Awards Books

As someone who works in a library I always check out books with a library theme and have to say Judy Sierra's storyline is one of the best I have ever come across.

Wild About Books is really well written, done in the style of Dr Seuss (which Sierra tributes in the actual story and after at the end as well). With lots of humorous rhyming verses this book is a fun read for all ages. The illustrations although children may well still enjoy trying to figure out and name each animal are a bit average at times, with many not resembling the actual creatures at all. Also a bit of research by the illustrator Marc Brown into what a mobile library looks like rather than just looking out his office window at the mobile lunch van in the car park, as well as visiting an actual zoo or wildlife park to base his drawings of on rather than using a factory would have been a good idea too.

Wild About Books is the tale of a mobile librarian named Molly McGrew who drove the library into a zoo. As she reads out loud a Dr Seuss novel the zoos various residents became enticed to read and write books as well. McGrew also teaches them how to look after library material and inspires them to open a run their very own branch.

A great story who if the publishers had found a better illustrator no doubt would have rivaled Animalia by Graeme Base and other wildlife picture books. Another great library picture book is Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen.

The Mom's Choice Awards® honors excellence in family-friendly media, products and services. An esteemed panel of judges includes education, media and other experts as well as parents, children, librarians, performing artists, producers, medical and business professionals, authors, scientists and others. A sampling of the panel members includes: Dr. Twila C. Liggett, Ten-time Emmy-winner, professor and founder of Reading Rainbow; Julie Aigner-Clark, Creator of Baby Einstein and The Safe Side Project; Jodee Blanco, New York Times Best-Selling Author; LeAnn Thieman, Motivational speaker and coauthor of seven Chicken Soup For The Soul books; Florrie Binford-Kichler, Founder of Patria Press, Inc.- an award-winning independent publisher and Member of The Children's Book Council; Tara Paterson, Certified Parent Coach, and founder of The Just For Mom Foundation(tm) and the Mom's Choice Awards®. Parents and educators look for the Mom's Choice Awards® seal in selecting quality materials and products for children and families. This book has been honored by this distinguished award.

I just love reading this book! I think it is fun and appreciate all the references in it. We first found it at the library and I had to own it! Also love all the pictures of so many different animals. My daughter really enjoys naming all the animals.

Wild about books is funny, well written and beautifully illustrated. It's clever and has a very smart story. Our son loves this book and can recite it from memory. Get this book -- it's a gem.

"It started the summer of 2002, when the Springfield librarian, Molly McGrew, by mistake drove her bookmobile into the zoo..." This fun book shows how enticing reading can be, for animals and humans alike. The animals of the Springfield zoo all find books containing stuff that is of interest to them, and the animals are all very different. The story shows that even though people are all different too, we can all still find some sort of book that would teach us something.

The poem uses many different literary techniques, including rhyme and alliteration. This adds to the funniness of the text and makes it that much more interesting for children. The poem is full of imagination and helps children to see reading in a new way. The purpose of the poem is just that, to give children a different way to look at books and reading. The animals in the story like reading so much, they actually build their very own library in the zoo! The author also describes how books should be treated, and what not to do with them.

The illustrations are very comical and in lush exciting color. They would be found delightful to children and really add to the text. The pictures definitely appeal to the senses, showing texture, color, detail, and sometimes even sounds.

All in all the book is a great one. Not only does it introduce many animals that children may not be familiar with, it also shows how books hold something for everyone. Learning is another thing that is highlighted in the rich text of this amazing book.

In the first paragraph of McMahon's novel Chloroquine Dreams, we can already feel our clothing stick to our skin in the heat of the El Salvador sun. This novel, marking McMahon's thunderous debut to the literary stage, keenly juxtaposes the beauty of a Graham Greene travel narrative with the darkness and grit of a Denis Johnson novel. We meet Jeff, the narrator, at the epicenter of depression where his family life unravels back in the states while he has committed himself to improve the lives of strangers a thousand miles away. Like Alice in Wonderland, McMahon introduces us to a world where the rules are known only by the locals and outsiders like Jeff learn the rules as they go. With carefully constructed sentences that come off the page as effortless, McMahon splits open the heart of narrator Jeff and allow us to explore the various caverns where redemption and destruction wrestle like Jacob and the angel.

