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Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Andrew Benson Brown Reviews Poems by "The Sonnet Queen"

 

“The Singing Lines of Theresa Rodriguez: A Review of Sonnets”

by Andrew Benson Brown

 

Title: Sonnets

Author: Theresa Rodriguez

Publisher: Shanti Arts LLC

Publisher Website: www.shantiarts.com

ISBN: 978-1951651350

Released July 2020

$12.95 (print, soft cover, perfect bound)

80 pages

Purchase 


 

Theresa Rodriguez was called "The Sonnet Queen" by one of her other appreciators following a recent public reading she gave. While there are a few other women, and not that many more men, who have written and published sonnets in our time (not exactly a popular genre compared to the fad of 'instapoetry'), she is the only contemporaneous 'female sonneteer' I know of—which is to say, the only woman who has written many sonnets, a la Shakespeare, and published a book exclusively devoted to the craft.

 

In his literary criticism, William Empson showed a subtle attention to what he called the singing line.” In her new collection of poetry, Sonnets, Rodriguez raises this concern for the musicality of verse to a spiritual level. Take the first stanza of The Sacred Harp:

 

The music, oh the music starts, and we

Begin to sing in skillful harmony;

Begin to sing in sweet simplicity;

Begin to sing in deep complexity.

 

As both a poet and a trained classical singer, Rodriguez is more consciously aware of the musicality of poetry than most, and it is not surprising that other poems in this collection such as The Piano,’ and Oh, When I Hear,’ also take music as a subject. Most are of course not directly about music, per se, though all display the melodious qualities of regular meter and perfect rhyme. Those that do take music as their surface-level subject are really avenues of exploring larger themes: a panegyric to a Steinway as an expression of ideal beauty, suffering as a path to where a truth, so sacred, may be found,” and, in The Sacred Harp,’ the worship of Gods mystery.

 

In just these three poems, Rodriguezs work captures what poetry (and I would add, most great art in general) is meant to do: to capture truth, beauty, and goodness. Poets, those writers who carefully order their words to make of it a musical language and to use metaphors liberally, are those beings most suited to drawing comparisons in the order of creation. Rodriguez seems to implicitly understand this idea that poetry is, perhaps after pure music, the straightest vehicle to God. Sonnet for the Sonnet-Maker,’ is addressed to God Himself, and draws our attention to how the elegance of iambic pentameter dominates so much of the King James Bible:

 

You know the beats and rhythms, the iamb

Which pulses like a crippled-legged walk;

You, with the force of one who said, I am

That I am,” in iambs you will talk

Of truth and beauty, pain and sorrow, all

And nothing, touching both Heaven and Hell

In what you speak and say…

 

Cripple-legged walk” is a brilliant detail: a phrase that at once mimetically describes the iambic line, and with it our relationship to God. It finely illustrates Aquinass concept of analogical predication, and how words may be understood two different ways as they apply to two different levels of being. God, I am that I am,” knows the beats and rhythms” of the iamb, and communicates to us in His cripple-legged walk” because we, as bipedaled, fallen creatures, must use words to hobble towards He who soars. In Sonnet Sonnet’ Rodriguez repeats this imagery with variation to refer to the three poets with sonnet forms named after them. Being mere mortals (though ones who approach the divine closer than others), the cripple-rhythmed beauty” of Petrarch, Shakespeare, and Spenser is emphasized for their more delimited abilities to exercise Condensed and distilled thought,” rather than to touch Heaven and Hell or to recall the void.

 

In CCP and Falun Gong Sonnet,’ the first-person narrator awakens on an operating table with one or two less internal organs: Go, invoke / your party loyalty as I am cut / And mutilated.” From communing with the deities in golden ages of yore, we have degenerated to living in a Kafkaesque world where the muse is an anonymous bureaucrat singing of zoning laws.

 

Rodriguez expresses her own sense of belief in opposition to pernicious modern tendencies in the sonnet, In This Post-Christian Era,’ as well as in a number of other poems in the collection that explore her faith. These tend to come in the latter half of the book; they are preceded by reflections on the art of sonnet-writing and relationships, and precede in turn final poems on the decay of time. One might roughly divide the collection into four sections dominated by these themes (though there are also a few on political and historical subjects interspersed throughout). The move from writing, to love, to God, to the passing of things would seem to be no accident, and this framework offers further proof that Theresa Rodriguez is an artist who speaks to the soul.

