Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin by Liesl Shurtliff

Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin by Liesl Shurtliff. Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2013. 272p. (9780307977939)

Interest Level: 3-6 grade ; Reading level: 4.1

I saw this book this spring on another blog somewhere and thought it looked interesting and something that might appeal to the students at my school. The bonus was that I enjoyed it as well and it made a flight across the US pass by quicker.

Goodreads Summary:

In a magic kingdom where your name is your destiny, 12-year-old Rump is the butt of everyone's joke. But when he finds an old spinning wheel, his luck seems to change. Rump discovers he has a gift for spinning straw into gold. His best friend, Red Riding Hood, warns him that magic is dangerous, and she’s right. With each thread he spins, he weaves himself deeper into a curse.

To break the spell, Rump must go on a perilous quest, fighting off pixies, trolls, poison apples, and a wickedly foolish queen. The odds are against him, but with courage and friendship—and a cheeky sense of humor—he just might triumph in the end.

A Texas Bluebonnet Master List Selection, Rump is perfect for fans of Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted or Adam Gidwitz's A Tale Dark and Grimm.

My Review:

A fun middle grade story. At the beginning there were some phrases I thought didn’t flow, but either I got used to the author’s writing style or there were just two unfortunate editorial mishaps at the beginning.

The story kept me wondering how it would unfold and how Rump could untangle himself from the mess. Even though I know the classic story.

Very imaginative, enjoyable story. There are some jokes about Rump’s name that middle schoolers would find funny, but the author never let it go too far. This is one I’ll be buying for my school’s library and might consider as a read aloud for 3rd or 4th grade. 3.75 stars

Go read it! Find it at a library near you; Buy it from Amazon ($14.04 hb / $5.06 pb / $4.81 eb); Buy it from Barnes & Noble ($6.99 pb / $6.99 eb); Buy it from an Independent Bookstore near you 

(Prices good as of June 26, 2014 always double check for yourself)

Disclosure: I borrowed this book from the library. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission.

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Remember - Anytime you visit Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com or ChristianBooks.com or Independent Bookstores use an affiliate link to get there. Any purchase you make from a link on my site generates a small kickback. You need not purchase the item I'm featuring, any purchase counts. It costs you nothing extra and is an easy way to support this site.

Stephanie Ricker - Five Glass Slippers Blog Tour

Oh my! What a marvelous ball gown! Stephanie Ricker, author of A Cinder's Tale, is the Cinderella of the Day.

This week is the blog tour (with a fun giveaway!) for Five Glass Slippers, the collection of Cinderella stories that I reviewed a few weeks ago and that released just last week. Here's the link to my review.

And here's the link to the blog tour home page so you can be sure to visit Rachel's other's stops on this tour and to find out her favorite dance song, ball gown, and "Cinderella moment" on the main host blog.

As she is chatting with us before stepping into her space pod she kindly answered the following question:

Your story takes place in the far corners of the universe. Do you have a favorite spot in outer space and a picture of it?

Stephanie: Thanks for your question.  I’m a huge science fiction fan (surprise, surprise), and I’m fascinated by space exploration in general.  I like to browse NASA’s astronomy picture of the day archive, and there are tons of beautiful shots there.  One of my favorite constellations is the Pleiades (also called the Seven Sisters) because on most nights they’re hard to see; you almost wonder whether you’re imagining them or not.  This shot from the Hubble telescope is lovely. Overall, though, I really just enjoy learning about it all, and reading the different fictional representations of life among the stars.

The picture Stephanie sent

About “A Cinder’s Tale” by Stephanie Ricker

It’s a dangerous life, yet Elsa wouldn’t trade this opportunity to work at Tremaine Station, mining cendrillon from the seething surface of planet Aschen. Nevertheless, when a famous deep space explorer and his handsome son dock their starcraft at the space station, Elsa finds herself dreaming of far galaxies beyond Aschen's blistering heat. There is no time for dreaming, however, when danger threatens the space station, and Elsa and her fellow miners are tested to the limits of their courage.

About Stephanie Ricker

Stephanie Ricker is a writer, editor, and tree-climber. She adores the cold and the snow but lives in North Carolina anyway, where she enjoys archery, hiking, canoeing, and exploring with friends.

