Monthly Archives: November 2013

Hearing back from old friends

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God blessed me with Publica tu eBook. Although it is not my full time job just yet, it has fabricated wonderful things for me.

I have met wonderful and interesting people and I have made friends from all over the planet.

I keep regular contact with the authors that are creating the future of literature today; we are interested in the same things, the same technologies and the same issues.

I get sent eBooks every week and I get to read them for free!

I can write about these books and both authors and the public in general actually read and comment my stuff.   

And I even make some bucks out of it! And soon enough, I will be making enough to make it my full time job.

What a dream!

I was thinking about all these things today as I read the kind email that my friend Bill Jenkins, from Your ESL Story Publishers Ltd., sent me this week.

I reviewed the first book from Bill back in March. You may read my review here. Bill writes really nice books for children trying to learn English as a Second Language, and he gives his books away for free! If you are interested in downloading his free eBooks, you can do so here.

Well, Bill, like most of my friends, does not know how to take a break: he has been writing and writing and writing since March and putting out new books. It turns out he was recently interviewed by the paper and he sent me his interview.

And he let me know that his books have my review on it!

For that and for all my friends, I can only say thank you, thank you, thank you!

Thank you for the books and the friends and the reviews and the money and the translations and all of it.

So I was not planning on making a Thanks giving post, but Bill made me do it!

Next Saturday we will get back to the reviews and there are some interesting books coming up!

In the meantime, again, thanks for reading me and being with me on this wonderful trip that is Publica tu eBook.

Joe

 

 

“Passions, Strengths and Self Esteem! The Extensive Guide, Surviving Primary School” by Dr. Orly Katz

passions(La reseña en Español está en la parte inferior)

I have had the pleasure of reading the work of Dr. Orly Katz before, and we have talked about one of her books on this blog.

Dr. Katz has created two very successful series for young people: “Surviving Junior High” and “Surviving Primary School.”

The areas of expertise of Dr. Katz are leadership, empowerment and self esteem for children and young adults and she coordinates all her efforts through her website located at www.simplymemodel.com

This week we read “Passions, Strengths and Self Esteem!” which is the last book of her Primary School series.

As is the case with her other books, this one also illustrates all the important points with true stories about Dr. Katz and her friends growing up in the 80s. Through the use of stories, Dr. Katz is able to explain her points to her readers and later on, she provides the tools to cope with the explained issues.

On this book, she works on the model of “keys” and she provides three keys to help youngsters:

  • The “key to identification” is designed to help the reader identify where he or she is today; what are the problems and what needs to be done to improve.
  • The “Key to your inner core” helps us identify what are our strengths, our dreams and our passions.
  • Finally, the “Key to action” helps us put everything together and start working to improve our life.

The book is loaded with questionnaires and tools to help children get to know their selves better. I particularly liked the Identification circle exercise.

The issues that Dr. Katz helps with are not exclusive to children and young adults: these are issues that all of us struggle with everyday.

Time and time it has been proved in several different countries and studies that success is not only dependant on knowledge and hard skills. Success depends greatly on our emotional stability and our ability to cope with the issues on our lives, while maintaining a healthy self esteem.

If we can provide these tools to our children today, instead of waiting until they are troubled adults, we will help them achieve their dreams faster.

The books from Dr. Katz are recommended by the Ministry of Education of her own country and, in my opinion, they should be recommended by the Education Departments of all countries.

I highly recommend her books to anyone who has teen or preteen children, even if It seems they are not struggling through school.

If you want to try only one book in the series, I recommend you start with this one, since it is loaded with excellent tools and tips.

You can purchase your copy at Amazon, clicking here.

Our mission is to help English writing authors reach new markets in other languages. If you have an eBook in English we can help you reach the Latino community, translating your work to Spanish. Contact us at http://www.publicatuebook.ca or at joe@publicatuebook.ca

“Passions, Strengths and Self Esteem! The Extensive Guide, Surviving Primary School”  por la  Dra. Orly Katz

passions

Ya he tenido antes el placer de leer el trabajo de la Dra. Orly Katz y ya hemos hablado de uno de sus libros en este blog.

La Dra. Katz ha creado dos exitosas series de libros para gente joven: “Surviving Junior High” y “Surviving Primary School.”

La Dra. Katz es una experta en las áreas de liderazgo, empowerment y auto estima para niños y jóvenes adultos y coordina todos sus esfuerzos a través de su sitio localizado en www.simplymemodel.com

Esta semana leímos “Passions, Strengths and Self Esteem!” el cual es el último libro de su serie de libros para la secundaria.

