Blog Archives
Babies on Board Part 2 (A Grumpy the Iguana and Green Parrot Adventure)
Babies on Board Part 2, by Susan Marie Chapman, follows Grumpy the Iguana, Green Parrot, Mr. Squirrel, and Little Mouse as they return to the beach in the middle of the night to help a giant sea turtle’s babies make it safely to the ocean. What begins as a moonlit rescue mission becomes a gentle lesson about sea turtle hatchlings, artificial light, teamwork, and the quiet courage it takes to do the right thing when small lives are depending on you.
I liked how the story balances adventure with tenderness. There’s a real sweetness in watching these four friends hold hands in the dark, admit they’re scared, and still keep going. It’s such a small moment, but it says something lovely about bravery: children don’t have to be fearless to be helpful. The writing is simple and earnest, with bits of humor from Mr. Squirrel and Little Mouse that keep the story from feeling too serious. The book feels like it’s trying to comfort and teach at the same time, and mostly, it succeeds.
I appreciated that Chapman introduces children to sea turtle conservation without making the lesson feel cold or lecture-heavy. The danger of artificial lights confusing hatchlings is woven into the plot in a way that children can understand, and the instruction not to touch the baby turtles gives the story a nice sense of responsibility. Natalia Loseva’s artwork has a soft, hand-drawn charm that suits the nighttime setting beautifully. The deep blues, sandy browns, moonlit water, and tiny turtles create a calm, watchful mood. Some pages are sparse, but that openness works, especially when the beach feels wide and dark, and the baby turtles seem so small against it.
I found Babies on Board Part 2 to be a warm and thoughtful picture book with a sincere environmental message and a tender emotional core. It feels like the kind of children’s book I’d read aloud slowly at bedtime, letting my child linger over the moon, the ocean, and the little turtles finding their way home. I’d recommend it for young animal lovers, families who enjoy gentle adventure stories, and parents looking for a sweet way to start a conversation about helping wildlife and caring for the natural world.
Pages: 237 | ASIN : B09GV6TCNQ
Game Changer
Brian Mackey’s Game Changer is a focused, deeply felt account of the 1968 Formula One season, a year the book presents not simply as another championship campaign but as a hinge in the sport’s history. Mackey follows the season from the early promise of Jim Clark and Lotus at Kyalami through the brutal losses that shook the paddock, the rise of the Ford Cosworth DFV, the arrival of commercial sponsorship through Team Gunston and Gold Leaf Team Lotus, the early turbulence of aerodynamics, and Graham Hill’s hard-won championship. What gives the book its pulse is Mackey’s personal frame: as a sixteen-year-old at Brands Hatch, he saw the British Grand Prix without yet understanding the grief, invention, danger, and transformation surrounding it. This book is his attempt to recover that context, and at its best, it feels like memory being rebuilt with a historian’s patience and a fan’s still-bright ache.
I admired how seriously Mackey treats change. He doesn’t reduce 1968 to a string of race results, even though he’s clearly comfortable with the granular machinery of motorsport history. Instead, he shows how different forces converged at once: Ford’s Total Performance campaign, Chapman’s restless engineering imagination, tobacco money entering the sport, wings sprouting from fragile cars, and a safety culture that had not yet caught up with the speeds it had unleashed. The chapters on sponsorship and color are especially sharp because Mackey understands that a paint scheme can be more than decoration. When Lotus leaves British racing green behind for Gold Leaf red, white, and gold, the moment lands almost like a moral weather change. I felt the melancholy of that transition, even while recognizing its practical necessity. Mackey is good at sitting in those contradictions, where progress looks both dazzling and faintly ruinous.
The writing is warm, earnest, and often absorbing, particularly when Mackey slows down around human consequence. His handling of Jim Clark’s death at Hockenheim is the emotional center of the book for me, not because it’s sensationalized, but because it’s presented as a rupture that no one in the sport could quite absorb. Graham Hill picking up the pieces, literally and figuratively, becomes one of the book’s most affecting images. Some of the corporate history, especially the Ford material, stretches wider than a casual reader might expect. Still, I mostly found those detours worthwhile. They help explain why the 1968 season mattered beyond the stopwatch. This wasn’t just racing getting faster. It was racing becoming modern, expensive, branded, aerodynamic, and, painfully, more conscious of its own mortality.
