The Golden Pathway

TITLE: The Golden Pathway
AUTHOR: Donna M. McDine
ILLUSTRATOR: K.C. Snider http://www.kcsniderart.com
PUBLISHER: Guardian Angel Publishing http://www.guardianangelpublishing.com
FORMATS: Hardcover, kindle
PAGES: 26
PRICE: Hardcover $19.95 (US), £12.58 (UK), CDN$ 19.95 (CA)
Paperback $9.95 (US)
Kindle $5.00 (US), £3.20 (UK), CDN$ 5.00 (CA)
FILE SIZE: 744 KB
ISBN-10: 1616330813
ISBN-13: 9781616330811
ASIN: B005313N6W


Nearly every day, David hears the screams coming from the barn as his pa beats his sixteen – year – old slave, Jenkins. He knows this is wrong and wants to help Jenkins but all he can do is to sneak out of his bedroom window when the screams stop. He then hides in the shadows, goes to the barn to clean Jenkins wounds…again. But is this all he can do?

The Golden Pathway is a story of courage, determination and inner strength. It is also a story of compassion and doing the right thing when wrong is being done all around you. This is also a story of the darkest times in American history that shouldn’t be forgotten.

I highly recommend this picture book. The Golden Pathway shows that anyone can help someone else out of a bad situation in spite of the consequences to themselves.

The watercolor illustrations in The Golden Pathway are brilliantly drawn by K.C. Snider. They add to the action in this book. They also add to the atmosphere. If you would like to see more of her work just visit her webpage at: http://www.kcsniderart.com.

If you would like to learn more about Donna M. McDine, visit her website at: http://www.donnamcdine.com. You can also order The Golden Pathway there too.

The Golden Pathway is also available at http:www.amazon.com (US), http://www.amazon.co.uk (UK) and http://www.amazon.ca (CA). You’ll be pleased to find Donna McDine’s book available at these places both in print and kindle versions. You can also order this page turner in the hardcover format at: http://www.barnesandnoble.com for $19.35.

Talon, Come Fly With Me

TITLE: Talon, Come Fly With Me (January 14, 2010)

AUTHOR: Gigi Sedlmayer

PUBLISHER: BookPal http://wwwbookpal.com.au

FORMATS: Paperback, kindle

PAGES: 236

PRICE: Paperback-$19.95 (US) £12.47 (UK), Kindle-$5.99 (US) £7.15 (UK), CDN$ 20.33 (CA)

FILE SIZE: 244KB

ISBN-10: 1921578726

ISBN-13: 9781921578724

ASIN: B004Y6DQH0

Matica is a nine–year–old girl trapped in a two–year–old’s body. Because of her stunted growth, the local Indians in Peru shun her and won’t let their children have anything to do with her.

Because of this, Matica doesn’t have any friends except her parents, her four-year-old brother and the animals at her home in the Peruvian mountains. She’s constantly feeling sorry for herself and is sure she’ll be friendless for the rest of her life…until she makes friends of a different sort. She befriends two condors.

The condors take little Matica’s mind off herself as she helps them more and more. This especially happens when they lay an egg and two poachers snatch it. From there on in Matica does things that she has never done before. Matica has developed a special bond with the condors and rescues their egg from the poachers!

I was highly impressed with Talon, Come Fly With Me. This book would be great for readers of any age. The author shows just what a physically challenged person can do when they quit being afraid. It also shows that despite of your handicap, you can do things you previously thought impossible. Not only that but I loved how you learned about condors without knowing it and that they’re near extinction and at the mercy of poachers.

To learn more about Gigi Sedlmayer and Talon, Come Fly With Me just visit her website at: https://www.writersportal.org/Gigi.

You can purchase this entertaining but educational book at several places. You can pick this book up at http://www.amazon.com, or http://www.amazon.co.uk in either kindle or paperback formats. You can also pick this up in the paperback format at http://www.barnesandnoble.com or http://www.amazon.ca.

Yes, You Can Self - Edit!

On my bumpy road to writing for children I found that it’s advisable to get your finished manuscript professionally edited. This is great advice. If you can get it professionally edited by all means, go for it! What can you do if you can’t get it professionally edited? Where do you start? You start by proofreading.

By now, you’ve run your manuscript through your critique group several times. What’s left to do? Is it time to market for a publisher? Not quite. You should proofread your manuscript thoroughly. This is a tedious but necessary job. Don’t rely solely on your computer’s spell – check. Why? Because of antonyms such as to, too, two and their, they’re and there. Each of these words has a different meaning but your computer doesn’t know this. If you’re not sure of the meaning of the antonym, get the dictionary to make sure you have the proper spelling and meaning of the word for your sentence. Spell – check is helpful for spelling but for spelling only. It doesn’t and can’t check the meaning of the word. After all, it is just a machine. So, exactly how do you proofread?

