children’s book

Picture Book Review: A Parliament of Owls

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A Parliament of Owls by Devin Scillian

A Parliament of Owls
by Devin Scillian, Sam Caldwell (Illustrator)

5 out of 5 stars

A young girl calls each group of animals to convene for a huge photo. A parliament of owls arrive on a tree, along with a murder of crows. There is a warren of rabbits, a gaggle of geese, and a raft of otters. Some of the strangest groups are the memory of elephants, the charm of hummingbirds, and the pandemonium of parrots. When the animals are finally assembled, the girl takes a massive group photo with all the animals together!

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Picture Book Review: Albie On His Way

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Albie on His Way by Jutta Bauer

Albie on His Way
by Jutta Bauer, Matthias Wieland (Translator)

4 out of 5 stars

The king asks Albie to deliver a message to the neighboring kingdom, but Albie gets delayed along the way. First a father squirrel needs help after a bad fall. Then a mother pig needs a babysitter while she goes shopping… for a week! Albie meets an old animal who walks very slowly, but they travel together for a while. Albie decides to take a different path through the mountains, and ends up right back in his own kingdom! By now so much time has passed, that the king decides that the message doesn’t matter after all.

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Picture Book Review: The Unbreakable Thread

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The Unbreakable Thread by Emily Joof

The Unbreakable Thread
by Emily Joof (Goodreads Author), Asma Enayeh (Illustrator)

5 out of 5 stars

As a little child begins to grow up, the unbreakable thread of love between mother and child is stretched, but never broken. The child learns a little more independence all the time, learning to walk, going to school, making friends, and finally graduating from school. But all the time the love of the mother is there to encourage and comfort. That support is what gives the child strength to explore and learn. And all the time, the unbreakable thread of their bond is always changing and always constant.

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Picture Book Review: The Scarlet Stockings Spy

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The Scarlet Stockings Spy by Trinka Hakes Noble

The Scarlet Stockings Spy (Tales of Young Americans)
by Trinka Hakes Noble, Robert Papp (Illustrator)

5 out of 5 stars

This is a bittersweet story of a young girl who passes along information to Washington’s army during the American Revolutionary War. Her brother is a soldier, and they have a secret plan to watch the movements of ships in the harbor. Maddy Rose hangs out her washing once a week. Her unmentionables, petticoats, and stockings, hung out in a certain order, will tell her brother which ships in the harbor are friendly, and which are British ships likely carrying weapons.

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Classic Book Review: The Enchanted Castle

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The Enchanted Castle by E. Nesbit

The Enchanted Castle
by E. Nesbit

5 out of 5 stars

Three siblings are spending their school holidays stuck at school, so they go exploring around the countryside, hoping to find some adventure. They stumble into a beautiful garden estate where they go through a maze, finding what appears to be a young princess in an enchanted sleep. When they awaken her, it proves to be only Mabel, the housekeeper’s daughter. But Mabel assures them that magic enchantment is real, and the children explore the gardens with a magic ring that transforms their holidays into a wild adventure.

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Board Book Series: Our World, Mexico, Brazil, India, Italy

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Our World Mexico by Cynthia Harmony

Our World Mexico
by Cynthia Harmony (Goodreads Author), Claudia Navarro (Illustrator)

5 out of 5 stars

A young boy tells us all about a normal day in Mexico, from the delicious breakfast all the way to bedtime when they say, “Buenas Noches!” The boy gets a besito (kiss) from his mother and hops on a bus to school. He plays with his amigos and then has a snack of pan dulce (pastry) with his abuela (grandmother). After a bath and brushing his teeth, it is time to snuggle up for some dulces sueños (sweet dreams).

I grew up in Mexico as a child, and I can indeed verify that this is exactly like a normal day in Mexico! What a sweet trip down memory lane! And now I’m craving some pan dulce. haha!

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Book Review: The Bobbsey Twins in Washington

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The Bobbsey Twins' Adventure in Washington by Laura Lee Hope

The Bobbsey Twins’ Adventure in Washington
by Laura Lee Hope

3 out of 5 stars

The Bobbsey family travel to Washington for a visit and see all the famous tourist sites. They wait outside the White House hoping to catch a glimpse of the President, and they see him and the First Lady driving out of the gates. They smile and wave, and the First Lady blows a kiss to the cute twins.

Bert and Nan are on the look out for a special set of china dishes. Their neighbor has promised to pay $100 to anyone who can find her stolen heirloom dishes. Everyone keeps telling the twins that it’s very unlikely that the dishes will every turn up again, since they were stolen years ago, but the Bobbsey twins are trusting to luck to perhaps find the missing china.

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Book Review: Bobbsey Twins on a Houseboat

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The Bobbsey Twins on a Houseboat by Laura Lee Hope

The Bobbsey Twins on a Houseboat (Bobbsey Twins, #6)
by Laura Lee Hope

3 out of 5 stars

Mr. Bobbsey has bought a houseboat for the summer vacation, and the Bobbsey twins travel up the river on their way to visit Lake Romano and the beautiful waterfall there. Along the way, they meet a young boy who is beaten by his employer, and Mr. Bobbsey tries to stop the man from mistreating the boy. However, the man exacts his revenge by fencing off his portion of the river so that the Bobbsey houseboat can’t pass through his land on the way to the lake! The Bobbsey twins will have to figure out some way to help the boy and get their houseboat past this obstacle.

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Book Review: Birds Everywhere

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There Are Birds Everywhere by Britta Teckentrup

Birds Everywhere
by Britta Teckentrup (Goodreads Author)

4 out of 5 stars

This book talks about different types of birds around the world and the habitats they live in. We get to learn about how the birds migrate, how they behave when attracting a mate, and what type of nests they build.

It really gets on my nerves when science books talk about scientific theories as if they were fact, and they don’t tell the reader that it’s just a theory. It’s so unethical, and it’s misleading. It makes me not trust anything else they say, because who knows what else they could be lying to the reader about. If you don’t have the evidence to prove something, then you shouldn’t be pretending like it’s a fact. That’s dishonest. It would be so easy to clear up these misunderstandings if they would just admit that it’s a theory!

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Book Review: The Magic Faraway Tree

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The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton

The Magic Faraway Tree (The Faraway Tree, #2)
by Enid Blyton

4 out of 5 stars

Three siblings and their cousin, Richard, visit the wood behind their cottage, and at the center of the forest is the Faraway Tree. It is the largest tree in the world; so large that the top reaches the clouds, and at the very top the Faraway Tree connects to a magical land.

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