July 1, 2016 / Leslie

Books for Young Readers

Animal Planet Animal Atlas

by Animal Planet
Publisher: Animal Planet | May 2016
Age: 7 – 10 years | 96 pages

Animal Planet’s definitive atlas of animal life takes readers on a continent-by-continent and habitat-by-habitat passport to adventure!

This is a beautiful, full-color over-sized book filled with pictures, maps, and loads of interesting facts on each page.

The book is divided into eight chapter with one for each continent plus the oceans. Each chapter is further divided into habitats with discussion and photos of the animals that make the region their home. Aside from a short introductory paragraph in each sub-chapter, most of the text for the descriptions of each animal are placed in brightly colored information boxes with a same colored line connecting them to a photo of the animal.

The writing is entertaining and easy to understand. Even children too young to read will enjoy having this read to them as they look at the photos and drawings and find the animals on the map.

Very creative and sure to delight both children and adults.

Rating: 5 stars

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Source: Review copy provided by the publisher through AmazonVine.
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June 29, 2016 / Leslie

Wordless Wednesday: Wildflower on the Prairie

Almost wordless: I liked the way the early morning light was illuminating the flowers so I took a few quick shots but neglected to look at the leaves — and now I can’t identify the flower. Anyone know what this is? Maybe some type of clover.

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June 28, 2016 / Leslie

First Chapter First Paragraph ~ Tuesday Intros

Security by Gina Wohlsdorf

Algonquin Books | June 2016 | Hardcover • Kindle | 288 pages

1st Paragraph:

The maze is twenty-five hundred yards square. Destin Management Group planted hedges before they even began construction on the hotel, since plants can’t be paid to hurry like contractors can. The hedges are twelve feet tall, lush, rounded smooth as sanded wood, and currently a dark black green. This is because the hotel is straight and monolithic, a stark white block on a flat stretch of Santa Barbara beach, the kind of building that inspires arguments about whether its simplistic appearance is a great leap forward in design, or whether a child with a crayon and a napkin could have drawn it while waiting for a five-dollar grilled cheese. It’s visible from the Pacific Coast Highway but only just. The driveway is quite long so as to accommodate the hedge maze, which is the size of half a football field, and it is darkening, now, in the hotel’s shadow.

What do you think? Would you keep reading?

Beside the fact that I love thrillers, this one caught my attention with the comparison to “the tradition of Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King, and with a deep bow to Daphne du Maurier”.

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From Goodreads:

Manderley Resort is a gleaming, new twenty-story hotel on the California coast. It’s about to open its doors, and the world–at least those with the means to afford it–will be welcomed into a palace of opulence and unparalleled security. But someone is determined that Manderley will never open. The staff has no idea that their every move is being watched, and over the next twelve hours they will be killed off, one by one.

First Chapter Tuesday is hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea. Join us by visiting Diane and linking your own First Chapter post or to find out what others plan to read this week.

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Source: Advance copy from the publisher.
© 2016 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
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June 27, 2016 / Leslie

Mailbox Monday ~ June 27th

Welcome to Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia of To Be Continued, a place where readers share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.

After several years of being on tour with different blogs as the monthly host, the Mailbox Monday Blog is now the permanent home for the meme.

I received a couple of new books last week.

New Arrivals

Animal Planet Animal Atlas by Animal Planet
Animal Planet’s definitive atlas of animal life takes readers on a continent-by-continent and habitat-by-habitat passport to adventure!

You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott
How far will you go to achieve a dream? That’s the question a celebrated coach poses to Katie and Eric Knox after he sees their daughter Devon, a gymnastics prodigy and Olympic hopeful, compete. For the Knoxes there are no limits–until a violent death rocks their close-knit gymnastics community and everything they have worked so hard for is suddenly at risk.

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June 25, 2016 / Leslie

Giveaway Winners

Thank you to everyone that stopped by to enter the giveaways last few weeks.

Winners have been selected and have been notified by email.

The Weekenders

by Mary Kay Andrews

Winner: Nancy

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Heart of Stone

by James W. Ziskin

Winner: Suko

June 22, 2016 / Leslie

Wordless Wednesday: Mrs. Sparrow

Almost wordless:
A female House Sparrow was watching me as I took photos in my garden, or perhaps she thinks it’s her garden!

June 21, 2016 / Leslie

First Chapter First Paragraph ~ Tuesday Intros

Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters

Mulholland Books | July 2016 | Hardcover • Kindle | 336 pages

1st Paragraphs:

“So,” said the young priest. “I think that I’m the man you’re looking for.

“Oh, I hope so,” I said to him. “Oh Lord, I do hope you are.”

I knitted my fingers together and leaned forward across the table. I was aware of how I looked: I looked pathetic. Eager, nervous, confessional. I could feel my thin cheap spectacles slipping down my nose. I could feel my needfulness dripping from my brow. I took a breath, but before I could speak, the waitress came over to pour our coffee and hand out the menus, and Father Barton and I went silent, smiled stiff and polite at the girl and at each other.

What do you think? Would you keep reading?

After reading The Last Policeman, a fascinating trilogy that was a mash-up of genres — pre-apocalyptic, crime, mystery, and thriller all in one — I am eager to read the latest by this author.

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From Goodreads:

It is the present-day, and the world is as we know it: smartphones, social networking and Happy Meals. Save for one thing: the Civil War never occurred.

A gifted young black man calling himself Victor has struck a bargain with federal law enforcement, working as a bounty hunter for the US Marshall Service. He’s got plenty of work. In this version of America, slavery continues in four states called “the Hard Four.” On the trail of a runaway known as Jackdaw, Victor arrives in Indianapolis knowing that something isn’t right — with the case file, with his work, and with the country itself.

First Chapter Tuesday is hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea. Join us by visiting Diane and linking your own First Chapter post or to find out what others plan to read this week.

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Source: Advance copy from the publisher.
© 2016 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
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