Igual que sucede en sus otros libros, todos los puntos importantes se ilustran con historias verdaderas de la doctora y sus amigos cuando eran jóvenes y estaban creciendo durante la década de los años ochenta. A través del uso de ejemplos, la Dra. Katz explica su punto de vista a los lectores, y más tarde les da todas las herramientas para superar los problemas expuestos.

En este libro, ella trabaja sobre el modelo de las “llaves” y explica tres llaves para ayudar a los jóvenes:

  • La “Llave de la identificación” está diseñada para ayudar al lector o lectora a identificar dónde se encuentra hoy; cuáles son sus problemas y qué necesita hacer para mejorar.
  • La “Llave del núcleo interno” nos ayuda a identificar cuáles son nuestras fortalezas, nuestros sueños y nuestras pasiones.
  • Finalmente, la “Llave a la acción” nos ayuda a poner todo junto y a empezar a trabajar para mejorar nuestras vidas.

El libro está lleno de cuestionarios y herramientas para ayudar a los niños a conocerse mejor. A mí me gusto especialmente el ejercicio del círculo de la identificación.

Los problemas con los que Dra. Katz nos ayuda no son exclusivos de los niños y los jóvenes: estos son asuntos con los que todos nosotros luchamos todos los días.

Se ha comprobado una y otra vez en diferentes países y estudios que el éxito no depende solamente del conocimiento y de nuestras habilidades técnicas. El éxito depende en gran medida de nuestra estabilidad emocional y nuestra habilidad para manejar los problemas en nuestras vidas, mientras mantenemos una auto estima balanceada.

Si les podemos dar estas herramientas a nuestros hijos hoy, en lugar de esperar a que sean adultos con problemas, les estaremos ayudando a lograr sus sueños más rápidamente.

Los libros de la Dra. Katz son recomendados por el Ministerio de Educación de su país, y en mi opinión, deberían de ser recomendados por los Ministerios de Educación de todos los países.

Recomiendo ampliamente sus libros a cualquier persona que tenga hijos pequeños o adolescentes, aún si no tienen síntomas de estar padeciendo en la escuela.

Si solamente leyeran un libro de la serie, recomiendo empezar con este, ya que está lleno de excelentes herramientas y consejos.

Puedes comprar el libro de la Dra. Katz en Amazon, presionando aquí.

La misión de Publica tu ebook es ayudarte a que tu libro electrónico alcance mayores mercados a través de nuestros servicios de traducción, asesoría, mercadotecnia, edición, diseño gráfico y otros. Búscanos en www.publicatuebook.ca o en joe@publicatuebook.ca 

Brother in the Land by Robert Swindells

brother in the land

Does anyone know how many novels has Robert Swindells written? When I last tried to count them, they were more than 50.

His first novel “When darkness comes” was published when he was about 34; he was writing full time by the time he was about 41 and he was still writing when he was 71, some three years ago.

If you are older than 40 years you will surely remember the cold war and the fear of an atomic war. I don´t understand why this fear seems to have gone away, when the bombs have clearly not. The danger is still there, and perhaps it needs more publicity.

“Brother in the Land” was not published in the fifties, the sixties or the seventies: it came out in 1984. I don´t remember the eighties being particularly paranoid about atomic bombs, but I do remember reading the book several years later: it left me cold.

The book follows Danny, a kid unfortunate enough to survive the atomic war. The story does not try to give any explanation on why there is such a catastrophe, it just starts with it. For some dumb reason, Danny lives through the short war that only lasts some hours; his real problems begin later. There is no food; diseases caused by radiation do not respect people, animals or plants; robberies, murders and violence in general abound in a territory that is no longer a country or a safe place to live.

Travelling with Danny is his brother, Ben and a girl they meet, called Kim.

Danny is trying to get his small group to Holy Island, where he thinks all of them will be safe.

Be warned: this is not an adventure book where a cool kid vaguely resembling Harry Potter, saves the day and everybody too, while playing soccer or a similar game; this is not a story where you will feel exhilarated and enthusiastic, while pretending to effortlessly kill post-apocalyptic zombies at the same time that you romance the girl next door.

The book does not have a happy ending.

The book will leave you tired, hopeless and disappointed of the human race.

Still, it is one of the most beautiful and strong books I have ever read and I would not only recommend it on heartbeat; if it was up to me, this book would be a mandatory reading on high school.

I wish all the leaders of this planet read this book; I wish everybody read this book. It would teach us all to fear and hate war and defend peace at all costs and above everything else.

This is just how strong this book is.

If you have not read it yet, run to get your copy and prepare to suffer and to learn from one of the most prolific authors of our time: the wonderful Robert Swindells.

