Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: I & I Awards

Part Three of Three Official Postings of the 2020 Chanticleer International Book Awards (#CIBAs) Overall Grand Prize and Division Grand Prize and First Place Category Winners
We are deeply honored and excited to continue to announce the 2020 Winners of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs) with our third of three official postings.

Click here to visit the First Posting out of Three Official Announcements of the 2020 CIBA Winners.

Click here to visit the Second Posting out of Three Official Announcements of the 2020 CIBA Winners.

CIBA Grand Prize Ribbons!

The winners were recognized at a special CIBAs ceremony held on June 5th, 2021 in-person and by ZOOM webinars based at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether, Bellingham, Wash.

The CIBA announcements were made LIVE with Chanticleerians participating and interacting from around the globe and North America.

We cheered on the CIBA Premier Finalists with our bubbly of choice from wherever we were Zooming!

Raising our glasses to cheer the CIBA Winners!

We want to thank all of the CIBA judges who read each and every entry and then comment, rate, and rank within each of the 24 CIBA Divisions. Without your labors of love for books, the Chanticleer International Book Awards would not exist. THANK YOU!

We want to thank all of the authors and publishers who participated in the 2020 Chanticleer International Book Awards (the CIBAs). Each year, we find the quality of the entries and the competitiveness of the division competitions increasing exponentially. We added a new level to the judging rounds in 2019—the premier Level of FINALIST per each CIBA Division. The CIBA judges wanted to add the Finalist Level of Achievement as a way to recognize and validate the entries that had outstanding merit but were not selected for the very few First Place Award positions within each genre division.

This post will recognize the First Place and Grand Prize Winners for the

Six Non-Fiction Divisions:

Journey, Hearten, Harvey Chute, Mind and Spirit, I & I, and Nellie Bly

along with the FIRST Winners for the

Short Story, and Book Series Awards,

and concluding with the

OVERALL 2020 GRAND PRIZE WINNER

for the

2020 Chanticleer International Book Awards

The JOURNEY Book Awards for

Narrative Non-Fiction, Memoirs, and Biographies

Grand Prize Winner is

THE PARROT’S PERCH: A MEMOIR OF TORTURE AND CORRUPTION IN BRAZIL by Karen Keilt

The Journey First Place Category Winners are:
- Susan E Casey – Rock On: Mining for Joy in the Deep River of Sibling Grief
- Laila Tarraf – Strong Like Water: Lessons Learned from Leading with Love
- Steve Mariotti – Goodbye Homeboy
- Steve Rochinski – A Man of His Time: Secrets from a Halfway World
- Susan E. Greisen – In Search of Pink Flamingos: A Woman’s Quest for Forgiveness & Unconditional Love
- Renee Hodges – Saving Bobby: Heroes and Heroin in One Small Community
- Barbara Clarke – The Red Kitchen
The INSTRUCTION and INSIGHT Book Awards

for How-To Guides, Travel Guides, Cook Books, Self-Help, and Enlightenment

Grand Prize Winner is

INDEPENDENT LIVING WITH AUTISM by Wendela Whitcomb Marsh

The I & & First Place Category Winners are:
- Peggy Sullivan –Blissfully Single, A Single’s Guide to Finding Happiness
- Judy Taylor – Save That Rug! A How-To Guide for Repairing Hooked Rugs
- Dennis J Kotchmar – The Joy Of Searching, Buying and Selling, Antiques and Home Décor from France and England
- Leslie Bains – Let’s Take A Hike: 7 Family-Friendly Trails of Nantucket
- Carole Bumpus – Searching for Family and Traditions at the French Table, Book Two
- Jill Sherer Murray – Big Wild Love: The Unstoppable Power of Letting Go
The NELLIE BLY Book Awards

