Guest post by Pearce Corbin

Today I have the pleasure of featuring a freelance writer Pearce Corbin who has generously agreed to be my guest today.
 
But first here is a picture of the winner of  our $100 Visa Card Giveway that Deborah Lynne and myself offered to one lucky winner at the recent LA Book Festival. She was a very happy winner! We met her for lunch and she not only was an appreciative, avid reader, she was so personable. We felt like we'd known her our whole lives. Congratulations Catherine and we couldn't have picked a better winner! Have fun shopping!



Allyn Stotz, Catherine Rasberry, Deborah Lynne

                                                                    





Now on to my guest writer. I hope you enjoy his post. Thank you Pearce for taking the time out of your busy schedule to enlighten us with your five best children's books!

BIO:

Pearce Corbin is obsessed with interior design. He frequents furniture shops, flea markets and eBay for bargain-hunting.  When he’s not busy ogling at house furnishings he writes freelance for companies like MyProjectorLamps.Com. In this guest post he shares his best children stories of all time.

 

The Five Best Children's Stories of All Time

 

Though there are thousands of children books out in the world, there is only an elite few that become classics and are read generation after generation.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Charlie and the Chocolate factory author Roald Dahl knew what he was doing when he wrote this all time favorite children's book. What better way to get the attention of kids than to write a book about a little boy named Charlie who gets to visit the chocolate factory of world famous chocolatier Willy Wonka. Anything that has to do with candy will get a child's curiosity. Write a great story about candy and you will get their full attention. Simply an all time classic that is loved.

Cat in the Hat

The Cat in the Hat has been a favorite children's book ever since it was first published in 1959. Dr. Seuss really blew minds away when he wrote this book showing off his genius and poetry. Such a short book with only 1629 words, yet so genius as it only uses 236 distinct words that are aimed at small children to learn. It is a book that will immediately catch the attention of kids. Rhymes play a big part of this book and what kid does not like rhymes. “My tricks are not bad,” said the Cat in the Hat. “Why, we can have lots of good fun, if you wish, With a game that I call UP UP UP with a fish!” Simply brilliant and a book that will live on for more generations.

Tom Sawyer

Tom Sawyer is a book that has been enjoyed for many generations as it was first published way back in 1876. Mark Twain's great writing talent keeps readers really anxious to find out what Tom is going to do next. Mischief and mayhem are two characteristics that sum up the things that Tom and his friends continually get in to. Huckleberry Finn, Becky Thatcher, Joe Harper and many others are all characters from the Tom Sawyer books that are unforgettable. For today's older readers who are reading this book to their children or grandchildren, it will remind them of how life used to be for kids who played outside and got in to mischief before children started spending their days playing video games and watching television.

Sleeping Beauty

 

Sleeping Beauty is a staple bedtime story that doesn’t fail to leave a lasting impression to kids, I’m sure all of us will agree on this. Later in life we end up reliving our joy of this book by reading it to our children and grandchildren. The main character in this book is Princess Aurora, who is cursed by an evil witch named Maleficent. The curse on Aurora is that she will die once she reaches her 16th birthday. The king hides her and puts her in the care of three goodhearted fairies named Flora, Fauna and Merryweather. Merryweather tries her best to undo the spell of the witch by allowing Aurora to wake up from an ageless sleep when her true love kisses her. Truly a fairytale classic.

Robin Hood

 

The stories of Robin Hood are ancient and unforgettable. The stories of Robin Hood depict a good guy in green clothing who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. When any little boy reads Robin Hood books he is surely thinking of how cool it would be to be Robin Hood. Robin Hood was a skilled archer and swordsman who people loved. Unless he was robbing them of their wealth of course!

 

 

Thanks again, Pearce. What about you? What is your favorite children's book? I like Pierce's choices but I'd have to add Cinderella to that list!

 

Now that Thanksgiving is right around the corner (so hard to believe!!) I wanted to let everyone know that I am taking a short break and won't repost until after Turkey Day. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and I'll talk to you later!

Goblins, Goobers, and real Monsters

Happy day after Halloween everyone!

We didn't have as many Halloweeny Goblins as usual last night and now I have tons of candy left. This year I did try to not buy as much as I normally do because since I got laid off from my job I have no office to share my leftovers with. I also tried to buy candy I wouldn't be that tempted to eat. Like gooey bugs, ring suckers, and sour whatevers. I hardly had any chocolate at all. But now what do I do with all those leftovers?

I miss being a kid at Halloween. It was so much fun dressing up and running the streets gathering up candy. My favorite was the big candy bars and the homemade things we sometimes got. Times have changed though. Now you NEVER get homemade goodies unless you go to a party or something. And the candy bars are more like candy bites.

Halloween is so commercial nowadays right down to the costumes. I saw barely a costume that was made by "mommy." They were mostly very clearly, store bought. However, my favorite of the night were two little boys dressed up in astronaut suits. They were store bought all the way, but still adorable.

Anyway, goodbye Halloween... until next year!

Now I'd like to express my sympathies to all those effected by Hurricane Sandy. Boy can I relate to what you are going through. Living here in Baton Rouge, LA we have seen our share of disaster. Baton Rouge didn't fare too badly during Hurricane Katrina but we witnessed first hand the devastation of New Orleans and the sadness from the people living there. I worked for an insurance company at the time and cried for weeks as I dealt with people who lost everything.

The people of Baton Rouge made out a lot worse from the next Hurricane which was Gustov (I think). Most people lost electricity for weeks. At my house we lost it for 2 weeks and let me tell you, it was no fun at all. We did finally wait in line for 2-3 hours to buy a generator and then 2-3 hours more for gas, but it was worth it. The generator saved us to where we didn't suffer too much. We also have a gas stove and hot water heater so we had it much better then some. I know alot of people who had trees destroy their roofs and much more damage.

But the good thing about these horrible monsters called hurricanes is that we do rebuild. New Orleans has been back up strong for many years now and New York will get there too. It will take lots of time, strength, courage, and working together but it will happen. And you will probably come out even stronger.