Book Review - What Chef's Feed Their Kids -Fanae Aaron

Title:  WhatChefs Feed Their Kids

Author: Fanae Aaron

Review:  What a great book for parents to have as a resource.  Picky eaters make dinner time difficult on the best days and here is a book that will help put your mind to rest.  How do other families kids eat?  How do I get my kids to just try new things?  Why do we have to always eat ‘Kid food’?  Well pick up this book and learn what has worked for those actually in the food industry.

From birth to teens this book will give you ideas, recipes, experiences, answers to problems you may have with your child’s eating.  How much is too much?  How much is too little?  I have been blessed with kids that eat pretty much anything.  We started them out young eating what we ate…no baby food…gross would you even eat it?  I loved the order of this book and how it started out with the youngest eaters and then progressed.  Great personal experiences and I have even tried a few recipes and they are good and the kids ate them!

This book would make a wonderful baby gift to new parents or a Christmas gift to a hard to buy for family.  My only complaint is the size of the photos of the food.  I like full-page photos in my recipe books, and even some of the prep-work.   Otherwise this is a terrific book for all parents out there.  Who wants picky eaters anyway?  I sure don’t, it makes meal time a fight.  I’d rather have a experience we all can enjoy.

Publisher: Published November 8th 2011 by LyonsPress

ISBN: 9780762760954

Copyright: 2011

Pages: 224

Quick Review: 4 1/2 stars (out of 5)

Why I Read It:  Sent by the publisher for review.

Synopsis: How do the people who know the most about food tackle the special challenges of cooking for children’s palates? How do they get their children to join them at the dinner table when most kids would rather play under the tablecloth? Why do some kids love to eat broccoli, sushi, or pesto while others insist on chicken nuggets every night?

The book’s first-class lineup includes: Eric Bromberg, Marc Murphy, Zack Gross, Ana Sortun, Piero Selvaggio, and Floyd Cardoz. These chefs stimulate their kids’ curiosity about new foods by engaging them in the process without coercing them, and they share their tips and stories, which provide an intimate glimpse into the chefs’ family lives. Chefs’ strategies include allowing their kids to help prepare meals, taking them to farmers’ markets, and giving them choices with healthy family style meals. What Chefs Feed Their Kids also features seventy-five flavorful recipes—such as Kale and Scrambed Eggs, Baby Lamb Chops, Nori Chips, and Risotto with Pumpkin, Ginger, and Sage—from a variety of cuisines.

Author Biography:  A lifelong foodie and a first-time mother, Fanae Aaron had lots of questions about how to teach her son to enjoy a variety of fresh, whole foods. So she sought out a diverse group of twenty award-winning chefs who are also parents to write What Chefs Feed Their Kids.

Other Reviews:

NY Times

Super Chef

Eat with Joy

Monday in my Mailbox

What did you spend your time reading this week?  Here is what we will be reading soon.  All sent for review.
When the police do nothing to solve the murders of three prostitutes knifed to 
death in 1866 Sicily, a struggling widow unmasks the killer, but not before uncovering burdensome truths of her own.

It is six years after Unification and Sicily is in chaos. Bandits rule the hills. Waves of cholera kill thousands. The mafia begins its reign of organized terror, raping a population squeezed by conscription, crippling taxes, and corrupt officials.

At a high-class house near Palermo, three prostitutes have been knifed to death, their foreheads slashed with a strange mark, their bodies dumped on the madam’s doorstep. When the chief inspector does little to solve the case, the madam summons her lifelong friend and asks her to catch the killer.

A forty-something midwife with seven children and diminishing funds, Serafina decides she must help her friend. She plunges into the investigation, gathering evidence, following leads. She meets with relatives and friends of the deceased and discovers a thread common to all three victims.

But when a fourth victim is strangled, Serafina’s hopes for a quick resolution are dashed. Her emotional low is short-lived, however. In a defiant meeting with the don, she makes an important discovery. Convinced of the murderer’s identity, she conceives a daring plan and, with the help of her daughter, unmasks the killer.

