As a publisher of children’s and young adult books, I am privileged to receive feedback on the impact reading good books has on young minds, and have discovered it means many different things to each of them. To some, reading is the ultimate escape. It’s their ticket to a new relationship, an awesome adventure or even a journey through space and time. To others, it offers an infusion of self-esteem, confidence, hope or a chance to follow a dream. Reading generates laughter, tears, excitement, empathy, learning and much more.
A good book is like a tall glass of cool water on a hot day. It soothes the mind and exercises our imagination, broadens our horizons and leaves an ache of knowledge. The need to know and create has evolved humanity, just as the written word set us apart. I attribute books to treasure and do my best as a parent to harness the desire for expression and adventure for my children. As I once spent many summers as a child reading books that had taken me from my bedroom into the lands of middle earth, into space and other lives; books had given me a different perspective of the world around me and often times the empathy towards one character or another would teach me the capability of compassion we have for each other more than my peers.
Having recently read how devastatingly low summer learning has become, I feel a loss for all those precious books that had once taken me on many imaginary summer vacations. There is such a great importance to pass to our children the love of reading and of imagining the impossible as possibility. This is why when I was given the chance to review Five Star Publications I leaped on it with childlike abandon. Five Star Publications initiative is to help readers skip the “summer slide” by offering wonderful books to keep their minds active and their imaginations away this summer. The authors of the books write towards educational entertainment for our kids so that we might encourage them to seek adventure and learn from their journey. Some of the authors are children themselves, such as Michael J. Moorehead to whom wrote The Student From Zombie Island.
Michael J. Moorehead is a Junior High School student from Tempe, Arizona who enjoys video games, hiking and participating in Boy Scouts. He one day hopes to become an environmentalist, for his love of Polar Bears, and in the meantime has written a handful of articles and this wonderfully written story that was written when he was only 7. The Student From Zombie Island: Conquering the Rumor Monster is about how one rumor about a new student multiplies until everyone’s imagination runs away from them.
The rumors are flying! Bust ’em Up Bill hasn’t even shown up yet at his new school and already the other kids are scared to death. With a name like his, why wouldn’t they be? They say his breath is so bad it will singe your face if you get too close and if he burps near you, it might even set your hair on fire!
The story is beautifully illustrated by Kathy Parks, a mother and amateur athlete whose neuromuscular disorder caused her to turn to an old passion of artistry; which gave away to a new career as an illustrator. The story being amazingly well written by Mr. Moorehead at 7, it is only enhanced by the grace that Mrs. Parks gives her own art. Together, The Student From Zombie Island, becomes an amusingly educational story that I think children can all relate to. Although they may giggle at some of the ideas the children in the book get into their heads over the new kid in school, it teaches them to ‘Conquer the Rumor Monster’ as Michael Moorehead so cleverly came up with.
You can find many more books like this in Five Star Publication’s bookstore, along with a whole other array of stories from many, many authors.
One of the most amazing and beautiful things that Five Star Publications offers is Kids Can Publish.com, a website where young authors, journalists, poets, photographers and cartoonists can get published FREE OF CHARGE. It instills the love of writing in students through contests, workshops, books and publishing. I could have only dreamed of this as a child and to see this being offered for our budding artists of tomorrow overwhelmed me with a sense of gratitude. Come the beginning of the school year I will be taking the information presented to me by Five Star Publications of this program and giving it to the English teacher in our Middle School. I would implore you to do the same for your schools and give children the ability to see what amazing abilities they have to create and for some, to capture their dream.
If you’re a mother, father or grandparent of a budding writer who would like to feed your loved one’s passion for writing and put him or her on the road to writing success, click on “get published enter contests” and encourage your child to enter contests to start winning prizes and to submit their works for publishing in magazines, newspapers, books and online sites that cater to youths. In addition, bring Kids Can Publish University to the attention of your child’s school and PTA and encourage them to get involved with a class project that can be published!
Connect:
You can connect with Five Star Publications on Facebook and/or @fivestarpub on Twitter.
Buy It!
You can buy The Student From Zombie Island for $15.95 or many other books Five Star Publications offers in their bookstore for various prices.
The Giveaway: How would you like to win one of these Five Star Publication Titles for your young reader!? I have one to give away to one lucky contestant! The winner can choose from the list below.
The Student From Zombie Island
Rattlesnake Rules
Addie Slaughter: The Girl Who Met Geronimo
Cheery
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
Shakespeare For Children: The Story of Romeo & Juliet
Billie the Kid and the Lincoln County War
To enter the giveaway tell me what sparks the imagination of your young reader the most! This step must be done before you can qualify for extra entries.
Extra Entries:
- Follow @fivestarpub on Twitter
- “Like” Five Star Publications on Facebook
- One extra entry for having the “Summer Fun & Moving Event” banner on your site!
- Follow Outnumbered 3 to 1 through Google Friend Connect , subscribe by email or through a reader {1 entry for each}
- Follow inRandom through Google Friend Connect , subscribe by email or through a reader {1 entry for each}
- “Like” Outnumbered 3 to 1 on Facebook or follow through Networked Blogs on Facebook {1 entry for each}
- Post the Outnumbered 3 to 1 button on your blog sidebar and/or add us to your text blog roll, leaving a link {1 entry for each}
- Share this post using the “share” button below {Let me know where you shared it and your user name if applicable}
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Comment on any non-giveaway post {1 entry for each post commented on, max 2 extra entries}
- Blog about this giveaway, linking to this giveaway post. Make sure to leave a direct link {5 Entries, commenting 5 times}
- Follow @OutnumberedMama on Twitter and Tweet this giveaway using the following tweet and leave a direct link to your tweet {Can be done daily}
#Win 1 Summer Reading Book @fivestarpub @OutnumberedMama https://outnumbered3-1.com #Giveaway #SummerFun
Please leave a separate comment for each extra entry, otherwise it will just be counted as one. Your loss.
This giveaway is open to residents of the US until July 30th at 11:59 pm.
Check out a complete list of giveaway rules.
I received samples for the purpose of reviewing. Opinions expressed are my own or my families and are not influenced by any form of compensation. Take it or leave it. Click here to view my full acknowledgment policy.
