Bonnie Ferrante's Blog, page 91

Leslie, Peter. William Wasp Wonders. Book Review.

The book begins with a poorly rhymed limerick, changes to prose, and then goes back to limericks. This continues throughout the book, the rhyming becoming more and more clumsy. I can’t imagine a child trying to follow the narration.

William imagined himself as a variety of creatures that would, hopefully, be better liked by humans, such as elephant, giraffe, shark, and snake. Each incarnation comes with its own set of problems. Unfortunately this goes on far too long. In the end he decides to be himself.

This theme has been done dozens of times in better ways. Perhaps the author was trying to do it in an original way with the limericks, but it just doesn’t work.

The illustrations are great, bright and funny but they can’t save the awkward writing.

Rosentreter, Sibil-Nixie. The Little Cow Learns How to Ride a Scooter. Book Review.

This book appears to be translated from another language, possibly German. That may be why the rhythm seems a little off now and then.

The illustrations are a fabulous mixture of paint and cut paper, bright and original. I like the way the author varies the layout.

Little cow gets a scooter. She keeps falling and hurting herself. She is about to quit when a small bird coaxes her to try again. I didn’t understand why Little Cow had to always go so fast. Perhaps the bird could have told her to start out slower. It was also odd that some parts were in rhyme and some in prose.

There were some formatting errors with regard to quotation marks and the text read “That strings!” Instead of “That stings!”

The vocabulary was a little high at times, such as “lose my poise”.

This is a straight out lesson book but it is done with humor and charm. It takes practice and determination to master something new. Everyone falls down when they first start.

Super Sale – Time Limited

AND MANY MORE.

Back to school blowout! Check out all the $.99 book deals. Limited time offer. All ages. http://amzn.to/NvU7cg

Fitch, Sheree. Pocket Rocks. Illustrated by Helen Flook. Book Review.

This is the story of a little boy who struggles in school. No matter how much he concentrates, printing is too difficult. He begins a rock collection which helps him to use his imagination to take him mentally away from school. The rocks are his solace. Unfortunately, when his pockets become too heavy, his pants fell down in front of the whole class. A storyteller comes to the classroom. He also collects rocks. This gives the boy the courage to tell his story. Afterward, he spells his name with rocks.

Although I love the idea of the story, I found the text lengthy and the narration jumpy. I think a child who struggles with school would probably still enjoy it but might find it too long and wordy. I was disappointed with the editing. A book that is meant to appeal to a child who struggles in school, should have crisp, fast-paced narration.

The pictures, done by Helen Flook, are bright and eventful, mostly two-page spreads. Insights into the child’s imagination are especially engaging.

Revised Second Edition in Final Proofread

Rumpelstiltskin’s Child, a story about the importance of kindness, is almost ready for rerelease. Improved illustrations and an expanded plot make it an even better children’s picture book.

Brooks, Jem. Why Do Dogs Smell Butts? And Other Animal Questions Kids Ask! Book Review.

There are about 40 animal questions answered in this book. Each page begins with a question such as, “why do zebras have stripes?”. A short explanation is given which often includes a challenging word and its definition. Children would find the questions interesting and have probably often asked such as, why do fireflies glow, why are flamingos pink, and why do ostriches stick their heads in the sand?

Each page has a box at the bottom that asks “Did you know?” Here the reader is exposed to fascinating facts such as – A group of rhinos is called a crash. Giraffes only sleep between 10 minutes in two hours per day. The longest living tortoise in the world was 326 years old.

The style of writing and vocabulary are suited for children in grades 3 to 6. I would suggest that the author use fewer exclamation marks.

There is a photograph for each question. The pictures are all taken from Flickr and are credited at the end of the book. I was disappointed that the author did not do her own photography or artwork.

I think there is a error in “Do Fish Breathe Water?” Which says “Like all other animals, fish need oxygen to survive, but they do not need to ‘breathe’ water to get oxygen like humans need to breathe air.” Shouldn’t that read that they need to breathe water to get oxygen even though it is in a different form?

When writing about vampire bats, the author says “these bats’ feed on horses, cattle, and other livestock, like mosquitoes feed off humans. They are called pretty harmless, but really annoying!” This is incorrect. The bites can cause nasty infections and diseases such as rabies.

Other than these two mistakes, the book was well organized and readable.

A Learning Experience

I received a second email from the author of the book discussed in the previous post.

“I apologize. My tone was not correct in this email. I should have waited to think about it before I sent it. I was very upset when I read the review this morning, and it was not as respectful as it should have been.

I guess I always expected bad reviews on some books, but this one is so near and dear to my heart, I took it personally. I spent a lot of time and a ton of money on the illustrations to make it as perfect as I could, so it just hurt me personally to see what you wrote.

I also agree that you should never contact reviewers. I reply to a lot of fans via email and try to stay engaged, so I guess I just over stepped my bounds on this one.”

Awesome. That must have been difficult to write. A classy response.

I, too, am not perfect. I’ve gone back and looked at the review and decided I may have been too harsh. I need to remember it’s a bad idea to review too many books in a row. When they all turn out to be a disappointment, it’s easy to become insensitive when commenting. This may have been the first book for this writer and a big investment of time and money. It is impossible for creative people to detach from their creations, even though it is in their best interest to do so.

