Squint

SQUINT

by Chad Morris and Shelly Brown

(the authors of Mustaches for Maddie)

My name is Flint, but everyone in middle school calls me Squint because I'm losing my vision. I used to play football, but not anymore. I haven't had a friend in a long time. Thankfully, real friends can see the real you, even when you can't clearly see.

Flint loves to draw. In fact, he's furiously trying to finish his comic book so he can be the youngest winner of the ''Find a Comic Star'' contest. He's also rushing to finish because he has keratoconus--an eye disease that could eventually make him blind.

McKell is the new girl at school and immediately hangs with the popular kids. Except McKell's not a fan of the way her friends treat this boy named Squint. He seems nice and really talented. He draws awesome pictures of superheroes. McKell wants to get to know him, but is it worth the risk? What if her friends catch her hanging with the kid who squints all the time?

McKell has a hidden talent of her own but doesn't share it for fear of being judged. Her terminally ill brother, Danny, challenges McKell to share her love of poetry and songwriting. Flint seems like someone she could trust. Someone who would never laugh at her. Someone who is as good and brave as the superhero in Flint's comic book named Squint.

Squint is the inspiring story of two new friends dealing with their own challenges, who learn to trust each other, believe in themselves, and begin to truly see what matters most.

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This book is FANTASTIC!

You will learn some comic book rules, middle school rules, and  Grandma and Grandpa rules. PLUS if you join in the "Danny's Challenges" you will become a happier/better person.

LOVED IT! This is a MUST-READ for the whole family!

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Mustaches for Maddie

A review copy was provided
Audiobook is free with Bookshelf Plus

MUSTACHES FOR MADDIE

by Chad Morris and Shelly Brown

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Maddie has been my hero for a few years now-- I met her dad, author Chad Morris, at the time all of this was happening. I was, and continue to be, impressed with Maddie's ability to find happiness through the use of mustaches. As soon as I saw this book I knew I wanted to read it as it tells her story. You will fall in love with Maddie and want to wear a mustache to make her smile. So well told by Maddie's mom and dad, you will not be able to put it down. This girl will take over your heart. She is amazing! LOVED. LOVED. LOVED. IT!

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Maddie is a normal twelve-year-old girl. Well, except for the fake mustaches she carries in her pocket. She likes to make people laugh and slapping on a mustache, especially a fuzzy pink or neon green one, always gets a smile. Maddie hopes that the class queen, Cassie, will find her mustaches as funny as she does and want to play with her at recess. She's been self-conscious lately because her right arm only feels normal when it's curled against her chest and she's constantly tripping over her feet. But that's probably just part of growing up and not something weird, right?

When Maddie's arm continues to bother her, her parents take her to a doctor who gives them a shocking diagnosis: the cause of the abnormal behavior of her limbs is a brain tumor and she must have surgery to remove it. She's understandably afraid as he describes the procedure, but knows she must find a way to be brave and must face her fears--all of them--at the hospital, at home and at school.

She will need all of her courage not only to face her illness, but also to face Cassie at school. Both Cassie and Maddie are auditioning for the same role in the school play, but when Cassie accuses Maddie of lying about her tumor in order to get attention, Cassie's bossiness turns into bullying.

And as Maddie's surgery approaches, she begins to worry more and more about the outcome. What if something goes wrong? What if the doctors don't get all the tumor out of her brain? What will happen to her family? What will happen to her?

It will take all of Maddie's vibrant imagination, a lot of kindness-both given and received-and of course, the perfect mustache to overcome the tough stuff ahead of her.

* Here are some fun mustache pictures that were taken in hopes of giving Maddie a little laughter and joy--

 

Audiobook is free with Bookshelf Plus
Links will help you find it on 
BookshelfPlus - Amazon - Goodreads

Cragbridge Hall: The Impossible Race

A review copy was provided

CRAGBRIDGE HALL: 
THE IMPOSSIBLE RACE
by Chad Morris
Published by Shadow Mountain

Abby and Derick and their close friends have had to guard many secrets of their grandfather's inventions.

They have also had great fun... and a few hardships at their school, Cragbridge Hall.

Now it is time for the annual race...

A race that will take them through some pretty amazing challenges...

And this year's prize is a "carefully guarded school secret."

Could it be another one of grandfather's secrets?

Could it be safe to have just anyone get a hold of that secret?

Abby and Derick know that this could mean big disaster...

So they gather up a team and enter the tournament.

When Derick gets a message from the future telling him the outcome nerves get frayed.

They will be called upon to use all their skills with avatars, and virtual reality.

They will have to use their minds as well as their strength.

They will have to travel in time and space...

But most important of all...

They will have to work together to see this through to the end.

Is the future really set or could their choices change their destiny?

Amazing creativity!

Fantastic writing!

LOVED this series!
A GREAT book for the whole family!

