Building the Book Pile #313

Welcome to Building the Book Pile!  A Weekly meme inspired by Stacking the Shelves

Hello Readers, Bloggers, and Awesome people! 

Thank you for sticking with me as all I have been able to post is reviews and no re-capping. Work is finally starting to slow down and even though I am exhausted the overtime looks great in my bank account.

Since last I wrote, Gus (the Frenchie) had to go back to his foster family. My cat started attacking him all the time and he was already having some biting problems so we decided it was in everyone's best interest to return him. I am feeling super defeated about it but keep telling myself that we were, sadly, not the place for him. 😞

Another new development is I have a new obsession with these nails...So I decided the sell them and I am now an Independent Stylist for Color Street. They are super to put on and are almost fully dry so there is no wait time after applying them. If you are interested, here is the Launch Party I am running: https://www.colorstreet.com/nailswithsteph/party/855425

Aside from those things, this school term is almost over - finishing week 8 of 10 on Sunday and I have been trying to at least get reviews up. I joined Blog Ahead even though I probably shouldn't have but I needed some accountability so I hope to have more fun content in the coming months.

I hope all the books you have been reading are wonderful and that you are doing ALL the fun Autumn activities... I always love seeing carved pumpkin pics! ... oh I still need to decorate for Halloween.. I am so behind lol... I miss you all so I hope you are doing great!

If you enjoy the blog and want to share some love and caffeine, you can buy me a coffee via Ko-fi

Share about your week with me in the comments below!

 

  Giveaways  on Cover2CoverBlog! 

More soon!!


Coming up on the Blog

Blog Tour w/ except and Giveaway! The Call of the Rift: Veil by Jae Waller (YA)
Early Reader Review: A Daily Dose of Dad Jokes by Taylor Calmus and Peter Harmon (Novelty)
Early Reader Review: Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu (GN, YA)



Books Received Recently...
For Review

               

Frog's Rainy-Day Story and Other Fables by Michael James Dowling (Youth)
The Unicorn Whisperer (Phoebe and Her Unicorn #10) by Dana Simpson (MG, GN)
Ramen Obsession: The Ultimate Bible for Mastering Japanese Ramen by Naomi Imatome-Yun (Cookbook)
Charlie Brown: All Tied Up (Peanuts AMP Series #13) by Charles M. Schulz (GN)

Have you missed anything lately?

Early Reader Review: A Warm Friendship by Ellen DeLange - 4 stars
Early Reader Review: Bird Count by Susan Edwards Richmond - 4 stars
Blog Ahead: October 2019
Recent Reads: Red Yellow Blue by Lysa Mullady - 3 stars
Early Reader Review: Snitchy Witch by Frank Sileo -2 stars
Recent Reads: The Library of Ever by Zeno Alexander - 5 stars
Early Reader Review: Snug Harbor Stories by Will Henry - 5 stars
Waiting on Wednesday: The Unicorn Whisperer by Dana Simpson
Blog Tour: Excerpt and Giveaway! The Brilliant Dark by S.M. Beiko - 4 stars
Blog Tour w/ Giveaway! Harley Quinn Breaking Glass by Mariko Tamaki - 5 stars
Audible Audiobook Reviews - June and July MG Freebies - 4 stars each
Early Reader Review: Who Stole my Hazelnuts? by Marcus Pfister - 5 stars
Recent Reads: The Little Grey Girl by Celine Kiernan -4 stars

Comment and leave me a link to your Round-up/ STS/ Weekly...anything, post and I will happily stop by and say hello!

Happy Reading!

Early Reader Review: A Warm Friendship by Ellen DeLange

Source: From Netgalley and Clavis in exchange for an honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review.

A Warm Friendship by Ellen DeLange
Publisher: Clavis
Publication Date: October 1, 2019  

 

Format: Ebook
Rating:






Goodreads Synopsis: 

Squirrel and Snowman are the best of friends. Will their friendship last forever?
A warm story about making friends and letting them go. For friends ages 5 years and up.