for Investigative and Long Form Journalism Non-Fiction

Grand Prize Winner is

PRISON FROM THE INSIDE OUT by William ‘Mecca’ Elmore & Susan Simone

The Nellie Bly First Place Category Winners are:
- Ashley Conner and Cierra Camper – Memoirs of Michael: The Hurricane Project
- Kris Newby – BITTEN: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons
- Janice S. Ellis, Ph.D. – Cause and Civility: Imploring Reason and Respect From An Advocate Journalist, Book I (now, Advancing the Good Society: Real Advocacy Journalism™ in Action, Book I Ethics and Values)
- Patricia Martin Holt – EMPOWER A REFUGEE, Peace of Thread and the Backyard Humanity Movement
- Gigi Berardi – FoodWISE: A Whole Systems Guide to Sustainable and Delicious Food Choices
- Ted Neill – Two Years of Wonder
The HARVEY CHUTE Book Awards

for Business & Enterprise Non-Fiction

Grand Prize Winner is

EDGE: TURNING ADVERSITY INTO ADVANTAGE by Laura Huang

The Harvey Chute First Place Category Winners are:
- Gary M. Shiffman – The Economics of Violence: How Behavioral Science Can Transform our View of Crime, Insurgency, and Terrorism
- Susanne Tedrick – Women of Color in Tech: A Blueprint for Inspiring and Mentoring the Next Generation of Technology Innovators
- Rachel Thompson – The BadRedhead Media 30-Day Book Marketing Challenge
- Marcus Kirsch – The Wicked Company
- Anthony Delauney – Owning the Dash
- Tikiri Herath – Your Rebel Dreams: Discover Your Purpose and Passions to Power Up Your Life
- Mike D. Kinney – Navigating Your Safety Culture Journey
The MIND & SPIRIT Book Awards

for Spirituality and Enlightenment Non-Fiction

Grand Prize Winner is

EXIT THE MAZE: ONE ADDICTION, ONE CAUSE, ONE CURE by Dr. Donna Marks

The Mind and Spirit First Place Category Winners are:
- Cindy Rasicot – Finding Venerable Mother: A Daughter’s Spiritual Quest to Thailand
- Nancy Pickard – Bigger Better Braver
- Jennie Lee – Spark Change: 108 Provocative Questions for Spiritual Evolution
- Anna Carner – Blossom – The Wild Ambassador of Tewksbury
- Marianne Ingheim – Out of Love: Finding Your Way Back to Self-Compassion
- Jill Sherer Murray – Big Wild Love: The Unstoppable Power of Letting Go
The HEARTEN Book Awards

for Uplifting and Inspiring Non-Fiction

Grand Prize Winner is

LOVE, LIFE, AND LUCILLE by Judy Gaman

The Hearten First Place Category Winners are:
- Annerose D. Watts – Blue Plate Journey
- Katherine Snow Smith – Rules for the Southern Rulebreaker, Missteps, and Lessons Learned
- Michael M. Van Ness – GENERAL IN COMMAND: The Life of Major General John B. Anderson from Iowa Farm to Command of the Largest Combat Corps in World War II
- Keturah Kendrick – No Thanks: Black, Female, And Living in the Martyr-Free Zone
- Evelyn Kohl LaTorre – Between Inca Walls – Peace Corps memoir
- Deborah Tobola – Hummingbird in Underworld: Teaching in a Men’s Prison
- Suzanne Kamata – Squeaky Wheels: Travels with My Daughter by Train, Plane, Metro, Tuk-tuk and Wheelchair
- Cerridwen Fallingstar – Broth from the Cauldron; A Wisdom Journey through Everyday Magic
- Bill Pullen – It Started at The Savoy
Congratulations to the Inaugural

AWARD WINNERS for the

Short Story Awards and Short Story Collections

of the CIBAs

The SHORT STORY Book Awards

for the CIBA Short Story Collections

Grand Prize Winner is

A WEEK AT SURFSIDE BEACH by Pierce Koslosky Jr.

Congratulations to The SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS FINALISTS!
- Lindy Ryan – Dead of Winter
- Janet Oakley – Hilo Bay Mystery Collection
- Sean Thomas Dwyer – Voices I Hear
- Susan Lynn Solomon – T’was the Season
- Abbe Rolnick – Tattle Tales: Essays and Stories Along the Way
The SHORT STORY Book Awards

for Short Stories, Novelettes, and Novellas

Grand Prize Winner is

SAVONNE, NOT VONNY by Robin Lee Lovelace

Congratulations to The SHORT STORY & NOVELLAS FINALISTS!

