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Ninety-seven (97) 5-Star Reviews for Award-winning Picture Book AMAZING MATILDA!


MATILDA expertly as a cirus acrobat... 2016

About the book

This “Gem of a Tale” about a Monarch Butterfly teaches kids lessons in friendship, patience and persistence as AMAZING MATILDA transforms from egg to caterpillar to butterfly. (Children’s Picture Book/Ages 5-11).

Order your copies today:

AM Celebrate Season MATCHBOOK bas 2016

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Written

on 04/26/2022

Dog Bone Soup: A Boomer’s Journey by Bette A. Stevens


Poverty, prejudice and social justice… I invite you to visit Rosaliene’s blog, read her comprehensive review of Dog Bone Soup, and check out the nsightful comments from Rosaleine and her readers. Come join the conversation. It takes a village! ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author https://www.4writersandreaders.com 

Three Worlds One Vision

Front Cover – Dog Bone Soup: A Boomer’s Journey by Bette A. Stevens (USA, 2014)

In Dog Bone Soup: A Boomer’s Journey, Maine author Bette A. Stevens reminds us that being poor should not define who we are as individuals. With determination as well as the helping hand and guidance of those who care, we can become the person we aspire to be. Herself a boomer, Stevens takes us back to America of the 1950s and 1960s. On leaving home to enter the U.S. Army, eighteen-year-old Shawn Daniels looks back on growing up in Lebanon, Maine, where his family was scorned as “nothing but poor white trash.”

Shawn’s narrative contains no mention of the year or his age. Only his school grade records the passing years. His earliest memory is of watching mice scamper across the rafters as he lay in bed at nights. Having one as a pet…

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Book Picks, Book Reviews, Book Reviews by others, Books, DOG BONE SOUP by Bette A. Stevens, Education, Families, Fiction, Historical Fiction, History, Literature, Maine, My Books, Parenting, Writing

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From the Poetic to the Factual: Two Book Reviews


Lovely to find My Maine featured on author Annika Perry’s Writing Blog today along with a great review of A-Z of Dumfries by Mary Smith and Keith Kirk! ~ Bette A. Stevens 4writersandreaders

Annika Perry

After a lifetime of New Year’s resolutions … and often failing to keep them, these last years I’ve steered away from making any.

However, one aspect of blogging weighs heavily upon me, my failure to review as many books as I would like, particularly indie-published ones. If my TBR pile was a real heap of books they would fill a room, I fear; luckily many are kept safe on my Kindle, hidden from immediate sight but never forgotten. I’m determined to share these books with you on my blog, a couple every month and I am happy to start with the two below.

Ironically, these are paperbacks, one a poetry book kindly gifted to me by Bette A. Stevens. The other by Mary Smith caught my interest as an unusual factual book about her local town.

“My Maine: Haiku through the Seasons” by Bette A. Stevens

‘My Maine’ is a…

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Written

on 01/28/2020

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AMAZING MATILDA, A Monarch Butterfly Tale by Bette A. Stevens (Children’s Picture Book)



“If you loved P.D. Eastman’s incomparable book, Are You My Mother, about a baby bird’s search for its mother, you must read this book. If Charlotte’s Web is one of your childhood favorites, I say, Move over Charlotte. Matilda is now here!” ~Jacqui Murray

 

AMAZING MATILDA—Read the Reviews

  • Bette Stevens’s Amazing Matilda: The Tale of a Monarch Butterfly is the story of tiny Matilda, a round white creature born from an egg in Nature’s garden with a burning desire to fly.  Without wings, though, she knows that can’t happen. Matilda has no idea that in her life, she will morph from the crawly leaf-bound creature to a gorgeous monarch butterfly. She tells her animal friends about her passion to fly and they offer their stories of growing up as well as sage advice any parent would be envious of. For example, her friend Sparrow suggests:“Just have patience and follow your instincts, my dear…”Another friend suggests:”I could do anything that I wanted to if I only tried long enough and hard enough.”She is frustrated by this good-natured advice because she has no idea how to do what they suggest:“Sparrow said that I must have patience and that I must follow my instincts. Now, you say I must have wings. Where can I find all of those things?”As Matilda grows, she changes from a larva to pupa to a gorgeous winged adult. Each stage in Matilda’s amazing journey is accompanied with wonderful drawings that show her progress, who she meets, and how she changes.As a result, readers are not just entertained by the story but happily learn about the development of a butterfly. There are lots of cute lines, such as:”Matilda crunched and munched and lunched, leaf after leaf, day after day.”If you loved P.D. Eastman’s incomparable book, Are You My Mother, about a baby bird’s search for its mother, you must read this book. If Charlotte’s Web is one of your childhood favorites, I say, Move over Charlotte. Matilda is now here!This is a short book. In fact. This review is almost longer than the story!
  • The story is really exciting, appealing, adventurous, lovable, and yet, sufficiently wise and deep for both kids and adults.In case you do not trust my word, I urge you to find out for yourselves. Otherwise, I might be reviewing this wonderful book for hours. It is my pleasure indeed!
  • A beautiful message of love, patience, perseverance, and belief. The story is told with a frog, bird, rabbit, and the butterfly as the main characters. A perfect book for children mainly to teach them about the cycles of life and the importance of patience, perseverance, and keeping faith in a dream.