I seem to have come a little late to this, and there is little for me to add to what better and more eloquent reviewers have already said, other than this-Not only does this excerpt make me want to keep reading, it makes me want to keep thinking. As entertained as I am by the narrator and the narrative, I am just as entranced by the ideas sitting below the surface. I see here the beginning of a fine novel, one I hope to soon have the pleasure of reading in its entirety.

In Chloroquine Dreams the protagonist, Jeff, reads and rereads a book about Ernest Shackleton's Arctic voyage. McMahon writes: "He (Shakleton) and his men all faced death for the sake of walking somewhere nobody else had walked before, and they didn't even accomplish that. They didn't come close. They never even reached land. Now they're remembered as heroes, just for suffering as much as they did--for putting themselves close to death, but never too close." Throughout the novel, McMahon writes of Jeff's own heroic failures: in grieving for his brother's death; in relating to his love interest, Lucy; in knowing where he belongs and how to relate to his family and the world at large; and in following through as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Jeff gets close, but never too close to giving away his grief, anger or heart, and his biggest struggle is within himself and the decisions he does or doesn't make. McMahon depicts Jeff's emotional paralysis and anguished periods of uncertain self-exploration with clarity and unsentimentally. His gift for restrained yet elegant prose is evident. Jeff doesn't always make the right decisions, but they're his decisions and McMahon has written a heartbreaking and endearing narrator who wants to do good, but isn't quite sure how to go about it. I love this new writer, Tyler McMahon. I hope we get to see how the story ends.

"You can be rude to strangers, ignore your friends, destroy yourself--and the world will chalk it up to whatever it is you're grieving for." Jeff is young to have made this discovery, but his situation as a Peace Corps volunteer in a rural El Salvador still suffering from the civil war, mourning the suicide of his younger brother, confused by his parents' reaction to the death and his colleague Lucy's ill-timed overtures has given him cynical insight. McMahon plunges us into Jeff's world and the surreality he experiences as a man suddenly bereft of his idealism in a tropical environment nothing like paradise. The authority of the narrative voice is particularly compelling in this excerpt, and we've been pulled into a story that promises much more revelation. In only a few pages we've been made to care about Jeff--like Lucy, we're worried about him--and I look forward to reading the rest of this extraordinary novel.

Jeff with no last name narrates this tale of the hard scrabble life of farmers in the town of Carasercia, San Salvador where he serves as a peace corp volunteer. He begins with an account of holy week where dogs are run over routinely by rich folks on their return from a week of beaching. Jeff has lost his idealism in this second year of building a water pipeline to the town. He has also lost his goth brother to suicide. In the four months since his brother's death, Jeff has listened repeatedly to the music his brother loved as he reads and rereads the account of Shakletons Artic mid-adventure.

The one light spot in these killing fields --dogs, brothers, fire ants, snakes -- is Fredy, the young boy who shadows Jeff and prods him onward with a stubborness born of need. Fredy accepts everything that life hasn't offered and condenses all, including speech, to basic necessities. He keeps Jeff grounded in the same way that Jeff, despite alcohol and hard labor, grounds himself against the modern world and its puny acceptance of grief.

This is one of those books that doesn't deserve just one read. It must be perused again and again to understand and savor the wisdom and tight writing contained within sparse lines. I'm not sure what pipeline-building in South America has in store for these two amazing young men, but I definitely want to read on and find out.

I have to agree with some of the other reviewers in that I found that I could close my eyes and feel the textures and temperature in Phyllis' young world. I could see the sights and smell the scents. I knew the fear.

I am particularly moved by Wilma's description of Phyllis' first realization of her power over the cow. Her all too human tendency to exercise that power immediately in the wake of the master exercising his over her is poignantly demonstrated.

I was confused though near the end of this excerpt where on page 5 Wilma has Phyllis say, "I never saw my mother leave." Then on page 6 he vividly describes the mother's departure. Did Phyllis witness that event or not?

Overall, a good and enjoyable read. I expect that I will also find it informative when I am able to read it in its entirety. I look forward to doing so.

The excerpt actually reads like a memoir, full of insightful observations and character development that seem like they could only have been articulated had they actually happened. The synopsis looks promising and so I would definitely read the rest of the book when it becomes available.

