That's the best kind of review, right?
I'm happy to say that Harry the Pug (whose master is Shawna Coronado, "The Casual Gardener" and author of Gardening Nude, a guide to getting green, getting involved in your community, and helping the earth) gave the book five wags.
Read the review here!
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Friday, December 12, 2008
Thursday, January 10, 2008
A Gorgeous Review!
Melissa at Hope for the Hopeless just posted a GORGEOUS review of the book that details how she shared the book with her daughter this week. They lost their dear cat, Lucky, in November and her daughter was having a hard time with it. I was going to hyperlink it, but for some reason it's not working, so I just copied and pasted! Here it is:
"Thursday, January 10, 2008
If You Have a Child and a Pet, You Must Have This Book...
How do we grieve the loss of a family member? When the family member we lose is of the human variety we have a wake or a funeral and get together and remember our loved one. When the family member we lose is of the pet variety we all seem to be a little stumped.
When Melisa Wells lost her beloved dog, Bijoux she turned her pain into a wonderful children's book. After looking for a book to help her and her family through their time of loss and not finding one that quite fit the bill, she decided to write her own. This week I got a chance to read it.
Most of you know that in November we lost our cat, Lucky. She was with us for 13 years and trying to figure out how to handle the situation with a 5 year old has really been a stumbling block for us.
Earlier this week I received, Remembering Ruby: For Families Living Beyond the Loss of a Pet. I opened this book with trepidation knowing that tears were on the horizon. I was correct, not because the book was sad, but because I could really relate with the story the book was telling. The book is beautiful inside and out. The colorful outside had me surprised when I found black and white pictures inside, it was helpful to see another family that had loved their pet and had lived through the loss.
This book is written for children from 4-10, I was able to finish it in a matter of minutes. I knew this was a book that Hope was going to be able to handle. Since Lucky died we've been having problems figuring out just how to explain the situation to Hope. She has been walking around saying to people. "Hi, my cat died" since November. We knew that she didn't quite know how to process this information but we weren't sure quite what to do. I waited until we had an hour to sit down and read this book and really concentrate on what the book was about.
She loved it, she also cried like a baby for about an hour and I let her because I really believe she got it this time. This was a family that she could look at and compare, they had gone through the same things we have. I can't tell you how many times we went through the book and pointed out pictures. Lucky used to do the same thing as Ruby did, look at Ruby catching the snow ball, this book says it's okay to cry and cry we did.
You know she hasn't said, "Hi, my cat died" since we've read this book. I think we've finally managed to make her understand what happened and I will never be able to thank Melisa Wells enough for helping me help my daughter.
There is also a very helpful "Parent Information" chapter at the back of the book that gives a few ideas on how to tackle this topic with your children.
Seriously, if you have a pet and a child, you need to have this book. We never want to think of our pet dying but when they do we need to make sure we have a way to explain it to our children. If you would like to purchase Remembering Ruby: For Families Living Beyond the Loss of a Pet you can click on the widget on the right side of this page or you can purchase it from Barnes & Noble.
Get it, trust me you will never be sorry, this is a beautiful little book written about a wonderful little doggy who touched a families life and changed them forever.
posted by Melissa at 12:39 PM"
Thanks Melissa for all the kind words! xoxo
"Thursday, January 10, 2008
If You Have a Child and a Pet, You Must Have This Book...
How do we grieve the loss of a family member? When the family member we lose is of the human variety we have a wake or a funeral and get together and remember our loved one. When the family member we lose is of the pet variety we all seem to be a little stumped.
When Melisa Wells lost her beloved dog, Bijoux she turned her pain into a wonderful children's book. After looking for a book to help her and her family through their time of loss and not finding one that quite fit the bill, she decided to write her own. This week I got a chance to read it.
Most of you know that in November we lost our cat, Lucky. She was with us for 13 years and trying to figure out how to handle the situation with a 5 year old has really been a stumbling block for us.