Read all 87 reviews on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AU9ZISA/

 

Bette in her garden with one of the monarch butterflies that emerged from its chrysalis at the farmstead in central Maine.

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FREE from Bette

AMAZING MATILDA (Review & Author Interview) 

 

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Written

on 05/20/2019

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Ten Day Book Challenge: Day Ten


Thoughtful reflections from a reader/author…
Thanks so much, Tricia Drammeh for including PURE TRASH in your ‘top ten’ walk down memory lane. ~Bette A. Stevens, https://www.4writersandreaders.com

All I Have to Say

It’s finally Day Ten of the Ten Day Book Challenge! I can’t believe I made it. It’s been a lot of fun walking down memory lane and visiting some of my favorite books from the past. A huge thank you goes out to my friend and fellow author Rami Ungar for inviting me to participate in this challenge.

Here is how the challenge works:

  • Thank whoever nominated you with big, bold print. If they have a blog, link to the post where you got tagged there.
  • Explain the rules.
  • Post the cover of a book that was influential on you or that you love dearly.
  • Explain why.
  • Tag someone else to do the challenge, and let them know they’ve been tagged.

unnamedPure Trash is a story I read and reviewed back in 2013. I first ran across the author Bette A. Stevens through blogging here on WordPress. I’ve read…

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Written

on 09/18/2018

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AMAZING MATILDA by Bette A. Stevens: Inspiring children to meet challenges with patience and persistence.


“Meeting the challenges of life at every stage of life is no easy task. Matilda and her friends encourage readers and listeners of all ages to meet those challenges with patience and persistence.

“Matilda’s story is my story. It’s you story too. It’s a story the kids will want to hear you read to them again and again.” (Bette A. Stevens)

“One concern parents have is how to inspire their children to meet challenges with patience and persistence. This is the plot of a [children’s] book, ‘Amazing Matilda’.” ~Paula Hrbecek Examiner.com

Amazing Matilda, A Monarch’s Tale by Bette A. Stevens is available in paperback ($9.49) and eBook ($3.99) versions. Take a look inside and grab a copy or two today at  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AU9ZISA/  

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Written

on 07/22/2018

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Celebrating the amazingly talented author and illustrator, Bette A. Stevens! ✨ @BetteAStevens #RRBC


What a lovely surprise to find today… Thank you, author Natalie Ducey! ~Bette A. Stevens, Maine author

Today, I’m delighted to celebrate the amazingly talented author and illustrator, Bette A. Stevens. If you haven’t already connected with Bette, I really encourage you to do so. She is a gifted writer and most generous soul. ♥

Bette’s book Pure Trash has been selected as one of three Books of the Month with Rave Reviews Book Club. I was thrilled to know this gem was selected. It’s an absolute joy to read and certainly worthy of this recognition.

Cheers to you, Bette!

Maine Author/Illustrator Bette A. Stevens Maine Author/Illustrator Bette A. Stevens

Inspired by nature and human nature, author Bette A. Stevens is a retired elementary and middle school teacher, a wife, mother of two and grandmother of five. Stevens lives in Central Maine with her husband on their 37-acre farmstead where she enjoys reading, writing, gardening, walking and reveling in the beauty of nature. She advocates for children and families, for childhood literacy…

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Written

on 03/22/2018

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#Book review – Dog Bone Soup by Bette A. Stevens


Robbie's inspiration

Dog Bone Soup: A Boomer's Journey

What Amazon says

Whether or not You Grew Up in the 1950s and 60s, you’ll find DOG BONE SOUP (Historical Fiction) to be soup for the soul. In this coming-of-age novel, Shawn Daniels’s father is the town drunk. Shawn and his brother Willie are in charge of handling everything that needs to be done around the ramshackle place they call home—lugging in water for cooking and cleaning, splitting and stacking firewood…But when chores are done, these resourceful kids strike out on boundless adventures that don’t cost a dime. DOG BONE SOUP is the poignant tale of a dysfunctional family struggling to survive in America in the 50s and 60s, when others were living The American Dream.

