Author: cvegnad

December 10, 2018

Magical Picture Books Perfect for the Holiday Season from Raincoast Books

Books have a magical quality about them, they take you on adventures to far off places, they encourage you to do use your imagination and foster a love of learning and education. Each book is special in its own manner.

Every holiday season, I ensure that I pick two books each for my nephews and niece, along with my own boys. I try to find a book that will capture their interest and spark a flame. Two new titles from Raincoast Books will make a perfect gift under the tree this year, Ara the Star Engineer and Mary Poppins, as they inspire, excite and encourage.

Ara the Star Engineer is a great gift for young girls who want to explore the world of technology or perhaps a parent who wants to encourage their child to think big!

Ara is a young girl who loves BIG numbers. She wants to count all the stars in the sky… but how? This is an upbeat adventure of Ara and her sidekick droid, DeeDee (“Beep!”). They use smarts and grit to solve a BIG problem and discover an amazing algorithm. A quest that takes them through a whirlwind of intriguing locations at Innovation Plex – Data Centre, Ideas Lab, Coding Pods, and X-Space. Along the way, they encounter real-life women tech trailblazers of diverse backgrounds, including a Tenacious Troubleshooter, an Intrepid Innovator, a Code Commander, and a Prolific Problem Solver. They tinker-and-tailor, build-and-fail, launch-and-iterate, and in the end discover an amazing algorithm of success – coding, courage, creativity and collaboration.

This is an incredible, must read book for all young girls. It breaks my heart just a little on how this book was developed – she was inspired to write this book when her daughter stated that ‘engineers are boys’. Too often young girls are told either verbally or through visuals and media that they are not meant to participate in STEM or that this is a male dominated field. That flame is extinguished before it is even given a chance to spark. Girls should be encouraged to participate in STEM activities, books and classes. This book follows Ara, a young and inquisitive young girl, as she tours the Innovation Plex Data Centre in order to solve her own tech problem of counting the stars. She meets with four incredible women who show her how to solve her problem and these women help to inspire young girls who have an interest in those fields. It is so important to show young girls that other women have and are succeeding in this field and that they should always aim for the stars. No challenge is too big for any young girl (or child) when they put their mind to it. This is a definite must have book item for all young children and to be read over and over again.

You can find more about Ara the Star Engineer on the Raincoast Books website. You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and Chapters.

About the Author

Komal Singh is a techie by day and a storyteller mom by night , one who loves coding and cupcakes, data crunching and day dreaming, pottery making and program planning. She was inspired to write this book when a hypothesis put forth by her four year old daughter stunned her: ‘Engineers are Boys’.

Singh is passionate about using technology as an enabler and an equalizer for all. She takes part in kids’ coding clubs, sits on hackathon judge panels, and volunteers with nonprofits on technology development.

Komal grew up in India and studied Computer Science at Delhi University and later moved to Canada to complete her Masters’ degree in C.S from Simon Fraser University. She has worked as a software engineer with tech consulting firms and is currently an Engineering Program Manager at Google. Komal lives in Waterloo, Canada, with her husband and two kids.

Mary Poppins, the illustrated gift edition, is a full-color illustrated edition of the classic novel about the magical nanny who has delighted children and adults the world over for many years.

Experience the adventures of the magical nanny who inspired the classic film, stage show, and young imaginations around the world in a whole new way. This illustrated gift edition features silver foil on the cover and beautiful artwork by Julia Sarda that re-imagines Mary’s London in rich, full color. Ideal for the lifelong Mary Poppins fan or serious collector, this edition also makes for a lovely family read-aloud book.

I loved Mary Poppins as a child, it was by far one of my favourite movies of all time. She was such a special person and sparked your imagination. I am sure the minute you hear her name, you are transported to your childhood and can sing all of the songs all over again. I could not wait to get my hands on this book. It is such a treasure from its magical cover (honestly I kept running my hands all over it, it is so beautifully done) to each and every page – it can be both a collectors item and a soon to be cherished book for a child. I almost didn’t want to share it with my own kids, it felt so special!