Game Changer left me with the sense of a season both cursed and catalytic, one that demanded a different future because the old one had become unbearable. Mackey’s affection for the sport never blinds him to its violence, and that balance gives the book its integrity. The book honors both the ingenuity and the cost of a transformative year. I’d recommend it most strongly to Formula One fans, motorsport history readers, and anyone interested in how a sport changes when money, technology, grief, and courage all arrive at the same corner at once.
Pages: 168 | ASIN: B0GTRQ2VXJ
In Search of the Optimal Human Diet: A Layperson’s Guide to Nutritional Science
In Search of the Optimal Human Diet is a clear walk-through of the history of nutritional science, written for readers who want the science without needing a biochemistry degree. The book starts with early experiments on scurvy, protein, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins, and minerals, then keeps building toward its central argument: the strongest evidence points to a whole-food, plant-based diet as the best path for long-term human health. Spitz brings a personal reason for caring about the subject, but the book’s main energy comes from its steady march through discoveries, studies, and the people behind them.
I liked how it treats nutrition as a developing scientific story rather than a set of trendy rules. Spitz spends time with researchers like James Lind, Antoine Lavoisier, Justus von Liebig, Hans Krebs, and many others, showing how each discovery helped explain what food does inside the body. That historical approach gives the book a sturdy backbone. Instead of jumping straight to advice, it shows how scientists learned to measure, test, revise, and sometimes abandon older ideas.
The book becomes more pointed as it moves into modern degenerative diseases, especially heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and obesity. Spitz’s voice is strongest when he connects observational studies, intervention studies, pathology, and the gut microbiome into one larger case for plant-centered eating. He’s direct about his conclusion, writing that plant-based nutrition is “the only game in town,” and that confidence shapes the whole book. Even when the material gets technical, the tone stays readable, with enough plain-language explanation to keep a general reader moving.
The final chapters and appendices make the book feel practical as well as historical. Spitz discusses fiber, the microbiome, vitamin B12, vitamin D, essential fatty acids, trans fats, sugar, salt, food additives, agricultural chemicals, and genetically modified foods. The section on Dr. Michael Greger’s Daily Dozen gives readers something concrete to picture: beans, berries, greens, whole grains, flaxseed, nuts, spices, beverages, and exercise. By the end, Spitz brings the argument back to a simple idea: “You are what you eat.”
In Search of the Optimal Human Diet is a passionate and research-heavy guide for readers who want to understand why whole plant foods matter, not just be told to eat more vegetables. It’s part science history, part health argument, and part personal invitation to rethink everyday food choices. Spitz writes with the conviction of someone who has lived the diet he’s recommending, and that gives the book a grounded, practical feel. For readers curious about nutrition, longevity, and the science behind plant-based eating, it’s a thoughtful and accessible place to start.
Pages: 337 | ISBN : 9781662973574
Historical Imagination
Survival Secrets is the second book in The Magi’s Encounters series and follows Akilah and the Wise Men on a layered journey through Egypt, politics, threats, family wounds, and spiritual uncertainty. How did the idea for Survival Secrets first take shape?
Survival Secrets is rooted in the final verse the Bible records about the Wise Men. Matthew 2:12 says, “And having been warned in a dream to not return to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.” What seems like a footnote to their story is really a beginning. They couldn’t return home on the Roman roads because Herod would have alerted those guards to watch for the Wise Men and drag them back to Jerusalem in chains. Roman roads were peppered with watchtowers every 10 miles, and their guards’ main job was to snag runaway slaves and other “illegals.” The Wise Men were added to that list as soon as Herod realized they wouldn’t return to him as he’d commanded. So where did they go? Without access to Roman roads, their choices were limited. Judea’s geography further narrowed their choices. By process of elimination, I mapped the most plausible route they might have taken. It was circuitous and dangerous. They had to hide their identity to protect themselves from Herod and other enemies. I believe their returning home “by another route” was also the first acid test of their newfound faith–and each Wise Man responded to that challenge differently.
