Why Reading Matters? Part 2 in BBC series

What area of the brain is involved in the act of reading? Is it one area or is it a few different areas of the brain?

What happens when Shakespeare alters grammar rules?

Find out the answer to these question in the next part of this 6 part series of "Why Reading Matters", presented by BBC.

Thank You for Being You!

How often to you stop to say thank you to those who help you, thank you to those who teach you and thank you to those you care about?

If you are needing to say thank you or if you are in need of being thanked, this short video is for you.

Find Out Why Reading Matters - Includes BBC series (part 1)

In a previous blog post we mentioned the benefits to the brain of reading. In this blog post we share a fascinating video, presented by the BBC on "why reading matters". This is the first of a series so do stop by to watch the next part.

Find out about the brain and the developments or advancements in the functions of the brain. 

Did you know that you can train the brain to improve function? Did you know that the brain differs with different careers, as shown with cab drivers?

What are friendships made of?

What is it that makes a good friendship? What type of relationship does one need? What does it take to be a good friend?

Enjoy this short video with a song by Bruno Mars describing what Best Friends are all about. 

14 Days Left of Our Sale

There are 14 days left of our sale on Relationships by R.A. Kahn.

Did you know about the sale? Have you  heard about the book?

Please visit our previous blog post for all the details.

Reading Can Improve Your Brain

Have you ever had a teacher tell you to practice your reading as it can assist your vocabulary, your writing, use of language and lots more? Ever wondered "is this true or is the teacher just pushing me to read?"

Latest research shows that not only does reading improve all kinds of areas of your life by improving your knowledge, but reading can actually improve your brain.

Take a look at the YouTube Video here.

After watching the video, we hope you will understand that reading is important but more than that, we need to take care of what we read and the kinds of books our children read. If our children will begin to imagine themselves as being the characters of a book, just as explained in the video, are the characters of the books your children read the ones you'd like to be role models for them? If not, take a little time and search for quality reading material.

What are your thoughts on the topic? We'd love to hear from you here, below in the comments section.

Sale on the Book Relationships by R.A. Kahn

We are having a Sale for the End of Year on the amazing book "Relationships" by R.A. Kahn.

Enjoy a 16% discount on the regular price when you purchase your copy between now, 11 December 2014 and the end of 2014.

Meet Bella, our lead character and find out what her special interests are. Learn about her challenge when falling in love with one of the Matrics from her school. Get to know her friends and what kind of relationship she has with them. Learn about her relationship with her parents, her sibling and others in her school. 

The book Relationships is not just a gripping story, it challenges you to consider what makes relationships work. 

If you are a teenager or wish to purchase a gift for a teenager, you'll love this book. 

You can find "Relationships" on Create Space and on Amazon.com

Hurry along to get your copy.

A Novel Idea for Book Covers

After a negative comment about the book cover of "Relationships" by R.A. Kahn, we put out a few blog posts and discussion on social networking groups to get feedback from others. Some really like the cover and some don't understand it. I suppose life is like that.

Then we discovered the above image. Each book is wrapped in brown paper with string and has a sentence about the book. The idea is to get people interested in the content and not to judge the book by it's cover. 

What a novel idea. Now there's food for thought.

What do you think of it? When you discover a new book, how much does the cover impact on your enjoyment of the story or book itself?

Where Do You Learn About Relationships?

Ever consider how we develop relationships? How do we know who to interact with and when it is better to keep our distance? Where do we learn about relationships?

When we talk about relationships, many think of a romantic interaction or relationship. In truth, there are many kinds of relationships. Relationships with family members i.e. relationships with our parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins etc. Relationships with friends. Relationships with teachers or coaches (e.g. a sports coach). These are usually the start to our developing relationships. As we grow, develop and age, the different types of relationships and demands placed upon us increases.

So where do you learn about relationships? 

We can learn at home, especially when we have a warm, loving family. We learn at school. We learn through social media, movies etc and we learn through books.