Review: 
This was such an adorable book about a lonely snowman and the squirrel that befriends him. The snowman is all alone and cold and the squirrel helps him by bringing him winter clothing and more friends. All the woodland creatures love the snowman until the warmth in the air is too much for the snowman. 

The illustrations throughout were so vivid and fun, the little creatures and all the knit patterns were gorgeously done. The story is such a cute one that I think parents and young children will love. With lots of animals and a really nice theme about friendship but also a bit about loss, I think it has a lot to offer readers.

It is a simple and quick read with large vibrant images. A great book for the fall and winter. 

Early Reader Review: Bird Count by Susan Edwards Richmond

Source: From Netgalley and Peachtree Publishing Company in exchange for an honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review. 

Bird Count by Susan Edwards Richmond
Publisher: Peachtree Publishing Company
Publication Date:  October 1, 2019

 

Format:  Ebook

Rating:






Goodreads Synopsis: 

A young girl eagerly identifies and counts the birds she observes around her town during the New England Christmas Bird Count.Young Ava and her mother prepare to participate as "citizen scientists" in the Christmas Bird Count. She is excited when Big Al, the leader of their team, asks her to record the tally this year. Using her most important tools--her eyes and ears--and the birding ID techniques she's learned, Ava eagerly identifies and counts the birds they observe on their assigned route around the town. At the end of the day, they meet up with the other teams in the area for a Christmas Bird Count party, where they combine their totals and share stories about their observations.This informative story by author Susan Edwards Richmond, coupled with Stephanie Fizer Coleman's charming depictions of birds in their winter habitats, is the perfect book to introduce young readers to birdwatching. The text offers simple explanations of the identification methods used by birdwatchers and clear descriptions of bird habitats, and a section in the back provides more information about the birds featured in the book and the Christmas Bird Count.

Review: 
THIS BOOK IS AMAZING, and yes, worth all caps. I love bird and know that kids generally love animals and this book is so wonderful!

Ava loves birds and loves to help count them in order to help with a Bird Count Party. A bird count party is what it seems like, everyday people, not scientists, go around on certain days and count the birds that they see and report back to appropriate channels. 

The book is a picture and counting book, but it is also an educational experience for both parents and kids to learn about counting birds and how to do it. You will also learn about bird and some of the different types. It is beautifully drawn and the content is so fascinating (at least to me as an adult). I think that animal lovers will really like this book and I highly recommend it. 

Interested in getting involved in a Bird Count? The 2020 the Great Backyard Bird Count is February 14-17th 


 

Blog Ahead: October 2019

It's that time again... Blog Ahead!

I told myself, and others that I have NO time for this at all and it is way too busy, but I really need to try, at the very least.

A challenge hosted by herding cats and burning soup.

Here are some details...

Purpose: Increase the number of scheduled blog posts you have ready to publish by 31 posts during the month of October. (You can set your own goal). 

Ex. If you have 1 post already scheduled at the start (Oct 1) then you would need 32 by the end of the month. if you have 5 - you would need 36.

Who Can Join: Anyone with a blog…topic/genre doesn't matter.

SIGN UP HERE

On October 1st, I have 6 scheduled posts, so I will need 37 scheduled posts by October 31.

• Waiting on Wednesday 1
• Waiting on Wednesday 2
• Waiting on Wednesday 3
• Waiting on Wednesday 4
• November TBR Post 
• Thanksgiving Post 
• December TBR Post 
• Happy Holidays Post 
• Merry Christmas Post 
• Happy New Year Post 
• Holiday Giveaway 
• Recent Reads: Super Cool Space Facts: A Fun, Fact- Filled Space Book for Kids by Bruce Betts
• Blog Tour: The Call of the Rift: Veil 
• 
  

I will be tracking my progress as I go, by adding more to the list and strikethrough to indicate that they are completed.

Wish me luck!

Recent Reads: Red Yellow Blue by Lysa Mullady

Red Yellow Blue by Lysa Mullady 
Publisher: Magination Press
Publication Date:  August 6, 2019

 

Format: Ebook
Source: From Netgalley and Magination Press in exchange for an honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review.