SHORT STORIES and NOVELETTES

Historical Fiction (Chaucer/Goethe/Laramie/Hemingway)
- Kristie Clark – Dragon of the Sea
- Vali Benson – Blood and Silver
- Grendolyn Soleil – Snow Dust and Boneshine: The Chronicles of Granny Witch
- Marina Osipova – From Stalin with Love
Mystery & Suspense (M&M/Clue)
- J. J. Clarke – Dared to Fly
- Alan E. Fleischauer – Sherlock and the Tiger
- Joanne Jaytanie – Twice As Bad, Miss Demeanor, P. I. Series
Out of This World Fiction – Speculative Fiction
- Robin Lee Lovelace – Savonne, Not Vonny
- Alexandrea Weis – Sisters of the Moon
- Matilda Scotney- Joy In Four Parts
- Sarena Ulibarri – Inviting Disaster
- Grendolyn Soleil – Snow Dust and Boneshine: The Chronicles of Granny Witch
Contemporary/Literary/Satire (Somerset/Mark Twain)
- Susan Lynn Solomon – Reunion
- V. P. Evans – N
- V.P. Evans – W
- Michelle Rene Magee – Danielle’s Inferno
- Dennis M. Clausen – The Accountant’s Apprentice
Chatelaine
- Joanne Jaytanie – Christmas Chemistry, Forever Christmas in Glenville, Book 3
- Vicki Batman – Raving Beauty
- Gail Meath – Fire Blossom
- Joanne Jaytanie – P.I. I LOVE YOU, Miss Demeanor, P.I. Book I
Congratulations to the

Inaugural AWARD WINNERS for the

FICTION SERIES

of the 2020 CIBAs

The BOOK SERIES Book Awards

for Fiction Series

Grand Prize Winner is

THE DEVIL’S BOOKKEEPERS by Mark Newhouse

The Noose, The Noose Tightens, The Noose Closes

Congratulations to the First Place Category Winners

for the CIBAs New Division for Fiction Series Book Awards!

CHATELAINE Book Series Awards for Romantic Fiction

Multi-cultural/Inter-racial Romance Series:
- The Prodigy Slave by Londyn Skye
  - The Prodigy Slave: Journey to Winter Garden
  - The Prodigy Slave: The Old World
  - The Prodigy Slave: The Ultimate Grand Finale
Regency/Georgian Romance Series:
- The Donet Trilogy by Regan Walker
  - To Tame the Wind
  - Echo in the Wind
  - A Fierce Wind
Historical Romance Series:
- The Lavender Meuse Trilogy by Gail Noble-Sanderson
  - The Lavender House in Meuse
  - The Passage Home to Meuse
  - The Lavender Bees of Meuse
HEMINGWAY Book Series Awards for Wartime Historical Fiction

The Devil’s Bookkeepers – Three Books by Mark Newhouse
- - The Noose
  - The Noose Tightens
  - The Noose Closes
CLUE Awards Series for Mystery & Suspense
- The Annie Oakley Mystery Series – Three Books by Kari Bovee
  - Girl with a Gun
  - Peccadillo at the Palace
  - Folly at the Fair
LARAMIE Series Awards Western, Americana, Civil War Fiction

Americana Fiction
- An American Journey Novel Series – Four Books by Richard Alan Schwartz
  - The Emigrant
  - The Pioneer
  - The Surgeon
  - The Soldier
GOETHE for Historical Fiction Series, post-1750s
- The Poland Trilogy – Eastern European Literature -Three Books by James Conroyd Martin
  - Push Not the River
  - Against a Crimson Sky
  - The Warsaw Conspiracy
DANTE ROSSETTI Book Series Awards for Young Adult Fiction
- The Adventures of Jonathan Moore Book Series – Three Books by Peter Greene
  - Warship Poseidon
  - Castle of Fire
  - Paladin’s War
M & M Book Series Awards for Cozy and Not-So-Cozy Mysteries
- The Henrietta and Inspector Howard Mystery Series – Five Books by Michelle Cox
  - A Girl Like You
  - A Ring of Truth
  - A Promise Given
  - A Veil Removed
  - A Child Lost
OZMA Book Series Awards for Fantasy Fiction
- Terribly Serious Darkness Gaslamp Fantasy Book Series – Three Books by Sam Hooker
  - Peril in the Old Country
  - Soul Remains
  - Now Before the Dark
PARANORMAL Book Series Awards for Supernatural Fiction
- The Winters Sisters – a Paranormal Romantic Suspense Series – Four Books by Joanne Jaytanie
  - Chasing Victory
  - Payton’s Pursuit
  - Willow’s Discovery
  - Corralling Kenzie
SOMERSET Book Series Awards for Contemporary, Literary, & Mainstream Fiction
- The Anne McFarland Book Series – American Literature – Three Books by Jill G. Hall
  - The Black Velvet Coat
  - The Silver Shoes
  - The Green Lace Corset
CONGRATULATIONS to ALL!

