The Story of the Voice, by David B. Capes, Chris Seay and James F. Couch, Jr.

The Story of The Voice

Authors: David B. Capes, Chris Seay, and James F. Couch, Jr.

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Publication Date: March 12, 2013

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It's not often that I review bibles or biblical materials, but I was so impressed with The Voice Bible translation that I read last year. It was written by gathering poets, authors and biblical scholars together to create a bible that read well as a story. A lot of translations claim that, but this one really looked different from any one I had seen before. The pages look like a screenplay, with dialogue separated out and prefaced by the name of the person speaking. It's genius, really.

The Story of the Voice is just what it sounds like. It's the story of how those collaborators came together and made the decisions they made in order to create The Voice. I loved reading it. There were some surprises, but for the most part I found myself thinking, "That's what I thought they meant to do! I can see that!" They even refer to the page layout as the "screenplay" approach, just like I thought. 

I know this sounds weird, but The Story of the Voice made me feel like the authors didn't just understand the bible, they also understood me as a reader. I know. That sounds weird, doesn't it?

Living with Shakespeare: Actors, Directors, & Writers on Shakespeare in Our Time, by Susannah Carson (ed.)

Living With Shakespeare:

Actors, Directors and Writers on Shakespeare in Our Time

Editor: Susannah Carson

(Preface by: Harold Bloom)

Publisher: Vintage

Publication Date: April 9, 2013

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If there's one thing I've learned from my ongoing Shakespeare in a Year project, it's that reading about Shakespeare can be a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, I've found it helpful to understand the context in which plays were written and to get a some perspective on what they mean. I've read essays on Shakespeare that opened the plays up to me in whole new ways (see: everything Ben Crystal writes). On the other hand, my enjoyment of certain plays has been greatly hampered by reading too many of those types of literary essays before reading the actual play. The introduction to Coriolanus in my Riverside Shakespeare had me convinced I would hate it, and I was half way through the play before I realized I was loving it. It's tricky to take those Shakespearean "authorities" as, well, too authoritative.

Which is precisely why I love this book. The authors of the essays all show their hands. They reveal their biases and specific perspectives and just tell you their opinions. There are no anonymous introductions to the "right" way to read Shakespeare here (like in my stupid Riverside Shakespeare). These are essays by people talking about how and why they see certain plays or certain passages the way they do. You may agree or disagree with them, but at least you know where they're coming from. 

And yes, there's even an essay about Coriolanus. Ralph Fiennes did the movie version and he too was worried that everyone would hate it, even though he found the play, in his words, "addicting." I hear ya, Ralph. It IS addicting, and don't let those anti-Coriolanus "experts" tell you otherwise.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't listen to what Shakespearean scholars have to say. And there are plenty of Shakespearean scholars in this book. What I'm saying is that a literary scholar's opinion about Macbeth, for example, may be very different from an actor's, or a director's, or a prisoner's (see: Shakespeare Saved My Life). And that's what I loved about this book. It offered different perspectives without any one voice being "the one and only true way to feel about Shakespeare." 

As someone who is just now getting around to reading all of Shakespeare's plays for myself, it was a breath of fresh air to realize that it's okay that so many of them disagreed about things. When I was a student, I'm sure I would have been looking for the "right way" to read Hamlet or A Midsummer Night's Dream but now I appreciate the discussions more than the answers. I'm not sure if we would have preserved these plays for 400 years if there wasn't so MUCH to discuss.

BLOG TOUR: GUEST POST by Angela Shelton, Author of TILDA PINKERTON'S MAGICAL HATS BY THE RED TRACTOR MAILBOX

I'd like to thank my guest blogger today, Angela Shelton, author of Tilda Pinkerton's Magical Hats. I reviewed Tilda Pinkerton's Magical Hats: By the Red Tractor Mailbox (Book One) in yesterday's post, and announced a giveaway contest that runs until July 31 (get your entries in!). Today, Ms. Shelton talks a little bit more about how you can use dress up play--particularly with fun hats--to not only encourage creativity and self-expression, but also to teach the alphabet. 

Teach the Alphabet and New Vocabulary Through Dress Up! 

