What’s on my iPod: “The Beautiful Girls” by La Mar
What I’m reading: Green Fields of Africa by Ernest Hemingway
The last person I followed on Twitter: @iansomerhalder

1. Dr. Mark Mckee on Yahoo! Voices 

Dr. Mark Mckee – award-winning author of RAISING A SUCCESSFUL CHILD and child psychologist  – stopped by Yahoo to give parents a “Parenting Test” to help expecting parents analyze what to expect for parenthood. Here are one of his questions he poses to parents:

Question 1.
What does this child mean to me/us? Parent’s underlying perceptions, fantasies, hopes, etc. can have a significant impact on their relationship with their infant and throughout the childs development. Some children may be seen as a replacement for a loss or perhaps proof of masculinity and/or femininity. A child may be seen as “marital glue” or perhaps as a “gift” for parents who may have had difficulties conceiving. (This might contribute to problems down the line in that it is hard.to discipline a “gift”). Most parents have a rich and elaborate schema of fantasies and hopes about their child which is healthy. A single or limited perception of the child may lead to difficulties.

More about RAISING A SUCCESSFUL CHILD

The award-winning parenting book, Raising A Successful Child (The Manual), gets to the heart of what every parent needs to know to have a warm,loving relationship with their baby and raise a happy,healthy,secure child. Based on past successful parenting practices, and even more excitingly on recent research findings that point to new directions in parenting, this book provides in clear and simple language a roadmap and tools for raising successful children. “The Manual” introduces parents to the idea of a balanced life for a child–work and play are equally important at all stages of development.

Exploring all the things that can go wrong and what families should do to avoid these problems does little to build confidence in parents or children. Unlike other books which focus on specific diagnoses or “problems,” this book is centered around the theme of building a strong and healthy parent-child relationship.

2. Nomad on Padgadget, Macworld AND Tapscape! 

Our iPad brush making friends at Nomad are creating a lot of buzz over the internet, as people want to find the best accessories for their new Mac products they got over the holidays!

Macworld‘s buying guide called the Nomad brushes the first capacitative paintbrush that continues to dominate. Here is what Macworld said about both the Nomad Compose and Nomad Mini:

Drawing, sketching, and precision: The Nomad Brush was the first capacitative paintbrush to market in 2010, and it continues to dominate as it iterates. Don Lee’s latest creation, the Nomad Compose ($39), has two brushes on either end: One is the typical Nomad brush; the other, a slanted buzz-cut brush option that resembles the foam nibs of early stylus experimentation—except made up entirely of bristles. The result cures most of the gripes I had with the original Nomad Brush—while the longer bristles make navigation and writing next to impossible, the slanted buzz-cut brush is more than capable in both these areas.

The Nomad Mini ($20), another Don Lee creation, is a shorter single brush designed for the iPhone and iPod touch. Though, like the longer brush on the Nomad Compose, it runs into trouble with writing or repeated precision, it’s a fine tool for iPhone sketching when you’d rather not use your finger.

Nomad also made it into Padgadget‘s and Tapscape‘s must-have iPad accessories list! Way to go guys! Hey, creativity, meet technology.

3.  I, TRIXIE WHO IS DOG on Modern Dog Magazine

Thanks to the wonderful Connie at Modern Dog Magazine who wrote a FANTASTIC blog on Auryn‘s new app I, TRIXIE WHO IS DOG and their close collaboration with author Dean Koontz. Here is just a highlight of Modern Dog‘s post:

“Trixie was joyful, affectionate, comical, intelligent, remarkably well behaved. She was also more self-possessed and dignified than I had ever realized a dog could be” says Dean. “Already and unexpectedly, she has changed me as a person and as a writer. I am only beginning to understand the nature of those changes and where they will lead me.”

I, Trixie Who Is Dog, his new children’s book is, no doubt, a path that this beloved dog has led him. Further, I’ve just heard that the book has now been digitized making it available on mobile platforms around the world. Available for just $.99, the proceeds from the app’s sale go to Koontz’s favoured charity, Canine Companions in support the amazing work they do. The app is available first for the iPad at iTunes at http://bit.ly/vWnpd3.Download it today and help a really great charity!

4. Auryn on Digital Storytime

Both children’s storybook apps TEDDY’S DAY and THE LITTLE MERMAID by Auryn made Digital Storytime‘s 2011 Best Digital Books for Kids list. Here is what Digital Storytime had to say about TEDDY’S DAY:

This book is a favorite in our house! It is a story about a little girl that wants to find out if her teddy bear is actually coming alive and doing things when she’s asleep or at school. So she hides watching him, page by page, saying “I’m gonna catch you” until eventually she finds him with honey on his lips at the end of the book. This is a very cute story appropriate for the youngest of kids and yet touching in a way  parents will enjoy, too. 

Pretty great review if you ask us. The praise doesn’t stop there. Here is what they had to say about THE LITTLE MERMAID: 

This digital book version of The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson is based on the well-crafted translation by Anthea Bell with the breath-taking and ethereal illustrations of Lisbeth Zwerger. Anderson originally wrote the tale as a ballet in 1837. This picture book version was published in 1984 to rave reviews. It follows the original tale very closely, with no happy ending. The storytelling makes up for any disappointment, though. This digital presentation takes an otherwise gorgeous print book and brings it to life. The story is told both underwater and above on land, with pages of the former that look and feel like they are actually submerged in the sea.

