About the Book
Title: Animania| Author/Illustrator: Corrina Holyoke | Publication Date: April 6, 2015 | Publisher: Create Space | Pages: 32 | Recommended Ages: 4-8

Amazon US  * Amazon UK 

Author/artist Corrina Holyoake's Animania takes young children on a smile-bursting adventure into a fantastical world of imaginary critters in this alphabet book with a twist. Six-year old Neighbor Boy, his mom, Senora Maria, and I read the book and offer our review.


MY REVIEW
NARRATIVE
This picture book flows in four-line rhymes as it names and describes outrageous creatures representing different letters of the alphabet.   Holyoake conjures up crisp verse that’s easy for kids to remember and recite.  Her silly-and-sweet flights of fancy delight, such as B for Boogerbat:

ILLUSTRATIONS
Holyoake’s inventive illustrations are extraordinary, appealing to the child in all of us.  Animals sizzle in large drawings on a single page of white background.  Holyoke adds details that make these imaginary creatures come alive.  

For instance, the Electroshell dances (the electric slide?!) on a brightly checkered floor while two white mice, one in cool sunglasses, dance along side the 10-footed creature with the sparkling jewel-toned shell.  In fact, the two white mice are design images carried throughout the piece.  They mimic the main characters’ antics in wild, inventive ways and add to the fun.  Colorful upper-and lower-case letters are also integrated into each illustration in imaginative ways.  Each page is a visual delight  to explore and enjoy.

FORMAT
Words and illustrations follow a 32-page picture book layout in this handy kid-sized 8.5 x 11-inch book   Rhymes are printed below each drawing at the bottom quarter of the page, in quirky, black, sans-serif font, with plenty of white space around words and between lines.  Text that names each animal is printed in both upper- and lower-case letters; it's colored and styled to match the animal art.  The book fits perfectly into small hands that are eager to turn its pages.  

While you can read the book in a linear fashion from start to finish, Animania  works well when children select their favorite animals or letters (like their initials) and read those parts in separate sittings.

UNIQUE FEATURES
Holyoake's art simply dazzles in its color, detail and creativity.  She creates a totally believable world of beautifully drawn, fanciful creatures that appeal to young and old.  Best, she entertains while helping young minds learn.  Animania teaches beginning readers and offers enchanting, visual prompts to reach those who struggle with their letters.  The book ends with a coloring page and asks children to imagine and draw their own Animania creature.

NEIGHBOR BOY'S REVIEW

I love the funny mice that always show up.  I like the silly stuff and the way the names are made up for animals.  It’s funny with a million rhymes.  

I love the beautiful drawings. Boogerbat is my favorite because it is funny and yucky.

SENORA MARIA'S REVIEW
Neighbor Boy's Mom

Beautiful!  I love her drawings.  The book teaches letters in a way that’s fun.  It’s another way to learn, and it doesn’t feel like boring schoolwork.  The little details throughout the book are charming and keep the kids’ attention.

OUR RECOMMENDATION
Neighbor Boy, Senora Maria, and I highly recommend Animania for preschoolers through second-graders.  We laughed at its funny rhymes and were enchanted by the amazing illustrations.  Parents and teachers can design all sorts of Animania extension activities to get the greatest use from this book.  I can see children being inspired to draw their own alpha-critter and practice their letters.  

While young readers giggle at the visual treats and silly verse, they will  remember that Booger Bat represents the letter B; they will recognize what its upper- and lower-case letters look like.  Can't wait to see what Holyoake does with her next book and promised Animania coloring pages.

Disclosure:
I was provided with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Connect with Corrina Holyoake
Website/blog  |  Facebook |  Twitter  

A tech support specialist by day for a medical and scientific publisher; a mum of two and artist by night, UK-based artist, author Corrina Holyoake is a lover of color, silliness, and the obscure.  She enjoys life to its fullest and thrives off new experiences and challenges.  Having just dipped her toes into the writing world and self-publishing with Animania, she’s looking forward to seeing where this new journey takes her.

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Driving Down to Dillon:
 A Very-Short Tale of Love and New Beginnings

September 2015 marks the start of my THIRD year as a Kid Lit blogger on Cat’s Corner.  WOW!   Can’t believe it!

I started Cat’s Corner because I fancied writing weekly bursts to hone my skills and connect with readers.  Blogging has been rewarding, but it also has had its share of excruciating dips, especially as I began.  Nothing seemed to go right. 

As a newbie blogger, I was overwhelmed by a ginormous learning curve.  Even though I’m tech-savvy, I needed a ton of new skills to survive.  My perseverance and optimism were tested daily.  

To help you begin your blogging journey, I share what I learned and offer my top 10 blogging tips and hacks for newbies. 

First Post - Gulp!
I smile about it now, but I was mega-anxious when my first blog went live in September 2013.