Mr. Wilma's "Down the River" excerpt starts out well and quickly captured my interest. Wilma's writing style is easy to read and-- for me at least-- effectively paints a vivid mental picture of the setting as well as of the characters. I would like to read more. So far (and the excerpt is short), I can say that both the writing and the story line are quite promising.

The author paints a vivid picture of the Old South and creates a strong character that is easy for the reader to care about....well written descriptions that draw the reader into the action...

Fulfilling read, thoughtful, insightful, sensitive, compelling. I savored this touching story and would recommend it to friends.

Am enjoying hearing about the adventure and waiting to turn the next page on the story . . .

Bravo for weaving actual experiences into a novel.

Someone please publish this so we can read the rest of it after getting hooked! Reminds me of three of my favorite books: The Quiet American, Saint Jack and The Year of Living Dangerously.

Publish this book! I want to read more.

Anna's narrative immediately transported me to Cambodia. She's observant, brash, nervous, compassionate, and occasionally naïve. I can believe her reactions to and sympathy for Cambodia and its people.

Jennifer Berman writes with a very authoritive and convincing verve. Berman has rendered Anna's voice so effectively, that one might think this book is autobiographical.

I immediately cared about Anna and what happens to her. Is she a fish-out-of-water, or a quick study who adapts to overcome and eventually contribute to Cambodia and its people?

A Fistful of Water is artful, witty, and timely. It is a real and vivid view of Cambodia, and other developing countries in SE Asia, from the perspective of a real American - slightly flawed, slightly spoiled, but ultimately sincere and generous.

This is an impressive first novel. I rate it "5 Stars."

We meet Anna just as she gets off her international flight, physically exhausted, emotionally fragile and so unprepared for her trek into the Third World that she has not even notified her employer that she is coming. Through Anna's culture-shocked senses, the author shows us Cambodia in riveting detail. This is excellent work and way cheaper than an airline ticket!

There's an interest cast of expatriates and Cambodians. Ominous foreshadowing hints of adventures to come. One senses by the end, Anna will have had to face past traumas and become more competent to deal with life. Usually, I'd like to see more of the plot unfold by now, but some mystery writers need more time to unpack their corpse. For writing like this, I'd be content to let the author develop her theme at her own pace.

A Fistful of Water promises to be entertaining and enlightening in equal parts. Author Jennifer Berman provides a window into a culture and experience most Americans will never know first-hand, through the effective medium of an engaging story. As Graham Greene and Eric Ambler were able to do with other settings and time periods, she vividly and realistically depicts life in Cambodia during the mid-1990s with both compassion and humor, while avoiding avoids the pitfalls of condescension or patronizing preachiness. By acknowledging how her protagonist Anna's genuine do-gooder idealism is intertwined with naivete and her own cultural baggage, Berman makes Anna a much fuller and more interesting character. The reader winces at some of Anna's missteps and fears, but these are winces of recognition and sympathy. Even in the short excerpt available here, Berman is able to show how identity, culture, and sometimes even morality are more local than they often appear, and that one's understanding of these concepts is constantly being adjusted through experience.
All in all, an exciting and appealing beginning that makes one eager to read more.

The excerpt from Rachel Newcomb's "The Gift" is written in extremely lucid, graceful prose. She rapidly and deftly establishes the central characters, Celia and Elise. I loved the Professor and especially the description of his office. (I did want to know just a little more about the father, and to understand the decisions to leave South Carolina and Key West a little better, though I know this backstory was introduced mainly to explain Celia's aversion to restaurant work.) I am very interested in learning how the insecurities or discomforts of each of these women will play out in the relationship that develops between them.

From the quirky Princeton professor in his paper-filled office which is about to combust, to Celia's alcohol-soaked father, spinning the globe for a place to escape, this excerpt is peopled with characters for whom I felt immediate affection. In addition, the plot had me completely enthralled so that I was beyond disappointed--I was angry--when I came to the end of the chapter. Please publish this book!

