Books

Looking for a good book?

Good reads in print, kindle format. Advice, fiction, how-to, recipe, self-help book recommendations. Need a good book for a lazy afternoon?

Support a KickStarter Campaign: Stardust Explores the Solar System by Bailey Harris

January 30, 2018 · 7 Comments

I can’t remember exactly how old I was, but I couldn’t have been more than four. I heard about an upcoming meteor shower, and my father took my sister and me into the backyard to watch when the time finally came. It was a chilly Summer night, and I vividly remember my father’s strong but gentle voice explaining that the “shooting stars” were actually meteors from a comet. It was quiet, it was serene, it was beautiful, it just made sense. There was no wishing on a star – just a wish to know more – one that was answered soon thereafter at a planetarium upstate.

Here at Style Chicks, we do everything we can to support and encourage Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math) related fields. We know from personal experience that encouraging girls (and boys too) towards careers in STEM has to start early, as our parents did with us. This is why we personally work with kids to show them that these fields can be fun and rewarding paths, and it is also why we are so excited to tell you about Stardust Explores the Solar System, a new children’s science book on Kickstarter!

Stardust Explores the Solar System by Bailey Harris and Douglas Harris

Stardust Explores the Solar System is the work of Bailey Harris and her father, Douglas Harris. What makes this book so special? Bailey is 12 years old, and she has an insatiable thirst to learn about the world we live in, and to teach science to others as well!

Bailey and Douglas Harris, authors of the Stardust series

Stardust Explores the Solar System is the second book in the Stardust series. Bailey and Doug’s first book, My Name is Stardust, was published in 2017 after a very successful Kickstarter campaign that raised over $20,000. Bailey started writing the book when she was eight after watching “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey”, narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson. We all know that Neil deGrasse Tyson is a true expert in explaining complex concepts in a way that is simple and concise – and exciting. It excited Bailey, who immediately went to the family computer to start a document that eventually became her first book!

Bailey Harris, Author of Stardust Explores the Solar System

When you watch the video in the Kickstarter Campaign for Stardust Explores the Solar System, Bailey’s enthusiasm is contagious, and your child or favorite niece or nephew will catch a love of science too! Bailey notes that teaching children about the Solar System is one of the best ways to get them excited about science.

You have a great opportunity to inspire a love of the Solar System on Wednesday when the moon will be a “Super Blue Blood Moon” and there will be a total lunar eclipse. Watching this multi-phenomenal moon will bring out a sense of awe in the child in your life, and a prime chance to explain what causes the moon to look like that, and how that relates to the rest of the Solar System.

It is also a great time to support the production of Stardust Explores the Solar System through their Kickstarter campaign. Your child’s natural sense of wonder will be enhanced through learning about science in a fun, exciting way.

“Why?” was always a welcomed question in our house, and was always answered in a way we could understand, and that would encourage us to explore deeper. Help your child and many other children to understand why by supporting Bailey & Doug in publishing Stardust Explores the Solar System!

Find the Kickstarter Campaign for Stardust Explores the Solar System at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doughded/stardust-explores-the-solar-system-childrens-scien

Bailey Harris, Author of Stardust Explores the Solar System

Style Chicks received compensation for our time and effort to discuss the Kickstarter Campaign for Stardust Explores the Solar System.

Introducing VONFLORA™ SuperFlowers™: Best 50 Flowers of Volume 1

January 17, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Have you ever had a dream that you were walking through a garden of flowers that you have never seen before?

Have you ever stood in front of one of Monet’s gardens, or Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, and noticed the artistic license taken within their interpretation?

Any of these floral flights of fancy will lead you to one lovely conclusion: flowers are works of art.

Artist Von Taylor takes the artistic beauty of nature and goes a step further by using flowers as his medium to create a new art form: Introducing VONFLORA™ SuperFlowers™.

This SuperFlower™ is entitled Eva. VonFlora™ SuperFlowers™ are painstakingly handcrafted living works of art that are photographed in such exceptionally high detail, it feels as if you could almost reach out and touch each SuperFlower™!

ABOUT SUPERFLOWERS™

This artist book is a collection of fifty handcrafted, uniquely innovative, never seen before, living art SuperFlowers™. Von Taylor uses the best parts of real flowers to create something new, the VONFLORA SuperFlower™. Since these creations are temporary since they are made from actual flowers, Taylor captures his work in stunning photography, featured in his books. The combinations of colors, textures, and shapes create something new and extraordinary!

