BOX OF BOOKS SERIES

by

L. Z. Marie

Guest Author

One box? One? Oh, the agony! There’s no weight limit for this Box of Books, right? Because while compiling the list I realize my selections are weighty tomes!

My choices clearly reflect my love of learning, metaphysics, art, history, the classics, and the exotic.  Hope this Box is sturdy!

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin: Darcy and Elizabeth…their story never gets old! “I’m all astonishment!”

2.  The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George: A delicious saga of love, lust, power, and ancient Egypt.

3. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray: Fun-fun-fun! A Regency era  Desperate Housewives. And good for a cry too.

4. Bible: King James Version

5. The Zohar: This is the guide to ancient Jewish mysticism, aka Kabbalah.

6. The Story of Art by E.H. Gombrich: Better than visiting an Art Museum.

7. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon: History! Yummy!

8. The Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence: A sweeping romantic war story about Lawrence of Arabia.

9. The Complete works of Shakespeare: Well, I do have a degree in English literature so not including The Bard is a literary sin!

10: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: One of my faves. Gothic creepy at it’s finest.

11:  The Clothing of the Renaissance World by Ann Rosalind Jones and Margaret F. Rosenthal: Both the detailed descriptions and exceptional woodcut prints in this 500-page text appeal to my fashionista side. Folks knew how to dress back then! (Well, at least the nobility.)

12. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie: I recommend this book to my students. I tell them to memorize it if they want to rule the world. Mwahaha!

13. Gardners’ Art Through the Ages by Richard G. Tansey and Fred S. Kleiner: With extensive commentary and beautiful photos it’s a  visual and educational feast.

14 & 15:  The Far Pavilions volumes 1 & 2 by M.M. Kaye: A tale of love, war, maharajas, the Himalayas, and India.

Now, all I need is Box of TIME to read and reread all these treasured volumes!

To learn more about L.Z. Marie,  visit her on her blog site, http://lzmarieauthor.com/ .  The blog is full of articles for fledging writers, helps for teachers of literature, insights for students, and overviews of her current and upcoming novels.

Shade Tree Book Reviews and Blog accepts submissions by Authors, and viewers for the Box of Books Series.  What fifteen books could you not live without, if you could only have fifteen books?  Why?  We would love to hear from you. 

Karen

Shadetreeblogging@gmail.com

Little Blue Truck

Lttle Blue Truck Fan Club

Little Blue Truck

By

by Alice Schertle, Jill McElmurry

I know that I don’t normally do reviews on children’s books, but this Christmas I came across a book that has taken our house by storm.  Little Blue Truck is a story about a friendly little blue pick up truck and a big yellow dump truck, along with a few barnyard animals.  None of the characters are really big on long speeches and even big on words.  Each of the animals know what they say, the little blue truck says “Beep”, and the big Dump says “HONK”.  But what is most important is that they have a lot to say about how to treat other people in kindness, through action.

As an adult, I can talk all day about a children’s book, but I had two young readers at Christmas that provided me with a review that I could not have otherwise imagined.

Reader One – Dakota, age two.

When I first found this book, I bought it for my young nephew who I had never met. He is a shy two year old and a man of very few words.  After reading through the book, I loved the story and loved the bright illustrations that filled the pages with life that a pre-schooler can comprehend.  The day I introduced Dakota to Little Blue Truck, his doe eyes widen with the reading of the first page.  The normally silent young man immediately started to repeat the sounds that Little Blue made and turned to his dad saying “Azul, Azul”, pointing at the truck.  (Oh yes, even though he is the silent type, he is also bi-lingual.) His dad looked over Dakota’s head with tears in his eyes.  It was Dakota who later pointed out to us that it was raining on the page when he kept pointing at the page and saying “agua.”  By the end of the day, we had managed to read through Little Blue Truck four or five times, with all the sound effects and with much giggling.  He had a new friend and a new aunt, both were wonderful things in my eyes.

Reader Two – William, age fourteen months.

After the wonderful experience with Dakota, I decided to buy Little Blue Truck, again, for our young grandson for Christmas.  Christmas morning the living room was all awash with paper, ribbon, boxes and toys.  When the box with Little Blue Truck was opened, William happened to be sitting in my lap, “JOY”.  I immediately opened the book to show it to him while waiting for his next gift.  Once again, the eyes opened wide with the opening lines and sounds of the first page.  “little blue truck goes BEEP.”  He looked at me, smiled and said “Bip”.  I knew he was hooked.  He sat mesmerized all the way through the book.  When I got to the page where the big dump truck came through with a “HONK!!!”  He laughed, and tried his best to honk, and made me repeat it several times.  He loves his dump truck.  All the way to the end of the book, he followed Blue and Dump, then flipped the book back to the beginning. 

More presents came along, but he kept coming back to Little Blue Truck.  

by Alic Shertle and Jill McElmurry
Now weeks later, Little Blue Truck still comes out several times a day to be read.  It has become his favorite book. 

Kevin, William’s four year old brother loves the book almost as much as his younger brother.  I ran across a floor sized copy of the book and got it for Kevin, who loves the book very much and enjoys the huge pages.

I would recommend this book for any person wishing to entice their young toddler with a book.  The focus is on sounds, but has a wonderful, simple story of kindness and taking care of your friends.  The language is straight forward and is not lost on the young reader.

Our entire family awards this book SEVEN stars out of FIVE stars.