Chanticleer Book Reviews

Author: anna-casamento-arrigo

The Importance of Reading During National Wellness Month

Stop for a moment.

Think about your favorite place to read a good book. It could be a beach with swaying palm trees and the back and forth rhythm of the ocean. Or maybe it’s a silent forest, where every bird’s chirp can be heard from far away.

Now, open the first pages of a new book and relax as you escape into another world.

Are you relaxed? Of course, you are! Study after study has concluded that one of the best activities for your overall wellness is reading a book. Not a screen—a story. Something that allows you to momentarily escape reality and live in another’s shoes—or slippers, sandals, high-heels, loafers, or boots.

August is National Wellness Month, and we at Chanticleer want to honor the far too overlooked, yet massively important, value that reading provides to a person’s overall well-being. Using the mind, body, and spirit model, we’ll explore how the act of reading has positive effects in ways science is only now coming to understand.

The Physical Benefits

Readers May Live Longer

A 2016 study published in Social Science & Medicine found that book reading could be associated with a survival advantage. The study found the following:

A 20% reduction in mortality was observed for those who read books, compared to those who did not read books. Further, our analyses demonstrated that any level of book reading gave a significantly stronger survival advantage than reading periodicals.

Reading Encourages a Focus on Health Information

Understanding and being able to comfortably read sometimes complicated health information is called “health literacy,” and people who exhibit good health literacy are better able to prevent, protect against, and manage health problems, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Being able to prevent illness in the first place offers the best benefit of reading for self-care. And it’s not only health-related information that helps you become more health literate. Many memoirs tell incredible health journeys, and fiction often relies heavily on scientific information or personal accounts of navigating illness. Don’t be afraid or embarrassed to ask for book recommendations that would empower you when you want to improve your health. Reading is part of the health journey.

The Mind of a Reader

Slow Down Cognitive Decline by Reading

It’s not hard to imagine that brain-stimulating activities help reduce signs of cognitive decline. Putting your thoughts, imagination, and analytical talents to the test keeps those neurons firing. When you read, you’re exercising the mechanics of your brain—pushing your memory further, processing information to analyze it in different ways, strategizing how to use new knowledge.

Reading makes your mind run its obstacle course so it stays in peak condition. Over time, your brain better handles the effects of aging and improves its ability to remember, reason, learn, and pay attention. Studies continue finding evidence that active readers show slower rates of memory loss and less decline in thinking skills. Stretching the brain’s multifaceted abilities creates cognitive reserve that may help offset age-related changes or damage to the brain.

Go team brain!

Reading Boosts Intelligence

You’re probably not shocked by this revelation. It only makes sense that the more you read, the more intelligent you become. Your vocabulary increases, your knowledge base grows, you become more comfortable with complex thoughts and strategy, you become a faster reader, and reading can actually increase your IQ. Throughout life, a reader’s intelligence can continue growing as they absorb more information through reading.

Reading Refreshes the Spirit

Reduces Stress

Give yourself a moment to relax by escaping into your imagination. It’s a healthy way to unplug and escape from everyday stress we all share in life. Fiction carries greater benefits when it comes to emotional health and overall well-being.

Shines Up Your Social Skills

Reading can enhance your social skills by providing examples of social interaction to learn from. Research shows that people who read often have stronger social and behavioral skills compared to non-readers.

Specifically, reading fiction may help people become more empathetic by giving them opportunities to understand what others think and feel. It may also promote self-confidence and assertiveness, essential components of wellness and self-care.

Wellness Reading Recommendations from Chanticleer Authors

Are you ready to get healthy by reading more? Based on the wellness benefits we’ve explored, here are book recommendations from award-winning Chanticleer authors, organized by the type of wellness support you’re seeking:

For Building Resilience and Overcoming Challenges

A Path to Excellence
By Tony Jeton Selimi
First Place in the CIBA Journey Awards

On the belief that life isn’t just the random cards one is dealt, A Path to Excellence by Tony Jeton Selimi offers a blueprint—the octagon of excellence—to succeed personally, professionally, and spiritually.

