Dream-like fantasy for young children

I am so thrilled to read this in-depth dual review, written by Dii, a Top 500 Amazon Reviewer, together with Mary-Grace Bylo, a girl of 11 years old, for my children's book Jess and Wiggle:

Dream-like fantasy for young children

By Dii TOP 500 REVIEWER on August 10, 2015

Format: Kindle Edition

Mary-Grace Bylo, 11-year-old reviewer:

Jess and wiggle is a delightful story about a young girl that never laughs or smiles until she meets a small creature named wiggle. Wiggle tries to make Jess laugh and smile, then Jess caught wiggle and refused to release him. Then wiggle takes Jess high into the air and floating around them were socks, combs, and knots. Then while Jess was telling wiggle to stop with all of crazy doings she let a laugh a small laugh and a smile.

This book is great for kids with a great imagination. I would recommend this book for children ages 8 to 9 reading it by themselves and ages 5 to 7 having it read to them. The pictures are beautiful and colorful. I liked the way you made the story rhyme.

My Review
Uvia Poznansky’s Jess and Wiggle is pure whimsy and fantasy, perfect to engage the minds and imaginations of young children with the soft and colorful pictures filled with a melange of objects, as well as young Jess and the magical Wiggle. A beautiful way to send a small child off to dreamland with gentle rhyming, soft illustrations and delicate handwriting making this entire tale a work of art to treasure for generations from a gifted artist in all she does.

We received this edition from Uvi Poznansky in exchange for our honest reviews.

Cover reveal: The White Piano

I have just finished designing the cover for my novel, The White Piano, which is volume II of my series, Still Life with Memories. Here is what the story is about:

Coming back to his childhood home after years of absence, Ben is unprepared for the secret, which is now revealed to him: his mother, Natasha, who used to be a brilliant pianist, is losing herself to early-onset Alzheimer’s, which turns the way her mind works into a riddle. His father has remarried, and his new wife, Anita, looks remarkably similar to Natasha—only much younger. In this state of being isolated, being apart from love, how will Ben react when it is so tempting to resort to blame and guilt? “In our family, forgiveness is something you pray for, something you yearn to receive—but so seldom do you give it to others.” 

Behind his father's back, Ben and Anita find themselves increasingly drawn to each other. They take turns using an old tape recorder to express their most intimate thoughts, not realizing at first that their voices are being captured by him. These tapes, with his eloquent speech and her slang, reveal the story from two opposite viewpoints. 

What emerges in this family is a struggle, a desperate, daring struggle to find a path out of conflicts, out of isolation, from guilt to forgiveness. 

★ Love reading? Treat yourself to a family saga ★

The complete series: 

Still Life with Memories

Volume II: 

The White Piano

Paperback ★ Hardcover 

Barnes&Noble

Audiobook

“Liberally salted with buttery smooth prose & fascinating insights”

Cover reveal: The Music of Us

Here is the cover for my novel, The Music of Us, which is volume III of my series, Still Life with Memories. This is what the story is about:

In 1970, Lenny can no longer deny that his wife is undergoing a profound change. Despite her relatively young age, her mind succumbs to forgetfulness. Now, he goes as far back as the moment he met Natasha, when he was a soldier and she—a star, brilliant yet illusive. Natasha was a riddle to him then, and to this day, with all the changes she has gone through, she still is.

“Digging into the past, mining its moments, trying to piece them together this way and that, dusting off each memory of Natasha, of how we were, the highs and lows of the music of us, to find out where the problem may have started?”

To their son, Ben, that may seem like an exercise in futility. For Lenny, it is a necessary process of discovery, one that is as tormenting as it is delightful. He often wonders: can we ever understand, truly understand each other—soldier and musician, man and woman, one heart and another? Will we ever again dance together to the same beat? Is there a point where we may still touch?

★ Love reading? Treat yourself to a love story ★

The Music of Us

Paperback ★ Hardcover

Audiobook

“Liberally salted with buttery smooth prose & fascinating insights”

My new series: Still Life with Memories

For a long time I had this idea of creating a series around the events in the life of a unique family. The characters had to have not only a compelling voice, but they had to see things in an entirely different light, which would create contrasts and conflicts, as each one of them comes from a different background and has different passions, needs, and aspirations.

