An Assortment of Picture Books

Genre: Children's Picture Books
Source: I received copies of these books to facilitate my reviews. The opinions expressed here are my own.

An Illustrated Bedtime Story For Children: Little Darling and the Fuzzwells by Ness Kelly

The premise of this story is a great one. A young dog goes to the beach with her family. While chasing away birds from her owners belongings she gets lost. She finds her way back to the beach oly to discover her family is gone. She decides to wait for them. They never come. A kind-hearted man finds her and takes her to a dog shelter. After several months she finds a forever home. The story was one that kept your emotions high, which in my book is a great thing.  Unfortunately the language drove me nuts. I felt while reading it that one of my students had written it. The author used a lot of slang, for instance they used the word 'cos' throughout the story. I know this is how kids speak, but I would have preferred the author kept the language a little more formal to make it a well rounded book. It wasn't enough of a deterrant to make me stop reading the book. All in all I really enjoyed the book.

Your Special Space by Sagit Cohen
This is a wonderful book to read to a child when the are old enough to ask questions about their birth. This book talks about how a mother prepares the child's first home, her tummy and then the child's room for when they come home from the hospital. You can feel the love and warmth in this book. Every new parent to be should have this book read to read to their child.

Wizard Bill's Secret by Anat Umansky
What if crocodiles had elephant ears and zebras had pink stripes? In this cute story Bill the wizard visits the zoo after al lthe people have left, and grants the wishes of the animals. When daylight returns, the animals return to their normal selves. The first thing I thought about after reading this book was that this would make a great read to use for creative writing. Having students write about other things the wizard could do to the animals. Another writing idea that popped into my head was, what if the sun rose before the wizard could turn them back. Great mentor text for creative writing possibilities for children.


Danny's Great Heart by Sagit Cohen

This is another wonderful book by Sagit Cohen.  This book teaches children that when something happens like your best friend moves away, you will always have room in your heart for new friends.  Like all of Sagit's other books this not only teaches through rhymes, but leaves the readers with those warm fuzzy feelings.
I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Your Amazing Dad by Sagit Cohen
Sagit Cohen has written a book praising the efforts of new fathers and fathers-to-be. In this wonderful book we are taken on a ride from the moment a man finds out he is to be a father to the day his child is born. We see the father stepping in to help the mother/mother-to-be with everything she may need. He cooks, cleans and when the baby is born he can hardly contain his excitement. He is ready. He's watched shows to prepare himself. He changes diapers and most importantly he speaks lovingly to his child while he holds the baby with pride. What a wonderful book to celebrate fatherhood.
I received a book to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

I Wish I Was a Brownie by Marsha Casper Cook

I don't know how many times I hear my students wish they were someone else, or looked different. This story is just like their's. Chippy is a chocolate chip cookie who wishes he was a brownie. In his mind if he was a brownie the other chippies wouldn't laugh at him and he wouldn't feel so alone. His teacher Mrs. Chipster invites him over to her house and presents him with a costume to try on. It is a brownie costume. As he looks at himself in the mirror he discovers it is what is inside and not on the outside that matters.
What a wonderful story.
I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.






Are You Eating My Lunch? by Dr. Nicole
This is a wonderful bi-lingual book. Xavier goes to the zoo. When it is time for lunch he begins to ask the animals one by one if they are eating his lunch. When they answer the reader earns what that animal eats. The repetition makes this a great book for a beginning reader. The pictures are wonderful and it is written in English and French. The story has a wonderful ending and wonderful pictures to go along with it.
I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinons expressed here are my own.




Strike at Charles' Farm by Dr. Nicole

When Charles' animals on his farm refuse to cooperate, they tell the farmer what they want. The horse wants to pull a lighter cart, the rooster wants to have more hens under his control. The list goes on and on. The farmer listens to each of the animals then simply tells them they can go live in the zoo and that way they can have what they want.  The animals suddenly decide they like their freedom and want to stay and do their jobs. The farmer throws the a party out of gratitude.  A great way to teach children that everyone must do their part for things to move smoothly.





Dog Tails From The Dog Park II by Max and Luther
In this second book Max and Luther once again charm us with their stories about the dog park. Luther loves mud after it rains. Unlike most dogs he doesn't like to roll in it, he likes to eat it. His mom doesn't approve, but he just can't seem to help himself.  Max loves to dig holes and search for gophers.  We learn many more things they love to do and the family fun they have.  However, for me the most enjoyable part of this book is all of the facts we learn about dogs. This information is sprinkled throughout the book.  Like the first book in this series, this is a keeper, a must read.
I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

The Seventh Wish by Kate Messner

Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy

Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review.

