How to use this Page

क्लिक कीजिए और सुनिए  दो मिनट का मजेदार ऑडियो हार्दिक शुभकामनाएं – ओडियो Audio मैं अपनी सहेली मणि के घर गई तो वो उलझी हुई थी लिस्ट बनाने में बोली कि फैस्टिवल आने वाले हैं पहले से ही शुभकामनाएं देने लेने की लिस्ट बनी हो तो अच्छा रहता है मैने उसे कहा कि अरे इसमें […]

The post हार्दिक शुभकामनाएं – ओडियो appeared first on Monica Gupta.

I Wish You More

Written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld
Chronicle Books  3/01/2015
978-1-4521-2699-9
40 pages Age 3+
.
.
“Some books are about a single wish.
Some books are about three wishes.
This book is about endless wishes.

“Amy Krouse and Tom Lichtenheld have been called the “Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers of children’s books” and here they have combined their extraordinary talent to create a compendium of wishes—wishes for curiosity and wonder, friendship and strength, for joyous days and quiet moments.

What will you wish for?”  [book jacket]

Review
I Wish You More is the perfect book for a (grand)parent to give their (grand)child for any occasion or no occasion at all. I Wish You More is also the perfect book to give the child heading off to college, summer camp, or any other get-away.

I wish you more can than knot.

Beginning with two children racing with the wind, a kite flying high above, the text reads:  “I wish you more ups than downs.” Each spread continues with a wish and an image expressing that wish. Children will understand most of the test and each of the images. Lichtenheld has created a multicultural set of children, which make the spreads that more adorable—if this is possible.

I Wish You More is simply a wonderful, joyous, high-spirited, positive celebration of what a wish can do for those who receive them, and for those who give them. There really is not much more to say about this beautiful picture book. Read I Wish You More to a young child and they can learn the benefits of kindness and well wishes toward other humans. And, I believe, you can help your little one with their self-esteem.  I Wish You More would have been in my office and read to every child.

I wish you more stories than stars.

Each spread is one wish—one special wish with an equally special illustration. Narrated by the voice of a parent, I Wish You More  concludes by stating it contains all these wishes, “. . . because you are everything I could wish for . . . and more.”

**Chronicle Books is making two posters from the book available for anyone who would like them. This may be for a limited time, I do not know, so go HERE and get your set of two. They are perfect for any child’s room. There is also an activity kit for teachers HERE.

I WISH YOU MORE. Text copyright © 2015 by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Tom Lichtenheld. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Chronicle Books, San Francisco, CA.

Purchase I Wish You More at Amazon—Book Depository—Chronicle Books.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! (#4)
Learn more about I Wish You More HERE.

Meet the author, Amy Krouse Rosenthal, at her website:  http://www.whoisamy.com/
Meet the illustrator, Tom Lichtenheld, at his website:  http://www.tomlichtenheld.com/
Find more picture books at the Chronicle Books website:  http://www.chroniclebooks.com/
x
Copyright © 2015 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews. All Rights Reserved
Review section word count = 222

Last week my friend and critique partner Kimberley Troutte tagged me as part of a Meet My Character Blog Tour. She posted about the characters from her newly released novel, God Whisperer. I can remember reading a draft of this story years ago, so it was incredibly exciting to see it released to the world […]

.

Evil Fairies Love Hair

by Mary G. Thompson

Clarion Books       8/5/2014

978-0-547-85903-3

Age 8 to 12       320 pages

.

“You could be gorgeous, brilliant, a star athlete, or great singer, or you could put a hex on your worst enemy. And all you have to do is raise a flock of two-inch-tall fairies. Easy, right? Wrong. Ali learns this the hard way when her flock-starter fairies get to work. Raising them means feeding them, and what they eat is hair. Lots and lots of human hair. Where to get the hair is Ali’s first challenge. What about the beauty salon? Easy, right? Before long, Ali’s friends, classmates, teachers, sister, and parents are entangled with the evil fairies, who have their own grandiose and sinister agenda. It’s up to Ali to overcome these magical troublemakers and set things right.”

Opening

“AGREEMENT 1. Alison E. B. Butler in exchange for one wish, hereby agree: . . .”

The Story

Alison is raising a flock of evil fairies in exchange for one wish. She wants to be smarter than her sister, who get s straight A’s and her parent’s attention. She has two problems right away. Michael gave her the two flock-starters and now he insists on checking up on her, constantly. It wouldn’t be so bad if he weren’t the second worst jerk in town. His brother is number one and dating Ali’s sister Hannah—the one who can do no wrong. Second problem, the baby fairies. All the babies want is to eat and they eat human hair, lots if it. Where is Ali going to get all that hair? She can’t use her own, and keeps her hair in a high bun to ensure the fairies don’t get to her hair. The boys shave their head.

