Book Review of The Bridge of the Golden Wood: A Parable on How to Earn a Living

by Karl Beckstrand, illustrated by Yaniv Cahoua

My rating is 5 out of 5 stars

The Bridge of the Golden Wood: A Parable on How to Earn a Living is a children’s book for ages 5 and up written by Karl Beckstrand and illustrated by Yaniv Cahoua. Set in the Far East, the book is about a boy who chooses to help others and finds treasure as a result. It begins with “There once was a boy who loved to make things,” and the tone of an old parable is maintained throughout the story.

Beckstrand was inspired to write The Bridge of the Golden Wood after visiting several schools and realizing there was no curriculum provided to young people about ways to earn money. The message from The Bridge of the Golden Wood is a positive one: helping others for free gives you experience, a good reputation, and can lead to an idea for ways to make money. The events in the story are sweet and simple. However, the main character’s particular experience is not be something modern children could re-create for themselves. What pushes the book all the way up to five stars for me is the discussion guide at the end.  Children are guided through ways to look for opportunities in everyday problems and provided examples of ways to earn income by serving others and solving problems.

The Bridge of the Golden Wood is recommended for ages 5 and up.  I read this book with a three-year old and she loved the soft, cheerful illustrations. She was especially interested in the animals in the story.   I do think the money-making lesson largely went over her head, though we did talk about the importance of helping others.  She was also fascinated by some of the mysterious aspects of the parable. I read this book with her knowing the story is targeted towards older readers. Overall, The Bridge of the Golden Wood is a very welcome addition to children’s literature.

I received a copy of this book through Rosie's Book Review Team. 

Book Review of Can't Buy Forever by Susan Laffoon

My rating: 3.5 stars

Can’t Buy Forever is a YA paranormal romance set in 1950’s America, with much up the story taking place in the Adirondacks in New York. It is the first book in a planned series. In this story, readers will find a couple with a strong and loyal bond. The male lead (Nicholas Westley) has a dark and mysterious past, and the reader lives vicariously through the female lead (Odessa Drake) to learn more. Despite his traumatic past, Nicholas is a wholesome nice guy, and sometimes nice guys finish first.

The book particularly excels in creating intrigue surrounding Nicholas's past. The desire to learn more had me turning page after page to the end. The relationship between Odessa and Nicholas seemed a bit superficial at first but as their experience with each other went on, the relationship turned into something well founded and beautiful. In the first half of the story, she’s a largely passive actor in her own life. In YA especially, it bothers me when the most interesting thing about a young woman is her boyfriend, as I don't think it sets a good example for your readers. I did appreciate the lack of sexual content. I don't mind it in adult books, but appreciate when it's absent from YA. I greatly enjoyed the character of Elise, Odessa's spunky best friend.

Can’t Buy Forever is a bit derivative of the Twilight formula, but ultimately the book forged its own path into something unique. The synopsis would have done well to more overtly acknowledge there would be fantasy elements in the story. I enjoyed the twists, but as a reader I had to do some mental gymnastics when I realized I'd thought I was in for a purely historical fiction romance and wound up getting a paranormal one.

Can’t Buy Forever deserved a far more thorough editing job than it received. There are typos throughout, grammatical errors and frequent changes in verb tense. This didn’t decrease my rating because typos and errors can happen and I don’t want to judge a book based on how skilled an editor it had, but the errors certainly decreased the professionalism of the book. That said, there was still plenty to love in Laffoon’s writing. I don’t know how far along Susan Laffoon is in her writing career, but she has real talent. She’s a diamond in the rough. Some of her observations and descriptions are utterly exquisite and created an atmosphere I just wanted to *be*, though it's not sustained. The beauty of Laffoon’s writing, and the tone and writing style in general, is inconsistent throughout the book. 

However, with more practice and refinement, I honestly believe Laffoon could be comparable to Marilynne Robinson. Some of her writing is just as beautiful, complete with nods to religion. Ultimately, this was an enjoyable if slightly flawed read. I heartily encourage Laffoon to further cultivate her writing. I received a copy of this book from the author.

Book Review of Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd: The Warrior Princess of Deheubarth by Laurel Rockefeller

Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd: The Warrior Princess of Deheubarth is the sixth installment in Laurel Rockefeller’s The Legendary Women of World History series. It is a brief novelization about the life, legacy and fighting spirit of a Welsh princess (Gwenllian frech Gruffydd) who led her people into battle against the Normans. I have long been an avid reader of historical fiction, and this story is a welcome addition to the genre.

The story excels in portraying the world of Wales during the 1100’s. Simple descriptions about the daily life, the surrounding regions and annual celebrations ground the reader in the time period. Rockefeller also keeps the reader grounded in understanding how the shifting politics throughout the region and in London in particular impacted the Welsh. The most shocking part of the story was the betrayal Gwenllian faced.