Stephanie’s fiction has been published in Bull-Spec, a magazine of speculative fiction, and in four consecutive editions of The Lyricist, Campbell University’s annual literary magazine. She was the editor of the 2009 edition of The Lyricist, which won first place in the American Scholastic Press Association Contest. Stephanie’s non-fiction has been published in an assortment of medical magazines and newsletters, and her senior thesis on Tolkien was published in the 2009 issue of Explorations: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity for the State of North Carolina.

You can find out more about Stephanie and her writing on her blog: Quoth the Girl.

Giveaway

Here’s your chance to be Cinderella of the ball! One lucky winner will receive a paperback copy of Five Glass Slippers, several Cinderella-themed items (including a bookmark crafted by Belle on a Budget, a journal, and a DVD copy of the Disney movie), as well as special gifts handpicked by a few of the collection’s authors (a glass slipper cookie cutter with recipe, freeze-dried astronaut ice cream, and an Apple Tree Inn cup and saucer). This giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Kindle eBook Sale!

The Five Glass Slippers collection will be on sale for only $.99 in Kindle format for the duration of the blog tour (June 23-28)!

Rachel Heffington - Five Glass Slippers Blog Tour

Ooo-lala! Another lovely ball gown! Rachel Heffington, author of The Windy Side of Care, is the Cinderella of the Day.

This week is the blog tour (with a fun giveaway!) for Five Glass Slippers, the collection of Cinderella stories that I reviewed a few weeks ago and that released just last week. Here's the link to my review.

And here's the link to the blog tour home page so you can be sure to visit Rachel's other's stops on this tour and to find out her favorite dance song, ball gown, and "Cinderella moment" on the main host blog.

As she is chatting with us before stepping into her carriage she kindly answered the following question:
'The Windy Side of Care' takes place in both the country and city. Where would your ideal home be?

Rachel: In a similar situation to that in which I live, actually. I live in the country where I have privacy and beautiful and unimpaired views of nature but I'm only forty minutes from a mall, a movie-theatre, and shops while only one hour from a big old city. As for location, it is my dream to one day own a farm in the Lake District of England/Scotland. :)

About “The Windy Side of Care” by Rachel Heffington

Alisandra is determined to have her rights. She knows that she is the king’s secretly dispossessed daughter, the true heir to the throne. Prince Auguste is an imposter, and if she plays her cards right, Alis will prove it to the world! That is, if charming Auguste doesn’t succeed in winning her heart before she gets her chance . . .

About Rachel Heffington

Rachel Heffington is a Christian, a novelist, and a people-lover. Outside of the realm of words, Rachel enjoys the Arts, traveling, mucking about in the kitchen, listening for accents, and making people laugh. She dwells in rural Virginia with her boisterous family and her black cat, Cricket.

In February 2014, Rachel released her debut novel, Fly Away Home, and is excited to collaborate on Five Glass Slippers with her fellow authoresses. She hopes to release her second full-length novel and first mystery (Anon, Sir, Anon) in autumn 2014. For more on Rachel, her current projects, and writing in general, visit her on her blog: The Inkpen Authoress.

Giveaway

Here’s your chance to be Cinderella of the ball! One lucky winner will receive a paperback copy of Five Glass Slippers, several Cinderella-themed items (including a bookmark crafted by Belle on a Budget, a journal, and a DVD copy of the Disney movie), as well as special gifts handpicked by a few of the collection’s authors (a glass slipper cookie cutter with recipe, freeze-dried astronaut ice cream, and an Apple Tree Inn cup and saucer). This giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Kindle eBook Sale!

The Five Glass Slippers collection will be on sale for only $.99 in Kindle format for the duration of the blog tour (June 23-28)!

Top Ten Books On My Summer TBR list

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten Books On My Summer TBR list

I didn't get around to doing TTT last week and figured I'd to last week's topic since it'll probably be quicker to come up with than this weeks. ;-)

1. Rules of Murder by Julianne Deering
2. Love Makes a House a Home: A Christian Romance by Kimberly Rae Jordan
3. Heaven Sent Rain by Lauraine Snelling
4. When I Fall in Love by Susan May Warren
5. Caught in the Middle by Regina Jennings
6. The Forbidden Library by Django Wexler
7. Courting Miss Lancaster by Sarah M. Eden
8. The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
9. Blades of Valor by Sigmund Brouwer
10. Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces that Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace

What books are you going to read this summer?

