Web site: www.eisforethics.com
Author: Ian James Corlett
Illustrated by: R. A. Holt
Published by: Atria Books

Every parent has had to find their own creative ways to demonstrate and explain morals and ethics to their children. Some try to do this through leading by example, while others do it by using religion or casual conversation. Author Ian James Corlett has made it a bit easier for us as parents to take a few spare minutes and turn it into a combination of story time and lesson on ethics.

E Is For Ethics is a book of 26 short stories, each one focusing on a particular ethical lesson, such as “Sincerity” or “Integrity.” Each story is then followed up by a few questions you can ask your child, to make sure they understand what the story is trying to teach. The artwork in the book appeals to kids of all ages, as I’ll get into shortly.

I read through the book myself to get a feel for the layout and to see what I thought of it. After I did that, I sat down with 9-year-old Thing 1 and 5-year-old Thing 2 separately and read a few stories to them. Since this is a children’s book, I thought it only made sense to have the kids review it, too.

My thoughts

I really dig what Ian is doing with this book. He took sometimes complicated life lessons, such as Integrity, Gratitude and Citizenship, and broke them down into child-friendly bite-sized pieces. As a side note, I also liked how, by asking follow-up questions to these short stories, you can get a feel for your child’s listening comprehension, too.

Thing 1′s thoughts

Thing 1 is just old enough to feel a bit silly being read a “little kid’s book,” but she let me read her a few stories to see how she was able to relate to it. Even if she was not able to think us the word for the respective moral, such as “Tact,” she understood what each lesson was trying to teach. When I asked if she thought this book was for little kids or kids her own age, she said she didn’t think kids her age would really like it, since it’s more for “littler kids.”

Thing 2′s thoughts

The length of the stories were good for a non-stop 5-year-old little boy. They were short, concise and to the point. The only problem I encountered was that some of the stories, the one for “Tact” in particular, could have been a little bit longer to do a slightly better job of explaining what that particular moral was all about. By using the story, the questions and further explanation and examples by my wife and I, we were able to help him understand what a particular life lesson was about.

In reading the book, Thing 2 only wanted to read the stories that had accompanying illustrations of Elliott, the main boy in the book, saying that the “blue pictures” (that is, the drawings with a blue-ish background/border) were “only for boys and the other ones are only for girls.”

Lasting thoughts

My only complaint about E Is For Ethics: How to talk to Kids About Morals, Values, and What Matters Most, is that some of the stories might have needed more “time” devoted to them to help younger children understand the life lesson.

This, though, is hardly a show-stopper for me, because the whole point of the book is to get the conversation started between yourself and your child. I would recommend this book for anyone with younger children, in the 4-7 year age group. I think that some children older than that might lose interest and deem the book a “little kid” book.

Want to win a copy of your own?

You can win a free copy of E Is For Ethics: How to talk to Kids About Morals, Values, and What Matters Most for your children by doing one of the following before Saturday, October 24th:

• Leave a comment on this post.
• Follow me on Twitter (@deguia).
• Spread the word about this review and contest by tweeting the following: I just entered for a chance to win a copy of “E Is For Ethics” via @deguia! http://wp.me/pYmU7-20Z

The winner will be selected at random, from among all entries on the morning of Sunday, October 24th and notified by email or Twitter!

We bought the cookbook after flipping through it at our local bookstore and had geared up for the fact that the kids would hate most of the meals we tried to make from it. So far, however, they’ve eaten everything we’ve made from it! I love to cook and cookbooks are one of my dirty little secret indulgences. This cookbook by Jamie Oliver has a little bit of everything, from comfort foods to desserts to salads to ethnic foods.

The recipes themselves are very clearly written and the accompanying pictures give you a good idea for how things should look, such as how large or small the chopped items should be, for that particular recipe.

We’ve used this cookbook to make a lot of things for the first time with zero problems. For example, my pescatarian wife, who had never roasted a chicken before, followed the recipe for Jamie’s “Perfect Roast Chicken” (page 196) and she was very surprised that it went as smoothly as it did. Better yet, the end result was an amazing flavorful, moist roast chicken that even the picky kids loved!

We’ve also tried the recipe for “Salmon Baked in a Foil Parcel with Green Beans and Pesto” (page 248), which my wife really liked. It was really easy to prepare and baked in the oven while we finished cooking the non-fish items for dinner.

I’m a huge fan of Indian food, but Keli and the kids are not fans of spicy foods. Last week, we tried the “Chicken Korma” recipe (page 74) and that, too, turned out really good and the kids ate it without any complaints. The nice thing is Jamie’s introduction to this recipe talked about how to make it child friendly, so for people like us who don’t often make Indian food, it was very easy to know which ingredients to leave out, without jeopardizing the overall taste.