Rockefeller’s love of the Welsh language is evident throughout the book. The use of the Welsh names and locations added to the authenticity of the story. However, beyond names and locations, the use of the old language caused confusion for me. Gwenllian frech Gruffydd’s native tongue is frequently interspersed throughout conversations. At one point Gwenllian sings a song while playing the harp, and the song is written entirely in her native language. A typical reader will find this incomprehensible.

The story is brief and lingers longest on the battle and events leading up to Gwenllian frech Gruffydd’s death. She was a heroic fighter and through Rockefeller’s portrayal is it easy to see why the Welsh cried her name into battle for centuries to follow. The ending of the story beautifully nods to the lineage that followed Gwenllian frech Gruffydd and muses what her option on it must be. “Surely in some place beyond this physical world, Princess Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd, the warrior princess of Deheubarth watched the coronation of Queen Elizabeth Tudor, a woman born of her blood and legacy, and smiled.”

After the story there is a timeline of Welsh history from 844 to 1282 and an extensive suggested reading bibliography that provides a wealth of information for those looking to research the topic further. The timeline was thorough and interesting. In future installments in this series, I would love to see the selected events spaced along a horizontal line. Images of Wales and any remaining structures from the story, as well as artistic renderings of the individuals discussed would also be a welcome addition to the story.

10 Famous Books That Were Barely Published

Hey guys!
Today we're talking about 10 famous books that almost never were.

The vlog version of this post is available here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5kdCHkaY34&t=151s

1. Harry Potter and the Sourcerer's Stone was rejected 12 times, one of the responses from a publisher told JK Rowling not to quite her day job. She was finally published, and the publisher only made 500 copies and gave most of them away for free to libraries.

2. The Tales of Peter Rabbit, the famous children's books by Beatrix Potter. Beatrix wrote and illustrated the stories herself and sent an early version of them to the bedridden son of her former governess. She then tried to get the book published, but no publishers would accept it so she self-published. The book was a success and a publisher picked it up. Peter Rabbit has been in print since 1902 and has sold over 45 million copies.  Potter had to self-publish.

3. The Martian by Andy Weir. This is a book that I don't think Weir really ever had the intention of publishing. He posted the book chapter by chapter on his blog, and people were really liking it so he made it all into one e-pub file they could download, but some people were having trouble downloading the file.  Literally if people had not complained they couldn't donwload the file, I don't think Wier would have ever self-published on Amazon Kindle. But he did, and the book skyrocketed to Amazon's bestselling science fiction list.

4. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig, a philosophical work of nonfiction is often acclaimed as one of the most important books on the late 20th Century. And it was rejected by 121 publishers. It is in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most publication rejections of any bestselling book.

5. Animal Farm by George Orwell, a satire on the Russian Revolution and Stalin's rise to power.  British author George Orwell was trying to get this book published during WWII, while the British military was allied with the USSR.  No one would publish it. It was rejected all over Britain because of concerns about being critical of the USSR while they were allied with them in a war. A really small publisher did eventually accept it, but did not actually publish Animal Farm until after the war.

6. Carrie by Stephen King.
Carrie was Stephen King's first big break, and it almost never happened.  Carrie was rejected by 30 publishers and King got so discouraged he threw the manuscript in the garbage.  This was the 70's so it wasn't stored on electronically anywhere.  His wife Tabitha fished the manuscript out of the trash and encouraged her husband to keep sending it around.  Now an image of a girl in a prom dress covered in pig's blood is a part of popular culture.  It is weird to think about books like this that are so ingrained in popular culture are almost not existing. To think about Harry Potter never existing, never having a shot a publication, is weird. To think about Stephen King, one of the most prolific horror writers, giving up on his writing career before it began if his wife hadn't encouraged him to keep submitting Carrie, it's weird to think about.

7. A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L'Engle. This was one of my very favorite children's series when I was growing up. L'Engle received 26 rejections before finally getting published.  A Wrinkle in Time went on to win a Newberry Medal the following year.

8. Chicken Soup for the Soul by Jack Canfield and Mark Voictor Hansen.
This multimillion dollor series was rejected 140 times by publishers. The authors were told anthologies don't sell and their books were too positive.

9. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Gone With the Wind was rejected 38 times and then it went on to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1937

10. And last but not least...
The Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer.  The Joy of Cooking is probably the most famous cookbook I can think of. In 1931, the author spent a good chunk of her own life savings to print copies of her own cookbook.  It took five years before her investment paid off and a publisher picked up the book.  The Joy of Cooking has sold over 18 million copies.

So those are my picks for 10 famous books that were almost never published.  Let me know down below if there are any others you're thinking!