How did you balance biblical tradition with historical imagination?
The Bible is my north star for writing the series. It’s infallible in recording what happened, but it doesn’t always say why things happened. For that, I dig into world history, using accounts by 1st-century historians and other reliable resources to understand how world politics, religions, and culture influenced people’s thoughts, motivations, and actions. The Wise Men were priest-scholars in Magi society, a powerful, influential entity in the Parthian Empire. They were duty-bound to uphold the empire’s official religion, plus officiate for other religions. What if they suddenly believed in something other than what their empire’s official religion espoused? That’s exactly what happened with the Wise Men when they found Yeshua/Jesus. Think of what conflict and danger that caused for them. History records a lot about Herod as well as how the Roman and Parthian empires treated Jews long before Jesus’ ministry started. That tension is the backdrop behind Matthew 2:12. That tension is where I judiciously exercise my historical imagination.
One of the book’s strengths is its patience with faith as a process rather than an instant transformation. Why was that important to you?
A common misconception is that a person can “grow” their own faith–but the Bible doesn’t say that. The apostles could have asked Jesus for many things, but they said, “Increase our faith!” (Luke 17:5), They inherently knew that faith didn’t come from them, but from God. In that verse, the Greek word “increase” is the root of our English word “prosthesis.” It literally means “to add or increase.” Its connotation is to make something stronger and more functional–which is exactly what a prosthetic (and faith) does. Put another way, when we let God work in our lives, He lays down more train tracks to guide our lives, which increases our faith and strengthens our resolve to trust Him more.
Can you give us a glimpse inside Book 3 of The Magi’s Encounters series? Where will it take readers?
Geographically, Book 3 will take readers to the northern fringes of the Parthian Empire, where small, semi-autonomous vassal states form a buffer zone that controls the tensions between the mighty Roman and Parthian Empires. Emotionally, Book 3 shows each Wise Man’s faith on trial. It differs for each of them, but taking center stage is our main character, Akilah, whose pursuit of the prophesied child-king (Yeshua/Jesus) lands him in prison. Now he must answer to allegations of civil and religious crimes against the Parthian Empire that could cost him his life.
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Hunted by Herod’s forces and others who fear what the Magi know about Yeshua, Akilah and his companions flee into the Wilderness of Paran—a land as merciless as the enemies pursuing them. To reach Egypt’s safety, his caravan must survive the elements and the strain of maintaining their anonymity while protecting the many secrets that jeopardize their lives.
But the greatest danger isn’t the wilderness.
Bound by their shared knowledge of Yeshua, the group carries a truth powerful enough to upend empires yet tenuous enough to fracture their resolve. When calamity tears one Wise Man away from the others, the group’s newfound faith start to crumble. Faith once sparked by wonder is now tested by hardship and the silence of unanswered prayers.
Farther from their goal of returning to Persia than ever before, Akilah encounters Yeshua’s family again. Its ramifications raise the stakes for the Magi’s cost of belief in the Hebrew God.
Meanwhile, two thousand miles away, Akilah’s estranged cousin Farzaneh begins her own dangerous search for truth, uncovering secrets her husband carried to the grave after embracing the Hebrew faith.
Survival Secrets is a gripping continuation of the Magi’s journey. As they struggle to return home while facing an uncertain future, costly obedience replaces the early awe of their belief—underscoring that faith doesn’t travel in a straight line, endurance is often learned in the wilderness, and trust rests with an unfathomable, sovereign God.
Perfect for fans of biblical fiction rich in tension, clean adventure, and faith journeys shaped by doubt, hardship, and quiet courage.
Follow belief into dangerous territory.
A Cynical Reality
The Fox and the Garbage War pits two favorite fairy tale protagonists against one another as a crafty fox declares he will get revenge on the town’s wolf mayor by running against him in the upcoming election. Where did you get the idea for this story?
This book, The Fox and the Garbage War, is the sixth in a series in which I examine the different forms of power and its misuse in our world today. My inspiration always comes from real-world global events—issues that are often quite serious.