The thing I really like about this cookbook is that Jamie adds a little intro to each recipe, where he talks about ways to tailor the recipe to meet specific dietary needs, such as no spiciness. My wife and I cook most of our meals at home and we do a lot of that cooking together, so we know our way around a kitchen. “Jamie’s Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals” did a realy good job at walking the line between appealing to rookie cooks, as well as giving useful tips and information to those of us who might be simply looking for inspiration for more meals.

My only complaint (if I HAD to give one), is that there are recipes that refer to things by names we in the States aren’t used to, such as referring to crackers as “Jacob’s crackers.” When I read that, I wasn’t sure what the American equivalent was: Are they buttery like Ritz? Plain or salted like Saltines? Small crackers like Oyster Crackers? This complaint in and of itself would definitely not keep me from recommending the book and I’ve only encountered it with one or two recipes thus far.

We own a number of cookbooks and I have to say, this one is one of my favorites! The variety of recipes and simplicity of the preparation and cooking instructions make this a cookbook that will get a lot of use in most kitchens.

One of the most anticipated roleplaying games to come out recently was the Dresden Files RPG. The RPG is based off of the novels written by Jim Butcher. After watching me keep an eye on prices for months, my wife bought me the two books – “Your Story” & “Our World” – for an anniversary gift.

Most game groups will have one person – the Game Master (GM) or Dungeon Master (DM) – run the players though a story they’ve created, using Player Characters (PCs) created by the players themselves. Each group determines which setting they will use either as a group or from the GM coming to the group, saying, “I really like the XYZ setting, what do you think about me running a game with it?”

Typically, a GM will run the players through his or her game until they get tired of running the show or until they reach the end of their story line.

In the game group I’m currently in, the four of us had all been eyeing this game system and setting. When we started talking, we all had an interest in playing and running our own games, based in the Dresdenverse and we came up with a plan for our weekly game nights:

• Rotating GMs - In order to let all four of us take turns running our own devious plots and get some good playing time in, we decided that we would take turns running a game session once per month. Player 1 is the GM for week one. Player 2 is the GM the following week, and so forth.
• Same city - One of the brilliant aspects of the Dresden Files RPG is that, as a game group, you create the city in which the game will be run in. This helps everyone feel more connected to the imaginary setting. In our case, with the rotating GM schedule, all four stories are still based in the same group-created city. This means we get to piggy-back off of each other’s ideas. For example: A main character or PC in GM 1′s game might make a guest appearance in GM 3′s story line.

The Good

The entire gang involved in the Dresden Files RPG did an amazing job bringing the feeling, tone and concepts of the stories written by Jim Butcher to at-whim life as an RPG.

Artwork
The artwork in both books are stunning. There isn’t a whole lot else to say, other than, like a little kid, I really like the pictures.

Character Creation
The way characters are created is much different than other systems I’m used to. With all other games I’ve played, the players create their characters on their own and the GM is responsible for making them all come together in some semi-reasonable way to band together. With the Dresden Files RPG, characters are created collaboratively, with each player getting a chance to write his-or-herself into the other characters’ stories. If done right, before the first die is even rolled, you’re excited about what will happen to the characters you’ve all created.

The RPG Books Are Fun
These are the first RPG books I’ve read where I actually had fun reading them. In the margins of the books are “handwritten” notes from three people – Harry Dresden, Bob the Skull and Billy. The RPG books are written “by” Billy and the notes are made on the assumption that Bob and Harry are editing Billy’s ideas and work. Jokes are cracked and words here and there are scribbled out. All of this make the book fun to read and also carries through to players and GMs the basic idea that these games are supposed to be fun.

It’s Flexible
The novels (and therefore the RPG) have a lot of supernatural and magical components, such as wizards, schools of magic, vampires, werewolves, faeries and faerie courts, demons and the like. If, like our group, you have no interest in playing games with vampires or faeries, you can omit them. Our group decided on some house rules that no player characters would be vampires, faeries, or the like but they could be non-player characters (NPCs) “if really needed.”

Not all groups will shy away from some aspects of the Dresdenverse, but if, like ours, you opt to skip some aspects of the setting entirely, it won’t hamstring game play or your fun.

The Bad

There are only a couple of things I didn’t particularly like about these books:

Spoilers Abound!
If, like myself, you read the RPG books before you finish reading all of the Dresden Files novels, tread carefully!

