Contest Win Book Haul!

 

As a reviewer, I try to make sure I get my reviews on book store websites, primarily Indigo Books as I'm in Canada. Periodically, Indigo runs contests where if you review books within a certain time frame, your name gets put in a pot and you have a chance to be randomly picked.

Well, for the December Contest, I was a random winner! This meant a $500 Gift Card to Indigo!

As I'm not reading for myself nearly as much as I used to, I took this opportunity to allow the kids to go on a shopping spree!

Munchie, who is 5, had a plan and knew what she was looking for: Food Group books. She already has The Bad Seed, The Good Egg, and The Good, The Bad, and The Spooky. 

This trip she grabbed:

She walked right past the Gabby's Dollhouse book on the bottom shelf, once I showed it to her it was a must have.

Biggie, who is 2, was much more about pointing at books he liked, flipping through them, then putting them back. That was until he found:

As a kid who has 3 Grandmas who he adores, this tracks.

ABC Black History & Me (Numbers and letters are everything he wants, he saw this one from the end of the aisle and started hollering about ABC!!!! Until we let him have it. The diversity angle is excellent and I hope to go through it with both kids.

Way too advanced for him reading wise, but lots of dinosaur pictures which is really why he wanted it.

Aka the Pickle book! Biggie is obsessed with pickles, not eating, just talking about them. This one is an instant fav.

I grabbed Just One More Story, which I reviewed the ARC of with Munchie earlier on the blog. I look forward to this becoming a family cuddle book.

We also grabbed a couple of board books for their little cousin:

A favourite in our house

 

Picked specifically by Munchie as she thought her cousin would love petting the chick.

Hubby grabbed:

which will allow him to catch up on that series as we've been able to get the galley for the Sub-Majer's Challenge, and he's looking forward to reading through that.

I, am still considering how I would like to spend my riches. After our haul, we still have nearly $200 on the gift card. I have a couple books I'm eyeing coming out in the fall, but for now we'll just see where our current library takes us. 

Jessie Facts: LibriVox

 

A number of books that I list and have reviews for come from the website LibriVox.org. This is a website made up entirely of volunteers who work diligently to put out free audiobooks of works in the public domain.

Starting up in August of 2005, Hugh McGuire began a mission to see all Public Domain works offered in audio format, for free, to the world. With a massive community of volunteers and over 20,000 works currently available in their library, LibriVox is well on their way to seeing it done.

I first became aware of LibriVox through Brenda Dayne's knitting podcast Cast On in 2008. Hearing her own recordings and the joy she had working with the site, I decided to sign up and give it a go. After a couple of years, my life had become rather busy and other things took more of my time.

In 2013, something reminded me of the site and I returned. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember my login information, and my account was connected to my college email that no longer existed, so I had to start anew. This time I lasted until 2017 when a family tragedy took priority. 

In August of 2024 I made my triumphant return, now a mother, but with a job that didn't require much phone time and allowed listening to music and audiobooks. Rather than record chapters or roles, I now take the role of Book Coordinator and Proof Listener, helping with the organization and completion of projects on the quiet side of things. 

In October of 2024 I restarted the LibriVox Community Podcast on a monthly schedule, allowing me to get a bit of recording done, and updating the community on news and happenings.

So far in 2025 I've maintained the Podcast schedule, and have 36 active projects that I'm working on:

1 Solo Project that I am recording.

24 Projects that I am Dedicated Proof Listener for.

8 Projects that I am coordinating.

My list of future projects is a mile long, and I've had to put a strict boundary on myself because I'm basically at my limit for how many projects I can handle.

If you are someone who enjoys voice acting, loves books, or is just interested in seeing more public domain books available free in audio format, definitely check out the LibriVox Community.