Author Spotlight: Deborah Baldwin

Today’s Author Spotlight is on Deborah Baldwin, one of our incredibly talented host authors for the Kindle Fire 7 & $100 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway! By leaving a comment on this post, you will receive 1 Bonus Entry. You must enter the Giveaway to receive your 1 Bonus Entry. Enter Giveaway Here

Deborah Baldwin is an author, drama teacher, and director, and one of the wildcard authors who’ve chosen to support the Kindle Fire Giveaway!

Deborah’s children’s book “Bumbling Bea,” which is included on the winner’s Kindle, has been a finalist in the Writing Shelf book award contest and won a Purple Dragonfly Award for Excellence in publishing and writing.

Here’s a look at the blurb:

Beatrice thinks she has no acting talent but that doesn’t stop her from auditioning for the annual middle school play. Easy! Except Michiko, a new girl from Japan, shows up and ruins everything! So begins Beatrice’s diabolical and hilarious plan to scare away Michiko. But Michiko has goals of her own with no plans to leave soon. Then there’s that other girl who is such a blabbermouth. What’s a girl to do? Plenty. A great book for those who love theater and every part of it–the good, the bad and the crazy.

My Review:

Content: 5 Stars
Tone: 5 Stars
Prose: 5 Stars

Total: 5 Stars

“Bumbling Bea” is suitable for early tweens, perhaps around 8th grade. It’s an adorable story. I was glad that I had a chance to review a children’s book, especially one based off of Deborah’s experiences from Japan. I love that after visiting a Kabuki Theatre in Japan, Deborah found a springboard for “Bumbling Bea.” As many of you may know, I work for a Japanese company and have traveled to Japan three times. It’s a beautiful country and I can easily understand how someone would be inspired by one of the thousand facets of Japanese Culture.

“Bumbling Bea” has the right “voice” for a children’s book. It doesn’t shy away from challenging vocabulary and has situations that I believe 12~13-year-old’s could relate to and enjoy. I do think the cover makes this book seem younger than it is, but I was happily surprised by the content inside. I’m an avid reader of YA, so this isn’t such a leap for me, just a bit younger. There are “coming-of-age” struggles everyone goes through at that age, and “Bumbling Bea” does a great job showing us a day in the life of Bea and offers great morals for growing youngsters.

I highly recommend “Bumbling Bea” for anyone who has tween avid-readers!