And NOW for the

2020 CHANTICLEER INT’L BOOK AWARDS

BEST BOOK

and

OVERALL GRAND PRIZE WINNER

TROUBLE THE WATER

by Rebecca Dwight Bruff

Rebecca Dwight Bruff will also be awarded $1,000 USD in recognition of her 2020 BEST BOOK of the YEAR – Chanticleer International Book Awards – Sponsored by Chanticleer Reviews & Media.

A Chanticleer Review of Trouble the Water will be featured in the in the SPRING 2022 quarterly edition of the Chanticleer Reviews Magazine (print and epub) along with other promotional and marketing opportunities along with an interview with the author, Rebecca Dwight Bruff.

Thank you Rebecca Dwight Bruff for participating in the 2020 Chanticleer International Book Awards. We look forward to receiving future work in our CIBAs.

We look forward to toasting Rebecca in person at our next gathering–hopefully in 2022. We are so happy that she joined us virtually for the CIBA announcements at our special ceremony on June 5th, 2021.

CONGRATULATIONS REBECCA DWIGHT BRUFF!

From all of us at Chanticleer International Book Awards and Chanticleer Reviews.

THANK YOU to VCAC21 SPONSORS and FRIENDS

And to FRIENDS of CHANTICLEER REVIEWS:

Cathy Ace, J.D. Barker, Robert Dugoni, Chris Humphreys, Bradley Metrock, Jessica Morrell, Scott Steindorff, and Paul Hanson of Village Books

We will post more photographs and information. Do check back and subscribe to the Chanticleer Reviews e-news letter.

The video recordings of VCAC21 will be available on VIMEO. More information to come.

We have exciting news for the Chanticleer Community on the horizon so do stay tuned!

You know you want a coveted Chanticleer Reviews Blue Ribbon!

Submit your works (manuscripts or novels published after or on January 1, 2019, are accepted) to the prestigious Chanticleer International Book Awards today! Entries are being accepted into the 2021 CIBAs in all 18 fiction divisions and seven non-fiction divisions.

Be sure to register early for the 10th Anniversary 2022 Chanticleer Authors Conference that will start on April 7th, 2021 with the 2022 CIBA banquet and ceremony scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 10th, 2022 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. If we cannot move forward with CAC22 due to the coronavirus, we will host another LIVE and HYBRID Chanticleer Authors Conference and 2021 Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards ceremony.

Pivot and Oscillate are the Words for Today’s Challenging Times.

An email will go out to all 2020 CIBA award winners prior to October 30, 2021, with instructions, links, and more information about the awards packages. We appreciate your patience. As stated many times before “One does not need to be present at the CIBA ceremony and banquet to win. But it sure is a lot more fun!” –even if it is virtual!

As always, please contact us at Chanticleer@ChantiReviews.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

Be well. Stay Healthy. Take Care!

The Chanticleer Reviews Team
June 30, 2021
EXPLORE EUROPE on FOOT by Cassandra Overby – General Europe Travel Guide, Walking Guide, Mountain Climbing

Due to COVID-19 sweeping across continents, travel restrictions are at an all-time high. With the general population being placed on lockdown, the need for social distancing, and hunkering down moving towards an indefinite timeframe, some much-needed armchair travel adventures couldn’t come at a better time.

