Allison, Eva and I are Barefoot Books Ambassadors. Actually the bulk of the work falls to Allison, this is her business and she does a real nice job with it. When today’s scheduled SwagsGiving giveaway did not arrive in time for me to properly review and set it up Allison offered to put up a book to give away. I chose the book Shopping with Dad. The reason I chose that one was that it is about a father and daughter who go shopping together. The story is fun and silly and shows a strong love between the father and daughter. It also shows some major patience and a reaction to an event that shows calm and poise. That is really tough with kids in the supermarket.

Eva and I go shopping at the supermarket together from time to time. For the most part Eva behaves very well in the store. But she is four and four-year-olds are squiggly and fidgety and constantly moving. Such is the case of this daughter with her father in the supermarket while shopping. The book is filled with great onomatopoeia words. Eva also knows the book really well and loves to read those words off with great enthusiasm.

If you’d like a copy of Shopping with Dad then enter to win below.

Please use the rafflecopter widget and follow all of the directions. The first direction is to leave a comment on this post (scroll to bottom to the comment section) after you visit our Barefoot Books Ambassador Page (aff link) and tell me what Barefoot Books you would want to read to your child, grandchild, niece/nephew.. Then click the “I did this” button on the rafflecopter widget. You can gain more entries by doing other tasks after that. But you must do the first steps to enter.

Disclosure: Allison and I sell Barefoot Books as Ambassadors. We read the books to Eva on an nearly daily basis. She listens to the stories every night on her iPod and we love the books. Our opinions are 100% our own.

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon.com. If you do please buy through our links and help support BenSpark.com. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

SwagsGiving 2 Giveaway: Barefoot Books Book: Shopping With Dad

Photo-A-Day #1943

Or at least that is what Jim Kukral must think. Jim’s new book Attention! This Book Will Make You Money: How to Use Attention-Getting Online Marketing to Increase Your Revenue (Aff Link) came to me in the mail today. One copy of Attention The Book came directly from Jim and his publisher to read and review (Thanks Jim). The other one came to me from Amazon because I pre-ordered it the first possible day that I could. I got home, ripped open both packages and started reading. I’m up to chapter 8 and already this book is kicking my ass with the great content. I’ll be talking about the book with my partner in crime Daniel M. Clark this Sunday in our next installment of Geek Dads Weekly. And if we are lucky maybe we can get Jim to pop in for a little bit!

The official shipping date is August 10th but I’m sure that Jim won’t mind a little bit of attention. So, because I have two copies of this book I am going to get one of them signed by Jim when I see him at Affiliate Summit in two weeks. Jim is Keynoting the Summit and I can’t think of anyone who has more important things to say to our community today. That would be the community of bloggers and internet marketers. So, if Jim is agreeable to it, I’ll get him to sign book number 2 and then I will have a contest to give away the book on the blog.

Photo Information Date Taken: August 2, 2010 Camera: Canon Point and Shoot (Aff Link) Model: Canon PowerShot SD800 IS (My Flickr) ISO: n/a Exposure: 1/20sec Aperture: 2.8 Focal Length: 4.6mm Flash Used: No Mode: Manual Lens: Manual

Speaking of contests, I hooked up with a company that will be supplying me with some very, very cool prizes from a TV show that both Allison and I really love. I think you are going to like this!

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon.com. If you do please buy through our links and help support BenSpark.com. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

I Guess, I Need More #Attention Than Most

I was sent two review copies of Robert Walters’ book The Lunar Antics Presents: Boy I’d Hate to be Made out of That Stuff! To be honest I have been putting off this review because I really did not enjoy the book. I hate to disparage something that someone else created because it takes so much to be creative. It also takes a lot to put a book together and print it and sell it.

Comedy is subjective and what one person finds funny other people don’t. I read through this book of comic strips and was not amused, I didn’t laugh and not one of them felt like something I’d share with friends. I am a comic strip fan. I collect all of Charles’ Schulz works, Calvin and Hobbes and others. I also like web comics and read 15 different strips each day.

The Story: Where is the story, it is contained on the back of the book and even that is a thin premise. The characters are not really well defined or introduced. No build up, no storytelling, just pun after pun.

The writing: While the strips are pretty accessible so they are available to anyone they just did not strike me as funny. Maybe it was that there were many puns and corny things but mostly it did not hold my attention. I did not read strip after strip and see marked improvement in storytelling.

The characters: Bland, poorly developed and contrived. The leader is egotistical, the human is dumb in one strip and smart in another, there is a token female character and two additional characters. The back of the book tells you about the characters but in the strips it is sometimes hard to tell them apart.

