A Book and a Chat with Cindy Freland

My guest on today’s “A Book and a Chat” is Cindy Freland.  Cindy founded Maryland Secretarial Services, Inc. in 1997. She has won three awards and teaches business workshops at two local community colleges, a senior center and two chamber of commerce offices. She offers word processing, data entry, desktop publishing and transcription to businesses of all sizes, government agencies, non-profit organizations and individuals throughout the United States. Her passion is teaching workshops, designing and managing Facebook pages and helping authors get their books on Amazon.

As well as writing many business books, including “Easy Guide to Your Facebook Business Page” something that many authors would I’m sure be interested in reading, Cindy has also written several children’s books. These children’s books include the wonderfully “Mud Pies” and “Felix the Purple Giant”.

Now Cindy has started a new series of books which are not only fun to read but will educate both the person being read to and the reader.

The first of this “Chesapeake Bay Adventure” series is “Jordan the Jelly Fish”

About “Jordan the Jelly Fish”:

Jordan the Jellyfish is lost and needs to find her way home from Sandy Point State Park to Mayo Beach, Maryland. She encounters danger and fun with her friends in and above the Chesapeake Bay. Her friends include Arthur the Anchovy, Curtis the Crab and Olivia the Osprey and they help protect Jordan and help her find her way home.

The book includes facts about the Chesapeake Bay, the bridge, the watermen, jellyfish, bay anchovies, blue crabs, osprey and more. Also included are tips on what to do if you are stung by a jellyfish and tips for your child if they get lost.

Story inspired by true events and is illustrated by Jon Munson.

With the second in the series about “Curtis the Crab” already written and several others in the planning stages, these books not only are fun to read but also are great educators.

So listen now and share an interesting, and entertaining show as I chat with my special guest today on A Book and a Chat with Cindy Freland

Barry

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Barry Eva (Storyheart)

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A Book and a Chat with Todd Brockdorf

“A Book and a Chat” starts off 2014 with Todd Brockdorf as my guest.

Todd Brockdorf is NOT an astronaut, a professional athlete, or a reality TV star (yet), he simply is a regular guy who discovered how to excel beyond the ordinary and find what moves him in life.

While in college, Todd thought he knew everything about running a student organization. Was he ever wrong! After his Executive Board nearly resigned, he learned important lessons in leadership, effectively communicating his vision, and building a change-ready organization. One year later, membership had increased about 300%. Todd was taking the first steps in learning about being “better than average”.

After years of studying companies and life, Todd now the best-selling author of Better than Average: Excelling in a Mediocre World, he is a frequent speaker leading programs and training for corporations, non-profit associations, and colleges and universities who want to be Better than Average in order to stand out from the crowd.

About “Better than Average”: (taken from authors web site)

Better than Average: Excelling in a Mediocre World is a business book by Todd Brockdorf designed for professionals who want to stand out from the crowd.

Leave that old concept of growing up, getting an education, and obtaining a steady job behind. That’s Average. If you’ve ever dreamed of wanting more, desired to stand out from the crowd, or wanted to reach a higher level of your potential, Better than Average is your guide.

This step-by-step road-map to your Better than Average lifestyle, leadership, and company teaches:

·    How to distinguish yourself from the crowd
·    How to apply the 8-step Better than Average process to your personal, social, and professional lives
·    How to emulate the 8 habits of today’s Better than Average leaders
·    How to let your creativity flourish while remaining in the fold
·    How to build on your existing talents to give you a step up on Average
·    That it doesn’t have to be grand to be glorious

While there have been many authors in the Self Help / Personal Improvement category on the show, most of them either relate to business management, or share steps that are in many ways beyond the normal reader.  This book provides a  clear explanation of his concepts, peppered with humor and specific examples from the authors own  experience that can relate to all aspects of life as well as being helpful for all ages.

So listen now and share an interesting, and entertaining show as I chat with my special guest today on A Book and a Chat with Todd Brockdorf

Barry

Direct link to the show

A Book and a Chat with Todd Brockdorf

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You can find out more about my guest and their books at:

“Todd Brockdorf – Better Than Average”

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

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A Book and a Chat with Tara Sullivan

Today’s show was one of the one hour specials as I chatted to another member of the Class of 2K13 debut midgrade and YA authors. My guest was Tara Sullivan whose debut book “Golden Boy” was released last month.

Where as with most guests on the show I check their bio before hand to get some information I can use during the show, Tara’s life is almost a book in its own right.

Born in Calcutta with her mother’s Irish red hair and pale skin, Tara traveled around South America and the Caribbean with her parents who were international aid workers.  She grow up chatting about international issues and aid requirements at the dinner table and as we learned during the show, was educated via continues collections of books and poetry.

After suffering damage to her eyes from the hole in the ozone over the Andes, her family settled in Virginia, slightly different from Bolivia.

