Growing Bookworms – Meet prolific children’s book author and poet, Victoria Zigler, and two reviews #bookreviews #GrowingBookworms #childrensfiction

Posted: August 9, 2023 | Author: robbiesinspiration | Filed under: Uncategorized | 61 Comments

I am delighted to introduce prolific children’s book author and poet, Victoria Zigler, as my August Growing Bookworms featured children’s book author.

You write picture books for younger children and books for older children too. How do you ensure that your language and writing style are suitable for the target age group?

I suppose, in a way, I don’t.

The thing is, I’m a pantser to the extreme.  I write the stories, and only then assess – based on the way they turn out, the language style I ended up using, etc – which age group they’d be most suitable for.  So, to be honest, I often don’t know who my intended audience is until I’m done writing the story.

The only exception would be if I’m writing another book for a series, in which case I’ll obviously want to make sure the whole series is suitable for the same general age group.  In that case, I would make sure I stick to the same kind of writing style and language as was used in the earlier book, or books.

Many of your children’s books involve animals. Do you have a specific motivation for writing about animals for a child audience?

For one thing, I’m a big fan of animals.  I love animals of almost any kind, grew up in an area surrounded by fields full of cows and mountains covered in sheep, and have owned a variety of pets: birds, cats, chinchillas, degus, dogs, fish, gerbils, guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits, rats, and a tortoise.  It’s no secret that I prefer the animals’ company to that of humans as a general rule, so I’ve had plenty of opportunity to observe their behaviour.

For another thing, many of the stories I enjoyed in childhood featured animals, from the mischievous Peter Rabbit and all the other creatures in Beatrix Potters tales, to the troublesome toad and faithful mole in Kenneth Graham’s Wind In The Willows, and we can’t forget Aslan the lion from C S Lewis’ Chronicles Of Narnia, or all those classic fairy tales like Aesope’s Fables and The Three Little Pigs, just to name a few.  So, given how many happy hours I spent in those animal-filled worlds, I want to pass that joy on to a new generation.

Do you include characteristics of real people and pets/animals in your stories?

Yes, I do.  Sometimes intentionally, and sometimes I’m sure I do it unconsciously too.

I do it with pets especially, since several of my books – most notably my Kero’s World and Degu Days Duo books – feature my own pets, since each is a semi-fictionalized story of a time in our lives (sometimes combining more than one experience in one story to make it more eventful) as told from the point of view of the pet in question.

But I have done it from the point of view of people too.  For example, in my Toby’s Tales series, which are a series of books based on some of the challenges I faced myself when adjusting to losing the last of my sight.  Toby himself is based on a combination of my brother, Carl, who is also blind, and myself.  Toby’s older brother, Jake, is based on our older brother, Wayne.  And their little sister, Emma, is based on a combination of myself and my honorary niece of the same name who happened to be around the same age I wanted to make the fictional Emma at the time of writing the series.

How do you get your ideas for your stories?

The short answer is: which ones?

The thing is, it varies.  Some are based on real life experiences, like how my book How To Trust Your Human is based on my attempts at regaining the trust of one of our degus, Joshua (refered to as Buddy in the story) when he became nervous and suspicious of us after we lost all three of his brothers, and Snowlilie’s Brother is based on observing our Westie, Lilie, as she adjusted to having a new little brother in the form of our Cavapoo, Logan.

What do you like best about writing for children?

Mostly it’s just fun: I love being able to play with my own imagination and creativity while potentially encouraging theirs.  Plus, I do like the fact my books may potentially help to encourage a new generation of readers.

Books for children are harder to market than books for adults. How do you go about marketing your books and what works best for you?

I’m the wrong person to ask about marketing. 

I tried seeking marketing opportunities at first, but I ultimately felt like it just took time away from the parts I enjoyed, so now I take interview opportunities when they come up, whether on blogs or podcasts, I’ll accept invitations to do guest posts, and if the opportunity to drop hints about me writing and publishing books happens to come up I’ll usually give it a mention.  But that’s all I do; I don’t really put the effort I probably should in to marketing, because I don’t like doing it, and – though I’d obviously love my books to reach as many people as possible – have no desire to be rich and famous.

I write because I have poems and stories inside of me that need to get out.  I publish them because I feel art in all its forms should be shared.  And as long as anyone who does actually stumble across my books enjoys them, that’s good enough for me.

My review of Jelena by Victoria Zigler

Jelena is a delightful and poignant story about a tree dryad whose bond to her Frazer Fir tree is broken when a family of humans select it for their Christmas tree. The author’s beautiful writing shows Jelena’s pain and loss when she is left without her tree which she knows is dying as it’s been cut.

Interesting parallels are drawn between the pleasure of the human family who are delighted with their choice of tree and Jelena’s loss as the fir’s tree dryad. The humans are not bad, they are just ignorant of the implications of their actions.

