#Book #Review by @HughRoberts05 of ‘The Night Before Christmas’ by Rose Collins

The Night Before Christmas by Rose Collins

Title: The Night Before Christmas

Author: Rose Collins

Format: Kindle Edition

Genre: Children’s Book

Language: English

Published: 7th December 2015 by NurseryBox Books

Print Length: 28 pages

File Size: 15661 KB

ASIN: B0193Y9PHW

Price: £1.49

Sold By: Amason UK Amazon USA

A free copy of the book was provided to me in exchange for a review.

Clement Clarke Moore’s much-loved poem is brought beautifully to life in this gorgeous picture book with a twist – as Santa visits a family of bears on Christmas Eve.

I’ve always loved Clement Clarke Moore’s poem ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas.’ For me, Christmas Eve is my favourite day of the year. So when I was asked to review this book I didn’t hesitate in saying ‘yes’.

Christmas Eve is a magical night and this book is just as magical. The pictures, story, and vivid colour not only help in making the book a spellbinding read, but they captured my heart. I could not fail in taking in every last detail of the illustrations and being whisked away on Santa’s sleigh for the time it took me to read the book.

I thought I was going to get the story of ‘The Three Bears’ but was very pleased to say there were no hints of cold porridge or lumpy beds. I smiled throughout the whole book and could feel it pulling me back to the days of my childhood. Not only will every child enjoy reading this book, but so will any adult who reads it to children.

As I have already mentioned, the illustrations are both beautiful and colourful. Children, young and old, will take a great time in absorbing the whole story not just from the words, but also from looking at the pictures and taking in everything that has been captured in them. They are mesmorizing.

Although the book is aimed at younger children, I’d encourage parents to get older children to read the story to their younger brothers and sisters. Didn’t we all love the magic of Christmas, especially when very young? The book will certainly help anybody reading it to spread that magical feeling to their audience.

The only slight problem I had with the book is that there is a small section of the story which refers to Santa smoking his pipe. The illustration on the particular page also shows this. Given the anti-social attitude towards smoking these days, some may find that they don’t want to promote Santa’s bad habit, as a smoker, to children. I was a little surprised to see it in the book. Had the book been published 30 or so years ago, then I don’t think it would have been considered that much of a problem but, in the current climate, it may raise a few eyebrows.

Realistic Characterisation: 5/5

Overall Enjoyment: 5/5

Readability: 5/5

Recommended: 4/5

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

Review by:

Hugh Roberts

Hugh Roberts

Twitter: @HughRoberts05 (https://twitter.com/HughRoberts05)

Blog: hughsviewsandnews.com (http://hughsviewsandnews.com/about/)

Facebook: Hugh W. Roberts (https://www.facebook.com/HughsViewsAndNews05)

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@FTThum #BookReview ‘Santa and the Christmas Dragon’ by Amanda Roberts

With Christmas round the bend, it is a good time to review this children’s book.

santaTitle:          Santa and the Christmas Dragon
Author:          Amanda Roberts
Illustrator:   Cherith Vaughan
Translator:   Yaqian Gong
Publishers:     Two Americans in China Press (2016)
Format:          Hardcover
Website:         www.twoamericansinchina.com
Pages:             32
Genre:            Fiction – Children, Picture-book

What’s it about?

This children picture book tells the story of how Santa got to China. It is bilingual – presented in English, Chinese characters and Mandarin pinyin.

I had expected an education on Chinese culture, and how both cultures perceive Christmas. Instead, this book seeks to cross cultural boundaries, to connect our humanity through common themes – in this instance, good boys and girls deserving of gifts, and how gifts are welcomed. It encourages cultural sensitivity and understanding. I so want to know what the Dragon and Santa learned of each other’s culture.

I wish the fonts were larger and less ‘curly’; legibility is worth noting given the age of children to which it seems to target. The Chinese translation is appropriately lengthier to fit the rhythm of the Chinese language, its tone familiar to Chinese readers.

There are a few discrepancies, perhaps only to adult readers like myself. I will not list them, as this is a book for the young and their imagination. I see no need to taint it.

Would I recommend it?

Overall, an entertaining read. This beautifully illustrated bilingual children’s book will delight young readers.

Ratings:
Overall Rating:                  3/5

~ FlorenceT

@FTThum
MeaningsAndMusings

© 2016 LitWorldInterviews

Book Launch – Tales from the Garden – Fairy Stories by Sally Cronin

Tales From the Garden small- Cover

Lit World Interviews is delighted to announce that Tales from the Garden, by Sally Cronin, is now available in Ebook versions with the print copies available shortly.

Sally and husband, David, will be leaving their house and garden at some point in the future and when they put the house on the market, Sally realised that it was not only the sunshine that she would miss. She already had many photographs taken over the last sixteen years and she decided to capture as many aspects of the garden as she could to take with them digitally at least.

As Sally photographed the statues, most far too heavy to take with them, it came to her that some of them had been there at least for 60 years and had seen many changes over that time. Also there was the mystery surrounding the missing dwarves? Just exactly where did they disappear to some nights; when the garden seems to be alive with excitement and you can hear the fluttering of many wings in the air?

Sally wrote the stories weekly on her blog but was so delighted by the response from those who read them, that this became her surprise book of the year. Those that were planned will be released in the New Year.

The Ebook is available now, and the print version will be available in the next week. Both are discounted on her publisher’s website, as there are no additional charges as on other online bookstores.

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About the book.

Fairy Stories for children of all ages, from five to ninety-five, that will change the way you look at your garden, forever….

With over 80 photos/illustrations, “Tales from the Garden” by Sally Cronin, reveals the secrets that are hidden beneath hedges and trees.