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Remember - Anytime you visit Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com or ChristianBooks.com or Independent Bookstores use an affiliate link to get there. Any purchase you make from a link on my site generates a small kickback. You need not purchase the item I'm featuring, any purchase counts. It costs you nothing extra and is an easy way to support this site.

Elisabeth Brown - Five Glass Slippers Blog Tour

Oooohh! Would you look at that? What a lovely dress! Betsy Brown, author of What Eyes Can See, is the Cinderella of the Day.

This week is the blog tour (with a fun giveaway!) for Five Glass Slippers, the collection of Cinderella stories that I reviewed a few weeks ago and that released just last week. Here's the link to my review.

And here's the link to the blog tour home page so you can be sure to visit Betsy's other stops on this tour and to find out her favorite dance song, ball gown, and "Cinderella moment" on the main host blog.

During a visit to her castle for tea she kindly answered the following question:
Which European monarch would you want to travel back in time to visit and observe for a day?

Betsy: (This is a play-by-play of me answering your question.)
Me: “Mom? What monarchs do I know of besides Henry VIII and Napoleon Dynamite…I mean Bonaparte?”
Mother, Mother, Best and Dearest of Mothers: “Alfred the Great? Good Queen Bess? Boadicea? Victoria?”
Me: “But I don’t want to meet any of them.”
Mother, etc.: “All the Louises of France?”
Me: “I don’t know a thing about any.”
Mother, etc.: “Cleopatra? Cathrine the Great? Ivan the Terrible?”
Me: “Mom, they’re not even European.”
Mother, etc.: “I don’t know. Ask your dad.”
Me: “Dad, what monarch would you go back and visit?”
Daddy-o: “Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf. “
Me: “He’s not technically a monarch.”
Daddy-o: “Charles Martel?”
Me: “…I’ve heard the name.”
Mother, etc.: “Richard the Lionhearted?”
Me: “He ate his enemies.”
Insert long pause in which I research violently on Wikipedia
Me: “Do you think I can make Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, count?”
Mother, etc.: “Not a monarch.”
Me: “Shoot.”
Insert another pause.
Me: “How about I just write about all the people I didn’t pick and hope it’s interesting.”

Short story long, I can think of boatloads of historical characters I’d love to hobnob with for a while…Menno Simons, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Johannes Gutenberg…but none of them had the good fortune to be born royalty.

Now I’m curious…do you yourself have a monarch in mind? Because for the life of me I don’t know whom to pick. Help.

Me: I think we could allow a visit to Count Zinzendorf, he might not be a monarch but he's nobility. Same with Frederick III. Anyone have some more suggestions for Betsy though?

About “What Eyes Can See” by Elisabeth Brown

Painfully shy Arella begs her stepmother to let her stay home from the prince’s ball. But kindly Duchess Germaine is determined that her beautiful stepdaughter should be presented at court along with her own two daughters. So, dressed in a gorgeous gown and a pair of heirloom slippers, Arella catches the eye of the crown prince . . . and finds her life suddenly far more complicated than she ever desired.

About Elisabeth Brown

Elisabeth Brown has always loved words. The third of seven children, she enjoyed being homeschooled through her senior year of high school, and is now studying piano performance at Appalachian Bible College. When she’s ignoring the fact that she should probably be practicing more or doing Greek homework, you’ll find her sewing, baking, reading, singing along to basically any musical ever created, hiking through the woods, or laughing at incredibly silly puns.

What Eyes Can See is her first published story, but she also rambles at Stretching the Metaphorical Cello.

Giveaway

Here’s your chance to be Cinderella of the ball! One lucky winner will receive a paperback copy of Five Glass Slippers, several Cinderella-themed items (including a bookmark crafted by Belle on a Budget, a journal, and a DVD copy of the Disney movie), as well as special gifts handpicked by a few of the collection’s authors (a glass slipper cookie cutter with recipe, freeze-dried astronaut ice cream, and an Apple Tree Inn cup and saucer). This giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Kindle eBook Sale!

The Five Glass Slippers collection will be on sale for only $.99 in Kindle format for the duration of the blog tour (June 23-28)!

School Book Saturday: Multi-cultural Rice and Electricity

Everybody Cooks Rice
by Norah Dooley ; illustrations by Peter J. Thornton. Carolrhoda Books, 1991. 30 pg. (9780876145913, 0876145918)
Dewey: Fiction
Reading level: 4.4, Guided Reading: M, Fountas & Pinnell: M
Interest level: K-3rd

Publisher Description:
On her way to find her little brother for dinner, Carrie samples each family's dinner in her neighborhood. By the time she tracks down her brother, Carrie has discovered a world of rice dishes in her own backyard.