Transcending the pitfalls and spontaneous stumbling blocks along the path of life can open the door to self-actualization and progression. As someone who experienced bullying, sexual abuse, early disability, and homelessness, Selimi sets on to become a beacon of light to the hopeless and marginalized.

Read more here…

Guided: Lost Love, Hidden Realms, and the Open Road
By Kirsten Throneberry
First Place in the CIBA Journey Awards

In her stunning memoir, Guided: Lost Love, Hidden Realms, and the Open Road, Kirsten Throneberry weaves together the highs and lows of a road trip packed with life wisdom, where she explores grief, spirituality, and rekindled hope.

Throneberry’s achingly vulnerable memoir splits its readers’ hearts and tenderly sews them back together.

In the aftermath of the devastating loss of her husband, Kirsten sells her home and takes her two small sons, two elderly pups, and eccentric mother on a year-long road trip around the United States in their new-to-them Bigfoot RV.

Read more here…

For Spiritual Wellness and Mindfulness

The Spiritual Forest
By Andy Becker

Andy Becker, a small-town lawyer in Washington State, found solace from the demands of his career through the joys of gardening, the forests of the Pacific Northwest, and the spirituality of Judaism. He shares this sensibility in The Spiritual Forest

In this sequel to The Spiritual Gardener, Becker delivers a quiet, meditative offering that showcases the special connection between ancient Biblical values and the modern concepts of environmentalism.

The narrative is both informative and thought-provoking. To show the connection between our spirituality and the sacredness of our planet Becker uses questions for the reader as a guide, provides resources to take action in protecting natural treasures, and encourages us to share this knowledge with future generations. In a nod to Dr. Seuss’ cautionary tale, The Lorax, Becker stresses the importance of teaching youngsters about a love and respect for the Earth.

Read more here…

For Emotional Intelligence and Relationship Health

Psychological Secrets for Emotional Success
By Dr. Kelly Rabenstein
First Place in the CIBA Mind & Spirit Awards

Do you often feel that you sabotage your personal and work relationships? In Psychological Secrets for Emotional Success, Dr. Kelly Rabenstein teaches readers exactly what psychological techniques will help them strengthen and maintain their interpersonal connections.

Dr. Rabenstein is a licensed psychologist offering her extensive knowledge of how to make sound, conscious changes in mindset and perspective to help you thrive in relationships across the board. If a person can thrive, then they can be fully authentic to themselves and to those who surround them.

Read more here…

For Creative Expression and Healing

Patience Insanity and Wisdom
By Anna Casamento Arrigo

Patience Insanity and Wisdom, Anna Casamento Arrigo’s poetry collection, dances seamlessly between reflective, philosophical, whimsical, colorful, and especially therapeutic.

In her author bio, Arrigo shares that she turned to poetry as part of her recovery from a stroke. This gives a glimpse into the true depth of these poems, which offer healing to the reader as well. Arrigo deals with issues of love and loss, depression and survival, and life itself. Her poems carry the echo of her struggle, softly alluded to, but not blatantly laid bare.

Read more here…

Celebrate Wellness Writing with Professional Recognition

Whether you’re writing a personal story or sharing another person’s incredible journey, professional recognition celebrates the craft behind transformative narratives. Your wellness-focused writing deserves the same recognition as the authors featured above.

Chanticleer International Book Awards recognizes outstanding nonfiction that supports readers’ wellness journeys through specialized divisions:

Instruction & Insight Awards: Perfect for non-fiction that teaches, guides, and empowers readers with practical wisdom

Mind & Spirit Awards – Ideal for works exploring spirituality, enlightenment, self-help, mindfulness, well-being, meditation, and personal transformation

These awards recognize the skillful writing behind memorable, impactful nonfiction that genuinely helps readers improve their lives.

Wellness writing is about creating emotional connections that resonate long after the final page. Professional recognition validates your contribution to readers’ wellness journeys.

