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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

May 14, 2020  
Today I have a very beautiful children's picture book on my blog! Check out THANK YOU, GARDEN by Liz Garton Scanlon. Be sure to enter the #GIVEAWAY to #win a personalized copy of the book as well as Liz's other children's book Another Way to Climb a Tree!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2020/05/book-blitz-and-giveaway-thank-you.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
A community garden unites neighbors in this celebration of all the things that grow there, from flowers and fruits, to friendships!

This ode to working together for a better world will have young readers wanting to plant gardens of their own!
     
Sheila Rae, The Brave
Sheila Rae, The Brave
Kevin Henkes | 1996 | Children, Fiction & Poetry
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A Classic Of Children's Literature
I liked this book a lot tbh. The ending was cute, the illustrations were nice, and the writing didn't "talk down" to readers like some picture books do. The only complaint I have is that the pacing felt a little rushed. But maybe that's just me.
  
Alice Legends
Alice Legends
Games
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
App Rating
The game design, the illustrations are exquisite (0 more)
Last-ability of the gameplay (0 more)
Gorgeously presented card game
This game looks gorgeous, it is designed like a children's picture book. You have random cards and characters and use them to battle. Although beautiful looking i am not sure if the game ill last weeks of play.
  
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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Aug 20, 2020  
Today's special guest on my blog is Sandra Nickel, Author of the children's food history picture book NACHO'S NACHOS! Read my interview with Sandra about the book, and enter the GIVEAWAY to win a print copy of the book and/or a recipe card - 5 winners total!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2020/08/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-nachos.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
NACHO’S NACHOS is the deliciously true story about how nachos were invented—about what happened when a regular customer asked Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya for something new, and there were no chefs in the kitchen.

2020 is the eightieth anniversary of the invention, and Oliver Dominguez’s illustrations transport us back to the border of the Rio Grande in 1940, when Nacho’s quick thinking resulted in a snack now eaten everywhere from Texas to Paris to Hong Kong!
     
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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Mar 10, 2022  
Do you know a child that's into STEM? Come read my book review for the children's science picture book SECRETS OF THE SNOW GLOBE by Catherine Stier - Author and read up about her other book in the SCIENCE MAKES IT WORK series, THE WONDER OF COLOR. Enter the fun giveaway for a chance to win autographed copies of both books in the Science Makes It Work series, a pin (for adults), snow globe socks, and a snow globe making kit!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2022/03/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-science.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS FOR SECRETS OF THE SNOW GLOBE**
After starting to collect snow globes with the help of her grandmother, Lily has questions. She wants to know who invented them, what the snow is made of, and how the tiny scenes look so magical when she peers inside. As she researches and experiments, Lily learns about light waves, magnification, and density—all while gathering ingredients to make her own snow globe.
     
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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Sep 4, 2020  
Sneak a peek at the children's picture book A VOTE IS A POWERFUL THING by Catherine Stier. This is a fantastic book to help explain to young children about how the voting process works in the U.S. Enter the GIVEAWAY to win copies of each of the three election series books by Catherine Stier, swag which includes patriotic socks, button, and pencils, as well as a $15 gift card to The Twig Book Shop.

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2020/09/book-blitz-and-giveaway-vote-is.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
Callie knows there’s a presidential election coming up, and people will soon vote to decide the country’s leader.

Her class is having an election too, about an issue that affects them all–the class field trip. Should they choose the cookie factory or the wilderness park?

Join Callie as she campaigns for the wilderness park she loves and learns how people have organized, marched, and protested for the right to vote. And find out how a vote–even just one vote–can make a difference!
     
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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Apr 23, 2020  
"I feel that For Spacious Skies is the ultimate girl power book."

Come read my review for the children's picture book biography FOR SPACIOUS SKIES by Nancy Churnin. "If you're looking for a book with a strong female and beautiful illustrations, pick up a copy of For Spacious Skies," or you can enter the #GIVEAWAY to #win your own signed copy of the book as well as Beautiful Shades of Brown by Nancy Churnin!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2020/04/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-for.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
As a little girl growing up during the Civil War, Katharine Lee Bates grew up to become a poet, professor, and social activist. She not only wrote “America the Beautiful" but gave this anthem to America as a gift. A member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and a suffragist who stood up for a woman’s right to vote and lived to cast her ballot in presidential elections, Katharine believed in the power of words to make a difference. In "America the Beautiful," her vision of the nation as a great family, united from sea to shining sea, continues to uplift and inspire us all.
     
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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Nov 18, 2020  
Today's special guest on my blog is Marlene M Bell, Author who shares her top 5 duties when feeding sheep. There's also a spotlight on her children's picture book MIA AND NATTIE: ONE GREAT TEAM! Be sure to enter the GIVEAWAY to win a Nattie plush, Nattie mousepad, a Nattie pendant, and/or a signed copy of the book - three winners!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2020/11/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-mia-and.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
Nattie’s mouth was a little crooked. Her legs were a bit shorter than usual, and one horn was too straight, like a unicorn’s horn.
But Mia thought Nattie was perfect.

