About
Mrs. D. (Olga D’Agostino), award-winnig children's author, grew up in western Ukraine as the daughter of a forest ranger. Inspired by the beauty of nature, she loved to write stories and poems in her native language and dreamed of becoming a writer. She finished Lviv business college and in 1992 immigrated to the United States with her two small daughters. In 2011 she started to pursue her childhood dreams, among them writing books for children. She is a member of SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators), speaks several languages fluently, and loves reading, writing, gardening, and traveling. She lives in Smithville, New Jersey, with her husband, Patrick, and an adventurous cat named Nyda. Her books are available in print on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and as e-books for most popular e-devices. For updates on Mrs. D.’s books, please visit her websites: www.mrsdbooks.net
Description
<p>A mythical jewel of a story… A true story told on a beach in Yucatan, A Shadow tells Stephanie's story but it was also the story of the golden time. Its nostalgia sings like cicadas in the heat.</p><p>An American ‘Under Milkwood’, this distilled novel of the Sixties evokes the sounds, music and optimism on the free-wheelin streets and parks of Coconut Grove. You can hear Bob Dylan still strumming acoustic; smoke a joint with Fred Neil; and Everybody’s Talkin is carried on the wind.</p><p>Stephanie, a young hairdresser living in lodgings finds herself pregnant. Refused help from her hard Catholic mother in New York, unable to abort her baby, she accepts the kindness of Miriam, her Jewish landlady, whose own barren life spills into compassionate assistance for the daughter she never had.</p><p>The poignancy of its ending, its generosity and acceptance, echoes the bitter disappointment of those of us who hoped for so much more, but who remember its joy, and its promise, as though untarnished by time.</p>
Story Behind The Book
It has been some thrilling ride since I introduced Carlo the mouse to the world. As my grandpa would say, “Every vegetable has its time.” So does this story. It must find its readers, some of them far away from Florida and some of them next to my home. And as my young fan, Sergei from Moscow, wrote in his story, may the story of Carlo the mouse never end.
Reviews
<p><span style="color:rgb(15,17,17);font-family:'Amazon Ember', Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);">Readers' Favorite Review: </span><span style="color:rgb(15,17,17);font-family:'Amazon Ember', Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);">Mrs. D. has once again teamed up with an excellent artist to illustrate Carlo the Mouse, Book 2: Now We're Talking! The colorful graphics, exaggerated facial expressions, and attention to detail perfectly complement the text, and will be certain to hold your little one's attention, whether you are reading the story to them or they are reading it themselves. As with all her previous stories, she has seamlessly merged an engaging tale with beautiful graphics, and the result is ideally suited to young readers and pre-readers. Mrs. D. promises several more episodes in Carlo's story, so your youngsters will be able to follow Carlo's upcoming adventures as they continue to advance their own reading skills. I heartily recommend inviting Carlo the Mouse into your children's library.</span></p>