My Review:
I like this book. Carrie's neighbors are from Barbados, Puerto Rico, Vietnam, India, China, and Haiti while Carrie's great-grandmother came from Italy. Each family makes their rice dish a bit different. The author's introduce all the different dishes while telling a story familiar to any big sister - finding her brother.

Some of the words might be hard for early elementary kids to read for themselves but not to understand. I think it would make a good read aloud at school or at home. But especially at home since the recipes for all the different dishes are included at the back.

Find it at a library near you; Buy it from Amazon; Buy it from Barnes &Noble; Buy it from ChristianBook; Buy it from an Indie Bookstore near you



The Shocking World of Electricity with Max Axiom, Super Scientist 
by Liam O'Donnell ; illustrated by Richard Dominguez and Charles Barnett III. Capstone Press, 2007. 32 pg. (9780778729563)
Series: Max Axiom
Dewey: J537
Reading level: 4.8, Guided Reading: V, Fountas & Pinnell: V
Interest level: 5th-8th

Publisher Description:
Follows the adventures of Max Axiom as he explains the science behind electricity including how it is produced and how electricity is distributed. Written in graphic-novel format.

My Review:
The Max Axiom series does a good job in introducing different science topics to late elementary and middle school students. The story is engaging and the opening scene of Max getting shocked by a doorknob after shuffling on the carpet is something most kids can relate too.

Electrons, protons, neutrons, renewable energy, batteries, the electrical grid and saving energy are all addressed in this action backed book. At the end is a 'More About…' section, glossary, book suggestions, and internet sites (but first you have to go through Facthound.com, which has a curated list of links that should be accurate, age appropriate, and current).

An aspect that I especially like since I work at an international school in Africa is that the main character is not Caucasian. My library has four books in this series and I've already ordered this and several others for next school year.

Find it at a library near you; Buy it from Amazon; Buy it from Barnes & Noble; Buy it from ChristianBooks; Buy it from an Indie Bookstore near you

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Remember - Anytime you visit Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com or ChristianBooks.com or Independent Bookstores use an affiliate link to get there. Any purchase you make from a link on my site generates a small kickback. You need not purchase the item I'm featuring, any purchase counts. It costs you nothing extra and is an easy way to support this site.

WoW #46: The Princess Spy by Melanie Dickerson

Hosted by Breaking the Spine.

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

The Princess Spy by Melanie Dickerson

Zondervan November 2014

About
Margaretha has always been a romantic, and hopes her newest suitor, Lord Claybrook, is destined to be her one true love. But then an injured man is brought to Hagenheim Castle, claiming to be an English lord who was attacked by Claybrook and left for dead. And only Margaretha---one of the few who speaks his language---understands the wild story. Margaretha finds herself unable to pass Colin's message along to her father, the duke, and convinces herself 'Lord Colin' is just an addled stranger. Then Colin retrieves an heirloom she lost in a well, and asks her to spy on Claybrook as repayment. Margaretha knows she could never be a spy---not only is she unable to keep anything secret, she's sure Colin is completely wrong about her potential betrothed. Though when Margaretha overhears Claybrook one day, she discovers her romantic notions may have been clouding her judgment about not only Colin but Claybrook as well. It is up to her to save her father and Hagenheim itself from Claybrook's wicked plot

Why I want to read it

I have really enjoyed this author's other forays into the world of retelling fairy tales. My favorites of hers are The Healer's Apprentice and The Merchant's Daughter. Her other two books which are also very good are The Fairest Beauty and The Captive Maiden. I'm excited that this book continues the tale of the inhabitants of Hagenheim Castle!

Pre-order it:

Amazon ($9.66 / $5.12) and ChristianBooks ($9.99 / $5.99) and Barnes and Noble ($9.66 / $5.99) and An Independent Bookstore near you
Prices are good as of June 14, 2014 for pre-ordering the paperback/ebook edition. Please double check for yourself.

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Remember - Anytime you visit Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com or ChristianBooks.com use an affiliate link to get there. Any purchase you make from a link on my site generates a small kickback. You need not purchase the item I'm featuring, any purchase counts. It costs you nothing extra and is an easy way to support this site.