Here in Cassandra Overby’s encyclopedic guide Explore Europe On Foot, readers are taken through a step-by-step process of dreaming, planning, and hopefully soon experiencing memorable, slow travel ventures of a lifetime. Whether it’s choosing a route and destination, deciding what to pack, finding appropriate accommodations and food options, or dealing with inevitable challenges, Overby supplies a world of information in this colossal foot travelers’ bible.

A personalized introduction draws us into Overby’s early disillusionment with travel, and what she felt was its all-too-often focus on the inauthentic global itinerary. A 2015 extended European tour with her now-husband, Mac, soon changed her mind. The trip filled with long walks and opportunities to live like locals ultimately rekindled her traveling desires and made her realize this slower, off-the-beaten-path journey mode offered a much more genuine and rewarding experience, and truly “opens the door to trail magic.” Along with the best natural beauty a region has to offer, Overby showcases such travels as an opportunity to glimpse varied cultures up close and personal. Foot travel is a chance to learn the rhythm of a region’s daily life and participate in everything from the likes of a shared meal to chores on a farm, or sing-a-longs at the local watering hole.

The book includes specifics of 15 hand-picked walks from classics like the Tour du Mont Blanc in France and Italy, to lesser-known routes like King Ludwig’s Way in Germany and Portugal’s Rota Vicentina, as well as options for shorter wanderings. A planning section covers everything from travel companions and arranging transportation, to obtaining passports and plane tickets, to making reservations and buying travel insurance. Pre-trip exercises for both body and mind, along with detailed packing information offer shared knowledge for a positive travel experience. Beautiful interspersed photographs help take us around the globe. Whether the “meres” of England’s Lake District or the dunes of Eng Chebbi in the Sahara Desert, whirling dervishes in Turkey or a special message of “Joy” spelled out in stone along Scotland’s West Highland Way, all capture the heart of Overby’s enthusiasm.

The rich narrative is woven throughout with poetic descriptives. Consider the beauty of an Icelandic trek rendered as ” … intricate designs swirled in the earth by crawling and cooling lava, brave wildflowers that don’t mind a challenge.” Even a simple Spanish proverb of “On a long journey, even a straw weighs heavy”, highlights an important message about the need for light, versatile packing. Clearly the author’s smart advice about bringing home the best souvenir from a trip coincides with the less incumbrance sentiment in suggesting travelers return to their homeland with the practical nuance of a new custom or attitude, i.e. perhaps enjoying the lingering dinners practiced in France, or realizing the importance of family as viewed in the Italian culture.

Overby’s shared anecdotes and experiences provide a nice change-up amidst the facts and figures featured throughout the chapters, particularly if the book is read from start to finish. Readers will find the information overwhelmingly beneficial in terms of necessary specifics for trip planning. Also, the book’s easily followed design allows readers to meander through chapters and dream of where they will go when they can.

Overby’s own foot-travel enthusiasm ignited similar passions with family and friends, and ultimately became the impetus for a new life’s calling and writing this book. In the resulting Explore Europe On Foot, this walking aficionado now serves as both guide and inspirational cheerleader to help all wannabe hikers turn their dreams into reality someday.

Explore Europe On Foot won the CIBA 2018 GRAND PRIZE Insight & Instruction Awards and remains one of our favorites.

July 25, 2020
KLEE WYCK JOURNAL (The Making of a Wilderness Retreat) by Lou McKee – Small Homes & Cottages, Canadian Exploration History, Pre-Confederation Canada, Pacific Northwest

Lou McKee’s Klee Wyck Journal is a beautiful sharing of a bold adventure played out in the wilds of Canada’s West Coast. Here the love of kayaking and the outdoors leads to a dream fulfilled and a revealing memoir that artfully showcases the building of a remote cabin retreat, the power and beauty of nature, the love of family and friends, and the value of self-discovery.

As an avid kayaker and camper, Lou McKee often explored the coastal areas of Washington and British Columbia. A trip to Vancouver Island ultimately turned into a yearly tradition. Lured by one particular stretch of beach, Lou and her fellow travelers decided to stake their claim on an area they affectionately christened “Klee Wyck.” The moniker was an homage to noted Canadian artist and writer Emily Carr, whose work was inspired by the natural landscape and indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest coast.

