I have been thinking back over my blogging time and I have to say that I think this is the first time I have been asked to take part in a final cover reveal and I am truly honored. Thank you Derry and Sourcebooks for asking me.
I think this is going to be a huge book for 2012 and I am super excited to have been given an Advance Readers Copy of this book. I am dying to read it.
So here it is my lovely book friends the final cover of Embrace . Isn’t it gorgeous?
About the Book:
On her 17th birthday, everything will change for Violet Eden. The boy she loves will betray her. Her enemy will save her. And she will have to make a choice that could cost not only her life, but her eternity…LINCOLN: He’s been Violet’s one anchor, her running partner and kickboxing trainer. Only he never told her he was training her for an ancient battle between angels and exiles.PHOENIX: As an exile, he is not to be trusted, yet he’s the only one there to pick up the pieces and protect her after Lincoln’s betrayal. But what is he really after?Who will she…Embrace?
Not only does it have a beautiful cover but I am thinking I am going to enjoy this and it could very well be one of my favorite books for 2012.
If you are on facebook don’t forget to like Embrace the Series.
I am also allowed to share with you the jacket flap description of EMBRACE:
Behind the scenes for the Embrace cover shoot:
Embrace Cover Shoot from Sourcebooks Inc on Vimeo.
Title: The Cats in the Doll Shop
Author: Yona Zeldis McDonough
Illustrator: Heather Maione
Pages: 160
Publisher: Viking (Penguin)
Pub Date: November 2011
Source: I received a finished copy of this book for review from the publisher.
About the book:
When Anna spots a cat in the yard behind her parents’ doll shop, she is excited. Then she realizes the cat is about to have kittens-even better! And Anna has something else to look forward to: her cousin Tania is coming from Russia to stay with Anna’s family. Anna already has two sisters, but she and Tania are the exact same age-eleven-and she imagines they will get along perfectly. But Tania doesn’t respond to Anna’s friendly overtures, and her sisters don’t seem to like Tania at all. Luckily, Anna finds a creative way to use her love of dolls and cats to bring everyone together.
I have to send out a huge Thank You to Diane for bringing this book to my attention because up until she mentioned it to me I have never heard of it and I am so happy that I got the chance to read it because it was so much fun to read. I am actually going to pass this book on to my son’s school library as I am sure the kids would love this story.
I haven’t read the companion book The Doll Shop Downstairs yet but I am going to after reading this one.
I am always a little hesitant about reading a second book or a companion book when I haven’t read the first one because sometimes characters have been introduced or things have happened and the story continues but I have to say not this one. This can actually read as a stand alone and I really enjoyed it. I think the middle graders would too.
Anna’s family (Mama and Papa) own a doll shop (in New York City) where they make dolls that they sell to all kinds of stores (F.A.O Schwarz). Anna lives with her two sisters (Sophie and Trudie) in an apartment above the doll shop. She is a middle child.
In the beginning of the book the girls discover that their cousin Tania will be coming from Russia to stay with them for a year until their aunt can get anough money together to join her daughter. This is the first time they have met her and they are excited. Anna has imagined all kinds of things about Tania and is hoping that since they both are the same age that they will bond but once Tania gets here things aren’t like they were imagined.
Now if having a stranger coming to visit who couldn’t speak english wasn’t enough excitement lets throw in a stray cat that Anna spotted across the yard. This is just any stray cat but a stray cat ready to give birth anytime soon. The girls decide they have to take care of it especially after what they witness a neighbor doing. Thankfully their dad steps in and allows the girls to give it scraps but nothing else. They are from the old country and they didn’t have pets.
I loved how having a mouse in the house changed Tania because she bonded with the cat because the father allowed the cat to come in so that she could catch it or at least that is what we think happened.
I love reading stories that happen in New York City because it brings back so many great memories of my trip there and when Yona wrote about Ellis Island and when you came in from the boat you went right there before coming into the US. Having visited Ellis Island I can only imagine what it must have felt like to have been traveling weeks, months to finally hit land and see this amazing skyline in front of you and wondering what your future would hold.
Yona did a fantastic job because the story takes place during the Cold War and I can only image what it must have felt for Tania to be coming to a new place on her own and staying with strangers.
I also enjoyed the glossary of terms at the back of the book because there was a few Jewish words I didn’t know and to have them close by was nice.
Thanks to Diane once again for bringing this book to my attention and to Viking for sending it my way.
