Blog Book Tour - Calamity Jack

Not long ago I reviewed a superb graphic novel called Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale. Shannon has written many splendid books including Enna Burning, The Princess Academy and The Goose Girl. Now some of the characters whom we met in Rapunzel's Revenge are back in a new graphic novel adventure called Calamity Jack. Here is my review of this new title.

Calamity Jack

Shannon and Dean Hale

Illustrated by Nathan Hale

Graphic Novel

Ages 10 and up

Bloomsbury, 2010, 978-1-59990-076-6

Jack is the kind of fellow who fancies himself to be a bit of a “criminal mastermind.” He tries not to think to much about the wrongness of the things that he does, until they miscarry, which they often do. Then one day Jack decides to take on Blunderboar, a local businessman who just happens to be mean, powerful, and a giant. Blunderboar is a bully, and Jack decides to make him pay for his cruel behavior – by using some magical beans. Jack doesn’t think for a moment that tackling Blunderboar might not be such a good idea.

   Unfortunately, Jack’s plan backfires in a big way and Jack has to leave town. He goes out west and he has a fantastic adventure with a girl called Rapunzel. When the adventure is over and Jack is flush with success – and gold eggs – he decides to head back to his home town to redeem himself and help his mother. When he arrives in Shyport, he discovers that the city has changed dramatically, and for the worse.

   By combining fairytale, fantasy, and much more, Shannon and Dean Hale have once again created a memorable graphic novel that fans of this genre will greatly enjoy. Nathan Hale’s wonderful illustrations beautifully compliment the gripping and often amusing tale. You can read about Jack’s adventures with Rapunzel in Rapunzel’s Revenge. 

Please visit the other bloggers who are participating in the book tour:

Sally Apokedak, Reading is my Superpower, firesidemusings.blogspot.com, Through the Looking Glass Book Review , Booking Mama, Cafe of Dreams, Becky’s Book Reviews, The Hungry Readers, The Friendly Book Book, My Own Little Corner of the World, Book Blather, GreenBeanTeenQueen, Book Crumbs , Abby (the) Librarian, Dolce Bellezza, Homeschoolbuzz.com, The Book Cellar, Carrie’s YA Bookshelf, Bookshelf Monstrosity, Everyday Reading, Frenetic Reader, KidzBookBuzz.com, Maw Books

Story time for me: A new interactive book experience on the Web

Story Time For Me has launched a new interactive children’s reading website that promotes literacy worldwide while providing a place for children to read and listen to enjoyable and interactive online picture books.  The site is suitable for both toddlers and children in early elementary school.  The original episodic content will foster a love of reading and improve a child’s cognitive development and reading skills at the same time.  As the company itself is donating its product to many city schools, a significant goal of Story Time For Me is to raise funds for foundations through specially designed gifting programs that the company has designed.

Unique to Story Time For Me, all of the stories include tracking technology that highlights the narration as it’s being read.  This technology gives even the youngest child the tools to follow the words as they are read. Additional technology balances entertainment with proven learning techniques to provide children with hours of educational reading enjoyment. The Story Time For Me e-library offers compelling storytelling with inspiring and memorable characters that will stimulate any child’s imagination.

“Story Time For Me was developed in order to give kids who want to be on the internet, a wholesome and educational place to go,” says Andrew Gitt, owner and founder.  “As I am a father to four young children, I was concerned about the violent video games and inappropriate material that is on the internet today. I knew that there was a huge market for an educational internet product that would give parents a proper comfort level …We have created this inStory Time For Me.”

There are many enjoyable activities at Story Time For Me that both parents and their children can do together, as well as things that young readers can do by themselves. Present and future marketing includes hand painted personalized books as well as a series for infants up to age three.

New Issue of Through The Looking Glass Book Review

The new issue of the Through The Looking Glass Book Reviews is now online, and when I say new I mean really new. After months and months of work, the new site for TTLG is now ready. I hope you will find the site easier to use and navigate. One thing to keep in mind is that not all the content of the old site has been moved over to the new one. Manually tinkering with almost 5,000 (I kid you not) reviews is taking me a long time to do.   I hope everything will be moved over by the summer. The good news is that you can still get to the old content without any difficulty.

This month I chose to special feature books about pigs. I have a fondness for these animals (having had a pet pig for many years) and thought that it was high time that I focused on some piggy books. I hope you enjoy my selection. As always I have a Bookish Calendar full of interesting material, a list of author and illustrator birthdays and much more.

Happy New Year everyone.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year Everyone!! Best wishes from TTLG

Happy Holidays

To see this greeting card more clearly please click on it.