If you are a teenager or have a child or friend you would like to give a book to that touches on important concepts related to the topic of relationships, the latest book by R.A. Kahn offers information on this topic. The book "Relationships" is a novel written about teens for teens. In the novel the author outlines a number of different types of relationships and uses the novel to teach some important values and concepts to help teens to learn for themselves what constitutes a healthy relationship and when it can be problematic. The book touches on some life problems experienced by a character in the book and offers ideas as to how to assist her. There is also much food for thought or to discuss on how the characters could have potential lessened the load of a student at their school if only they had enough information to explain her unusual behaviour. Issues of communication, trust, honesty and respect are all touched on. 

Being in story format, it is easy to hear the ideas provided and to work with them so as to develop the information you require to assist in your social skills.

Interested in the book? It is available on  

CreateSpace and Amazon

More Comments Regarding the Cover Image of Relationships

 

It is fascinating what people read into an image. I'm having a lot of fun reading the emails and posts on peoples thoughts about the painting on the front cover of Relationships by R.A. Kahn.

Here are another two comments sent in:

 "It looks like a couple embracing. I think it is an interesting and beautiful abstract that conveys the storyline of your book." (D.S.)

 "I was immediately drawn to the yellow, and saw nothing but background in the red and blue. The yellow looked like a child hugging an adult, or perhaps being carried by the adult.

Then I looked more carefully at the red and blue and saw one blue and one red facial profile looking at one another." (D.A.) 

 

What do you see in the image on the cover? Do you like it? Do you dislike it?

 Let us know your thoughts.

If you would like to know more about the book itself, the book is available on CreateSpace and Amazon

Discussing the Cover Image continued

In yesterday's post, we shared a few comments made on a FaceBook group regarding the image on the cover of Relationships

Today we share a few more. 

"Red female face opposite blue male face, yellow in the middle, colors sprouting out the top. (Maybe a fetus forming in the yellow, but I'm not looking at the picture big, so I may be reading into nothing.) How'd I do?" A.C.


"Took me a while to see the faces, then I was rewarded. I like it, mazel tov!" H.K.


"Ah, now that H mentioned it, I see the faces. I don't think I would have otherwise and just thought it was colors. I think it would be easier to see if the image was larger." Says I.G

What do you see in the image on the cover? Do you like it? Do you dislike it?

 Let us know your thoughts.

If you would like to know more about the book itself, the book is available on CreateSpace and Amazon

Discussing the Image on the Cover

I've received some comments about the image on the cover of "Relationships" by R.A. Kahn.

Yesterday we posted an opportunity to send in one's opinion and I have a few responses. Some are rather fascinating. 

S, commented on FaceBook - "I see a face looking to the light. The face in a dark colour is symbolic of sadness and illness and on opposite side there are the healthy ones...the huge gap of light between the two is intriguing as they are on either side of it. The yellowy white is beautiful. I am unsure what it means. Please tell me what it means to you the artist... Yes, I like t the picture"

A, commented on FaceBook too - "if i look in the light i see an embryo... newborn... x"

H, continues the comments - " yes, looking at it closely.. there are two figures there, like man, woman , maybe... the embryo.. and lovely colours of the rainbow .. x" 

What do you see in the image on the cover? Do you like it? Do you dislike it?

 Let us know your thoughts.

If you would like to know more about the book itself, the book is available on CreateSpace and Amazon

 

Opinion Time

Everyone loves to have an opinion. We've received some comments about the cover design of the book "Relationships", posted above. 

What are your thoughts? Can you see what the image is of? What does the picture mean to you?

Please post a comment or email it. I'm intrigued at the comments that came in and wondered if others see the same. 

Thanks for your help

How to Write a Book

Would you like to write too? Have you always dreamed of having your own book published?

Wondering where to begin?

Well, the experts say the best thing to do is to write, write and write some more. Some say to write five pages a day, some say to set aside a certain amount of time to write every day. Some say to do some blogging and when you have enough thoughts to turn it into a book or eBook. 

There are many options. Which one do you choose to follow? Have you begun any writing? Have you considered ideas we have not shared here?

Let us know what kind of writing you are involved with and where you are in your process to become a writer

Meet J.K. Rowling in an Intervew by Oprah

Do you love books? Have you considered writing?

Over a series of posts, we hope to share some tips for those considering writing and becoming an author. For those who love Harry Potter, we've decided to begin our posts by sharing an interview carried out by Oprah Winfrey of J.K. Rowling, author of the series Harry Potter.

