard decisions) and emotional insights to her. I loved her relationships with the different characters and her own nature. She was fun and strong in her own right, looking for her true identity with admirable determination.

In the end, this is the story I was personally looking for as a child and teenager! Unfortunately, there was nothing like it at the time and I felt so alone. I believe this book can help others like me who are too different and have so many doubts about themselves and who they should be versus who they are. Needless to say that’s a huge point to me.

The Negative Sides:

What about them?

Where are they?

Honestly, I don’t know. I was waiting for a negative side to show up but it never did. In my opinion, it’s a flawless middle-grade book.

In Conclusion:

I have so many excellent things to say about this book, but since numbers help too, here you are: I give it a rating of 5 out of 5 no less. And trust me, if I could, I would give it way more! But alas, rating has to be contained to a specific number… I can’t rate 10 out of 5, even though I genuinely want to with Unwritten by Tara Gilboy.

To me, it’s such a good MG story, it goes with the likes of Percy Jackson and Harry Potter. If that’s not grand, I don’t know what is. But don’t take my word for it: try it for yourself. You’ll see, it’s pretty darn great!

Here’s a bonus great news I found on Goodreads from the author, Tara Gilboy, herself: Is this a stand-alone or the first in a series? “I’ve been dying to answer this question and wasn’t able to announce it until now! Yes, there will be a sequel! I am hard at work on it right now, and it will release in spring 2020!”

I couldn’t be happier! We’re getting a sequel, woohoot!

If you want to learn more about the author, you can visit her Web site, you can also follow her on Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads. You can visit her publisher, Jolly Fish Press. You can also add Unwritten to your bookshelves on Goodreads and LibraryThing.