HARRY POTTER: FANTASTIC BEASTS & WHERE TO FIND THEM by J.K. Rowling

FANTASTIC BEASTS & WHERE TO FIND THEM

NEWT SCAMANDER

by

J.K. Rowling

Released by Bloomsbury Publishing Pic, 2009
Paperback, 123 pages
Genre: Fantasy, young adult fiction, children's books, magic
Add it on Goodreads

Buy it on Amazon


A copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them resides on almost every wizarding household in the country. Now, for a limited period only, Muggles too have the chance to discover where the Quintaped lives, what the Puffskein eats, and why it is best not to leave milk out for a Knarl.
Proceeds from the sale of this book will go to improving and saving the lives of children around the world, which means that the dollars and Galleons you exchange for it will do magic beyond the powers of any wizard. If you feel that this is insufficient reason to part with your money, I can only hope most sincerely that passing wizards feel more charitable if they ever see you being attacked by a Manticore."
-Albus Dumbledore

Back in September, Warner Bros. announced a partnership with J.K. Rowling for the creation of a new movie franchise based on Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them. The spin-off series, inspired to the fictitious  textbook, will be set in New York 70 years before Harry Potter heads to Hogwarts, so Harry and his friends won't appear at all in the movies. How hard is it going to be to sell this new franchise (inclusive of video games and merchandise) without the familiar faces we all have come to love over the years? Good news is that the new movie series will mark J.K. Rowling's debut as a screenplay writer.

  

As J. K. Rowling declard to the press, "Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for seventeen years, ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world. The laws and customs of the hidden magical society will be familiar to anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films, but Newt’s story will start in New York, seventy years before Harry’s gets underway."

I am wondering how Harry Potter's die-hard-fans welcomed the news.

                                                                

Comics Relief: Reading With Pictures

Founded in 2009 by journalist, cartoonist, and award-winning graphic novelist Josh Elder, Reading With Pictures is a literacy advocacy group with an upbeat mission: revolutionize the role of comics in education in order to promote literacy and improve the educational outcome of all students.

Josh Elder and his board members (all drawn from the publishing and academic world) firmly believe that children will learn more effectively with the use of comics rather than traditional classroom materials: as researchers from the University of Illinois claim, tales of superheroes can enrich our kids' vocabulary, inform, and educate as much as more 'sophisticated' text-books do, while instilling a love of reading in children who normally struggle in school. Reading is more than absorbing a text: the combination of pictures and words is more complex and stimulating than skeptical parents and teachers tend to believe.  

Conducting ground-breaking academic researches on the role of comics in education, and collaborating with the most talented cartoonists to produce school material of the highest quality, Elder's non-profit organization aims to partner with educators across the country and integrate comics in their curricula. With the help of more than sixty active volunteers, Reading With Pictures reaches out to educators, parents, writers, cartoonists and publishers with an articulate and ambitious plan:

• Partnering with Northwestern University and other academic institutions to oversee the largest and most comprehensive research study in U.S. history on the role of comics in education
• Building an interactive database of research papers, lesson plans and comic-centric curriculum
• Providing educational consultation services to schools and publishers
• Working with cartoonists to produce top-quality educational comics
• Helping universities design courses in the burgeoning field of Comics Studies
• Creating a Speakers Bureau to get cartoonists into schools and libraries
• Aggregating graphic novel reviews from various accredited sources and generating recommended reading lists for every age group and subject matter

Josh Elder is very active on the charity front as well. When last year the community of Sandy Hooks was hit by an unimaginable tragedy, Reading With Pictures stepped up to the plate with an emergency comic book drive. Over 500 unique donations were coordinated by Elder's organization on that occasion and this year The Reading With Pictures Network will be joining in the national movement #GivingTuesday for a holiday comic book drive. On December 3rd, Elder's organization will start accepting donations for the Comer Children's Hospital in Chicago, IL: new and gently used comic books, family friendly and all ages appropriate, are only part of a long list of needs that Reading With Pictures will try to meet. Please visit the organization website for further details or mail your donation to:

Reading With Pictures
4448 N. Beacon, Unit 2
Chicago, IL 60640

THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusak: Movie vs. Book

Book remakes seem to be the order of the day and it's once again a work of fiction in the young adult genre to get Hollywood's creative juices flowing. After the most anticipated and disappointing 50 Shades casting campaign, the spotlight finally shifts from the erotic trilogy's drama and fans petitions to the box office performance of The Book Thief, the heart-grabbing adaptation of Markus Zusak's New York Times best-selling novel published in 2005.

