children’s books

Book Review: Elf Dog and Owl Head

Posted by

0

Elf Dog and Owl Head by M.T. Anderson

Elf Dog and Owl Head
by M.T. Anderson, Junyi Wu (Illustrator)

5 out of 5 stars

Clay is tired of being stuck at home during the pandemic, tired of online school, and tired of being trapped in the house with his annoying family. He goes out exploring the woods behind his home and he encounters an elf-hound who has gotten separated from the elven hunt. The elves have all gone back underground to their magic kingdom, and Elphinore is left alone in the world aboveground. The elf-dog leads Clay along secret paths in the woods that lead to magic places, where Clay sees a community of owl-head people. Clay is dealing with mysterious lands and dangerous magical folk and is bound to get into serious trouble, but Elphinore will always be by his side to protect him.

Continue reading →

Book Review: Mouse House

Posted by

0

Mouse House by Rumer Godden

Mouse House
by Rumer Godden, Adrienne Adams (Illustrations)

4 out of 5 stars

Mary received a little toy Mouse House with toy mice to play with. But she is disappointed that they are not real mice. They just sit there. They don’t run and scamper like a real mouse would do. Meanwhile in the basement, a family of mice are cramped in their flowerpot home. There are so many children that they can’t all fit! Bonnie, the littlest mouse, goes searching for a new place to sleep. She explores the upstairs and discovers the Mouse House. Bonnie falls asleep in the toy bed, but in the morning, Mary discovers her!

Continue reading →

Book Review: Summer Brain Quest Series

Posted by

0

Summer Brain Quest Series

by Workman Publishing

5 out of 5 stars

These books have colorful activity pages for children to review their knowledge before going into the next grade. It comes with a summer progress map, where you can use the enclosed stickers to mark your progress when you complete a page or activity. There are bonus questions and extra outside activities that will earn you special achievement stickers too! Once the book is complete, you get an award certificate.

Continue reading →

Series Review: Brain Quest Workbook Series

Posted by

0

Brain Quest Workbook Series

by Workman Publishing

5 out of 5 stars

These books have colorful activity pages for children to review their knowledge of spelling, reading, math, and science. Once the book is complete, you get an award certificate. There is a whole page of fun stickers that you can place on the progress poster to keep track of when you finish each chapter!

Continue reading →

Picture Book Review: Norton and the Borrowing Bear

Posted by

0

Norton and the Borrowing Bear by Gabriel Evans

Norton and the Borrowing Bear
by Gabriel Evans (Goodreads Author)

5 of 5 stars

Norton has a new neighbor, Bear. They become friends, and Bear asks to borrow a few items… and then a few more items. He borrows Norton’s fuzzy slippers, his teapot, his yoga mat, and even his favorite chair! Norton is too polite to tell Bear that he is getting stressed with all this borrowing. But finally Norton snaps, and yells at Bear for being so inconsiderate. Bear feels guilty for borrowing too many things, and asks to borrow one last thing… Norton himself, for some friend time together.

Continue reading →

Picture Book Review: Cat’s Seasons

Posted by

0

Cat's Seasons by Airlie Anderson

Cat’s Seasons (Child’s Play Library)
by Airlie Anderson

5 of 5 stars

Cat and her kittens go through the seasons, absorbing the colors of each change in the weather. In the summer, they turn yellow as the warm sun. In the fall they jump in a pile of leaves, and the kittens turn every color of orange, red, and brown. In the winter, the kittens are blue with the cold. In the spring, they have green fur with pink flowery blossoms on their backs. A storm turns them grey as the clouds, until a rainbow appears and they are every color!

Continue reading →

Picture Book Review: The Fearless Little Farm Boy

Posted by

0

The Fearless Little Farm Boy by Astrid Lindgren

The Fearless Little Farm Boy
by Astrid Lindgren, Marit Tornqvist (Illustrator), Polly Lawson (Translator)

5 of 5 stars

Goran the bull has decided to be angry and snort and charge at the farmer. He will not calm down. He roars and stalks around in the barnyard. The farmer cannot get into the barn to milk the cows. The situation goes on for hours, until the entire village has come to see the wild bull. While they are discussing how best to deal with Goran, a little boy sweetly calls to the bull. Goran stops to listen to the boy’s whispering voice. He meekly walks over and allows himself to be petted. The tiny boy holds onto the big bull’s nose ring, and gently leads him into the stall in the barn. The village are all astonished, and the boy gets a reward for his courage.

Continue reading →

Picture Book Review: Happy

Posted by

0

Happy by Mies van Hout

Happy
by Mies van Hout

5 of 5 stars

Each page of this book features a fish who embodies an emotion. There are startled fish, bored fish, angry fish, delighted fish, and jealous fish. Each one is drawn in a different color, with very expressive body language and facial expressions. The curious fish is drawn with yellow scales with wide eyes. The nervous fish has wavy lines and a wobbly frown. The amazed fish is bright orange with a mouth wide open in astonishment! The sad fish is a deep blue with sleepy eyes and drooping fins. The furious fish is shouting in vibrant red and purple. Whether proud, loving, or confused, these fish reflect strong emotions!

Continue reading →

Picture Book Review: Percy’s Perfect Friend

Posted by

0

Percy's Perfect Friend by Lana Button

Percy’s Perfect Friend
by Lana Button (Goodreads Author), Peggy Collins (Illustrator)

5 of 5 stars

Percy is the new kid at school. He feels very lonely until he befriends a cat toy and names her Miss Petticomb. But the moment he turns his back, another child takes Miss Petticomb away. Percy searches around the room until he finds Miss Petticomb being forced to “eat” delicious plastic cake at a tea party. Percy tries to rescue Miss Petticomb, but the other children insist that the tea party is to celebrate the cat’s birthday. Percy gets up the courage to join the tea party and make some new friends.

Continue reading →

Board Books from Tiger Tales

Posted by

0

Noisy ABC by Beth Hamilton

Noisy ABC: A noisy introduction to first words (My First)
by Beth Hamilton, Tiger Tales (Compiler)

5 out of 5 stars

This ABC board book has sound buttons to push for a recording of a woman’s voice saying, “B is for Ball” or “Z is for Zipper”. Each page is full of colorful photos of animals and objects that begin with the letters of the alphabet.

This is such a cute book! I think that little kids will be excited that they can learn their ABCs and enjoy this book on their own. Kids will be delighted to be “reading” a book by themselves without help!

Continue reading →