Ali spots the beauty salon across from the middle school. They throw hair away every day. Ali tries to grab some of the discarded hair, but Mrs. Hopper, who has cut the Butler family’s hair since forever, catches her. Ali learns that Mrs. Hopper is not who she seems to be and wants to rescue Mrs. Hopper—the real Mrs. Hopper. Hopper is not the only one held captive. Molly and Tyler, who broke the rules while raising their flocks, are now suffering the penalty, and Mrs. Hopper—the fake one—is now holding them captive. Will Ali be able to free all three? Can she be able to get anyone else to help? Most importantly, will Ali raise her full flock and get her wish?

Review

I love Evil Fairies Love Hair. It has some normal teenage angst, a normal family, middle school casts, two flockstarters who may or may not help, and a good dash of magic. The good kids are not always as good as they seem and the bad kids are not as bad as everyone, including parents, believe. Then there are the little evil fairies, who may not be fairies at all. Evil Fairies Love Hair could be a confusing story, but events happen in good time and everything flows nicely from one plot point to the next. In fact, I had read half the book before I thought to check the time. I didn’t want to put the book down.

From the title, Evil Fairies Love Hair, I had no idea what to expect. The fairy on the cover is odd looking with large, bulging eyes that fill up half her face and a baldhead. She looks demanding and she and her fellow fairies are a demanding bunch. Their leader put the fairies in this position and was now trying to get them to where she wanted to be in the first place. Problem is, she easily makes mistakes, mainly due to her enormous ego. I love the humor and the middle school principal who never has a clue what his students are doing. He just wants them back to class. All the adults are clueless.

Middle grade kids will love this story. It will have them thinking about what they would wish for, if they had the opportunity. Kids will also wonder what getting their wish would cause to those around them. Would it be worth it to have everything you want? This is the author’s sophomore novel. (Escape from the Pipe Men! is her debut and will be reviewed here soon.) The writing is excellent. The story pulls you in and keeps you turning the pages. Kids looking for a magical tale with a few twists and turns will want to read Evil Fairies Love Hair. You may think you know what a fairy is and what a fairy does, but do you really? To find out, you need to read Evil Fairies Love Hair. Be careful what you wish for—you might just get it!.

.

EVIL FAIRIES LOVE HAIR. Text copyright © 2014 by Mary G. Thompson. Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Blake Henry. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, Boston MA.

.

Learn about Evil Fairies Love Hair HERE.

Buy Evil Fairies Love Hair at Amazon—B&N—Clarion Books—your local bookstore.

.

Meet author Mary G. Thompson at her website:  http://www.marygthompson.com/

Find more intriguing books at the Clarion Books website:  http://www.hmhco.com/

Clarion Books is an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

.

Also by Mary G Thompson

Escape from the Pipe Men!

Wuftoom

.

.

.

.

.

.

NEW from Clarion Books

The Twin Powers

The Perfect Place

I haven’t been posting lately – I got unwell last year and have been in hospital a couple of times, but getting stronger day by day – yay!

One of my publishers just asked me to make a bio – she said I could draw it if it was easier…so here’s the result!

Wishing you all a beautiful 2013, full of good bits, sparkly bits, romantic bits, playful bits, fighting-for-those-who-need-someone-in-their-corner bits and tons and tons of giggly bits. Oh, and a huge hug and love too, linda xx

April 8—For today's prompt, write a ready to celebrate poem. You could chronicle the actual celebration or even write about the anticipation of one.

Are You Ready To Ce-le-brate?
By Bill Kirk

Some might say a cause for celebration
Hardly comes along every day.
Yet maybe that’s cause enough to be ready,
Wouldn’t you say—to giggle, smile, shout, congratulate?
After all, there’s always plenty
To bemoan our pitiful circumstances
And ample reason to groan and complain,
Wondering why this or that hard knock happened.

But then, along comes some happy time
Or its memory or the anniversary of one,
That curls up the mouth corners, even if only slightly.
So, shouldn’t we be ready for those happy-nings,
Whether anticipated or unexpected?
You know, just in case?

Oh, sure. We could also be ready
To sink into the depths of depression.
After all, deference to the sensibilities
Of those who suffer loss is at times
The only right thing to do.

Yet even in the midst of inconsolable sadness,
The spark of joy and gladness awaits its turn
To give another day of life its due,
In anticipation of yet a better one.

“This is the day the Lord has made;
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)

April 2—The prompt for day 2 is to write a postcard poem. Make it brief and communicate what it is like where you are. Also, make it personal.

Postcard Wishes
By Bill Kirk

Just got to my “room”.
There are windows galore—
On all sides, in fact,
From ceiling to floor.

