Tuesday, November 25, 2014

A Guest Post from A Year in the Secret Garden



A Year in the Secret Garden - Blog Tour Button 



I am happy today to host Valarie Budayr, co-author of the beautiful and charming book, A Year in the Secret Garden, a companion to the beloved classic by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Title: A Year in the Life of the Secret Garden
Author: Valarie Budayr Illustrator: Marilyn Scott-Waters
Publication Date: November, 2014
Publisher: Audrey Press
Pages: 144 
Recommended Ages: 5 to 99


Book Description: Award-winning authors Valarie Budayr and Marilyn Scott-Waters have co-created A Year in the Secret Garden to introduce the beloved children’s classic, The Secret Garden to a new generation of families. This guide uses over two hundred full color illustrations and photos to bring the magical story to life, with fascinating historical information, monthly gardening activities, easy-to-make recipes, and step-by-step crafts, designed to enchant readers of all ages. Each month your family will unlock the mysteries of a Secret Garden character, as well as have fun together creating the original crafts and activities based on the book. Over 140 pages, with 200 original color illustrations and 48 activities for your family and friends to enjoy, learn, discover and play with together. A Year In the Secret Garden is our opportunity to introduce new generations of families to the magic of this classic tale in a modern and innovative way that creates special learning and play times outside in nature. This book encourages families to step away from technology and into the kitchen, garden, reading nook and craft room.

And now, a word from Valarie Budayr!

A Year in the Secret Garden - coverThank you Rebecca for inviting me today to be a guest blogger today on Ninja Librarian. It is such an honor and I'm so happy to be here.

Over the past year I've had the great pleasure of working with Marilyn Scott-Waters aka The Toymaker as we created our book A Year in the Secret Garden.

One of our favorite childhood books is The Secret Garden. We wanted to bring the book to life for a new generation of readers. We've created a month by month guide to the Secret Garden bringing this magical story to life. Inside are crafts with step by step instructions, easy-to-make recipes, gardening activities, beautiful and fully illustrated paper toys to download, and historical information. We've even added a Yorkshire dialect guide. It's our wish that you have many magical moments inside the Secret Garden.

Today let's go exploring into the month of July. July is a beautiful sunny month in the Secret Garden. The garden is in full bloom, the bees are buzzing and there is always a gentle breeze found under blue skies. The Secret Garden is fully awake in summer and beckoning one and all to enter it's walls. July holds many wonderful adventures to be add as well as many wonderful things to eat. July explores the world of  The Secret Meal with a tin foil breakfast. Also included in July are Colin's exercises, a blindfolded garden walk, creating a garden journal, a character study on Susan Sowerby, creating beautiful affirmation stones and eating some lovely scones and ginger tea.


affirmation stones
Today I'd like to share some fun eating with a real Secret Meal, our tin foil breakfast. Mary, Dickon, and Colin enjoyed eating a breakfast by the campfire. It's one of my favorite things to do as well.

campfire 2 Tin Foil Breakfast

Makes enough for 1 person per foil package. Ingredients
  • Hash brown potatoes
  • 1-2 eggs
  • 1 sausage link (optional)
  • Feel free to add ham, cheese, or bell peppers as well
  • Salt and pepper
  • Aluminium foil
  • Cooking Spray
Instructions Tear off a piece of aluminum foil large enough to hold your eggs and potatoes. Spray the non-shiny surface of your foil with cooking spray. Break the eggs into a bowl and beat them until well mixed. Place potatoes, beaten eggs ( uncooked), sausage, and salt and pepper to fast in the aluminum foil. Wrap securely Place on hot white coals of your campfire or grill for approximately 15 minutes. Turn and rotate as needed.

Wishing you many happy adventures inside the Secret Garden.
--Valarie Budayr

About the Author: Valarie Budayr

Valarie BudayrValarie Budayr loves reading and bringing books alive. Her popular website, www.jumpintoabook.com, inspires children and adults alike to experience their books through play, discovery, and adventure.
She is founder of Audrey Press, an independent publishing house, as well as an Amazon and iTunes best-selling author. She has written The Fox Diaries: The Year the Foxes Came to our Garden and The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Valarie is passionate about making kid’s books come alive and encouraging families and schools to pull books off the shelves and stories off the pages.