The story is engaging and has a happy ending. Reading it to or with children will provide plenty of opportunities to discuss the impact of human activities on the natural world and ways of minimizing negative repercussions.

urchase Jelena by Victoria Zigler: https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Jelena/dp/B0BVDR7GL5

My review of Thistle The Fairy Trickster by Victoria Zigler

Thistle The Fairy Trickster is a delightful retelling of the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, Thistle is a fairy tasked with watching an area of the river where local children come to swim and play. Thistle’s job is to ensure that any children playing in her area are safe and to intervene and provide assistance if something goes wrong. Most of the time, Thistle’s job is boring and she has no-one to talk to or play with. Thistle decides to play some tricks on her fairy friends and that gets her into trouble.

This story is fun way of teaching small children about inappropriate and misleading tricks.

Purchase Thistle The Fairy Trickster here: https://www.amazon.com/Thistle-Fairy-Trickster-Victoria-Zigler-ebook/dp/B07L3FP5Q8

About Victoria Zigler

Victoria Zigler is a blind vegan poet and children’s author.  Born and raised in the shadow of the Black Mountains of Wales, UK, she moved away from Wales three times: once to spend six months living in Alberta, Canada, the other times to spend a few years living near Hastings on the South-East coast of England, UK, each time returning to Wales.  Now she lives in Wales again, along with a West Highland White Terrier named Lilie, a Cavapoo named Logan, a Hermann’s Tortoise named Artemis, and her Canadian husband, Kelly.

Despite spending far too much time in hospital, and eventually losing her sight to Congenital Glaucoma, Victoria – or Tori, if you prefer – has been writing since she knew how, with no plans to stop any time soon.  She has a long list of publications to her name, including several poetry collections, a whole load of children’s stories, a story in the sci-fi and fantasy anthology Wyrd Worlds II, three poems in the Poetry Treasures anthology, and a poem in the Stand Together charity anthology.  Plus, Tori’s Hermann’s Tortoise, Artemis, was featured in both the Magnificent Pets Coloring Book For Children and the Magnificent Pets Mandala Coloring Book For Adults.

Vegan due to both a love for animals and dairy allergy, as well as an Eclectic Pagan, Tori describes herself as a combination of Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter books: Hermione’s thirst for knowledge and love of books, combined with Luna’s wandering mind and alternative way of looking at the world.  She has a wide variety of interests, designed to exercise both the creative and logical sides of her brain, which she dabbles in at random depending on what she feels like doing at any given time, and is most likely to be found playing with her petkids, involved in calls with the ACB Community, curled up somewhere with a cup of tea and a book, working on some kind of craft project, or trying to keep one step ahead of those pesky typo fairies while writing her own books.

Links

Website: http://www.zigler.co.uk

Blog: https://ziglernews.blogspot.co.uk

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/toriz

Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Victoria-Zigler/424999294215717

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/victoriazigler

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCakYxH7BNyc2Lxr1g1nbP9w

Find Tori’s books on…

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/toriz

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Victoria-Zigler/e/B00BHS9DQ6/

…Along with a variety of other retailers, such as Audible, iTunes, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble.

About Robbie Cheadle

Award-winning, bestselling author, Robbie Cheadle, has published thirteen children’s book and three poetry books. Her work has also appeared in poetry and short story anthologies.

Robbie also has two novels published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.

The ten Sir Chocolate children’s picture books, co-authored by Robbie and Michael Cheadle, are written in sweet, short rhymes which are easy for young children to follow and are illustrated with pictures of delicious cakes and cake decorations. Each book also includes simple recipes or biscuit art directions which children can make under adult supervision.

Robbie’s blog includes recipes, fondant and cake artwork, poetry, and book reviews. https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/

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Dark Origins – Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford and the forced interment of the Japanese Americans during WW2 #DarkOrigins #WW2 #civiliansduringwar

Posted: July 26, 2023 | Author: robertawrites235681907 | Filed under: Uncategorized | 33 Comments

An overview of the book

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is a historical novel written by Jamie Ford. The plot makes use of a dual timeline: one featuring Henry as a 12-year-old Chinese boy growing up during World War II and the other depicting Henry 44 years later as a widow with an adult son.

The storyline revolves around the friendship between Henry, the only son of immigrant Chinese parents living in Seattle, Washington, and Keiko, the daughter of a second-generation Japanese family. Henry and Keiko become friends as the only two Asian children at their elementary school. They are both bullied by their white peers, and they are both expected/forced to work as free labour in the school cafeteria dishing up meals and cleaning up in terms of their scholarships.

When Japan bombs Pearl Harbour and the USA enters the war, the anti-Japanese sentiment in America increases. Henry’s father, who only speaks Cantonese and who despises the Japanese because of the Japanese invasion of the Chinese province of Manchuria in 1931 and the impact it had on Henry’s father’s life, is concerned about his son’s safety. He forces Henry to wear an “I am Chinese” badge so that he isn’t mistaken for Japanese. Henry’s father is ardently anti-Japanese and Henry hides his friendship with Keiko and her family from him.