5. Jon Reiner in Down East Magazine

Jon Reiner – award-winning author of THE MAN WHO COULDN’T EAT – stopped by Down East Magazine to write one of his famously fabulous, captivating essays. Here is just a highlight of “Six Rooms, Ocean View”:

 

“My wife and two kids have been asleep for hours, and I’m up again on a winter’s night tapping away at my habit to transport me on a geographic fantasy. I dug through all the small-print realty in the current Down East last night, so I’m back online, imagining the four of us in ydifferent home hundreds of miles from here. Here is New York City, where we live on top of each other like boots in a box, without the third and fourth bedrooms, the second bath, the three hundred feet of water frontage, the ocean views, and the quintessentialness. The tantalizing Cape glows in the dark alcove we call a “study,” where I’m camped out in an L.L. Bean robe and pajamas sewn with red lobsters floating up the legs. I’m jonesing for the Pine Tree State.”

6. THE MAN WHO COULDN”T EAT by Jon Reiner in the Chicago Tribune and Feast Magazine

Reiner and his book continue to make buzz at the Chicago Tribune selects THE MAN WHO COULDN’T EAT as a top nonfiction pick of 2011! Congrats to Jon. Check out the rest of the Chicago Tribune’s picks here.

If that wasn’t enough, Feast Magazine of St. Louis has selected the memoir as Januarys book club pick. The magazine will host a meet-up January 26th – for more details see here. Let us know if you’ll be there, St. Louis!

More on THE MAN WHO COULDN’T EAT

Imagine not being able to eat or drink a single thing.  No lobster roll on the beach in Maine; no hot dog at the ballpark; no cool drink on a hot summer day; no birthday cake; nothing. In The Man Who Couldn’t Eat (S&S/Gallery Books: September 6, 2011), Jon Reiner – a James Beard Foundation Award-winning writer –chronicles his three-month struggle to live without food. Based on Reiner’s acclaimed 2009 Esquire magazine article by the same name, the book reinvents the foodoir, telling what happens when a man obsessed with food is denied the taste of it.  A beautifully written chronicle of one man’s journey from plenty to deprivation and back again,The Man Who Couldn’t Eat  will change the way you think about more than just your next meal.

7. SheKnows launches Book Lounge

We here at BookSparks would like to take a minute to introduce you to the SheKnows Book Lounge – something our wonderful founder Crystal Patriarche had a more than big hand in creating. She invites BooksSparks fans and everyone they know to stop by and discover something fantastic to read!

The SheKnows Book Lounge is the place for book news, book reviews, author interviews, book excerpts, reading guides, seasonal book guides and our SheKnows’ picks for which books to pick up, download or skip all together. Now, start lounging around. Your next favorite book is waiting.

8. NEW CLIENT: Maria Geraci 

We would like to take a minute to introduce you to our fantastic new author Maria Geraci.

Maria Geraci was born in Havana, Cuba, and raised on Florida’s Space Coast. Her love of books started with the classic, Little Women (a book she read so often growing up, she could probably quote). She writes contemporary romance and women’s fiction with a happy ending. The Portland Book Review called her novel, THE BOYFRIEND OF THE MONTH CLUB, “immensely sexy, immensely satisfying and humorous.” Her fourth novel, A GIRL LIKE YOU, will be released August, 2012 by Berkley, Penguin USA.

More about THE BOYFRIEND OF THE MONTH CLUB

 

At thirty, Grace O’Bryan has dated every loser that Daytona Beach has to offer. After the ultimate date-from-hell, Grace decides to take matters into her own hands and turns her dwindling book club into a boyfriend of the month Club, where women can come together to discuss the eligible men in their community. Where are the real live twenty-first century versions of literary heroes such as Heathcliff and Mr. Darcy?

Could it be successful and handsome Brandon Farrell, who is willing to overlook his disastrous first date with Grace and offers financial help for her parents’ failing Florida gift shop? Or maybe sexy dentist Joe Rosenblum, who’s great with a smile but not so great at commitment? Unfortunately, just like books, men cannot always be judged by their covers…

9. NEW CLIENT: Jennifer Hummer 

We have yet ANOTHER fabulous client to introduce you to. Meet Jennifer Hummer.

Jennifer Gooch Hummer has worked as a script analyst for various agencies and major film studios. Her short stories have been published in Miranda Magazine, Our Stories, Glimmertrain and Fish. She has continued graduate studies in the Writer’s Program at UCLA, where her work was nominated for the 2006 Kirkwood Prize in fiction. Currently, Jennifer lives in Southern California and Maine with her husband and three young daughters.

More about Jennifer’s novel, GIRL UNMOORED:

Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You, comments, “Love, loss, and the coming of age of one remarkable girl blaze through this haunting debut like a shooting star you’d wish upon. It’s tough and tender, funny and smart, and it frankly took my breath away. I loved it.”

10. Jennifer Hummer on Fiction Studio

Look at her! Already creating buzz. Jennifer Hummer  – author of GIRL UNMOORED -stopped by Fiction Studio to write a guest post that fused parenthood with writing. Here is a short excerpt from “Milk Face”:

“At a fourth grade play the other day, my daughter was by far the best whistler. I’m bragging. Which isn’t like me. But there’s a reason why: by being the best whistler, my fourth grader effectively blew away the small rather arrogant boy standing near her who frequently calls her “milk face.”

We are pale people. We don’t tan, and if we are even partly naked in the sun we tend to blind people with our reflection. My fourth grade daughter also happens to be a platinum (natural – no toddler tiara funny business here) blonde. So you can probably conclude where the name “milk face” came from.

When my milk face daughter told me of the boy’s name-calling, I hugged her tight and told her what every good parent does – that Mr. Pursed-lipped Faker Face is really short so he’s definitely going to grow up angry. (She hasn’t studied the French Revolution yet, so I skipped the most obvious reference for his condition.) Then I pushed her away, ran to my desk, and scribbled “Milk Face!” on the back of an old AT &T bill. ”