Book Review - Matthias: The Ghost of Salvation Point

Matthias: The Ghost of Salvation Point

By: Jodi Auborn
Publisher: CreateSpace
Publication Date: December 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4993-2123-4
Reviewed by: Amy Lignor
Review Date: February 3, 2015

Who would think a hundred-year-old ghost and a child in the present-day world would team up to stop a treasure hunter who is desperate to uncover a pirate legend and line their greedy pockets with fortune? Well...it can happen. And it has happened because of the extremely creative and fun mind of Jodi Auborn.
Everyone loves the Indiana Jones world, as well as the pirate kingdom; by adding a ghost into the mix, this plot becomes sheer perfection that will appeal to all sorts of readers.

In 1913, there were lighthouse keepers on our planet. There was no automation at that time to shine the light that let brave sailors see the rocky, jagged cliffs that would take down their boat in seconds. In Salvation Point, Maine, Matthias is one of those keepers. As a young boy, he had watched his father be taken from him by Mother Nature's storm, and he took over the job of lighthouse keeper to make sure that no one ever met that same horrible fate. He worked long and hard, waking up at all hours to trim the wicks before heading to the cottage and sitting with his calico cat. Unfortunately, his fate would end up being as heartbreaking as his loving father's...

Fast forward to a young man in 2013. Dylan is beyond excited for the family trip to Salvation Point. This small town with less than a thousand people in it, will be his host for the summer. His father has actually inherited a house from his Uncle Zack - who, for the most part, was a hermit during his lifetime. Uncle Zack had been the owner of a real lighthouse, with cottage, and Dylan is ecstatic to see it.

Dylan doesn't miss his home in New York City a bit; he spends his time roaming the small town and gets hooked on some pretty wild tales about pirate treasure - legends that are a true part of Salvation Point. But that's not all that amazes Dylan. He will soon discover a man named Matthias living in his bedroom. This is not just any man, this is a ghost - an old lighthouse keeper who speaks in gruff grunts, but soon teams up with the boy in order to stop a pretty villainous cad who's out to get wealthy, even if kidnapping is something that has to be done.

The fun; the imagination; the thrills and adventure - Matthias is a work that all readers - no matter what the age - will want to read. This is an escape, a creative escape. If you are a senior citizen who loves to feel like a kid again; or, you are a kid who thrives on the unknown, this book is for you.

Quill says: An A+ for this author. One of the very few books you keep on your shelf to read again and again when the need for adventure 'calls.'

Book Review - Wall, Watchtower, and Pencil Stub

Wall, Watchtower, and Pencil Stub: Writing During World War II

By: John R. Carpenter
Publisher: Yucca Publishing
Publishing Date: September 2014
ISBN: 978-1-63158-004-8
Reviewed by: Mary Lignor
Review Date: February 5, 2015

This is an extremely well-written book by John R. Carpenter, about the various writers who involved themselves during the days, months and years that encompassed the Second World War from 1939 to 1945. The book refers to the various writings during the war itself when participants didn’t even believe it was a war and were still wondering why Germany was trying to kill everyone.
This excerpt from George Orwell, author of 1984 is a fine example. “As I write, highly civilized human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me. They do not feel any enmity against me as an individual, nor I against them. They are only doing their duty, as the saying goes. Most of them, I have no doubt, are kind-hearted, law-abiding men who would never dream of committing murder in private life.”

Mr. Carpenter writes that these authors, that he mentions in the book, told of the events of the war as they happened before anyone really realized that these horrible things were happening. These authors were looking through some very scary glasses as they described real, up-to-the-minute drama as it happened. Before the United States entered the war, it seemed that there were umpteen secrets that were hidden behind a steel curtain that began with a so-called 'Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1939' that continued until the end of the war in 1945, and as readers will remember, Russia changed sides and Hitler invaded their country.

This book is really the story of writing and should be on the reading list in every school in the US as World War II seemed to disappear for a while, but now the stories are coming back little by little. It is apparent that civilians suffered most during the war as the first horror of the occupied Baltic states, under this Pact, were written about, followed by the concentration camps being set up across Europe, which left the victims in shock and some who couldn’t believe it was happening. Mr. Carpenter travels through the war by letting the readers in on works by all types of writers who wrote about the beauty of the countryside though the fact that this same countryside saw the most brutal ways of treating human beings.

This is another excerpt that will underline things that were happening under everyone’s noses. An anonymous author wrote this from “The Far Side of the Moon” describing an iron door closing on a train and tiny pieces of paper were thrown to the ground. The line reads: “From the gratings fluttered down showers of white scraps, tiny pieces of paper on which were written names and addresses, last messages begging not to be forgotten, broken sentences and prayers.”

Quill says: This is an amazing book that should be in everyone’s library!