A post at each corner,
In the middle, a mast;
We’ll tie off our hammocks
Oh, wow! What a blast!

We’ll sleep in “plein aire”—
A canopy above.
We four happy strangers—
Hey! What's up with the shove!?

What do you mean
Those "shoves" are a gale
And our very large tent
Is now a large sail?

You’ve got to be kidding!
Pack up my gear?
Vacation is over?
Wish I weren’t here....

(Or the top ten longed for responses from editors and publishers)

By Bill Kirk

Dedicated to all writers everywhere--especially the new kids on the block--who are awaiting responses from the many submissions you have mailed out. Sometimes the anticipation is as good as it gets. But every once in a while, you might get lucky.... It could happen.

(NOTE: The order may vary depending on the size of the envelope, weight of the manuscript and the diameter of the coffee ring on the outside.)

#1: No response from the publisher….

The editor must be still thinking about it. So it's been a year---some people are thorough.

# 2: Your original outgoing envelope, returned unopened-manuscript still inside, with no notes, no form letter or any other indication that anyone or anything besides a Pitney-Bowes mail sorter has touched it....

I wonder what that little pointy finger next to the "Return To Sender" stamp means?

#3: A returned SASE with nothing inside….
Must have liked it so much they made copies and are still passing them around the office!

#4: An SASE with a pre-printed, unsigned and unmarked form letter....

Ya gotta love the extra effort and attention! Besides, someone had to write the form letter, didn't they? So, I coulda been the first one they sent it to, right?

#5: A returned SASE with a SIGNED letter with one box checked.... Wait. All SIX rejection boxes are checked! Woo! Hoo!

Now we're talking! I can feel the love---every box is individually hand checked! Someone actually read me!

#6: A returned SASE with a SIGNED letter and an encouraging rejection note-like, "I read this twice before throwing it away." or "Next time, don't waste your postage on a SASE"�.

OMG, a perk! They're going to pay the return postage on my SASE next time. Quick! Send them something else---preferably before the postman drives away!

#7: A returned SASE with a marked up manuscript---in color crayon---and three Cheerios inside....

OK. So, the editor could have her 3-year old child on the payroll. Besides, some kids are prodigies.

#8: A returned SASE with the manuscript inside, marked up with legible comments like, "This is truly beyond belief! In my 25 years as an editor, I've never seen anything quite like it...."

Be still, my heart! Finally, someone who really understands how unique and creative I am.

#9: A returned SASE with a form letter and a signed hand-written note asking to see more….

YES!!! Hey, honey, where did you put the car ads? We gotta Jaguar in our future....

And the #10 response: A returned SASE with a SIGNED letter and an anticipated date of publication... sometime within the next ten years....

Finally! I'm adding this puppy under my name at the bottom of my email messages!

HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL….

Image via Wikipedia

Who would you like to bump into today?

Related Articles

• Painful Conversation Starters For Talking To Celebrities [Awkward Encounters] (gawker.com)
• This Week In Celebrity Twitpics (perezhilton.com)
• Celebrity Encounters: Chicago Comic Con 2010 (chicagonow.com)

One of those nights. You know how it goes. Spent the first part of the night asleep trying to work out issues with the story I'm trying to tell. Trying to make the impossible possible. Tossing and turning until, I'm up. Really awake. I grab the glass by my bed. Gulp all the water down. Go to the kitchen open the refrigerator and pour some more out of the Brita. Amble back to bed. Pull the covers over me and stare up at the stars through our skylight. It's no use. I'm worried about my daughter. Can't get her off my mind. Want to make sure she's ok. Last time I had a feeling like this, exactly a week ago, she wasn't. So I shuffle out of bed and call her at 3AM, 11 AM in Italy. She's sounds great. Laughing, having a great time. I go back to bed. She's safe. I should be able to sleep. But, no. There's a new way to begin the story I have to jot down. There's things I can't forget to do in the morning. And I lay awake for hours. But, before morning comes, I look at the stars again. And in this little space of the gigantic universe, this little 2 foot by 5 foot slice of sky, I see the most beautiful, brilliant shooting star. It was the kind of shooting star meant for BIG dreams. The kind that meant to say that everything would be OK.

Which leads me to today's question...

Imagine

Where were you the last time you saw a shooting star and what did you wish for?

Behind the question

April 18: “For today's prompt, take the phrase "To (blank)," replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write the poem. Some examples: "To the left, to the left," "To write or not to write," "To Kill a Hummingbird," "To the Doghouse," etc. There are so many possibilities.”

Indeed, there are possibilities galore for this prompt—just choosing a title that is either a noun or a verb, an object or an action, leaves you with seemingly endless options. And there’s the serious or the silly, the reflective or the quirky.