Buy your copy at amazon today.

Our mission is to help English writing authors reach new markets in other languages. If you have an eBook in English we can help you reach the Latino community, translating your work to Spanish. Contact us at http://www.publicatuebook.ca or at joe@publicatuebook.ca

“It stinks to be pink!” by Kathryn L. Novak

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(La reseña en Español está en la parte inferior)

“It stinks to be pink!” follows the misadventures of a young fuzzipuff called Spotty.

Spotty is unhappy because he happens to be the only pink fuzzipuff, while everybody else is blue. Unknowingly, Spotty has been growing apart from his friends because he feels he doesn’t belong in the group.

Kathryn L. Novak has written and illustrated an excellent book for young children that teaches several valuable lessons.

Perhaps the most important teaching from the book is that you can become whatever you want.

Just as significant is understanding that most of the times our self image influences the way our friends and other people perceive us: when we are sad or depressed, our negativity affect the way others see us; likewise, when we are happy, that positive feeling inspire others.

Finally, the book teaches us to try to accept ourselves just the way we are, no matter if we are pink or blue.

Little by little, over a long period of time, Spotty learns all these lessons and hopefully our children will learn them too, as we read them the book.

The author herself has also done some lovely illustrations for the book.

There were a couple of things that I wish were different in the book, thought: if this is a book for young children, I think it should be much shorter. Ideally, I would like to read the book to my kid in one single night, but this is not possible at 67 pages long. Perhaps it can be edited on new editions to be shorter.

I would have also liked Spotty to work more to achieve his goals. While I totally agree on the methodologies of believing and visualizing, I think it is important for children to understand that great changes need a good deal of work, too.

I have only these two issues, but again, the book is a superb work and it should not be missed by parents and little children, who will learn several valuable lessons while reading a fun book.

Please visit Kathryn L. Novak at the following links to learn more about her books and work:

 Our mission is to help English writing authors reach new markets in other languages. If you have an eBook in English we can help you reach the Latino community, translating your work to Spanish. Contact us at http://www.publicatuebook.ca or at joe@publicatuebook.ca

“It stinks to be pink!” por Kathryn L. Novak

 

pinky2

“It stinks to be pink!” sigue las desventuras de un joven fuzzipuff llamado Spotty.

Spotty es infeliz porque es el único fuzzipuff rosa, mientras que todos los demás son azules. Sin darse cuenta, Spotty se ha ido alejando de sus amigos porque no se siente parte del grupo.

Kathryn L. Novak ha escrito e ilustrado un maravilloso libro para niños pequeños que nos enseña varias lecciones valiosas.

Quizás la enseñanza más importante de este libro es que tú puedes ser lo que tú quieras.

Igual de significativo es el saber que la mayoría de las veces la imagen que tenemos de nosotros mismos influencia la forma en que nuestros amigos y otras personas nos perciben: cuando estamos tristes o deprimidos nuestras negatividad afecta la forma en la que otros nos ven; de la misma manera, cuando estamos contentos, esos sentimientos positivos inspiran a otros.

Finalmente, el libro nos enseña a tratar de aceptarnos a nosotros mismos justo como somos, sin importar si somos rosas o azules.

Poco a poco, a lo largo de un gran periodo de tiempo, Spotty aprende todas estas lecciones y con un poco de suerte, nuestros hijos las aprenderán también, conforme vamos leyéndoles el libro.

La autora ha creado también las simpáticas ilustraciones del libro.

Hay un par de cosas que me gustaría que fueran diferentes en el libro: si este libro es para niños pequeños, pienso que debería ser mucho más corto. Idealmente, me gustaría leerle el libro a mi hijo en una sola noche, pero con 67 páginas no es posible. Quizás puede ser editado en una nueva edición para ser más corto.

También me hubiera gustado que Spotty trabajara más para lograr sus metas. Mientras que estoy totalmente de acuerdo con las metodologías de creer y visualizar, pienso que también es importante que los niños entiendan que los grandes cambios necesitan, también, mucho trabajo.

Solamente tengo esas dos observaciones, pero el libro me parece un excelente trabajo y creo que ni padres ni pequeños deben perdérselo. Estos últimos aprenderán varias lecciones valiosas mientras leen un libro entretenido.

Por favor, visiten a Kathryn L. Novak en las siguientes ligas para aprender más acerca de sus libros y su trabajo:

La misión de Publica tu ebook es ayudarte a que tu libro electrónico alcance mayores mercados a través de nuestros servicios de traducción, asesoría, mercadotecnia, edición, diseño gráfico y otros. Búscanos en www.publicatuebook.ca o en joe@publicatuebook.ca