Now a teacher of Spanish in Burlington High School, Massachusetts, Tara’s debut book stems from an article she read about the kidnapping, mutilation, and murder of African albinos for use as good luck talismans. As one who had to hide from the sun and could never blend into a crowd, she wanted to tell the story about what it must feel like to be a kid who has those problems in the extreme. So she wrote GOLDEN BOY.

About “Golden Boy”:  (Taken from authors web site)

Thirteen-year-old Habo has always been different— light eyes, yellow hair and white skin. Not the good brown skin his family has and not the white skin of tourists. Habo is strange and alone. His father, unable to accept Habo, abandons the family; his mother can scarcely look at him. His brothers are cruel and the other children never invite him to play. Only his sister Asu loves him well. But even Asu can’t take the sting away when the family is forced from their small Tanzanian village, and Habo knows he is to blame.

Seeking refuge in Mwanza, Habo and his family journey across the Serengeti. His aunt is glad to open her home until she sees Habo for the first time, and then she is only afraid. Suddenly, Habo has a new word for himself: Albino. But they hunt albinos in Mwanza because albino body parts are thought to bring good luck. And soon Habo is being hunted by a fearsome man with a machete. To keep his life, Habo must run, not knowing if he can ever stop.

As one reviewer wrote…

Tara Sullivan has unbelievable talents and skills. Her book was incredibly riveting, inspiring, and a MUST read for all. I could not put the book down as the wonderful twists and turns enabled the reader to venture into the lives of each of the characters portrayed in the novel. I learned so much about albinism and how it is viewed in other continents particularly those in the various geographical areas of Africa. It is also inspiring to know that her readers can contact the nonprofit organizations working in the field. I look forward to reading more books by Tara.

So listen now and share an interesting, and entertaining show as I chat with my special guest today on A Book and a Chat with Tara Sullivan

Barry

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A Book and a Chat with Tara Sullivan

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Barry Eva (Storyheart)

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A Book and a Chat with Lauren Roedy Vaughn

“There are good books, and there are great books, and then there are books with characters you’ll never forget”. So writes one reviewer about Lauren Roedy Vaughn’s book “OCD, The Dude, and Me”. I would like to add, it is a book that can be read and enjoyed by all. Making the fact that Lauren was the guest on tonight’s “A Book and a Chat” a show I had been looking forward to, and I wasn’t disappointed.

In a way Lauren is especially equipped, even picked out, to write Danielle’s story in “OCD, The Dude, and Me”. She has been a special education teacher and a writer for nearly 20 years. In 2005, she received the Walk of Hearts Teaching Award, and she serves on the Board of the International Dyslexia Association’s Los Angeles Branch.

The mentioned being picked out for that in a way is what seemed to happen to Lauren, the story just chose her to be the author, and a great job she did. As Lauren described…

“One day when I was teaching and thinking about how difficult it is to be a high school student, especially one with learning challenges or psychological issues. I have great respect and compassion for these students. They are warriors. I was moved to write about a fictional one of these high school students to illuminate the courage I see in so many of them”

The result is a story that is smart, funny, touching, and has a strong voiced main character, it is written in a format that employs various formats including emails, diary entries and school essays.

About “OCD, The Dude, and Me” (taken from Amazon):

With frizzy orange hair, a plus-sized body, sarcastic demeanor, and “unique learning profile,” Danielle Levine doesn’t fit in even at her alternative high school. While navigating her doomed social life, she writes scathing, self-aware, and sometimes downright raunchy essays for English class.

As a result of her unfiltered writing style, she is forced to see the school psychologist and enroll in a “social skills” class. But when she meets Daniel, another social misfit who is obsessed with the cult classic film The Big Lebowski, Danielle’s resolve to keep everyone at arm’s length starts to crumble.

“OCD, The Dude, and Me” is one of those books I highly recommend for people of all ages.

So listen now and share an interesting, and entertaining show as I chat with my special guest today on A Book and a Chat with Lauren Roedy Vaughn

Barry

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A Book and a Chat with Lauren Roedy Vaughn

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“Lauren Roedy Vaughn – OCD, the Dude & Me”

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

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A Book and a Chat with Barbara Everett Heintz

Every so often I come across a book on my show that I think
people should read, not just for enjoyment but in many ways for education as
well. While I have only been in America for twelve years thanks to a lot of
knowledge picked up doing “A Book and a Chat” one could say I know more about
the country and in many cases the people than many born and bred people in the
USA.

Today’s guest award winning author Barbara Everett Heintz
and her book “Pinkhoneysuckle” are cases in point. The book has already one several
wards and shows life, being mostly a memoir in an area that many American’s
just do not know about.

Barbara takes her  life story to
describe the “Hidden People” of Appalachia, basically 3^rd
world existence,

Where the poor whites and blacks discriminated against and
segregated to the poorest mountainous regions of the Bible Belt, their strength
and identity shaped by religious values and the virtue of living off the land.

