With parents looking for things to do with their at home children, I decided to provide a free reading of The Velveteen Rabbit with Illustrations.
Author: Bonnie Ferrante
Pirate Smells – Interactive Fun for the Whole Family
Hours of things to do with this book:
- Read the story. Enjoy Pirate’s adventures and the child’s imaginings,
- Before reading the answer, try to guess the source of the smell from the close-up pictures that represent Pirate’s viewpoint.
- Write and draw your answer to the question about Pirate’s last adventure.
- At the back of the book, you will find a list of well-known books, classic and recent. Look for images or words on the cloud-framed pages of this story that remind you of the books listed. Write down the page number of any you find.
- Find 68 gingerbread men.
- Read the books listed. They’re great.
Here’s a video with illustrations.
Food Fun
As you may have noticed, I have been focusing more on making videos and writing than on reviewing books. This is temporary as I am focusing on my creative projects before Parkinson’s makes them impossible. It is becoming a more difficult struggle and so I am feeling a time constraint. However, I am still open to accepting print books for review and will post my review other places as well if so requested. Here is the information you need to submit a book for review.
https://bferrante.wordpress.com/2016/07/09/get-featured-on-my-blog/
Check out my latest endeavor on my YouTube channel. If you haven’t subscribed to my Channel, please do and share it with your friends.
Rhymes and Songs About Food
Traditional rhymes with a new twist using Lego and graphics.
Suitable for ages 3 and up.
Fairy in Waiting by Sophie Kinsella. Illustrated by Marta Kissi. Book Review.
This popular humor writer now has two children’s books. Both feature a girl whose mother is a fairy and father is a mortal. This isn’t your typical fairy story however, as she uses a computerized wand and presents herself as a normal woman most of the time. The husband is reminiscent of the early Bewitched television series. He’s not too crazy about her using magic.
Kinsella uses humor and suspense effectively and engages a young audience from the first page. My almost six year old granddaughter listened eagerly as I read this book to her in four sittings. This early chapter book is supplemented with many pictures.
If you are a traveler to resorts, you’ll chuckle at the scene where two fairy mothers have a wand battle over reserving poolside seats with their towels. There is also a chapter with wacky monkeys that children will love.
All in all, this is a light-hearted romp through modern magic and family dynamics.
Pushball A Game That’s Tasty to Eat! by Thomas Leavey. Illustrated by John Buck. Book review.
I procrastinated reviewing this book for quite some time because I was unsure what to say about it. I read it a few times to my granddaughter and solicited feedback from others.
The storyline is quite peculiar. A duck tries to get a groundhog to play Pushball with a giant ball. The groundhog dislikes the game and wants to eat the ball. The game does not go very well; the groundhog thinks it is too rough. At the end the groundhog eats the entire ball which swells him to four times his natural size.
The story is written in humorous rhyme abcb. Each page has from 1 to 3 quatrains. Here’s an example.
The groundhog was puzzled
And stopped in his tracks.
He said, *that’s what I get (sic)
for playing with quacks!”
There are 42 quatrains in total which seems more than necessary for such a simple story.
The author explains on the last two pages that the moral of the story is “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again.” Then he explains each animal’s secret for success. This felt a little awkward.
However, the other reviews on Amazon are all five stars. But the people I shared this with felt more like I did. My granddaughter thought it was funny and strange but long and wasn’t interested in subsequent readings.
The illustrations are great. Vivid, lively and funny.
I have mixed feelings about this book.
The Gatsby Kids and the Outlaw of Sherwood by Brian Michaud. Book Review.
This is the first book in a series of time traveling adventures. Three Gatsby siblings, the youngest in the 6th grade, are targets of some pretty extreme bullying at school. As a retired teacher, it horrifies me that anything so obvious could be happening but I’m sure it does somewhere. The three kids stick together but seem to be resigned to the horrific treatment they receive from older violent students. However, they show great courage, pluck, and ingenuity when they travel back in time.