This series is titled Still Life with Memories. Check out the book descriptions and the ways they relate to each other: 

My Own Voice 
(volume I of Still Life with Memories)

Ten years ago, when she was seventeen, Anita started an affair with Lenny, in spite of knowing that he was a married man. Now married to him and carrying his child, she finds herself condemned to compete with Natasha’s shadow, the memory of her brilliance back in her prime, before she succumbed to early-onset Alzheimer’s. Despite Anita’s lack of education, her rough slang, and what happened to her in the past, Lenny tries to transform her. He wants her to become Natasha. 

Faced with his compelling wish, and the way he writes her as a character in his book, how can Anita find a voice of her own? And when his estranged son, Ben, comes back and lives in the same small apartment, can she keep the balance between the two men, whose desire for her is marred by guilt and blame? 

The White Piano
(volume II of Still Life with Memories)

Coming back to his childhood home after years of absence, Ben is unprepared for the secret, which is now revealed to him: his mother, Natasha, who used to be a brilliant pianist, is losing herself to early-onset Alzheimer’s, which turns the way her mind works into a riddle. His father has remarried, and his new wife, Anita, looks remarkably similar to Natasha—only much younger. In this state of being isolated, being apart from love, how will Ben react when it is so tempting to resort to blame and guilt? “In our family, forgiveness is something you pray for, something you yearn to receive—but so seldom do you give it to others.” 

Behind his father's back, Ben and Anita find themselves increasingly drawn to each other. They take turns using an old tape recorder to express their most intimate thoughts, not realizing at first that their voices are being captured by him. These tapes, with his eloquent speech and her slang, reveal the story from two opposite viewpoints. 

What emerges in this family is a struggle, a desperate, daring struggle to find a path out of conflicts, out of isolation, from guilt to forgiveness. 

The Music of Us 
(volume III of Still Life with Memories)

In 1970, Lenny can no longer deny that his wife is undergoing a profound change. Despite her relatively young age, her mind succumbs to forgetfulness. Now, he goes as far back as the moment he met Natasha, when he was a soldier and she—a star, brilliant yet illusive. Natasha was a riddle to him then, and to this day, with all the changes she has gone through, she still is.

“Digging into the past, mining its moments, trying to piece them together this way and that, dusting off each memory of Natasha, of how we were, the highs and lows of the music of us, to find out where the problem may have started?”

To their son, Ben, that may seem like an exercise in futility. For Lenny, it is a necessary process of discovery, one that is as tormenting as it is delightful. He often wonders: can we ever understand, truly understand each other—soldier and musician, man and woman, one heart and another? Will we ever again dance together to the same beat? Is there a point where we may still touch?

Dancing with Air 

(volume IV of Still Life with Memories)

Upon leaving NY to serve on the European front, Lenny begins to long for Natasha. At first, he enjoys fulfilling his military task, which is to write bogus reports, designed to fall into the hands of Nazi intelligence and divert their attention from the upcoming invasion in Normandy. To fool the enemy, these reports are disguised as love letters to another woman. This task has to remain confidential, even at the risk of Natasha becoming suspicious of him. 

Once she arrives in London, he takes her for a ride on the Harley throughout England, from the White Cliffs of Dover to a village near an underground ammunition depot in Staffordshire. When he is wounded in a horrific explosion—the largest to occur on UK soil—Natasha brings him back to safety, only to discover the other woman’s letter to him. Now, the one worry that lays heavily on his mind is this: Will she trust him again, even though as a soldier, he must keep his mission a secret? Will their love survive the test of war?

In the past Natasha wrote, with girlish infatuation, “He will be running his fingers down, all the way down to the small of my back, touching his lips to my ear, breathing his name, breathing mine. Here I am, dancing with air.” In years to come, she will begin to lose her memory, which will make him see her as fragile. “I gather her gently into my arms, holding her like a breath.” But right now, during the months leading up to D-Day, she is at her peak, ready to take charge of the course of their story.

