Once Upon a Time in Pemberley by Summer Hanford - Guest Post, Excerpt and Giveaway

Today I am really happy to be welcoming Summer Hanford for her first visit to Babblings of a Bookworm. Summer usually releases books with her writing partner Renata McMann, but this latest title, Once Upon a Time in Pemberley is a solo project. Summer has joined us with a guest post explaining how this book came about. There are aspects to this book that I didn’t pick up on from reading the book description so I found Summer’s post a really interesting read and I am sure you will too.  

Summer has also brought a giveaway, plus a nice long excerpt from the book. So, grab yourself a cuppa and settle in for a read! I’ll share the blurb first and then hand over to Summer so she can tell you more.

Book Description

Can the course of a life be altered by the stroke of a pen?

Widowed at a young age, Fitzwilliam Darcy has no reason to think he'll ever find the love his first marriage lacked. Instead, he dedicates himself to his roles as father and co-guardian, determined to excel at both. But when love finally finds him, will he be too mired by the strife of the past to recognize it?

Elizabeth Bennet does not care for the newest addition to Meryton society, no matter how handsome and wealthy Mr. Darcy might be. She is, however, rather fond of his children and his sister. If only Mr. Darcy needn't be so certain of his own worth, she would tolerate him on their behalf, but that change in him seems very unlikely.

Once Upon a Time in Pemberley is a sweet, Regency era Pride & Prejudice Variation of approximately 92,000 words. While this is Summer Hanford's first variation without co-author Renata McMann, it will not be her last. Plus, you can look for more joint Renata McMann & Summer Hanford variations to come.

Austen-Inspired Children’s Book Suggestions

I have a number of children’s books which are Austen-inspired, but as they are so much shorter than the books I usually blog about I thought I’d put a post together featuring a few. If you’re interested in ones I’ve looked at previously you can see posts about a version of Pride & Prejudice for younger readers here, and a biography of Austen here. 

Firstly, Cozy Classics Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice by Jack & Holman Wang– this is a board book for babies featuring pictures of needle-felted characters with single words on each page. The characters are really SO cute – mostly inspired by Pride & Prejudice 2005 by the looks of them, although I’d say Elizabeth looks more like the 1995 or maybe even based on Jane Austen. I would recommend this as part of a baby gift to a parent who is a P&P fan. Five Stars

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen, Retold by Gemma Barder - My Review

What do you do when you have a review backlog and a TBR list that would fill a room if it was all physical copies? You go on Netgalley to have a nose, and stumble across something you want to read, d’oh! In my defence though, it was a quick read, which at least helped me in my quest to get back on track with my annual reading challenge. The book that I’m bringing you a review of today is Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, but retold for a younger audience by Gemma Barder.

Book Description – from Amazon

A beautiful and accessible children's book adaptation of Austen's famous story, Pride and Prejudice, featuring contemporary black and white illustrations and a free Audiobook accessible via QR code for an alternative, entertaining and engaging listening experience. 

Mrs Bennet is desperate to find rich husbands for her daughters, so the arrival of a charming new neighbour is welcome indeed. Sadly, the friend he brings with him is not. Mr Darcy seems to have even more pride than money. Nobody likes him least of all Elizabeth Bennet. But not everyone is who they seem...

This adaptation is part of The Complete Jane Austen Children's Collection (Easy Classics), featuring the following 8 books: Emma, Mansfield Park, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey, Love and Friendship and a personal My Story Journal (available to buy as a box set). These stunning books are a perfect gift and introduction to classical literature for children aged seven and up. 

Sweet Cherry Easy Classics carefully adapt classic literature into accessible stories for children, with the aim of introducing these timeless tales to a new generation.

Book Description – from the back of the book

Mrs Bennet is desperate to find rich husbands for her daughters, so the arrival of a charming new neighbour is welcome indeed. Sadly the friend he brings with him is not. Mr Darcy seems to have even more pride than money. Nobody likes him – least of all Elizabeth Bennet. But not everyone is who they seem and love can change everything. 