Sifting through the complexity of plot points, character building, historical and social issues, without losing the consistency, credibility, and momentum that a magical sequence of words can create in the space of 552 pages, is the biggest challenge movie producers have to face when working with novels. Translating the intensity of Zusak's writing into a sequence of images equally vivid and emotionally brilliant for a two-hour movie, a task hard to perform. 

 

20 Century Fox certainly didn't fail in putting together a dream team of talented actors and directors. British film director Brian Percival has quite a resume in the category of small screen dramas (Pleasureland, North & South, ShakespeaRe-Told, The Old Curiosity Shop, Downton Abbey); Australian screenplay writer Michael Petroni is the man behind the script of The Chronicles Of Narnia (The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader); American composer John Williams is the greatest film composer of all time, author of the most popular and recognizable music scores (Jaws, Star Wars, Superman, Indiana Jones, E.T., Home Alone, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Harry Potter, Saving Private Ryan, and I could go on forever here). An ensemble of high-caliber actors, theater veterans (Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, Roger Allam), and captivating new faces (Sophie Nelisse, Nico Liersch, and Ben Schnetzer) are the ticket to some memorable and solid perfomances.

The movie tells the story of a young and illiterate 'bibliophile', Liesel Meminger, during the time of the Nazi censorship and propaganda. Family tragedies (a Communist mother on the run and the loss of her brother) force the adolescent and book-obsessed Liesel (Sophie Nelisse) to live in foster care, but while she finds warmth and acceptance in her adoptive parents (Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson) and in a 'literary' friendship with a Jewish refugee (Ben Schnetzer) her foster family shelters in the basement, she will be confronted with the tragic reality of life under an oppressive regime.

All major media outlets have so far expressed mixed feelings about the movie adaptation of Zusak's masterpiece. "The Book Thief struggles under the tall order" (USA Today), despite "its moments of brilliance" (The Washington Post). If you have read the book and you're about to watch the movie, you may find Percival's adaptation to be too simplified compared to the intricate thematic structure of the novel. The movie doesn't fail in preserving the core ideas of the book, though: an effective representation of life under the Nazi regime through the eyes of a gentile and modest family in 1939 small-town Germany, the innate strength and resiliency of the main character, the unlikely but solid bonds human beings create under the extraordinary circumstances of a looming war. Those "moments of brilliance" are worth the price of a movie ticket.

"He was the crazy one who had painted himself black and defeated the world. 

She was the book thief  without the words.

Trust me, though, the words were on their way, and when they arrived, Liesel would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them like the rain."

***Photo credit: 20 Century Fox

"BROKEN" Blog Tour: Interview With Author CJ Lyons

BROKEN Blog Tour

"For Scarlet Jillian, every day is a game of Russian roulette - she has a 1 in 5 chance of dying..."

Interview With Author CJ Lyons

Today I am super-excited to have New York Times bestselling author CJ Lyons here on Mina's Bookshelf! CJ is the author of a fast-paced YA thriller, BROKEN (published by Sourcebooks Fire on November 5th) and she has graciously agreed to answer a few questions about her book. Stay tuned on Mina's Bookshelf for my 5 star review. Coming up in a bit!

Q. Welcome to my book den, CJ. Please, tell us something about the genesis of your new thriller BROKEN. What is the story behind the story, the inspiration for the plot and the protagonist of the book?

A. Scarlet’s character is loosely based on my own experiences as a pediatrician. I diagnosed my niece, Abby, with the same congenital heart condition, Long QT, when Abby was only twenty minutes old and BROKEN is dedicated to her.