Marriage before Death 

(volume V of Still Life with Memories)

After D-Day, her photograph appears on the most-wanted Nazi propaganda posters. Who is the girl with the red beret? She reminds him of Natasha, but no, that cannot be. Why does Rochelle step into his life when he is lead by SS soldiers to the gallows? At the risk of being found out as a French Resistance fighter, what makes her propose marriage to a condemned man?

Apart from Love 

(volume I and II of Still Life with Memories, woven together, with two additional chapters):

Apart from Love contains two threads, volume I and II of Still Life with Memories, woven together (along with two new chapters) around the same events in 1980, when Ben returns to meet his father, Lenny, and his new wife, Anita. It is then that he discovers a family secret. 

★ Love reading? Treat yourself to a family saga ★

My Own Voice

Paperback ★ Hardcover 

Audiobook

 

The White Piano

Paperback ★ Hardcover

Audiobook

The Music of Us

Paperback ★ Hardcover 

Audiobook

Dancing with Air

Paperback ★ Hardcover 

Audiobook

Marriage before Death

Paperback ★ Hardcover 

Audiobook

“Liberally salted with buttery smooth prose & fascinating insights”

A Beautiful Tale for Children of ALL Ages

I am so thrilled to read this wonderful joint review, written by Dii, a Top 500 Amazon Reviewer, together with Mary-Grace Bylo, a girl of 11 years old, for my children's book Now I Am Paper:

A Beautiful Tale for Children of ALL Ages

By Dii TOP 500 REVIEWER on August 9, 2015

Format: Kindle Edition

This review is written by Mary-Grace Bylo, 11 years old.

The book Now I Am Paper is a wonderful story about a tree making a friend with a young child; the child plays and enjoys the tree. When the child leaves the tree grows sad and lonely. Then the tree gets cut down and becomes paper. The tree realizes being paper is starting a new life; a life the tree adores being a book of a caring child forever.

I did enjoy the book; I would recommend it for children the ages 8 to 10 reading by themselves and 5 to 7 read to them. I liked how the story was written in the perspective of the tree and how the tree feels about its life and how it’s like to start a new life as something new. The illustrations were beautiful and I liked how you put the text on the leaves.

My review:

Uvi Poznansky has taken the beauty of her art and combined it with the beauty of her poetic words while telling the tale of life, friendships, loss and change. A perfect read for bedtime, family time and alone time. The cadence of the rhyming flows gently, the meaning behind the words make for a perfect family discussion after!

We received this copy from Uvi Poznansky in exchange for our honest reviews.

Long live the king!

I awaken from my dreams when Solomon comes in. Here he is, standing over me. It must be very late or else very early, because the chamber is dark, so dark that even his freckles cannot be spotted.

I try to sit up in bed, but find myself humiliated by my frailty, as I cannot do it. Instead I raise my hand in greeting, and at once he places his inside mine, as if he were not a young man but a little child, craving warmth. 

“Dad,” he says, “are you cold?”

“Not anymore,” I say, and mean it. At long last I feel connected to a son of mine. 

My son leans over and for a brief moment, lays his face upon my chest. 

“I need you,” he says, simply. “Don’t leave me.”

To which I say, more to myself than to anyone else, “I’m about to go the way of all the earth.”

Solomon says nothing, but his hand trembles in mine.

“Be strong,” I say, “and act like a man.”

“It’s not easy.” 

“Don’t I know it.”

“But,” he says, “on second thought I think I can act like a man, even as I’m learning to be strong.”

I smile, but my heart aches to know that having been anointed, a change will soon come over him. He will soon sense it himself. The poet in him must stand aside and make way for a leader to be born.

How can I prepare him for that? I have so much advice in me, which I am not sure he would learn to accept. There is so little time! I fear I may stumble over my words in my attempt to teach him. So I take a deep, labored breath and tell him, “To mete out justice, you must harden.”

And he asks, somewhat reluctantly, “Must I?”