My Review of Pride & Prejudice, retold by Gemma Barder

This version of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice has been rewritten for a younger audience. As it’s a children’s version, one of the important jobs the author has had to do is explain some of the things that might not make sense to a modern child. I thought the author here did a great job of explaining things within the flow of the story. Although this is a simplified version, all the important plot points are covered. Having said that, there were some things that I felt were misrepresented – some facts relating to Wickham, and it being said that Elizabeth had overheard the ‘tolerable’ insult and made sure Mr Darcy knew that she had heard. This just didn’t happen, and if it had the relationship dynamic would have been quite different and he wouldn’t have been thinking of her regard so smugly later on! In the main though, the plot is covered well and explained clearly. 

The book has quite a few illustrations, which are very nice, although I would have loved to have seen them in colour. I read this on kindle, but I believe the illustrations are also black and white in the printed copy.

This book is part of a set of books retelling Austen’s stories - the six main novels plus Love and Freindship (sic) and another book - I'm not entirely sure what this one is, but it's called My Story Journal so presumably it's one for the child to write in.

The question is whether to buy or not to buy. Well, I am not entirely sold on the concept of classics being rewritten for children. The first time I read Pride & Prejudice as a teen I didn’t know anything about the story, and was able to discover it fresh. I think much of the enjoyment in Austen comes from her use of language rather than her plots – she truly was a mistress at turning a phrase – and while there are echoes of some of her quotes in this book, it’s a simplified version and doesn’t use such sophisticated language. 

My concern is whether a child reading a book such as this would be dissuaded from picking up the original, feeling that it’s a book they’d read already. Reading the plot of an Austen story is by no means reading Austen! However, if you like buying classics rewritten for children, I would say that this is a good rewrite – it has all the main plot points and most of the facts clearly described and is quite a good read in its own right. It also has a very cute cover so if I bought it for a child I'd be inclined to get the hard copy. This would be a good addition to the bookshelves of a child who reads classic rewrites and I'd rate it as a 4 star read.

*I received this book from Netgalley UK for my honest review

Author Bio

Gemma Barder is a children's author with 15 years experience of writing fun, exciting and engaging books for children. She started her publishing career in children's magazines, before moving on to editing books and part-works. She soon found her happy place as a freelance writer - tapping away at her laptop in her slippers at her home in Leicestershire, with her husband and two daughters close at hand, and with a cup of Earl Grey.

Buy Links

Pride & Prejudice adapted by Gemma Barder is available to buy now in Paperback, Kindle and Kindle Unlimited. Ms Barder has also retold Austen’s other novels and you can get the whole collection in a paperback boxed set. 

Pride & Prejudice - Amazon US • Amazon UK • Amazon CA (looks like paperback is not released yet in Canada) • Add to Goodreads shelf

Boxed Set of Paperbacks - Amazon US • Amazon UK • Amazon CA (Unfortunately I couldn’t find the set on Amazon CA – hopefully it will be on there at some point)

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What do you think about the idea of rewriting classics for children? On the one hand, might it  make them feel less intimidating to a reader and make readers more likely to try them? Or would it put readers off the full versions because they feel they've read them, and will they miss out on all the magic of them? I'd love to know your thoughts in the comments. 

Note about comments: Unfortunately I’ve had some spam comments lately, so have turned on comment moderation, which means that your comment won’t appear straight away. If you have any problems adding your comment please contact me and I will add your comment for you :)

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Brighty's Special Gift - Winner

My independent adjudicator (husband!) has just drawn a name at random and the winner of the paperback copy of 'Brighty's Special Gift' is....

Rita!

Rita, I have sent you an email to request your mailing details.

Many thanks to those of you that expressed interest in this book. There is another chance to win this book at Most Agreeably Engaged, where you can enter the giveaway until Friday 27 February.

Thank you to Meryton Press for sponsoring the giveaway and Jakki at Leatherbound Reviews for letting me take part in the blog tour.

Brighty’s Special Gift by Dee Wallain - Review

There is still time to enter the international giveaway for a paperback of 'Brighty's Special Gift' from Meryton Press. To help tempt you to enter to win a copy for a child in your life, here is my review of the book, which I read with my junior bookworms, aged 8 and 5.

