Guest Post - FANTASY LIFE by Matthew Berry

[A guest post by my husband, The Couch Cushion Quarterback. You can find him at his blog and on Twitter (@ccqscott)]

Matthew Berry, known to some as the “Talented Mr. Roto,” is ESPN’s Senior Fantasy Sports Analyst.
During baseball & football season he can be heard daily on either the ESPN: Fantasy Focus Baseball or
Football podcasts. On TV & radio he can be seen & heard on many different ESPN Network programs
discussing fantasy sports, especially Sunday mornings during the NFL season on ESPN2’s Fantasy
Football Now. He also writes a weekly column for ESPN.com during the football season.  Somewhere in
this busy schedule Berry found the time to write this book, Fantasy Life.

As someone who plays fantasy football, I’ve been a longtime fan of Berry - listening to his podcasts, reading his columns, and watching his shows - so when it came to this book, I was an easy sell. I was ready for all the stories about fantasy leagues, and the craziness that can be fantasy sports. I wasn’t expecting that woven among the true stories collected from all sorts of fantasy players would be a narrative of Berry’s personal journey. He shares how in 1985, at the age of 14, he joined his first fantasy league. This was before the age of the internet, back when stats were tracked by hand. From those early days to his post-collegiate career as a writer in Hollywood to writing for fantasy sports sites for free, readers see the path that Berry took to get where he is today. Berry also goes beyond his professional career and shares some of the highs and lows of his personal life culminating in his recent marriage that came with an instant family as well as adding to that family with the birth of twin girls all within a year’s time.

This book covers the gamut of fantasy sports: the incredible wins, crushing losses, risqué trade
propositions, trash talk, and embarrassing tattoos for finishing last in your league. It also highlights the
camaraderie among league mates, the close knit bond that can help someone through a tough spot in
life, and the joy, as well as tears that can be shared through major life events.  To sum it all up I would
have to borrow some words directly from the book, “It’s like a love letter to fantasy sports,” specifically
from a man whose life has truly been changed by fantasy sports.

Overall, I don’t think you have to be a fantasy sports fan to enjoy this book. Sure, it helps to be familiar
with fantasy sports, but I believe even if you have just a passing interest, you will enjoy this fascinating
look at the world of fantasy sports. If not that, enjoy the story that is Matthew Berry’s Fantasy Life.

Four out of five stars

CHAPTER BOOK: Stink and the Freaky Frog Freakout by Megan McDonald (GUEST POST)

[This is a guest post by my son who is blogging under the code name of "Steve Rogers."]

Who has spiky hair, is short and is mutating into a frog?

It's Stink E. Moody! Stink is a second grader who has an older sister named Judy (who has her own book series and movie). One day after swim lessons, Stink went to the showers and found a frog there. He named the frog King Otto. The frog only had three legs. Stink thought the leg had been eaten by a bird, but later a naturalist tells him it is because of fertilizer. Stink goes on a frog observation one night to count frogs. After that, Stink gets licked by a blue frog and thinks he is becoming a mutant frog - which would help him reach his goal of swimming underwater to get quarters. In the end, Stink makes his goal (without turning into a frog), learning about frogs from his adventure.

I give this three out of five stars. This would be recommended for first graders and older. It is a fun adventure and hilarious along the way. [There's no AR level at the time of this writing.]

Thank You to My Guest Posters

A quick, yet sincere thank you to my guest posters, my son and husband, who gave me some needed time away from blogging to get the school year started. I could probably use another week of summer to truly feel "ready" and on top of things, but the year is off to a good start and I'm ready to get back to blogging.

COMIC BOOK: Ultimate Spider-Man #1

[This is the final guest post from "Steve Rodgers." Next week my husband will sub in for three reviews, and then I'll be back. Hope you have enjoyed these reviews from my nine-year-old.]

This is the first issue in an Ultimate Spider-Man comic. In this story, Agent Coulson tells Peter Parker to keep an eye on Nick Fury while he was "out and about." Then Hydra pops out and attacks Nick. Spider-Man discovers that things aren't what they look like. Spider-Man even gets to test out Nick's flying car!

I would give this comic 4 stars out of 5. I thought the comic was going to be like the TV show but in this comic Spider-Man didn't have a team like he does on TV. But I still liked the story.

I would recommend this to kids who like comics or kids who like Spider-Man.

EARLY READER: Heroes In Action (LEGO Hero Factory) by Shari Last

[Guest post by "Steve Rodgers"]

Lego Hero Factory is a toy series that is like Bionicles, but it has it's own story line (there have been some TV episodes in the past). This book describes the heroes made at the Makuhero Factory and about a breakout from the factory. The factory is the base for the heroes and some of the villains are kept there in holding cells. This book describes when all the villains broke out at one time and how each hero captures his/her assigned villain.

I give this book 4.5 out of 5 stars because I really like Hero Factory. There's great action and descriptions of the villains and the heroes
AR level of 5.6


I recommend this book to kids in second grade and higher, especially kids who already like Hero Factory.

CHAPTER BOOK: Underworlds - The Battle Begins by Tony Abbott

[blogging by "Steve Rodgers."]


This story is about kids named Owen, Sydney, Jon and Dana. The kids discover that the Greek Underworld exists under their school - and Dana falls right into it! They have to steal the lyre of Orpheus to get to the Underworld and they have only an hour to rescue their friend.

I give this book 4.5 out of 5 stars. There's action, mythology, and suspense. I recommend this book to kids in 5th grade or higher. Kids who like Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series or the Kane Chronicles might like this series, too.