Book Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook

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About the Illustrator: Marilyn Scott-Waters

Marilyn Scott-WatersMarilyn Scott-Waters loves making things out of paper. Her popular website, www.thetoymaker.com, receives 2,000 to 7,000 visitors each day, who have downloaded more than six million of her easy-to-make paper toys. Her goal is to help parents and children spend time together making things.
She is the creator of a paper toy craft book series The Toymakers Christmas: Paper Toys You Can Make Yourself (Sterling), and The Toymakers Workshop: Paper Toys You Can Make Yourself (Sterling). She is also the co-creator with J. H. Everett of the middle grade nonfiction series, Haunted Histories, (Christy Ottaviano Books / Henry Holt Books for Young Readers). Ms. Scott-Waters illustrated The Search For Vile Things (Scholastic), and created paper engineering for Pop & Sniff Fruit (Piggy Toes Press).

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* $100 Blog Tour Giveaway *

Amazon 100 gift card
Prize: $100 Amazon Gift Card or PayPal cash (winner’s choice)
Contest ends: December 7, 11:59 pm, 2014
Open: Internationally
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. A 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 the 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. This giveaway is sponsored by the authors Valarie Budayr and Marilyn Scott-Waters and is hosted and managed by Renee from Mother Daughter Book Reviews. If you have any additional questions – feel free to send and email to Renee(at)MotherDaughterBookReviews(dot)com.

Year in the Secret Garden Rafflecopter Giveaway!

A Year in the Secret Garden Blog Tour Schedule (2014)

EXPLORING SEPTEMBER
November 1
Coffee Books & Art (Guest Post)
WS Momma Readers Nook (Book Review)
November 2
Hope to Read (Excerpt)
November 3
Eloquent Articulation (Book Review)
EXPLORING OCTOBER
November 4
BeachBoundBooks (Excerpt)
November 5
Monique’s Musings (Book Review)
November 6
SOS-Supply (Book Review)
EXPLORING NOVEMBER
November 7
Randomly Reading (Book Review)
November 8
Adalinc to Life (Book Review)
EXPLORING DECEMBER
November 9
100 Pages a Day (Book Review)
November 10
Edventures With Kids (Book Review)
EXPLORING JANUARY
November 11
November 12
Girl of 1000 Wonders (Book Review)
EXPLORING FEBRUARY
November 13
Seraphina Reads (Guest Post)
November 14
Juggling Act Mama (Book Review)
EXPLORING MARCH
November 15
Pragmatic Mom (Illustrator Interview)
November 16
Stacking Books (Book Review)
EXPLORING APRIL
November 17
Oh My Bookness (Book Review)
November 18
EXPLORING MAY
November 19
The Blended Blog (Book Review)
November 20
All Done Monkey (Book Review)
November 21
Geo Librarian (Book Review)
EXPLORING JUNE
November 22
My Tangled Skeins Book Reviews (Book Review)
November 23
November 24
Bookaholic Chick (Excerpt)
EXPLORING JULY
November 25
Ninja Librarian (Guest Post)
November 26
Jane Ritz (Book Review)
Rockin’ Book Reviews (Book Review)
November 27
EXPLORING AUGUST
November 28
Deal Sharing Aunt (Book Review)
November 29
Mommynificent (Book Review)
November 30
This Kid Reviews Books (Book Review)
Java John Z’s (Author/Illustrator Interview)
Grandbooking (Author/Illustrator Interview)

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9 comments:

  1. Hi Rebecca,
    Nice to be here again.
    Good Review, and good intro
    Thanks for sharing
    ~ Phil

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! I didn't review this one, but I did look at it--lots of pretty pictures and cool-looking projects!

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  2. Thanks for hosting Valarie today in the "A Year in the Secret Garden" Blog Tour, Rebecca. I'd love to try out the "Tin Foil Breakfast" when we go camping next - it sounds so delicious! Unfortunately, I have a really long time to wait! lol

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    Replies
    1. This is not a big camping time of year for us, either! And I admit to being a lazy camp cook--I use a stove, and not a fire, and mostly boil pasta :)

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    2. You don't have to wait for camping weather. We use the barbecue when campfire weather isn't around. Enjoy !!

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  3. I still haven't had a chance to actually SEE/READ this book, but from the first time I heard about it, I loved the whole concept. Brilliant, ladies! :)

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    Replies
    1. I'd like to have a paper copy, because it's beautiful, and digital just doesn't do books like that justice.

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  4. Thanks so much Rebecca for hosting me and huge a thank you for being a part of the blog tour. Wishing you many fun adventures in the Secret Garden.

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    Replies
    1. Or even fun adventures in my own improbable, but not exactly secret, garden!

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