Four Picture Books By Zoey Parker

Princess Katy and Drake the Dragon Take a Plunge
Princess Katy has very few friends.  Drake the dragon is her best friend.  Drake looks large and fierce.  He is actually just large and kind.  For being a dragon Drake has a lot of fears. He's afraid of birds and other things.  The one thing he fears most is swimming.  Katy decides to try to help Drake overcome his fear of swimming.  She has a party and invites some of the birds and bees that she knows won't make fun of him.  He flies away instead.  When he see show sad he's made Katy he decides to give it a try.  Once again the author has chose to teach a simple lesson.  In this case she is trying to teach children to face their fears and not let them stop them from trying something new.

Katy and Evan Learn the Golden Rule
Katy and Evan are brother and sister.  They both start out playing in their sandbox.  Each builds their own castle. Problems arise when Katy wants to borrow a shovel from her brother.  After all he isn't using it.  Her brother doesn't want to share it.  He decides he needs it.  As they fight over it they begin to stomp on each other's castle destroying them both.  Mother hears the commotion and comes outside.  She teaches them the all important lesson of the golden rule.  This is a rule that all children need to learn.

Princess Katy Meets the Tooth Fairy
This is a book every parent should read to their children.  Katy hates fruit.  Everyone in Citrus City eats their fruit and vegetables.  Katy refuses to and eats candy instead.  When her parents decide to make it a rule she can't eat candy any more she runs to her room and gobbles down all of the candy she has had stashed away for a long time.  That night the tooth fairy visits her.  She takes all of Katy's rotten teeth.  Katy runs to her parents and her dad tells her that she is lucky because she will have new teeth that are stronger grow back in.  However, he tells her she has to take care of them by eating healthy foods or they will rot again.  Katy learns her lesson.

Princess Katy Loses her K
Princess Katy is with her teacher, Merlin the Grey when he decides it is time that Katy learns her alphabet.  They go through all of the letters and they sing a song about them.  When it is Katy's turn to sing the song by herself she discovers the "k" is missing.  She searches all over the kingdom and discovers the cook can't cook because without the "k" he can only coo. The horse in his stall can't kick without the "k's".  When her mom kisses her goodnight she finds the missing "k" in the word kiss. and is able to recite her alphabet.

All four of these wonderful rhyming books are created for very young children and teach them valuable lessons.  These make not only great bed-time stories, but great read any-time stories.

Stopper - Mark W. Jarrell

Pages: approx.. 163

Source:  I purchased

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction

Excerpt from Amazon:

"As the boy with the purple ball cap walked towards the tennis court, he could see that it had been an energetic point that was going on. ...that had been going on. He stopped for a moment to assess the situation, shrugged his slim shoulders and continued walking. He opened up the door to the fence that surrounded the courts and stepped out onto the green concrete. The ball was now sitting perfectly still just a foot or so off the ground near the tall lanky boy with the not-completely-grown-in mustache. No one on the court was moving. Everyone was perfectly still--frozen in mid-motion on the court. [...] It was really eerie. It was almost as if someone had hit the pause button on the remote control. Except, this was real life on pause, not a movie."

Seventeen-year-old Johnny (otherwise known as Stopper) has the unusual ability to stop time for the rest of the world. And it's a power that he himself can't control. He can't interact with people in a normal way because of his power and has multiple character flaws that have developed as a result. A group of friends at the local school start to notice the strange things happening whenever this particular boy is around and they try their best to make contact with him. They eventually end up adopting him as one of their own, all the while trying to protect him from a looming threat.

Imagine being able to stop time.  That is exactly what Stopper can do.  As cool as I thought this would be, I soon realized as I read the book that there was an awful lot of responsibility to go along with that ability, as well as a lot of problems.  Stopper is a runaway who has the ability to stop time.  After being on his on for about four years he finally makes friends.  He will need these friends.  Stopper has an enemy.  He is not sure why someone wants him dead but now he's sure someone does.  There is a lot of mystery surrounding this kid.  I liked that.  I also liked thinking I was going to figure something out only to have the author throw a curve ball.  Suddenly there was another issue that had to be dealt with.  It wasn't out of place or an in your face type of curve ball. Suddenly the tension increased with that little bit of knowledge that was thrown in that made you sit up and go, "oh, how will that affect this... and what about that...?"  This author definitely  has it together.  I read the book from beginning to end.  I could not stop reading from the minute I picked it up until I finished the book.  It has a satisfying ending yet is ended in such a way that maybe we will see a sequel.  I definitely recommend this as really good science fiction book.

The Prey – Andrew Fukuda

Pages: 304

Source: Purchased

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Spoiler Alert:  If you have not read the first book The Hunt then don’t read any further.

Gene and the other hepers have escaped from the Dome leaving behind Ashley June.  They travel down the river.  Epap is not happy that Gene is with them.  He is obviously jealous of him and the way Sissy keeps coming to his aid. As they travel down the river they discover a tablet hidden in a secret compartment under the boat.  It tells them to stay on the river.  The flip side tells them not to let Gene die.  That is all it takes for Sissy to make it her mission.  After several days on the river, and after plummeting over a waterfall they are discovered by a young girl and they are taken to a village called “The Mission”.  There is excitement at discovering more of their kind.  But all is not what it seems.  Is this a blessing or a curse and what is the “origin” they are supposed to have brought with them?

The world building in this second book was just as interesting and descriptive as that in the first book.  You see a dystopian society that has gone back to where women are nothing more than slaves.  Sissy definitely doesn’t agree with this.  The micro-tension within this book is so strong I read it from beginning to end in one sitting.  I honestly felt like I was at "The Mission" with all of them. I could feel the fear they felt.  I kept sitting on the edge of my seat whenever the tension would increase.  This author definitely knows how to write a book that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Unfortunately, the third book, The Trap, won’t be out until September.  The book was left in a way that the reader celebrates with the news learned, yet is left wondering if anyone will be alive to celebrate that knowledge.  I absolutely loved this book.  The first book was given to me  to review.  I bought the second book as an e-book.  I can guarantee you that the second and third book will be purchased in paperback for my classroom shelves.  It is an absolutely wonderful dystopian book.