Title: Cats In The Doll Shop (book 2)
Author: Yona Zeldis McDonough
Publisher: Viking
Pub Date: November 2011
Pages: 144
About The Boook:
Young readers joined nine-year-old Anna as she helped turn her family’s doll repair shop into a doll-making shop. Now, Anna finds herself in an all-new adventure in The Cats in the Doll Shop. In this “quiet treasure” (Kirkus), World War I is still raging, and Anna’s cousin Tania leaves Russia to live with her family in New York City. Anna is so excited for Tania to arrive and be her new best friend. When her cousin finally moves in, Anna quickly discovers that Tania doesn’t respond to her friendly gestures and her sisters don’t seem to like her at all. Luckily, Anna finds a creative way to use her love of dolls and cats to bring everyone together. Inspired by her own experience with an injured kitten many years ago, Yona Zeldis McDonough offers a gentle story rich with history, family, and love. The Cats in the Doll Shop is a story that will be a favorite of readers for generations to come.
Today I am honored to have Yona Zeldis McDonough, the author of The Doll Shop Downstairs (book 1) and The Cats In The Doll Shop (her latest book) stop by to share with us her holiday guest post. Thanks so much Yona for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do this for me and my readers. Happy Holidays.
We didn’t “do” holidays when I was a child. No Christmas (well, we were Jewish) but no Chanukah, Passover, Rosh Hashanah either. I grew up bereft in this regard, resigned to wishing for the sort of large-scale family celebrations that never, alas, were ours. As an adult, I’ve finally got the holiday thing down pat: I married a Catholic and so feel that along with his name, I’ve assumed his holidays too and I “do” Christmas in an over-the-top festive fashion worthy of anyone who’s grown up in the tradition.
But here’s a funny thing: in my writing, I am and remain stubbornly Jewish, a fact that is made particularly evident in my fiction for children, which tends to revolve around Jewish themes, characters, locales and yes, Jewish holidays.
In my most recent book, THE CATS IN THE DOLL SHOP, I have a scene in which the Breittlemanns and their friends celebrate Rosh Hashanah with a traditional meal, music and song. And here is how the family celebrates Chanukah:
We light candles in menorah at sundown, and the smell of Mama’s crispy brown latkes and cinnamon-laced applesauce is in the air. There are small gifts for us to share, too, like a bag of almonds, and orange and, best of all, pieces of chocolate Chanukah gelt, wrapped in shining gold foil.
We use the gelt as part of the game we play with the wooden dreidel that always comes out of the cupboard on holiday. It’s a game of chance that involves winning and losing the chocolate coins. First Sophie is winning, then Trudie and finally Tania. But when we are done, we divide up the gelt again, so everyone gets the same number of pieces. I eat of mine right away but decide to save the rest. I’ll be glad I have some left for tomorrow.
Later, Papa comes in to say good night. He sits down on Trudie’s bed and starts telling us the story of Chanukah…A long, long time ago, Papa begins, the holy temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and the eternal flame was in danger of going out…As Papa talks, my mind drifts. Maybe there is room for a little miracle in our lives. Maybe Plucky will come back, safe and unharmed, and Papa will let him stay. Now wouldn’t that be a miracle? I cannot help wishing.
It’s all there: the menorah, the latkes, the dreidel, the gelt, the story of the lamp that burned for eight nights even though there was only enough oil for one. I seem to gravitate back to these rituals, giving myself in fiction what I was denied in fact. I’ve read that writing is a form of redemption, and that through writing, we can restore what has been lost, or in my case, never been. And as the holidays come around again, I know that this is true. I am grateful for the chance to recreate once more the life I had longed to live.
Thanks again Yona. I loved your guest post and how even though you are doing things differently you have stuck to your roots.
Check back tomorrow for my review on The Cats in the Doll Shop.
As you can see I am one of the participates in the 2011 Advent Tour. This is my first year taking part and I have to say that when I first started blogging I saw this and every year I always meant to take part but for some reason or another it didn’t happen until this year.
When I first signed up for this I was wondered what I was going to talk about without having a repeating posting topic going around the blogosphere and honestly its was hard because it seemed like I was on the same wave length as so many book bloggers and thinking of the same things they were.
Growing up we didn’t have alot of money because my dad was a seasonal worker (construction) and that meant money was usually tight come the holidays. As it is with so many households then and now.
One of the things I always swore to was that I would always make sure Christmas was special in my house and that I would do things with my child that I never got to experience with my own parents. Those are the true memories of Christmas and making new memories and traditions.