As the war progresses, the anti-Japanese sentiment in America increases and all people of Japanese ancestry are viewed as potential spies and war criminals. This culminates in the US government ordering all the people in Japan Town where Kaiko lives (adjacent to China Town where Henry lives) to relocate to internment camps.

Keiko’s family is transferred temporarily to Camp Harmony, a temporary internment facility on the Western Washington Fairgrounds in Puyallup, Washington. Henry is able to visit her through a collaboration with the lady who runs the cafeteria at his elementary school. He assists her in serving meals to the internees on a Saturday.

Eventually, Keiko’s family is transferred to the Minidoka internment camp in Idaho. Henry visits her there once with an older musician friend and they become betrothed. They agree to wait for each other and to write to each other.

Sadly, due to Henry’s father’s fanatical anti-Japanese attitude, this never turns out as planned and Henry loses touch with Keiko.

The second timeline features Henry as an older man with a grown son, Marty, who is studying at the local college. Henry wife, Ethel, has passed away from cancer and he is living alone. One day, Henry learns that the possessions of several Japanese American families who were forced to leave Japan Town have been discovered in the basement of the Panama Hotel. Henry goes to the hotel to investigate as he believes that some of Keiko’s families stored possessions might still be there. Henry has never forgotten Keiko even as he cared for his critically ill wife, but he kept his thoughts to himself. He eventually finds the courage to confide in Marty and his fiance about Keiko.

In summary, this book is about how warfare effects the lives of everyday people and civilians living away from the front lines. Keiko and Henry’s lives are both turned upside down due to the culture of fear, anger, and animosity that dominates during times of war.

Although the temporary and permanent internment camps where Keiko and her family live are both featured in this book, the camps are not a main character as is the case in some books about similar topics.

Dark origins

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet revolves around the forced internment of Japanese American citizens during WW2.

During WW2, the US government forcibly relocated and incarcerated approximately 125,000 people of Japanese descent in 75 different internment facilities. Of those interned, approximately 67% were American citizens. The internments were undertaken as a result of Executive Order 9066 signed into effect by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This order allowed regional military commanders to designate ‘military areas’ from which ‘any or all persons may be excluded’. People of Japanese ancestry were forced to leave Alaska, California and parts of Oregon, Washington and Arizona on the strength of this order.

Japanese Americans were initially prevented from participating in the military, but in 1943 this was changed and 20,000 Japanese Americans fought in the war on behalf of America. According to Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, the internees volunteered for military services to prove their loyalty to their new country.

I was interested to learn that by 1992, the US government disbursed $1.6 billion in reparations to 82,219 Japanese Americans who had been incarcerated.

These are a few pictures that correlate with the content of this book taken from https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/japanese-american-relocation

Japanese Americans incarcerated in crowded conditions in Santa Anita. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/japanese-american-relocation

A few powerful quotes from Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

“The hardest choices in life aren’t between what’s right and what’s wrong but between what’s right and what’s best.”

“Henry, this isn’t about us. I mean it is, but they don’t define you by the button you wear. They define you by what you do, by what your actions say about you. And coming here, despite your parents, says a lot to them- and me. And they’re Americans first. They don’t see you as the enemy. They see you as a person.”

“The more Henry though about the shabby old knickknacks, the forgotten treasures, the more he wondered if his own broken heart might be found in there, hidden among the unclaimed possessions of another time. Boarded up in the basement of a condemned hotel. Lost, but never forgotten.”

“Henry looked up and down the empty avenue—no cars or trucks anywhere. No bicycles. No paperboys. No fruit sellers or fish buyers. No flower carts or noodle stands. The streets were vacant, empty—the way he felt inside. There was no one left.”

About Roberta Eaton Cheadle

Award-winning, bestselling author, Roberta Eaton Cheadle, is a South African writer and poet specialising in historical, paranormal, and horror novels and short stories. She is an avid reader in these genres and her writing has been influenced by famous authors including Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, Amor Towles, Stephen Crane, Enrich Maria Remarque, George Orwell, Stephen King, and Colleen McCullough.

Roberta has two published novels and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories included in several anthologies. She is also a contributor to the Ask the Authors 2022 (WordCrafter Writing Reference series).

Roberta also has thirteen children’s books and two poetry books published under the name of Robbie Cheadle, and has poems and short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.

Roberta’s blog features discussions about classic books, book reviews, poetry, and photography. https://roberta-writes.com/.

Find Roberta Eaton Cheadle

Blog: https://wordpress.com/view/robertawrites235681907.wordpress.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RobertaEaton17

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robertawrites

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Roberta-Eaton-Cheadle/e/B08RSNJQZ5

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A Review of Through The Nethergate by Roberta Eaton Cheadle

Posted: July 24, 2023 | Author: kayelynnebooth | Filed under: Uncategorized | 7 Comments

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