On a visit to her grandma’s farm, eight-year-old Mia discovers a newborn, orphaned lamb outside in the cold and takes her to the laundry room, naming her Nattie. As she tries to nurse the lamb back to health, Mia discovers that Nattie is different from the other lambs and struggles to fit in with them like Mia does with other kids her age.

When her grandmother says she will sell Nattie to a neighbor, Mia must come up with a plan to keep her friend around — one that will show the family just how special Nattie truly is.
     
Max Attacks
Max Attacks
Kathi Appelt, Penelope Dullaghan | 2019 | Children
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A Cute, Fun Story!
I admit that I was sucked in by the cover for Max...Attacks by Kathi Appelt. Then I read the synopsis, and I knew that I had to read this for myself and for my 4 year old son. We were both delighted and entertained throughout this cute story. In fact, my son wanted me to read this book again right after we were done reading it the first time!

The plot for Max...Attacks if very simplistic yet fun. It's an easy plot to understand for young children. Max is a cat how likes playing (attacking) everything in sight! It's basically just a day in a life of a cat that children (and adults) will definitely enjoy with plenty of humorous moments!

The rhyming in Max...Attacks is done superbly and in such a fun way that makes it easy to read and understand. My 4 year old loved the rhyming throughout this book as did I. The easy language and rhyming help this book to flow smoothly. Sentence structure is fantastic.

The titular character of Max is one that children (and adults) will fall in love with. He's easy to love, and he's funny without even trying to be. My son and I laughed over and over at Max's attacking adventures! We also the dog and even the goldfish in the book. Okay, we loved every character. It was hard not to. I believe Kathi Appelt captured a day in the life of a cat perfectly!

The illustrations for Max...Attacks were done beautifully yet simplistically. Penelope Dullaghan, the illustrator for this book, did an amazing job with the illustrations. They are vibrant, very colorful, and extremely fun to look at. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that the illustrations really helped to make Max...Attacks as great and as enjoyable as it is. The attention to detail in these illustrations is also spot on. Seriously, these illustrations are some of the cutest and most fun that I've seen in a children's picture book in awhile. If you're looking for a book that will hold even the most inattentive child's attention, Max...Attacks is the book you need!

All in all, Max...Attacks is an incredibly fun children's book to read as well as to look at. The amazing illustrations as well as the entertaining story will definitely thrill children and adults alike. I would definitely recommend Max...Attacks by Kathi Appelt to everyone no matter their age. If you are looking for books for a specific age group, I think this would appeal to children between the ages of 3 - 6 the most. Max...Attacks gets a solid 5 out of 5 stars from me and my son.
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(A special thank you to Lone Star Book Blog Tours for providing me with an eBook of Max...Attacks by Kathi Appelt in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.)
  
My Life with Bob
My Life with Bob
Pamela Paul | 2017 | Biography, Essays
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I need to read more books about books, because the few that I've read, I've really enjoyed! Earlier this year I read Tolstoy and the Purple Chair, and loved it. I have holds on Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way Through Great Books and The World Between Two Covers: Reading the Globe. (I also have a hold on The Man Who Loved Books Too Much, but I'm not sure that quite counts.) And, in looking up the links for those books, I just put holds on three more books about reading, since this is a genre I apparently enjoy!

My Life with Bob is about the author's reading life. Bob is a notebook she uses to keep track of what she's read. Just title and author, and whether or not she's finished it. Very simple. But in looking back through what she's read, she recalls where she was, and what she was doing or going through at the time. So the real story is how her reading choices fit into her life, and how being a bookworm affected her life.

I enjoyed the book, with the slight irritation (in the latter part of the book) of her insistence on calling Young Adult literature, Children's Lit. Children's books are picture books and books for young readers, not The Fault in Our Stars and The Hunger Games. Those are Young Adult, and there's a pretty big difference in my opinion. Maybe not in the professional world; she is the editor of The New York Times Book Review. But it's frustrating to hear her talk about Kid Lit and lump Harry Potter in with a 36-page autobiography of a teddy bear written for kids under 10.

I was also a little shocked to learn (in the book!) she wrote a book about how porn is destroying the American family, and testified before Congress about it, sponsored by Senators Orrin Hatch and Sam Brownback. I normally don't have a problem reading Republican authors - I often don't know the exact political leanings of authors - but I'm reading about her reading choices, and suddenly they are all suspect. (She disliked Ayn Rand, at least, so that's something.) The book was published in May of last year, so after the last presidential election. Anyone who acknowledges working with the GOP at this point, and isn't embarrassed by it, immediately gets a black mark in my book.

So ultimately I'm torn on this book. I liked reading it. I dislike the author. (I will never even try to be non-political on this blog. Sorry-not-sorry.)

You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.com