Elantris (Review)

Elantis is a city that was ran by gods, or at least those with significant power. Now, it is a shell of a city. All the gods and the new ones became corrupted with disease.

This sort of reminds me of a mix of the lost city of Atlantis and the diseased rakghoul you see in the lower cities when you play the game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The writing is good, and the plot has tons of twists to where you really can't see where Mr. Sanderson plans on going next. The audio book is done quite well, and I'd suggest it as an alternative fantasy that is quite interesting.

Overall 4/5

Craig A. Price Jr.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Review)

An alien has been posing as a human on earth for 14 years. Someone is coming to destroy the earth. He gets a human friend of his drunk to tell him they don't have much time left. Together they go on quite the ridiculous adventure across the universe.

This is a great novel, especially if you like British/Slapstick humor. You will never look at a sperm whale the same way again. You will learn the answer to life, the universe and everything.

I listened to this novel narriated by the author and it is brilliant. I listened to it with my wife for the second time when she wanted a book for the road.

Overall, great sci-fi.

5/5 stars.

Craig A. Price Jr.

Alcatraz vs the evil Librians (Review)

A kid burns his foster parents house down just before his thirteenth birthday. He gets a package in the mail as inheritance from his parents. All that is in the box is a bag of sand. A crazy man comes to his house claiming to be his grandfather and says the need to hurry because the evil librarians have stolen his bag of sand.

This is one odd novel to read. It is absolutely ridiculous. Everything is backwards. Elevators and guns are primitive while stairs and swords are elegant and new age. It has a sand based magic that is transformed into glasses that you wear to have powers through them. For a child I find this novel highly entertaining and recommend it. There are a couple of clues that tie together well, some that I've guessed a bit ahead of time, but it is middle grade.

4.5/5 Stars.

Craig A. Price Jr.

Flowers for Algernon (Review)

A retard (please don't be offended this is the term used in this 50's novel) wants to be smart. He wanted to read so bad he found a school that will take him. Someone tells him the collage wants to pick someone to try to make smart. He really wants it to be him, he's always wanted to be smart.

This novel is absolutely amazing. The first I heard of this novel is from the show friends when Chandler and Joey get the big apartment. Chandler asked Joey if he ever read Flowers for Algernon.

Anyway this novel is done in first person as daily journal entrees. This author does an amazing job starting with a simple mind and gradually learning more and more. Will the experiment work? Read to find out!

Highly recommended 5/5 Stars.

Craig A. Price Jr.

The Fault in our Stars (Review)

A girl has cancer. She can't live forever. She knows that. She's accepted that. She doesn't want to hurt people when she's gone, and most of her social life is gone because of her breathing machine. Her mom still makes her go out to cancer groups. She meets a boy who's survived cancer and always puts a cigarette in his mouth during trying times. (Don't worry, he never lights it).

This novel will pull at your heartstrings. It is a touching story about living and dying with cancer and falling in love. It will make you swoon every time you hear the work "okay." The audiobook for this is excellent and definitely gives the character a distinct voice.

If you love this book I strongly suggest "Flowers for Algernon" as another to add to your collection.

5/5 stars.

Craig A. Price Jr.

Acorna: The Unicorn Girl (Review)

This novel is about a humanoid unicorn girl. Her horn has magic powers and she is found in an escape pod in space.

This is a fun/cute novel. I just finished listening to the audiobook today. The one thing I don't like about this author is how much she head jumps. Some of it is only partially fascinating or some that I don't care too much about. I feel in some cases less is more would work better for building suspense. Overall I would recommend for younger readers.

3.5/5 Stars.

Craig A. Price Jr.

Series Review: The Dresden Files

Synopsis:
Basically Harry Dresden is a professional wizard... living in Chicago.

I've listened to all of these books on audio. The greatest part of that - they're all done by James Marsters. If you're unaware of who that is, then shame on you. He played Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel. He's a great actor, but wow - he sure is a great book reader. I can see him playing the perfect Harry Dresden if they ever make a movie, or a better TV Series. Yeah, okay so we'd totally have to fix how he looks. The novel "Ghost Story" was recorded by someone different, but was still done very well. (I would totally go back and re-listen to it if James came back for it though.)

These are all done in first person, in sort of like a journal format.

One thing a lot of people don't know. All of the books have two words. The first word has the same number of letters as the second word. With one exception.

Book 1: Storm Front
Harry Dresden goes after an amateur magician.
4/5 Stars

You instantly get into the characters, Harry's personality is great, and so is Karrin Murphy.