Chanticleer Editorial Book Reviews also provide the professional third-party validation that wellness-focused authors need. Our comprehensive reviews serve as powerful marketing material while demonstrating that industry professionals recognize your work’s value to readers seeking personal growth and healing.

Explore Editorial Review services to add professional credibility to your wellness-focused writing.

August 7, 2025
The 2024 Mind and Spirit Spotlight on Non-Fiction that makes life better
Change Your Trajectory

Your Experience is worth Sharing

Enter the Mind & Spirit Awards today!

The Categories of the Mind & Spirit Awards are:
- Enlightenment
- Motivational/Self-Help
- Spirituality
- Mindfulness
- Well-Being
- Meditation
- Energy
- Other
These books help others live their best life, whether through the author’s personal experience, or through a life of research and dedication to a particular topic – often drawing on both! Books that enter Mind & Spirit Awards embody this and change lives.

We are delighted to celebrate the 2023 Winners of the Mind & Spirit Awards!
- Kelly Bulkeley – The Spirituality of Dreaming: Unlocking the Wisdom of Our Sleeping Selves
- Pierre Pradervand – The Gentle Art of Spiritual Discernment – A guide to discovering your personal path
- Maureen Kane – A Guide Back to You
- Kasey J. Claytor – The Money Map, A Spiritual Guide for Financial Success
- Melo Calarco – Beating Burnout, Finding Balance
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2023 MIND & SPIRIT Awards is:

Psychological Secrets for Emotional Success

by Dr. Kelly Rabenstein

Articles celebrating both the First Place and Grand Prize Winners will continue to come, but, in the meantime, we would like to focus in on some of the great work that has come our way recently and improved our lives!

RUNNING AWAY From The CIRCUS
By Nove Meyers

Debut author Nove Meyers breathes life into the big tent of human aspirations and desperations, from his birth into a raucous circus atmosphere to his diligent study for Catholic priesthood.

Running Away from the Circus is a vibrant chronicle that opens with a vignette of his grandmother, clad in sequins and flying on a trapeze. She spun like a top to enthusiastic applause under the circus tent, until the fateful day when she included her young child in the act, dropping her thirty feet to the sawdust-covered floor below. But this did not prevent Nove Meyers from being born and having a story to tell.

The boyhood described was as wild as the circus acts. He was encouraged to smoke cigarettes like his father and watched in astonishment as his mother burned up paper money, possibly to protect his uncle, a counterfeiter. Yet despite his unusual upbringing as one of the family’s third generation of circus owners, Meyers was taken regularly to Catholic church services. There, he discovered God, an entity as mysterious as the traveling circus and carnie crowds he was raised among.

Continue reading…

FINDING The LIGHT
By Kasey J. Claytor

Some stories are impossible to look away from, and from its very first sentence, Finding the Light, Navigating Dementia with My Son by Kasey J. Claytor proves itself one of them. “…when my 49-year-old son, Justin, was first diagnosed with a form of early-onset dementia, I was stunned.” Without hesitation, the book draws readers into a saga of family, illness, and resilience.

Although a memoir, Finding the Light is in many ways an instructional text, too. Readers don’t need similar medical situations to draw from Claytor’s lessons of improvement. The conversational, approachable writing style serves this purpose well.

Although it’s in chronological order, this is an unconventional, modern text.

Continue reading…

THE BEST I CAN DO
By Cheryl Landes

Cheryl Landes’s The Best I Can Do: A True Story of Navigating the Complexities of Mental Illness and Homelessness, follows the devastation of a happy marriage as mental illness slowly takes over the mind of her husband. Landes must then make the journey back to peace.

Cheryl and her husband, Tom, had known each other since their college days. A classic love story, Landes does a beautiful job with the set up, and then delivers the tragedy of Tom’s spiral into paranoia as their plans for the future begin to fall apart.

The Best I Can Do tells the story of what happens when Tom insists someone is trailing him, believing a car passes by his and Cheryl’s home every day even though no one else sees it. He claims someone installed listening devices in their house and refuses to speak unless his white-noise devices are on. As his paranoia increases he locks the refrigerator with a chain and a padlock to protect himself from the certainty someone—perhaps Cheryl—wants to poison him.