As an adult, Kate Messner's book, The Seventh Wish took me back in time. She opens with the main character looking for ice flowers on the lake. You are immediately immersed in the magical winter wonderland. The main character's fear of the dark ice is a foreshadowing of darker times ahead for Charlie. I loved the descriptions of Irish dance. Kate was spot on with it. I know this from my daughter's years of dance. My daughter delved into dance as a way of dealing with her grandfather's death. There are raw emotions throughout this book. I've been in Charlie's shoes when it came to the problems her sister had. Issues of drug abuse and alcoholism tear families apart. Some ever recover. I cried right along with Charlie when she realized she'd helped her sister lie. I felt her pain at the denial, lying and stealing. Most of all I felt her pain and understood when she felt her sister's problems, trumped all she had worked for. This hook is not about finding all the right solutions. It is a book about looking for and holding on to love and hope. Not since reading Laurie Halse Anderson's book Speak have I felt such raw emotions.

This is  one of the most gut-wrenching, hope-filled books I've read in years. It is a must read for young and old alike.

Two Books by Carolyn Gold

Genre: Middle Grade, Mystery
Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

No one wants to move away from their friends, but that is the dilemma that Rusty Larsen faces. On the night of his biggest game he breaks his leg and ankle. That doesn't stop his parents from moving him halfway across the country to Connecticut. When they pull up in front of the most dilapidated house Rusty has ever seen, he's sure from the looks of it that it comes with a resident ghost, and he is right. This ghost isn't malevolent. He just wants them out of his house. The question is, can Rusty makes friends with the ghost? What about school? The book is full of quiet adventure, a little bit of history and some very funny antics. Mix that together with a kid who just wants to make friends in his new school and you have a book everyone will love.

I had not heard of this author before but I really love her work.



Dragonfly Secret
Genre: Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction
Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

When the author asked me to review her book Ghosts Don't Do Homework I was all in. I love ghost stories. It doesn't matter if they are scary or funny. I've always loved them.  When I opened the package she had sent me another of her books as a gift. I am so glad she did. Dragonfly Secret is the story of a family who has their grandfather living with them.  Nathan and Jessie love having their grandfather live with them. On a visit to their aunt's house it becomes clear that their aunt believes their grandfather needs to be sent to a nursing home to live.  There are several things I need to say here about the characters. The author did a wonderful job of fleshing them out. The aunt and her daughter are snooty, have money and are not very likable. Nathan, Jessie, their grandfather and their mother are more down to earth type people.  The grandfather helps out so that his daughter can work and raise her two kids.  The grandfather owns an old farm.  Their aunt thinks it should be sold.  I immediately thought that she was in it for the money. I won't tell you if that is true or not.

On the way home from their aunts house, they stop at the old farm and look around. When they get home they see a lady talking to the neighbor, whose cat is in their flower bed. The lady is a social worker that the aunt had contacted to come out and determine if their grandfather should be sent away. He is angry and when he goes to wash the car he sees a dragonfly. Upon closer inspection they realize it isn't a dragonfly, but a tiny fairy.  Now they have a problem. They must try to save this fairy and at the same time they must keep this knowledge from the social worker. If she thinks their grandfather believes in fairies then she might send him away.

The story is full of real life problems.  I love this author's work and would gladly read other books written by her.

Author Bio from Amazon:
Born in New Mexico, Carolyn Gold grew up everywhere. Moving nearly every other year as her father followed a career in the Air Force, her life was filled with a wide variety of people and places, from Turkey to Labrador, Wisconsin to California. Her books reflect compassion, tolerance and curiosity, sadness and joy, and a deep love of nature. Her first book, Dragonfly Secret, was published by Atheneum in 1997 and nominated for the Sunshine State Young Readers' Award Program. She now lives in Idaho

Annexed - Sharon Dogar

Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction

Source: I purchased a copy.