To make these topics accessible to children, I adopt a humorous, often sarcastic perspective. In this story, the focus is on the collision between science and personal greed. As a “partner in crime,” we meet a researcher whose misguided ambition leads them to abandon professional ethics in favor of fame and wealth.
The story reflects a cynical reality we often see today: even environmental responsibility and scientific integrity are cast aside to serve a personal agenda. Through satire, I want to show and warn young readers how easily noble goals can be corrupted when greed takes the lead.
Francis the Fox is charming but untrustworthy—how did you approach creating a character children would both enjoy and question?
I wanted to move beyond the traditional, one-dimensional hero and create someone more like the figures we see in real life—charismatic and persuasive yet ultimately driven by their own interests. Francis is charming because that is how power often presents itself; it’s rarely ugly at first glance.
By making my fox somewhat likable yet untrustworthy, I invite children to practice critical thinking. I want them to enjoy his quick actions while feeling a hint of suspicion. One thing I find fascinating about Francis is his incredible resourcefulness and persistence; even in his most questionable schemes, he never gives up. It’s a quality one could truly admire, if only it were directed toward better goals.
Interestingly, when readers discuss the series with me, many—especially adults—cite examples from their own home countries. It seems that ‘Francis-like’ characters, who use their drive and charm to mask personal agendas, are a global phenomenon. The Fox Series teaches children to look beyond a leader’s energy and polished words to see the real impact of their actions.
Do you have a favorite character in this story? One whose dialogue was especially fun to write?
My favorite dynamic to write was definitely the interaction between Francis the Fox and the researcher, Linda Lupo. Their dialogue evolves in a chilling way. It begins with light conversation and calculated flattery, but they are quickly bonded by their shared ambition—even if their ultimate goals differ.
Francis is a master manipulator; he skillfully uses every trick of persuasion and manipulative charm to bind Linda to his cause. However, as the crisis deepens, the tone shifts dramatically. The flattery turns into harsh commands and, eventually, into outright blackmail and threats. I still get goosebumps thinking about how their relationship spirals, culminating in the moment when the researcher is imprisoned in a cellar. Writing that transition from ‘partners’ to ‘captor and prisoner’ was incredibly intense.
While the dialogue between Francis and Linda was the most intense to write, my favorite character is William the Wolf, the old mayor. He is the complete opposite of Francis: unfailingly kind, firm, and honest.
Even as an old, somewhat frail wolf, William is the voice of reason and calm experience. He has a deep understanding of what is happening behind the scenes and often anticipates the villains’ moves. What I love most about him is his quiet strength—when the situation demands it, he is willing to step into the most dangerous parts of the finale to do what is right.
To me, William represents the kind of leadership we need more of in the real world: a steady, ethical force that stands in stark contrast to the opportunistic and self-serving nature of characters like Francis. He reminds us that true wisdom and integrity ultimately hold a community together.
What kinds of conversations do you hope this book sparks between children and adults?
Ultimately, I hope this book serves as a bridge for meaningful conversations between children and adults. Challenging stories naturally spark deep reflections, and I want to encourage children to look beyond ‘polished promises’ and ask: ‘Is this person acting for the common good, or just for themselves?’
We need to talk honestly about the fact that those in the spotlight are not always the ones working in our collective best interest. While characters like Francis chase the hype, real leadership is often found in the quiet work behind the scenes—the kind of effort that rarely receives the applause it deserves.
I don’t mean that children should be prematurely immersed in the harsh reality of world news—every family must decide the right timing for themselves. However, since children are inevitably exposed to heavy and unpleasant topics through the media, it is vital that parents have tools like these books. They offer a way to process even the most difficult subjects in an age-appropriate way, showing that true integrity means staying true to your ethics, even when no one is watching.
This is the sixth episode in the Francis the Fox Series. The fox’s twisting path has already led readers through the dark worlds of power struggles, the trampling of freedoms, construction schemes, election fraud, and fake news. And there is more to come!
I recently spoke with the incredibly talented Italian illustrator Andrea Alemano at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair about where Francis’s crooked trail might lead next. Andrea and I, the storyteller, remain deeply inspired by our cunning, questionable hero. Stay tuned, because the adventures definitely continue!