Continue reading…

WOMAN STRONG
By Anna Casamento Arrigo

Anna Casamento Arrigo’s Woman Strong showcases themes of love, heartbreak, death, disease, and political strife.

In the newly-released audio version, Casamento, with the help of her narrator Valentina Latyna, captures the essence of life and living. Latyna brings these poems to warm, sensuous life. Her accent, at once elegant and romantic, lifts the poems off the page and gives them voice.

The pearls strung into Woman Strong’s beautiful strand of poetry will stun and amaze readers. Many of them speak to the strength of women, as can be expected from the title, but many others talk about the fragile nature of life, of love, and of time.

Continue reading…

We are so grateful to have these wonderful books from these authors.

We hope to see your work in the 2024 Mind & Spirit Book Awards!

This is the journey from beginning to end for the CIBAs Levels of Achievement is so worthwhile! Every list you make means more promotion for you and your work as each list is posted right here on our website, on our social media, and also out in our newsletter!

Your book deserves to be discovered!
November 12, 2024
Let’s Hear It For the Red, White, and Blue! – Chanticleer Celebrates Independence Day 2024

Fireworks, family gatherings, parades, and summer fun!

It’s time to celebrate the Fourth of July!

Independence Day is arguably our most flashy, exciting holiday, but was it always like that?

As history records it, YES! Our Fourth of July traditions date back to the very day the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776! We’ve traveled back in time through the words of historians to see how our forefathers laid the groundwork for our most cherished Independence Day traditions!

Reading the Words of Our Forefathers

Independence Day offers a moment of reflection on the inspired words of our forefathers. A reading of the Declaration of Independence is part of many Fourth of July celebrations, as well as speeches that continue the tradition of public discourse within a democracy–a right Americans have protected ever since the day the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Barbecues and Picnics

Celebrating Independence Day by enjoying treasured family dishes with friends began on the same day the Declaration of Independence was signed!

According to historians, after a grueling day of debate on July 4, 1776 John Adams and his wife celebrated the country’s new independence with a meal of turtle soup, poached salmon with egg sauce, green peas, boiled potatoes, and a dessert of Indian pudding or apple Pandowdy. Today, the dishes are different–with hamburgers, watermelon, and ice cream being favorites–but the sentiment of the celebration remains the same.

Fun and Games in the Great Outdoors

Our forefathers spent most of their day outside, so it’s no surprise they were often found relaxing under a tree as their children played games, such as tag, sack races, hide-and-seek, and hopscotch. These games are still played on July 4th today, along with organized activities like parades, marathons, drag races, car shows, and extreme eating competitions. Many Americans will also be spending their day at lakes, beaches, and parks as they wait for a fireworks show to begin.

“The Rocket’s Red Glare”

In 1776, future-President John Adams wrote a letter to his wife, Abigail, detailing how he thought Americans should celebrate the country’s declared independence from England. He wrote the day should be filled with “pomp & parade, with shews (shows), games, sports, bonfires, bells and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more (sic).” His words were heard by many, resulting in the first July 4th fireworks display in Philadelphia the very next year. Today, Americans spent $2.7 billion dollars on fireworks!

Chanticleer’s Fourth of July is celebrated in Bellingham, Wash. The day’s events include a celebration at Zuanich Point Park and the Squalicum Boathouse, with a fireworks show over Bellingham Bay. Events begin at 2pm, and, with sunset around 9:15pm, the fireworks show will begin at 10:30pm!

You can learn more about this and other Whatcom County Events here.

Celebrate America and the people who created this great country with these amazing authors!

TOM SAWYER RETURNS
By E.E. Burke
CIBA Grand Prize Winner in the Laramie Division

Tom Sawyer Returns is the second book in The New Adventures series by author E.E. Burke.

