A writer inspired by nature and human nature

THE #RRBC B2S BOOK & BLOG BLOCK PARTY IS HERE!

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Come join us… ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author http://www.4writersandreaders.com

RaveReviewsbyNJ's avatarRWISA: RAVE WRITERS - INT'L SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

Blog Party 1

We’re coming to you from all over the world!

There will be 2 winners here today!

(1) $10 Amazon gift card!

(1) RWISA Swag gift pack!

To get your name in the drawing, please leave a comment below.  That’s it!  Easy-schmeasy!

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I invite you to take a stroll thru RWISA Island and check out some of the showcases of these talented authors!  To get to those showcases, start here. Then, if you feel that your work is RWISA-ready, we invite you to join us!  Be sure to read our RWISA Pledge first!

And now…

the longer version with a lot more awesome-sauce!

There’s another stop along the tour today, and we ask that you drop by to support it, and all the ones you’ve missed! Here’s the line-up!

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Oh, and one more thing, would you please #Follow our blog and our handle on…

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Books, Rave Reviews Book Club, Recommended Reads, Virtual Book Tours, YouTube Video

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Write a Limerick!

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SPIDER Limerick 3 BAS 2016

 Write a limerick?

Why not! I thought it would be fun to share a limerick this week and invite you to write one too. Mine is about me and a spider.

When teaching (grades 4-8), I found that starting a new school year by writing poems and sharing them was an exciting way get students hooked on writing. I must admit it—limericks are so much fun! In the classroom we learn about using some of the tools in our writer’s tool box—tools like assonance (repeating vowel sounds) and consonance (repeating consonant sounds) to create a musical message. And of course, we had Scholastic rhyming dictionaries and thesauruses close at hand. It’s always exciting to discover alternative words (synonyms) that have just the right sounds and syllables to perfect our poems.

Whether you’re a teacher, a parent or simply want to share the love of reading and writing, get the kids together and give it a try. Read on to discover what inspired me to write my spider limerick and have lots of fun writing and reading with the kids!

Click the link to find out all about it How to Write a Limerick http://www.poetry4kids.com/blog/lessons/how-to-write-a-limerick/

More about Bette’s Spider Limerick

Before I wrote this limerick, I had been watching several spiders weave their webs on the outside screens of our back porch all during the spring and summer. Spiders are fascinating creatures to watch from a safe distance. But, up close and personal they frighten me. The photo for the limerick was taken by me (safely inside the screen). Nature and my own human nature inspired me to write this one:

There once was a tall timid writer
Who spotted an intrepid spider
She jumped up and screamed
Then she suddenly beamed
“Why, I’ll write a fine book about spiders!”

~ Bette A. Stevens

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Written

on 08/13/2016

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5 Reasons Why You Should Read to Your Kids

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Featured Image -- 6510It’s never too late to share the gift of reading. You’ll be glad you did! ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator http://www.4writersandreaders.com

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on 08/08/2016

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SENSATIONAL SUMMER: A Monarch Butterfly Poem by Bette A. Stevens

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Illustrations for Sensational Summer are from Bette's award-winning children's picure book, AMAZING MATILDA.

Illustrations for the poem “Sensational Summer” are from Bette’s award-winning children’s picture book, AMAZING MATILDA.

Much like a Monarch butterfly, the summer is quickly flying past us here at The Farmstead in Central Maine. In fact, it won’t be long before these amazing butterflies begin their great southern migration to Mexico, where they’ll aggregate (cluster in dense tree cover) to keep warm, enabling this generation of monarchs to winter over before they mate and begin the next generation’s migration north for the 2017 season.  Matilda (a Monarch butterfly and the main character in my picture book AMAZING MATILDA) and I wish you and yours a sensational summer! ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator 

We invite you to take a look inside AMAZING MATILDA, A Monarch’s Tale and check out other books by Bette A. Stevens

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Written

on 07/31/2016

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We are verbs ~

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ENJOY! I am writing, singing, loving, living… ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator http://www.4writersandreaders.com

Maverick ~'s avatarMaverick Mist

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“Oscar Wilde said that if you know what you want to be, then you inevitably become it – that is your punishment, but if you never know, then you can be anything. There is a truth to that. We are not nouns, we are verbs. I am not a thing – an actor, a writer – I am a person who does things – I write, I act – and I never know what I am going to do next. I think you can be imprisoned if you think of yourself as a noun.” ― Stephen Fry

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on 07/25/2016

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Meet #RRBC author Micki Peluso

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And the Whippoorwill SangMicki Peluso’s unique sense of humor sparkles like a fine gem even as she shares her journey through the tragic loss of her daughter in “And the Whippoorwill Sang,” https://www.amazon.com/Whippoorwill-Sang-Micki-Peluso-ebook/ a must-read memoir. ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author http://www.4writersandreaders.com

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on 07/15/2016

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THE WHISPERER by Pamela Zagarenski

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Inspiring children’s book review. A must-have for the bookshelf of this reader. Inspiring kids, one story at a time… ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator http://www.4writersandreaders.com

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on 07/11/2016

25 Interesting Facts about American Literature

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Featured Image -- 6474American Literature, Books, Classics, English Literature, Facts, Famous Authors, Literature, Writers. ENJOY! ~ Bette A. Stevens 4writersandreaders.com

InterestingLiterature's avatarInteresting Literature

Interesting trivia about American writers and their work

As it’s Independence Day, how about some facts about the great and the good from American literature, from Edgar Allan Poe to Toni Morrison? What follows is a compilation of our 25 favourite facts about American authors and their writing.

Edgar Allan Poe’s prose-poem Eureka predicts the Big Bang theory by some eighty years.

Marlon Brando was a huge fan of Toni Morrison; he would often call her up and read passages of her own novels which he particularly enjoyed.

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on 07/04/2016

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Milkweed – It’s Not Just for Monarchs

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GOT MILKWEED? Monarch butterflies and other amazing pollinators need it and we need them! ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator http://www.4writersandreaders.com

Mary Anne Borge's avatarThe Natural Web

One of the most well knownassociations between an animal and plant species is the relationship between Monarch butterflies and Milkweed. Monarch butterflies may certainly be seen nectaringat various species of milkweeds…

Monarch nectaring on Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) Monarch nectaringon Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

Monarch nectaring on Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa) Monarch nectaringon Butterflyweed(Asclepias tuberosa)

Monarch nectaring on Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) Monarch nectaringon Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)

but this isn’t unique – they also drink at a wide variety of other flower species.

Monarch nectaring on New York Ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis) Monarch nectaringon New York Ironweed(Vernonianoveboracensis)

It’s the dependency that Monarchs have on Milkweedsas the only food source for their caterpillars that makes this relationship so noteworthy. Monarchs, like many species of insects, have evolved to specialize in their larval (in this case caterpillar) food source in order togain protection from predators through the chemicals they ingest from the plants they eat. Milkweedscontain cardiac glycosides, which are toxic to many species of birds and mammals. Plants have evolved these chemicals to protect themselves from being eaten, a strategy…

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on 07/02/2016

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1183. A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives. ~Jackie Robinson

06 25 16

Kindness counts and compassion is a beautiful thing… ~ Bette A. Stevens http://www.4writersandreaders.com

nataliescarberry's avatarSacred Touches

The purpose of life is not to be happy.
It is to be useful, to be honorable,
to be compassionate,
to have it make some difference
that 
you have lived and lived well.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 1 Peter 4:10  ✝

**Image found on Pinterest; text added by Natalie

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Inspirational, Poetry, Quotes, Scripture

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