Iranian terrorists plant a bomb in Paris, nearly killing millions, and one man must track them down before they strike again. CIA agent Grey Stark is back from two decades of retirement, searching for an elusive bomb that could level a city in seconds. As NATO amasses troops at Iran's border, Stark races across France with his ex-wife, digging through his own dark past in a desperate attempt to defuse the war. Hunted by a world-class gunman, a playboy terrorist, and half the world's intelligence agencies, he realizes that even his own boss will stop at nothing to protect the secrets of The Deadfall Project..
A sweeping and suspenseful tale of secrets, intrigue, and lovers separated by time, all connected through the mystical qualities of a perfume created in the days of Cleopatra—and lost for 2,000 years. 

Jac L’Etoile has always been haunted by the past, her memories infused with the exotic scents that she grew up surrounded by as the heir to a storied French perfume company. In order to flee the pain of those remembrances—and of her mother’s suicide—she moves to America, leaving the company in the hands of her brother Robbie. But when Robbie hints at an earth-shattering discovery in the family archives and then suddenly goes missing—leaving a dead body in his wake—Jac is plunged into a world she thought she’d left behind. 

Back in Paris to investigate her brother’s disappearance, Jac discovers a secret the House of L’Etoile has been hiding since 1799: a scent that unlocks the mysteries of reincarnation. The Book of Lost Fragrances fuses history, passion, and suspense, moving from Cleopatra’s Egypt and the terrors of revolutionary France to Tibet’s battle with China and the glamour of modern-day Paris. Jac’s quest for the ancient perfume someone is willing to kill for becomes the key to understanding her own troubled past.the ancient perfume someone is willing to kill for becomes the key to understanding her own troubled past.

The long awaited fifth installment in the New York Times bestselling, Edgar- and Macavity-nominated series about an eccentric sleuthing family. 

For the first time in Spellman history, Isabel Spellman, PI, might be the most normal member of her family. As always, the Spellman clan has yet to settle into any kind of status quo. Mom, Olivia, has taken on an outrageous assortment of extracurricular activities, seemingly without motive. Dad, Albert, has a secret. Her brother and sister, David and Rae, are at war, but neither will reveal the source of the conflict. And Izzy's niece, Sydney, keeps saying banana even though she hates bananas. That's not to say that Izzy isn't without her own troubles. Henry Stone keeps wanting "to talk," a prospect Isabel evades by going out with her new drinking buddy, none other than Gertrude Stone, Henry's mother. While domestic disturbances abound, there is one source of sanity in the Spellman household: Demetrius Merriweather, now employee of the month for 18 months straight (the entire tenure of his employment). 

Things aren't any simpler on the business side of Spellman Investigations. First, parents hire the firm to follow their daughter. Rae is assigned the case, only to fake the surveillance reports. Then a math professor hires Izzy to watch his immaculate apartment while he unravels like a bad formula. A socialite has Isabel follow her husband, despite a conspicuous lack of suspicion. A man in a sweater vest hires the firm to follow his sister, who turns out to be the socialite. Isabel wants to get to the bottom of all this, but her father erects a Chinese wall to protect the clients' wishes. As the questions pile up, Izzy won't stop hunting for the answers-even when they threaten to shatter both the business and the family. 

Once again, it's up to her to pull the Spellmans back from the brink.
From the author of "8: The Previously Untold Story of the Previously Unknown 8th Dwarf" comes an original fairy tale about a teenage princess who hires the witch from "The Frog Prince" to get revenge on a Mean Girl at school. (Intended for YA readers and up.)
Malcolm Gladwell's favorite food inventor offers a guide to the senses with advice on how to develop one's palate and to better enjoy the pleasures of eating. In "Taste What You're Missing," Stuckey shares her professional knowledge in an engaging style that's one part Mary Roach, two parts Oliver Sacks, and a dash of Anthony Bourdain for spice.

Book Review - Now You See Her - Joy Fielding

Title:  Now You See Her

Author: Joy Fielding

Review: Sometimes people are out to get you.  