I grew up with the story of Anne Frank and her diary. I was thrilled when I was younger to discover we shared the same birth date.  For these reasons I decided to read this book that is wonderfully told from Peter Van Pels point of view.  It was interesting to note that Peter saw Anne as a very annoying child until they had shared the annex for a couple of years. We then find his opinion of her changing. He has begun to fall for her. I kept wondering, if they had both lived, would they have ended up together? Anne tried to look at the good in people and God, whereas Peter kind of took the other road. Anne always expressed herself through her writing. Peter liked to express himself through his drawing.  What is interesting about this book is that we look at Peter’s life once he is sent to the concentration camp. No, we don’t really know his story. The author has done a lot of research into what it would have been like. She based it on the accounts of survivors.  It is often hard to tell what is actually true and what is fiction because the writing has so beautifully intertwined the facts with fiction.  I did enjoy the end of her book where she tells the reader what happened to Anne and those who spent all of that time hiding in the Annex. This is definitely a book not to be missed. 

The Knights of the Square Table by Teri Kanefield

Genre: Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction

Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

From Goodreads:

Meet the Knights of the Square Table, San Francisco’s all-star chess team.
On their way home from a tournament in Europe, their plane makes a forced landing on a remote island in the North Atlantic.
Part survival story, part crime novel with a twist, here’s what happens when six teenagers act on their optimism and attempt the impossible.

My Thoughts:

Teri Kanefield is one of my new favorite authors. I have loved everything I have read that she has written. The story starts out very dramatic.  The Knights of the Square Table, a chess group is on a plane when it begins to experience problems.  The plane crashes on a snowy island about 200 miles off course. The brief description of what people were experiencing on the plane was so realistic that I felt I was on the plane as well.  The adults on this plane aren’t much help.  It is up to these chess champs to keep them all alive until they are rescued.  This is not the only problem they must solve. There is a problem of global proportion they must work on as well.  Like all of her books there is usually something to be learned.  I love the idea that my students will be able to see through this fiction that they can make changes in the world. After all, in our IB school we teach them to to be global students. I believe our students would be able to identify with these young people.

The Plain Choice by Sherry Gore

The Plain Choice
Genre: Adult, Autobiography
Source: I received a copy from Netgalleyto facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.


Not all Amish or Mennonite people grew up as a plain person. There are people like Sherry Gore who were looking for meaning to life and stumbled upon the lifestyle. Sherry grew up in California and Florida. When her parents split she chose to live with her father in California. She grew up in an affluent area, yet she was lonely inside. She had been exposed to the love of Jesus through several family members. Because of several bad choices in her life, Sherry was sent from her father's house to her mother's in Florida. Here she lived as a homeless person for six months before eventually getting married, having two children, and moving back to California. Sherry was still looking for something but didn't know what when she and her first husband divorced.  After being a single parent raising her daughter's the best she could, she met and married her second husband. Toby loved her and her girls. He gave Sherry the only son she had. This marriage did not last once Sherry found what she was looking for, life lived the way the Bible speaks. A Plain Life.  However, her divorce did not mean the end of her relationship to her husband. Sherry leans on her faith as she learns about her oldest daughter's life threatening diseases. I will interject here and say that I live about a mile and a half from Sherry's house. Because I shop in the Pinecraft area, I became familiar with her and her cookbooks. I followed along and prayed for her daughter Jacinda, until her passing this last spring.  Although it is not in the book, she remained friends with her ex-husband Toby, whom she lost last month. If nothing else,  this book shows that God can take someone who is so messed up and use them for good. Through her book she shows that God doesn't judge who you are or were as a condition of his acceptance of you. There are many who will say she is not truly Amish or Mennonite. To this I say, unless you live in the area and see and understand that there are many different types of Amish/Mennonite, just like there are many different types of Baptists, you should not judge. Besides, God won't separate us when we get to heaven so why should we worry about it here on earth? This story is her journey to become a "plain" woman, not about what the Amish are all about

Check out Sherry's other books:
Simply Delicious Amish Cooking: Recipes and Stories from the Amish of Sarasota, Florida
Me, Myself, and Pie
Taste of Pinecreaft: Glimpses of Sarasota, Florida's Aish Culture and Kitchens
Made with Love (Pinecraft Pie Shop #1) with Tricia Goyer
Planted with Hope (Pinecreaft Pie Shop #2) with Tricia Goyer  (Coming March 2016)