The RPG books, especially “Our World,” is chock full of spoilers. Most systems, such as Serenity and Pathfinder, have iconic character examples that serve only as that: examples. In the Dresden Files RPG books, however, there are a ton of spoilers without warning. You can still enjoy the books after inadvertantly reading some details you’d rather not find out about just yet, but it is what still keeps me from looking through “Our World” with both eyes wide open.

No Dice
Good luck finding a set of Fudge/Fate dice. The Fate system uses 6-sided dice (d6′s) with a plus sign (+) equalling +1, a minus sign (-) equalling -1 and a blank side equalling zero, instead of traditional numbers or dots. When I was looking to buy this RPG, I found a severe shortage of Fudge dice anywhere I looked. Months later, the Fudge dice supply has not improved very much. Online stores were sold out. Local gaming stores were also sold out. This doesn’t have to kill your gaming opportunities, though, because you can use regular 6-sided dice in the following way:

1s & 2s = -
3s & 4s = Blank
5s & 6s = +

The Bottom Line

Go buy it. Whether you’re a fan of the Dresden Files novels or RPGs with a modern setting, you’ll enjoy the flexibility and depth of the Dresdenverse. Right now, IndiePressRevolution.com has Print+PDF bundles of each of the books – “Your Story” & “Our World” – for very good prices. You’ll not only get to download the PDF copies of both books right away, but soon afterward you’ll receive your physical book versions, too.

I have to admit that I had no clue “The Road,” by Cormac McCarthy even existed until I watched the trailer for the movie adaptation online last fall. I’ve always been a fan of post-apocalyptic stories and catching a glimpse of the feeling and tone of the story, even in that minute-long trailor, I knew I wanted to read the book.

“The Road” is a gritty, no-fluff story about a father and son surviving in the aftermath of a devastating event, leaving them as, seemingly, the only people left alive. This was the first book written by McCarthy that I had read and so it took me a little bit to get used to his style. First and foremost was his lack of nearly all punctuation.

As soon as I finished the last line of the book, I told my wife that she needed to read it next because “I need to talk to someone about the book, but nobody I know has read it!” She indulged me, read it and when she was finished said, in a half-joking way, “I hate you for making me read this book.” We talked about the story and we seemed to be on different pages about how the story made us feel.

I then turned to Logtar, since we typically have similar tastes for books. When he was finished reading it, he sent me an instant message saying something along the lines of, “I think I hate you now.”

Make no mistake about it, this is not a happy book, but it is one of my all-time favorites and here’s why…

SPOILER ALERT!

The thing that captivated me the most about the story, was the constant struggle of a father and son. Being a dad myself, when I read what these two characters went through, I couldn’t help but put myself in the father’s shoes. Everything he did for the sake of his child, I wondered if I would have the courage to do myself. I found myself going to sleep at night after reading some pages, wondering if I would be resourceful enough to survive alone with a child, in the harsh conditions of that barbaric world they wandered through.

Given the setting of the story, Cormac McCathy’s apparent dislike for punctuation actually added to the story by embelishing the chaotic “We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto” feel.

The story itself contained vague information that we all wanted to know. One of the reasons my wife didn’t care for the story was that, as readers, we never find out exactly what the hell happened to cause the devastation described in the book. This too, I felt, enhanced the story and helped us readers focus on the core subject at hand: The survival of an unlikely duo – a self-doubting, ill father and a scared, frightened little boy.

The bulk of the story is filled with anxiety, panic, hope, moments of “that would TOTALLY be my luck,” and despair. The ending is something I could spend an entire post discussing because I think it was brilliantly executed in keeping true to the overall story.

That being said, go read this book. When you’re done, come back and we can keep going. =)

Fear Nothing tells the story of 28-year-old oddball hero Christopher Snow, who lives in the city of Moonlight Bay, California, along with his hyper-intelligent dog Orson, his best surfing buddy Bobby and his late-night deejay girlfriend Sasha. Snow has XP – xeroderma pigmentosum – a very rare genetic affliction that forces him to avoid light at all costs, and will likely give him cancer later in life. His parents died under mysterious circumstances and he’s now being stalked by the shadowy characters who want Snow to stop trying to find out how they died–or else they’ll bump off his remaining loved ones.

I’m not a comic book nerd by any means. The only comic/graphic novel I own is “The Crow”.”Fear Nothing” will be a 128-page paperback and will sell for $14.99. It was put together in by Dabel Brothers Publishing, LLC, in collaboration with Dean Koontz.

If you pre-order it through Amazon you can save 33% off the cover price!