When you blend a little bit of familial mental illness, the grief of losing a child, and the stress/depression of a divorce; let it bake in a foreign country, you end up with a potent mix of paranoia and self doubt.  Fielding adds these ingredients a little at a time and gradually ratchets up the tension in her heroine Marcy Taggert, to where something has got to give.

If you have a child disappear you would never be able to let go of the suspicion they are still out there waiting to be found.  Much like real life cases of kidnapping (Smart, Dugard) you would always feel like a failure as a parent if you gave up too soon.  To just accept they are gone would mark you as a failure in your heart, regardless what the world tells you.  An impossible position to be in.

Marcy Taggert is taking her second honeymoon sans spouse, as he has left her for the younger golf instructor, and is touring Ireland.  Then just sitting at a bar enjoying a pint she sees through the window, into the crowd, her missing daughter of three years walk by.  After recovering from the shock she gives chase only to lose her.

What would you do?  Much like Marcy you would probably drop everything to find her again, to confirm she is still alive.  But it isn’t the first time she has “seen” her, plus her ex-husband tells her she is crazy and needs to move on, her sister agrees, and so do the local police.  Plus mental illness does run in her family; maybe she is crazy and only having wishful sightings.

Fielding expertly blends all these elements to give us a portrayal of a mentally exhausted mother desperate to hang onto her sanity.  Underlying the story is a plea to her readers, grab hold of those you love and let them know now.  It can always be too late before you are ready.  Good advice to us all.


Thanks goes to T Stevens for this review.

Publisher: Atria Books

Copyright: 2011

Pages: 357

ISBN: 978-1-416-58531-2

Quick Review: 3.5 Stars out of 5.

Why I Read it: I was looking for a book on tape (actually book on self contained digital device) that I could listen to as I walk the dog.  I chose this because it was a new mystery that wasn’t part of a series.

Where I Obtained the Book: At my local library.

Synopsis: Fifty-year-old Marcy Taggart’s life is in shambles. Two years ago, her twenty-one-year-old daughter, Devon, perished in a canoeing accident. Her body was never found in the icy waters of Georgian Bay, and as a result Marcy has never fully accepted her death. She continues to see the young woman’s face in crowds and has even stopped strangers on the street, certain she has finally discovered her long lost daughter.

Now in Ireland, on what was originally intended to be a celebration of her twenty-fifth wedding anniversary — if, that is, her husband had not left her for another woman — Marcy yet again thinks she sees her daughter, casually strolling past her on the sidewalk. So begins Marcy’s desperate search to find Devon, to find herself, and to find the disturbing truth that might, in the end, be her only salvation.

Now You See Her vividly displays Fielding’s rare talent for creating the kind of tension, suspense, and compelling heroines readers crave. Riveting from start to finish, it’s one fans won’t want to miss.

Author Biography: Author and actress Joy Fielding was born in Canada in 1945. She received a BA in English literature from the University of Toronto in 1966. While a student, she focused on acting and was one of four stars in a student movie, Winter Kept Us Warm. After graduation, she moved to Los Angeles and appeared on Gunsmoke. Her first book, The Best of Friends, was published without an agent. She has written numerous novels since then including Don't Cry Now, The Deep End, The Other Woman, Missing Pieces and Now You See Her. The Periodical Distributors of Canada named her book, Kiss Mommy Goodbye, Book of the Year for 1982. She has contributed book reviews to the Toronto Globe and Mail, CBC's The Radio Show, and CBC-TV's The Journal's Friday Night. Her books, See Jane Run and Tell Me No Secrets, have been adapted into films. (Bowker Author Biography)

Other Reviews:

The Secret Insights ofmy Bookshelf

You’re History!

A Bookworm’s World

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Book Review - Grand Master Little Master - Patricia Merker

               

Title:  GrandMaster Little Master Series

Author: Patricia Merker with Lauren Wilhelm (illustrator)

Review:  David and I have five children and I can tell you it is a zoo at our home most days.  Everyone has their own agenda including the two of us and wow life is crazy.  Teaching values and how to be a good person is a full-time job and yet sometimes it gets lost with all the other things the kids need to learn and do.  This series is a nice reminder of what is truly important for kids to learn.  Compassion for others, what comes around goes around, love and why they are here on this Earth to begin with.

