Yesterday I spent time reading picture books with my
granddaughter. Today I present to you my
reviews of these books. They were simple
and fun and a great way to bond over a book.
I hope you enjoy them.
The Treasure-Hunt
Three and Judge Mia’s Decree – Brenda Darnley Martin
Publisher: Robertson Publishing
Pages: 28
Source: Review Copy from author
Genre: Children’s Picture Book
Freddie, Hector and Tish head out to visit the sunken ship
the Carrie Lee. On their way there
Hector is surrounded by a group of bull sharks.
They bully him, calling him names.
Freddie and Tish race off to get help.
Officer Muldoon, an octopus comes back and arrests them. They go before a judge who pronounces an
appropriate sentence. This is a book that
kids will identify with. There is so
much bullying in schools today. Kids
need to know that they can go to someone and that justice will be served. Brenda has done an excellent job of telling
this story in a manner that will appeal to young and older kids alike. The illustrator, Rosemary Rowan Tyler did an
excellent job of creating beautiful pictures to go along with the story.
Freddy, Hector and
Tish The Treasure-Hunt Fish – Brenda Darnley Martin and Mary Lee Gibbons
Publisher: PublishAmerica
Pages: 36
Source: Review copy from author
Genre: Children’s Picture Book
Freddie, Hector and Tish are the best of friends. They are each different. They share a love of exploring. Their favorite place to explore is the Carrie
Lee. The maiden on the front one day
begins to tell them stories of when she sailed the great sea. She tells them about a special treasure on
board the ship. It is a gold framed
mirror. The three friends swim inside
and take a look at themselves. Freddie
realizes he is different and believes this is a bad thing. The maiden sends them to find the great
Flounder Detective. When they see him,
Freddie realizes he looks just like him and that it is okay to be different and
to have different talents. Once again
the author has done a great job of letting children know that it is a good
thing to be different. There is nothing
to be ashamed of in our differences.
Christopher Sat
Straight up in Bed – Kathy Long
Publisher: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
Pages: 32
Source: Won a copy from LibraryThing
Genre: Picture Book
Christopher is a young boy spending the night with his
grandparents. He goes to bed and keeps
hearing a scaring noise. He decides to
investigate the noise checking outside his window, under his bed and inside his
closet.
I could definitely identify with this book. I grew up in a very old house. My
grandmother’s house was over 100 years old.
It creaked and groaned. I would
lay there and try to figure out what the noise was. I loved Christopher’s creative thoughts as to
what the noise could be, an elephant, dinosaur, bear. I considered him very brave because he
actually got up and investigated each of his ideas. This is a delightful book to read before
bedtime to set aside any fears a child may have when they go to bed. The pictures are very cute. I look forward to reading more books by this
author.
Paddy Platypus and
the Ring-Tail Squatteroo – Tom de Paolo
Publisher: Authorhouse
Pages: 36
Source: Copy for review from author
Genre: Picture Book
This is the second book I have read by this author. I enjoyed it very much Paddy Platypus has a friend named Rollo, who
is a Ring-Tailed Squatteroo. Rollo is
very sad that he has found no other ring-tailed squatteroos. Paddy and his friends set out to help Rollo
search for another one just like him.
They ask the wise old owl, they visit the woods, and finally they visit
the Mugwump. This is a story of being
unique and different and accepting that uniqueness. Kids will love Rollo. They will feel sorry for him when he is sad
and travel with him on his adventure to discover whether he has someone out in
the world like himself. This is a great
self-esteem builder.
Tears for Nanertak –
Skip Hofstrand
Publisher: Outskirts
Press
Pages: 32 pages
Source: Review Copy from Author
Genre: Children’s Picture Book
This book has a message everyone, old and young alike need
to hear. It is a wonderful way to teach
children about global warming and the consequences it has on our world. The story begins with the sound of
dripping. Nanuck the polar bear is
crying because she and her cub Nanertak will have to leave their home in the
arctic. It is melting. Many other animals are forced to leave as
well. The two polar bears are rescued
and taken to an arctic zoo. Once again
tears flow. The tears are from children
who read about this tragedy. Nanuck
realize the children are their future hope and cries tears of joy and hope that
one day things may return to the way they were.