This is a new style of floral art!

Spontanea

Each SuperFlower™ is captured in stunning detail, as it is uniquely combined into a new, eye-catching form.

Eteriska

Could you have imagined such different flowers would exhibit such beautiful symmetry when styled together?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND ARTIST

Von Taylor is a self-taught artist who specialized in making oil paintings and innovated the use of flowers as a medium to create a new form of floral art. His love of nature has inspired him to design more than 1,000 Superflowers™.

Esthetica

Valentina

Passiona

AS A COFFEE TABLE BOOK

Coffee table books provide an excellent way to start a lively conversation amongst guests who may not know each other well but hold common interests to discuss. But to do so, the coffee table books must contain content that is noteworthy, not just the same old books on the same old topics. VONFLORA™ SuperFlowers™ does just that: a coffee table book that is filled with lush, visual artistic opulence that is styled in a completely unexpected way that invariably sparks a lively conversation of opinions and ideas about creative works. Introducing your guests to a whole new concept of art is a sure fire way to provide a completely unique topic to entertain your guests.

Deisia

Empera (How apt!)

Vedossa

WHERE TO BUY IT

Find VONFLORA™ SuperFlowers™: Best 50 Flowers of Volume 1 at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078LF8KZ5

And check out the entire collection of VONFLORA™ books, available in both Kindle and coffee table book formats: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_4?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=vonflora&sprefix=vonf%2Caps%2C534&crid=1V8LJMABX8

VONFLORA™ SuperFlowers™: Best 50 Flowers of Volume 1 is available both as a beautiful coffee table book and in Kindle format

Style Chicks received VONFLORA™ SuperFlowers™: Best 50 Flowers of Volume 1 in exchange for our unbiased review and received compensation for our time and effort. However, our experience with the product and the opinions expressed in this review are 100% ours.

Tell Me a Fairy Tale: The Tell-All Guide for Telling Amazing Fairy Tales

March 10, 2017 · Leave a Comment

Storytime holds a special place in our hearts. Memories of a grandparent or parent telling us a tale bring a smile to our face. Being a good storyteller is an art.

For our Read an eBook series, today we feature Tell Me a Fairy Tale: A Parent’s Guide to Telling Magical and Mythical Stories, which is like Clif’s Notes for over 60 classic & little-known Fairy Tales including alternate endings & easy ways to enhance your storytelling game now that you’re the grown up.

Tell Me A Fairy Tale: A Parent’s Guide to Telling Magical and Mythical Stories

WHY YOU NEED THIS BOOK

Tell Me a Fairy Tale: A Parent’s Guide to Telling Magical and Mythical Stories offers concise synopses of both classic standards and lesser known but beloved African-American, Asian, Native American, and European fairy tales. Tell Me a Fairy Tale is not just a collection of stories, but a guide to telling stories in a kid-appealing way, a how-to for revising scary parts, and how to modernize while retaining the tale’s essence. What details enthrall kids and what bores them? It’s all covered.

Is it time for a bedtime story? Tell Me a Fairy Tale comes to the rescue!

TELLING THE TALE

Instead of relying on the same old stories, this book has helpful coverage of over sixty fairy tales of interest to both boys and girls. While some tales have a moral to the story, some just amuse children like Paul Bunyan being so BIG that he ate 400 pancakes a day and dug the Mississippi River!

HOW TO USE TELL ME A FAIRY TALE

The Table of Contents lists the Fairy Tales in alphabetical order. Each Fairy Tale provides:

Summary: a brief thumbnail overview of the story
The Characters: the name and brief description of the main characters and how they relate to each other
The Plot: The full story summary
How to Tell This Story: Notes on any underlying moral to the story. If there is no moral to the story, a possible lesson that could be interjected is suggested. Areas of the story that would benefit from extended descriptions or visually imagery are noted to enhance the story for a young, vivid imagination.

