Midwest Book Review on “Holidays With a Tail”

Holidays with a Tail: A Tale of Winter Celebrations” is multicultural holiday story that appeals to culturally diverse juvenile audiences.

Written experienced elementary school teacher, Kelly Bouldin Darmofal, Holidays with a Tail begins the story with Alex on Christmas Eve, after having just moved from the suburbs to the city. Alex had wished for a Christmas gift of a puppy to play with. The next day brings one new surprise after another. Being Episcopalian, Alex celebrated Christian traditions in December, and he was overjoyed to find a puppy-sized box with holes in the lid for his present. Out popped Zipper, his new adorable golden puppy, his special Christmas gift.

The next day, when grandparents came bringing more Christmas gifts, Zipper surprised Alex by running out the door and into the snowy night. This begins a wonderful tale of exploration of ways different folk with different religious traditions celebrate the midwinter time of Solstice.

Zipper leads Alex and his mom, Katy on an exploration and traveling tour of festivities and homes, including four different families celebrating the Jewish Hanukkah, the Hindu Dwali, the Latina las Posadas, and the African American Kwanzaa. Each resident kindly explains the symbols and reasons for their celebrations, along with special foods and candle lighting customs and their significance.

Alex and Katy reclaim Zipper and eventually return to their home to celebrate Christmas dinner with their family and their special foods and gifts.

“Holidays with a Tail: A Tale of Winter Celebrations” is the perfect vehicle to explain to young children the wonderful richness and significance of different holiday celebration traditions for different cultures, peoples, and religions.

Read the original review on MBR


Holidays With a Tail: A Tale of Winter Celebrations
Kelly Bouldin Darmofal, author
Brad A. Calhoun, illustrator
Loving Healing Press
5145 Pontiac Trail, Ann Arbor, MI 48105
www.LovingHealing.com
9781615996155, $17.95 PB, $29.95 HC, $4.95 Kindle, 34pp

Writing for Bliss

SKU 978-1-61599-323-9
$21.95
1
Product Details
UPC: 978-1-61599-323-9
Brand: Loving Healing Press
Binding: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Author: Diana Raab

Writing for Bliss is most fundamentally about reflection, truth, and freedom. With techniques and prompts for both the seasoned and novice writer, it will lead you to

  • tap into your creativity through storytelling and poetry,
  • examine how life-changing experiences can inspire writing,
  • pursue self-examination and self-discovery through the written word, and,
  • understand how published writers have been transformed by writing.

"Part writing guide, part memoir, and part love letter to the craft of writing, Diana Raab’s Writing for Bliss is a caring and motivational guide. Raab's love of words and her belief in the power of story shine through. With its hypnotic and personal stories, interviews with other authors, and many useful writing prompts, Writing for Bliss will find a valued spot on the bookshelves of those seeking greater understanding."
--ANGELA WOLTMAN, FOREWORD REVIEWS

Poet and memoirist Raab (Lust) credits her lifelong love of writing and its therapeutic effects with inspiring her to write this thoughtful and detailed primer that targets pretty much anyone interested in writing a memoir. Most compelling here is Raab’s willingness to share her intimate stories (e.g., the loss of a relative, ongoing struggles with cancer, a difficult relationship with her mother). Her revelations are encouraging to writers who feel they need “permission to take... a voyage of self-discovery.” The book’s seven-step plan includes plenty of guidance, including on learning to “read like a writer,” and on addressing readers as if “seated across the table .” Raab covers big topics such as the “art and power of storytelling” and small details such as choosing pens and notebooks that you enjoy using.
--PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY

"Writing for Bliss is about the profound ways in which we may be transformed in and through the act of writing. I am grateful to Diana Raab for sharing it, and I trust that you will feel the same as you read on. May you savor the journey."
--from the foreword by MARK FREEMAN, PhD

"By listening to ourselves and being aware of what we are saying and feeling, the true story of our life's past experience is revealed. Diana Raab?s book gives us the insights by which we can achieve this through her life-coaching wisdom and our writing."
--BERNIE SIEGEL, MD, author of The Art of Healing

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--JAMES BROWN, author of The Los Angeles Diaries and The River

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--PATRICK SWEENEY, coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Succeed on Your Own Terms

DIANA RAAB, PhD, is an award-winning memoirist, poet, blogger, workshop facilitator, thought provoker, and survivor. She's the author of eight books and over one thousand articles and poems. She lives in Southern California.

Learn more at www.DianaRaab.com

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