GET IT HERE | ADD TO GOODREADS

About the Author

Chad Morris would love to be able to control animal avatars, see history in 3D, and show everyone how he imagines stories. Since the inventions that would make that possible currently exist only in his imagination, he settles for reading, writing, playing basketball, rappelling down an occasional slot canyon, dating his wife, and hanging out with his five awesome kids. Chad speaks Portuguese, can play the Phineas and Ferb theme song on the guitar, and does decent impressions of a velociraptor and Voldemort—but not at the same time. He isn't very good at fixing his car, shopping for anything, cooking, or growing hair.

Cragbridge Hall: The Avatar Battle w/ Book Giveaway

Book Details
Author: Chad Morris
Release Date: March 2014
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Genre: Middle Sci-Fi

This series is so WONDERFULLY WONDERFUL!

Fast-paced action! Intriguing inventions! Friendships! Courage! It's all in there!

Abby, Derick, Carol, and Rafa are attending the most amazing school in the whole world!

They get to first-hand witness history by traveling back in time.

But this is not just a history lesson...this is a full-out fight to protect history...even if it means bad things must repeat themselves.

There are only a few members of the elite Council of Keys and now someone is attacking them and taking their keys to gain control of 'the bridge' between our time and the past.

Abby and Derick are caught up in the power struggles of adults while trying to maintain their school grades..not an easy feat...

They will be given tests of 'choice and consequence' and will be asked to do hard things.

But Abby and Derick are not ordinary teenagers...they are the grandchildren of the inventor and designer of 'Cragbridge Hall.'

And Derick and Rafa as skilled with the avatars! (Wait until you read how those come into play :)

SO. SO. SO. GOOD!
A GREAT read!
Keeping your interest and leaving you wanting even more!

Shadow Mountain has graciously offered a

BOOK GIVEAWAY for MY followers :)

(US address only please)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

| Deseret Book | Amazon | Book Depository |

About the Author

Chad Morris would love to be able to control animal avatars, see history in 3D, and show everyone how he imagines stories. Since the inventions that would make that possible currently exist only in his imagination, he settles for reading, writing, playing basketball, rappelling down an occasional slot canyon, dating his wife, and hanging out with his five awesome kids.

Chad speaks Portuguese, can play the Phineas and Ferb theme song on the guitar, and does a decent impressions of a velociraptor and Voldemort--but not at the same time. He isn't very good at fixing his car, shopping for anything, cooking, or growing hair.

For those who have been following Chad Morris, you will remember that last year when he should have been celebrating the coming of his first book Chargbridge Hall: The Inventors Secret, he was at the hospital with his nine-year-old daughter who was fighting a brain tumor.

At the time his daughter requested mustache pictures to help her laugh and feel better...pictures poured in and many people came to the aid of Chad and helped push his book forward.

Chad reports that is daughter is doing well...

thanks to everyone involved!

(A review copy was provided, however, all reviews are of my own opinion :)

Cragbridge Hall: The Inventor's Secret

Book Details:
Author: Chad Morris
Release Date: March 2013
Publisher:  Shadow Mountain
Genre: Middle Reader Sci-Fi

Book Description:
Imagine a school in the year 2074 where students don't read history, but watch it happen around them; where running in gym class isn't around a track, but up a virtual mountain; and where learning about animals means becoming one through an avatar.

Welcome to Cragbridge Hall, the most advanced and prestigious school in the world.

Twins Abby and Derick Cragbridge are excited as new students to use their famed grandfather's inventions that make Cragbridge Hall so incredible. But when their grandfather and parents go missing, the twins must follow a mysterious trail of clues left by their grandfather. They must find out where their family is, learn who they can trust, and discover what secrets are hidden within Cragbridge Hall.

Abby and Derick soon realize they are caught in a race with a fierce adversary to discover their grandfather's greatest secret — a dangerous discovery that could alter both history and reality.

My Review:
I REALLY REALLY LOVED this book!
Fun, creative storyline told so well you will stay up way past your bedtime reading it!

I LOVED all the inventions:
History class: you "watch" what really happened.
English: a student sits in a 'chair' and while reading the other students 'see' the story.
Gym: you get to literally run up a virtual mountain.
Zoology: you become an avatar of the animal you are studying.

And the challenges Abby and Derrick have to go through to save their parents and grandfather...just wait until you read all about that...SO GOOD!

I REALLY HOPE they make a movie out of this book :)

Amazon * Deseret Book * GoodReads

About the Author:
Chad Morris grew up wanting to become a professional basketball player or a rock star. (Inspired by Animal from the Muppets, he’s been banging on drums since he was eight years old.) After high school, he wrote and performed sketch comedy while going to college, and eventually he became a teacher and a curriculum writer. He lives in Utah with his wife and five kids.

Chad would love to teach to Cragbridge Hall. Unlike Oscar Cragbridge, however, he wasn’t really invented anything, though his son once sketched out blueprints for a machine that would turn celery into cookies.

(A review copy of this title was provided by the publisher for this review. However, all reviews are of my own opinion :)