I loved reading the stories out loud to my son, it was easy to follow along and even easier to make silly voices to keep him entertained. There was an excellent balance of images throughout the book to keep your child entertained visually (but the stories are so vivid, you could almost get away with none). This is honestly a truly special book that will make adults and children alike happy.

You can find out more about this book on the Raincoast Books website. You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and Chapters.

About the Author

P. L. Travers (1899-1996) was a drama critic, travel essayist, reviewer, lecturer, and the creator of Mary Poppins. Ms. Travers wrote several other books for adults and children, but it is for the character of Mary Poppins that she is best remembered.

About the Illustrator

Julia Sarda has illustrated everything from classic children’s books to concept art for merchandise and video games. She lives in Barcelona.

What do you look for in a book as a gift for a young child?

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned products in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

December 4, 2018

Good, Better, Best Wines Book Review

Love wine? Then get ready for the Good, Better, Best Wines book!

About Good, Better, Best Wines

While wine snobs are swirling and sniffing expensive wines that are tediously hard to find, the rest of us are just drinking wine. Popular wine. Big-brand wine. Big brands can spell terrific value, but you need to know which bottles to buy. That’s where Good Better Best Wines, 2e comes in. It’s small enough to pop in your pocket and take with you to the store. And it’s user-friendly enough to flip through on the fly.

This book ranks the best-selling wines in North America by grape variety and price point up to $15 (USD). And every bottle listed comes with a color photograph for quick and easy identification, so you can buy and run before getting stuck in a conversation with someone eager to share their vast wine knowledge with you! Of course, you’ll also get other important details, such as what ingredients created each wine, flavor and smell profiles, and alcohol content by volume–but in Carolyn’s relaxed, friendly tone.

My Thoughts

It wasn’t until I reached my late twenties that I began to appreciate a good glass of wine. I think my problem in the beginning was that I had no idea about the differences between the different types of wine and would just randomly choose a bottle based on price. This usually meant I grabbed a wine that tasted sour and was not easy to finish. Over the last years, I have learned to appreciate and develop a preference for specific brands and types of wine. I am in no way an expert but I do know what I like and what I don’t like (I like a sweet, smooth taste with not too strong of an alcohol taste).

This well written and witty guide is the perfect guide book for those who love their wine but by no means want to be an expert – they want to find a great bottle of wine at the right price point.

Carolyn breaks down everything you ever wanted to know about wine – from just the basics about prices, the battle of the cap to how to get the most out of a bottle (which fortunately we have never had to worry about as we always finish a bottle once it is opened!). She then dives right into the world of white, reds, rose and sparkling as well as bargain, dessert and party wines. The book is roughly 238 pages long and each two page section carries information on three types of wines. My mind was officially blown at the sheer volume of wine brands she shared! Some of them were familiar but some were new to me. She gives a great background on what each wine tastes and I love how visual her description is (you can almost taste it) as well as sharing pretty neat did you know facts and food pairing tips (although I could have used without the amount of calories in wine – just joking!).

Carolyn has done an incredible job with this guide – she gives you advice that you didn’t even know you needed to know, like how full to make the glass to ensure you can fully appreciate the taste and aroma of the wine and the perfect temperature to serve each wine at. She gives you such a great variety and different price points, I found a few wines in there that I have been hesitant to try but actually did after reading her work, I was not disappointed at all!

You can learn more about this book on DK Canada’s website and purchase a copy of this book here.

Rating: 4.5/5

About the Author

Carolyn Evans Hammond is a two-time bestselling wine book author, the wine columnist for the Toronto Star (syndicated), and a seasoned wine judge.

Over the past 15 years, she has appeared on CNN International, BON TV (China), GoingGlobalTV.com, Canada AM, and CITY-TV; she has been a guest on radio stations all over the United States; and she has written for top publications, including Decanter, Wine Spectator, Wine & Spirit International, The Times(London), Maclean’s, Quench, Taste magazine, and others.