Book Review - My Kiss Won't Miss

My Kiss Won’t Miss

By: Lesley Dahlseng
Illustrated By: Mirela Tufan
Publisher: Whetword Press, LLC
Publication Date: November 2014
ISBN: 978-0615987040
Reviewed by: Amy Lignor
Reviewed on: February 4, 2015

There is such a wealth of beauty and love filtered through this tale, that it becomes one of those books (one of those rare books) that will appear on parents’ shelves all over the globe. There are very few titles that parents can recite off the top of their heads (example: Goodnight Moon), and My Kiss Won’t Miss now joins those elite titles as being a ‘must-have’ and a ‘must-read’ for children everywhere.

In this journey, the spotlight shines on the absolute, unconditional love a mother has for her child. This begins with an evening like all moms can attest to having, where a child simply does not want to go to sleep, and to avoid the process of bedtime, finds hiding places in order to stay up longer. In this tale, Mom delivers a promise to the child that if she can’t reach her son to give him a kiss (because he’s hiding), then she will blow a kiss that will find him no matter where he happens to be. In other words, her love will NEVER miss.

From beds of flowers to haystacks (that are stunningly illustrated, by the way), the mother’s kiss blows like a soft breeze through every page, following the little boy through his adventures. But it’s not only the boy’s own realm that is shown, the adventures continue throughout the boy’s dreams where the reader meets up with other children resting in peaceful locations around the world. From the warm desert to the big, blue ocean where a shell is the bed of choice, Mom’s softly colored kiss always and forever moves forward across each page, proving that Mom will never give up.

The book also involves yet another special, unconditional kiss that is sent down to the sleeping boy from far above in Heaven. It is that never-ending kiss that is granted from the Lord who created and watches over each child resting in every beautiful location across the mighty universe.

Yes, this is a simple tale, yet a timeless one. And if there is one thing children need in this society today, it is to own the knowledge that they are never alone; that the kiss of kindness and love from the people and Our Lord who watches over them, is always there no matter what life brings. The illustrations are truly magical, and the brightness of the colors and sweet-looking characters will have kids shouting for THIS to be the tale told every night…before heading off to sleep to have their own adventures.

Quill says: People ask how a classic is made. Well…this author and illustrator most certainly found the perfect blend of magic words and unforgettable pictures to become one.

For more information on My Kiss Won't Miss, please visit the author's website at: lesleydahlseng.com

Books In For Review

Another nice batch of books have just arrived for review.  Check them out!





The Curse of Anne Boleyn by C. C. Humphreys Description not yet available.  

The Little Parrot and the Angel's Tears by M. Anu Narasimhan The little parrot is very small. Hes smaller than his friend the elephant. Hes smaller than his friend the deer. Hes even smaller than his friend the rabbit. But when his friends and home are in danger, the little parrot decides he has to do something to help. Find out if the little parrot can save them from a big problem.  

White Gardenia by Belinda Alexandra In a district of the city of Harbin, a haven for White Russian families since Russia’s Communist Revolution, Alina Kozlova must make a heartbreaking decision if her only child, Anya, is to survive the final days of World War II. White Gardenia sweeps across cultures and continents, from the glamorous nightclubs of Shanghai to the austerity of Cold War Soviet Russia in the 1960s, from a desolate island in the Pacific Ocean to a new life in post-war Australia. Both mother and daughter must make sacrifices, but is the price too high? Most importantly of all, will they ever find each other again?  

The Glittering World by Robert Levy When up-and-coming chef Michael “Blue” Whitley returns with three friends to the remote Canadian community of his birth, it appears to be the perfect getaway from New York. He soon discovers, however, that everything he thought he knew about himself is a carefully orchestrated lie. Though he had no recollection of the event, as a young boy, Blue and another child went missing for weeks in the idyllic, mysterious woods of Starling Cove. Soon thereafter, his mother suddenly fled with him to America, their homeland left behind. But then Blue begins to remember. And once the shocking truth starts bleeding back into his life, his closest friends—Elisa, his former partner in crime; her stalwart husband, Jason; and Gabe, Blue’s young and admiring coworker—must unravel the secrets of Starling Cove and the artists’ colony it once harbored. All four will face their troubled pasts, their most private demons, and a mysterious race of beings that inhabits the land, spoken of by the locals only as the Other Kind...

Her Name Is Rose by Christine Breen In a cottage in the west of Ireland, Iris--gardener and mother to an adopted daughter, Rose--is doing her best to carry on after the death of her husband two years before. At the back of her mind is a promise she never intended to keep, until the day she gets a phone call from her doctor. Meanwhile, nineteen-year-old Rose is a brilliant violinist at the Royal Academy in London, still grieving for her father but relishing her music and life in the city. Excited but nervous, she hums on the way to an important master class, and then suddenly finds herself missing both of her parents when the class ends in disaster. After the doctor’s call, Iris is haunted by the promise she made to her husband--to find Rose’s birth mother, so that their daughter might still have family if anything happened to Iris. Armed only with a twenty-year-old envelope, Iris impulsively begins a journey into the past that takes her to Boston and back, with unexpected results for herself and for Rose and for both friends and strangers.

