Books By Francois Bissonette

Genre:  Children's Picture Books
Source:  I received copies to help facilitate my review, the opinions expressed here are my own.

Nanook is the twin brother of seven year old Naloo.  The author has created the same book but one with Nanook as the main character and one with Naloo as the main character.  I am assuming that this is so you can read the book to the gender of child you have.  Each of them go for a walk and find a large rock with a symbol on it. When they trace the symbol with their finger they are transported to Ziron Land.  Here they meet Ziggy who takes them to their village.  The Zirons all live in giant fruits and vegetables.  They realize that even though the sky is yellow with orange clouds and blue rubber rocks, and the flowers grow giant sized, the Zirons are all very friendly.

We have the same setup in Titan the Talking cloud. When the  twins return to the Land of Ziron they ask if the place is always sunny.  Moffi tells them sometimes they have big storms and they have talking clouds. There are four talking clouds. Cyclone, Tornado and Hurricane are the green, red, and blue clouds that like to make a lot of noise and blow the Zirons around.  Sometimes they bang into each other and create thunder, lightening and rain. Titan is a nice pink cloud that likes to gently  water the flowers.  When they finally meet Titan, they get to take a ride into the yellow sky on his back.

Stories for children 1: contains two stories within.  The Blue Princess  and  The Tiger, the Peasant and the Dog

Kalia was called the Blue Princess because she loved the color blue. The king had only one wish as he got older and that was to see his daughter married.  She didn't want to get married so she told her father that when a man brought her a blue dog then she would marry that man.  A wealthy merchant brings a blue dog to the princess, but she discovers he has been dyed blue, a Warrior brings  a dog sculpted from blue sapphire.  She rejects him as well. Next comes a man with a painting of a dog.  The king thinks it is hopeless.  One day while walking in the garden the Princess runs into the gardener's son along with his fluffy white dog. They see each other for several months.  They fall in love, but there is a problem.  She has promised only to marry a man who brings her a blue dog.  The gardener shows up the next day before the Kig with his fluffy white dog and states he wishes to marry the Princess. He hands her the leash to his white dog and tells her he has brought her a blue dog.  The King tells him it is not blue.  The Princess gently tells her father it is a blue dog.  He realizes they love each other and declares the dog blue and they get married.

The Tiger, The Peasant, and the Dog was one of my favorite stories. It kind of reminded me of one of Aesop's Fables.  A tiger is trapped in a cage and begs a peasant boy to let him out.  The peasant refuses for fear he will be eaten.  The tiger cries and the peasant has a change of heart.  The minute he is released the Tiger pounces on the peasant calling him a fool.  The peasant begs for his life.  He is given one chance at freedom.  He is allowed to question 3 things to vouch for him.  He finds 3 things and they refuse.  A dog comes along and asks why he is so sad.  The peasant explains and the dog says he doesn't understand. He asks to be taken back to where it all started.  The peasant brings the dog back and before the tiger can eat him he agrees to let the peasant explain to the dog the whole story.  The dog seems cofused. The frustrated tiger demonstrates for the dog how he ended up in the cage and the dog slams and locks the door, saving the peasant and proving that the tiger was indeed the fool.

All of these are cute stories that younger children will enjoy.

Ten Wonderful Children's Books

Genre:  Children's Picture Books

Source:  I received a copy in exchange for my honest review

I Want a Monster for Halloween by Evelyn Brenner

Martha Green wants a monster  for Halloween. The book takes you on a pictorial tour of a variety of monsters to choose from. None of them are scary at all. It made me think that a fun thing to do after sharing this book with a young one, would be to sit and create some fun monsters of their own.  I loved the creative flair of this book with all of its wonderful and fun monsters.

The Scare: A Halloween Story  by Kirstin Lenane

Simon the pig received an invitation to attend a Halloween party and Jim Mouse’s house.  Jim wants no scary costumes or mean tricks. Simon does this to him every year because he loves all things scary.  Simon decides to get a scary vampire costume anyway.  Then he makes some scary cupcakes and heads off to Jim’s house.  He scares little children along the way and thinks it is funny.  When he arrives he goes into Jim’s house and can’t find him.  This year Jim has a surprise for Simon.  Can you guess what it is?

Zombie Kids by Julie Dweck

This is a cute story told by a boy who loves zombies.  I had a student a couple of years back that would have loved this book because the only thing he ever talked about was zombies. This boy tells us in rhyming verse all the ways zombies are like us and why we should like them the way he does.  This was a very cute book.  Not scare, but lots of fun for the young ones.

99 Cents by Jason Sandberg

This is a very short story of a little girl who walks on Daddy’s feet. She finds it fun in the winter, at the beach, in the house or on the street. She prefers it to skipping and running.  Another cute book by this author.

Don’t Judge an Alligator By Its Teeth by Kevin Ocasio and Nicole Ocasio

Benjamin goes fishing with his dad. When his dad falls asleep and he has nothing nibbling at his line he decides to explore around the area.  He finds an alligator and tries to run away. Then he trips and falls.  He is sure he is going to be eaten.  The alligator explains that he just wants to be friends.  He says everyone runs away from him.  Benjamin agrees to play hide and seek with him and has lots of fun until his dad comes to get him. I loved this book.  Part of the reason is because I love alligators, even though I have a healthy respect for them. My only concern comes from the fact I live in Florida where we have plenty of alligators.  I would strongly suggest after sharing this book with your young one that you make it clear that the real alligators are not like the alligator in the story.

Maybe: A Little Zen For Little Ones by Sanjay Nambiar

In this simple book we read about a young girl and her friends. As different things happen to her, the girl’s friends tell her how lucky or unlucky she is. She always responds, “maybe”. The whole idea is to focus not so much on if it was lucky or unlucky. Why, what we thought was unlucky may have benefits we did not see coming. Greatb ook for kids and adults.