My review

In preparing to write this review, I read a couple of other reviews of this book on Amazon and Goodreads. I was interested to note one comment that likened this book to The…

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Written

on 10/02/2017

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Another 5✰ Review for DOG BONE SOUP by Bette A. Stevens


Poignant and Inspiring!

Dog Bone Soup by Bette A. Stevens is not just the story of Shawn and his struggle to get a decent life, it is a family saga of adventures, sacrifices, togetherness and resilience. It is inspiring as well as poignant, a rare combination to create. Henrietta emerges to be a wonderful mother, giving all the care and attention to her kids though she had zero moral support from her self-centered and alcoholic husband, more interested in watching T.V. than looking after his own children.

The story is set in the 50’s when moccasins could be freely used to discipline children! Despite the challenges of poverty and meagre food, nobody has any complaints except Mr.Daniels. Life was hard and Shawn being the eldest in the family suffers the most yet he stands like a rock when he is old enough to handle his father’s violence.

A streak of thin light shimmers throughout the story, assuring the reader that struggles bring the best out of us. The hope never dies, as kind people keep trickling in to provide work and life-time lessons to Shawn and Willie. Characterisation has been handled very well and one person who stands out is Mrs Ashley, an old lady with the heart of gold, a book lover who fed the poor boys, read stories to them and even taught them how to use a typewriter when they accompanied their uncle to help in cutting the trees.

This book is relevant for the present generation for two reasons—one it acquaints them with history and the way people strived to wriggle out of domestic violence, lack of love and tough situations. Two, how comfortable life is today for children with no fear of moccasins! ~Balroop Singh, author

This review is from: DOG BONE SOUP (Historical Fiction/Ages 11-Adult): A Boomer’s Journey (Kindle Edition)

  • Take a ‘Look Inside’ and grab a copy of DOG BONE SOUP (available in paperback $10.99 and eBook $3.99 OR purchase paperback and download eBook version for #FREE) at YOUR AMAZON today http://bit.ly/1HGpCsZ

  • Find out more about Maine author/illustrator Bette A. Stevens and check out her books (children’s literature, children’s activity book and fiction for ages 10-adult) at http://viewauthor.at/BetteAStevens

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Written

on 07/04/2017

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New 5✰ Review + #1 Amazon Best Seller in ‘butterflies’ too!


AMAZING MATILDA by Bette A. Stevens reached #1 on Amazon’s Best Seller ‘butterflies’ category during Earth Month 2017. This award-winning Monarch Butterfly adventure (Ages 4-11) is available in paperback ($9.49) and eBook ($3.99) versions. However, when you purchase the paperback, the eBook version can be downloaded for #free (Kindle Matchbook).

BUY “AMAZING MATILDA”  at YOUR AMAZON http://bit.ly/19Qr3Y0

Latest Book Review

AMAZING MATILDA, A Monarch’s Tale  written and illustrated by Bette A. Stevens

ByLife Long Reader on April 20, 2017

Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

I love Matilda! Her story is wonderful! I recommend! For children and adults!

I love nature and animals. All animals. I love butterflies. When I saw Amazing Matilda, I had to buy and read it. Little Matilda is desperate to fly, but doesn’t know how. This is a wonderful and cute story about learning patience. It’s an encouraging book for children and adults alike. The story takes you from Matilda as a small caterpillar to her metamorphosis as a beautiful Monarch butterfly. A quick read, you’ll be done with it in no time at all.
I highly recommend this book to lovers of nature, animals and children of all ages from two to 100. It is beautifully yet simply illustrated.

Book Blurb

This “Gem of a Tale” about a Monarch Butterfly teaches kids lessons in friendship, patience and persistence as AMAZING MATILDA transforms from egg to caterpillar to butterfly. (Age 5-11).

Love Monarch Butterflies?

BEYOND THE   BOOK—find resources at your finger tips: Have fun and learn even more about Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ monarch butterflies by downloading Bette’s FREE Click here: FUN & LEARNING with Monarch Butterflies PDF where you’ll find:

  • Monarch Facts
  • Coloring Pages
  • Crafts
  • Gardening
  • Video: How to Make an Origami Butterfly
  • Butterfly Teacher Guide and so much more…
  • FIND OUT how you can help protect our Amazing Monarchs

Talking Books with the kids

Download Bette’s #FREE AMAZING MATILDA FINGER PUPPETS and “Get talking about books with the kids” CLICK HERE https://4writersandreaders.com/amazing-matilda-finger-puppets-free-download/

 Find out more about Maine author/illustrator Bette A. Stevens and her books:

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Written

on 04/28/2017

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