Book 2: Fool Moon
Basically this novel sets Harry against what appear to be werewolves, and is pretty epic.
4/5 Stars

Book 3: Grave Peril
Harry Dresden against Red Court Vampires. (Yes there are plenty of different courts, white, black, etc, all have different specialties.) And it never hurts to have a Knight of the Cross fighting alongside you.
4/5 Stars

Book 4: Summer Knight
Harry Dresden helps out the fae after the death of the Summer Knight. Pretty epic going against faeries/fairies.
4/5 Stars

Book 5: Death Masks
Harry is out to find a shroud for the church. While he is doing that, he is challenged to end the war of the White Council (Wizards) against the Red Court (Vampires) by a duel.
4/5 Stars

Book 6: Blood Rites
So poor Harry Dresden, the notorious wizard, is forced to work on a porn set to see why people keep ending up dead.
5/5 Stars.

Book 7: Dead Beat
Harry has to find the Word of Kemmler, a powerful necromancer that died several times many years ago. This one is full of zombies, and of course who doesn't want to ride on an undead T-REX?
4/5 Stars

Book 8: Proven Guilty
Harry gets to investigate the murders at Spattercon, a horror movie convention, where the murderers happen to appear just like the horror movie murders. He also finds someone that could have talent with magic.
5/5 Stars

Book 9: White Night
Harry investigates the murders of persons talented with magic. Yup, someone is killing people that can use magic.
4/5 Stars

Book 10: Small Favor
The winter queen asks Harry to watch over a crime lord, and he soon discovers everybody is after a little girl that has all of the written knowledge.
4/5 Stars

Book 11: Turn Coat
A Warden named Morgan (he despises Harry because of the dark magic he once used) shows up wounded at Harry's door. He begs Harry for help, there is a traitor in the White Council (Wizard Council), and everyone thinks it's him.
5/5 Stars - Excellent

Book 12: Changes
This book is where everything changes. Harry finds out he has a daughter, and she is in mortal danger. How far would you go?
5/5 Stars

Book 13: Ghost Story
Harry Dresden is dead. What better fun can a dead wizard have than to haunt the living? Except there is a lot at Stake if he can get them to believe him.
5/5 Stars

Book 14: Cold Days
Harry Dresden is the new Winter Knight, and he must ask the talking skull how it is possible to kill an immortal, only the earth is at stake.
4/5 Stars

Book 15: Skin Game
Harry Dresden is forced to ally with one of the fallen, and a mortal enemy of his. All he has to help the man do is rob a vault of Hades.
5/5 Stars.

Overall, this series is great. If you love dry and sarcastic humor with an element of Urban Fantasy, this series is great. It has had some criticism because the writing seems to have a distinct pattern. A standard climb with action, fall into chaos, and pull a miracle at the end. Even with that style of writing, the characters and story are excellent. And he gives something to those special critics in "Changes" (The only title without two words of the same length). I hope you give the series a go, and as I said, the audiobooks are excellent!

Entire Series: 4.5/5 Stars

Craig A. Price Jr.

The Name of the Wind - Review

This is a brilliant novel by a new author Patrick Rothfuss. I listened to the audiobook and it is done excellently.

This novel is about a hero named Kvothe, a hero, a musician, and a magician. He owns an inn now and is telling his story. It begins brilliantly as he is raised as a travel performer with his family. He learns a lot about science and sympathy from a scholar that travels with them. Later he finds himself alone in a town where he has no money and has to survive, a great story of poverty, until he tries to join the university. This university teaches science and sympathy and he is eager to learn. He is able to impress with his knowledge and get in despite how little money he has. He quickly excels in all of his classes and learns how to play music well enough to gain money to keep attending the university and a place to stay.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It was very unique and a very exciting read. For being as many pages as it was, it was an excellent page turner. I really enjoyed it, and the audiobook was simply amazing. I highly recommend it for you all to check out.

5/5 Stars.

-Craig A. Price Jr.

Percy Jackson - The Lightning Thief (Review)

This is a really good children's novel. I just listened to it a couple of weeks ago on Audiobook. The audiobook was done really well. The novel itself was great.

Basically, Percy Jackson isn't your normal human, in fact he isn't human at all. Something strange happened to him at a field trip, and at first he thought it was all an hallucination. He soon finds himself in a school for half-humans/half-gods. He has to complete a mission that could be the survival of Earth.