While the wild and pristine setting was clearly a draw for tent camping, overcast skies and torrential rains eventually forced Lou’s spirited clan to consider more secure sheltering. Over the next several years, a practical and cozy little cabin in the woods begins to take shape. In this naturalist’s playbook the homey structure evolves through a combination of brains and brawn, as well as the creative use of cedar beach logs, reclaimed wood, prefab materials imported from the city, and numerous found objects. Amidst the likes of an artfully designed mosaic-type floor featuring cedar rounds and beach gravel filling, a sacred lookout and miniature garden created in memory of a friend’s deceased daughter, a rare glimpse of ethereal white rainbows or “spy-hopping” whales, each subsequent year brings together McKee, family members, and friends for shared work and play, stories, celebrations, mouth-watering innovative meals, and the continuous expansion of the charming wilderness dwelling.

In this captivating blend of words and imagery, McKee’s colorful first-person narrative documents daily happenings, observations, and continuing work on the cabin. It renders intricate sketches of the local flora, fauna, and a bounty of natural treasures gathered from the beach. McKee’s background as a painter, illustrator, greeting card artist, and designer translate as an integral part of this journal. Whether a favorite piece of camping gear, like the candle lantern that served as a welcoming front porch light, the humorously adorned “hoo-hah” sculptures created at the shore, intricate seaweed ruffles, or smoothly polished sea stones ultimately interpreted as powerful, enlarged pastel paintings, the finely detailed ink and colored pencil drawings provide an ideal visual complement to McKee’s remarkable unfolding story.

Each chapter covers a new season at the family compound and lists a new roll call of visitors. Here ages range from a visiting 6-year-old granddaughter to an active 80-something-young friend. McKee’s well-crafted work effortlessly chronicles the wild curiosities of this coastline neighborhood. McKee’s journal entries always speak to her core sentiments from the flight of kissing ravens or confrontations with roaming bears to hidden places for gathering mussels and clams for the steamy chowder pot. We agree with her when she says, “This experience should be everybody’s accessible right…. Nature is still the most healing entity.”

The far-reaching sea is a constant presence in McKee’s writing, commanding respect with both its lulling tranquility and rolling intensity. While a knowledgeable seafarer, weather, winds, and white-capped waves can give rise to concern from even the most experienced of kayakers, facing down such fears proved a crucial component in McKee’s Klee Wyck experience.

This is more than a memoir relating a vacation retreat; this is the story of a woman going after her dream with vision, determination, ingenuity, imagination, and purpose. McKee not only brings family and friends along for the ride, but the resulting Klee Wyck Journal is like a personal invitation for readers to journey into the Canadian wilderness and experience coastal life through an artist’s keen eye. This unique takeaway of being in a homespun cabin by the sea is lovely, heartfelt, and inspiring.

Klee Wyck Journal (The Making of a Wilderness Retreat) won First Place in the CIBA 2018 Instruction & Insight Awards for Non-fiction work.

June 3, 2020
The SUBURBAN MICRO-FARM: Modern Solutions for Busy People by Amy Stross – Fruit Gardening, Sustainable Gardening, Garden Design, Gardening & Horticulture Reference

Author, educator, and urban farmer Amy Stross offers a comprehensive look at how to repurpose a small yard in the city for basic sustenance and so much more.

Award-winning writer Stross has composed a thoroughly practical guide to everything a reader would need to know to do what she did: transform a yard into a farm. Acknowledging that the ground surrounding a town dwelling is hardly what one thinks of when one thinks farmland, Stross draws from her personal experience to show precisely how the transformation can take shape. Her colorfully illustrated manual gives the basics for managing an ample garden space, or micro-farm, almost down to the minute (in fact, seven minutes twice a day).

Stross was caught between jobs and challenged to make the best use of time and space. Growing the kinds of foods her family liked to eat on a tenth of an acre, preparing and preserving them and, at times offering produce for sale became her grand quest. She shares the wisdom she gained as she gradually moved from beginner to experienced farmhand, to teacher of others. She tells readers what, why, and how to grow sustainable crops from the depths of the soil on up.