Start at the very end of your story or article. With a piece of paper (or even your thumb) cover up the last sentence except the last word. Is that word spelled correctly? Good! If you’re not sure of the spelling, look the word up in a dictionary. After you’ve corrected that word, slide your piece of paper to uncover the next to the last word and check its' spelling. Keep checking the spelling of words until you get to the very beginning of that last sentence then go through it again. Check your punctuation this time. Repeat the process to make sure that you show, don’t tell. And yet again to make sure each sentence is a complete thought.

This is how I was taught to proofread and I don’t know of an easier way for you to polish your manuscript. If you do please, let me know!

After you’ve proofread your manuscript, it’s time to read it aloud to check for flow. Could it be that you feel like a complete idiot reading aloud to no one else? Try reading it to your spouse, kids or best friend. You could even read it to your dog or cat. Your story should flow smoothly. Picture a babbling brook flowing through a valley. This is how your story should be. I know reading aloud sounds silly but your mistakes will jump out at you. You’ll be able to hear when you tell instead of show or when you use unnecessary words and repeat. Most importantly, you’ll be able to spot where your story gets a little jerky for the reader. I don’t mean jerky as in funny; I mean jerky as in the reader being jerked around. I’ve found another good way to check for flow. A tape recorder! I tape my stories or articles in and let it sit. While it’s sitting, start on a new story, go exercise or maybe go out & have lunch. When you get back to your story or article you’ll find errors of a different kind.

Here are some links that I’ve found that might help you in self –editing:

SELF EDITING: 10 TIPS CHECKLIST FOR CHILDREN’S WRITERS http://writersonthemove.com/2011/08/self-editing-10-tips-checklist-for.html
SELF EDITING by Lori Handeland http://www.eclectics.com/articles/selfediting.html
HOW TO EDIT YOUR OWN WRITING (A SELF EDITING CHECKLIST) http://home.earthlink.net/~jdc24/selfEdit.htm

WRITING THE HISTORICAL FICTION WHEN YOU CAN'T GET THERE (part II)

HISTORICAL SOCIETIES

These are valuable resources! Of course, as I said in the first part of this article, you’ll find all of their contact information either at the library or on their website. If you do use a computer to find historical societies, you’ll also find their current president listed there too. You’ll also find several other things on their website including a gift shop. Take full advantage of the gift shop. I sure do!

You can purchase period music, postcards, books about your subject and the era plus a whole lot more. If you’re interested in the books and they aren’t in your local library there’s no problem. Just email the historical society and explain what you’re doing. If they don’t have the book(s) for sale on their website, explain what you’re doing and ask them if you can purchase the book through the mail. I can guarantee you from personal experience that you can do this. The members of a historical society are very eager to help you. Take full advantage of this service! You’ll find a plethora of information for your children’s fiction or non – fiction book there.

HISTORICAL WEBSITES

You name it and you can find information on historical websites. I did an internet search search and came up with over 16,000,000 websites! Just type ‘historical websites’ into the search bar of your favorite search engine and just see what you get back. A lot of these historical websites didn’t apply to my current children’s book that I’m researching but you get the idea. Whatever you’re hunting for, you can most likely find. To narrow your search down to what you’re researching, type in your subject’s name or the town and state where the historical event happened.

Is your historical children’s book set in another country? There’s no problem there! Just go to your favorite search engine and type historical websites + England (or whatever the country is) in the search bar.

LINKS

In part one of this article, I promised to share some links with you. I hope by following these links you find the facts you need to bring your children’s book to life!

Library Spot http://www.libraryspot.com. This is my favorite place to start since it’s a portal. You can find anything from government documents to learning the law to genealogy here.

Internet Experts http://www.internetexperts.info. This is full of additional links that will help you on any subject.

Ask.com http://www.ask.com. Just type your question in their search bar and they’ll take you to several links that will help you on your quest!

Just Answer http://www.justanswer.com. Here, you’ll find experts in any field, not just in history.

MAKE YOUR HISTORICAL CHARACTERS COME TO LIFE

Now, you’ll have to find out your how your characters dressed, spoke, what their customs were and more. I’ve found some links to help you (at least I hope they help you) there.

History of Western Fashion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Western_fashion. I really like this site. You can pick out from the list what era you’re writing about and scroll down to men’s, women’s or children’s fashions of the era. To find more about fashion, or speech or whatever your hunting for, just go to your favorite search engine and type historical speech (or whatever you’re hunting for) in the search bar.

WRITING THE HISTORICAL FICTION WHEN YOU CAN'T GET THERE (part I)

You’ve had a terrific idea for a non – fiction story but you can’t get to the place where the event happened. Now, what do you do? No problem! You can still gather all the facts for your non – fiction story, article or whatever you have in mind.