The series in not overly religious, the name God is never mentioned at all.   Grand Master is the one that is in all of us, the one that helps us determine right from wrong and the one who helps us determine who we are in the scope of this world.  Grand Master wants us to succeed and share what we learn with others.  Kids need a foundation in which to learn and grow, they need to know someone cares for them.  Grand Master can give them a feeling of control and of love.  Who doesn’t need to be loved?  Well I sure do!  This series of three books so far is well worth your time and your children’s time.

My 9 year old son read the books to me and we both really enjoyed the last one the best.  Love is something we all want and need.  Some people just don’t get enough and even don’t love themselves.  After reading the book we had a quick discussion about a boy at school who was a bully, my son put together that maybe he didn’t love himself enough to be kind to others.  Bingo!  One read through and he got it…he understood something that took me years to get.

This series is fast to read and interactive if you want it to be.  Kids learn and you learn to be a better parent and a better person.  We are passing these books on to others so they can also learn what we have.  Give this series a try…what do you have to lose?

Publisher: Published 2011 by Pick-A-Woo WooPublishers

ISBN: 9780980652048, 9780980652079, 9781921883095

Copyright: 2011

Pages: each is between 20 and 35 pages.

Quick Review: 4 stars (out of 5) for the series I would give the last book, Love Has Many Faces a solid 5.

Why I Read It:  Sent by the author for review.

Synopsis: The Karate Tournament is the first book and the foundation for all subsequent books in The Grand Master/Little Master series. This book is your child's introduction to Grand Master and his/her invitation to go on a life-changing adventure When eight-year-old Haley's mother asks her if she would like to play a game on the morning of her karate tournament, she is somewhat reluctant, given all the butterflies in her stomach Not quite able to resist the temptation, however, she agrees. Grand Master (who makes His/Her presence known through mom in this first story) tells Haley that she has been chosen to be a Little Master-in-training and there is much to do. What follows is a heartwarming story of a little girl who learns the importance and magic of Cause and Effect; what goes around, comes around. "What you put out in the world comes back, Little Master; cause love, cause kindness, cause forgiveness. Try not to cause sadness or anger. This too, must come back." This is the story of Haley, and how she turns a very scary and nervous situation into a joyous occasion by her conscious use of Law.

Sink Or Swim is the second book in The Grand Master/Little Master series and addresses the topic of fear. It is highly recommended that you begin this series with The Karate Tournament, which is the foundation for all subsequent books in the series, and allows your child to meet Grand Master and be chosen to be a "little master-in-training." It is not necessary to follow in order after book one.Whatever your child may be afraid of: the dark, heights, monsters in the closet, or flying, etc., they will relate to Haley's crippling fear of the water, and what it costs her to hang on to the fear. This book gives your child an opportunity to observe their fear differently. Both adults and children will find themselves asking the question "Is this fear something that I have, or does this fear have me?Included with this story are three letters from Grand Master to your child, with weekly lessons to inspire thought, conversation, and action.

Love Has Many Faces is the third book in The Grand Master/Little Master series and addresses the" less than loving" people in our life. It is highly recommended that you begin this series with The Karate Tournament, which is the foundation for all subsequent books in this series, and allows your child to meet Grand Master and be chosen to be a "little master-in-training." It is not necessary to follow in order after book one.Jordan is anxious to start first grade and can't wait to meet his new teacher You can imagine his dismay when he realizes that he is to spend an entire school year with a crotchety teacher that is not very nice to the class, and especially seems to not like him. Read this heart-warming story of a young boy who follows Grand Master's advice, and looks deeper than the surface to find an expression of love.Included with this story are three letters from Grand Master to your child with weekly lessons to inspire thought, conversation, and action.

Author Biography:  Patricia Merker is a wife and the mother of two great kids, Haley and Jordan, who inspired her to write The Grand Master/Little Master series.  She was disillusioned with the lack of spiritual, New Age material available for children.  There was no shortage of parenting books, but little for children, on an interactive level, that was stimulating enough to hold a child’s attention.   Her wonderful family and supportive friends told her that the parents and children of the world needed to meet Grand Master; that the world would be a better place.