One bias Stross invites us to overcome is that gardens are ugly and should be hidden. She blasted that notion by using the “parking strip” – that piece of land between the sidewalk and the street – for cherry trees, providing not only the beauty of the spring blooms but, after a few years, an abundance of cherries for jams and preserves. She makes useful suggestions about how to explain one’s project to perhaps skeptical or critical neighbors. She recounts our American history of Victory Gardens as a success story supporting the home garden venture. If we can, why should we not provide a good portion of our edibles by our own labor? Later, the author became involved in community gardening, learning from, and helping others in a socially responsible setting.

Stross’s book combines memoir and good humor with an encyclopedic knowledge of the subject. She starts with soil with composting readily available substances like coffee grounds and eggshells, then covers annual plantings and planning with a micro-farm calendar. Instead of seeing hills, rocks, and other barriers as problems, Stross shows how these can be utilized in the overall strategy of garden planning. Stross goes on to recommend specific plants for specific purposes such as hedgerows, shady areas, and saleable products like cut flowers and homemade soaps. Following her example, readers can become writers, teachers, and sharers of the vast body of information she presents. The Suburban Micro-Farm projects Stross’s personal win-win-win-win: readers will learn, learners will do, doers will share, and all will be the better for it.

The Suburban Micro-Farm: Modern Solutions for Busy People won First Place in the 2018 CIBAs for Instruction and Insight.

June 1, 2020
RETIRE SECURELY: Insights on Money Management from an Award-Winning Financial Columnist by Julie Jason – Personal Financial Management, Retirement Planning, Budgeting & Money Management

If you’re wondering what the difference is between a Roth IRA and a traditional IRA, then you’ll want to pick up Julie Jason’s Retire Securely: Insights on Money Management from an Award-Winning Financial Columnist. You will be treated to a crash course on financial terms like these and get inside information on saving and investing thanks to scores of conversations she’s had with her readers over the years.

Plenty of titles on financial planning and investing exist on bookstore shelves, but what makes Jason’s compilation different is that hers is culled from more than 1,000 columns she has written over the years for the Connecticut newspapers, Greenwich Time and the Stamford Advocate. In 2013, King Features syndicated her “Retirement Planning and Investment” column, where she explores topics like 401(k) investing, choosing a financial adviser and how to determine if sending your kid to college is a good value. Jason, who worked as a Wall Street lawyer, money manager, and investment counselor, really knows her stuff: whether it’s unraveling the complicated world of market trends or explaining estate planning, her columns are worth reading and applying to your financial life. Her column has recently moved from King Features to Andrews McMeel Syndicate [Chanticleer Reviews was notified about this change on April 3, 2020].

“Through my dialogue with readers, I want to share a message of both promise and watchfulness,” she writes in the Introduction. With an easy to follow and conversational tone, Jason invites readers to get financially literate–understanding how to read a mutual fund prospectus, for example. (A prospectus is not literature that you read from start to finish. Instead, it’s designed to protect you, so read it like a warning label on a medicine bottle, she advises.)

Recognizing that some investors are overwhelmed by financial jargon and the pressure to keep up with the Joneses, she assures her readers that attaining financial security is “a work in progress,” with room for improvement. “I’ve interacted with hundreds of people who wrote to or visited with me to discuss their challenges, concerns, and questions,” she says.

Our culture’s most significant challenge today, she says, seems to be the pressure Millennials face as they swim in debt. On top of it, Jason points out, this younger generation is in the dark about financial matters. So much so that in 2013, President Obama helped create the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans*, designed to educate young people on how to “successfully handle their personal and household finances as they grow into adulthood.”

Citing statistics, Jason tells us at least half of 18-to 24-year-old adults stated they would have benefited from a high school course on managing their money. Unfortunately, financial literacy isn’t a mandatory class, so the on us falls on parents to approach kids early with guidelines for saving and even borrowing money.

Because the book idea came from dialogue she had with readers via her column, many of the issues have to do with feeling secure in retirement, as evidenced in chapters like, “It’s Never Too Early for Retirement Planning” and “Understanding the Relationship Between Your W-2 and Your 401(k).”

