Fish of The Sea / Peces Del Mar (A Spanish English Reader)

Fish of The Sea /Peces Del Mar by Steven Lioy (myself) is a Spanish / English beginning reader book.  It is full of interesting pictures of sea life.  The short descriptive phrases will help a child learn to read their native language in addition to the corresponding Spanish / English.

I wrote this book as a tool to help children and students learn language.  Having grown up in a semi-bilingual home, where my mom was fluent in Spanish, we communicated in English. In a quest to learn Spanish, to learn it quickly and enjoyably, I turned to kids’ books.

This method seems unconventional; it works well.  I started reading books such as Go Dog Go, Are You My Mother?, One Fish Two Fish, and the list goes on.  I was familiar with the story lines already.  Through repeated readings of these books I started to assemble phrases on my own, naturally and without rote memorization.  

That is the goal in the First Steps Series; to help a child learn words in the form of sentences and phrases.  This is how children learn.  We all learned a word and pointed to an object to ask for it.  In fish of the sea you become familiar with pez (fish) and naturally you can build understanding from there.

~Steven Lioy

Your Shoes My Shoes By Barbara Bloom (Book Review)

Your Shoes My Shoes By Barbara Bloom is written with the 1 - 6 year old in mind.  

As described, this book is meant to emphasize rhyming to make the book enjoyable for children. The book accomplishes this well on some pages.  Other pages are comprised of random statements, albeit on topic, the book lost flow from page to page.  It mirrors and feels "vaguely" reminiscent of One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss.  I think that is what Bloom was going for in her childrens' book.  

What really threw me off when reading this book is how the style of the illustrations change on every page.  Your Shoes My Shoes would be illustrated on one page with clip art and then a Japanese Anime character on the next.  The lack of illustrative congruency really lost me. 

This is still an okay book for teaching children colors and helping them better understand patterns in rhyme and alliteration.  For a kid this book can be fun.  If an adult has to read this to them it may be challenging for the adult.

~Steven Lioy  

Scott Gordon My Little Pet Dragon Review

My Little Pet Dragon By Scott Gordon is a cute childrens' book.  It is a brief story about a particular present that turns out to be quite a good helper.  It is nicely imaginative and the illustrations are excellent.  There is a touching heart felt story at the end of this book about how Mr. Gordon used this bedtime story to help his child speak.

Overall this is a 4 star book consensus shows on Amazon.com.  I recommend this book as a first book up through age 6 as a first reader.   

~Steven Lioy

Life is a Circus Run by a Platypus by Allison Hawn (Book Review)

Life is a Circus Run by a Platypus by Allison Hawn is a fantastic book.  I give it 5 stars!

Allison Hawn provides a commentary on her life experiences in Life is a Circus Run by a Platypus.  This book is charming and approachable.  It reads in a way that lets you into Allison's personality - witty and sarcastic.   She is a fantastic story teller and this book can easily be converted into a show/comic strip resembling Life with Louie, Bobbys World, or Malcolm in the Middle.

Allison wraps every chapter up with takeaway life lessons that may not be apparent as you read.  The laughter a reader experiences is enough to distract from any surface level lesson.

Lessons include but are not limited to:

• Why you should be cautious eating Grandma's soup
• How to apartment shop
• Why you should ask questions before agreeing to pet sit.
• Little Caesars Pizza (the employment experience)

Honestly, Allison should go on a stand up tour.  I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to her other book Life is a Pirate Ship Run by a Velociraptor.  

You can follow Allison Hawn's Blog here

~Steven Lioy

The Journey Of The First Book

My first book was derived from my entrepreneurial spirit.  There are a couple things that I can't stop doing.  One is learning and the second is experimenting with start up businesses.  Try as I might not to get into another business, that is just who I am.

    

I have had a semi-successful bookstore on Amazon.com and eBay.com in the past.  There is just something about information, dreams, direction, etc. that is tangible that is a treasure to hold as a book in your hands.  Through several past sales jobs I discovered those that were bilingual had a real edge.  Behold a goldmine in sales - neglected markets. 

   

I grew up with a Spanish speaking mom (she is from Cuba) and an English speaking dad.  I was never really taught Spanish aside from the common "hola", or "gracias".  There were a few words that I was taught in Spanish that just are not appropriate here.    

   

Trying to gain an edge in the market place of insurance/ advertising/ IT sales I decided to start learning Spanish like a child.  I stopped by my local library in Rochester New York and found some Dr. Seuss books that I was familiar with.  The catch was that these books were written in Spanish. Books such as Green Eggs and Ham or Huevos Verde con Jamon.  

   

If you have not tried this approach to learning a new language - you should.  My wife and I were rolling laughing so hard as Sam I Am becomes Juan Ramon.  No mi gusta nada Juan Ramon.... Learning Spanish and laughing in the process does wonders for making learning wonderfully passive.

I continue to study and learn Spanish through familiar song and stories as well as more formal processes.  I have a nine month old beautiful girl. She adds a new layer of enjoyment to the learning process.  I am also fortunate to be able to continue to test my learning on Mima (my grandma) and my mom or any body that speaks Spanish that is in arms reach.

    

So, the first book came off a hunch.  I knew that I could self publish but needed to understand the process better.  I'm not a wade in the water and get your feet wet but more like a polar plunge kind of guy.... Just jump in and learn fast!  So I did some research, watched some YouTube videos and did lots and lots of reading on how to publish.  

   

I wrote my first book a few days later A Kids' First Steps In Learning Spanish "Colors".  It is a simple concept and layout.  It's more of a flashcard book that takes you through colors, pronunciations,  and a description of the fruit.  This format reinforces Spanish grammar and the building of a Spanish vocabulary.   Visual association is vastly important for learning and retention.  

This book has received Five Star Reviews at the point of this writing.  Please take a look have fun and please leave your feedback in an amazon review.  Enjoy!  

~Steven Lioy