 Tilda Pinkerton’s Magical Hats is written to expand the minds of little ones (K-3rd grade readers) and get them thinking about bigger words and ideas! 
Kids are WAY smarter than you think and a great way to get their little brains working is with dress up time! That goes for boys and girls, since they can dress up as anything from a princess to a cowboy.  
The easiest way to play dress up is with hats! Shoes are fun too but can be a tad dangerous with the little ones trying to walk a grownup’s footwear. Hats are another story and tell who you are immediately as far as the imagination of dress up goes. 
I happen to collect hats so I have a huge selection for little ones to choose from. (I keep the very delicate ones packed away from sticky hands though.) 
When a little boy puts on a cowboy hat for example and you say, “Yeeehaw, you’re a cowboy! That starts with C. C for cowboy!” It totally and completely gets that little one excited. You will shortly hear them yell out, “C is for cowboy!”  
If you don’t have a huge collection of hats, you can hit your local thrift store or make your own hats out of construction paper, glue and tape and add in some glitter. Here’s a list of hats that show up in the Tilda books. 

A is for Aviator Hat.  
You can fly high in the sky with this hat!  

B is for Baseball Cap.  
This hat helps you play really well. 

C is for Cowboy Hat. 
Yeehaw!  You can ride really fast in this hat. 


D is for Disco Hat. 
You can dance dance dance with this hat. 

E is for Easter Bonnet.  
This hat has flowers and butterflies. 


F is for Fireman’s Hat. 
Save the day and put out dangerous fires wearing this hat! 

G is for Goofy Hat that makes you laugh.  
Tilda’s hat has a fish tank in it for giggles. 

H is for Helmet to keep you safe. 
Where your helmet when you are riding very fast. 

I is for Intelligent Cap. 
This is a great thinking cap. It is fun to be smart.   

J is for Jester Cap.  
It has bells on the end to ring when you do something silly. 

K is for the King Crown.    
You can wear this and sit on a throne.  

L is for Lace Hat. 
You look very pretty in this hat.  

M is for Matador Hat.  
This one is shaped like a bull’s head with the horns for bull fighting.   

N is for Nurse Cap. 
Bandages don’t hurt when you have this hat on.  

O is for Opera Hat.  
Sing a song when you have this on! 

P is for a Peaked Cap. 
Military officers and police officers wear these.     

Q is for the Queen’s Crown. 
You can wear this and sit on a throne.

R is for Robin Hood Hat. 
This one has a long feather in the back. 

S is for Stocking Cap.  
This long hat has a pompom at the end. 

T is for Top Hat.  
You can wear this hat to go on a walk or to lead a circus. 


U is for Underwater Swimming Cap.  
You can swim with this hat on. 

V is for Visor. 
This is to shade your eyes. 

W is for Wizard’s Hat. 
This very long hat sparkles with magic stardust. 

X is for the Xylophone Musical Hat. 
This hat makes music when you walk. You can be a whole band! 

Y is for Your Favorite Hat!  
Which hats do you like best?  

Z is for Zebra Striped Nighttime Hat.  

Sometimes you need to wear this one to fall asleep. 

BLOG TOUR: REVIEW + GIVEAWAY! Tilda Pinkerton's Magical Hats: By the Red Tractor Mailbox (Book 1), by Angela Shelton (illustrated by James Murray)

UPDATE: The giveaway is now closed. Thank-you to everyone who entered and congratulations to our winner, Madeline!!

Hooray! It's time for another BLOG TOUR! I don't always love these, because a lot of times the organizers want you to promote all kinds of books on your blog, sight unseen, without giving you a review copy or any promotional materials to work with. What if the book sucks? I always wonder. Anyway, that's not how I roll. I never promote a book on my blog without reading it first, and I never give a book a positive review if I don't truly love the book. Which means I don't participate in many blog tours (it could get a little awkward if I interview an author and all my questions are, "Why did you book suck so much?" and "Did you know your book sucks?"). Luckily, when there's a book I really like and a virtual tour organizer who's really keen, BLOG TOURS CAN BE AWESOME. They can usually mean interviews or guest posts by the author and GIVEAWAYS!

In this case, it's ALL OF THE ABOVE.

I received a copy of Tilda Pinkerton's Magical Hats By the Red Tractor Mailbox (Book 1), by Angela Shelton (illustrated by James Murray) from Teddy Rose at Virtual Author Book Tours. The book is fantastic (you can read my review and my daughter's input below) AND the author is doing a guest post tomorrow AND the publisher is sponsoring a giveaway (scroll down to the bottom of this post to enter the giveaway).

The Book

Tilda Pinkerton's Magical Hats:
Book One: By the Red Tractor Mailbox
Author: Angela Shelton
Illustrator: James Murray
Publisher: Quiet Owl Books
Publication Date: April 1, 2013

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book from Teddy Rose at Virtual Author Book Tours so I could review it and participate in this blog tour. I was not required to write a favourable review, nor was I otherwise compensated for my participation. All opinions expressed are strictly my own (with a little help from my three-year-old, Magda). The book giveaway will be sponsored by the publisher and will be open to U.S. residents only.