Dolphins at Sea World

Do you love animals? How about dolphins?

Have you ever been to watch dolphins that have been trained? They have such intelligence, co-ordination, beauty. They are very calming and loving to watch.

If you have 10 minutes spare, get yourself something to drink and watch this brief video of dolphins.

You are sure to be more relaxed, inspired, motivated and at peace at the end of the 10 minutes.

We do hope you enjoyed. Please come back to visit our blog again.

Let us know what you enjoy to watch or to read. We'd love to hear from you.

A little peak behind the scenes.

We're busy reading up ideas to market our books. The book "Relationships" by R.A. Kahn is the first of a series. The next is in the process of being written. We look forward to notifying you of when it begins the proof reading, editing and publishing phase.

We have other books to publish too. However, first thing is first and our next step is a marketing plan. It's amazing how much goes into bring a book to print and then getting it to our readers. Lots to learn, lots to do, lots to plan.

What kind of books do you enjoy to read? We'd love to hear from our readers and visitors to this blog.

What is your favourite kind of book and why?

Rosemary in Hot Water

What happens when one puts Rosemary into hot or boiling water? 

Well, when the Rosemary is a herb, placed into boiling water you will get a very yummy, aromatic and healthy tea. Rosemary tea has many medicinal properties. A cup of Rosemary tea is refreshing and tasty while assisting to:

•    Improve circulation to the brain
•    Prevention of certain conditions such as Alzheimers
•    Improve general circulation
•    Act as an Anti-oxidant
•    Ease digestion
•    Rosemary is a safe treatment for dyspepsia (according to the University of

             Maryland Medical Centre)

•     Supports hair growth

If you were one of our readers, wondering what happens if you put Rosemary into boiling water, we hope this brief thought has answered your question. If not, drop us a note in a comment at the end here and let us know what else you'd like to hear or know about.

A Thought of our Father / Grandfather

Yesterday, 8 November 2014 was the English date that marked the first year after the passing of our beloved father and grandfather, Prof. Vincent Louis Granger. It has been a difficult year without him. He lived a good, full and productive life and was an important part of our lives. Though he is no longer with us, he lives on through the many varied and important lessons that he taught us and a wealth of wonderful memories.

In the last few weeks of his life, he read half or more of the new book "Relationships" which was almost ready for publication. Sadly, his health made it difficult to complete reading the book so we will never know his thoughts of the full story. It is heart warming to know though, that he enjoyed what he read and wished us every success in this book. We hope that you, the readers, will enjoy the book as much as we have enjoyed bringing it to the final product and will let your friends know about it too.

We're back

Have you ever read the book "Where's Wally?" It's a fun children's picture book with all kinds of scenes of lots of people and you have to find the missing Wally.

You might be wondering to yourself, what happened to this blog? Where is our author? Why have there been no updates?

Well, Rosemary's Book Corner is still happening, it just took a vacation. Our lovely author has recently returned from a trip to Australia. While she was there, a favourite place to visit was the library. The library has regular book talks, reviews, tea morning for pensioners. Sounds like a special place to spend some quiet time.

We are excited to say that 3 libraries in Australia have shown interest in her teenage novel, Relationships. There are a few schools in Cape Town who have also shown interest in this lovely book for their library. Interestingly, the libraries don’t seem to have a budget. If you would like to sponsor this book going into one of these libraries, either in Australia or Cape Town, South Africa, do be in touch.

Book Review of Relationships by R.A. Kahn

The book Relationships by R.A. Kahn is available on Amazon.com 

We just received the wonderful news that a review has been added to the book on Amazon. Here is a copy of the review:

"A very inspiring book for the younger generation. It gives insight into how a family deals with the unexpected events that happen in their daily life. It has a very important message about understanding others and their actions before criticizing them. We passed this book on to our local librarian. Her comments, after reading it, was that it would be an excellent book for school libraries. I would highly recommend this book for families with teenage daughters." Written by Chris

Do check it out on Amazon itself. If you have read the book, please send in your review and comments. If you are involved with teenagers, either a teacher, therapist or a parent and are able to do a book review for us, please email us to arrange for you to receive a copy of the book to read and review.

If you live in South Africa, you can purchase a copy of the book from the author directly. Please email for details.