The author has come up with a unique way of having a having the kids go back to the 13th century. Here they must rescue Robin Hood before he has joined the merry-men. The story is fairly gentle and without gore. It suits children aged seven and up although some might find the vocabulary bit of a struggle.
The story comes to a conclusion but the school bullying is not resolved. I suspect there will be more time travel and this will help the children overcome the challenges at school.
The best part of this book and the most enjoyable is the humor. The children are hilarious, especially the youngest. Kids will laugh out loud at their banter and behavior.
Toy Review – 48 Lego Compatible Homecoming Community Figures
Durability Four stars. They are made out of hard plastic. Only time will tell if the paint is durable or not.
Play quality Three stars. A big part of the fun of Lego characters is taking them apart and creating new characters. My granddaughter loves to switch heads, bodies, capes and accessories. Unfortunately, these are brutally difficult to put together and probably just as hard to get apart. Switching the pieces is not something a child will be able to do. They are also quite stiff and it is very difficult to move the arms. Needs even more diversity.
Safety Five stars. They seem pretty safe but are definitely not for children under 3 years of age.
Age interest Three stars. Children will definitely miss the fun of taking them apart and be frustrated by their rigidity. Accessories seem random. Where’s the torch for the statue of liberty and the paint brush for the artist?
Storage and portability Four stars. They are small enough to put in a pocket or packsack however they should be stored in their own little bag. Small pieces would be easy to lose.
Price Five stars. At less than $2 each for the final cost they are a steal.
Cautiously recommended.
For pictures of all the characters and how they are assembled please go to my short YouTube video here. https://youtu.be/OBkl1I8nkGs
New Lego Movie
Does your child love Lego movies? Be sure to check out my latest.
Click below to watch.
Check out the nine other Lego videos as well.
Lost in London
The Snow Queen
Cinderella
and more
Isle of You by David LaRochelle. Illustrated by Jaime Kim. Book Review.
This unique picture book isn’t really a story. It is a book of reassurance similar to Robert Munch’s Love You Forever or Billy Crystal’s I Already Know I Love You but it takes a different approach. It is the kind of book you read to a child and they later refer to on their own whenever they are feeling down.
It begins, “Was today a hard day? Are you feeling sad? Lonely? Maybe even a little angry? I’m sorry. Come with me. I know the perfect place to go.”
From that point on the author and illustrator take the reader on a fantastical journey into a paradise island specifically designed for the child. The idea is to remind oneself to be calm, live in the moment, and use one’s imagination to reassure oneself. The title is a clever twist of words, Isle of You. Say it quickly and it sounds like I love you.
This could become a game for the parent and child to play, or the child to do alone when needed. Imagine oneself in a beautiful place. It doesn’t have to be the way the book portrays the island. The child can eventually build his or her own island with whatever appeals to them.
The illustrations by Jaime Kim are bright and colorful but yet gentle and dreamlike. They glow with happiness.
This is a wonderful book for any child but especially for one who has difficulty with intense emotions. It may help the child develop a strategy that could be of benefit for life.
Tear Me Apart by J.T. Ellison. Book Review.
This is a typical suspense novel about a 18 year old in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant. Because of this, it comes to light that neither her mother or father are her biological parents. This leads into a kidnapping and murder mystery that connects to correspondence between two teenage girls in a mental hospital.
Unfortunately the writing style is rather flat and, although this can be quite common in this kind of novel, the characters are two dimensional and the dialogue is a bit awkward. I found myself skimming quickly through the book in order to finish it and being reluctant to pick it up.
The premise is intriguing but halfway through the book you have pretty much figured out everything. In a good mystery suspense the reader is often lulled into thinking they have solved the plot and then comes the twist. It can be a variation on what the reader has surmised or it can come completely out of left field. This book went with the first style but it was a bit weak on surprise and punch. I found quite predictable.
It’s an easy beach read with an interesting basic plot if you’re just looking for something relaxing.
