My opinion only ...

Ok, here goes another post you'll either strongly agree or disagree with!

Our son is grown and we have no grandchildren yet, so we don't have to "worry" about finding good books to read to a young one... and I am so glad about that. Being the writers that we are of the Sarah's World series books, we can't help being interested in books for young people, though. 

These are a few I've seen recently; I have not read them and don't recommend them:

(Noting where I saw the books and got the info)

From Barnes and Noble (B&N Exclusive Edition), under Best Sellers section

The Serpent's Shadow -- for kids ages 9-11 years, 4.5 stars

He's b-a-a-ack! Despite their best efforts, Carter and Sadie Kane can't seem to keep Apophis, the chaos snake, down. Now Apophis is threatening to plunge the world into eternal darkness, and the Kanes are faced with the impossible task of having to destroy him once and for all. Unfortunately, the magicians of the House of Life are on the brink of civil war, the gods are divided, and the young initiates of Brooklyn House stand almost alone against the forces of chaos. The Kanes' only hope is an ancient spell that might turn the serpent's own shadow into a weapon, but the magic has been lost for a millennia. To find the answer they need, the Kanes must rely on the murderous ghost of a powerful magician who might be able to lead them to the serpent's shadow . . . or might lead them to their deaths in the depths of the underworld.

From Amazon

The Amulet of Samarkand -- for kids age 10 and up, 4.5 stars

Nathaniel is a magician's apprentice, taking his first lessons in the arts of magic. But when a devious hot-shot wizard named Simon Lovelace ruthlessly humiliates Nathaniel in front of his elders, Nathaniel decides to kick up his education a few notches and show Lovelace who's boss. With revenge on his mind, he summons the powerful djinni, Bartimaeus. But summoning Bartimaeus and controlling him are two different things entirely, and when Nathaniel sends the djinni out to steal Lovelace's greatest treasure, the Amulet of Samarkand, he finds himself caught up in a whirlwind of magical espionage, murder, and rebellion.

From Barnes & Noble

The Rising -- for teens ages 14-17 years old

“Will keep teens who are undaunted by its 600 pages on the edge of their seats. Interweaving the stories of Jamie, Dracula, Frankenstein, and a mysterious man wandering the American desert, this book is closer to the elaborate works of Stephen King than many vampire novels marketed to teens.”—VOYA

James Bond meets Dracula in this epic saga of one boy and a ton of weapons versus the world's oldest evil—vampires as you've never seen them before!

Sixteen-year-old Jamie Carpenter's life was violently upended when he was brought into Department 19, a classified government agency of vampire hunters that was formed to deal with a little problem . . . known as Dracula.

Now why do you want to let your kids read books like these? This kind of book has been out for ages, they aren't anything new. There sure seems to be more of them now, however, and with darker themes and more hideous characters. Shouldn't reading be relaxing, entertaining, and educating (but fun)? Noe recently posted "The right magic" and in there talked about make-believe and the kind of imagination that is good for all of us, young and old. 

I do hope parents and authors will really think about what young people are reading, and give them good stuff to stimulate their minds and hearts. Hopefully Noe will one day put his pen to paper on a book for teens... that would be great!

Here's an open letter from one of our friends to some of her friends, to let them know about our Sarah's World books:

Hi everyone!
  I just wanted to introduce you to the childrens book series "Sarah's World" which is written and illustrated by my personal friends, [Noe and Cindy].
  I wanted to share with all of you this wonderful series. You'll never have to second guess the information or lessons being taught in these stories. No magic, monsters, or anything else unsavory here. 
  Please pass this along to absolutely everyone you know! These books can be given as gifts to young ones we care about. We need all the help we can get to mold young minds toward wholesomeness in this rotten system!
  One is interactive with educational links; it's awesome!
  They have just begun this endeavor and are up to three books now, so get your little ones in on the beginning of "Sarah's World".

Well, like I said, you're gonna either agree or disagree with this post, but hopefully it gave you food for thought. You can leave a comment if you want, of course.

Thank you for reading what noeandcindy.write !

cindy

Recommended Book: The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy

Lavender fields are so beautiful, and the scent of pure lavender is heavenly. I love using essential oils for our health, so I wanted to tell about this superb reference book, The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy. The author, Valerie Ann Worwood, seems to know everything there is to know about essential oils and their proper uses, and she shares her knowledge in a way that encourages us to gather up a small supply of pure essential oils and get busy using them.

First, the book tells us that essential oils are different than chemical drugs in that the oils do not remain in the body and leave us filled with toxins. Many people just don't realize how effective essential oils are at things, such as cleaning the air we breathe while at the same time leaving a beautiful scent behind, or how to start using them for the health of your entire family. They are so much more than just a pleasant smell.

