Hanging Ferns |
Trilogy Publishing
Published Book Reviews
Serafina is back in the follow-up novel of the Serafina series in Serafina and the Twisted Staff. A few weeks after defeating the man in the black cloak, Serafina feels like she finally fits in. However, when she sees all the animals leaving the forest, Serafina begins to wonder if the evil has really left the grand estate. Throughout the novel a battle is looming for the possession of Biltmore in which Serafina and Braeden find themselves encountering the worst kind of evil, leading them to believe that there are darker forces at work than the man in the black cloak. By the end of the novel, Serafina soon discovers the long unsolved mystery behind her existence, an answer she has much anticipated.
Tucked inside the beautiful forests of North Carolina, the Biltmore Estate houses the Vanderbilt family, their servants, guests, and young Serafina. The stellar second installment, Serafina and the Twisted Staff has rivaled its predecessor through an imaginative storyline. Robert Beatty has yet again delivered a story that will live on in the hearts of young people through his inventive and creative storytelling.
Young Margaret desired to be more than she was and required more than the life she was given. Her idea to escape her monotonous life was to become a lady in waiting for the Queen. Suffering from loneliness she immediately regretted her decision. However, she found friendship in a parental relationship with an older couple, who eventually introduced Margaret to William Cavendish, playwright, poet, marquess, and her future husband. Several years older than Margaret, William also desired royalty ties, longing to maintain a position in the King’s court. Margaret felt isolated again, unable to conceive and living in the country turned her to writing her thoughts down igniting a passion for writing, bad spelling or not. She became published and gained the notoriety of which she always dreamed.
Danielle Dutton creatively re-imagined the life of Margaret Cavendish in a way that vividly portrayed the self-taught literary figure. Told in first person, Dutton provides an enlightening glimpse into the mind of Margaret Cavendish through Margaret the First, how she might have been. Although never achieving royal status, Margaret has come to the limelight in this concise but telling book. Dutton is a professor at Washington University, no doubt sharing stories of “Mad Madge” to her eager students.
It is the morning of the Best Bear in the Wood contest and the most talented grizzly bear, Fred, wakes up to find he’s lost his growl. He searches and searches the forest but to no avail, his growl seems to have vanished. Having no friends, Fred has always been on his own with no one to depend on but himself and has nowhere to turn, until some friendly forest animals come to his aid. He then learns the importance of friendship and how to be a friend to those who feel the same loneliness he once felt.
Written and illustrated by Rob Biddulph, The Grizzly Bear Who Lost His Grrrrr is a timeless tale of earning and maintaining friendship predicating on loneliness. Biddulph utilized rhymes in his storytelling that created a fun atmosphere in driving the message of friendship home. Geared for children ages 4-8, The Grizzly Bear Who Lost His Grrrrr! is colorfully illustrated with quirky forest characters that draw the young reader in easily.
The Latin phrase, esse quam videri, which means “to be, rather than to seem”, is the basis of Stephen Covey’s design in Primary Greatness and how he structured the overall teachings in life, which is what he desires the reader to gain from reading his book. The 12 Levers of Success instructs not only how important strong, solid values are in everyday life, but the deeper principles within, that can create a strong foundation. Dr. Covey encourages a person to maintain veracity and integrity in every aspect of life, while implementing a service-minded attitude in all kinds of exchanges with others. Primary Greatness is more than a book to read for leisure, but an applicable one to study and implement in life.
Dr. Stephen Covey, mostly known for his best-selling book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, has been recognized by Time magazine as one of the most influential figures in America. His son, Sean Covey, wrote the foreword in Primary Greatness, following in his father’s footsteps by taking over the habits of highly effective people and gearing a new book to young adults, aptly named, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens.
World renowned artist, Georgia O’Keeffe was a woman creatively ahead of her time. A Wisconsin native, Georgia was a farm girl. Drawing in her spare time, she met married New Yorker, Alfred Stieglitz, 23 years her senior. After meeting, the two were instinctively drawn to each other; a relationship that was bred on sexual attraction and a shared love of art. Their torrid love affair brought many rumors, which she felt made her work popular because of the scandal that accompanied their relationship. Alfred’s continuous and dominant view of what her career should be left her constantly questioning her identity through her art. When she discovered Taos, New Mexico, she thrived and began her own love affair with the beauty of the landscape.
Dawn Tripp miraculously told the extraordinary story of Georgia O’Keeffe through a compilation of correspondences between Stieglitz and Georgia. Tripp expressively re-told Georgia and Alfred’s sometimes erratic and heartbreaking life together, revealing intimate details regarding Georgia’s thoughts on being childless, her feelings toward Alfred after each rendezvous he had, and her daring adventures with her car “Hello”. Georgia is a splendid biography that brings Georgia O’Keeffe back to life as her art continues to do with each generation.