Constantly learning, Carolyn spends much of her time tasting wine, judging wine, and meeting with winemakers to keep abreast of the industry. She’s a longstanding member of the Circle of Wine Writers, holds a diploma from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust in the UK, and earned a BA from York University, where she studied English and philosophy. She has lived in many cities in North America and Europe and now resides in Toronto, where she was born.

Her message is simple: Living well doesn’t have to be pricey or pretentious. It just takes a little know-how—and maybe a corkscrew.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

December 4, 2018

Spirit of the Fox Book Review

She’s lost her mother and her memory. And if she fails to escape – she’ll lose herself.

About Spirit of the Fox

Meiko Wright wants nothing to do with the mother who abandoned her nine years ago. Spending a year in Tokyo, where her mother lives, will not change that fact. But when she takes a nasty fall in a Shinto temple, she wakes with no memory of her mother or anything of her past life. Without any idea who she is, she must rely on the kindness of a local priest who offers to help her as best he can. When the amnesiac Meiko wakes with a strange suspicion that something isn’t right, she vows to escape from a bond she doesn’t truly understand.

After years apart, Meiko’s mother Chieko is determined to make up for lost time. But when her daughter mysteriously disappears, Chieko promises she won’t lose her again. Along the trail of clues, the detectives working Meiko’s case discover a pair of suicides linked by a strange seductress and matching fox tattoos. Afraid her daughter may be next, Chieko visits a local shaman who tells her dark spirits could make her attempt for a rescue impossible.

With time running out, Meiko and her family must uncover the mystery of her mental captivity before she loses herself and her only way home forever.

My Thoughts

Spirit of the Fox is an amazing, thrilling novel from start to finish – I never knew quite what to expect next in this story.

We have Meiko, one of our main characters in this story, who is the daughter of an anthropology professor who specializes in folklore and a psychologist. Her mother (the psychologist) left her at an early age to return to Japan after she divorced her father. Meiko was raised primarily by her father in America (or perhaps she raised him a bit) and she has turned into a responsible, organized, cultured young woman who wants to continue in her graduate studies but needs some time to reflect and figure out what that would look like. She travels to Japan with her father (who will be teaching there) and plans to use this time to reflect on her future, document her journey on her blog and perhaps re-build her relationship with her mother. This is when everything makes a turn in the novel.

This is when we are introduced to some of the folklore of the Japanese culture which sends Meiko down a destructive path that we hope her family can rescue her from. The fox plays an interesting role in Japanese culture with both a good fox and an evil fox that plays on men and can be manipulative and destructive. The fox will possess a woman (who is very attractive and has a manipulative personality) and she will spell the ruin of any man. Throughout the novel, we are shown how many times this woman, at no fault of her own, will be ostracized from the community and sometimes forced to leave her home. Her history will follow her everywhere and she is doomed to a life of hatred from other women and never belonging.

It is the symbol of the fox (controlled by one man) and Meiko’s family history that is the center of the story as we soon find out. Meiko is “captured” by a person using the history of the fox and branded with the fox tattoo. She takes on the persona of a controlling, manipulative woman who is out to financially ruin the men on her list. The death toll starts to rise and Meiko’s parents must work together despite their history in order to save their daughter and bring her back to them.

This was an amazing book from start to finish, it was refreshingly different and exciting. I loved how he intertwined the culture and beliefs into the story for some additional learning. Meiko and her captor keep you on your toes, right when you think she may be coming back – he pulls her back into his evil plot. You almost feel lost at the end, that she may never come back but you keep praying that her parents and Grandmother can solve the case. This is a definite must read novel.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

I’m not exactly sure when I decided to become a novelist, but I have always loved fiction. I read it slowly, a plodder in fact as I delve into the dialogue, the descriptions, the scene and setting. While my tastes are pretty eclectic, I am definitely drawn to books that push the limits of reality.