Rating:








Goodreads Synopsis: 

Red loves being red! Apples, wagons, fire trucks -- he thinks all the best things are red! Yellow admires Red's roses, but Red just wants to be left to mind his own business -- why can't Yellow mind hers?

But when Yellow and Blue go off to make frogs, shamrocks, and caterpillars, Red realizes that he may be missing out. The possibilities are endless when the colors work together!

Includes a Note to Parents and Caregivers with more information on encouraging empathy and cooperation.

Review: 
I was very interested in this simple book cover and wanted to find out what it was all about. Red is a color and he loves everything red and thinks everything should be red. He isn't really good at being friendly and cooperating with the other colors that want to combine and make other fun colors, because why change red?

This book showcases lots of different objects and will help with color learning but also focuses on playing well with others and that being together can be a good thing and being alone can be sad and lonely.

I thought that the images were a lot of fun, and they were bright and engaging. The story was a good one and I think as a teaching tool for many ages this book could be fun - starting with colors and moving up to the cooperation aspects. 

I liked this book and think it will make a great addition to a learning library. 

Early Reader Review: Snitchy Witch by Frank Sileo

Source: From Netgalley and Magination Press in exchange for an honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review.

Snitchy Witch by Frank Sileo 
Publisher: Magination Press
Publication Date: September 10, 2019 

 

Format: Ebook

Rating:







Goodreads Synopsis: 

"Oh moon so full, round, and brightWe beg one favor of you tonightFor witches who tattle, witches who snitch,Tie their tongues, zip their lips!No witch shall squeal or tell on friends.This spell will be broken when the snitching ends!"
Tattling is an all too familiar occurrence among children that can have harmful impacts on friends and relationships. This spellbinding story encourages children to examine the difference between snitching and telling, and the impact of their words on others.
Includes a Note to Parents and Caregivers with more information about snitching versus telling and what adults can do to help.

Review: 
I am so sad to say that this book was not for me. While I love the concept of a book about little witches having a party and there being a tattling witch, I found it hard to take the concept and apply it to a parent and child reading this book. The message is essentially that snitching gets annoying and you should only do it when something serious is happening. While I understand this, and have babysat enough kids that snitch on their siblings to know this feeling of annoyance, I felt like it was shown in this book more as rewarding bad behavior than showing that snitching can go overboard.

While the illustrations throughout are wonderful and follow the story really well, I didn't really get into it. I love books about Halloween and witches but this one just was not for me.

However, that being said the last pages of the book are for parents to use as they use this book as a teaching tool, so it might be better suited to those that can really use it properly and I may have just missed the mark when reading it.

Recent Reads: The Library of Ever by Zeno Alexander

The Library of Ever by Zeno Alexander
Series: The library of Ever #1
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Publishing Group
Publication Date:  April 30, 2019

 

Format: Ebook
Source: From Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review. this in no way alters my opinion or review.

Rating:








Goodreads Synopsis: 

The Library of Ever is an adventure across time and space, as a young girl becomes a warrior for the forces of knowledge.
With her parents off traveling the globe, Lenora is bored, bored, bored—until she discovers a secret doorway into the ultimate library. Mazelike and reality-bending, the library contains all the universe’s wisdom. Every book ever written, and every fact ever known, can be found within its walls. And Lenora becomes its newly appointed Fourth Assistant Apprentice Librarian.
She rockets to the stars, travels to a future filled with robots, and faces down a dark nothingness that wants to destroy all knowledge. To save the library, Lenora will have to test her limits and uncover secrets hidden among its shelves.

Review: 
Such a wonderful book! Lenora is a young girl often left to her own imagination with her nanny, when one day they stop at the library and she is whisked off on an adventure. On her adventure she finds a secret part of the library and she is asked if she wants to become a librarian. She will need to be strong and curious and find all the answers for the questions asked of her.

This book was an adventure through space and time and knowledge of real things and real-to-this-book things. Lenora helps animals, humans, and aliens and as she helps she gains more prestige as a librarian. But she also has to face the nothingness that wants to destroy all books, all knowledge - it was very upsetting.