Tilda Pinkerton is the magical owner of a VERY magical hat shop (a magical milliner, if you will). She has thousands of hats of all shapes and sizes (even small enough for woodchucks and gnats!) which she gives away for free to anyone who wants or needs one. The catch is you have to use your magical hat to create something "wonderful, beautiful in the world." For Madison Mae and Albert it's an easy choice: they need hats that will help them come up with ways to save their grandparents' failing farm.

Tilda Pinkerton's Magical Hats is described as appropriate for Read-Aloud K-2, and Reading Level 3, but I was able to read it to my three-year-old with no problem (though Magda has a pretty high attention span for books and has been listening to chapter books for over a year already). The text is large and the story is relatively simple, but each chapter contains "bigger" words that are a little above the intended reading level. These words are then listed at the end of each chapter and explained in a glossary at the back. Most of the words were ones that Magda was able to pick up from context, but it was fantastic that Ms. Shelton included them to encourage children to expand their vocabulary. And Magda felt very clever when there were "bigger" words that she already knew ("taken aback," according to Magda, means "so startled, like you have to jump back and go Whoa!").

There are other nice touches about the book as well. The large line drawings are left intentionally simple so that children can colour them in themselves (if they own the book, of course!), and there are some blank pages on which readers are encouraged to draw their own favourite hats.

Here's what Magda had to say:

Magda's Take

Me: Did you like this book?

Magda: Yes! It was perfect. I liked Tilda Pinkerton's Magical Hats because I really like saying "Pinkerton." I like "Tilda" too, but I REALLY like the name "Pinkerton."

Me: What happened in the book?

Magda: Well there was a flood. I liked the part about the flood because it was like the real flood that happened on the news, except nobody got hurt and drowned because it was just imaginary characters. So Tilda Pinkerton couldn't drowned.

Me: Would you like to have a magical hat from Tilda Pinkerton?

Magda: Yes. I think I would want a Magda-Mag hat.

Me: What's that?

Magda: It's a hat with a little kid on it who has hair but not hair on her skin and no beard. Just hair on her head. And you could have a Mommy-Mom hat, and Daddy could have a Daddy-Dad hat. The Mommy-Mom hat would have a mommy on it, with hair and glasses, and the Daddy-Dad hat would have a dad on it with a bald head and a beard.

Me: What would our hats help us do?

Magda: They would support our bodies when we did flips, so we could all practice flips and backflips together.

Me: Wow. Wouldn't you want an astronaut helmet or a farmer's hat so you could be an astronaut or a farmer [her two biggest career goals right now]?

Magda: No, because I want to do those things when I'm older, but I want to learn how to do flips and somersaults NOW.

Me: That makes total sense to me.

The Author

Come back tomorrow for a guest post by author Angela Shelton!

Not only is she an actor, a filmmaker and an author, she also has one of the most engaging author photos I've seen in a while. That's her on the right and also in the banner picture at the top of this post. It just makes me want to know her and hang out with her!

The Blog Tour

You can follow Tilda Pinkerton around the interweb:

So Many Precious Book July 2 Review & Giveaway
Books, Books & More Books  July 3 Review
Books, Books & More Books  July 5 Guest Post
Haunting of Orchid Forsythia July 8 Review
Sweeps4Bloggers July 9 Review & Giveaway
Sincerely Stacie July 10 Review
Library of Clean Reads July 11 Review
Cozy Little Book Journal & The Bookish Elf July 15 Review
Cozy Little Book Journal & The Bookish Elf July 16 G & Guest Post
Carole Rae’s Ramblings July 17 Review
Reading Novels Online  July 18 Review
Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms July 19 Review
Saving for 6 July 22 Review
Saving for 6 July 23 Guest Post
Thoughts in Progress July 23 Review & Giveaway
Joy Story July 25 Review
Haunting of Orchid Forsythia July 26 Interview
From L.A. to LA July 29 Review
Heck of a Bunch July 30 Review & Giveaway
Second Bookshelf July 31 Interview
Pragmatic Mom Aug 5 Review
Sweet Southern Home Aug 6 Review
VW Stitcher Aug 7 Review
Musing with Crayolakym Aug 8 Review    
DWED Blog Aug 9 Review
DWED Blog Aug 9 Interview
City Book Review Aug 12 Review
Giveaways & Glitter Aug 13 Review         

The Giveaway

I'm feeling pretty lazy this summer so this giveaway is (hopefully) super easy. All you have to do is either:

(a) like Cozy Little Book Journal on Facebook;
(b) follow @CozyBookJournal on Twitter;
(c) leave a blog post (either on The Bookish Elf or Cozy Little Book Journal) or Facebook comment telling me your favourite way to play dress up with your kids; or
(d) Tweet about the giveaway.