Find her on:    Facebook                        Twitter

Hoplite by Lee Ness

Genre: Middle Grade, Historical Fiction

Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Book description for the Hoplite novel: 
In 440BC, all the young Alexander wants to be is an Olympian. But while trying to follow his hoplite father, Alexander becomes trapped aboard a troop ship. His life spins out of control when making port, the seemingly benign state of Samos overthrows the mighty Athenian army and tragedy strikes. He soon realises that the foes in his own camp are more dangerous than the Samian rebels. When one of his only friends and allies on the island goes missing, Alexander has to further endanger his own life to try and find him but by doing so he puts his friend's life, and his mother back in Athens, in danger. 
Note: This novella is Part 1 of Hoplite. The other five parts will be released over the course of the year. 
Book description for Part 1. 
Alexander hero-worships his father, but Lysander is recalled back from furlough by the Athenian Army to intervene in a dispute between the island Samos and the City state of Miletus. Alexander decides to follow him, but finds himself trapped on the troop ship when it embarks. With the ship unable to return to port, Alexander must stay with the troops all the way to Samos. Lysander decides there is little danger as the Samians are mere farmers and scholars, no match for the might of the Athenian Army. But the Samians revolt and suddenly, all the Athenians are in danger....

My Notes:

I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
This story starts off somewhat mysterious. We have a young boy, Alexander, who is sneaking along the docks. He is trying to locate his father. The reason we learn is that his father is going off to battle. He had been bullied and the way he handled it didn’t turn out right. His mother doesn’t really belong in Athens and as an outsider can own no land. With her son gone she is in danger from the people where she lives. Alexander spots his father. His desire is to speak to him and then go home. To avoid being seen he is grabbed and told to carry something aboard his father’s ship. He hides below deck where he falls asleep. When caught by a soldier he ran into on shore he is smacked around, until his father rescues him. Under his father’s care he is protected. He is stuck on board until they can get him back home. This means he will follow his father to the battle. When he sees his father killed things go from bad to worse. How will he get home? Was his father’s death his fault?

Alexander is a very brave young man who finds himself in circumstances he should never have been in. This book will keep you turning pages until you reach the end. It will also keep you waiting and wanting the next in this series. This is an awesome book.Alexander is a very brave young man who finds himself in circumstances he should never have been in. This book will keep you turning pages until you reach the end. It will also keep you waiting and wanting the next in this series.  This is an awesome book.

Child Soldier: When Boys and Girls are Used in War by Jessica Dee Humphreys & Michel Chikwanine

Genre: Middle Grade, Autobiography

Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

From Goodreads:

Michel is like many other five-year-olds: he has a loving family and spends his days going to school and playing soccer. But in 1993, the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Michel and his family live, is a country in tumult. One afternoon Michel and his friends are kidnapped by rebel militants and forced to become child soldiers.

My Thoughts:

When Michel Chikwanine was only five years old he was kidnapped from his school by rebel soldiers. The reason? They were recruiting child soldiers.  Because he was feisty and tough acting  to the soldiers, they decided to keep him alive.  Michel made a promise to his father, who was an activist to stop the terrible things the rebels and government were doing against their own people. He ingrained these thoughts into his son. This book is a direct result of those teachings.  Michel wanted to make sure he kept his promise to his father and spreads the word about child soldiers to help prevent and stop this horrific act against humanity.  This is a book that should be read in every history class.

Dragon of the Month Club by Iain Reading

Genre:  Middle Grade , Young Adult, Fantasy

Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

The 13^th of each month is a very special date for Ayana Fall and Tyler Travers. They are brand new members of The Dragon of the Month Club. Their adventure begins with Ayana, hiding in the library after a run in with her worst nightmare, Heather van der Sloot, who constantly bullies her. It was because of her hiding in the library that she meets and becomes best friends with Tyler.  While sitting in the library she finds a magical book. They take the book and try to conjure up a dragon. They are finally successful.  One bad spell attempt and they find themselves traveling through strange worlds. These worlds are related to the books lying around Tyler’s world. Now all they need to do is find a way back home.  They meet several people along the way who try to help them, and some not so nice people.

Iain Reading has quickly become one of my favorite authors. I started reading his Kitty Hawk books and now I’m introduced to a fantastical world.  This is the type of book I would have spent hours in my room, wishing I could slip into the pages and have an adventure.

He does an excellent job when it comes to creating characters that the reader can relate to. His world building, as always is excellent.  I loved the idea of being able to call up different kinds of dragons. They aren’t your ordinary dragons. I loved the idea of a fog dragon. Even more than that, I loved the idea of a dragon of the month club where you could summon a dragon each month on a specific day.

I am really looking forward to the next book in the series. More importantly, I’m looking forward to sharing these with my students.

Contest:

There is an ongoing contest for readers to win a one-of-a-kind hardcover version of The Dragon of the Month Club with their artwork as the cover.