It took FOREVER to write this tell-all about writing a first post.  I came from an academic and marketing background and had to adjust to a totally different writing style of the internet’s informal sound bites.  I was on edge imagining MY words tumbling in cyberspace. With a gazillion posts zipping through the Internet, would anybody find my blog? Or even care about reading it if they stumbled on it? I needed every lick of self-confidence and courage.

The moment came.  I took a deep breath and pushed ‘publish.’  Then it hit me like I shoulda had a V-8: I made a huge timing faux pas.  I posted on  September 11,  a solemn day deserving respect, not the rambles of a neophyte blogger oblivious to the day’s significance.  A quick check of cyber-chatter confirmed my error.  Mercy!   I deleted my post as fast as I figured out how.

Thanks to  my Quick Mental Reset Technique (a handy tactic that saved my bacon  on many occasions), a new post went up a few days later.  It was a short, sweet piece about an autumn morning.  It was a keeper, and I’m still proud of it. 

Finding that Open, Authentic Voice
The next challenge was finding my unique blogging voice.  I toiled on posts I hoped readers might enjoy.  A few likes and comments trickled in (mostly from family and friends, bless ‘em!).  Determined to succeed, I ramped up my efforts.  Read more blogs.  Commented and liked scores of posts. My blog’s traffic slowly improved, but it wasn’t where I wanted it to be.

Even though I'm outgoing, it was a humongous adjustment to Open My Inner-Most Thoughts to the Whole World. Then a strange thing happened: the more relaxed I became with my writing, the more people responded.  D’uh. 

My ah-ha moment came several months into blogging, after I was flattened by a series of battles with Evil Technology Gremlins and The Daunting Social Media Learning Curve.  I felt beyond-frustrated, angry and close to tears.  Firing up the laptop, words poured out about my love-hate affair with social media.  I didn’t think about them.  I just wrote from a weary soul.  

After finding an awesome image from a photographer pal to insert (yep, gotta have dynamite images to attract readers), I wrote, edited, and published it in a matter of hours.

Reaction to that post floored me. I assumed no one would care.  However, my reveal about struggling with The Social Media Vortex struck a chord: Vortex received the widest engagement of anything I’d written.

Chocolate and Books: the Magic of Collaboration

A final milestone came as I discovered the importance of connecting with other bloggers.  This connection was not just for career advancement, but for the support and joy they add to my life.  Realization came through collaboration in a blog tour with half-dozen other Kid Lit writers.  It was a silly and fun topic, The Chocolate and Books Tour, where we a pair chocolate with six favorite books.  

I had no idea what I would write or how any of the tour would come together, but I jumped at the chance.  I loved the energy and excitement we generated as a team!  We encouraged and cross-promoted each other as we reached more readers and grew our platform.  It was  a blast, and  I remain close to those choco-book tour bloggers today.


Two Years a Blogger
I’ve come a long way in 48 months.  I don’t stress out as much about blogging, although I fret about finding time to write and keeping fresh.  

As I create my weekly posts, I imagine you sitting across from me.  We’re having a lovely conversation on my porch, a favorite brew in hand. It’s a glorious sunny day.  We’re rocking and chatting about the blog topic I'm considering, comfy like long-time friends.  

Once I have that mental picture of YOU, I’m on a writerly roll!

LEARN MORE
Top 10 Tips and Hacks for Starting Your Blog

General Ideas to Get You Going
1. How to Start a Blog in 15 minutes
    Amy Lynn Andrews
Amy Lynn’s post inspired this newbie.  She walks through details, like  setting up a domain name and blog on Word Press, and more.  This is a must-read! 

2. Get Started Guide: Blogging for Writers
     Jane Friedman
Jane rocks with the whys, goals, and practical tips to help writers start a blog.  She shares links to additional resources that help writers totally new to blogging, about to start a blog, and/or feeling dissatisfied with their current blog.  

3.  Blogging 101 for the Independent Authors
     Bookbaby
This an excellent overview spells out how to start blogging as an indie author, but it contains great information for anyone.

4.  Building a Credible, Trustworthy Author Blog
     Sandra Beckwith
Sandy is a public relations pro who offers valuable insights and resources to ensure you stay on target.

Finding Content and Increasing Engagement
5. Top Writing Blogs of 2015
     positivewriter.com
See what best writing blogs are all about.  Great tips and tons of helpful ideas from this list, too.

6.  Five Killer Tactics to Increase Your Blog Traffic
     Verve Search, Matt E Lindley
I love sharing my blog more than once across multiple social media platforms after putting so much work into it (there’s even a suggested posting schedule graphic for different platforms).  Find ideas for repurposing your blog content into different formats, like podcasts or even e-books, too.

7. Eight Steps to Writing the Perfect Post
    by Jeremy Goldman
Jeremy walks you through short steps, using video and images, on how to create the perfect blog post.  Everything from the best post length to CTAs (call to action).  I forgot to add CTAs on my first blogs!