 

The straightforwardness of many titles (Spenserian Sonnet,’ ‘Petrarchan Sonnet,’ etc.) are mirrored in the candor of Rodriguezs personal, often self-conscious, reflections on all of the topics mentioned; and the variety of sonnet-styles she mixes (sometimes within a single poem) echo the variety of topics. The pathos of certain poems is balanced by a mimetic wit in others. In Enjambment sonnet,’ the lines begin in terse sentences that give way to longer ones that flow over, preventing isolation between lines. The weight of the line is shifted to the beginning and middle rather than the end, as the addressee is enjoined to

 

Dissent! The point

Is to surprise. Surprise! Then negate

All smoothed-out evenness.

 

The carefully chosen end word point” gives a sense of periodization before rushing us along to the next line, as the author negates” the usual expectations of the poetic line. The brief imperative, Think!” is sandwiched at the midpoint of the line before the final couplet. And then think more,” we are told. Theresa here shows us that the art of poetry, while inventive, is more than mere spontaneity. In the equally clever Five Minute Sonnet,’ the narrator opens the first stanza relating doubts as to whether such a thing can be done, increases in confidence during the second stanza, and describes the flow of how, The lines just come so quickly to my mind,” in the third, until hitting writers block in the final couplet. Artlessness in art is not really a thing, aside from occasional brief spurts as the one that resulted in ColeridgeKubla Khan,’ following waking from an opium dream. Lacking drugs for stimulation, most examples of effortlessness are only apparent—the Muse only descends upon one after long reflection. Examples of pure spontaneity that contemporary free-verse poets often brag about are simply the results of museless minds.

 

In poems like Annelid Sonnet,’ ‘Cut Sonnet,’ and Homeless Sonnet,’ each titular analogy is at once partly autobiographical, a description of her subject matter on love or pain, and a metaphor for the artistic process. In Sonnet of the Hardened Heart,’ she employs crustaceous imagery to create an analogy with the relation between flesh and spirit:

 

Care less, I warn myself; bother no more

With inner crevices: prying the shell

Like scabs (rough, oozing, sore), which crust, but tell

Of tumults against the psychic seabed floor;

It is in vain.

 

She goes on to pile images on top of one another to convey a sense of being entombed” within her existence: the meat” is like newborn skin” and the vaginal flower.” The effect on display here is an example of William Empsons second of the seven types of ambiguity he describes in his book of that name: when two or more meanings are resolved into one for purposes of building psychological complexity.

 

Rodriguez often undertakes to explore her conceptual themes through a repetition of abstract words. Most of these occur in poems about the self-reflexivity of writing, and occasionally in poems about capturing the divine. In Earl of Oxenfords Sonnet’ she defines a term with itself (For truth is truth, and you do shake a spear…”) to justify the narrators euphoria in discovering the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship. In Form Sonnet’ there is the nested identification-turned-negation of

 

….the freedom that free form can miss.

 

For freedom in most freedom is remiss

In finding beauty in this poetry.

 

Rodriguez here highlights the contradictory nature of free verse: that through its own lack of discipline it loses the quality it seeks to define itself through. Referring then to her own penchant for poetic structure she writes, In building such some scoffers might dismiss: / But such is perfect perfection to me.” Here the placement of perfection” upsets the hitherto perfect meter of the stanza, creating an ironic effect.

 

This placing of the same abstract term adjacently to itself as a different part of speech occurs in several other poems in the collection. In The Simple, Stalwart Faith,’ she asks, Where is the light / that lit this darkened darkness?” She could have used deepened,’ to modify darkness” or some other synonym of intensified’ to make her point, yet she chose to use the same word to emphasize the depth and doubling of a metaphysical condition once was lit” by light.” In the next line, Now I strive to say regurgitated prayers,” she further emphasizes the sense of monotony to the rituals that underlie her doubts. Some might see the use of abstractions in this way as a weakness that undermines the purpose of poetry, whose strength lies in the use of sensual imagery; Rodriguez, though, seems to use them to careful effect in most places in a way that reflects her themes.