A single letter can totally change the essence of a title or its poem. Consider the difference between “To Arms” (a call to immediate action) and “To Arm” (a potential question for reflective discourse). No doubt Robert Lee Brewer must toss and turn in his sleep to come up with daily prompts to challenge even the titling of a poem, much less the writing of it.

To Wish
Bill Kirk

To wish,
Whether quietly or aloud,
Is to hope, to desire, to anticipate.

As infinitives go, “to wish” is rare.
It holds a singular optimism that
Who we are,
What we are doing and
Where we are going
Will be as good as, or even far better than,
Our immediate here and now.

And to actually take the step
Of making a wish is a
Self declaration of our belief
In boundless possibilities,
Defined and confined
Only by the wisher.

Indeed, the very existence of
“To wish” in our language
Allows us to think in terms as large
As our imaginations are capable.
And then, we can wish even larger still
For something—anything—that is beyond
Everything which doesn’t yet exist.

Simple wishes are sometimes the best.
A child might wish for a silver dollar
In exchange for a first-pulled tooth.
Or a violinist for the purest of notes
To be called forth as bow meets string.
And is it too grand for a writer to wish
For sufficient inspiration to coax
Just the right words onto the page?

To be sure, certain wishes
Might not be in our own best interest
Or that of others.
Wishing a flat tire for the driver
Who just cut you off
Might slather momentary satisfaction
On a bruised psyche.
But what if your instantaneous mental snapshot
Of such an obvious transgression
Fails to take into account
The sick child in the back seat
En route the emergency room?

Even in the naming of our enemies,
Whether briefly or long term,
Do we not wish calamity for them—
And, in contrast, the better for us?
Yet in so doing, are we not the lesser for it?

Instead, aren’t the best wishes unselfish,
Like a prayerful request to improve our lot
But not at the expense of others?

And in our wishing, is it not best to wish boldly—
To let our imaginings run free?
Or do we fail to wish simply for fear of failure?

Wishing is at the heart of living and
Our capacity to wish is its own reward.
Everything else is gravy.

Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat is a book that I have always meant to read. In fact, I was supposed to read it this summer since I had the arc of Emmy and the Home for Troubled Girls in my hot little hands. Well, it didn't happen, so I took a leap of faith and jumped right in to the second installment.

Emmy's life is back to normal, and she is trying to distance herself from the rodents. Afterall, who is going to want to hang out with a girl who talks to rats? She knows that it is thanks to the rats that she is back home and away from her awful Nanny Miss Barmy who was only interested in making off with her parent's money. But, Emmy wants to do regular 10-year-old things...things like sleep-overs, parties, going to the park, and make new friends. So when Emmy and best friend Joe are invited to a reception in Rat City, she isn't as happy as she could be.

First of all, she has to get bitten by a rat to shrink down to fit in Rat City. And there is the nasty business of old Miss Barmy being a rat herself now. Unlike Emmy, however, she cannot change her form back to human. What if Emmy runs into Miss Barmy? What will happen?

Now, Emmy isn't the only girl who Miss Barmy took care of. There was Priscilla, Ana, Berit, Lisa, Lee and little Merry. In Miss Barmy's care, they disappeared and their parents mysteriously died. But where are the girls? Closer than you may think.

Before Emmy knows it, she is smack dab in the middle of a mystery and a rescue mission. Lynne Jonell has done the difficult deed of making a second book comfortable to dive into. While I feel like I probably do not know Emmy as well as I would if I had read the first installment, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Readers will feel Emmy's growing pains, and the scenery of Rat City is painted in rich detail. From friendship to nail-biting rescue missions, to a hilarious gopher named Gus, adventure loving kids will not only eat this title up, but will most likely take a second look the next time they see a squirrel in the park!

Oh how I wish I were here...




Oh how I wish it were Springtime...




Oh how I wish I could eat 3 or maybe 4 of these without gaining an ounce...

I have just received this lovely e-card from Barefoot Books , which I would like to share with you all – it’s based on their recently-published Whole World, which not only celebrates the world we live in but reminds us that we need to look after it - something that Barefoot Books are really focussing on with their new “Go Barefoot, Go Global” emphasis on environmental issues.

As well as family favourites like The Emperor who Hated Yellow, The Gigantic Turnip and The Great Race: The Story of the Chinese Zodiac, we love Barefoot Books’ anthologies of stories from around the world. Son Number One has taken The Barefoot Book of Knights out of the library on a regular basis over the last three years. I like its format of the traditional tales being woven into the story of a young steward who is learning to be a knight, although it does sometimes mean reading time goes on for much longer than you intended!

Generally, however, these anthologies are great for (more…)