8.  Blogging for Authors: 
    How to Create a Blog that Can Grow With Your Career
    Anne Allen
I love how Anne breaks down blogging by career stages and gives specific steps in each phase for growing your blog.

9.   Setting Blogging Goals
      Bek-Mum of Dillydrops
I like this real-time list that shows how Bek-Mum plots her simple and effective strategies for continued success.  Great example of achievable goal-setting.  If you haven’t tried a Linky blog hop, that’s a great vehicle for building your platform.  Fun, too!

10.  A Trio of Fun *Free* Online Tools I Use All the Time
Blog Topic Generator on HubSpot
Stuck about what to write?  This website is a blog idea generator. Pop in three key words, and it offers five blog topics based upon those words. Really cool! And even if you don't use the exact topics, the results will set your brain twirling. 

Headline Analyzers
American Marketing Institute
Coschedule
I love both these free online tools for getting instant feedback on the strength of my blog titles and social media headlines.  They have this mysterious-to-me-but-awesome algorithm that measures word strings most likely to engage readers.  It's like having a social media coach sitting next to me!

Celebrating with a Giveaway for YOU

Can't tell you how much I appreciate your company the past 48 months, Lovely Readers.  If you’re thinking of starting a blog, I encourage you to go for it.  Just channel The Little Engine that Could and keep repeating, “I think I can, I think I can.  I KNOW I can!”  

I know you can!  

Please let me know how it goes.  I'd be honored if you'll consider me as your blogging friend.  

Before you go, please also consider entering my 2-Year Bogoversary Giveaway that runs through 30 September 2015.  You'll find prize details and the entry link below.  Thanks!

Please join the conversation in the comment section.
Receive Giveaway points for commenting by 30 Sept!
How do these blogging tips work for you?
What additional suggestions or resources can you add?

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Subscribe to updates about my books and receive my free downloadable tale for the young at heart:
Driving Down to Dillon:
A Very Short Story of Love and New Beginnings.

This September marks the start of my THIRD year as a blogger and Kid Lit author.  It’s my Two-Year Blogoversary!

WOW!  These 48 months have been a roller coaster.  Exhilarating at times; daunting the next.  I’m deeply grateful for people I met along the way who support me: colleagues who share practical tips and creative ideas; readers who tell me how much they enjoy my tales; teachers, librarians who welcome me into their schools; and kind folk who keep me smiling when I need a jolt of joy.  

This Two-Year Blogoversary is a milestone as much for YOU as it is about me.  Without YOU, there wouldn’t be a Cat Michaels, writer.  So it's definitely time to say thanks and celebrate.  And a giveaway of Sweet T Tales swag is just the ticket!  

Read on for details about my Two-Year Blogoversary Giveaway.

Prizes
Ten entrants will win one of the five prizes below.

A 12-inch, crocheted, chubby-cheeked Fuzzy rabbit pal of your very own to cherish.   A unique, thoughtful gift, especially when paired with Finding Fuzzy, my tale for early readers.

OR
Sweet T Tales Kids’ Activity Packet  

• Coloring pages designed by watercolor artist Irene A. Jahns
  
• Mazes, word finds, and book marks from the "Sweet T Tales"
  
• Stickers, color pencils, sharpener and eraser    

OR
A signed copy of one of my five-star-rated books for beginning readers.  Your choice:

• Sweet T and the North Wind
• Finding Fuzzy: a You-Decide Tale of a Lost Friend 
  

OR
Sweet T Tales Book Bag, featuring digital watercolor art from my books by artist Irene A. Jahns   

OR
Gift Card in the amount of $25.00 US 
Your choice of Amazon or PayPal

Giveaway starts
Sept 14, 2015, 12:00 am midnight, ET

Giveaway ends
October 1 2015, 12:00 am midnight, ET

Open 

• North America
• United Kingdom 
• Australia 

How to enter: Please enter using the Rafflecopter widget below.

Terms and Conditions: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. One winner will be randomly drawn through the Rafflecopter widget and will be contacted by email within 48 hours after the giveaway ends. The winner will then have 72 hours to respond. If a winner does not respond within 72 hours, a new draw will take place for a new winner. Odds of winning will vary depending on the number of eligible entries received. This contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook.  Prizes are provided by Cat Michaels, who also hosts and manages this giveaway. If you have any additional questions, feel free to send an email to Cat at catmichaelswriter@gmail (dot) com.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS AND ENTRY LINK

Join the conversation.
Earn a Giveaway point!
Post Blogoversary good wishes in the comment section below.

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Earn a Giveaway point!  
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AND
 receive a free downloadable mini-tale for the young at heart
Driving Down to Dillon:
A Very Short Story of Love and New Beginnings