Patricia was born on November 20, 1956 in Columbus, OH.  She graduated from Ontario High School and went directly into retail sales, then retail management.  She served on the Board of Directors for a new charter school, Love of Learning, in Largo, FL.  Additionally, she was the Children’s Program Director at The Center for Conscious Living in Largo, FL. She wishes that she could boast some impressive educational credentials, but the truth is, she has never written anything other than an occasional note for an excused absence for one of her children from school.  It is precisely because of this, that she feels she was an instrument; a messenger of sorts; to introduce parents and children of the world to The Grand Master/Little Master Series.  It is her belief that she is no more an instrument than you, the reader.  The goal of this series is to make you believe it too.

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Book Review - Impossible Dead - Ian Rankin

Title:  The Impossible Dead 

Author: Ian Rankin 

Review: Ian Rankin is the master of the of the Scottish police procedural mysteries having written 17 novels featuring the flawed detective John Rebus.  But the Rebus novels took place in real time and the actual Scottish police force has a mandatory retirement age, an age that the character was reaching.  A lesser author would have kept milking a proven character and created a work around that would have killed the reality of the world they had so carefully created. 

Lucky for us Rankin is one of the best.  Rebus quietly retired and we were given Malcolm Fox, an Inspector in the Complaints department.  In American terms he works for Internal Affairs, the police’s police.  You would be hard pressed to find an example of the complaints department ever being portrayed in a good light.  They are always shown as the bad guys handcuffing the real police from doing their jobs.  I used to work in quality control in a large manufacturing facility, much the same as that. 

To his credit Rankin has given us another great character and even more solid mysteries to be solved.  This is a large untapped area to be explored and my only wish was that he had made Fox 20 years old so he wouldn’t age out so fast.  This is the second book featuring Malcolm Fox (book one is The Complaints), so if you are looking to start with a great series and a writer who is a master of the filed, this is the series to get. 

I will say I enjoyed this book more than book one, but that is because I spent too much time looking for Rebus in Fox reading it.  They are really different characters.  (Though I wouldn’t mind seeing some Siobhan in a crossover) 


Thanks to T Steven for this review.


Publisher: Little, Brown & Co. 
Copyright: 2011 
Pages: 391 
ISBN: 978-0-316-03977-2 
Quick Review:  4 Stars out of 5. 
Why I Read it: Ian Rankin is one of my favorite authors 
Where I Obtained the Book: My local library 

Synopsis:   The Complaints: that's the name given to the Internal Affairs department who seek out dirty and compromised cops, the ones who've made deals with the devil. And sometimes The Complaints must travel.

A major inquiry into a neighboring police force sees Malcolm Fox and his colleagues cast adrift, unsure of territory, protocol, or who they can trust. An entire station-house looks to have been compromised, but as Fox digs deeper he finds the trail leads him back in time to the suicide of a prominent politician and activist. There are secrets buried in the past, and reputations on the line.

In his newest pulse-pounding thriller, Ian Rankin holds up a mirror to an age of fear and paranoia, and shows us something of our own lives reflected there.

Author Biography: Born in the Kingdom of Fife in 1960, Ian Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982, and then spent three years writing novels when he was supposed to be working towards a PhD in Scottish Literature. His first Rebus novel was published in 1987, and the Rebus books are now translated into twenty-two languages and are bestsellers on several continents.

Ian Rankin has been elected a Hawthornden Fellow, and is also a past winner of the Chandler-Fulbright Award, as well as receiving two Dagger Awards for the year's best short story and the Gold Dagger for Fiction. Ian Rankin is also the recipient of honorary degrees from the universities of Abertay, St Andrews and Edinburgh.

A contributor to BBC2's 'Newsnight Review', he also presented his own TV series, 'Ian Rankin's Evil Thoughts', on Channel 4 in 2002. He recently received the OBE for services to literature, opting to receive the prize in his home city of Edinburgh, where he lives with his partner and two sons.

Other Reviews: 

The Guardian UK

The Washington Post

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