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When the fox’s shady accomplices get their paws in the election results, everyone’s in for a surprise.
Innate Character
The Man Who Obviated Christmas follows a lonely, aging catalog manager whose comic Christmas Eve misadventure with two stranded kittens leads him toward an unexpected late-life reckoning. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Last autumn, I decided to send a Christmas story instead of a greeting card to a few of my old friends. The idea was for an anti-Santa Claus figure. The cat rescue was the result. Edward had the proportions of Santa, was dressed in black, climbed a ladder instead of sliding down a chimney, was gruff to children, and yet brought them joy and gave away all his money for presents. After Christmas, I found that I was still intrigued with Edward and Kleo. They were live characters. For me, once I get a couple of live characters, the book has basically been written, I sit back and watch and record. So Christmas became the backdrop, the mood, the tint.
Edward Brash is often vain, fussy, and ridiculous, yet deeply sympathetic. How did you balance his comic flaws with his emotional vulnerability?
Social isolation can induce all of those flaws. But loss doesn’t necessarily affect a person’s innate character. Inwardly, Edward was still the raw kid who wound up for one magical year with a beautiful, sophisticated wife. In self-induced mourning for three decades, he has grown a skin, but in his mind, he could toss all the years away and would again magically become slim if Autumn walked through the door.
Why did Christmas feel like the right setting for Edward’s story, especially given the novel’s resistance to easy sentimentality?
See above. Also, this is a story set intentionally in black and white. What could be more black and white than a cold Christmas Eve or a rainy New Year’s Eve?
Kleo is not presented as a simple cure for Edward’s loneliness. How did you approach writing their relationship with restraint and emotional honesty?
I wish I had a woman’s point of view, because I would have made Kleo the principle character instead of Edward.) It’s beyond my experience that mature people can fall in love and simply shed their characters. By New Year’s Eve, Edward and Kleo still don’t know much about each other’s private lives. Is Kleo delusional? Is Edward hiding something? But they’ve spent their lives working together, eyeing and unconsciously evaluating each other every business day. They trust each other. Maybe that’s enough to make the survival existences they have each fashioned tolerable, at least for a start.
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Edward Brash has spent decades building a life defined by control, routine, and emotional distance. Once shaped by youthful love and possibility, he now exists behind an impenetrable persona, moving through his days as a capable but detached executive. The rhythms of work and solitude have replaced connection, and the world beyond his routines feels increasingly distant.
On a bleak Christmas Eve, a chance encounter disrupts that carefully ordered existence. Drawn into an unexpected and chaotic effort to rescue two children’s stranded cats, Edward finds himself acting on instinct rather than detachment. The moment is small and almost absurd, yet it unsettles something long dormant within him.
The following morning, in a cemetery where he has created a private ritual of remembrance, Edward encounters a colleague he has long misunderstood. Their conversation unfolds into an unlikely connection, revealing hidden histories, shared isolation, and the quiet persistence of longing beneath carefully maintained lives.
Over the course of a single holiday, Edward is forced to confront the distance between who he has become and who he once was. Yet this is not a story of easy redemption or clear resolution. Instead, it offers an unflinching exploration of those who find themselves outside the structures of belonging, questioning whether reconnection is ever truly possible.
For readers drawn to thoughtful, character-driven fiction, The Man Who Obviated Christmas is a reflective and deeply human novel about solitude, memory, and the uncertain path back to meaning.
Dirt Dog Invites Prissy Poodle to the Prom
Dirt Dog Invites Prissy Poodle to the Prom follows Dirt Dog as he wakes up excited to ask Prissy Poodle to the Paw Party Prom. He cleans himself up, gathers his courage, and heads out with his dad, only for one messy problem after another to undo all his careful grooming. A flat tire, an empty gas tank, and a brave rescue leave him muddy, sweaty, and embarrassed by the time he reaches Prissy’s door. What begins as a funny little quest to look impressive becomes a gentle story about kindness, courage, and being seen for who you really are.