The idea is completely original. The story was very exciting and fun as it played out. However, I could see a lot of things coming. This is probably because it is a middle-grade novel and the fact that I'm a writer. It was predicable for me, but extremely entertaining. I highly recommend it, especially for children.

4/5 Stars.

-Craig A. Price Jr.

A New Spring (Wheel of Time) - (Review)

Let me paint the picture for you. My brother highly recommended this series to me when I was younger. I was skeptical because of how large the first book was and the last series he gave me to read was The Lord of the Rings. I read The Hobbit without a problem, but The Lord of the Rings was much harder. A lot more happened before the action.

Anyway, I had an hour commute to work everyday and so I decided to try the audiobook. I did not think I was going to like audiobooks. I've always loved to read, but I felt audiobooks would put me to sleep. Especially during an hour drive at 5 in the morning. However, I'd already listened to all of my music enough times that I needed a change. Therefore, A New Spring was the first audiobook I ever listened to.

It started slow and I wasn't sure of everything going on, but I rather enjoyed it.

Synopsis:
An Aes Sedai has a vision that the Dragon has been born. The Dragon is a very important person according to prophecies. Everyone that has found out about this fortelling has died or come up missing. One, only just reaching the rank of Aes Sedai flees in search of this Dragon Reborn. Morianie comes across a man named Lan. She finds out there are Aes Sedai that are evil and she comes in contact with one. At the end she asks Lan to become her Warder.

This was a very good novella, I highly recommend it, although I think it is a better companion than it was as the first read for the series. The audiobook is done really well.

I hope you enjoy the book.
4/5 Stars.

-Craig A. Price Jr.

Novel Reviews

I'm going to attempt this new thing. See, I've read lots of books. Actually, by now I've listened to more books than I've read. Audiobooks are a wonderful thing when you have to go and work a labor job before getting good enough to become a published author.

I'm going to try and put up reviews of all the novels I've read/listened to. This could take a while to catch up since I've been finishing one a week for a very long time now. Most are fantasy and Sci-Fi, but I've done a bit of everything. I hope you enjoy what I post, and hopefully I can keep it up.

-Craig A. Price Jr.

Parenting: Getting your child to bed on time

I talk to many parents who struggle to get their child to bed, especially in the early years age 2-4. This is something every parent goes through.

Something I did to get my son on a standard sleeping habit was laying him down in the crib and walking away. This is hard for a lot of parents. It was hard for me. The first dozen times he cried his eyes out for over an hour. I would go check on him, make him a bottle. Since your child will scream, they will get dehydrated. When you fill them up with milk they will get sleepy.

Here's the important part. Your child has to see that you're not going to baby them. If you do then you're going to have that child that screams at wallmart when you don't get them a toy. You don't want that.

It is a heartbreaking week or two, but after a little while your child will see when you leave them in the crib and tell them that it is time for bed, you mean it.

After a while of doing this to my son, when I brought him to bed and told him it was time to sleep - he immdiatly laid down and closed his eyes before I left the room.

We need to use disipline. Society nowdays tries to cuddle us so much and let people do whatever they want, but this is not good, especially for our kids. We don't need to be too hard on them, but we do need to understand how to raise our children to not take life for granted.

Parenting: Breaking the Shy

When I was young I was pretty much an only child. I had two older brothers, but one left to head to collage and the other moved out. They were both much older than I was. I've noticed for the most part the first born or only child tend to be more shy.

I was very shy. I often played by myself. I do not regret any of it because it helped shape my creative mind. I aspire to be an author. However, under social circumstances I was very shy.

My son is five and I see him falling into the same trap. From the age of 1 until he was 4 he stayed home with either my stepmom or I out in the country.

When I put him in preschool, he was very shy. Barely talking to anybody. Over the last two years I've broken him of most of it.

There is one thing here I would like to share with you.

Make him ask.

That's it. Simple answer. I always make my son ask and use please as well as thank you, but that is a subject for another time. This asking is if we are at someone's house and he tells me he's thirsty. I tell him oh well, you can always ask for a drink.

I also do this to him at resturants. He has to ask for his drink refil, bbq sauce, ketchup, and the like. At first he wouldn't do it, but he realized daddy wasn't going to get it for him and he had to ask.

Now he does so much better, and I've noticed his social skills with other children has improved as well where he will ask them for things.

-Craig A. Price

Games for kids: Parcheesi

So the other day I played Parcheesi with my son for the first time. I had never played the game before, and had a blast learning it with my son. He ended up beating me at the end, but I was one space away with my last man! This is a great game for children, it's difficult to learn, but once you do it is fast paced and brilliant. The game is from India and is awesome. 

