Saturday, August 16, 2014

Wonderland Weekends Intro + Giveaway

I am so excited to introduce Wonderland Weekends on Wonderous Reviews today! What is Wonderland Weekends? Well, it's something that has been forming in my mind for a while now, and I've finally decided to start it this week! This something is a post that I'm going to start doing every Weekend (Saturday) where I talk about something bookish that has something unique about it that takes us to "another world" while we're reading. It may be a book that takes place in a new world, a unique country, outer-space, has magic, time travel, etc. or a book world trend, something I see a lot of, something I want to see (or see more of), basically whatever I feel like!

I want this to be fun and creative! It would be awesome if you would join in the fun and spread the wordIf you would like to participate, please feel free to write a post anytime during the week (it can be long or a couple sentences, feature a book or just talk about the topic, whatever), link back to this post, and leave your link here - I would love that
Thanks to Jennifer Hartz there are also two giveaways - both books that will take you to a whole new world - taking place with a total of six winners!

The picture above is temporary, I'm thinking about changing it. What do you think?

This Weekends Topic - Books Take Us To Another World

One of my favorite things about reading is that books can take us to another place. Why does that appeal so much to us as readers (or people in general)? Well for one thing, it lets us do things and go places that we would never be able to go if it wasn't for that book, catering to our adventurous spirit! Sure there is always the possibility that we may get to take a plane to another country, but we could never take a plane to another universe! That's what reading does, especially when we are reading about a made up world - it's a flight to another universe. It's a way to experience feelings and actions without the fatal peril that characters sometimes face! 
Creating a unique place takes a lot of creativity, imagination, and skill. The readers have to truly feel like they are in this place that the author imagined and wrote about. To achieve giving readers this feeling, authors have to describe the setting in just the right way - showing not telling the reader. Interesting and relateable characters must be created, as well as problems and solutions. We wouldn't go very far through a book without any of these things!
But, a book doesn't have to take us to a made up world to take us to "another world." Reading a contemporary book that takes place in the same state or country you live in can also take you to another world! How? Take, for example, two best friends. One is a pure country girl and one is a rich superstar. They have two very different lifestyles. It's like they live in two separate worlds! Just like when we read a contemporary book that takes place in a normal highschool, we still go to a "whole new world," because we are seeing things from a different perspective. Through the eyes of a character (or new book friend). We are transported to the characters life, experiencing their experiences, and go for an adventure, if only for a little bit!
Reading lets us escape. 
Having a bad day? Just want to relax? Need a vacation? Or curious about another country? Just read a book! It will help you forget or even help you solve your problems, help you chillax (chill and relax, I kind of made it up) and show you something new!
Before I was like but now, I'm like 

They make us feel.
One single book can make us feel so many emotions. From love to anger to laughter they make us feel it all! Like I've said before, I'm a very emotional reader, so I cry and laugh while reading, smirk, smile, raise a single eyebrow, etc., in the most inconvenient places!

They teach us and make a difference in our lives.
We can learn so much through books, from little things to important life lessons! It's amazing how we can learn something from a book that, normally, we would have learned the hard way. You can learn through others experiences and mistakes, their wise words, the moral of the story, the hidden message written between the lines. They make a true difference in our lives. One beautifully written meaningful sentence written by one author can impact a single person for rest of their life. How amazing is that?
We can go back in time, dance with handsome princes, discover mythical creatures, do magic spells, save a kingdom, meet new people, go all over the world, learn, and so much more, all from reading one single book! 
There are SO many ways that books can take us to "another world," but I can't talk about them ALL in this one post. It's your turn! You tell us something about how books take us to another world. And, don't forget to join me next week for another Wonderland Weekend!

Also, feel free to tell me your honest opinion of this new feature in the comments below! Hate it? Like it? Suggestions on how to make it better? Maybe you even want to suggest a topic!

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