 

The William Empson quote about the singing line” cited at the beginning of this essay is better applied to Rodriguez than even Empson himself—a modernist poet whose verse reflects his admiration for scientism by employing objective diction, and as such can sometimes falls rather flat. Rodriguez writes in a straightforward and clear style, and while her poems operate on different levels, there is little thats overtly contradictory in a head-scratching way. With a few possible exceptions, the reader seldom stops to invent interpretations or tease apart multiple meanings that must be held in the mind at once. These are poems that can be appreciated by the average literate person, as well as the more sophisticated enthusiast.

 

Theresa’s website is www.bardsinger.com.


MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER

 

Andrew Benson Brown is a poet who lives in rural Missouri. In exile from urbane delights and perversions, he spends his days tending to the needs of the downtrodden. At night he enters the ancient courts of ancient men, via the Internet Archive. He is currently in the early stages of writing a mock epic poem about the American Revolution.

 

Andrew Benson Brown Reviews Poems by "The Sonnet Queen"


MORE ABOUT BLOGGER AND WAYS TO GET THE MOST FROM THIS BLOG

 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everithing from Amazon vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!

This blog is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.



Note: Participating authors and their publishers may request the social sharing image by Carolyn Wilhelm at no charge.  Please contact the designer at:  cwilhelm (at) thewiseowlfactory (dot) com. Provide the name of the book being reviewed and--if an image or headshot of the author --isn't already part of the badge, include it as an attachment. Wilhelm will send you the badge to use in your own Internet marketing. Give Wilhelm the link to this post, too!

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Saturday, January 23, 2021

A Real Grandpa Tells Stories in a Real Grandpa's Voice

Title: Alex Asks Grandpa About the Olden Days

Subtitle: A 1940s Story

By Gary L. Wilhelm

Illustrator: Pieter Els

Publisher: Wise Owl Factory

Available at Amazon

ISBN: 9781729375280 (2020)

Genre: Children’s Picture Book

 

 

                        Author Speaking in a Real Grandpa’s Voice

 

 

Grandpa Shares His Childhood Memories

 

 

 

Gary L. Wilhelm is doing his Grandpa Thing for his grandson Alex, exactly as a grandpa would. He talks about commonplace things and events from his childhood like furnaces in the basement that must be fed coal to operate and his scary moment with a bull. Commonplace when he was a child, but not so common for today’s children with so many families headed for cities and suburbs and in this fast-moving computer age like telephones without dials—or pushbuttons!

 

And he does in his real grandpa voice. It’s as natural as if a real grandchild were sitting on his knee, but every reader benefits from the closeness of his point of view. Alex Asks Grandpa About the Olden Days achieves something close, something rare and it does it easily, conversationally,  and with love. 

 

 

 


A Real Grandpa Tells Stories in a Real Grandpa's Voice


A Real Grandpa Tells Stories in a Real Grandpa's Voice



MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG 


 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Authors, readers, publishers, and reviewers may republish their favorite reviews of books they want to share with others. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read and love. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page and in a tab at the top of this blog's home page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites so it may be used a resource for most anyone in the publishing industry. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. #TheFrugalbookPromoter, #CarolynHowardJohnson, #TheNewBookReview, #TheFrugalEditor, #SharingwithWriters, #reading #BookReviews #GreatBkReviews #BookMarketing

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

The Queen of Sonnets Reviews James Sale's Poetry "HellWard"

A Review of HellWard by Theresa Rodriguez

Title: HellWard: The English Cantos Volume One

Author: James Sale

Genre: Poetry

146 pages

Independently Published

ISBN: 979-8654151919

Released June 2020

$10.02 (Paperback)

Purchase on Amazon



Reviewed by Theresa Rodriguez


I had the pleasure of listening to James Sale read each of his twelve Cantos of HellWard through his Wider Circle YouTube videos, which was a riveting experience. Then I had perhaps the even more riveting experience of reading the book, which I did in one day. The language is so compelling and the story so interesting that I could not put it down! 


HellWard is a journey of the mind and spirit whereby the author, in a series of visions, is guided by no less than the great Dante himself through various wards of hell. Within these wards he encounters an array of people from his past, as well as world leaders, philosophers, and poets.