“Yes,” say I. “I’ve reigned forty years over Israel: seven years in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem. It’s time for you to sit on my throne. Let your rule be firmly established.”

Cutting in, “I have a feeling,” he says.

“What kind of a feeling?”

“You’re going to give me a lot of advice, aren’t you?”

“It’s now that I must give it.”

“Not sure I’m ready for it, dad.”

“You yourself know what Joav, son of Zeruiah, did to me,” I say and immediately cut myself off, because I cannot talk about the death of Absalom, not now. Perhaps, not ever. 

So I start again. I say, “Joav supports your brother, Adonijah, and will always scheme against you.”

“That I understand,” says Solomon. “He’ll be a danger to me even if he serves me.”

“You know what he did to two commanders of Israel’s armies, Abner son of Ner, and Amasa son of Jether.”

“I do.”

“He killed them,” say I, “shedding their blood in peacetime as if in battle, and with that blood he stained the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet.”

I feel a shudder going through my child. 

“Deal with him,” I advise, “according to your wisdom.”

Solomon raises an eyebrow. “So you won’t tell me what to do with him?”

“No,” say I. “You’re the king now, are you not? Just remember this: don’t let his gray head go down to the grave in peace.”

To my surprise, “Wait,” says the kid. “Let me write this down, so I can figure it out later.”

“This is not a quote for your Song of Songs,” say I. “You must understand it now, or it’s going to be too late for you.”

David's Dying Charge to Solomon by Ferdinand Bol

David's charge to Solomon, top, and David and Abishag, bottom 

12th century illuminations from the Winchester Bible

Winchester Cathedral Library, England

The Ancestors of Christ: David, Solomon by Michelangelo

My trilogy is greatly inspired by art of all ages. Here is a lovely painting by Ferdinand Bol, depicting this quite yet dramatic moment of leaving the heir to the throne with a difficult charge: to kill the first in command. The artist uses light from above, light that highlights the pale face of the dying king and glows all around him, on the pillow, while his son stands in the shadows.

And below, an illuminated manuscript with the letter E depicting the same moment in a decorative fashion, and a detail from the Sistine chapel depicting David and Solomon by Michelangelo.

★ Love historical fiction? Treat yourself to a gift ★

Historical Fiction with a Modern Twist...

The Edge of Revolt

Paperback ★ Hardcover 

Audiobook

"The miracle of Uvi Poznansky's writing is her uncanny ability to return to old stories 

and make them brilliantly fresh"

-Grady Harp, Hall of Fame reviewer

Another Brilliantly Written Masterpiece by the Author

De Ann Townes Jr. "Native American Girl" as she is known in the world of Poetry is the author of Peer Inside My Soul and See me, and A King Among Prince. Her Poetry has been widely anthologized by The League of American Poets, 2005 Expressions II red book edition. I am thrilled to find her lovely review of my historical fiction novel, A Peek at Bathsheba:

5Another Brilliantly Written Masterpiece by the Author

ByDe Ann Townes Jr. "Native American Indian who is a Poet, Author, Artist"on August 7, 2015

Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: A Peek at Bathsheba (The David Chronicles Book 2) (Kindle Edition)

A Peek at Bathsheba
The David Chronicles Volume 2
By Uvi Poznansky
27 July 2015

What can I say..... I've been a fan of Author Uvi Poznansky's work for a few years now. She's one of the most prolific writers that I've had the pleasure to read. Whether it's Poetry, Biblical Fiction or Children's books, she is a truly amazing talented writer.

"A Peek at Bathsheba" is another one of her masterpieces!!! King David's Psalms are one of my favorite books in the Bible, and the story of King David and Bathsheba is legend. Author Uvi Poznansky brilliantly penns this Biblical story in such a way it leaves you totally breathless intellectually and emotionally.

I'm not sure if you've ever had the privilege to read some of her work? But if you haven't I overwhelmingly recommend that you pick up a copy soon. Maybe even start with this book. Another brilliantly written masterpiece by the author!!! A definite 5 Star Read!!