Showing posts with label poems. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poems. Show all posts

Thursday, January 19, 2023

Book Review - Promises of Gold by José Olivarez

 

The book is a collection of poems from Mexican poet, Jose Olivarez. It contains a mixture of poems dedicated to people and experiences from his life. The book had two versions of each poem, one in Spanish and one in English. There was a translator note explaining the different nuances for translating a poem from English to Spanish as it can take away some of the author's meaning. I thought the poems were an interesting but, some I felt that I didn't quite understand the references. If you are a fan of poetry and a familiar with Mexican culture, I believe you will thoroughly enjoy these poems.


Sunday, March 13, 2022

Book Review - I Hope This Finds You Well: Poems by Kate Baer

 

Kate Baer receives over thousands of messages on her posts. Like many other writers, especially women, as her online presence grew, so did the negative messages in her inbox. This book is a collection of some the messages Kate has received. Using their negative (and sometimes, praises) Kate creates erasure poems in response to the messages she received. 

I was never really a big fan of poems because I could never really "get them". However, I found this book of poems to be enjoyable and entertaining. A few poems were thought provoking and stayed with me long after I finished reading them. A few were entertaining and garnered a few giggles. Overall,
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and I have a new found respect for poems.


Saturday, November 23, 2019

Book Review - Who Named Their Pony Macaroni? by Marilyn Singer + Giveaway

Photo Credit - Amazon

The White House has been home to a menagerie of animals. Some of the animals are well-known pets, while other pets were a bit "different".  The book employed mixed-media illustrations as a companion to the humor infused poems. However, I can't say I was a complete fan of all of the poems. Mostly because I don't really "understand" poems and I didn't know some of the facts in the poems. Thankfully, the author did include a blurb for each president but, I probably should have read it before reading the poems.

**Disclosure - I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion. This post may contain affiliate links which means I earn advertising and/or referral fees if you purchase an item through my link. Please note, there will be no extra charges to you. Thank you for your support.**

 
About the Book:
Title: WHO NAMED THEIR PONY MACARONI?
Author: Marilyn Singer, Ryan McAmis (Illustrations)
Pub. Date: October 1, 2019
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Formats: Hardcover, eBook
Pages: 48
Find it: GoodreadsAmazon, KindleB&NiBooks, KoboTBD

A family of mice. A runaway goat.
A mischievous snake.
A shocking parrot.
A pardoned turkey.
A pampered raccoon.
A ghostbusting dog.
A celebrity cow.
The White House housed more than presidents and First Families--who could forget the furry, scaly, feathered friends who impressed the press, guarded their charges, and kept them company through all the ups and downs of their respective terms?
Marilyn Singer's compelling poems will delight readers with stories of the creatures who sat beside our country's leaders, as she draws intriguing connections between the animals and the administrations they accompanied. Mixed-media illustrations by Ryan McAmis lend humor and vivacity, and detailed back matter explores each president's pet history in more depth.


About Marilyn:
Marilyn Singer was born in the Bronx (New York City) on October 3, 1948 and lived most of her early life in N. Massapequa (Long Island), NY. She attended Queens College, City University of New York, and for her junior year, Reading University, England. She holds a B.A. in English from Queens and an M.A. in Communications from New York University.

In 1974, after teaching English in New York City high schools for several years, she began to write - initially film notes, catalogues, teacher's guides and film strips. Then, one day, when she was sitting in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, she penned a story featuring talking insect characters she'd made up when she was eight. Encouraged by the responses she got, she wrote more stories and in 1976 her first book, The Dog Who Insisted He Wasn't, was published by E.P.Dutton & Co.

Since then, Marilyn has published over seventy books for children and young adults. Her genres are many and varied, including realistic novels, fantasies, non-fiction, fairy tales, picture books, mysteries and poetry. She likes writing many different kinds of books because it's challenging and it keeps her from getting bored. She has won several Children's Choice and Parents' Choice Awards, as well as the following: the Creature Carnival, Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor Book, 2005; I Believe in Water: Twelve Brushes with Religion, New York Public Library's "Best Books for the Teen Age," 2001; Stay True: Short Stories for Strong Girls, Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, 2000 (YALSA); On the Same Day in March, Booklist's Top Ten Science Books of 2000; NCSS-CBC Notable Book, 2000; Deal with a Ghost, finalist, YA category, Edgar Award, 1998; It Can't Hurt Forever, Maud Hart Lovelace Award, 1983; The Course of True Love Never Did Run Smooth, ALA Best Book for Young Adults, 1983; Turtle in July, NCTE Notable, N.Y.Times Best Illustrated and Time Magazine Best Children's Books of 1989; Turtle in July was also a Reading Rainbow review book.

Marilyn currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband Steve; their standard poodle Oggi, a cousin of their beloved and recently departed poodle Easy, seen in the home page photo; a cat named August ; two collared doves named Jubilee and Holiday; and a starling named Darling. Her interests include dog training, reading, hiking, bird-watching, gardening, meditation, playing computer adventure games and going to the movies and the theatre. She's also a major Star Trek fan.



Giveaway Details:

3 winners will win a finished copy of WHO NAMED THEIR PONY MACARONI?, US Only.

Rafflecopter link:


Tour Schedule:
Week One:
11/11/2019
Excerpt
11/12/2019
Excerpt
11/13/2019
Review
11/14/2019
Review
11/15/2019
Excerpt

Week Two:
11/18/2019
Review
11/19/2019
Excerpt
11/20/2019
Review
11/21/2019
Review
11/22/2019
Review