Earlier this week I received, Remembering Ruby: For Families Living Beyond the Loss of a Pet. I opened this book with trepidation knowing that tears were on the horizon. I was correct, not because the book was sad, but because I could really relate with the story the book was telling. The book is beautiful inside and out. The colorful outside had me surprised when I found black and white pictures inside, it was helpful to see another family that had loved their pet and had lived through the loss.
This book is written for children from 4-10, I was able to finish it in a matter of minutes. I knew this was a book that Hope was going to be able to handle. Since Lucky died we've been having problems figuring out just how to explain the situation to Hope. She has been walking around saying to people. "Hi, my cat died" since November. We knew that she didn't quite know how to process this information but we weren't sure quite what to do. I waited until we had an hour to sit down and read this book and really concentrate on what the book was about.
She loved it, she also cried like a baby for about an hour and I let her because I really believe she got it this time. This was a family that she could look at and compare, they had gone through the same things we have. I can't tell you how many times we went through the book and pointed out pictures. Lucky used to do the same thing as Ruby did, look at Ruby catching the snow ball, this book says it's okay to cry and cry we did.
You know she hasn't said, "Hi, my cat died" since we've read this book. I think we've finally managed to make her understand what happened and I will never be able to thank Melisa Wells enough for helping me help my daughter.
There is also a very helpful "Parent Information" chapter at the back of the book that gives a few ideas on how to tackle this topic with your children.
Seriously, if you have a pet and a child, you need to have this book. We never want to think of our pet dying but when they do we need to make sure we have a way to explain it to our children. If you would like to purchase Remembering Ruby: For Families Living Beyond the Loss of a Pet you can click on the widget on the right side of this page or you can purchase it from Barnes & Noble.
Get it, trust me you will never be sorry, this is a beautiful little book written about a wonderful little doggy who touched a families life and changed them forever.
posted by Melissa at 12:39 PM"
Thanks Melissa for all the kind words! xoxo
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Some Nice Words From a Nice Woman!
I am very lucky to have some great reviews posted up on the Amazon site for Remembering Ruby. This one was just posted yesterday by Carolyn Sterner of Cascade Beagle Rescue-East (and a Special Education Teacher & Behavior Analyst in the New Jersey Public School System):
"For those who have lost a pet, we know the devastation it can bring, and at times the embarrasment experienced for feeling this way about "just a dog" or "just a cat." Remembering Ruby is a great resource for families to help them not only understand that it is OK to love your pets and experience loss when they leave us, but to give some ideas about how to deal with that loss in a positive way. It is written quite simply, and is filled with photographs. Since we have not figured out how to extend the lives of our pets, and pets continue to grow in importance in the lives of families, this book is a fabulous resource to be added to any household library. We are adding Remembering Ruby to our website's Suggested Readings list and will recommend it to our family of adopters and volunteers, who will go through this loss if they bring a pet into their lives."
"For those who have lost a pet, we know the devastation it can bring, and at times the embarrasment experienced for feeling this way about "just a dog" or "just a cat." Remembering Ruby is a great resource for families to help them not only understand that it is OK to love your pets and experience loss when they leave us, but to give some ideas about how to deal with that loss in a positive way. It is written quite simply, and is filled with photographs. Since we have not figured out how to extend the lives of our pets, and pets continue to grow in importance in the lives of families, this book is a fabulous resource to be added to any household library. We are adding Remembering Ruby to our website's Suggested Readings list and will recommend it to our family of adopters and volunteers, who will go through this loss if they bring a pet into their lives."
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Chicagoland "Virtual" Ink!
I want to extend a hearty "Welcome!" to any newcomers that found me via Chicagoist...or any other avenues, of course!
Take a look at previous blog entries to read about my progress through the process of getting the book published and marketed, and if you want, click on the label "Lessons Learned from the Life of a Princess Dog" to read stories about Bijoux, the real Ruby.
