My Review:

Reviewed by Laura Fabiani

The Alycat series is a fun series, especially for children who love cats. I've already featured two books from this series and I was happy to see that another book has been recently released. This series focuses on teaching children life lessons. In Alyvat and the Tournament Tuesday, we learn the importance of working hard and persevering versus relying on good luck. 

Personally, I do not believe in good luck and do not use this expression ever. As shown with Bugsy who believed his lucky ball would help him win his game, it's all the practice he did that helped him play well. Alycat made a mistake and this was turned into an occasion to learn something valuable.

The illustrations by Chiara Civati are fun and bright. Children who love cats will enjoy the cute faces of the different types of kitties representing the diversity among persons.

Alycat and the Tournament Tuesday is the fourth book in this award-winning series. It's a perfect book to add to the library of daycares and early elementary classes.

I was honored to have been invited by the Hollywood Swag Bags agency to include The Alycat Series in the swag bags honoring Oscars weekend. I signed and bundled up all four books, including a pre-released copy of Alycat and the Tournament Tuesday, along with a few Alycat and Bugsy plush toys and sent it off a few weeks prior to the event. These Hollywood Swag Bags were presented to the top 30 Oscar nominees and a couple of popular influencers. 

Some of the recipients included Leonardo DiCaprio, Antonio Banderas, Joaquin Phoenix, Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Saoirse Ronan, Jonathan Pryce, Cynthia Erivo, Charlize Theron, Renee Zellweger, Tom Hanks, Anthony Hopkins, Joe Pesci, Al Pacino, Brad Pitt, Kathy Bates, Laura Dern, Florence Pugh, Martin Scorsese, Todd Phillips, Sam Mendes, Margot Robbie, Quentin Tarantino. 

After the Oscars, the Alycat series received exposure from USA Today, The Boston Herald, National Examiner, and many other noteworthy news sources. The opportunity really took Alycat nationwide. Since then, other A-list actresses such as Michelle Stafford and Lilly Melgar have received the Alycat book collection and posted how much they love the series! It is really awesome to see them enjoying the series with their children! The buzz about Alycat going to the Oscars was a fun and huge milestone in my writing career.

Meet the Author:

Alysson Foti Bourque is the author of the award-winning Alycat series. Alysson earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and a Juris Doctor degree from the Southern University Law Center.

After practicing law for six years, she traded in writing trial briefs for writing children’s books. Alysson enjoys public speaking opportunities at schools, conferences, and festivals nationwide. She hopes to inspire people of all ages to follow their dreams and believe in themselves wholeheartedly.

AWARDS & HONORS

The Alycat Series has won several prestigious awards including:

Three Mom’s Choice Awards®

Benjamin Franklin Digital Award, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA)

Best Book Award Finalist

NY Big Book Award

Reviewed by Midwest Book Review

Southern Festival of Books Panelist

Louisiana Book Festival Featured Author

​Connect with the author: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Instagram ~Pinterest

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Ends April 13, 2020

Our Review:

Reviewed by Laura Fabiani & Son

Buy the Book:

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Mascot Books

Book Depository ~ Powells Books

Add to Goodreads

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Watch the book trailer:

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Meet the Author:

Alysson Foti Bourque is the author of the Rhyme or ReasonTravel series, and the multi-award winning Alycat series. Alysson received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and a law degree from Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge. She believes that there is an Alycat in all of us, encouraging our imaginations to guide us through new opportunities and adventures. ​

Connect with the author: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

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Ends April 29

Our Review

Reviewed by Laura Fabiani & Son

Mama's Knight is a beautiful book. It provides a loving way to help a young child understand what is happening to a parent who is fighting cancer. Written by a mother (with a young child) who has suffered the loss of her own mother through cancer, this book fulfils a need for those families who are fighting cancer and want to empower their children during this difficult time.

Mama's Knight is an interactive book that will later become a book of memories. My 12 year-old son and I looked through every page carefully. I told him to imagine he was a little younger and I was fighting cancer. Would this book help? After turning the last page I could see my son was touched. "This is a really good book, Mom," he said. We both agreed we had never read anything like it.

We discussed how the information about cancer that the author included was appropriate for young children. We loved the clever expressions included to help children (or anyone) understand the symptoms and emotions this illness could bring out, such as "mad as a wet hen" or irritated as a goat". The activities included were fun and easy to do. And we could see how doing them together would make parent and child bond in a special way during this time.

My son and I thought the illustrations were perfect: simple and colorful pictures of people and families from different nationalities. The book is honest in the way it deals with all aspects of what it means to fight cancer, from the treatment plan to feeling scared. But it reinforces and boldly expresses a mother's love for her child and how that child is a shining knight that helps her fight strong.

This book should be known by Cancer Associations so that they can recommend it as a toolkit for mothers of young children who are fighting cancer. However, if a person is fighting cancer without the conventional methods (radiation, chemo) but is using integrative medicine, this book may still be adapted. Actually, I can see this book's format being used to create a series of books using Whittet's toolkit method written for various illnesses, including diabetes, AIDS, depression and stroke.

Kudos to Aurora Whittet for providing this beautiful tool for mothers and their children! My son and I were impressed and we highly recommend it for families who would benefit from it.

To read more reviews, please visit Aurora Whittet's page on iRead Book Tours.

Disclosure: Thanks to the author for sending us this book for review. We were not told how to rate or review this product.

Our Interview with Aurora Whittet

LCR: How would you describe your book in 20 words or less?

AW: Mama’s Knight is an emotional toolbox that helps kids and parents communicate about mama having cancer.

LCR: What is your hope in publishing this emotional toolbox for kids and parents dealing with cancer?

AW: I want to help connect moms back to their children even when they can't get out of bed. I want to give them ways to spend time together and talk about the emotions that go along with this journey and give a tiny bit of hope back to a very serious and stressful situation.

LCR: I found your book to be very empowering both for the child and the parent. How important do you feel it is for children to be aware of what is happening when a parent has cancer and why?

AW: Children of every age need some sort of communication about what is happening. Younger children obviously need less details, older children crave more. If you don't tell them anything, they still feel and see the stress and changes, but they may blame themselves for mom not wanting to play that day, instead of understanding why and being able to express that they are frustrated or sad about it. The Angel Foundation has some amazing resources on what to say at each age group.

LCR: You've written a successful YA trilogy and a children's book. What's next for you?

AW: I'm working on a new YA book that I'm utterly loving, and I'm working on the daddy version of Mama's Knight, because daddies get cancer too.

LCR: If you could travel back in time, where would you go?

AW: I lost my mom in 2013, so I would go back to the moment when my mom was diagnosed for the second time with uterine cancer and I would say pack your bags, lets go somewhere amazing. And I would have taken her on a fun trip before she became to weak to travel. We kept saying we'd go when she felt better, but that day never came for us. So live in the now, because tomorrow isn't a promise.

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To read more reviews, please visit Paulete Bogan's page on iRead Book Tours.

Our Interview with Paulette Bogan

Me!