Last weekend I went to a thrift store, since I'm not rich and all. I love walking around and seeing what they have. Especially old things. I'm also a sucker for board games. Well, guess what? I found tons of them. I got parcheesi for $1.50, as well as a tetris game, thinkblot, cranium, and cranium junior. As well as several others, like my son's favorite game Candy Land. This was great for me and I loaded my cart up. 

The problem with society these days is that they give their kids everything. I've often heard complaints of children buying a ton of apps on iphones or ipads. All I can think is, why? Why do you give your child these electronic devices? I know family that has given their children computers before the age of 10, and two or three of their own gaming systems. And parents often wonder how these new generations aren't as smart? Why do they fail at English, when all they do is learning shortcuts in texting? 

When I grew up, I played board games with my family, cards, croquet. This is how it should be. Instead, parents aren't finding time for their children to play with them. So instead they give them electronics. Now, I'm not saying keep your child completely away from electronics. There are Leapfrogs, and V'Tech that made excellent tablets. They are for children, and teach counting, math, and reading as well as thinking skills. I let my son play that, although I don't all the time. He plays some games, but most are older like from the super nintendo, or atari. I know children in my son's school the same age of him that have their own ipad. I can't even afford an ipad for myself, and these children have their own. It took me several years of tablets before I was finally able to get my ASUS. 

Are you a parent? When was the last time you played a board game with your child? Do you not do it enough? How about instead of getting them set up with a cartoon or video game, you pull out an old board game. You'd be surprised how fast they can learn, and how much fun they will have! My son is 5, and already is a master a parcheesi, and has learned several other games. It teaches them counting and thinking skills that will help them in school. 

-Craig A. Price

Educational Kid Series: "Your baby can read"

Your baby can read?

It's a great concept for wanting to teach your child to read at such a young age. Does it work? No. Your baby can't read. This program/DVD series will not teach your young one reading. Will they learn words? - Yes. They will use their brain to determine the sight of the word and match it to the sight of an object or person. It is helpful for you child to learn sight words. Very helpful, and yet it is frustrating when they begin to learn how to read.

This is why it is frustrating for your child, who has already learned sight words, when beginning to read. They want to learn the word, rather than trying to sound it out. Once sight words have already been introduced, it is difficult to get them to try and sound out new words with pronunciation.

Would I recommend the program to others? Yes, I think education is the utmost importance for children, yet I recommend that when you do this, especially if you have the word cards - that you do so by sounding out the word cards with your child, rather than bluntly saying the word. It is important they your child realizes that each letter makes a distinct sound.

I have tried this with my own son, and it has worked well, though he's still working on pronouncing words. He has learned sight words very well, but I still have much to accomplish in order to get him to read. However, a friend of mine has a young child that's primary language is Spanish, and she is learning very well with it. She is writing down each word as it appears on the screen and is learning English very well with it.
My rating for this program is 7/10 - for learning sight words. Depending on how much effort you put into it, you can get your child to learn more than just sight of them. This opinions are representing only what I have learned on my own, with my own child.

-Craig A. Price

Educational Kid Series: Preschool Prep

Preschool Prep

Does this series work? How well does your child react to it? I have found excellent results with this program. Probably the best results out of everything I've tried. It has separate videos for colors, shapes, numbers, and words. All of these videos are very annoying for us adults. The letter or words move around the screen with scenery around them and fancy colors. The letter or word is constantly repeated until embedded in their brain.  You'll get tired of hearing "a, a, a, ehyyyyyy", but your child will learn. I've seen some parents complain that their child won't watch it. My son had no problems watching it, in fact he'd love when I turned it on. I believe the people who have problems with it are those who let their children watch garbage TV and cartoons, instead of educational. When children are young I find it very important to only show them educational cartoons anyway. It's the best way to expand their minds and have them learn. There are plenty out there like Brainy Baby, Einstein, Preschool Prep here, or even things like School House Rock and Magic School Bus.

Sight words work very well with this series. There are three of them with various simple words like "a", "the", "but", etc. A pause occurs after the word is put up on the screen and after your child watches it a few times, they will often say it before the video does. It does work, but remember they only learn it as a sight word. This does not mean your child can read.