AR level of 3.6

GRAPHIC NOVEL: Warriors - Warrior's Return by Erin Hunter

[This post brought to you by "Steve Rodgers."]


Greystripe and Millie leave the old home of the Thunderclan and progress to another farm where they meet a good, old friend of Greystripe, Ravenpaw. Ravenpaw gives them instructions for finding the Thunderclan. But the trip isn't smooth. There are all sorts of dangers to cats - cars and two-legs for example. But the trilogy has a happy ending.

I give this 5 out of 5 stars - there's lots of action in this story. I liked the appearance of Ravenpaw in this story. He's a very good character and he has his own graphic novel series.
AR level of 2.5


I would recommend this book to kids first grade and older.

GRAPHIC NOVEL: Warriors - Warrior's Refuge by Erin Hunter

[Another blog by "Steve Rodgers."]

Greystripe and Millie are together again, still searching for the Thunderclan. First, they run across a street, and then they go to a farm. They meet a family of cats there who are friendly to them. After the farm, Greystripe and Millie find the old home of the Thunderclan, but no one is there.

This is another good, short graphic novel. I like the parts where Greystripe is teaching Millie how to hunt.

I give this one 4.5 out of 5 stars; it was a little slower than the first one.
AR level of 2.2

I recommend this book for kids in first grade and up, especially cat lovers.

GRAPHIC NOVEL: Warriors - The Lost Warrior by Erin Hunter

This blog post comes to you from my son, who is using the name "Steve Rodgers" for blogging purposes (it has been an Avengers-heavy summer!). Enjoy!

This book is about a cat named Graystripe. He has lost his clan and is stuck in a 'two-leg' house. He's become a house cat, but he used to be a Warrior. He decides to run away to find his clan - the Thunderclan. Along the way, Graystripe meets a cat named Millie who decides to join him on his quest.

I like the graphic novels because they are shorter than the regular books and the regular books don't have any pictures. I also like these stories because they are about cats.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. The detail of the story is great and it was easy to understand.
AR level of 2.3

I think kids in grades 1 and up would like this book. If they like cats, they would like this book even more!

Guest Posts!

For the next couple weeks, as I am heading into a new school year, I will be taking a blogging break. My son and my husband have graciously agreed to fill in for me during this transition. I hope you enjoy what they have to share!

GUEST BLOGGER: Dawson Vosberg

Your "regularly scheduled book review" will be here a little later today. I'll post it after 3pm. But for now I hope you will check out this post from guest blogger, Dawson Vosberg about his book, Double Life, and about using the Amazon Kindle, either as a reader or as an author.

Thanks for having me on the blog, Jaymie.

First I would like to introduce my book. The title is Double Life, and it’s an exciting science-fiction young adult adventure that takes place in an imaginary secret government agency called the BLUE. It follows Josiah Jones on his mission to defeat the evil crime syndicate, the RED Agency. It’s available in print and on the Kindle on Amazon.

Print: http://www.amazon.com/Double-Life-Dawson-Vosburg/dp/1435724283/

Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Double-Adventures-Josiah-Jones-ebook/dp/B002BH4H3Q/

Today I’d like to discuss with you Amazon’s ebook reading device, Kindle, and how that can help you get your book out there. Kindle is Amazon’s wireless reading device, and if you’re an author, I’d be surprised if you hadn’t heard of it. Kindle is currently the most popular ebook reader. Conveniently, they offer to you a free service to put your book on Kindle and have it selling in a few hours on Amazon.

If you want to do this, go to dtp.amazon.com and you can upload your file, front cover art, and whatever else they ask you for. If you’re uploading the PDF, you’re going to run into some problems because when you upload a PDF it translates it all wonky. I’d recommend going to Joshua Tallent at www.kindleformatting.com for this question. He’ll be able to guide you through the process.

Once you have it all uploaded, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND setting the price to $1. Not $.99, but $1. If you set it to $.99, it won’t discount the book, but if you set it to $1, it’ll discount 20 cents off of it and you still get the 35% royalty off the dollar, so Amazon’s taking the cut and not you. This is a HUGE selling point for a Kindle book.

It’ll take a while for Amazon to make a Kindle page for your book. Once it’s up, great. Now you have a book on Kindle. What do you do with it? I’d suggest going onto the Kindle community forums on Amazon. Just scroll down to the “Discussions” section on the book’s page and the top two should be in the Kindle forum. Click the word Kindle, and you’re ready to make a topic about your book.Make the post topic relevant to your book and state either that it’s 80 cents or under a dollar. People will be attracted to this. In the post, say who you are, give a brief description of the book, put the link there, and thank people for their time, signing your name at the end. You will probably be able to start selling books quite quickly and easily because it’s only 80 cents. That’s the benefit of having a really cheap book. When people respond to your topic, thank them and remind them to post a review. They most often will.

If you want to market further, go to www.kindleboards.com and make an account there. As a Kindle author, your home would be the Book Bazaar sub forum. There, there is a thread that I started called “Got an 80 cent book? Front it here.” There are plenty of authors who have posted for the reader’s convenience to shop around. Also I’d recommend making a similar post to the one on the Amazon forums separate of the 80 cent book thread. From there, people will read your book and often review it. There are plenty of Amazon Kindle users who read books and always review them, so keep that in mind!

It’s important to use the Kindle because people who use it are the ones who love books the most—they shelled out 400 bucks on a reader. They’re not your average Joe, read a book a year kind of people. They love to read and they are willing to read your book.

Good luck and may your Kindle sales go well!

Dawson

http://dawsonvosburg.blogspot.com

http://thepodjournal.wordpress.com