There are 18 chapters, 423 pages and tons of recipes in this book. After learning "How To Use This Book", we are shown what oils belong in our Basic Care Kit or Basic Travel Kit, with a brief summary of each oil and recipes for common applications. Chapter 4 is Occupational Oils for the Working Man and Woman, covering topics like interviews and exams, burns, back problems, repetitive strains, post-viral syndrome, muscular fatigue, the workaholic heart, stress (a very specific section with lots of recipe blends), burnout and more -- I could repeat the phrase "and more" about each chapter, but let me just give you an idea about some of them:

Chapter 5 is for sports, dance and workouts
Chapter 6 teaches us The Fragrant Way to Beauty with wrinkle preventive recipes for the over-20s, 30s, 40s and 50s
Chapter 7, The Body Beautiful, gives us Fat Attack and Anti-Cellulite recipes; and attention is also given to the arms, hands, breasts, nails, and feet
Chapter 8 is all about the hair
Chapter 9 for babies and children
Chapter 10 covers the Woman's Natural Choice for pregnancy, postnatal care, miscarriage, infertility, menstrual problems, menopause and gynecological problems
Chapter 11 is The Natural Choice for Men, with important subjects like heart care, liver, and balding issues; each section with recipes a man will not just tolerate, but he’ll really love
Chapter 12 is for the Maturing Years and all its many troubles
The next few chapters are for the home, cooking, natural pet health, the garden (and getting rid of pests of all kinds), followed by 3 appendixes and the index.

This book is so full of practical advice, knowledge about health issues and fun things to do with essential oils! To help you know how to use your essential oils to the full, you definitely should get a copy of this book, appropriately called The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy . . .

Great links:
Kyley Zimmerman’s book: Aromatherapy for Beginners - 5 Oils Toolkit
Aura Cacia essential oils
Dreaming Earth Botanicals essential oils
Mountain Rose essential oils
National Geographic Lavender fields wallpaper -- the photo I used above
cindy

https://www.amazon.com/author/noeandcindy.write

Ratings are really important

I had to go to the dentist recently, hadn’t been in awhile and suddenly had to go. I was flossing with this really great floss -- EcoDenT Vegan Cinnamon, I love that floss! -- and somehow I got it up under my crown. My teeth are very tight, and I could tell the floss wasn’t going to come out easy... thought to myself, ‘I need to just pull this through instead of trying to wiggle it back up’, but too late! -- I had already pulled so hard, the crown popped off! That was the weirdest, scariest feeling, but I grabbed it and shoved it right back on as good as I could. Great, now I had to go to the dentist!

Actually, I’d been needing to go and putting if off for awhile... I do mean awhile. I hate going to the dentist, maybe because I had to go often when I was young. I’d been asking around for recommendations, but seems like a lot of people were in my same shoes; no one really had someone they liked either, except one person whose dentist I already knew and didn’t want to see. So what to do?

We’re on a sort of a plan -- it’s one that dentists sign up on, then give discounted rates instead of you having insurance. So we picked one from the list, a real shot in the dark! But thankfully, he turned out to be great, not so much his staff. Let me tell you about it:

They sent the “new patient” forms by email, so didn’t have to go early to do that, which was very handy. Noe talked to them on the phone and says they were very polite and helpful, friendly enough. But I was kinda let down by the front desk staff’s reception -- granted, they seemed a little busy. You’d think, though, that they would have done something to welcome a new patient... maybe a ‘Hi, it’s so nice to have you, my name is---’ sort of thing, but that didn’t happen, even though there’s a sign in the waiting area saying ‘our best patients are recommended by our best patients’ or something like that, which you’d think would cause the staff to put their best foot forward. Oh, well.

The main thing is the dentist, and I couldn’t say enough about how much I liked him. He was in a happy mood, introduced himself, talked about the area of town we live in -- his mom had lived there awhile too. Now even though it was obvious I hadn’t seen a dentist in some time, he didn’t say anything about it (I was dreading that; thought he might chastise me a bit). He asked if I wanted him to also fix a cavity I had while I was there … of course, I knew I needed that done, but I figured, they’re gonna make me come back so I’ll have to pay for two visits, and here he just told me he could do both of these things on this one visit! It was all done in less than an hour, and I was super pleased.

I went home and searched for a place online to brag about this guy. If I had been able to read something about him first, I think I wouldn’t have been so anxious about trying him, so I really wanted to go rate him. I found two places, one that I was even able to blab a little on. I only said about the staff that they ‘weren’t particularly friendly or unfriendly’, because maybe it had been a hard day or something. I mentioned they took me on Tuesday (it happened Sunday night!), the cost was quite reasonable, and the dentist was great.

So.... ratings are really important! Noe and I always look for those, don’t you? And we try to read a lot, not just the first one or two. It’s good to be specific, but not too detailed. Give the reasons why you’re saying you like what you’re rating, or why you don’t. Help the people that are searching for your help to find the best thing -- or dentist, or whatever -- to choose one they can afford.

That brings me to our books. Honestly, I think Amazon was one of the first places I remember having ratings on things, and that is so helpful. Anyway, we have sold more books than we have ratings for, and I wonder why some haven’t put in their thoughts... we’d like to hear what people think, even if they have some “negative” criticism. If it can help us as authors do a better job next time, that’s great! Of course, we also appreciate the praise -- that helps you feel like continuing to try, not to mention, makes you feel good.

If you’ve read one -- or all -- of our Sarah’s World books and haven’t rated them yet, please do. Noe and I, and all the other hundreds of readers looking for a good book for their kids to read, would really appreciate it!

cindy

https://www.amazon.com/author/noeandcindy.write