The beautiful pictures carry so much emotion. They are a great asset to the story which is
extremely important. It is a story and
lesson that should be taught to a child the minute they can sit still long
enough to listen to and understand the story.
This book will pave the way for conversation with your child about
global warming.
Pansy at the Palace –
Cynthia Bardes
Publisher: Octobre Press
Pages: 32
Source: Received a copy from the author for review
Genre: Children’s Picture Book
Pansy is a toy poodle who started out life living in an
animal shelter in Los Angeles, California.
She is sad that everyone else is finding a home. Then Avery enters and falls in love with
Pansy. They take her to live with them
at the Palace Hotel in Beverly Hills.
Everyone loves Pansy. She meets a
cat named Desiree. Pansy can’t put her
paw on it, but something seem wrong about the cat. One day chaos erupts. Expensive jewels have gone missing from
several of the guest’s rooms. The police
are called in. They dust for prints and
can find nothing. Pansy on the other
hand has found a clue and follows it to the thief, setting everything back to
normal. Read this wonderfully written
book about Pansy and her adventure to learn who the thief is.
Wisdom the Midway
Albatross: Darcy Pattison
Publisher: MimsHouse
Pages: 32
Source: Purchased
Genre: Children’s nonfiction Picture book
Gooney is an albatross who lived on an island. Gooney survived many things such as sharks
and a tsunami. She finally mated and had
a chick of her own. A scientist found her
and put a band on her leg so they could keep track of her. Throughout her life thunderstorms, tropical
storms and hurricanes threatened her and she survived. When many albatrosses died from eating
plastic floating in the water Gooney survived by not eating it. She managed to not get tangled like so many
others in discarded fishing lines. She
was banded again and was given the name wisdom because she had lived over 50
years. She had a chick each year. In 2011 she had a chick and a big storm came
and washed many of the chicks away.
Wisdom and her chick
survived. She is known as the oldest
living albatross. The author not only
tells a great story about an actual event, she has done a tremendous amount of
research. Check out her book and learn
about the research she has done and this wonderful bird.
These following were books that I had downloaded free from Kindle
Nation to my Kindle quite some time ago.
My grand daughter loved being able to turn the pages on the kindle by herself
and actually read some of them to me.
Animal ABCs – EM Jade
29 pages
This was a very
cute ABC book. It was easy enough for my granddaughter to read to me. Some of
the words were challenging enough she had to employ her reading skills to sound
them out.
Ellena the Elephant – Cressida Elias
28 pages
Ellena the Elephant
Learns Why She Needs to Tidy Up Her Toys – Cressida Elias
30 pages
Ellena the Elephant has been told repeatedly to tidy up her
toys. She begins to pick them up and is
distracted before she gets them all put away.
She runs off to play. Her brother
walks into the room and accidently steps on Ellena’s favorite toy. It breaks and he injures his foot. He apologizes to Ellena for breaking her
favorite toy and she takes responsibility for leaving them down and causing her
brother to hurt his foot. It is a tough
way to learn a lesson about being responsible for your toys but a great way to
teach this lesson to little ones.
Tip of the Toes –
Lily Lexington
21 pages
A ballerina practices daily.
She shares her favorite parts of dancing in the book. When she is told about her upcoming recital
she gets nervous. Her instructor gives
her a “magical” bow that will take away her fear of goofing up and being
embarrassed. The book is full of ballet
vocabulary as well as the basics to ballet.
This book will interest the little dancer in your house.
Twelve Dresses, One
Star – Robert Stanek
27 pages
This book teaches children to be happy with who and what
they are. This is simple and straightforward. It doesn’t matter if you are sad, mad, or
happy. It doesn’t matter where you are
or what you are doing. You need to be
yourself in all situations. This would be great for ages 4 to 6. I think kids will love the little ladybug
character.