In HellWard we find powerful, often disturbing language, at the same time raw and refined, beautiful and at times jolting in its honesty. What struck me particularly throughout the book is the way Sale uses mono-syllabic words to powerful effect: death, hell, pain, depth, weak, guts, ache, dark, gunk, blight, flesh, tears, stench, dread, blood, hiss, oozed,“clots of gore” (a wonderful image), cries, groans, filth, swill, “smelt the blood” (another wonderful image), skull, skin, bone, ice, heat, hot, bare, raw, mess, froth, “dark webs,” “hard  knots”, guilt, “black holes,” blotch, stank, bleak, slop, “greed and pride and lust,” and “sick slime.” Each of these words are like little pinpricks, jabbing the sensibilities over and over again as one reads through the text.


I was deeply affected by many passages in HellWard. These few examples impressed me particularly: 


In Canto Two, James is seeing his mother in hell:


“My hair electrified, raised up in shock;

My tongue cleaved to the roof of my mouth;

I could not speak, seemed my whole being locked,”


And in this poignant passage we read about his dysfunctional relationship with her:


“How I longed, despite it all, just to feel

She loved me, and that deeply she approved;

My whole life waiting, and hoping she will


At last say words that mean, truly, I am loved.”


In Canto 3 we have a vivid and disturbing scene of a former friend's sperm-bank babies:


“'Hi James,' he said, emotionless and waste.


'I'd knew you'd find me; knew you'd like my work.'

What work? I thought, Then heard some sullen sobs:

The walls themselves had faces in, each hurt--


Each face half-formed, deformed, and like a yob's

Made so through lack of love and fatherhood,

But each one spoke, as one collection, mob;


Each one deprived of anything called good

So each one cried and tried to finger-point,”


There is a fine alliterative passage in Canto 5:


“And Marlene's hair, once red, now growing shoots

Of flecked and flecking grey, like fine, foamed froth,”


And a beautiful passage on prayer in Canto 6:


“And I at last in the wide interval

Unfroze and found myself creating prayer.”


Dante's advice to James in Canto 7 is skillfully rendered:


“What's solid materialises here;

In mortal life cause and effect may not

Always manifest as a conjoined pair;


Delay may be profound, prolonged, such that

The superficial mock, see that as proof

No order is, or word established fiat;”


As well as is this passage:


“Where is my guide? Was that someone I dreamed?

How lonely being lonely felt.”


In Canto 9, we find another striking image:


“...we drowned

In his rich sop of words that, as I say,

Echoed in double froth, doubled rebound,”


The book is full of intensity and movement, and there is much more ready to to read and savor.


One technical aspect of Sale's writing that intrigued me is is use of imperfect rhyme. As he says in the interview which follows the Cantos: “Of course, the key is not to set oneself the misguided task of insisting on perfect rhymes, since our language is not as rich in them as Italian.” Hence we have such combinations as “breaker,” “beaker,” and “features”; “other,” “further,” and “together”; and “fish,” “crush,” and “flesh.” I have been fairly rigid in my own rhyming philosophy but reading Sale's work has inspired me to play around with a little more flexibility in my rhyming in the future.


This collection of twelve Cantos is the pinnacle of achievement by a master poet. Sale has managed to interweave a vibrant personal narrative with current topics of interest such as mass murder, Brexit, and modern poets and philosophers. It is a rich and intense reading experience. I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in Dante, classical poetry, or social commentary.


James Sale’s website is https://jamessalepoetry.webs.com


More About the Reviewer


Theresa Rodriguez is the author of three books of poetry: Jesus and Eros: Sonnets, Poems and Songs (Bardsinger Books, 2015), Longer Thoughts (Shanti Arts, 2020), and Sonnets, a collection of sixty-five sonnets (Shanti Arts, 2020). Her work has appeared in such journals as The Scarlet Leaf ReviewThe Wilderness House Literary ReviewSpindrift,Mezzo CamminThe Wombwell RainbowSerotonin, The Road Not Taken, and the Society of Classical Poets Journal. Her website is http://www.bardsinger.com, where you can view videos of her performance poetry and find information about her books. Follow Theresa on Instagram and Twitter @thesonnetqueen.