“This is a well-written and beautifully drawn adaptation. I’m delighted with it,” says Dean Koontz.

Oh yeah, this is only Volume 1 so my guess is they’ll also be making a graphic novel of the kick ass follow up, “Sieze The Night”.

The text and captions were written by Lee Torliatt (former teacher in Santa Rosa and writer & editor at The Press Democrat) and provide a very clear glimpse into the circumstances surrounding each and every photograph. The book is divided up into four chapters which do an excellent job of giving readers a view into live in Sonoma County during some monumental changes such as the increasing population of settlers and the rise of agriculture and trade:

• From Early Days to the 1906 Earthquake (1850s – 1909)
• Earthquake Recovery in a ‘Growing’ Economy (1907 – 1919)
• Prohibition, Labor Conflicts, and a Bridge (1920 – 1939)
• Gains and Loses from Postwar Growth (1940 – 1979)

The Good
The problem I have with most collections of historic Sonoma County photos is that they all seem to be almost entirely focused on the 1906 quake. While the 1906 earthquake definitely helped shape the future of Northern California, there is so much more to the history of the area, which many books leave out. That’s not the case with “Historic Photos of Sonoma County”

To start with, this book is 205 pages long, including the Bibliography. It’s large enough to do the photos justice but also makes a great coffee table book and conversation starter. The quality and sheer number of photos make this book worth every cent. There were some photos that definitely brought up some memories, such as photos of Rosenberg’s Department Store or of the then new Coddingtown and Montecito Center in Rincon Valley.

These photos really help you appreciate the rich history of Sonoma County and anyone who has spent any amount of time in the area — let alone any of us raised here — will enjoy this book without a doubt. If you’re a history buff, you really have no business not owning a copy of “Historic Photos of Sonoma County”!

The Bad
To be fair, I’ve really been trying to find some negative aspects of this book, just to prove that I’m not giving an assumed, biased review. The only thing I can possibly think of that might disuade some people from purchasing this book is the price. At $39.95 this is more than most people spend on a book after leaving college. For those that buy this book, you won’t be disappointed!

The Bottom Line
Get this book. Click here to order your own copy. You won’t regret it!

Note: Photos in this post were used with permission from Turner Publishing.

Books
I’ve been on a horror kick lately, having recently rediscovered H.P. Lovecraft, started writing a few short stories of the genre, and following those things up by reading “I Am Legend” which I recommend to everyone. I can’t really write too much about that book, since I’m still in the process of reading it to Keli and I don’t want to spoil anything for her.

A friend of mine bought me a copy of “World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War“, by Max Brooks for my birthday. I started reading the book online at the Barnes and Noble web site and was hooked. World War Z “tells the story of the world’s desperate battle against the zombie threat with a series of first-person accounts.” Without any spoilers, all I can really say is that if you’re remotely entertained – or even if you just get the heebie-jeebies – you really need to get a copy of this book and read it.

On a related note, Max Brooks is the same guy who brought us zombie junkies our bible, “The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead“.

Another book I have recently received, and haven’t been able to put down is “Dreams of Terror and Death: The Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft” by H.P. Lovecraft. This book is a collection of things written by Lovecraft after he woke up from dreams. Some are only a page or two long, while others were molded into rather long short stories. It’s fascinating to read, in detail, the dreams of someone from the early 1930s, in their own words. If you’re into Lovecraft, this book is a great read, too.

Music
For me, the Christmas season starts the day after Thanksgiving. That’s when I dust off the Christmas music and decorations. Aside from music of the season, I’ve been listening to “Nightmare Revisited” a lot. Not only is “The Nightmare Before Christmas” totally kick ass, but the soundtrack was awesome. So you take that existing masterpiece and put a different but equally creative and amazing spin on it by having musicians such as Marilyn Manson, Tiger Army, Flyleaf, Korn, All American Rejects and Rise Against, to name a few, cover those songs.

Movies
Like nearly everybody in the northern hemisphere, we bought a copy of “The Dark Knight” and certainly not because Christian Bale is a great actor. To be honest, I can’t stand the guy… but I digress.

“The Dark Knight” was such a good movie because Heath Ledger, as the Joker, was so incredibly brilliant and creepy that he is what made the movie. It’s not even because of the River Phoenix syndrome, either. I think he truly was as phenomenal as all the critics have said. The movie had just the right amount of darkness and “evil lurking in the shadows” that it was the edgy Batman that we should have always been presented.

So there you have it. This week’s (or at least until I do another one of these posts) update on what makes me giddy as a schoolboy with a new pack of baseball cards.