Poppy the Proud by Emlyn Chand - Review & Giveaway

 Poppy the Proud by Emlyn Chand

 Welcome to my stop on the Poppy the Proud Tour, brought to you by Innovative Online Book Tours. Below you will find a synopsis of Poppy the Proud, bio of author Emlyn Chand, some great links, a generous e-book giveaway and my review. Don't forget to check out the other blogs on this tour for more info about Emlyn Chand & Poppy the Proud. 

Synopsis of Poppy the Proud:

 Poppy is the prettiest peacock in the entire garden, but one day his privileged existence is upset when an all-white peacock is born and promptly named the most beautiful by a smitten flock. Intensely jealous, Poppy no longer knows where he fits in and decides to reclaim his title as fairest bird in the land, no matter what is takes.

In a desperate attempt to regain the admiration of his peers, Poppy steals items from the humans that visit his park. he wraps himself in a beautiful scarf, wears a series of ornate bangles around his neck, and even tries to dye his feathers with colored dust from a festive Holi celebration. Unfortunately, each of these attempts not only fails to improve his appearance, they actually make it worse. What is a poor bird to do?

In this compelling tale of self-esteem, pride, and learning what makes each of us special, Poppy the peacock discovers that true beauty lies beneath the feathers.

Buy Poppy the Proud now!

Paperback                      Kindle e-Book
      

Author Bio:

Emlyn Chand emerged from the womb with a fountain pen clutched in her left hand (true story). When she's not writing, she runs a large book club in Ann Arbor and is the president of author PR firm Novel Publicity. Best known for her Young Adult novels, she is also developing a small, but devoted, following to her children's book series and is beginning to dapple in other genres as well. Emlyn enjoys connecting with readers and is available via almost every social media in existence. Visit EmlynChand.com for more info. Don't forget to say "hi" to her sun conure Ducky!   

                          Online Links:

• Website & Blog: www.emlynchand.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/emlynchand
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/emlynchand
• Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/emlynchand

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12/20   Review   GoingCrazy!! WannaGo??!!
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12/27   Review   Queen of All She Reads
12/28  Review  Jenn's Review Blog 

My Review ~ 5 stars

I love the message this story holds in teaching young children to be true to themselves. You do not need to lather yourself with material possessions or make-up to be beautiful. We are all beautiful, you only have to look within yourself. As a Mother of 3 daughters this is something I have strive to instill in my daughters. Of course you are only as beautiful as you see yourself and positive reinforcement is important from those closest to you. 

When Poppy returns wearing a scarf, everyone laughs. Poppy runs away with hurt feelings and determined to find something to make him the most beautiful of all again. Snow notices everyone laughing at Poppy when he returns with bangles around his neck, and he helps him remove the bangles from his neck. Poppy runs away again without thanking Snow and even more determined than ever to become the most beautiful peacock again. When Poppy's Mom sees all the colorful dust on Poppy she ask him what has happened to his beautiful feathers.

We must remember that someones opinion of us it just that, THEIR opinion and should have no bearing how we view ourselves.



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  **Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy for my honest opinion. All opinions, good, bad or indifferent are just that, MY opinion.

Under the Weather

I haven't had much to post since Yang and I have been "under the weather" ever since we came home from my besties house.  I honestly don't think it is anything more than allergies from the change in weather but I am keeping a watchful eye since J-Bug tested positive for strep 2 days after we came home. We've just been watching TV & laying around and taking it easy. Luckily, I stocked up on some DVD's and 2 Play Away's for Yang from the library. One about the human body and the other about healthy habits. Play Away is a handheld system that comes pre-loaded with a short educational video. The company does offer them with TV shows such as My Little Pony, Caillou, Super Why, Sid the Science Kid and MANY others. I absolutely love them because they are small enough to toss in a bag or purse to watch in the car, doctors, store, etc. I've tried to keep TV watching to educational shows only during the day and whatever she would like in the evening so Owlet, Poppy & I can play Phase 10 (I'm addicted ever since Tamara and I played while we visited last week).