The Queen of Sonnets Reviews James Sale's Poetry "HellWard"



MORE ABOUT BLOGGER AND WAYS TO GET THE MOST FROM THIS BLOG

 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everithing from Amazon vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!


This blog is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.



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Monday, January 18, 2021

Fourth in Wanda Luthman's Franky Series Picture Books for Children

Title: Franky The Fearless Flamingo

Series: Franky the Flamingo, 4th in Series 

By Wanda Luthman

Illustrator: Mara Reitsma

Available Paper and Ebook at Amazon

ISBN: 9781734009934 (2020)

Genre: Environment / Children’s Picture Book

 

 

 

                        Doing Good! Just Because

 

Frankie Does It Again with Lessons for the Planet
And for Living Better Lives

 

 


How lovely to have a children’s author who is also has a counseling background. Though I think of this Franky book (and Wand Luthman’s others) as little lessons in saving the planet, this one is the story of a crab who decides not to live up to his name learns about compassion from Franky to whom he owes gratitude but ends up being anything but mean and crabby. 

 

Young children will love the rhyme, the relatable expressions of the animals he or she meets, but my hope is that they will remember the lines: 

“Herman (the Crab) had learned to use his strength for good

To help someone in need just because he could.”

 

It seems this Franky story also shines as an anti-bullying story. 

 

I have given my grandsons a copy of all of Luthman’s books for the empathetic stories, for environmental lessons, but also for the beautiful illustrations by Mara Reitsma, who, as it happens, almost always includes one of my favorite animals—a turtle—in her Florida-influenced artwork. It’s the Ocean! It’s the Color. It’s the variety of animals! 

 


Fourth in Wanda Luthman's Franky Series Picture Books for Children


MORE ABOUT BLOGGER AND WAYS TO GET THE MOST FROM THIS BLOG

 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everithing from Amazon vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!

This blog is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.


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Friday, January 15, 2021

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 The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Authors, readers, publishers, and reviewers may republish their favorite reviews of books they want to share with others. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read and love. Please see submission guidelines in a tab at the top of this blog's home page or go directly to the form at https://www.bit.ly/FinishedReviewSubmissions. Authors and publishers who do not yet have reviews or want more may use Lois W. Stern's "Authors Helping Authors" service for requesting reviews. Find her guidelines in a tab at the top of the home page, too. 

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Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Chasing Coral Movie and Into the Deep Book Discussion Guides

Chasing Coral Movie and Into the Deep Book Discussion Questions

Everything on planet Earth is connected to every other living thing. Both the movie and the book present alarming information about the decline of the ocean we need to understand. The ocean is a moderator of temperature and carbon. Without it, temperatures would be rising even more quickly. The film presents visual images to help us comprehend the magnitude of the issues. The book provides detailed, factual, comprehensive, decades-long studies and current research to counter the fact global warming now is a natural phenomenon. Yes, the Earth has warmed before, but it was over many thousands of years. This time it has been happening for about 200 years, more since World War II. Recovery would take thousands of years. It is time to act. Watch the movie. Read the book and see if you agree. 

*Note: The film and book are entirely separate, and I paired them for a more complete understanding of the problems the ocean is facing. 

Free instant download PDF with the discussion questions (click this link to open the PDF)

Chasing Coral Movie

Note: I found the film on Netflix as it is a Netflix original movie. 

Chasing Coral is one of the six films suggest by Al Gore's Climate Reality Leadership Corps, and a movie trailer is available at the link. 

Discussion Questions

1. How did Richard Vevers think of the idea for the Chasing Choral film? What did he do next?

2. How was the fact the movie is "advertising" explained? 

3. Why does the ocean require advertising? What was compared coral with to explain why they needed to make the movie?

4. It was mentioned people usually look up to the stars, but not down to the bottom of the ocean. How does this lead to people being unaware of ocean issues?

5. A surprising person was part of the film crew, Zack Rago. Who was he and why did it seem this project was made especially for him? In the beginning, did it seem like he would be so important in the story? 

6. Tell some things you learned about coral while watching. Are white corals stunning and beautiful? What about fluorescing corals? 