'Brighty’s Special Gift' is a Christian children’s book about a star, Brighty, who is different from the other stars. He has a different number of points and is brighter than them, and he is excluded by them as a result, which he finds very upsetting. No matter how hard Brighty tries, the other stars won’t accept his differences. God explains to Brighty that he is perfect as he is, and that all his suffering has made his light even stronger. Brighty learns to accept who he is, and in time, finds his place in the world.

There were a few topics that this book covered, and it provided a natural way to introduce discussion with children regarding these. We talked about people who are different, as Brighty is different, and also about bullying, how it makes people feel, whether they had witnessed anything like that or been a victim of it themselves, and how Brighty coped with being ostracised. I knew that this book was a Christian one before reading it, but in some books the theme can be stronger than others. In this book it’s a very strong theme, with God talking directly to Brighty. Although I’ve read Christmas books, and some other Bible stories with my children we wouldn’t generally read anything with such an overt Christian message. I wanted to make this aspect of the book clear because although it wasn't an issue for us, some people feel strongly about such messages, whether positively or negatively. There are some suggestions for learning activities to take the spiritual concepts further, which I thought was a useful feature.

There are lots of pictures in this book, which is something I like in a children's book, a full-colour illustration on every page to help keep the children’s interest. Appreciation of pictures is always subjective, but I didn’t like the pictures much as I prefer a more detailed style, particularly in the pictures that weren't of the stars. However, my children didn't mind them. One thing that I thought was good about the pictures is that they conveyed Brighty’s feelings as you could see expression on his face, which was useful for the discussions that we were having regarding the story.

The final verdict? My children really enjoyed the book and said they’d be happy to read it again. My 8 year old said that he didn’t anticipate the ending of the book, and that he liked that Brighty shone brighter even though that’s the reason why he wasn’t accepted, so even on a first reading, a message of being who you are and not bowing down to peer pressure was clearly understood. My 5 year old said that she wished that God had made Brighty darker so the other stars left him alone so the message hadn’t quite gone through, but we talked about it! I thought that it naturally led into an interesting conversation with my children, on a subject that can be hard to broach directly. We’d give this book 4 stars.

*Many thanks to Meryton Press for a review copy of this book, and to Jakki from Leatherbound Reviews for arranging the blog tour.

Brighty's Special Gift by Dee Wallain - Spotlight and Giveaway

Usually, the books I would read from Meryton Press are JAFF (Jane Austen Fan Fiction, stories inspired by the great lady’s work) but today I have a different type of book from Meryton Press, a Christian children’s book. Read on for more information on this book, and a chance to win a copy.

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Book Blurb:
In the early days of the universe where it is cold and dark with zillions of stars, Brighty feels completely alone. He has no one to play with or talk to. The other stars taunt, torment and bully him because he is strange and different from them.

Brighty is hurt by their teasing. He thinks he cannot take it anymore; he loses all hope. After crying out in the big, black darkness for eons, something wonderful happens just in time . . .

Brighty’s Special Gift is a parable for children of all ages with a special Christmas connection written by Dee Wallain and illustrated by Wendy J La.

About the author:
Dee Wallain lives in Richmond, Virginia, the happiest city in America, with her husband, Jim, and Wally the rabbit. They laugh together every day, mostly because they like to have fun. Ordinary life is full of comical things; they laugh at themselves and especially enjoy the antics of Wally. He showed up on Easter Sunday, a runaway domestic rabbit who chooses to live in the “wild.” He knows his name, comes when called for meals, and entertains the neighborhood with his “sightings.”

Links:

Facebook

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

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Meryton Press are kindly offering an international giveaway of a paperback of 'Brighty's Special Gift' to a commenter here. If you'd like to win, please just leave a comment on this blog post by the end of the day on Sunday 22 February. Please note, this giveaway is now closed to entries. Please can you include a way for me to contact you, such as twitter handle, or an email address (you can leave it with an 'at' rather than an @ to help prevent spam). I will announce the winner next week. Many thanks to Meryton Press for the giveaway, and to Jakki from Leatherbound Reviews for arranging the blog tour.

If you'd like to check out other stops on the blog tour please see below for details:

19 Feb: Review here at Babblings of a Bookworm

20 Feb: Spotlight at My Kids Led Me Back to Pride and Prejudice

21 Feb: Guest post at More Agreeably Engaged

22 Feb: Review at More Agreeably Engaged