“Draw a picture! Write a story! Take a photograph! Bake some cookies! Mold a dragon out of clay! Knit one out of yarn! Make one out of LEGO! Whatever you want! Just let your imagination run wild because anything goes – the more creative the better! Send your dragon in and then on the 13th day of every month one entry will be chosen at random and featured on the official Dragon Of The Month Club website. Each month’s lucky winner will also receive a free one-of-a-kind personalized hard-cover edition of The Dragon Of The Month Club book featuring their winning artwork (or other creative content) on the cover or inside the book itself,” says Iain.

To learn more, go to http://www.dragonofthemonthclub.com/ 

About the Author:

Iain Reading is passionate about Root Beer, music, and writing. He is Canadian, but currently resides in the Netherlands working for the United Nations.

Iain writes young adult novels. He is the author of the Kitty Hawk Flying Detective Agency Series, The Wizards of Waterfire Series, and the dragon of the month club. To learn more, go to http://www.amazon.com/Iain-Reading/e/B00B0NGI6Q/

Connect with Iain on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

Guest Post: Maggie Kast Author of A Free Unsullied Land

 Did It Really Happen? 

A reader of any age might ask this question of a story, whether it’s told by a parent or teacher or read in a book of fiction or non-fiction. And today’s reader has a particularly strong “reality hunger,” a term used by David Shields to title his manifesto about the confusing nature of reality in modern life and our desire to find it. A writer of non-fiction today can get in serious trouble if he or she fails to report as accurately as possible what really happened, as memoirist Vivian Gornick points out in an interview in The Rumpus.  And both readers and reviewers often assume that a work of fiction is all or part autobiography. The historical novel is a special case. Well-known and documented historical events provide a non-fictional frame, which the writer of fiction must observe. If historical figures appear in the novel, they must be true to character, and if they speak, their words must at least be close to what they really said. But the writer is free to imagine invented characters within the historical frame.

In my first book, The Crack between the Worlds: a dancer’s memoir of loss, faith and family, I

followed the rules of non-fiction and told what happened as well as I could remember, searching documents from dance programs to autopsy reports for evidence. Shortly before it was published my mother died, and I acquired all the correspondence she’d saved in her lifetime, from handwritten and typed letters on fading yellow paper to emails she’d printed out in her later years. Most interesting to me were the ones she’d written as a girl, before and during her courtship with my father. They revealed a vibrant, sassy, smart young woman kept under the thumb of her own mother, a woman held back by nineteenth century expectations of women.

I wanted to find that girl I never knew, to take her on adventures she never had, to let her experience all the risky possibilities of her time and place, prohibition-era Chicago. Thus the seeds were planted for my historical novel A Free, Unsullied Land. I invented a young woman of the 1930’s named Henriette Greenberg, but she is not my mother. Her personality has elements of me, my mother, and many other women I have known.

I made the time and place as historically accurate as I could, and doing the research was one of the most enjoyable parts of writing the book. I dug through libraries and the Internet to find what such historical characters as Theodore Dreiser, Jane Addams and W.E.B. Dubois really thought and said. I researched the endless legal battle of the so-called Scottsboro Boys, nine African-American young men unfairly accused of rape in Alabama. I listened to the jazz that was making its way from the South to Chicago at the time.. I watched the groundbreaking musicals of Busby Berkeley, who celebrated the Great Depression’s “forgotten man.”

Did the events in the book really happen? No, they never did and never could have. My mother would never have had or even wanted to have the adventures of Henriette. She and the people with whom she interacts are almost all invented characters. But the world of the novel was real at one time, and I have tried to give it new life. I hope the reader will see how very different and yet how much the same it is as the world in which we live today.

Maggie Kast is the author of The Crack between the Worlds: a dancer's memoir of loss, faith and family, published by Wipf and Stock. She received an M.F.A. in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has published fiction in The Sun, Nimrod, Carve, Paper Street and others.

A chapter of her memoir, published in ACM/Another Chicago Magazine, won a Literary Award from the Illinois Arts Council and a Pushcart nomination. A story published in Rosebud and judged by Ursula Leguin won an Honorable Mention in their fantasy fiction contest.

Kast’s essays have appeared in America, Image, Writer's Chronicle and elsewhere. Her first novel, A Free, Unsullied Land, is forthcoming from Fomite Press in November 2015. An excerpted story, “The Hate that Chills,” won 3^rd prize in the Hackney Literary Contests and is forthcoming in the Birmingham Arts Journal.

Website URL: maggiekast.com

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