I think it's been well-established that Roald Dahl is my favorite author of all time (with Charles Dickens at a close second). If you were in doubt about my love of Dahl's works you can check out
this masterpost that I wrote last year with no less than 5 reviews. XD It should come as no surprise that I fangirled
pretty hard over
Wonderful, Wicked, and Whizzpopping: The stories, characters, and inventions of Roald Dahl by Stela Caldwell with (of course) illustrations by the incomparable Quentin Blake. From the very first page (the front-matter section), it is apparent that this is a special book. There are little snippets which look like yellow, lined notebook paper which denote actual notes that Dahl wrote to himself about the books which made him famous. (He always wrote his books on yellow, lined notebook paper by the way.) Did you know it was nearly
James and the Giant Cherry instead of
James and the Giant Peach? That somehow doesn't have
quite the same ring to it. This entire book is like getting a glimpse behind the scenes PLUS reading condensed versions of some of his more famous children's books. The mixed media used in this book complements the subject matter perfectly. I'd go so far as to say this is a visually stunning book and you'd be silly not to check it out for yourselves...especially if you're a fan of Quentin Blake. You might have guessed already but this is a 10/10 in my books (pun totally intended).
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| The front-matter section which sets the tone for the rest of the book. |
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| How can you not love this?! |
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| There are a couple of foldouts which are fun. |
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| Blogger's hands not included in purchase of the book. |
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| I really loved these little touches. |
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| At the very end there's a little surprise. ;-) |
**If you're interested in buying this book or any books really, you can click
here or here. The first will re-direct you to AbeBooks and the second will re-direct you to The Book Depository. These are great websites for purchasing books (AbeBooks carries inexpensive used and out-of-print books and The Book Depository ships free everywhere in the world). Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made by following either of these links. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **
ReplyDeleteHi Reading for the heck of it,
I thought you'd might enjoy a free advanced release e-copy of the brand new comedy fantasy sci-fi "11,984." This is not a conventional novel. It contains a lot of creative innovations, including punctuation from the future.
Thousands of years in the future, humanity has finally eradicated war, poverty, and all forms of human suffering. With no problems or unanswered questions remaining in the world, everyone is bored out of their minds, that is until the sun starts putting on a light show, the first warning sign it's getting ready to supernova!
Our heroes from the year 11,984 are your typical family of two mothers, three fathers, a couple of kids, and plenty of robots. Fun-loving Troll, so called because of her giant troll doll hair(They don't have names in the future, or wear clothes) is the world's leading hydrologist/interior decorator, whose plans to retire quickly change when faced with the drought to end all droughts. Bulb, bald head glowing like a lightbulb, is the cranky Minister of Rational Thought. His faith in science is tested by the total collapse of society. Last but not least is Litterbot, the clumsy garbagebot who gets no respect, and whose highest priority--to clean--is frustrated by a world without messes.
As the family works on building an escape spaceship, the sun bombards them in changing colors, which unbeknownst to them causes radiation insanity. The sky colors keep growing stronger, and these totally peaceful people are at each other's throats. It gets so bad their bodies mutate (which helps them work faster) and world computer crashes (forcing them to read primitive paper books, and rely more on Litterbot.) Will they launch before getting smashed to pieces?
My first humor novel, Foxavier and Plinka, was published in 2013, and is also available.
May I email the complete 11,984 manuscript of 75,000 words?
Thank you.
Scott Evans
Rochester NY
Hi, Scott. Thanks for visiting the blog and leaving a comment.
DeleteUnfortunately, I'm not taking any review requests at this time. I appreciate you reaching out and I wish you the best of luck with your book! :-)