Signing event of "The Legend of Honey Hollow" tomorrow with Eco-Libris stickers!

What are you doing this Saturday? if you're anywhere around Stamford in Connecticut, we have a great recommendation for you:

Come meet children's book author Jeanne McNaney as she introduces her new book "The Legend of Honey Hollow" at Borders bookstore on 1041 High Road, Stamford CT between 2-4 in the afternoon.

It should be a great event that will include singing, book signing and you'll even meet some of the characters. Want more? well, you got it - Jeanne McNaney has partnered with Eco-Libris and will plant a tree for every book sold on this event! Buyers of here book will get not only her autograph on their copy, but also our sticker (made of recycled paper), saying: "One tree planted for this book".

Here are some more details on this fun and exciting adventure book:

Title: The Legend of Honey Hollow

Description: Honey Hollow is not a place known to humans, but it is well-known to the bears of the world. Bears travel to this beautiful forest sanctuary to escape habitat destruction and global warming. The magical paradise has now been discovered by man. When the trees are cut down by developers, can the bears and the children of the loggers join together to save Honey Hollow for the future?

Author: Jeanne McNaney

Jeanne McNaney lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, with her husband, Joseph, and their three children. In addition to her passion for raising awareness about the environment and the plight of endangered species, she is dedicated to causes that enhance the lives of children and their families throughout the world.

Ilustrator: David Cochard

David Cochard has been a freelance illustrator since 1996. He currently resides in Argentina with his wife, Sandrine, where he runs his own illustration company, Ilustra World, and pursues his other passions-traveling and studying science and ecology.

Publisher: Ovation Books/Joey Publishing

Published on: January 2009

Reading level: ages 4-8

Book's website: http://www.honeyhollowbears.com/

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

The Garden Gate Shop is celebrating the sale of the 1000th Eco-Libris sticker!

We reported couple of times in the past about the Garden Gate Shop in the Missouri Botanical Garden (check here and here), which is taking part in our bookstores program.

The store's wonderful staff has been extremely creative and effective in finding ways to promote our partnership. And now they're celebrating an important milestone: The sale of the 1000th Eco-Libris sticker!

The 1000th sticker was sold yesterday by Sheena (in the photo above), who is also holding the store's all time record - she sold 503 stickers!

We would like to thank Sheena and the rest of the Garden Gate Shop's great staff for their wonderful work, their dedication and commitment to supporting the environment!

And of course, we invite you all to visit this beautiful botanical garden (it's the nation's oldest botanical garden) and the shop. The Garden Gate Shop is a great place to find plants, garden accessories, home furnishings, merchandise... and books on related subjects.

The Missouri Botanical Garden is conveniently located off I-44, and is easily accessible from the major highways in the area.4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63110. Automated events hotline: (314) 577-9400, 1-800-642-8842.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

The Kindle 2 week - part 5: Did you kindle today?

Has anyone asked you already "Do you kindle?". If not, it's just a matter of time. Yes, Kindle has become officially and unofficially a verb.

Emilia Vitalle reports about this phenomenon at RushPRnews ("It’s A Verb Already! — Do you Kindle? Are you Kindling?"). It looks like Kindle is receiving the same status of other corporate name that has been turned into a popular verb, such as FedEx or Google and in a relatively short time.

So where do you find the sort of official approval of Kindle as a verb? Well, according to the article, The Urban Dictionary in California has accepted “kindle” as a verb, with the following definition: “Kindle: To read a book or a newspaper on a Kindle e-reading device.”

Want some examples how it is used in a sentence? Emilia Vitalle is giving few great examples, from a simple one - “I’m kindling now, I will call you back in ten minutes.” to the more sophisticated “My book was out of print for a long time, but a new publisher reprinted it and put it on the Kindle book list and you could say my book has been rekindled. I love it!”.

Great Article, and I warmly recommend to read or kindle it.

What we had on Kindle 2 week so far:

Part 4 - Authors Guild and the read-aloud feature

Part 3 - How much money it will make?

Part 2 - Bezos on the Daily Show

Part 1 - David Pouge and the final battle

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

Eco-Libris on the cover of Awareness Magazine

We're happy to update you that we're on the cover of the March/April issue of Awareness Magazine!

Awareness Magazine is a bi-monthly holistic magazine devoted to improving your life and the life of the planet. It covers such issues as Alternative Health Treatments, Natural Health Products, Fitness & Personal Growth, Spirituality, the Environment, and much more!

Awareness Magazine is currently printing 70,000+ magazines . . . and still growing.They currently have 875 select distribution stops in Santa Barbara, Ventura, Ojai, Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Diego County, Riverside, Phoenix, Sedona, Albuquerque, Taos, Santa Fe and Hawaii.