Readers join a now grown up and far more independent Becky Thatcher as she maneuvers her complicated life in Civil War era Mississippi. Tom has long since left, and Becky is engaged to Union Captain Alfred Temple, who offers her all the safety and security she needs in such uncertain times. But does she love him? Actually love him?

Continue Reading here…

COLIN AND THE LEGEND OF THE WEEPING WILLOW
By Anna Casamento-Arrigo

In Colin and the Legend of the Weeping Willow by Anna Casamento-Arrigo, curious Colin learns a Native American legend about the Weeping Willow from one of his favorite people, his grandmother.

Across the years, people have shared their cultural legends and tales. Often these stories are told to explain phenomena in the natural world, and are passed down by elders through oral traditions.

In this story, Colin visits his grandparents to join in fun activities like baking cupcakes and playing catch. During the cupcake making, he shares with his grandma that he has been learning about Native American legends, and she takes the opportunity to tell him another Native story.

Continue Reading here…

ITALIANS IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
By Tessa Floreano
CIBA First Place Winner in the Nellie Bly Division

Tessa Floreano’s Italians in the Pacific Northwest is an inviting pictorial narrative featuring both ordinary and extraordinary individuals of Italian heritage who helped to create and develop Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

Concentrating on the decades from 1880 to 1950, Floreano begins by referencing the earliest Italian explorers of the Pacific Northwest Territory, then quickly moves to the efforts of those who sought a better life through hard work and new opportunities on American shores.

Continue Reading here…

WISHES, SINS AND THE WISSAHICKON CREEK

By PJ Devlin

CIBA First Place Winner in the Somerset Division

Wishes, Sins, and the Wissahickon Creek by PJ Devlin emulates the lives of fictional characters brimming with hope and promise yet living a truthful life of existence in the gorgeous setting of Pennsylvania’s Wissahickon Creek.

The book encompasses ten short stories making it a complete work of fiction. Devlin creates characters which are rich in both experience and struggle. Not only do they live in a real world created by Devlin, but her characters, a mix of children and adults, both struggle with daily, real-world issues most Americans deal with. The stories are all relatable in this sense, which makes the text come alive, page after page.

Continue Reading here…

AMERICA’S FORGOTTEN SUFFRAGISTS
By Nicole Evelina
CIBA Grand Prize Winner in the Somerset Division

Comprehensive in its own right, America’s Forgotten Suffragists by Nicole Evelina is an essential addition to the canon of women’s suffrage and first-wave feminism.

Equal parts local history of women’s right to vote in the nineteenth century and biography of Virginia and Francis Minor, America’s Forgotten Suffragists illuminates the story of a wife-and-husband feminist duo who were the first to fight for women’s suffrage at the Supreme Court level.

Continue Reading here…

This Independence Day, we wish you the following:

May your family and loved ones be close and happy. May we share in the benefits of a community that cares for and loves each other.

Happy Fourth of July from Sharon, Kiffer, David, Dena, Scott, Anya, Andy, and the whole Chanticleer Team!

Thank you for being part of the Chanticleer Family!

You can always submit your book for an Editorial Review with Chanticleer!

Chanticleer Editorial Review Packages are optimized to maximize your digital footprint. Reviews are one of the most powerful tools available to authors to help sell and market their books. Find out what all the buzz is about here.

Have an Award Winner?

Submitting toBook Awards is a great way to get your book discovered! Anytime you advance in the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards, your name and book are promoted right here on our website, through our newsletter, and across social media. One of the best ways to engage in long tail marketing!

To stay up to date with exciting news about our conference, your next great read, or contest deadlines, sign up for our Newsletterhere!

Your book deserves to be discovered!

July 2, 2024
TESSY TURTLE by Anna Casamento Arrigo, Illustrated by Jryona – Children’s Picture Books, Marine Life, Climate Change

“We are turtles, one and all, in oceans and on land. But we’re in danger of dying if you don’t lend a hand!” warns Anna Casamento Arrigo in her heartwarming children’s book, Tessy Turtle.