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me...click "E-mail me!" to the right.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Take a look at previous blog entries to read about my progress through the process of getting the book published and marketed, and if you want, click on the label "Lessons Learned from the Life of a Princess Dog" to read stories about Bijoux, the real Ruby.
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me...click "E-mail me!" to the right.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Discombobulated Is My Middle Name...
And that will be obvious as you read this poorly assembled post. So much to do, so little time. I have several things to post about today, and I don't know where to begin.
Reviews: The book now has two reviews on Amazon! Very thrilling. All good reviews will obviously help me a bit with the marketing because the book will gain some credibility. Have you purchased the book? If you did, and if you liked it (what's not to like? LOL), please please please take a couple of minutes and review it for me on Amazon. Just a couple of simple sentences about what you like about the book will do, and I would really appreciate it!
Post Office Update: I just visited my new friend M at the post office today. I was sending out more review copies, and she called my number, so I went to her window. I asked her if her supervisor told her that I called, and she said yes, and thanks. She then proceeded to tell me how upset she had been when she looked into those blasted guidelines after I left and discovered her mistake; she didn't want the guy at the other branch to have a bad reputation when she was wrong all along. She said she called me ON HER DAY OFF, but that I had to know the real story behind these guidelines. She was very cute about it, but actually a little hard on herself, in my opinion. I'd much rather have that, though, instead of someone who could care less. I told her it was all good in the 'hood, and that now we ALL know the guidelines.
NaBloPoMo: I was so irritated yesterday because I tried to type up an initial post, and it was going really great until I tried to attach a link. Then: POOF! It was gone. WAH. So now I have to start it all over again...but at that point, I had to walk away from the computer! By the way, I created two blog groups on NaBloPoMo: All About Pets and Beagle Bloggers. I also joined the Chicago Bloggers group. Anyone out there want to join me?
Progress made today: I sent out (as I mentioned above) 4 more review copies. Julie has thrown a bunch of great ideas my way for marketing, and one of them that I love is the website petsugar.com. I've read popsugar.com, but there are lots of others (if you go to petsugar, scroll down to the bottom and you'll find the listing of all their other "Sugar" sites). Julie told me that petsugar is a relatively new "branch", so I sent them a copy of the book. I also sent a copy to a magazine called Modern Dog. I saw it in the bookstore yesterday and it looks like a great magazine. It comes from our friends to the north--no, not Wisconsin--Canada! What I loved was, when I called the toll free number to ask who I should address my book to, the woman who answered the phone was VERY friendly. I am on a roll with great customer service!
I have begun making follow-up phone calls to the pet boutiques who received my letters. I don't enjoy the phone calls, I must say. I would much rather get in my car and visit everybody but, besides it being very unprofessional to pop in without making a phone call first, the vast area I would have to cover would make it a huge waste of time, energy, and gasoline. So making phone calls it is! I had a couple of positive exchanges during today's calls; a couple of store owners want to see the book. One shop doesn't stock books but the owner said he has a "community board" that I am welcome to post on, so that's a good thing. Moving right along!
Beagle Rescues: I am starting to hear from the Beagle Rescues that I sent information to; they seem really excited about the book and I am hoping that they will be a major part of my marketing. More to come on that as it happens!
Bijoux's name: It occurred to me that after I started posting my essays about Bijoux/the real Ruby, I totally skipped over the introduction that I wrote! Well, I won't post the whole thing out of order now but I will post about how Bijoux got her name, because that information is important in the path leading to Ruby. Stay tuned for that.
Identify yourself, please: I am starting to get "hits" from all over the world, which is really exciting for me. Please feel free to leave a comment and introduce yourself. You don't have to have a google account to put a comment up; you can post under "anonymous" if you want. I'd love to hear from you!
To my friends in the Land Down Under: I asked M at the post office to weigh a book package and tell me how much it would be to get it to you, and the postage is $5. So if any of you all the way down there would like to order one directly from me, e-mail me using the link over to the right and we'll get that set up.