Book Review - Love By The Book

Love By The Book

By: Melissa Pimentel
Publisher: Penguin Books
Publication Date: February 2015
ISBN: 978-0143127284
Reviewed by: Amy Lignor
Review Date: February 2015

Okay...it’s true: there is an obsession with Sex In the City – all the way down to the Real Housewives who spend their days crabbing at each other, talking about sex, wardrobe, and drinking various glasses of wine while they’re doing it. Why is this so interesting, you ask? Look at CNN for five minutes and you will completely understand why fun, wit, and high-heels are a necessity to stay positive in this world.

Main character, Lauren Cunningham, is a lot like the rest of the females out there who are under thirty (but just barely) and are immensely unlucky-in-love. Instead of heading straight to some internet site to attempt to find the ‘one,’ Lauren picks up and moves to London. Not only is she not going on the internet, but she is going to drop the whole ‘man forever’ thing and simply strive for that vivacious, fun-loving, partying lifestyle that her single-self wants.

Englishmen are sexy. Anyone who can say they are not has not read and drooled over Mr. Darcy (the man who is STILL what every woman on the planet wants); or, seen Daniel Craig on screen being his James Bond pompous, egotistical, hottie self that turns everyone on. Lauren is all about those English gentlemen, but she seems to be having the opposite problem most women have. She wants the sex; she does not want more. And she can’t figure out why the men she dates don’t understand that. So...an experiment comes into play.

Lauren makes up her own ‘Guide to Dating’ by learning through each date and making notes in a journal of both bad and good choices. She wants to be the ultimate siren, and perhaps...just perhaps...that one Mr. Darcy may enter the picture before she’s done. Whether or not she can hold onto him is another twist.

These are those female-friendly tales that shout-out to all the girls out there who roll their eyes, drink their various drinks, have music prepping time, as well as a whole conversation about how to dress “casually” just to watch TV with a guy bringing beer. You would think “casually” is easy...but it’s not. The author has done a wonderful job with presenting a very real female struggling to understand some men’s minds, while finding her true self in the mix.

Quill says: Sarcasm at its absolute finest. This author is able to combine irony and fun with true emotion. Cheers!

Book Review - A Penguin Named Patience

A Penguin Named Patience: A Hurricane Katrina Rescue Story

By: Suzanne Lewis
Illustrated by: Lisa Anchin
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Publication Date: February 2015
ISBN: 978-1585368402
Reviewed by: Deb Fowler
Review Date: February 2, 2015

Patience looked a tad worried as she looked around the aquarium from her perch on top of a rock. Well, maybe a lot worried. She was an African penguin and was used to hot weather, but this time it was different. The Audubon Aquarium in New Orleans was flooded and the “aquarium staff was evacuated because of the flooding.” It was dark, terribly hot, and Tom, the penguin keeper and his sardines, were nowhere to be found. Patience wasn’t the only penguin facing this terrible dilemma.

There was Fanny, Ernie, Kohl, Bunny, Amquel, Voodoo (who was “under a spell”), Rocky, Stachmo, Dyer, Zelda, Dennis and many others. Patience was the oldest and had to keep them all in line, but was she patient enough to do it? It was dark and it was getting hotter by the minute when all of a sudden there was a beam from a flashlight. It was Tom! He set up a fan and brought them sardines. Patience snuggled up in his lap as the other penguins clustered around. It looked like they all would have to leave the aquarium, but where could they go?

This is a charming story of what happened to the Audubon Aquarium penguins during Hurricane Katrina children will love. Of course the main character is Patience, the “penguin in charge” and oldest penguin at the aquarium. The aquarium was heavily damaged and once the waters subsided they were going to be relocated to the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. The artwork is delightfully expressive and very appealing. Young children will be rooting for Patience and all the other penguins as they safely make their way out of the aquarium. There’s an interesting historical note about Hurricane Katrina and the fate of the Audubon Aquarium in the back of the book. Do they ever return home? You’ll just have to read this tale to find out!

Quill says: Young children will love watching the journey of Patience and the Audubon Aquarium penguins as they make their way across the country!

Easy Way to Purchase Award-Winning Books

Feathered Quill has an online store linked to Amazon where we list all the books that have won our annual award program.  If the book is listed on Amazon, it's in our store.  It's a quick, easy way to find awesome books in your favorite genre(s).  Just updated to included books that won our 2015 contest.  Check it out!

http://www.featheredquill.com/awards.shtml