Sweet Tessy, along with her underwater friends, explains the life cycles of sea turtles and the environmental hazards they face daily due to their most dangerous predator: human beings. Written in lilting rhyme with vibrant illustrations on every page, Tessy Turtle captures the hearts of the young and not-so-young, reminding readers of our responsibility to the living beings and ecosystems we live amongst.

As readers swim beside tour guide Tessy, she points out the symbiotic relationships and friendships of sea life.

Barnacles cling to the backs of turtles for safety and turtles eat long green seagrass to keep it from growing unmanageable and disrupting other sea life from hunting. Tessy also exposes environmental barriers to the underwater critters’ happy lives, such as pollution and over-fishing.

Through story and rhyme, Tessy Turtle promotes positive conversations around climate action and encourages little ones to make a difference in their worlds.

Tessy provides young readers with examples of simple preventative measures– such as picking up after themselves at public beaches and avoiding touching the little green creatures– to encourage a safer world for all living things.

Anna Casamento Arrigo invites empathy and challenges readers to take action in this beautiful sing-song lesson on marine life. Tessy Turtle is sure to spark little readers’ imaginations and stick to their hearts like a barnacle.

February 19, 2024
COLIN And The LEGEND Of The WEEPING WILLOW by Anna Casamento Arrigo – Children’s Picture Books, Native American Legends

In Colin and the Legend of the Weeping Willow by Anna Casamento-Arrigo, curious Colin learns a Native American legend about the Weeping Willow from one of his favorite people, his grandmother.

Across the years, people have shared their cultural legends and tales. Often these stories are told to explain phenomena in the natural world, and are passed down by elders through oral traditions.

In this story, Colin visits his grandparents to join in fun activities like baking cupcakes and playing catch. During the cupcake making, he shares with his grandma that he has been learning about Native American legends, and she takes the opportunity to tell him another Native story.

As Colin and Grandma sit under a willow, she shares the story of how the willow came to be called “weeping”.

She introduces Colin to some heritage, practices, and values of the tribe whose story she borrowed, while telling him about the variety of Native Tribes that were here before the explorers came.

The beautiful illustrations of Gabriel Parame show how Colin imagines his grandmother’s story, including a fun tie-in to the legend that Colin and his grandma get to experience at the end.

Colin and the Legend of the Weeping Willow is a perfect story for a grandmother– or grandfather– to read to a child and continue the tradition of sharing legends throughout the generations.

February 12, 2024
WOMAN STRONG by Anna Casamento Arrigo – Poetry, Family & Relationships, Political Strife
Anna Casamento Arrigo’s Woman Strong showcases themes of love, heartbreak, death, disease, and political strife.

In the newly-released audio version, Casamento, with the help of her narrator Valentina Latyna, captures the essence of life and living. Latyna brings these poems to warm, sensuous life. Her accent, at once elegant and romantic, lifts the poems off the page and gives them voice.

The pearls strung into Woman Strong’s beautiful strand of poetry will stun and amaze readers. Many of them speak to the strength of women, as can be expected from the title, but many others talk about the fragile nature of life, of love, and of time.

Each poem explores a theme, some overlapping, and all of them provide the hope that we are strong enough to survive anything.

Casamento’s reminiscences of childhood show a creative mind already at work bending metaphors and figures of speech as she scrapes a knee or witnesses a transgression.

One poem stands out in particular, the three-part “Just Ice.” In part I, it discusses an old woman who is the butt of the neighborhood jokes because she doesn’t like dogs pooping in her yard. Casamento gives this invisible woman a voice and reveals her as human. As a young woman, she brought conversation and blueberry muffins.

The muffins appear again in Part II, where she talks to a veteran in the hospital, who is “between knowing and accepting.” Vincent had fought in a war seeking justice but failed to find it. Instead, he lost his limbs, and now questions justice as he calls it “Just Ice.”

In part III, she enters a church, hoping to find justice when a woman who wears a smile “between knowing and accepting” joins her. “Just Ice” kept repeating in the silence.

Casamento laments that humanity cannot exist in a world filled with just ice.