FAIRY TALES NEED SOME MODERN-DAY TWEAKING: HOW TELL ME A FAIRY TALE CAN HELP

Fairy Tales morphed over time, often into versions that make little sense today. The moral or lesson may be unclear, and some fairy tales are downright scary in their original form. Not that every story must instill a life-lesson, but they should, at a minimum:

Not confuse a child. I’m looking at you, Goldilocks, you hapless, insufferable imp. How were there no consequences to this unsupervised spelunking? Breaking and Entering, Destruction of Property and porridge-theft misdemeanors are crimes. Goldilocks as we know it is nothing like its’ original yet antiquated self that along the way lost its’ lesson and conclusion. Tell Me a Fairy Tale has some suggestions to remedy this classic into a story with a legit ending and useful life lesson.
Not condone dangerous actions: (i.e. No good comes from taking apples from strangers). As we no longer live in a world where a child should ever think of taking food from strangers, the book includes alternative tellings that fit the story context within potentially problematic tales.
Not scare your child so much that they can’t sleep afterward. Some stories are too scary for bedtime or young children. This book has stories for even very young kids.

Over sixty Fairy Tales from around the globe

WOMEN IN FAIRYTALES

How do you want to characterize women in the stories you tell children?

Full disclosure: any female with a beauty & fashion blog, such as ourselves, wishes they had their very own fairy godmother to upgrade our “Outfit of the Day” to “princess level” with the wave of a magic wand. A girl can use a little Cinderella in their life.

There are precious few positive role models for women in fairy tales. A fairy tale female is often a beautiful, passive victim awaiting rescue or a lazy, cruel step-sister or, of course, the aging, jealous, heartless evil stepmother who’s the source of all the trouble. Gretel of “Hansel and Gretel” is one of the few fairy tale females with her wits about her.

In this collection, there are some “…and they lived happily ever after” kind of stories. But there aren’t any of the impossible to respect “The Little Mermaid” type characters that forsake their Beyonce quality singing voice, disobey, lie and desert a loving family for the pursuit of a cute boy. That’s something else I like about Tell Me a Fairy Tale: a wide variety of protagonist types to break out of the constant damsel in distress story dynamic, making for a more rounded balance of characters, themes, mysterious lands, cultures and foreign places within your storytelling arsenal.

Not every bedtime story requires spinning a tale with a feminist-themed life lesson akin to “Madame Curie and the TWO Nobel Prizes.” Some stories are simply entertaining and amusing. The book offers suggested a modification of tales that ONLY have stereotypical fairytale depictions of women, which is something many parents consider doing when telling bedtimes stories to their children: girls AND boys.

One approach suggested in Tell Me A Fairy Tale is that the villain can be adapted to suit the circumstances of your family. Particularly in blended families, this step-mother as antagonist concept may need revision. Does the villain always have to be a vapid woman over the age of thirty-five driven by jealousy, vanity, revenge or self-interest? How about sometimes making the villain a supervisor, an evil nanny, a monster, an uncle, a troll, or a robot?

FAIRY TALES ARE SCARY

Grimm Fairy Tales are grim indeed, initially closer to horror stories than soothing bedtime tales. Tell Me A Fairy Tale provides alternate scenarios to some of the scary parts and suggests some modern-day improvements. For example, instead of Hansel and Gretel killing the witch, the book suggests that Gretel tricked the witch, locked her in a closet, escaped and alerted the police and Gretel got a medal. Modernized options are offered for stories such as “Sleeping Beauty” and “The Red Shoes” Sad tales dealing with death, such as “The Little Match Girl”, are included as sometimes a sad story is appropriate, although possible variations are suggested.

CONCLUSION

Tell Me a Fairy Tale is a great gift for a new parent, Grandparent, Aunt or Uncle so they can learn the art of telling stories. It may also be of interest to those who work with children such as teachers, librarians, and child care services. The collection of Fairy Tales is a nicely curated blend of main characters and cultures, some with a life lesson; others are just amusing tales. There were several tales I didn’t know and many I’d forgotten. It is a fun read for an adult!

The author, a father of two girls, understands the powerful impact a story can have on a young mind. The book offers empowerment for a daughter or niece not by compiling only stories of heavy-handed feminist heroines, but from giving many non-stereotypical options for positive role models that aren’t based solely upon gender constructs.

Ready for story time?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Author Bill Adler, Jr, also known as Father to Karen and Claire, finished this book just before his second child was born. Already a polished storyteller, as Bill (@billadler) has authored several other books including Outwitting Squirrels (The Wall Street Journal: “A masterpiece”; Boing Boing: “One of the funniest books I’ve ever read”,) Boys and Their Toys: Understanding Men by Understanding Their Relations With Gadgets, and How to Negotiate Like a Child.

Bill is a Claren Books Publisher, a second-generation book company.