Traditions that have been passed down are:
For the past two years this has been Michael’s advent calendar. He has tried the chocolate ones and he never liked them and they would always be wasted so when we discovered that Lego was doing an advent calendar we started to pick them up. He loves doing them and each year is different.
New traditons that we have started:
Holiday Baking:
I usually don’t do alot of holiday baking but some of the things I always tend to make is cookies, peach fruit cake and fudge. I try to keep things simple when it comes to baking so that I can get Michael involved.
Over the course of the holiday season I will share some of my favorite holiday recipes with you.
Be sure to check out the other daily tour stops. This is who is touring with me today:
raidergirl3 @ an adventure in reading
About the Book:
Whitney Stewart’s straightforward, non-denominational guide makes meditation simple. It covers the basics in a concise thirty-three pages: Why meditation is good for you, how to sit, how to let your mind rest, even what to do if you feel weird or uncomfortable during meditation. Most important, it provides sixteen accessible, useful meditations you can easily learn at home. Age ten to adult.Stewart’s top reasons to meditate:
*To focus inwardly
*To slow down internally
*To develop awareness
*To understand your mind
*To increase tolerance
*To experience “BIG MIND”
About the Author:
Whitney Stewart began writing young adult biographies and meditating after she met and interviewed the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, the subject of two of her books, and lived with a Tibetan family in India. For her next biographies, she trekked with Sir Edmund Hillary in Nepal, interviewed Burma’s Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi in her Rangoon home, and climbed along China’s Great Wall to research the lives of Deng Xiaoping and Mao Zedong. In 2004, Stewart published a picture book about the Buddha, which contains a foreword and a meditation suggestion from the 14th Dalai Lama. In addition to nonfiction books, Stewart has published three middle-grade novels. In August 2005, Stewart was trapped in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and evacuated by helicopter from a rooftop. She returned home and volunteered as a creative writing teacher in the public schools. She discovered that her students suffered from post-Katrina stress. Using meditation, improvisation, and word play, Stewart taught her students to write about their lives.Her latest book is Give Me a Break: No-Fuss Meditation.
You can find more about Whitney Stewart at her website at http://www.whitneystewart.com/.
Follow her at Twitter at www.twitter.com/mindfulneworlns
and www.twitter.com/whitneystewart2
Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/New.Orleans.Kids.Author.
I want to thank Dorothy from Pump Up Your Book for contacting me and asking if I would host Whitney on her blog tour. I also have to thank Whitney for taking the time out of her busy schedule to write up this guest post for me.
Wishing you both a Happy Holiday.
You shop. You cook. You wrap.
You skip the gym, guzzle caffeine, eat too fast, or too much. You run errands, fight traffic, wait in lines, unpack groceries, vacuum the house, make the guest bed, iron holiday clothes, and WORRY. About money. About presents. About not being able to do everything. You snap at the kids. At your spouse. At the check-out lady.
Stress makes you jumpy, agitated, and depressed. You don’t have enough time. You don’t get enough sleep. Dark circles form under your eyes. But you smile and make the best of the holiday. Then you vow that next year you’ll be nicer. You’ll make time for yourself, for your friends. You’ll simplify. You’ll enjoy the holidays.
BUT WAIT! There’s still time to unhook for this holiday. There’s a way to be more mindful and create peace.
BREATHE!
FOCUS!
MEDITATE!
I know what you’re going to say. You don’t have time to meditate, not with everything else going on. I’ve said the same thing, but it’s not true. Even ten minutes of meditation a day will change your heart rhythm and your brain waves. Ten minutes will allow you to experience deep relaxation and heightened awareness. And you don’t have to go anywhere to meditate. You can do it at home, in your pajamas, on the floor, in a chair, even in bed.
Meditation is mindfulness. It’s a gentle unhooking from your mental stream, your inner babble, your mind’s construction of yourself and your life. Instead of listening to your recitation of a holiday to-do list, listen to your breath. Feel the bumping of your heart. Soften the muscles in your shoulders. Allow space to move into the corners where stress was hiding, and you’ll find that you control less and flow more.
And when you shop and cook and wrap and clean and eat and entertain, you’ll find room for the joy.
Thanks so much Whitney this is perfect advise for this stressful holiday season.
here is the trailer:
A quick guide to simple mediatation:
I just saw this on Yahoo (click on yahoo to take you to the media write on this) and had to share it with you. Sean did an amazing job.