In “Exorcizing the Monster,” she tells of a day she becomes faceless, and as she writes, she exorcizes the monster, Cancer.

“Woman Strong,” explores hell and heaven separated by a fissure, where Casamento finds herself with an inescapable truth. She grows through the pain of her uncertainty, remembering her art and her passions, which become her solace.

“Clothing Drive” is about mining for memories, and “Wanted Desire” takes us to the edge of sensuality through her masterfully descriptive language.

Her title poem “Woman Strong,” as most of the poems in the collection are, is lyrical and powerful with images of strength as a mother, and the power as a lover to reveal the source of every woman’s strength: perseverance, patience, and love.

Casamento’s thoughtful words come clearly through Latyna’s heart-felt and skilled readings.

Take this collection of poems with you on your next long walk. You won’t be sorry.
January 5, 2024
PATIENCE INSANITY And WISDOM by Anna Casamento Arrigo – Poetry, Family & Relationships, Mental Health

Patience Insanity and Wisdom, Anna Casamento Arrigo’s poetry collection, dances seamlessly between reflective, philosophical, whimsical, colorful, and especially therapeutic.

In her author bio, Arrigo shares that she turned to poetry as part of her recovery from a stroke. This gives a glimpse into the true depth of these poems, which offer healing to the reader as well. Arrigo deals with issues of love and loss, depression and survival, and life itself. Her poems carry the echo of her struggle, softly alluded to, but not blatantly laid bare.

Arrigo’s poems take the reader through our shared human experiences. “I am enough” and “I am here” lay between “In Silence”. “Insanity” shares a painful childhood, “A constant stream of hateful words/slurred/rising from a golden whiskey tumbler.” “Wizard Wings” reflects on growing up, “From my toddler years/Through that period when neither girl nor woman be-.” “One soul” shares the joy and bittersweetness of the parent-child relationship, “it was not too long ago You held my hand/ Precious memories and hugs/One Soul We two/Divided in half.”

“Just Another Birth Day” brings full circle the impact of the loss of one’s mother, “yesterday a mom celebrated her 68^th birthday in heaven,” and yet, her continued presence in her children’s lives continues on, “Listen my dear children to the sound of the wind/ I’m there./Watch as dawn sips the darkness away./ I’m there/ Reach out and touch the roses-/comforted in essence of their being/ I’m there. I’m there/Speak my name/ Mom?/’I’m here’.”

Patience Insanity and Wisdom does not shy away from the realities of grappling with life.

“Depression” has this subtitle: “A dedication to the far too many who wear the mask. You are NOT alone,” empathizing with this common, yet hidden experience, “Waiting for those daily doses of ‘Happy Pills’/To bring my soul back to me-/For year/So many years…” and “Depression is not contagious-/Remove your mask!”

“Hold On!” is a shout of encouragement, acknowledging the struggle for some with suicide awareness, “days when everything hurts -Wishing you would disappear…There will be day/ Of fighting back/Standing up/Holding on.”

“Holding on Letting go” starts with the line, “It hadn’t been an easy death. But the will to die was less than my will…to survive […] Holding on/Letting go/A separation/Decisive/And in eternities bound…/Where my projected self-free falls/Letting go.”

The poems share pages with Arrigo’s art, mostly impressionistic compositions with a wonderful mingling of bright and cool colors.

To add to this experience, Arrigo partnered with musician Paul Simeone, setting some of these poems to music videos which can be found on YouTube and SoundCloud. Patience Insanity and Wisdom is like a dessert cart in a favorite restaurant, with poems that should be taken in small portions and savored to enjoy them fully.

December 18, 2023
PETALS by Anna Casamento Arrigo – Poetry Collections, Family Life, Memory

Anna Casamento Arrigo tells of longing, memory, and lingering pain through verdant imagery and mythological metaphor in Petals, a poetry collection.