Their vision is simple — to make our planet a better place in which to live. This is their 6^th year of service. Very impressive! We're proud to be on the cover just next to Ed Begley Jr., whom we admire very much.

The cover story on Eco-Libris includes an interview with me and we invite you to check it out.

There's also an interview with Begley Jr. along with the follwowing articles: Grass-fed Beef, Environmental Soulutions, Bioregional Response, Tapping into Mother Earth during Troubling Times, Environmental LifeQuakes, The Global Energy Crisis, Fearless Love for Inner and Outer Peace in A Changing World, Blue Star Prophecy Fulfilled, World Premier: 2012 Quantum Leap, Alchemy and Creating Your Heaven on Earth, A Ray of Hope in the Rainforest, Interview with Lorrie Otto, and more. You will also enjoy additional articles, columns and reviews by your favorite Awareness writers: Allen and Linda Anderson, Jim Brenholts, Lisa Cherney, Jesse Anson Dawn, Kathy DeSantis, KRS Edstrom, Audrey Hope, Jenny T. Liu, Revs. Sandy & Kirk Moore, Janice Nearing, Ann Nelson, Dr. Scott & Shannon Peck, Robert Ross, Sonia von Matt Stoddard, Alex Strande, Ph.D., Donna Strong, Dr. Juliet Tien, D.N., Kay Walburger, and Lyda Whiting.

The article on Eco-Libris can be found at http://www.awarenessmag.com/marapr09/ma09_eco_libris.htm

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

The Kindle 2 week - part 4: the Authors Guild and the read-aloud feature

One interesting feature of Amazon's Kindle 2 is its text to speech function, or in other words Kindle 2 can read books aloud. This has also become an issue of dispute between Amazon and the Authors Guild.

Roy Blount Jr., the President of the Authors Guild explained in a column on the New York Times ("The Kindle Swindle?") that the Guild has a problem with the fact that although Amazon is paying royalties to the authors and publishers for the ebooks sold through the Kindle 2, it is not paying anyone for audio rights. The Guild said Amazon doesn't have the right to essentially turn e-books into audio books.

Blount Jr. explained that "What the guild is asserting is that authors have a right to a fair share of the value that audio adds to Kindle 2’s version of books."

Even though the function is actually based on a robotic voice reading the books and not professional readers like we usually have on audio books, it looks like Amazon decided not to fight the Guild ant to look for a compromise.

And it found one. The LA Times reported on February 28 that "Amazon lets publishers and writers disable Kindle 2's read-aloud feature".

Amazon, according to the article, said "it had already begun to alter its systems to give publishers and authors the choice to disable the text-to-speech function, and that they could decide for themselves whether it was in their commercial interests to leave it enabled."

We'll have to wait and see now how many authors and publishers will choose to leave it enabled and how many will cancel the option to hear a friendly robotic voice reading their story.

What we had on Kindle 2 week so far:

Part 3 - How much money it will make?

Part 2 - Bezos on the Daily Show

Part 1 - David Pouge and the final battle

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

Monday's green books series: The Adventures of Nick the Ecologist and his Robot O-Zone (and a giveaway!)

Can a story about disappearing trees be both educational and fun? Well, with a robot named O-Zone that is traveling in the galaxy with his friend Nick in a solar powered spacecraft called the Gazoom everything is possible!

Our book for today is:

The Adventures of Nick the Ecologist and his Robot O-Zone: The Mystery of the Missing Trees

Author: Kevin J. Villeneuve

Kevin J. Villeneuve has been writing short stories since the age of 10. His passion for writing short adventure stories led him to the creation of Nick and O-Zone's universe at a very young age. Villeneuve is currently working on the second and third books of the adventure series, where once again, the dynamic duo will fight evil throughout the universe in their ultimate goal to preserve the environment. Villeneuve lives in Ottawa, Canada.

Publisher: iUniverse - Indigo

Published on: October 2007

Reading level: Ages 7-11

What it is about (from Amazon.com):
Nick and his best buddy, O-Zone the Robot, are both junior ecologists learning all about the delicate balance between living things and their environment on Earth. But Nick and O-Zone are also able to explore any galaxy they want through the amazing Gazoom, a solar-powered spaceship invented by Nick’s father.

Nick and O-Zone put their talents to use when they join the Galactic Science Squad, a secret team of astronauts and ecologists working to neutralize interplanetary evil forces. Far across the Universe, trees are suddenly disappearing from Planet Bark at an alarming rate, and Nick and O-Zone have only three days to solve the mystery before all the trees are gone forever. The daring duo must outsmart a group of no-good grown-ups, find the culprits behind the malicious plot, and return safely back to Earth before O-Zone’s power runs out!