Where Hummingbirds
Come From – Adele M. Crouch (Bilingual version in Vietnamese)
52 pages
The illustrations in this book are absolutely beautiful. A
young girl sits with her grandmother and listens to her tell a story passed
down from her own grandmother. The story
is about where hummingbirds come from.
According to the story they come from some magic water around the
grandmother’s house and they and the water appeared around the grandmother’s
birthday. This is a great story shared
from one generation to another. It shows
the importance of sharing stories with our grandchildren, knowing that one day
they may pass them on to their children.
This book has been translated into several languages, making
it a true bilingual book that children of many languages can enjoy while either
learning English, or learning their native language.
Why? Because I Love
You – Mary Lee
24 pages
Little Pup is full of questions. For every “why” question he asks, Grey Bear
replies, “Because I Love You”. Grey Bear
then explains why what they asked or told Little Pup to do is important. Grey Bear was not content to just leave the
answer as, “Because I Love You”. Grey
Bear wanted Little Pup to know that there was a good reason behind the request
and Grey Bear only asked because of the love for Little Pup. Little Pup was quick to obey because he loved
Grey Bear back. Cute little story. Great for helping kids understand that we ask
them to do things for a reason and because we love them.
You Are There Bible
Adventures With Joseph – Paul J. Loth
40 pages
Wow! I loved the way
this book was interactive with the reader.
The reader takes the role of a shepherd.
He meets Joseph’s brothers and then Joseph. As the story is told the reader gets to
decide what he will do in each situation.
After choosing the reader clicks on that choice and it takes them to
another page. No matter what the
reader’s choice, the story line stays true to the Bible story. A wonderful way
to make the story interactive and personal.
An Easter Story –
Erich Bethel
42 pages
This was a wonderful story of a grandfather’s letter to his
grandson reminding him of the great times they had spent together. It was also a time he prepared him for his
death by telling him about Christ’s death for us. As the child reads the letter, his grandfather
left him. He learns his grandfather is in heaven with Jesus and will see him
again one day. This was a wonderful way
to talk about your Christian beliefs and what happens to Christians when they
die. It takes the scary out of death.
A Tish of a Dish, For
a Fish – David Forgensi
26 pages
Candy Trouble – Casey
Crayne
21 pages
Logan and his dog Lucy love candy. His mom tells them the dangers of eating too
much candy. She tells them that too much
candy can cause them to gain weight, get cavities or make them sick. Logan asks his mom what cavities are and she
describes them to Logan. Logan imagines
them as monsters in his mouth that he must fight. Logan asks Lucy to use her magic and shrink
him so he can fight the cavities, but it doesn’t work. He talks to his mom who explains the way to
beat the cavity monster is to brush your teeth and not eat so much candy. This is a cute way to express the importance
of brushing and eating right.
A Necklace of Virtues
– Calee M. Lee & Turbo Qualls
21 pages
This is a historical fiction story about a real princess
that lived years ago. Little Princess
Audrey had everything she could want.
She had lots of dresses and lots of necklaces. She loved her necklaces. One day she put on her favorite necklace and
went to the church to light a candle for her sick sister. She loved the peacefulness of the
church. Suddenly it wasn’t so
peaceful. There was a lady with a crying
baby praying. Audrey mentioned the
crying baby. The baby grabbed her hand
and necklace. When Audrey tried to hand
the baby back it was tangled in her necklace.
She told the mother that she thought the baby was hungry. Food is what the lady had been praying
for. When Audrey realized they had no food she gave the woman her neck
to sell and buy food. When she went home
her mother found her crying in a closet.
She was so sad that they had so much and there were so many who had
nothing. Her mother talked with her
about her kind heart and doing what was right.
She grew up and became queen. She continued to give away her possessions to
help the poor. When she had given
everything away she became a nun to continue to help others. This was a wonderful story of compassion and
giving of yourself. It is wonderful to
find such wonderful and motivating stories based on history for children.
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