Poems such as “Life Speaks Loudly” and “Time Too Quickly” establish a focus on the ever-changing seasons, and the power of time to both take away from someone and transform them. Arrigo’s work here is a remembrance of those things gone to the past, both the beautiful and the awful. “A Slow Dance in the Summer Rain” shows the weight of loving memories, while “Treading” reaches for the dreams of childhood, before they were stamped out by the struggles of life.

These poems use vibrant sensory descriptions – especially of the natural world – which ground the heightened emotions to allow readers to connect with them. In fact, readers can listen to some of these poems in musical form on Arrigo’s YouTube channel.

Petals grapples with family and identity in “Who Am I” & “Nonno’s Orchard”, grief over a lost father in “Daddy’s Flower”, and a yearning for connection in “Wrapped in Your Heart”. These themes meld with one another to give a complete sense of loss. Certain intimate details, such as a specific jacket or kind of flower, recur throughout the book. Readers will begin to recognize these motifs, creating a familiarity that will open them to deeper sorrow and joy.

Arrigo explores a sense of being adrift in the world, unsure of even one’s own self.

“Hey Child!” and “More than Now” insist that, even while adrift, there is a powerful urge to act – to take in the world. “My Naked Soul” dalliances with the very cosmos, while “Hollow Men” and “The Reality” use mythology to interrogate how people see themselves, and whether their eyes are clear when they do so.

This sense of interrogation continues, growing into the biblical reckoning of “The Gatekeeper” and the menace of “The Red Knight”. Greed, injustice, and faith intertwine in these poems as Petals sets its sights on those who have used and abused their fellow people and the world around them.

A strong rhythm carries Petals along, with a back-and-forth of long lines and short, as well as comforting and tumultuous emotion.

Arrigo uses occasional formatting changes to make poems such as “The Night Warrior” striking while maintaining a broadly consistent style.

The likewise consistent through-line of reminiscence lends itself well to stark tonal shifts, as these poems hold tight to memories of love, fear, and grief alike. “Sounds and Silent Seas” calls out to the past, asking it to open a path of reunion while indulging in the beauty of what once was. “TOO!” speaks instead of escape, flying away from the darkness of childhood.

And yet, a person can’t let memory consume them, not while they have a present. “Now” stands as an answer to the past – for all of its wonderful and terrible power, it only exists through the lens of what is now.

Through careful description and dedication to the impact of memory, Petals creates a cohesive and affecting collection of poems.

November 3, 2023
A CHILD’S LOVE by Anna Casamento-Arrigo – Picture Books, Children’s Family Books, Family Life Fiction

Anna Casamento-Arrigo’s A Child’s Love is a heartwarming story that pays tribute to the loving relationship between a mother and her daughter.

This circle-of-life tale begins with a mother caring for her infant. The poetic storyline unfolds into a role reversal of caregiving from one generation to the next.

As the decades pass, the reader sees the child nurtured gracefully into adulthood and eventually become a parent herself. As time takes its toll, the now-grown daughter and grandchild become caretakers for the aging mother. From lullabies and games of peek-a-boo to walkers, wheelchairs, and visits to the hospital, the love and care the mother once showed to her daughter is now reflected in the daughter’s equal concern and consideration. With the granddaughter, Casamento-Arrigo introduces a third generation to show the continuation of this cycle of kin.

Alex Martinez’ endearing illustrations help define the genuine love and affection between these family members, and the changing needs within each generation as time passes.

Demonstrated again and again in tender detail, with the large and small footprints in the sand as mother and daughter walk hand-in-hand along the shoreline, in the daughter’s last backward glance at her loving home while heading into the wider world with all her belongings, and with the daughter’s recollection of her mom keeping the scary monsters at bay in the closet. The images are solid, genuine, and artfully crafted.

The narrative is composed of simple rhyming lines, each reflective of the preceding illustration’s activity, and should particularly appeal to younger readers.

While intended as a children’s book, A Child’s Love is a beautiful story to be shared by parents, grandparents, and children of all ages. The lasting sentiment is clearly one of love and compassion for those we care about within the familiar bonds between generations.

October 2, 2023