I recently sold the company, Select International, that I co-founded in 1993. We started the company in Guadalajara, Mexico where my wife Mari and I lived and worked for a little over two years with a wonderful group of employees. It was a phenomenal experience; we both learned not only to speak the language but also to embrace the Mexican culture and people.

In the past twenty years I’ve written over a hundred white papers, journal articles, book chapters and even a book, Hiring Great People. But writing technical papers is far removed from writing fiction. There are more constraints — the need to back up your text with results or references and the format is usually clearly outlined, and frankly, somewhat rigid. Fiction, though, is truly a blank page, which is both liberating and terrifying.

Almost ten years ago I got the idea for The Painter of Time, my debut novel. Then, of course, it was just a concept that needed a lot of fleshing out. It meant a lot of research on art history and art restoration, neither of which I had any formal training or experience. But I love doing research and learning new things so it was a natural fit. What I didn’t realize is how hard it is to actually write a good novel. There’s much more involved in the actual craft of writing that I ever expected.

I recently finished my second novel, Spirit of the Fox, which takes place in Japan. It is now available on Amazon!

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

December 3, 2018

Beat the Winter Chill with Family Games from Kroeger

The weather has definitely taken quite a cold turn, this morning it was a beautiful -20C, I didn’t even want to leave my house this morning it was that cold.

While the snow is beautiful and the holiday season is a special time for families to get together and enjoy each others company, sometimes it can become a bit routine and not so much fun for the youngest members in the house (and to be honest, when its super cold out even adults start to get a bit bored!).

Canadian games distributer, Kroeger, has a fantastic line up of unique and fun games that also help your child learn and grow. From Rubik’s cards to breakfast cereal to communication – you can find unique games that will suit every member of the household. Not only are the games fun but they improve your communication skills and working together as a family.

Monster Crunch is the breakfast game that encourages you to play with your food, where the ultimate goal is to see who can eat the most cereal. The perfect game for a home full of boys who love to play with their food and compete all the time on who can eat the most.

This game starts with every player choosing their character – Count Chocula, Franken Berry, Boo Berry, Fruit Brute and Fruity Yummy Mummy (are any of these sounding familiar yet?). Each of these monsters have their own special powers that can change the rules of the game. Each character also has matching cereal cards and a cereal bowl place card. The ultimate goal of the game is to eat as much of your cereal as possible and this has to be completed in three hands. To start your first hand, you draw twelve cereal cards without showing anyone your cards along with one milk token. The first player will play a card into their cereal bowl and the next player will now play a card of equal or higher value into their own cereal bowl or pass (each cereal card has a number on them). If you do have to pass, you are out for that round but you do get to take and keep a milk token. What are milk tokens? Milk tokens have their own special powers which allow you to combine cards in order to keep playing (bonus!). The hand ends when any player places their last card into their cereal bowl. Once all three hands have been played, you count the total number of cards in your pile – the player with the most cards wins!

This game was easy to follow, a child of six or seven could easily play this game with an older adult or child around to help them if they get stuck. This game was a lot of fun to play together, it was competitive and we were purposefully getting each other out in each hand but we also had a lot of good laughs together (usually at each others expense but it was fun all the same!).

Rubik’s Battle is a fast paced card game using the unique Rubik’s colours and square designs.

Our youngest was pretty excited to play this game as he has a fascination with the cube itself, which I am sure we can all admit to having despite how difficult it is to solve. This game at first was a bit hard to follow and I had to re-read the instructions several times to understand it myself and then to be able to explain it to my kids. The game is played by shuffling and dealing all of the cards in the pile out to every player. Players will at the same time flip over the top card and place it in the centre so everyone can see the cards. The first player to call out a colour based on their card criteria wins. The criteria is: a colour on their card that is not on any other card OR a colour on every card that is not on their card. They then collect those cards. The game is finished and won when one player has collected all of the Rubik’s battle cards.