In just a single chapter the author manages to draw two intriguing characters--Celia and Elise, the first an unmarried working-class woman from the South, the second a married middle-class woman from the North. Despite these differences, they share a quality of intelligence and thoughfulness, both are deeply reflective, and they both live a rather alienated life. Celia is something of a guest worker, struggling to find her way in a largely affluent and professional environment, and Elise does not feel a true membership in the Princeton society she inhabits and, partly due to her infertility, is detached from and perhaps threatened by her SUV driving, childbearing counterparts. Elise, on the search for an egg donor, and Celia, looking for a new job, are destined for an interesting encounter. The author does an excellent and economical job of establishing these characters, setting them against class and regional divides, and giving unique and genuine voices to both. A pleasure to read, fascinating characters, and a strong plot--what more could one want!

What a delightful way to spend a few moments on a Saturday morning! I wish that I had the entire book - I would not stop reading until all of my questions were answered! The author is a gifted writer with the talent of fleshing out her characters until they are our friends. Each setting is described in beautiful detail. I can't wait to buy this book, and I hope that Rachel Newcomb will "gift" us with more of her novels in the future.

Rachel Newcomb exhibits an attention to detail that brings her characters to life. She draws a connetion between Ceclia and Elise through their discomfort in the Princeton Community and their desire for change. From this short excerpt, the reader anticipates that their yearning for change may require a greater sacrafice than expected.

Wennermark's stark, haunting imagery and stirring, inventive cadences ("Beat with bottles. Broken bottles jammed in their mouths. Broken teeth and torn mouths.") grabs you by the shoulders and shakes you, simultaneously rattling your guts, your heart, and your brain.

One gets the experience of entering a totally new literary universe, and if this is disorienting at first, the deeper you delve and the closer you read the more richly you are rewarded, as subtle stylistic flourishes begin to emerge and passages of pure, unadulterated brilliance pop off the page:

"Now. This was the time of death. This was no time. In her mind, the long dull beat of the present infected with past. / A long sit by the corpse."

"Be kind to the servants for they provide the foundation upon which our empire rests. Canon fodder is an ugly term. Recall the pyramid is the most stable shape, broad and tall."

The same is true for the sublteties and nuances of character and plot, which grab you and hold you rapt (or, to use Mr. Wennermark's own device, hold you imprisoned) the more you allow yourself to be swept away by Wennermark's scintillating prose. Rarely is a reader given the opportunity to be simultaneously engaged, challenged, and inspired in so thorough a manner.

the author could have explained more about the Falun Dong situation to draw the reader into the world he was creating; instead, he distanced me. I could hardly get through this excerpt since I met no one in it that i wanted to read more about. Too disjointed, too distant, too story-less for me.

This excerpt of Erik Wennermark's novel "I am Falun Gong" gets your attention from the beginning. The writing itself is very clear, very direct, wonderful turns of phrase, yet has a mysterious and haunting quality as it moves the reader back and forth from what may have happened in the past to what may or may not be taking place in the present. The narrative is laced with politics and history yet in a way that seems mystical at times. The Oriental backdrop is nicely captured. At a minimum, having read the excerpt, you really want to know where this is going and what message the author is weaving for the reader. It promises to be an interesting one.

Erik Wennermark's voice is unique in this excerpt about a young Falun Gong refugee. This is a beautifully-crafted and very intense piece by a talented writer, reminiscent of works by Louise Erdrich.

Judging from this excerpt Erik is a wordsmith of considerable power and mastery. I couldn't pull myself away. Great stylistic control, vivid imagery. The reader is mesmerized into a mindset that is alien to most Westerners yet utterly believable and poignant and chilling. Great work!

In "Mining Sacred Ground," David Knop delivers full helpings of character, plot and nuanced human interaction in an economical narrative that lurches swiftly ahead into a violent, narcotic, desert nightscape. You can't help but feel the dirt under the nails of a flawed and sympathetic protagonist as well as the harsh burn of whiskey that's as antithetical to this hero's cause as it seems necessary to his character and (we hope) eventual redemption. There is a bit of a magical effect at work here. The reader is pushed forward at an extreme pace into a place where few would choose to enter and yet these pages turn effortlessly. There's no going back, just an involuntarily headlong plunge into a reality more reminiscent of David Lynch's "Blue Velvet," with which Mr. Knop's work seems to share an ethos, than of Tony Hillerman's "Coyote Waits," which just happens to reside in the same geographic space. In a few short pages, the story's main plot line and seeds of secondary complications appear well into development. My greatest hope moving forward is for a level of story complexity that matches the vivid, inspired quality of the uninhabitable but vital world Mr. Knop has created with these deft initial strokes.