You will discover what really happens at night as you sleep unaware in your bed. Stone statues and those hidden worlds within the earth are about to share their stories.

The guardians who have kept the sanctuary safe for over fifty years will allow you to peek behind the scenes of this magical place. They will take you on a journey through time and expand your horizons as they transport you to the land of fairies, butterflies and lost souls who have found a home here.

Meet Queen Filigree of the Kingdom of Magia, The Last Emperor and The Lost Boy who live in the sanctuary on the Spanish mountain. Ten stories of adventure, magic and love.

 Book Trailer.

Find out more about Tales from the Garden and buy the Ebook in Mobi for Kindle Format and Epub at a special 50% discount via the website – £2.48. Print copies are discounted by 23% at £8.42. The photographs in the print copy are in black and white and will be available in the next week to ten days.

Secure payment through the Moyhill Publisher sitehttp://moyhill.com/tales

Or through Amazon at the recommended retail prices.

Amazon UKhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0180Q6CKM

Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0180Q6CKM

About Sally Cronin

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Sally Cronin spent a number of years in each of the following industries – Retail, Advertising and Telecommunications, Radio & Television; and has taken a great deal of inspiration from each.

She has written short stories and poetry since a very young age and contributed to media in the UK and Spain. In 1996 Sally began studying nutrition to inspire her to lose 150 lbs and her first book, Size Matters published in 2001, told the story of that journey back to health. This was followed by another seven books across a number of genres including health, humour and romance. These include Just Food For Health, Size Matters, Just an Odd Job Girl, Sam, A Shaggy Dog Story, Flights of Fancy anthology, Turning Back the Clock and Media Training.

For the last two years Smorgasbord Invitation has offered a legitimate excuse to write daily, meet amazing people from around the world and provide a platform to assist any artist, musician or writer to showcase their work.

Connect to Sally on social media.

http://uk.linkedin.com/in/sallycronin1
https://twitter.com/sgc58
https://www.facebook.com/sally.cronin
https://www.facebook.com/sallygeorginacronin
https://plus.google.com/+SallyCronin/about

Book launch

Any help that you can provide in promoting the book would be most welcome and you can contact Sally on sally.cronin@moyhill.com. She will be doing a series of guest posts on various aspects of the book. Behind the scene stories of the statues, parts of the garden etc. and will of course share any posts on your blog across by social media.

 

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LitWorldInterviews.com-The Week-In Review. 11/9-11/14

BOOK REVIEWS

‘The Blue Crimes’ by Enrique Laso
by Olga Núñez Miret
Olga_Núñez_Miret_author.jpg

The Blue Crimes by Enrique Laso. An intriguing case and an even more intriguing investigator.

The Blue Crimes by Enrique Laso
The Blue Crimes by Enrique Laso

The Blue Crimes is the first book in Enrique Laso’s collection of Ethan Bush Thrillers. Ethan Bush is a young FBI agent, one of the most promising, top of his Psychology class at Stanford and self-assured, or so he seems. He arrives to Jefferson County fresh from solving a serial murder case in Detroit and expectations are running high. Read The Complete Review.
 
 
 
 


The Judas Apocalypse by Dan McNeil “At times his encounters are humorous, deadly, and explosive.”
by Ronovan Hester
Ron_LWI

McNeil gives us a story that spans two thousand years, not year by year or hanging out in that distant past for so long you want to skip pages, and that story threatens to devastate a world, a way of life, and rewrite history. And he does so by piecing together historical The Judas Apocalypse by Dan McNeilfacts with bits of legends and myths that are most familiar and some not so to the average layman. He brings some new twists to the saying “everything old is new again”.

There are times when you completely lose yourself in Dan McNeil’s world. You see and hear things. You feel remorse at times, even surprisingly for characters you can’t stand. McNeil makes you have emotions and thoughts, or perhaps maybe I should say he has you examine things about yourself at times that may make you wonder. Read The Complete Review.


 

Fort Applegate & The Battle of Wounded Knee by Brian Wu.
by Jason Royle
Judas Hero Misunderstood

Brian Wu’s approach to teaching children about the immune system in his book, Fort Applegate & The Battle of Wounded Knee, was informative and effective. As Wu Fort Applegate & The Battle of Wounded Kneestates in his opening “tips” section, Fort Applegate & The Battle of Wounded Kneeone of the primary goals in the writing of this book is for it to be used as a means of getting children interested in their immune system, and as a teaching tool. I found this to be true. Read The Complete Review.
 
 
 
 


FEATURE ARTICLES

Are You A Published Author? Then I Have A Question For You.
by Hugh Roberts
5c7f0fa5629d1be714bbc32bb9e48ddf

When Ronovan initially started Lit World Interviews, his idea was that it would be a place where authors could promote themselves as well as their work. It’s also a place where authors come to seek help and advice from others. Of course there’s the book reviews as well.

I don’t know about you, but I often find that my pride gets in the way when I want to ask for some help. That’s where blogs like this can really help because I don’t feel as afraid to ask for advice especially as many of the readers here are published authors. I am sure that all of them will have been in a similar situation to where I find myself today. Read The Complete Article and Comments.


Promoting Your Books on Amazon
by Jo Robinson
Jo Robinson Author

I’ve only just discovered, too late, that when you run a Kindle Countdown deal it either happens at Amazon.com or Amazon.UK, and not all regions at the same time. So while this time I’ve managed to put different books on Countdowns for the different regions, I’ll know better for next time.

The thing to do if you want your deal to be available to both regions is to set up two separate promotions for the same book on the same dates – one for UK and another for the USA. Read The Complete Article.

 

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