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The Julie Andrews Collection Launches at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in Fall 2009 with Deluxe Anthology of Poems, Songs and Lullabies Personally Annotated by the Celebrated Mother-Daughter Team

"Children's literature and the arts both represent strong passions for me, and I've spent much of my life dedicated to both of them," commented Ms. Andrews. "I'm enormously pleased that they will be beautifully woven together in this new collection of books. Emma and I bring a lifelong love of music, drama and literature into each of the books we write, and we're thrilled to share that love through these new stories which I hope young readers will treasure as much as I do."

I think this is very exciting. I know a lot of parents who would buy books from this program just for the mere fact that Julie Andrews supports and is participating in it. She is an outstanding role model and always has been, so you can have faith your kids will get the best. Ya know?

SOURCE

Labels: children, Julie Andrews

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| 7:59 AM | 0 comment(s)!

Sure I was tired, but the book became more and more interesting towards the middle and before I knew it I had read 150 page to finish the book. It didn't start out as intriguing, but I definitely got caught up in this fine piece of chic lit.

Off the Record: A Novel, by Jennifer O'Connell, is about a girl named Jane who kind of played the "plain jane" role her whole life. Now a lawyer, living on her own and just meandering through life. Until her brother Andy calls her and tells her she is "Janey 245."

A rock star had written a song about Jane. He is someone she knew when she was a kid, but they hadn't seen each other since the 6th grade. But for one reason or another her pig tails and spirited ways had inspired a hit single. Or so Andy convinced her to think...

Sure it might be cool, but when you're trying to become a partner in a law firm you don't really want rock star attention. Except she suddenly found herself signing autographs and appearing on the Letterman show to reunite with Teddy Rock, formerly Theo from her childhood neighborhood.

Of course you can imagine a possible love story here, but Jane and Janey might as well have been two different people. Janey was wild, Jane was not. And let's face it, Janey would have been a great match for Teddy, but Jane...not so much.

To throw another male into the mix, a new person began working at Jane's firm. Drew. Drew had a reputation, which was based on fiction we find out, but Jane was immediately put off and treated Drew a bit unfairly.

The story also includes two of Jane's best friends; Nat and Liv. There are girl moments of what should she wear on Letterman, there were professional moments when Jane and Drew worked on a case together and of course there were anxious moments for Jane the entire time.

The book was great. An easy and entertaining read. I'd give it 3.5 stars only because it was awfully predictable and the editors did a bad job at catching typos. Otherwise it's fantastical!

Labels: chic book, fiction, Jennifer O'Connell, Off the Record

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| 7:48 AM | 2 comment(s)!

Okay, it's a grade 6 book, but I have to say I very much loved every bit of this story. This is a science-fiction story which starts out with a boy named Cosmo Hill who lived in an orphanage called Clarissa Frayne or more specifically,the Clarissa Frayne Institute for Parentally Challenged Boys.

As you might be able to guess, Cosmo escapes the orphanage and nearly dies in the process. A group of kids who call themselves The Supernaturalists end up saving his life. They find they all share a special gift which gives them a sixth sense; an ability to see blue creatures they have named "parasites."

They all live in Satellite City where everything is all based on business, profit, smog and other horribleness. Stefan, Mona and Ditto are the friends who saved Cosmo's life and they hide out fighting the bad guys while trying to stay alive on their own.

The author, Eoin Colfer (author of the 'Artemis Fowl' series) does a fantastic job with the story development. The twists and turns are pretty consistent and I found myself thinking about it throughout the day; wondering what might happen next.

It's a really great book. I don't know if a sixth grader would feel the same as I do, but I'm a fan and totally recommend it.

The Supernaturalist (Golden Duck Awards. Eleanor Cameron Award for Middle Grades (Awards))

Labels: children, Eoin Colfer, sci-fi, The Supernaturalists

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| 9:51 PM | 0 comment(s)!

While I admit this book took me forever to read it wasn't because the book sucked and it wasn't because it was long. So don't pre-judge, it took me forever to read because I haven't made the time.

Anyway.

The book, Fate and Ms. Fortune: A Novel is written by Saralee Rosenberg. I liked the ending few chapters of the book than I liked the rest of it. So if you were pondering a rating I'd give it 3 out of 5 stars. The book is funny and charming but did a lot of stringing along with the multiple plot lines.

Robyn Fortune is your main character and she definitely seems to have a lot of bad fortune going on in her life. She gets a divorce because her husband turned out be an obsessive gambler and ended up in jail. Her parents are on the verge of splitting up and it came out of the blue to their kids. And as a makeup artist who wants to be a stand up comedian...well things just aren't going her way.

I really liked the cultural aspects of it because Robyn and everyone around her are Jewish. So different components of a faith I know very little about were scattered throughout the story and it was fascinating to me.

At one point Robyn sees a fortune teller and honestly it is very interesting to me because many of the things she learned from the teller actually happened or were going to happen. Robyn kept referring to different coincidences which cropped up after her reading and even though this is a completely fictional story it still gave me chills.

Definitely chick lit. But I am happy I read it, it was quite entertaining and again, I loved how everything turned out.

Labels: chic book, Saralee Rosenberg

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| 9:00 AM | 0 comment(s)!