If you’re like me and don’t drive you can still travel to where your story takes place. Take a train, bus or airplane to your destination. There’s even a better way to travel there. Can you say road trip? Ask a good friend or a family member to your destination and make a party out of it. Actually, You’ll be sight – seeing as well as gathering facts. So be sure to take plenty of film or memory cards for your camera or video camera. While you’re there you’ll want to take plenty of pictures of the town, geography and if possible take pictures of your subject. Visit the town’s local library and do some research on your subject. You’ll want to be sure to visit the town’s historical societies. Historical societies are always eager to help you. What’s that? You still can’t get to the place where your story takes place? There’s still no problem. In this age of the internet, you have information available to you no matter where you are.

LIBRARIES

Your local library is a wealth of information and librarians are always eager to help you. This is always the first place to start. You don’t have a library card? Just fill out a form for one and you can start borrowing books the same day. They’re also FREE!

Now, where to start? As I mentioned before, librarians are always eager to help. Tell the reference librarian what your doing and what you’re hunting for. She or he will bend over backwards trying to help or point you in the right direction.

At your library, you can find information on the weather, main occupation of the town’s peoples, geography, speech of the era (if your story is set in another time), how they dressed and so much more. Not only that, but you can find the local historical society’s address, phone number along with their current president’s name. If you don’t want to find the historical society’s information that way, I have a two word answer for you. The internet.

COMPUTERS

Most libraries have computer banks that are connected to the internet and printers. Just hand the librarian your library card and settle in front of a computer. Do a search on your subject and you’ll be surprised how many websites appear! You’ll find even more information there that agrees with what you just found in those library books. This is important. Your facts have to agree in several different resources.

To list these internet resources, list the title of the website, who wrote the article plus their website address. It’s always a great idea to write to the copyright holder of the website for permission to use their work in your story or article. This information, along with their email address, is usually found at the bottom of the site.

Join me next week part II of this articles where I’ll tell you about historical societies, how to find them, locating historical websites and many helpful links!

It’s not too late to sign up for my Christmas giveaway!

I’m giving away four .pdf copies of my children’s book, Beepy’s Christmas Wish.

Just leave a comment and mention that you would like to be entered.

Along with your comment, you can either leave your email address or contact me at sasha1119 AT yahoo Dot com.

Enter today to win Beepy's Christmas Wish at my Christmas Eve drawing!

Christmas Giveaway!!

CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY!!!

Hi! I'll be giving away four .pdf children's books

to you for Christmas called Beepy's Christmas Wish on Christmas Eve.

To enter the drawing, just leave a comment saying that you would like to enter the drawing.

Don't forget to leave your email address to so I can send Beepy to your house.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The Doll Violinist

TITLE: The Doll Violinist

AUTHOR: Mayra Calvini

PUBLISHER: Guardian Angel Publishing http://www.guardianangelpublishing.com

FORMATS: Hardcover, paperback

PAGES: 26

PRICE: $19.95 (hardcover), $11.95 (paperback) in the U.S.

£12.50 (hardcover), £ 7.49 (paperback) in the U.K.

ILLUSTRATOR: Amy Moreno http://www.amycullingsmoreno.com

ISBN-10: 1616331852

ISBN-13: 9781616331856

It all started just a few days before Christmas. A young girl silently slips away from the orphanage and makes her way through the busy Christmas shoppers to the toy shop that was just down the street. Upon getting there, she sees five beautiful dolls in the window. Emma stood in the cold snow looking at looking at one particularly beautiful doll. A wealthy lady enters the toy shop and…oh no. Now, there are only four dolls left. Luckily, the doll she loves is still in the window!

Suddenly, the toy shop owner comes out and chases Emma away. Will she ever get to see her beloved doll again? Why is the store owner so grouchy? After all, it is Christmas!

I loved this picture book! It reminded me of Christmas stories from my own childhood. This is a feel – good picture book that will be enjoyed both by the child and by the adult who reads it to them since it truly embodies the spirit of Christmas. The Doll Violinist would be the perfect gift for that little girl on your Christmas list!

To learn more about Mayra Calvini or her picture book called The Doll Violinist, just go to her website at: http://www.MayrasSecretBookcase.com. To learn more about the illustrator surf to her website at: http://www.amycullingsmoreno.com.

If you’d like to purchase The Doll Violinist for that child on your gift list you can do so at several places. You can pick your copy up at http://www.amazon.com (US), http://www.amazon.co.uk (UK) or http://www.barnesandnoble.com. You can even get it at the publisher’s website: http://www.guardianangelpublishing.com where they offer it in both .pdf and print formats!

Watch this. I think you’ll see what I mean.