Just a small taste of what appears to be tantalizing fare. Author Knop cleverly introduces us to Romero, a hard headed, hard drinking egg averse cop. The start of a riveting tale with vivid and descriptive prose. I want the whole story David.

What strikes me most about David Knop's Mining Sacred Ground is the authenticity of his characters and the Arizona setting. The sharpness of the detail given in the story makes its people and places come alive.

Mr. Knop has an interesting, descriptive writing style that captivated me from the first page and had me wishing for more. In reading this I was reminded of works by Tony Hillerman: similar settings with a Native-American as the protagonist. In my opinion though, Mr. Knop's writing is faster-paced with a better command of the English language. I hope someday to learn how Romero solves the case and his personal problems.

I want to know more about Sal, about Romero, the bikers, the Apaches, and why Romero's wife stays with him. How do the bikers fit in? Did they (the bikers,) assassinate Sal? What's the connection with the Corps and Quantico? Will putting the assassins spent casing in a plastic bag as opposed to a paper bag influence the outcome of the investigation? What drives Romero other than friendship? In thirteen short pages, the author has grabbed my attention, piqued my curiosity and as I turned the page at two in the morning, pissed me off because there is not more grit to chew on. I want more.

From the opening of this new work, I was really intrigued about why something as common as mayonnaise would figure so prominently, and by the time that I got a few pages further into the novel, reading about the chicken magnate, I was hooked. Vailes has created a situation, though seemingly mundane, that would potentially have enormous impact upon our lives. The premise is quite unusual; the characters are well-developed in a few pages, and I can't wait to read the rest of this book. I'll never take mayonnaise for granted again.

The characters in this novel were so enthralling and so well developed that I am hungering to learn more about their lives! This is the kind of novel that hooks you in very early on so that you will not want to put the book down until you're at the end. The story is zany and fun. Looking at how changes in our world impact the lives of certain characters makes you think more deeply about what's going on around us. I highly recommend this novel!

What a find. J.D. Vailes is an original voice, comic with substance. I'll never think of mayonnaise the same way again. Or chickens! Can't wait to read the rest of the novel and more of what this author has to offer.

I got the same kind of dizzying feeling from reading this introductory chunk as I did when I started to read Michael Chabon's, "The Yiddish Policeman's Union": This author has a powerful affection for the power of the language. My kind of writer.

Is this the next Kaye Gibbons with a modernist bent? I believe the author must be a woman to have so clearly captured the two single women here, but he/she could just as easily be a city slicker turned chicken farmer or a businessman writing a confessional, fictional memoir. Very, very convincing voice.

Sentences dazzle and pull me quickly along the grand strand of humor of a world suddenly without mayonnaise and chickens. By the end of this excerpt I was believing big time and some amount worried for our world.

Now that I'm into the story, I have the uneasy feeling I ought to stock up on mayonnaise for my bomb shelter. Maybe keep one jar back so I can learn to like the stuff. Does anybody know if you have to refrigerate mayonnaise?

And chickens. Wouldn't it make sense for everybody to start keeping chickens, at least a rooster or two and a few hens, enough to keep them from becoming extinct? Chickens as a threatened species -- what an imagination.

What a delightful discovery: this author. Can't wait to find out why he/she has decided to call the book "Moon".

I cannot wait to read the rest of this book! I was intrigued right from the first line. The writer's use of the word pendulum as a description of the earth made me think of time, because I immediately visualized an old grandfather clock with its pendulum barely hanging on as it swung back and forth, and thought how clever the writer was to use that imagery!

The characters are interesting and plausible and their descriptions were so visually vivid that it was uncanny how I automatically got a picture in my mind of the character in the television advertisements that I see for a famous chicken company while I was reading about the character Rufus!