Watching my niece refuse to allow her disease to define her was such a contrast to some other patients’ parents who would insist on making their child’s disease (most not life-threatening) the center of the child’s world that I couldn’t help but wonder what would it be like to grow up being treated as a “patient” all your life, or worse as the “dying girl,” rather than ever having the chance to figure out who you really were, dying or not.

What better disease to give a character like that than something rare and hard to diagnose and treat like Long QT? Of course, Scarlet is nothing at all like my niece (the best adjective to describe my niece would be “fierce” whereas Scarlet is very naïve and used to being controlled by the adults in her life) but by having Scarlet start the story as someone unsure of who she really is as a person, it makes her struggle and transformation as she faces the truth behind her illness all the more powerful.

After all, it’s easy for someone strong to stand up to bullies or uncertainty or injustice…but how does a kid who has lived all her life in a hospital, basically just waiting to die, learn how to be a hero and find her destiny?

Q. Is your professional background the reason why you started to write or becoming an author has always been in your bucket list?

A. Actually I was a storyteller and writer long before I even dreamed of becoming a doctor. I wrote my first novel in high school and two more SF/F novels in med school. But I never seriously considered writing as a career until I made my first sale to a publisher. Then when I realized I had a chance to make a new dream come true, I took the leap of faith and left medicine to write full time. It was scary (terrifying, actually!) but so far, so good!

Thank you, CJ! BROKEN was my first CJ Lyons’ book and what a pleasant experience :)

*****

About CJ Lyons

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of twenty-one novels, former pediatric ER doctor CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about in her cutting edge Thrillers with Heart. 

Winner of the International Thriller Writers’ coveted Thriller Award, CJ has been called a "master within the genre" (Pittsburgh Magazine) and her work has been praised as "breathtakingly fast-paced" and "riveting" (Publishers Weekly) with "characters with beating hearts and three dimensions" (Newsday).

Learn more about CJ's Thrillers with Heart at www.CJLyons.net

*****

 About BROKEN

Sourcebooks Fire, November 5  2013

 Hardcover, 336 pages

Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller 
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Add it on Goodreads

Buy it on Amazon

 

New York Times bestselling author CJ Lyons makes her YA debut with a fast-paced thriller sure to keep readers guessing to the very last page

The only thing fifteen-year-old Scarlet Killian has ever wanted is a chance at a normal life. Diagnosed with a rare and untreatable heart condition, she has never taken the school bus. Or giggled with friends during lunch. Or spied on a crush out of the corner of her eye. So when her parents offer her three days to prove she can survive high school, Scarlet knows her time is now... or never. Scarlet can feel her heart beating out of control with every slammed locker and every sideways glance in the hallway. But this high school is far from normal. And finding out the truth might just kill Scarlet before her heart does.

                                                                             

Stay tuned on Mina's Bookshelf for a review. Coming up in a bit!

                                                                      

CEDAR HOLLOW by Tracey Smith:Cover Reveal & Free Kindle Promo

CEDAR HOLLOW

by

TRACEY SMITH 

ebook, 273 pages
Romantic Suspense Novel

Add it on Goodreads

Buy it on Amazon

FREE DOWNLOAD starting from Friday NOV. 15!!!

About the book

Cassidy St. Claire still wasn't sure what she'd been hoping to find when she began the search for her birth parents, but all she’d uncovered was a bunch of death certificates and one ailing great-uncle who’d finally kicked the bucket last week. Since Cassidy is the last surviving member of the family that means his estate, a small seaside bed and breakfast in New Hampshire, has been left to her. An odd stipulation in his Will requires that she appear in person to inherit the property. Cassidy isn't very hopeful that this weekend trip will lead to anything more than a momentary distraction from her busy life, and an excuse to take her convertible for a long drive up the coast.
She certainly isn't prepared for Mr. Tall Handsome and Brooding; Ben Riley has been running the bed and breakfast for the last several years, and he is definitely less than welcoming. His instant dislike for her is staggering, but his penetrating green eyes burn with a dangerous mixture of hostility and attraction.
Within days of her arrival an attempt is made on her life and then another. Suddenly Cassidy finds herself trying to unravel the mysteries of the past, while outrunning the dangers of the present and finally turning to the strong, protective arms of Ben Riley and a future she'd never imagined. Click here for your free download