Lenora is a strong and independent child, who craves this world or knowledge and adventure. She is curious and that is a wonderful trait in children. Her imagination allows her to accept all the weird requests thrown her way and she is a very fun main character. 

The overall story was such a wonderful ride, I think that both parents and young readers will really love every second of it.

Early Reader Review: Snug Harbor Stories by Will Henry

Source: From Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing in exchange for an honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review.

Snug Harbor Stories: A Wallace the Brave Collection by Will Henry
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Publication Date:  September 24, 2019

 

Format: Ebook


Rating:







Goodreads Synopsis: 

The follow up to the Eisner-nominated collection of Wallace the Brave comics, featuring beautifully illustrated scenes of childhood imagination, friendship, outdoor exploration, and adventure.

Review: 
I have never read Snug Harbor and Wallace is hilarious. I really enjoyed this graphic novel collection about him and his family and friends. The collection is set up like the comic strips and so they are short and simple reads, and you can pick it up and put it down easily in between theses sections. 

Like I mentioned Wallace is very funny, my favorite story was when he gets his head stick in a Jack-O-lantern and his dad has no idea how to get him out. This is just one example of the funny things that occur throughout the book, but it is also so down to earth and easy to picture these funny things actually happening. 

I think adults without kids would enjoy this, I also think parents and their kids will enjoy this as a read.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Unicorn Whisperer by Dana Simpson

The Unicorn Whisperer (Phoebe and her Unicorn #10)
Publisher: AMP Kids, Andrews McMeel Publishing
Publication Date: October 8, 2019

Synopsis:  

Welcome back to the hilarious and heartwarming world of Phoebe and Her Unicorn, where readers of all ages can always find a friend to lend a magical helping hand — or hoof. 

For 9-year-old Phoebe Howell and her sparkling companion, Marigold Heavenly Nostrils, every day is an adventure. In this latest installation of Dana Simpson's award-winning Phoebe and Her Unicorn series, Phoebe navigates the challenges of school life with a little help from her unicorn friend, who is always ready with the perfect spell for the occasion. But as the magic spells mount up, both Phoebe and Marigold find themselves wondering if sometimes they might be taking things just a little too far... 

Why I Am Waiting:
It's another Phoebe and her Unicorn book! I love Phoebe and Marigold, they are hilarious, I can't wait to read more with them.

Blog Tour: Excerpt and Giveaway! The Brilliant Dark by S.M. Beiko

The Brilliant Dark by S.M. Beiko
Series: The Realms of the Ancients #3
Publisher: ECW Press
Publication Date:  September 24, 2019

 

About the Book
The highly anticipated final installment in Beiko's thrilling YA fantasy trilogy

It's been seven years since the Denziens, an unseen people with elemental powers, were unmasked, and seven years since Roan Harken and Eli Rathgar disappeared into the Brilliant Dark.

Marked by Darklings and Death alike, Saskia is a mechanically minded Mundane, raised by Barton and Phae on daring stories about Roan Harken. But the world Roan left behind is in turmoil. The Darklings now hang in the sky as a threatening black moon, and with the order-maintaining Elemental Task Guard looking to get rid of all Denziens before they rebel, Saskia's only option is to go into the Brilliant Dark and bring Roan back.

But nothing is ever that simple.

The Brilliant Dark is the final, thrilling chapter in this series about gods, monsters, and the people who must decide if they're willing to pay the ultimate price to protect the family they found . . . in a world that may not be worthy of saving.

                                 

Review: 
The Brilliant Dark is the third book in The Realms of Ancient trilogy. It follows Saskia in a world formed after the Denizens and Roan Harken and the turmoil they have left the world in. Saskia fights for her friends and herself as the author weaves another beautiful and deep world through the stories of the past and the stories of the present. 


Beiko is a wonderful world builder and each time I find myself surprised at how much more there can be to build out and create, but she does it so well. The world build at the beginning of the series was a lot to take in, but if you know it is coming you are able to really get into the depth Beiko can show the readers. This final installment did not disappoint.

