Escape with me!

Hello my fellow bookworms!

I've been trying to catch up on reading, but it is proving harder to do once confined. So, in order to boost my mood, I am trying other distractions in my time off from working from home. Here are a  few escapist links to try that I think are fun and engaging!

Photo by Gabriela Palai from Pexels

The Escape Game is hosting an online Field Trip escape the museum with the Smithsonian! I found this to be a fun adventure, and it is suitable for children. You are at the Smithsonian museum on a field trip and have lost your class! Navigate through the exhibits, find answers to clues, and figure out where your class is, so you can go back home on the bus!

The Peters Township Library, located in McMurray, Pennsylvania, created a digital Harry Potter escape room! Thank you to Sydney Krawiec, the creator of this fun online experience! :) 

If you are into the reboot of Carmen Sandiego, or are a fan from the old cartoon / game show / computer games, you will probably get a kick out of the Google (partnered with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) game Where on Google Earth is Carmen Sandiego? If you are playing by computer, you must play in Google Chrome, as the game platform is in Google Earth. You can also play via Android or iOS. After following a series of clues, traveling around the world, and learning some history, you can help ACME find Carmen and save the day!

Photo by Element5 Digital from Pexels

Woodwind & Brasswind are hosting daily live streams for musicians. You can take a look at their schedule here, but note that the times posted are EST. You can brush up on your music education or listen in for online concerts!

Photo by Felix Mittermeier from Pexels

Take a look at the night sky with Google and the National Park Service, which has a beautiful view of Bryce Canyon in Utah. See if you can find constellations, learn a bit about the heavens, and when you are done, you can continue exploring four other national parks.

If you are looking for more options for live streams of the Northern Lights, the beach, or wild animals, take a look at Explore.org's live cameras. With contributions from all over the world, you can see the Northern Lights in Canada, wildlife in Africa, bears in Alaska, eagles in Iowa, to puppies, kitties, aquariums, and more!

Photo by Element5 Digital from Pexels

The Young Adult Scavenger Hunt will begin on Tuesday! From Tuesday, March 31st through Sunday, April 5th, you can participate on one or multiple teams of young adult authors, read through their blogs, find out about new books, and enter in to win prizes! This year, all the prizes are digital, so if you win, there is no wait time to read your reward!

Happy escaping, happy reading, and stay healthy! :)

Happy Halloween!

(c) Ylanite Koppens, Pexels

Happy Halloween! Are you in an area where you have snow today? So cold and such odd weather! I remember Halloween always being cold, but I don't ever remember snow! One good thing is the fact that it is weather you can settle down with, read a good book, and drink a good cup of coffee (or tea). :)




I have a few more random book updates for you, which may be of interested if you like to travel:

• There is a Free Little Library in Mize, Mississippi is designed to look like Doctor Who's TARDIS. (How cute!)
• The Book Fairies strike again, this time in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, leaving free books for Banned Books Week - including copies of Harry Potter!
• The New York Public Library has again found an innovative way to have more people read. They have posted classic novels on Instagram for you to read for free. FULL novels. The project is called Insta Novels, makes it super easy to read on the run. You can read to your hearts content, but make sure you have a good internet source - no one likes unnecessary cliffhangers.
• Speaking of New York, although this is part of a fictional universe, if you are a fan of Marvel / Spiderman, take a moment to read The Daily Bugle, now online!
• Flotsam, California has a book vending machine for an elementary school. Students who show acts of kindness and are "caught in the act" are rewarded with special tokens to use for the book vending machine to buy a new book for themselves. We could use more of these around!
• Mark Twain's original signature was found in a cave in Hannibal, Missouri. You can visit the cave made popular by The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and see if you can spot where Sam Clemens signed his name, too.
• For those who love romance, but do not know what to read next, try this Book Finder book search by Smart Bitches. I have to say, it is pretty fun to see what comes up and what you have not read yet. ;) 
• For those who love those online book scavenger hunts, the New Adult Winter Scavenger Hunt will be here soon enough! The game will start again towards the end of December. What is "new adult"? It is the genre of books for the (rough) ages of 18-25, with topics that touch upon more mature topics than your typical young adult books and may contain sex scenes. Think books from authors such as Sarah J. Maas (i.e. A Court of Thorns and Roses).

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I also wanted to share some bonus photos from the graphic novel The Last Amazon, because so much work went into the project, I just want to share it with you, fellow readers! Just as a refresher from my last post, The Last Amazon is an indie graphic novel from Apotheosis Studios by author Jamison Stone, illustrator David Granjo, and supporting artist Carlos Cardona. You can buy a copy on their website here (it's currently on sale!).

The Last Amazon (c) Apotheosis Studios

The Last Amazon (c) Apotheosis Studios

The Last Amazon (c) Apotheosis Studios

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(c) Valeriia Miller, Pexels

I have a couple new books for children to review that look to be great presents for the holiday season. Keep a lookout for more to come!

Stay warm and stay safe today, whether it is trick or treating, going to a party, or just relaxing and watching a scary movie. Until next time!