I found the heart of this picture book genuinely sweet. Dirt Dog’s worries feel small on the surface, but they’re the kind of worries kids understand deeply: wanting to be liked, wanting to look right, wanting not to be laughed at. I appreciated that his messiness isn’t just slapstick, though there’s plenty of playful humor in the disasters that pile up. Each mishap reveals something good in him. He helps his dad, walks for gas, and saves a friend without stopping to calculate what it will cost him socially. That gives the message more weight. The book isn’t simply telling children not to judge by appearances. It shows them, in a concrete and emotionally clear way, what character looks like when no one is applauding yet.
The writing has a cheerful, bouncy quality, with alliterative names and phrases that feel made for reading aloud. Some moments are quite tender, especially when Dirt Dog’s confidence starts to crumble, and he assumes Prissy won’t want him anymore. Lissette Blanco’s artwork brings a lot of softness to the story. The watercolor-like textures, pastel backgrounds, sparkles, flowers, and expressive dog faces give the book a warm storybook charm. I especially liked how Dirt Dog’s muddy little body contrasts with his hopeful eyes. The illustrations make his vulnerability visible, which helps the emotional turn with Prissy feel earned.
This children’s book has a simple structure, but it uses that simplicity well, building from silliness into a message that’s tender without being empty. The faith-based framing is present and sincere, and the story’s core idea, that the heart matters more than polish, is one I’m always glad to place in front of children. I’d recommend Dirt Dog Invites Prissy Poodle to the Prom for families, Sunday school classrooms, early elementary read-alouds, and any child who needs reassurance that kindness, courage, and a good heart shine brighter than a perfect appearance.
Pages: 40 | ISBN : 978-1963377767
Crimson Light: The Song of Immaru
Crimson Light: The Song of Immaru, by PJ Dudek, is a sprawling science fantasy novel that moves between Earth and Arvalast, blending dystopian surveillance, portal fantasy, spiritual warfare, and old-fashioned adventure. The story follows a large cast, including Allen, Liz, Miriam, Tarin, Abigail, Maddie, Gil, Ebe, Dralo, and others, as the light of Immaru becomes both a gift and a target. What makes the book interesting is how naturally it treats cosmic stakes and ordinary grief as part of the same world. A wedding, a game of cards, a police order, a forest battle, and a shadowy realm all matter here.
The book’s central image is light, not just as magic, but as guidance, comfort, warning, and burden. Gil’s advice to Allen captures the novel’s moral center: “Respect the light, and be wary. Let it guide you; avoid trying to guide it.” That idea runs through nearly every storyline. Characters are constantly tempted to force answers, protect people through control, or mistake power for calling. Dudek gives the light a sacred weight, but he also keeps it practical. It glows in jars, phials, lockets, and lanterns, sitting right beside coffee shops, drones, bots, and muddy forest roads.
The strongest parts of the novel come from its emotional grounding. Maddie’s grief over Gras, Allen’s tenderness toward Liz, Miriam’s loneliness, and Tarin’s uneasy role as a warrior all give the bigger mythology something human to hold onto. Miriam’s arc is especially affecting because her fear, anger, and longing for Abigail make her more than just another chosen figure. The book spends real time with people after loss, and that patience gives the battles more meaning when they arrive.
Dudek also has a real appetite for scale. Arvalast’s forests, Macalum’s politics, the drilockk threat, the Vulgheid, the mysterious Prince, and Earth’s militarized systems all feel connected by the end. The reveal of Simon as something far more dangerous than a government official gives the Earth plot a sharp jolt, especially when he declares, “I am the Prince of this world. And I am here to protect my throne.” That moment pulls the book’s spiritual and sci-fi threads together in a way that feels bold and strange in the best sense.
Crimson Light is an ambitious, heartfelt continuation of a much larger saga. It’s a book about people carrying light through systems, forests, memories, and nightmares that want to swallow them whole. Its cast is wide and its mythology is dense, but its heart is easy to locate: friendship, sacrifice, faith, and the painful work of choosing courage when the next step is unclear. By the time the epilogue points Iris toward another dangerous journey, the story feels less like it’s ending than opening another door.