That's it. You can do any or all of those things. It doesn't matter. Just use the Rafflecopter widget below to let me know you entered.

The giveaway is for a print copy of the book to be sent by the publisher to one winner, so I'm not in charge of the shipping on this one. Unfortunately, that also means the contest is open to U.S. residents only (sorry everyone else...you can still enter my other giveaways though...check the sidewalk on the right for more info). Contest is only open from July 15-31, 2013 so get your entries in early!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table, with Recipes, by Shauna Niequist

Bread and Wine:

A Love Letter to Life Around the Table, with recipes

Author: Shauna Niequist

Publisher: Zondervan

Publication Date: April 9, 2013

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Finally! Someone who GETS it! As much as I love, love, love those glossy cookbooks with gorgeous pictures of food and home decor that looks like it came right off of Pinterest, the truth is those are ALL KINDS of intimidating. I can't get mine to look like that. Would people eat it if I did? My house is too messy to invite people over anyway. Besides, all of that looks so fattening...

Shauna Niequist knows all that. She thinks the same things. And you know what? She says DO IT ANYWAY! Enjoy food. Enjoy those moments in your life when food memories are made. Food is an essential part of our lives, not just because we need to eat to live, but because so many of our family and social memories are tied up in food. Yes, food and entertaining can cause anxiety and guilt, especially in women, but we can't let that take away all our wonderful experiences with food and loved ones. 

In a lot of ways this book was a healing journey for me. I have had all of the same fears and anxieties as the author (I was particularly affected by the chapter about having a house that is too messy, too small, or too unfinished to entertain...but doing it anyway) but I also miss having that wonderful, positive relationship with food, particularly with sharing food with friends and family. Shauna Niequist really inspired me!

Cozy Classics: War and Peace, by Jack Wang and Holman Wang (and Leo Tolstoy)

Cozy Classics: War and Peace

Authors: Jack and Holman Wang (and Leo Tolstoy)

Publisher: Simply Read Books

Publication Date: May 30, 2013

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soldier

Ahhh, War and Peace. The classic Russian novel about...um...war...and...something else. If you're a consummate book lover like I am, it's probably on your "to read" list...because, you know, it's a smart person book, right? But you'll probably never read it. I mean, it's over 1200 pages long! I got tired just reading the plot summary on SparkNotes. Luckily, there is finally a solution for the whole family. It's Cozy Classics: War and Peace!

girl

You may remember me gushing about these cozy classics in previous posts (here and here) because they're ridiculously adorable. Jack and Holman Wang create little felted characters (including, in this book, A FELTED HORSE! I'm dying) and photograph them to retell famous books in simple picture book form. Ahhhhhhh-dorable!

dance

The best thing about this one in particular is that I can actually follow a storyline. Soldier meets girl. Soldier's friend loves girl. Soldier goes off to war and gets hurt. Girl nurses him back to health but ultimately ends up with his friend. Also, there's a winter in there. 

horse

Is that actually the plot of War and Peace? I have no idea. Like I said, it's 1200 pages long. But the fact that Jack and Holman Wang could even attempt to distill it down to just a few words and pictures is pretty darn amazing. Also, there is a felted cannon with wool for smoke that nearly made me swoon, it was so cute.

Plus now I can say I "read" War and Peace. Yay!

Cozy Classics: Les Misérables, by Jack and Holman Wang (and Victor Hugo)

Cozy Classics: Victor Hugo's Les Misérables

Authors: Jack and Holman Wang (and Victor Hugo)

Publisher: Smith Publicity

Publication Date: May 30, 2013

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poor

I can't get enough of these Cozy Classics. I wish I knew how to make the adorable little felted dolls that Jack and Holman Wang use for the illustrations. I would play with them all day! Or, uh, I mean, I would give them to my daughter to play with. Yeah, that's it. 

sad

stroll

Les Misérables is one of my favourite classic novels, but I'm not sure I recognized the story just in the few pictures in this book. On the other hand, it's been a long time since I've read it so maybe I'm not remembering it all that well. Wasn't there prison and prostitution or something? Those aren't in the children's picture book version...obviously!

fire

I do love how the little felted dolls are so expressive, even though they just have thread for features. Check out how sad they look. Awwwww...