We all could take a cue on how to improve our financial know-how, and a number of the columns are especially useful for parents and their children to review at various stages of their financial planning life cycles.

Lastly, if you’re wondering how republished articles, some from a decade ago, could be relevant today, Jason has taken the time to update some of the columns to keep pace with changes in the market.

Retire Securely: Insights on Money Management from an Award-Winning Financial Columnist by Julie Jason won First in Category in the CIBAs 2018 I&I Awards for Instructive Non-Fiction.

*The Council officially ended on January 29, 2013: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/financial-education/Documents/PACFCYA%20Final%20Report%20June%202015.pdf

December 12, 2019
HEAD ON – Stories of Alopecia by Deeann Callis Graham – Self-Esteem, Success Self-Help, Dermatology

More than 10 years ago, when Deeann Callis Graham went through a second bout of alopecia areata (AA), the first was when she was seven years old, she wondered where she could find pictures and read stories of people who were also losing their hair. She wanted to embrace positive messages amid a society that equates baldness with cancer and sickness. Yearning to relate to people who looked like her, she started writing her own story and soon she had connected with others with alopecia wanting to tell their stories.

Head-On: Stories of Alopecia, featuring 75 narratives from people of all ages and walks of life with alopecia. Graham’s purpose is to educate and shed light on the illness that affects 6.8 million people in the US, according to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation (NAAF), and help change the world’s attitudes toward hair, beauty, and self-worth.

In the book, Graham makes it clear that alopecia areata is not cancer, and that hair loss is not any easier for men and boys than it is for girls and women. Alopecia areata is an autoimmune condition where the body gets confused and attacks the hair follicles, which causes hair to fall out. A more severe form is alopecia totalis, where all of the hair on the head falls out. Alopecia universalis, which is less common, is hair loss on the entire body including the head, eyelashes, eyebrows, legs, toes, etc.

To produce the 216-page book, which features black-and-white portraits and short narratives from each participant, Graham talked to more than 500 people to compile the stories and conduct research. At the end, she includes interviews with Jeff Woytovich, founder of the nonprofit Children’s Alopecia Project (CAP), and Andy Turpen, who started Mondo Baldo to highlight positive messages around baldness.

Most impressive are the narratives of hope, rebirth and renewed confidence after years of stares, pranks, and bullying in school and misinformed comments, rudeness, and more stares as adults. Being a child with alopecia can be particularly devastating, as the many contributors wrote, being called “freak” or “hairless cat” on the schoolyard. Sophia said she missed going to her junior prom; and Tanya recalls that as a youngster, she felt “ugly and vulnerable.”

Most of the contributors talk about the countless hours they spent in front of the mirror creatively trying to hide their bald patches with their existing hair. Making the decision to wear a wig in public was a major turning point and a show of independence yet it also came with its own potential failures. Sarah, from California, had a pivotal moment during middle school when a classmate pulled her wig off her head. Sarah was “completely shocked,” but after that incident, she decided to tattoo her eyebrows and leave the wig at home when she entered high school. “I’m just so tired of hiding,” she writes.

While some of the stories are heartbreaking, they are also uplifting, showing how each person rose from the ashes to use their alopecia for good either for their own self exploration or to help the world understand the illness.

Steph, a high school swimmer, says when the team gathers for pictures at meets, she proudly displays her bald head. “It’s as if I’m announcing, ‘Here I am. Bald, beautiful, and not sick!’”

Joyce, who has had alopecia for more than 50 years, had hair loss from age 12 to 24. Her hair fully returned and remained for almost 30 years. “I believed I was cured,” Joyce writes, however there is no known cure at this time although there are treatments. Later, when her son’s hair started falling out, hers did again too and she said she felt relieved she was done with the cycle.

Not only is Head-On a lovely display for the coffee table, it serves as a resource for parents of children with alopecia and anyone who would like to learn more. Graham has included Alopecia 101 with facts and, at the end, a Resources page listing organizations based in the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada.

Head On: Stories of Alopecia won First Place in the CIBA 2017 Instruction & Insight Awards for Non-Fiction.

May 15, 2019