TELL ME A FAIRY TALE

Find the Style Chicks recommended Tell Me a Fairy Tale on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback at https://www.amazon.com/Tell-Me-Fairy-Tale-Mythical/dp/1945259019/

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER: CLAREN BOOKS

Are you an aspiring writer or avid reader? Read more about how StyleChicks loves the way Claren Books supports the creativity of authors.

Find out more about Claren Books and the online creative community they have cultivated for authors at:

Twitter: @clarenbooks
Facebook: facebook.com/clarenbooks
Website: http://www.clarenbooks.com

Style Chicks received a copy of this book in exchange for our unbiased review. However, our experience with the product and the opinions expressed in this review are 100% ours.

eBook Week Continues: No Time to Say Goodbye, a Time Travel Novella

March 7, 2017 · Leave a Comment

The next book we will be discussing in our Read An eBook Week series is No Time to Say Goodbye, a Time Travel Novella by Bill Adler Jr.

Life goes by in a blink. But what if you didn’t remember blinking?

No Time to Say Goodbye is a compelling Time Travel love story that initially feels like a fun read, but when you put it down the story’s nuanced themes linger.

Synopsis

“Yesterday, all Dennis Tanner wanted was to love his wife, Rachel, and to be the best doctor he could.

Today, all Dennis wants is to stop traveling forward in time, before the woman he loves, his friends, and his entire world is all gone.

Why is Dennis Tanner on a one-way journey to the future? Will Dennis be able to stop time traveling before his wife becomes lost in the past?

No Time to Say Goodbye is a time travel love story about one man’s desperation to hold onto love no matter what the universe does to him.”

THEMATIC TAKEAWAYS

Grief:

Time Travel equates to the loss of expected time. The loss of time means the loss of people, careers, and hopes, all things worth grieving.

The pain of loss doesn’t get easier; a person just learns to handle it better over time. Dennis doesn’t have the luxury of learning to cope with loss when he doesn’t know when he will Time Travel next, or how far into the future he will be taken. So if the standard passage of time in grieving isn’t an option, is there any other way to learn to cope with grief?

Feeling Adrift:

Dennis is 40 years old. He’s a well-educated professional who has hit his stride in life. Life is good for Dennis.

Feeling adrift when one reaches life goals isn’t unusual. And while Gen Xers don’t hold the patent on feeling adrift, it is especially common when our generation was raised with the mantra of “Get into a good college, get the good job, get married, get a great place to live.” That is the place in Dennis’ life when we meet him, and when his Time Travelling starts.

Dennis’ experience is unusual. It isn’t the slow move towards not knowing one’s next step that most people experience from time to time. It is a sudden yank. But the end goal is the same: finding one’s footing.

Personal feelings versus the pursuit of a higher purpose:

Dennis is an unwilling Time Traveller. He would far rather be at home having dinner with his wife than traveling into the future. If he were asked if he wanted to travel through time, the answer would be no. So how does an unwilling participant reconcile what they want versus their place in a greater good?

No Time to Say Goodbye truly is a compelling Novella. I expected to read a chapter or two but ended up finishing it in one sitting.

About The Author

Author Bill Adler (@billadler) has written multiple books. His books include Outwitting Squirrels (The Wall Street Journal: “A masterpiece”; Boing Boing: “One of the funniest books I’ve ever read”,) Boys and Their Toys: Understanding Men by Understanding Their Relations With Gadgets, Tell Me a Fairy Tale: A Parent’s Guide to Telling Mythical and Magical Stories, and How to Negotiate Like a Child.

Bill is a Claren Books Publisher, a second-generation book company. Bill has books in his blood: a former literary agent and part of the father and son team who together represented numerous bestselling authors including Dan Rather, Ronald Reagan, Larry King, Yoko Ono, and George Bush.

NO TIME TO SAY GOODBYE

No Time to Say Goodbye is available for pre-order on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WGRKJY4. A definite Style Chicks must-read recommendation!

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER: CLAREN BOOKS

Are you an aspiring writer or avid reader? Read more about how StyleChicks loves the way Claren Books supports the creativity of authors.

Find out more about Claren Books and the online creative community they have cultivated for authors at:

Twitter: @clarenbooks
Facebook: facebook.com/clarenbooks
Website: http://www.clarenbooks.com

No Time to Say Goodbye by Bill Adler Jr.

Style Chicks received a copy of this book in exchange for our unbiased review. However, our experience with the product and the opinions expressed in this review are 100% ours.