One thing ALL writers need to remember, myself included, is that there will always be bad reviews, always be people who didn’t like the book. As long as you’re getting more positive reviews than negative ones, you’re doing okay. See this site for examples. http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisritter16/11-beloved-books-with-shockingly-bad-reviews#23yafst In fact, if an author only gets glowing reviews, some readers may suspect sock puppets are in play.

It is never my intention to hurt someone’s feelings. This writer now has her/his first bad review over with and can be better prepared for future ones. We all get them. Even Twain, Whitman, Bronte, Faulkner, Salinger, Huxley, Fitzgerald, and the beloved Maurice Sendak received scathing early reviews. Shake it off and keep writing.

Author “Respectfully” Asks for Review to Be Removed

I received this email today.

“Bonnie – I am respectfully requesting that you remove your review from my Children’s Book – XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. I found your review much too harsh, and inappropriate for a children’s book. I wrote this for my daughter, who asks that I read it to her for bed every night. I also have had other parents tell me that their kids love to read it over and over, so I really have a hard time accepting a review suggesting that kids “would not want to read it more than once” from a 65 year old. I understand that everyone has their opinions, but writing such a scathing review on what is supposed to be a cute children’s book is in my mind, simply unacceptable.

I will gladly offer you a refund if you didn’t like it that much.

I see that you are an author as well with a lot of published works available for review, so I’m sure you understand this from an authors point of view.”

First, I have to disagree with the word respectfully. The tone was not respectful, especially the personal comment about my age. No where in my reviews do I ever make personal comments about the writer’s age, gender, race, etc. “I really have a hard time accepting a review suggesting that kids “would not want to read it more than once” from a 65 year old.” is blatant ageism. I’m 61 btw. I’ve also been a grade school teacher for 33 years, 10 as a teacher librarian, am a mother and grandmother, and have worked with children in various volunteer situations. So, my age is a reflection of my experience, which does not make my opinion less worth while. Is this writer suggesting that anyone over 60 has no right to an opinion on children’s books? At what age does our opinion become invalid? 50? 40?

“I see that you are an author as well with a lot of published works available for review,” I wonder if there’s a hidden meaning there. I’ve heard of writers getting friends to write horrible reviews of another author’s work because they were angry about the review. It will be interesting to see if I suddenly start getting poor reviews.

I don’t know if I would have taken the review down if this had, actually, been a respectful letter. I might have reread the review and decided to include more positive statements. I might have reread the book and decided to increase the star rating from 2 to 3. Maybe.

When parents are asked to pay $6.04 for a book, then the writer needs to be prepared to have readers who believe it is not the best buy for the money. “I wrote this for my daughter, who asks that I read it to her for bed every night.” I’m sure that fact that the parent wrote it and is reading it to the daughter has NOTHING to do with her love for the book. Submissions editors roll their eyes at those kind of comments. “I wrote this for my daughter…” which is lovely, and if it had stayed there, I probably would have said I love it, but now the writer is marketing the book. That’s a completely different thing.

I have received reviews that I found upsetting. I am, in fact, redoing a book because of criticism. I looked past the embarrassment and defensiveness and learned how I could improve my work.

Bad reviews, good reviews, they’re all part of putting your work out there for the public to judge. What is “simply unexceptable” is sending these kinds of letters to reviewers. To all beginning writers out there, never, ever do that. You can quickly get a reputation that steers readers and publishers away from your work.

I’m not revealing the author or the book. I will send him/her a link to this blog. I won’t be posting it below my review as I was tempted to do initially. I am hoping this is a small stumble on the author’s path to success and have no desire to turn it into something that will tarnish his/her reputation. However, I am not removing my review from the location.

My August 2014 Newsletter

Friday, September 26 and Saturday, September 27 I, along with a number of other local writers, will be selling books and doing readings at the Baggage Building Arts Center at Prints Arthur’s Landing. More information will be available in the next newsletter.

If you’re a classroom teacher, you may be interested in scheduling a school visit. I was in elementary school teacher for 33 years. As a writer, I have visited, read to, and discussed writing with day care groups to grade 12 and unwilling to speak to high school classes as well. I have books for different age levels and on a variety of topics. If the $300 fee set by the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators, and Performers and the Writers Union of Canada is too much for your limited budget, talk to me about other options. Contact me at b.ferrante@tbaytel.net

New book scheduled for release in mid September – No More Red

Jasmine Ye of Toronto, Ontario is one of free paperback copy of my latest young adult book, Desiccate: Sphere of Vision Book One.

Rumpelstiltskin’s Child is being rereleased in a new and improved format. The story has been extended and the illustrations upgraded. All I need is your input. After a lot of conflicting advice, I have come up with three possible book covers. Why don’t you let me know which one you think is best before the voting closes? Comment on Facebook or on my blog, send me an email, send a pigeon or owl, whatever works for you. Go to: http://bferrante.wordpress.com/2014/08/21/which-cover-do-you-like-best/

New Cover?

What do you think of this one?