This game did seem intimating at first but it is actually quite a bit of fun and really gets you thinking. I definitely suggest reading the instructions several time overs to the players and maybe start by using one of the criteria first until everyone gets comfortable with the rules of the game. Once you are more comfortable, the answers will be flying out of their mouths at lightning speed.

This battle of concentration and wit can be purchased at Toys R Us.

Cahoots is a bold, colourful card game where players have to work together in order to complete a series of goals (all without communicating what cards you have in your hands). Players MUST work together in order to win (which is opposite to what I originally thought this game would be)- making this a great family game. You can play with two to four players and the recommended age is 10 and up.

You start the game by first setting up the playing area. Each player receives four number cards left face down. Four number cards are placed face up in a row in the middle of the players card. The remaining cards are placed in a draw pile. The goal cards are shuffled and four are placed face up in a row in the middle. When it is your turn to play, you play one card from your hand onto one of the four number card piles (it must either be the same colour or number as the top of the pile). You are aiming to complete the goal cards (ex) three green piles, all odd numbers, etc…You are not allowed to tell each other what numbers or colours you have but you can use other cues like “I have a better card for that pile” or our favourite – “don’t play that pile!”.

I would definitely recommend following the age recommendations on this game (ten years and older) as some of the goals may be harder for younger children. It would be quite difficult to help a younger child out without breaking the rules of the game. That being said, it was an extremely fun game to play and we had to keep stopping ourselves from cheating by giving away the cards in our hands. It is fantastic family bonding game where you are encouraged to communicate and work together to achieve the final goal.

What is your favourite family game to play together that encourages communication and team building?

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned products in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

November 29, 2018

Up Your Child’s Fishing Game with the Rocket Fishing Rod

My husband loves to fish – I remember when I first met him, we would go to a different lake every weekend for him to fish with his friends. Fishing for him is a time to unwind, relax and reconnect with his surroundings.

When our boys came along, I am sure he worried that he wouldn’t be able to have this time anymore but just like their Dad – they LOVE to fish! Just don’t ask them to put a worm on the hook or take a fish off the line (in this they are more like me).

While fishing can be a lot of fun, it does require a bit of skill that can be difficult for novice fishers and those who just want to fish for recreation.

The hardest part I found for kids (and me too) is the casting. It can be difficult for children to accurately hold and cast a line out and you don’t want them so frustrated that they give up. Many of us look for a child friendly alternative that encourages them to learn the basic skills but is also easy and fun for them to use.

The Rocketing Fishing Rod replaces the standard fishing pole and can accurately cast a line up to twenty five feet. It has a safety bobber that keeps the hook enclosed until it hits the water which I am sure many parents have been terrified of their child getting hurt with the hook. When that component hits the water, it opens to drop the bait to the correct depth. Awesome, right?

Each Rocket Fishing Rod contains:

Rocket Fishing Rod
1 Safety bobber
2 hooks
150 feet of 8-pound Test Fishing Line
2 line stops
1 weight

The rod itself is quite light and fits easily into the palm of your child’s hand. While lightweight, the rod itself is definitely sturdy enough for fishing for your child – so no need to worry about it breaking on you. Our son found it easy to pull back and “load” the rod (very similar to many of his toy shooting guns) and then release the bobber. It takes away all of the stress and frustration of casting because lets face it, that is one of the hardest aspects of fishing for children (and this Mom too!).

The best feature is how safe the rod is – your child will not come in contact with the hook. The hook is safely housed within the bobber and is released only once casted into the water. You do not have to worry that they will get cut or that curious minds may try to play with the hook.

Check out this video of the Rocket Fishing Rod in action:

The Rocket Fishing Rod is one of the safest and child friendly fishing rods I have ever seen. It takes away the frustration, confusion and makes fishing fun for young children.

Do you have an avid fisher in the making in your house or maybe you want to bond over fishing with your young child – then head over to Amazon today to purchase one (it would make a great gift for the holiday season!).

Learn more about the Rocket Fishing Rod on the Goliath website here. Make sure to follow Goliath on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with the newest products, toys and more.

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned products in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.