The art: Read page one and flip to the last page. Do you see any difference in the characters? Do you see the mark of improvement in the art? I didn’t. One thing that I have noticed in reading many comic strips over the years is that creators improve their craft the more strips they create. These strips are crudely drawn and did not improve over time.

I can’t say whether I was more distracted by the uninspired writing or the high school doodling art style. I was looking forward to reading this book but once I did I was not that excited.

With all of that being said and I do not like writing negative reviews. I can say that this book might appeal to a kid who is just getting into reading comics and who appreciates puns. Everyone has to start somewhere. I started reading Garfield way back in grade school and for some reason found it funny. My 10 year old self might have enjoyed The Lunar Antics, however my grown up self did not.

How I’d improve the strip.

I know I wasn’t asked for my advice but this is what I would do. I’d completely redesign http://www.lunarantics.com as a web comic site. I’d allow a rating system for each strip and a comments area. Right now it looks like when a strip is done it gets tweeted out (by every character simultaneously (@LunarAntics, @LunarAnticsDrus, @LunarAnticsLind, @LunarAnticsProf, @LunarAnticsZeno and @LunarAnticsZeno). Stop doing that. It is spammy and doesn’t add a thing to the Twitter conversation. Here is why it looks bad. Each character follows more people that are following them. If the strip were better then the follow/follower counts would probably sway the other way with more people wanting to follow what was happening in the strip.

There is a twitter account for the strip, that is a good place to promote the strip and interact with readers. I’d just leave it at that because unless you are tweeting as each character having conversations as the character with people on Twitter then it is just promotional spam. There is a way to promote the strip as the characters and there is a wrong way to do it. The way it is being done right now leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

There is a facebook fan page too with only one fan, the author. Why not build that up by posting strips to the page and getting fans. That way you would get more feedback on your work.

At this time, the whole site centers around selling the book. Make the site someplace where you can get direct feedback your work. I think that this idea needed more incubation time, tighter storytelling and improved art. Where is the about the author page?

I said it earlier, Comedy is subjective, you can view the strips for yourself and decide if you think they are funny. I’ve read posts by other bloggers who got the book and they even state that they were rolling on the floor. You be the judge.

So, I have two copies of the book, a finished one and a review copy, the only difference is that one has some color pages). If you have a child who is just getting into comic strips and would like a safe, non-threatening set of characters who enjoy puns then leave me a comment on this post and let me know that you’d like a copy. I’ll choose two random winners next week.

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon.com. If you do please buy through our links and help support BenSpark.com. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

Review: The Lunar Antics

My friend Deb Ingino sent me a copy of her book The Discovery Adventure Club for me to read to Eva and review. I’m very excited that friends are sending me their wonderful creations to read and review in this new concept that I’ve been doing here on Read To Me, Dad. Deb is the President of the company My Wired Style. 100% of the proceeds from the Discovery Adventure Club book go to Prodigal House. Prodigal House provides emergency and short-term residential housing for teenage boys ages 12-16. Here is the Vision Statement for Prodigal House.

“The Prodigal House vision is best reflected through Psalm 23. God is the good shepherd who seeks out the lost sheep, saves them from danger, binds up their wounds and carries them to safety when necessary. Only God can restore a soul and direct people to the path of right living so His goodness and unfailing kindness can be with them all their life. Prodigal House staff and volunteers desire to provide a safe environment for residents and their parent(s) to reconnect with God and restore their relationships.”

The Story

I read this book to Eva and she really enjoyed the story and the characters of Daniel, Isabella, Sasha and Caden. These kids are all friends and each one identifies with one of the DISC styles. Through the story we see each of the kids show their style as they interact with each other and compliment each other’s styles. The story is cute and well written.

Beyond the Story

Once you finish reading the book you can ask your child a series of questions so that you can both discover your child’s DISC style. the simplest one is where you ask your child which character they feel they are most like. As your child gets older there are assessments and even parent’s pages so that you can learn more about your child’s DISC style and how to Motivate them, what annoys them and what are “Sweet Spot” Statements.

Benefits

The benefit of reading this book together are many. Connecting with your child is a wonderful thing and gaining further insight into their personality and how to help motivate and understand them more is invaluable.

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon.com. If you do please buy through our links and help support BenSpark.com. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

The Discovery Adventure Club Video Review

Eva and I sit down to read Nana Star and the Moonman. Eva absolutely loves this book but what she loves much more is the audio track that goes with the story. We put both Nana star and Nana Star and the Moonman onto our ipods (including Eva’s) and she listens to it each night as she goes to bed. She even asks just for Nana Star. That actually beats out Paddington as the nighttime story on the iPod.

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon.com. If you do please buy through our links and help support BenSpark.com. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

Nana Star and the Moonman Video Review