Overall, I have been really impressed with the sight words, letters, and numbers videos of 'Preschool Prep'. I highly recommend using it for your child right before entering preschool. Your child will already know a handful of words entering school and it will be easier for them to continue learning.
-Craig

What ever happened to the good cartoons: School House Rock

Does anybody else remember Conjunction Junction? This show is one of the best for learning grammar, and nothing has come close to matching it! Instead, cartoons and shows these days make it worse for our children. Everything is about texting these days, and shortened words that make no sense. They are destroying the English language instead of making our children learn it. What is happening as a result? Many people grow up not wanting to read, or some not even knowing how very well. Imagination is destroyed. Movies, and games - it is all laid out for them so they don't have to imagine what might happen.

Not only did School House Rock teach Grammar, but it also touched mathematics, and history as well. Hasn't anybody learned from this, enough to want to make more cartoons that can teach our children the same. They use music to a catchy tune so kids love it when they hear it. I've learned so much watching this cartoon when I was younger. It was often used in classrooms when I was younger, especially history classes. I love this show, and bought it on DVD for my son. He loves it and sings along sometimes.

Does anybody else play this cartoon for their children, and how did they do with it? Did they learn as much as I did?

What ever happened to the good cartoons: The Magic School Bus

Who else remembers this cartoon? What has happened to the cartoons that teach our children something? Is anybody else out there outraged by type of cartoons out there now? I remember when they taught us things. My son loves the magic school bus, and he learns something. Science!

We can watch it together and learn about planets and space, reptiles, the human body and much much more. I have yet to find another cartoon as great with science as this one. Even science classes use it to help teach! Why can't more cartoons these days teach our children things so they won't be so lost in school! Tell me people! Perhaps we should demand it of them.

My rant is over, but tell me, what is your favorite episode of The Magic School Bus?

Who else remembers GAK?

Does anybody else remember this awesome invention? I made some homemade with my son and fiance tonight! I remember making this in 6th grade with a ton of Elmer glue and borax. I still remember the name till this day. And so I looked around online until I found how to do it and made sure to get the recipe right! Here it is if y'all are curious:

In a large container combine and mix:
1 ½ cups very warm water
2 cups Elmers white glue
A few drops of water color and/or glitter if using clear glue

Make sure this combination is completely mixed
In a small container combine and mix:
1 1/3 cups very warm water
2 level tsp 20 Mule Team Borax. Adults, please do this step.
(Please see NOTES section below for safety information about Borax.)
Make sure the Borax is completely dissolved.
Combine the glue and borax mixtures:
Mix well using your hands until all the liquid is absorbed. You may need to squish, mix, and break up the gak to get it fully combined. Store the gak in a plastic, air-tight container at room temperature. For best results, measure precisely and mix well as noted above.

It makes this totally awesome gak stuff that bounces off of itself by the way. We used blue color dye for ours this time. It was an absolute blast! My son enjoyed it, and we took a few videos and pictures of our playtime with it. Has anybody else made this? Do tell of your favorite experience with gak!

What ever happened to the good cartoons: Captain Planet

Who else remembers this great cartoon? In fact I remember having a few action figures of it when I was younger. This is another example of a great cartoon for children that teaches something that isn't found many other places in a fun and friendly way. Pollution and taking the time to recycle. There are 6 seasons of this show.  It shows that not only can we save the environment, but in order to do so we must work together.

Don't forget that it takes heart!
 
Not only does it show that things can be reused, but also that protecting the environment you can save the lives of animals who rely on their habitat to survive. There are a lot of good traits that can be learned through this show. I would figure with how environmentally friendly everything is becoming that there would be something similar to this out there more recent, but these cartoons now days only seem to lessen intelligence rather than heighten.

How about we teach our children the good aspects from this show. Recycle, reuse, and protect wildlife. I even play reruns for my son, a superhero helping out the animals, he loves it.

-Craig

1995 Jeep Cherokee Alternator

I have a 1995 Jeep Cherokee. There were a few starting problems with it. The first thing I decided to do with my friend is pull out the starter and take a look at it. A piece of it was broken off inside the jeep so we figured that would be a good idea to replace. However, it did not solve the problem as I found out the day after when I decided to try and drive it 2 hours north to fix the alternator on my 1992 Honda.

The power ran out while driving, definitely the alternator. Had to call someone to drive me to auto store where I got a new alternator and battery just to be safe.

Normally an alternator on a serpentine belt is a really easy fix... not so much for a 95 Jeep Cherokee. There is no tension pully. Instead I unbolted one of the pullys to take the belt off and replace it and forced it back in place. That sucked.

Go me.