So what do you do when you or your little ones are not feeling well? Do you watch educational shows and talk about them. Say what the heck and don't worry about it? I'm not concerned with getting behind. Christmas break is coming soon and we can always work on things here and there to catch up.

Santa Hat Pizza & Gingerbread Baby Lapbook

This weekend Poppy, Yang, and I went "out of town" (a 45 minutes drive) to spend a few days at my best friend, Tamara's house. Poppy and her oldest daughter LouLou are "sisters". Yang and her youngest son, J-Bug are "boyfriend/girlfriend" (Yang is 7 years old & J-Bug is 4 years old).

J-Bug & Yang

Saturday we had J-Bug & Nut's (her middle son) birthday party at McDonald's Play Place. I am fairly certain people left the Play Place traumatized! I never knew kids could be so loud!! There where 5 kids between the 2 of us, plus our other best friend had her 2 nieces, her nephew, her son and her 3 foster girls. The kids had a blast & where wore out by the time we got home.

Yang

Sunday night we made one of the kids favorites, homemade pizza. Thanks to an idea I found from Make the Best of Everything, we put a spin on it. We cut the pepperoni's into triangles, add a circle of string cheese to the top of the triangle and a strip of the string cheese to the bottom. Unfortunately, once we cooked the pizza you couldn't see the Santa hats.

Nut

LouLou & Poppy

Since my best friend and I are both homeschool our children we decided to make bouncing polymer balls with the kids on Monday. First of all, it helps to read ALL of the directions before starting! Next time we will use smaller bowls, add more food coloring (we used 2 drops) and possibly add food coloring once we combine the two bowls as there was very little coloring to the balls. I'm not sure what we did or didn't do but our balls where not translucent like they are in the original post and they didn't really bounce either. I wouldn't say this project was a failure, nor was it a success. However, the kids enjoyed it so I suppose that is all the really matters sometimes!! :) 

Yang
Definitely having some sensory issues with this project.

J-Bug

Tuesday we read Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett and then worked on our lapbook to go along with the book, from Homeschool Share. This was LouLou's first lapbook and she said it was AWESOME! J-Bug had a blast coloring the gingerbread cut-outs and even practiced some cutting. Poppy & Yang are no stranger to lapbooks and did great helping out where they could.

Poppy &LouLou

Tamara & Yang

I will have to say, I thought I had my hands full, but WHEW! I don't know how families do it with toddlers/pre-schoolers in tow. What is your best advice for homeschooling families that have Pre-K children? What has worked for you? What have you tried that hasn't worked for you, and why do you think it didn't work?

Does the Not Me Ghost live in your house?

Have you ever asked "Who did this?", "Who does this belong to?" or anything similar, and receive the famous answer from everyone, "Not me!"?

This morning when I woke up the TV was on in the living room and there was a bowl in the sink, where someone had eaten a bowl of cereal in the middle of the night. Poppy told me she had awoke sometime in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep so she turned the TV on. She then proceeds to tell me that she was almost back to sleep and then Owlet came out & got a bowl of cereal (First hint that the No Me Ghost is getting ready to appear). Owlet yells from the top of her bunk bed, "I didn't even get out of bed last night!" (Second hint) So I ask hubby, Yang & Poppy - all say it wasn't them, and I know it wasn't me. I ask hubby if we should move since our house appears to be haunted and he says yes encase it is dangerous! Of course Yang has to tell me a story about it.

"It is! Once when I was sleeping with dd (her baby blanket) I had all the corners pointed out like this (jesters with her hands the different directions), and I had one point like this (points towards her face) and when I woke up it was like this (points away from her face like it was folded over)!" The entire time her face it just so serious but I can't help but chuckle. So I try to compose myself and ask her just how that happened. She tells me the ghost did it! I explain that when she sleeps at night she moves around, a lot (I really need to buy her a weighted blanket so she doesn't move around so much) and therefore the blanket moves. She looked at me like she like I was crazy!

So, does the Not Me Ghost live in your house? I'd love to hear your stories about the things the Not Me Ghost in your house.