7. Did the movie convince or further convince you that global warming is real? Explain why it did or did not. 

8. Why was it such a problem to have time-lapse cameras under the ocean? Why didn't the producers know for months at a time what was being recorded? 

9. Finally, near the end of the two years, repeated diving and manual films were taken. The divers would dive about 60 times a day for months. Why was this so very difficult emotionally for the divers? 

10. When Zach Rago meets Dr. Charlie Vernon, why is their meeting so bittersweet? 

 Into the Deep: Science, Technology, and the Quest to Protect the Ocean

Book by Christy Peterson

Title: Into the Deep: Science, Technology, and the Quest to Protect the Ocean
Author:
Christy Peterson
Publisher: Twenty-First Century Books ™ (Lerner Publishing)
Publisher Address:
Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.
241 First Avenue North
Minneapolis, MN 55401

Publisher Website Address:
https://lernerbooks.com/Pages/Our-Imprints
Publisher Email Address:
custserve@lernerbooks.com
ISBN-13: 978-1541555556

ISBN-10: 1541555554

ASIN: B081H5L6VJ

Price $19.05 Library Binding, $9.99 Kindle
Page Count: 152 pages
Formats: (Library Binding, Kindle)

Discussion Questions

1. We learn no part of the ocean is removed from our lives on land. Yet, we do not know much about much of the ocean. What are some of the difficulties with understanding the ocean? Why is the ocean so difficult to explore?

2. How much of the ocean is unmapped, unobserved, and unexplored?

3. Profiles of oceanographers and scientists are included throughout the book. What advice did they share with aspiring college students of ocean studies?

4. The fact all water comes from and returns to the sea is explained in the text. All water does not travel the same route. How are scientists tracking all the water on Earth and its movement around the planet?

5. What is demonstrated at Shore Acres State Park near Coos Bay, Oregon?

6. What is marine “snow?”

7. What drives surface currents? What causes deep ocean currents?

8. What happens to Earth if the oceans die? What are some things that happen when oceans become warmer?

9. Did you understand Chemosynthesis before reading this book? What is it?

10. What are some ways phytoplankton help the earth? How do jellyfish swarms threaten salmon, coastal power plants, and human stings?

11. Coral reefs absorb wave energy. If the reefs disappear, what could some communities experience?

12. Were you surprised or not by all the detailed and factual information in this book? 

Thank you for reading, Carolyn Wilhelm



Chasing Coral Movie and Into the Deep Book Discussion Guides


Chasing Coral Movie and Into the Deep Book Discussion Guides


Chasing Coral Movie and Into the Deep Book Discussion Guides





More About #TheNewBookReview Blog The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Authors, readers, publishers, and reviewers may republish their favorite reviews of books they want to share with others. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read and love. Please see submission guidelines in a tab at the top of this blog's home page or go directly to the form at https://www.bit.ly/FinishedReviewSubmissions. Authors and publishers who do not yet have reviews or want more may use Lois W. Stern's "Authors Helping Authors" service for requesting reviews. Find her guidelines in a tab at the top of the home page, too. And know that Carolyn Wilhelm, our IT expert, award-winning author, and veteran educator, makes an award image especially for those who volunteer to write reviews from Lois's review-request list and post them in the spirit of her "Authors Helping Authors" project. Reviews, interviews, and articles on this blog are indexed by genre, reviewers' names, and review sites so #TheNewBookReview may be used as a resource for most anyone in the publishing industry. As an example, writers will find this blog's search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. #TheFrugalbookPromoter, #CarolynHowardJohnson, #TheNewBookReview, #TheFrugalEditor, #SharingwithWriters, #reading #BookReviews #GreatBkReviews #BookMarketing

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

The Tales2Inspire® Book Collection


If you enjoy 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' stories, these are the books for you!  Chiseled to perfection, each story even includes original photographs to further engage you and prove its authenticity.


Designed by Carolyn Wilhelm

Each Tales2Inspire® book contains a collection of contest winning stories from Lois' annual competition.

 

If you are a writer and are interested in participating in her free "Authors Helping Authors" project/contest, check out all details at: http://www.tales2inspire.com/contest-2. 

She welcomes skilled authors and serious newbies alike. 

NO FEES, NO KIDDING!