What I love about Beiko's series is the attention to the detail, there is so much world building, so much character development, and so many characters overall. The characters are all ages, races, cultures, they change and adapt as needed and they are diversity at its finest in a series. I appreciate the amount of time the author put into this.

The story is full of twists and turns and darkness and emotion that you feel like you are right there with Saskia, like you left when you were with Roan, trying to figure it all out and make a change for the better. 

Overall this was a great book, and if you have already read the first two, this ending is just what you need. Beiko's story is so much more than just a regular young adult novel, it is an epic fantasy with YA elements, but not the ones you normally find. If you like fantasy, and the worlds that they build, this is a great series and I recommend it strongly.

Format:  Paperback ARC

Source: From the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review.

Instead of heading back out into the street, Saskia shuffled along the building she’d hidden against, farther into the back lanes of houses and small apartment buildings crushed against Young Street. Even before the Restoration Project, coming down here after midnight would have been dangerous, but with the Task Guard posted everywhere, especially downtown, especially by the Old Leg, no one dared. Not even errant, Mundane drug dealers. A cat yowled, darting out of the shadows. Saskia froze when it threw her a withering stare before scampering back to the much-safer hole from whence it had come.It’s just a cat, she told herself, twice for good measure. It wasn’t a f— well. It couldn’t have been that. Not anymore.But the line from the story leapt up like a familiar friend whispering in her ear. Once upon a time, a girl was followed home by a fox . . .Saskia shook it off. Pull it together. Across the back lane, she rushed a collapsing fence and vaulted over it, landing shy of one of many huge piles of trash crammed between houses, against chain-link. A quick survey with her watch’s flashlight showed it to be more of the same — charred old tech, probably seized from a Denizen house, decommissioned and flung out here to be collected for precious metals and scrapped. The Task Guard didn’t want Denizens to be connected in the ways the Mundanes got to enjoy. Wouldn’t want them to assemble. To think twice about putting their powers to use. Saskia scavenged these junk piles often, their contents filled her bedroom nearly floor-to-ceiling. It kept the quickly tumbling world on some kind of keel.It kept the shadows quiet.. . . and after the fox followed the girl home, Death came for the both of them . . .Saskia bent over, digging the heels of her hands — callused from soldering wires and pinching receivers — into her eyes. Stop. Not now. Her heartbeat was picking up. This was what she wanted, she reminded herself. To be the damned hero for a change. She wasn’t going to freeze up. Not this time.She took a breath. She counted. She straightened her spine and dropped her shoulders. Not this time. The cat was long gone, and Saskia was alone in the back alleys of a city she’d never known except under the rule of anxiety. Of caution. Of an undercurrent of fear that she carried everywhere with her. She took another sharp breath and darted from light post to light post, feet quick and legs strong. Just like Barton had taught her, each stride like she was pulling against a current, and somehow, the stronger the bursts, the more her heart evened out. It was in running that she felt him most with her, and though she desperately wished he were here now, wishes were no good to the logical mind even at the best of times.She’d have to cross Reclamation Street eventually, be out in the open with little protection. Saskia had known the risks, made all the calculations. But she was still more human than all the half-finished devices strewn across her workbench. Machines that had been her closest friends . . . apart from the one she was stupidly trying to save tonight.Saskia dashed up another side street when she heard nearby bootfalls, more shouts. She crouched, gripping her black hood tight in one hand. She squinted at her watch and then at the app. Not yet. She still had time to stop this.

Excerpted from Children of the Bloodlands by S.M. Beiko. © 2018 by S.M. Beiko. All rights reserved. Published by ECW Press Ltd. www.ecwpress.com

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About the Author

S.M. Beiko is an eclectic writer and artist based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She also works as a freelance editor, illustrator, graphic designer, and consultant in the trade book and comic publishing industries in Canada and the U.S. Her first novel, The Lake and the Library, was nominated for the Manitoba Book Award for Best First Book as well as the 2014 Aurora Award.