Follow the adventurers to the end as they fight an intergalactic battle for the sake of all planets—and the future of children and robots everywhere.

Why you should get it:
1. Somehow I never got connected to adventure stories with robots and other sci-fi characteristics, but O-Zone is a different story. My age is not between 7-11, but I really enjoyed the story and found myself following the adventures of Nick and O-Zone the robot with great interest, not to mention my interest with the subject of the mystery - the disappearance of trees..

2. This book is both educational and entertaining and it's also an adventure with an environmental theme - can you ask for more?

3. The book is filled with great illustrations that complete the text beautifully and helps you for example to envision how a happy robot looks like.

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!!

We are giving away our review copy of the book, and of course a tree will be planted for the copy. It will also come with our sticker (made of recycled paper) saying "One tree planted for this book."

How you can win? please add a comment below with an answer the following question: if you had a robot like O-zone and it could help you with one environmental issue you're having, what would it be? Submissions are accepted until Sunday, March 15, 12PM EST. The winner will be announced the following day.

If you're looking for other interesting green-themed books, you are invited to check out our green books page on our website's green resources section.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

"Green Beginnings" is going green with Eco-Libris

We're happy to announce on a new collaboration with the authors of a very special book: Green Beginnings: The Story of How We Built Our Green & Sustainable Home.

We are very excited about our collaboration with the authors, Avrim and Vicki Topel, as this is not only a combination of a personal story and a green guide, but also a local success story that can help many others who are wondering how they can make their homes greener, but also a local green success story - it takes place in Kennett Square, PA, which is close by to our office in Newark, DE.

This book is following the journey Avrim and Vicki had while building a new green sustainable home from scratch, one that will be eventually awarded the USGBC’s LEED Silver and Energy Star Qualified Home designations in October, 2008.

Eco-Libris will be working with the authors to plant a tree for every sold copy of the book. Also, our sticker "One tree planted for this book" (made of recycled paper) will be provided with every purchase of the book.

Here's a more detailed description of the book from its website:

Understanding just what is behind this new, alternative way of living offers along with the remarkable benefits homeowners who live in such dwellings experience and enjoy is the intent of our efforts to spread the word about green living and change the world one reader at a time. When we began our journey into building a green home we were most fortunate that we had the time to learn and the right professionals to teach us about green building. Indeed, there is much to understand to make the most of one's efforts. In hindsight and upon completing our green home, we identified the most important aspects necessary to understand before one begins a green building project.

Green Beginnings: The Story of How We Built Our Green & Sustainable Home provides homeowners, architects, contractors, and engineers a common understanding of that which they are about to undertake and empowers everyone involved in a project with a common vision and language to work with. Knowledge is power, and with the shared knowledge in our book, homeowners and professionals alike will become empowered to proceed with their green and sustainable homebuilding projects with confidence and clarity.

One of the most difficult and frustrating roadblocks to understanding the concepts behind successful green homebuilding is the written style and nature of the books and publications written about green homebuilding available in the marketplace today, written in technical jargon that is difficult for the average person to understand.

Green Beginnings: The Story of How We Built Our Green & Sustainable Home is intentionally written in non-technical, plain English and targets persons with no previous construction experience. We've crafted a light, enjoyable read; a story, interspersed with lessons, in a day-by-day, step-by-step journal-like format that identifies the personalities of the participants as importantly as the action steps that result in a completed home. The book explains where and why this alternative approach to building originated, and will enlighten you with how the greater good of mankind is rewarded with each and every green and sustainable home completion occurs.

To illustrate precisely what this new construction method actually looks like, the book contains close to 100 professional photos in sequential order showing the construction process from ground-breaking until completion. And a glossary of green and sustainable construction terms and language is included as a quick reference for those terms that could hinder complete understanding of the text. Doing our best to provide the reader with the most valuable information we could come up with, we added a section of our book entitled "Reflections In Hindsight".

This portion of the book revisits our actual experience, and points out a number of areas in our homebuilding experience that we may have done differently had we had the knowledge and experience before hand. It was important to us to share these items with you, as our goal has always been to empower our readers with the most important understandings of each and every item in the entire process.

The book is not the only way Avrim and Vicki are sharing their story and educating people about green homes. They offer 90-minute educational tours of their home (up to 5 persons by appointment only - you can find more details on this web page. And soon they will also offer also offer a documentary video featuring the professional team that designed and built the house and themselves being interviewed as they tour the completed project in retrospect and discuss and review various components and stages of the project in detail.

We will soon have a review of "Green Beginnings", followed with a giveaway of a copy of the book, so stay tuned. You can read more about the book at www.greenbeginningsconsulting.com

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

All photos of the house are from the photos gallery on the books' website.