After School History Club might be fun!


I'm delighted to be one of the host's on I-Am-A-Reader's blog tour for Gianna the Great, by Becky Villareal, today. I was given a free ecopy of the book, so I'm offering my review, below, together with introductions to the story, the author, and a great giveaway, so please read on...

About the Book:

 Gianna just wants to know about her ancestors, but she has to join an after school history club (yuck!) to do it. Now, she’s about to embark on a journey that will change everything she thinks she knows about her family.

 So says the blurb for this short children's story. I was lucky enough to get a pre-release copy when I volunteered to join the I-Am-A-Reader blogtour, so... here's my review, with a coffee recommendation of course. Try some bright, lively, easy drinking 2-star coffee, and offer juice or water to your second through fourth grade listeners.
Gianna the Great is narrated by a pleasing fourth grade girl who isn’t quite sure where she belongs. Maybe history club will help. But the mystery starts when history turns into genealogy. Now Gianna will learn of her mother’s Mexican heritage through computer records and photographs. Meanwhile readers are given a very natural introduction to Mexican phrases and foods.

My only complaint is that the book is far too short. I want to know more, and I’m sure Gianna does too. In fact I’m sure she will, but “that’s for another day...”

Short chapters lead to small revelations, and parents or teachers might find the book invaluable in encouraging young children to value the past. Readers, young and old, might want more story though, and I hope there’ll be plenty more to come on that “another day...”

Disclosure: I was given a free ecopy and I offer my honest review.


Find out more: Follow the Tour

Find Gianna the Great on Amazon
add to goodreads
Copy of GIANNA THE GREAT - author bio picAuthor the Author

 Becky Villareal As a missionary’s kid Becky grew up all over the state of Texas learning that each person is special in the Lord’s eyes. As a twenty year veteran teacher she learned how to bring out those gifts in children. As a ten year genealogist she learned how wonderful finding out about the family background can be especially when the knowledge is shared with others.



About the Giveaway

$25 Blog Tour giveaway


  $25 Blog Tour Giveaway Enter to win an Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash Ends 4/30/15 Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by readinglight.com. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Connect those Connections

Taken from a talk I gave on Sunday at the Writers' Mill. This is a very low-level approach to getting connected, from one beginner to another... Internet Writing, Marketing and Networking If you’ve got an email address you’re on the internet. If you’ve got a book out or an article in a magazine, you’re into marketing. If you’ve got friends, you’re networking. And if you use Google, you can do almost anything. Google Google is your friend. Google “how to join facebook” “How to join goodreads” “How to join Twitter” etc… Google “facebook badges” “blogger widgets” etc… to spice up your pages. Anything you want to know, a nice simple question to google will almost certainly tell you. But keep safe . Don’t just click on the first link you see. Make sure it looks vaguely genuine. “F*@!book.com/badges” might take you somewhere you don’t want your computer to go. “Facebook.com/badges” tells you all about badges. Why would you want to join all these interne
Read more

Eternal curse might hide a blessing too.

Image
Today is the official launch day for Toi Thomas's paranormal romance, Eternal Curse, and I was lucky enough to be offered a free preview copy some while ago. The novel creates an intriguing mythology of angelic beings and the Fall, binding it nicely to modern day characters in search of meaning for their lives. There's an interesting blend of the paranormal, faith and science, and the story has a nicely old-fashioned feel with separate underlying tales taking center stage on the way to resolution. So... here's the cover, the blurb, and my review: ABOUT THE BOOK 'You have plenty of time to change your mind. You have not yet seen the monster I can be.' Giovanni has been waiting his whole life to meet someone like Mira, someone from the outside world who might be able to help him. He wonders if there really is help for him as he continues to hold tightly onto dark secrets and even darker memories. Giovanni wants to be hopeful and he wants to accept Mira&#
Read more

BLOG TOUR: Name that character, with Dawn Colclasure

Image
Author Dawn Colclasure is hosting my Flower Child Blog Tour today with a post on the parallel joys of math and writing http://dawncolclasureblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/mathematical-writer-guest-blog-post-by.html . Meanwhile I'm delighted to host Dawn here in yet another intersecting blog tour. About the author:  Dawn Colclasure is a writer who lives in Oregon. Her articles, essays, poems and short stories have appeared in several newspapers, anthologies, magazines and E-zines. She is the author of seven books, among them BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL: How We Survive as Writing Parents ; 365 TIPS FOR WRITERS: Inspiration, Writing Prompts and Beat The Block Tips to Turbo Charge Your Creativity ; Love is Like a Rainbow: Poems of Love and Devotion and the children’s book The Yellow Rose . She is co-author of the book Totally Scared: The Complete Book on Haunted Houses . Her dark fantasy novel, Shadow of Samhain , is due out in Winter 2011. Her Web site is at http://dmcwriter.tripod.c
Read more