I also liked the humorous style of starting off with the quest to find mayonnaise, because it had me thinking "Why?" and I therefore found myself drawn into each character and each storyline. I enjoyed how instead of starting with the chicken story, and then proceeding to the eggs and then the mayo, the writer chose to lead us backwards in a kind of CSI method. Each subplot introduces the reader to another subplot as the reader backtracks the origin of the crisis as new characters are introduced in each subplot. Each subplot has a clue to the next subplot, and a clue to the next character. It makes your imagination wonder how each new character and event will connect. It is shows a clever usage of connecting events, because the mayo crisis connects to the eggs crisis, which connects to the chicken crisis, which connects to the issue of genetical engineering. What a witty style of presenting and interweaving the story by the writer, which is a refreshing method of avoiding the usual drab plot layouts.

I submitted my manuscript before I realized that it was a draft. During the past three months, I've substantially deepened Rachel as well as the plot of the book and I'm still working on my revisions. The manuscript I submitted is no longer the novel I'm writing, so I am withdrawing it from the contest. There is no way to contact Amazon to make this official, so this post is the best I can do. Thank you.

We all dream of making a difference. Jennifer Haupt's Rachel takes action so she can do just that, and finds herself along the way. Haupt is a great writer who understands the need to rediscover compassion, for others and for ourselves. A great read with real heart!

Jennifer Haupt is on to something here...a great story and a great career as a fiction writer!

The conflicts created when a young New Yorker comes to Africa for the first time could bear fruit, but I was left shrugging by the savorless prose and the plodding pace. It read like a reworking of someone's diary, leaving out the juiciest bits. Some of the descriptions were serviceable. Here is the protagonist entering Nairobi airport: "Rachel felt dizzy as she took in the dark-skinned people in brightly colored tunics and turbans flowing past her in all directions. The low rumblings of foreign syllables filled the air, punctuated by the universal language of the high-pitched laughter and cries of children." But one feels both that there could be sharper looking, and a slight ickiness at that "universal language."

Talk about a clash of cultures - a high-powered New Yorker, newly fired, heading into Rwanda to learn about compassion. This book had me hooked from page one. Can't wait to find out what Rachel discovers in Africa.

A very well-written variety of domestic fiction with good descriptions and realistic dialogue. Very simple moments such as Alison getting teary over a 30 second romantic commercial are subtle yet affective in portraying delicate sentiments.

This excerpt reminds me of A. Manette Ansay in style, and seems to have the potential to become as popular as her Vinegar Hill!

A teasing opening to a novel that engrosses from the start. Alison is about to go on the run and we're not sure why. It's as if the past has swept back over her and exerted a pull she's helpless to resist. The Atlantic presents a divide that's both literal and metaphorical. It separates the Old World from the New in every sense.

Mary McCluskey's prose is sensitive and controlled. Character and setting are strongly delineated in these early chapters. The novel's structure is lean and unfussy and scenes are deftly set up.

I want to read more.

Mary Mccluskey has crafted a wonderful opening to her novel, with a smart pace and subtle complexity. She opens with Alison trying to conceal something from her partner. It appears her caution is based more on guilt and fear than need, for Jake is a paradigm of self-absorption. Behind it all is the death of her childhood friend (Maya), which serves as both catalyst and excuse for Alison's separation from Jake. The plot is further thickened in that Alison had carried a secret torch in her youth for Matt, Maya's brother, who will obviously be at the funeral. And finally, there is Alison reuniting with her family across the pond, with all the joy, remembrance, and baggage such encounters inevitably carry. Within this framework, one can only guess at the multiple paths that will be presented to Alison. And it is all fleshed out with crisp, sharp writing. I can only hope that Mary's work receives the attention it deserves.

In these first few pages, Mary McCluskey paints, with a few deft and clear strokes, the portrait of a woman in a troubled marriage and with the weight of an old secret hovering over her. We know from the first few sentences that we are in the hands of an accomplished storyteller and that we are about to journey into the heart of this narrator as she unlocks her past and exposes her secrets to us. This is the way to begin a novel. I look forward to reading more of this.

Ms. McCluskey has drawn a dark portrait of a complex set of interrelationships in settings as diverse as a home in the Hollywood hills--complete with a marriage gone south--to the dank greenery of a churchyard in the United Kingdom. The descriptions are spot on; the suggestions are irresistible.

The author deftly establishes settings and introduces her characters, then grabs her readers by their lapels and yanks them into her arresting narrative. She herself is nowhere evident, never a piece of furniture for this reader to trip over.

I eagerly await the full story of Alison Stuart and the steamy adventures of the entire cast.