Through her own upbringing she is able to provide a unique insight to the Appalachia
in the mid-20th century, the class struggles and poverty, the family dynamics
and rich cultural traditions.

The book takes the reader through the harshness of the Appalachian way of
life that included abuse and incest, Barbara is able to portray the misery that
she lived through.

As one reviewer put it…

The author brings us into her life in Appalachia in a time when most of
America barely even knew they existed. She does not spare the painful details,
yet comes to an understanding of the people she grew up with, family, friends
and neighbors alike. She selflessly loves all as she matures, and her
understanding of the human condition grows.

To my mind it is a must read book, perhaps a true masterpiece. It shares about
how a poor family that lives in the hill country of the rural South. Written in
unique style that it is a pleasure to read, and has the reader constantly what will
be revealed next.
So listen now and share an interesting, and entertaining show as I chat with my special guest today on A Book and a Chat with Barbara Everett Heintz

Barry

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A Book and a Chat with Barbara Everett Heintz

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Barry Eva (Storyheart)

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A Book and a Chat “YA Book Banning and Censorship”

Recently the book banners once again crawled out of their pits of nastiness to once again try to remove YA literature from classrooms and libraries. A certain Wesley Scroggins an associate professor of management at Missouri State University, and obviously standing for re-election for some post or other decided that Laurie Halse Anderson’s book “Speak” was “filthy an immoral”, he then classed it as pornography as the book includes two rape scenes, how a person can compare “pornography to rape” I just cannot understand.

Today I had two guests whose work has also suffered from “YA Book banning and censorship”

Ellen Hopkinson whose books include “Crank”, “Burned” and “Fallout” to name a few with a new YA verse book “Perfect” and her first adult verse novel “Triangles” coming out shortly, has been affected by such one person book banning events as happened to Laurie Halse Anderson. She explained how several authors had their books removed from a major book event in Texas, the response was so dramatic from the authors that the event in the end had to be cancelled. Yet she writes about subjects people need to know about, that YA readers welcome to educate them about life and it’s problems.

Ellen during a truly wonderful ninety minute share explained how time and again she is asked to talk about the subjects of her books, how she receives letters from people who have read her book and quit doing meth etc.

My other guest Sarah Ockler was mentioned in the same mindless rant of Wesley Scroggins, her debut book “Twenty Boy Summer” will soon be joined on the book shelves by “Fixing Delilah”. She was shocked at the statement by Mr Scroggins to what basically goes on all the time in schools, and was to be honest some very mild sex, where at least he r characters had condoms.

The show covered many aspects YA Book banning where one persons voice can control hundreds of people who disagree, where people who follow upon these complaints make decisions without even reading the book.

Take for example “The Diary of Anne Frank” a classic novel a standard for reading since even I was at school. One parent at a public school in Virginia made a complaint that “the book includes sexual material and homosexual themes.” And suddenly the 7,600-student school system in rural Virginia can no longer read the book. A person complained about Harry Potter in Texas and now that school nobody can read any science fiction/fantasy, how a school wants Huckelyberry Finn banned, the list goes on and on.

Judy Blume said it right when she stated

“Let children read whatever they want and then talk about it with them. If parents and kids can talk together, we won’t have as much censorship because we won’t have as much fear.”

The whole aspect of education, sharing reading, how YA readers self censor and so much other chat from the guests and those listening in the chat room filled the show from end to end with fine discussion and education.

So sit back and listen or download an great show as I discuss “YA Book Banning and Censorship” my two special guests “Ellen Hopkinson” and “Sarah Ockler“.

Barry

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“A Book and a Chat YA Book Banning and Censorship””

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You can find out more about my guest and their books at:
“Sarah Ockler”

Don’t Forget November is MALE YA MONTH

Barry Eva (Storyheart)

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A Book and a Chat with “Sedrick Muhammad”

Without planning this weeks guests have been people who in one way or another by their writing are providing helpful information and reading for young readers, today’s guest Sedrick Muhammad follows this same path.

Sedrick Muhammad in a co-founder and Co of Models for Success, LLC, whose mission s to assist youth and young adults in discovering, developing, and maximizing their potential. This includes helping them to acquire the necessary skills, such as communication, goal-setting and entrepreneurship, which will enable them to thrive as young professionals.

As we discovered during the show one of the items that Sedric has now provided to aid the learning and education of children is a set of books “The Young Professional“.

This is a set of ten books which provides career exploration for 3rd and 4th grade students and up. They are written in a format that children will find themselves drawn to the characters indeed they can perhaps see themselves in the roles and the careers that are shown in the books.

Sedrick explained during the show that this, one of the most popular searched for books on Amazon, not only explains about careers, but also covers character education as well as academic support.

The show proved to be both interesting and entertaining, as well as of course educational.

This set of books I am sure will soon find there way into many junior school library’s, so why not tune in now or download the file to listen to another time, to “A Book and a Chat with Sedrick Muhammad”

Barry

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