I think that's it for now. Isn't that enough? My goodness! I'm exhausted just typing about it! Have a great evening...more tomorrow!
Reviews: The book now has two reviews on Amazon! Very thrilling. All good reviews will obviously help me a bit with the marketing because the book will gain some credibility. Have you purchased the book? If you did, and if you liked it (what's not to like? LOL), please please please take a couple of minutes and review it for me on Amazon. Just a couple of simple sentences about what you like about the book will do, and I would really appreciate it!
Post Office Update: I just visited my new friend M at the post office today. I was sending out more review copies, and she called my number, so I went to her window. I asked her if her supervisor told her that I called, and she said yes, and thanks. She then proceeded to tell me how upset she had been when she looked into those blasted guidelines after I left and discovered her mistake; she didn't want the guy at the other branch to have a bad reputation when she was wrong all along. She said she called me ON HER DAY OFF, but that I had to know the real story behind these guidelines. She was very cute about it, but actually a little hard on herself, in my opinion. I'd much rather have that, though, instead of someone who could care less. I told her it was all good in the 'hood, and that now we ALL know the guidelines.
NaBloPoMo: I was so irritated yesterday because I tried to type up an initial post, and it was going really great until I tried to attach a link. Then: POOF! It was gone. WAH. So now I have to start it all over again...but at that point, I had to walk away from the computer! By the way, I created two blog groups on NaBloPoMo: All About Pets and Beagle Bloggers. I also joined the Chicago Bloggers group. Anyone out there want to join me?
Progress made today: I sent out (as I mentioned above) 4 more review copies. Julie has thrown a bunch of great ideas my way for marketing, and one of them that I love is the website petsugar.com. I've read popsugar.com, but there are lots of others (if you go to petsugar, scroll down to the bottom and you'll find the listing of all their other "Sugar" sites). Julie told me that petsugar is a relatively new "branch", so I sent them a copy of the book. I also sent a copy to a magazine called Modern Dog. I saw it in the bookstore yesterday and it looks like a great magazine. It comes from our friends to the north--no, not Wisconsin--Canada! What I loved was, when I called the toll free number to ask who I should address my book to, the woman who answered the phone was VERY friendly. I am on a roll with great customer service!
I have begun making follow-up phone calls to the pet boutiques who received my letters. I don't enjoy the phone calls, I must say. I would much rather get in my car and visit everybody but, besides it being very unprofessional to pop in without making a phone call first, the vast area I would have to cover would make it a huge waste of time, energy, and gasoline. So making phone calls it is! I had a couple of positive exchanges during today's calls; a couple of store owners want to see the book. One shop doesn't stock books but the owner said he has a "community board" that I am welcome to post on, so that's a good thing. Moving right along!
Beagle Rescues: I am starting to hear from the Beagle Rescues that I sent information to; they seem really excited about the book and I am hoping that they will be a major part of my marketing. More to come on that as it happens!
Bijoux's name: It occurred to me that after I started posting my essays about Bijoux/the real Ruby, I totally skipped over the introduction that I wrote! Well, I won't post the whole thing out of order now but I will post about how Bijoux got her name, because that information is important in the path leading to Ruby. Stay tuned for that.
Identify yourself, please: I am starting to get "hits" from all over the world, which is really exciting for me. Please feel free to leave a comment and introduce yourself. You don't have to have a google account to put a comment up; you can post under "anonymous" if you want. I'd love to hear from you!
To my friends in the Land Down Under: I asked M at the post office to weigh a book package and tell me how much it would be to get it to you, and the postage is $5. So if any of you all the way down there would like to order one directly from me, e-mail me using the link over to the right and we'll get that set up.
I think that's it for now. Isn't that enough? My goodness! I'm exhausted just typing about it! Have a great evening...more tomorrow!
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