Julio Bunny and the Foreign Lion by Nicoletta Costa

This is a simple story of a lion who can’t speak the language of those around him. He finds a group of forest friends who help him, take care of his needs and learn that music is a language everyone understands.

Come Back Dear Sun by Geena Bean

This was an extremely appropriate book for this time in our lives. A little girl is sad because she’s not seen the sun in a longtime. She speaks with the moon and learns the sun was sad and went away. Why? With TV and video games no one came out to play. The sun gets sad and goes away.  The young girl and her friends talk with the moon and ask him to find the sun to come back.  The author is right that our children don’t play outside the way we once did.  I think this is a book that should be shared with all young children.

Pluto the Starfish by Bonnie M. Anderson

Pluto the starfish lives off the coast of Magical Buck Island. He cries because he doesn’t know what his purpose in life is. Lewis the lobster explains that Pluto has a freedom he can’t enjoy.  He must hide from humans to keep from being eaten.  Nancy the nurse shark explains that she has to be wary of cousins such as the great white shark.  Lolita the leatherback  turtle explains to Pluto that they are just now making a comeback because they were almost hunted into extinction. Harriet the Humpback whale explains that being large doesn’t protect you. They have to fear boats and humans. Pluto the starfish learned that size, color or the ability to move didn’t make one more important than another in the ocean.  After all, he was the star of the ocean.

Alphabet All Stars Academy Animal Pack by Scott Gordon

These four books are set up to teach the alphabet. They start off with the simplest task of itroducing childrne to the different animals whose name begins with each letter of the alphabet. The author takes it a step further by telling an interesting fact about the animal. In the second book he has included not only the cutsy animals but the real animals along with a letter from the alphabet and another interesting fact about them. In the third book Silly animals looks at some of the silly aspects of anials such as the narwhal that has a horn on his head or the fact that the own has a very flexible neck. All the while the children are associating the animals with a letter from the alphabet. I love the final book. It was set up as a quiz. The reader must guess the letter in the book. The author has given two great hints. The picture of the animal posed in the shape of the letter. Children learn letter recognition as well as association of animals with the letter. Since the letters are out of order it truly is a higher thinking process

Mins Move by MoveHub

Children's Informational Picture Book

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

MoveHub has created a book to help parents and their children as they face the difficulty of moving to a new country.  However, I truly believe that the suggestions and tips made in this book would be helpful for making a move across the country.

Minnie and her brother Max have learned that they are going to be moving to China.  The parents didn’t dump all of the information on the kids at one time, they gave Min just enough information at a time.  When Min has doubts about moving, the family finds ways to support her and give her just enough new information to help her.  Her imagination often gets the best of her and then she is surprised to learn the truth. An example is when she learns about dragon fruits. Her imagination gets the best of her and she thinks real dragons are involved.  She is surprised to learn all about the sweet and exotic fruit.

With this help of four psychologist giving their advice and input for this book, it is definitely a valuable resource for any parent preparing to move with their family.

You can purchase this book at  MoveHub

Student Saturday: North of Beautiful by Justina Chen

Student Reviewer: Ella S.
Genre:  Young Adult, Realistic Fiction


This book opens up with Terra saying what she looks like. Terra has a port-wine stan birthmark on her cheek. She has had surgeries but they never work. along the way she has an incident with this boy and ends up liking him, but she hiding something form him. this was a really good book. It was cool to read about how some people reacted if something was different about them.

One thing I really loved is how you could see Terra's pros and cons. I think that's great, because you can see everybody different. I can't wait to get other kids to read it and I hope they like it too.

Newest Work by Dan O'Brien and Review of the First Issue

Well, the time has come to announce Dan O’Brien’s latest project: Mobsters, Monsters & Nazis: a collaboration between Dan O’Brien and Steve Ferchaud, who illustrated Conspirators of the Lost Sock Army and the Loose Change Collection Agency. What I am revealing today is the sketches for some of the interior illustrations (which will be black and white) of the first issue. It will be released as six issues (eBooks) starting on Halloween. It is influenced by film noir, pulp comics, and an abiding love of Lovecraft. It is now available for pre-order and Dan will be promoting it heavily starting in the month of October. He would love to hear what you think of it so far! Visit him at: http://thedanobrienproject.blogspot.com/ or on Twitter, @AuthorDanOBrien

Have a look at the great sketches in the book.

My Review:

In addition to all of the great sketches it promises to be a great read.

If you are looking for something with that old time noir feel then this is the book for you.  Reading this was like sitting in a movie theater watching an old private eye movie.  The difference is some of the characters are monsters, such as a character with tentacles on his face, a troglodyte, werewolves, while others are mobsters and Nazis.  They are all after one particular item.   Derrick Diamond is in the process of delivering it when it is stolen from him.  He is hot on the trail of the thief. He is led to the Yellow Monarch. Here is where we meet the soulful singer Ava Harpy.  From here the action is ratcheted up a notch and we are left with a cliffhanger.This is a definite must read.  I'm looking forward to reading more by this author.

The Power of Habit by Eddie de Jong

Genre:  Nonfiction, Self Help

The author has created a book that effective helps people look at their habits, both good and bad and make decisions that will improve their life.  The book contains links to sites where you can get more help or info.  I’ve read multiple books like this throughout my life.  Like the author I was a very shy person and was comfortable sitting someplace alone with a book.  Books like this have helped me throughout my life.  They brought me out of my shell and made me the person I am today.  I think I liked this, more than any of the other books I’ve read because it was more user friendly.  I didn’t feel like the author had written over my head.  This is a book that should be required reading from high school on up. I would definitely recommend this book to everyone who needs to get their life in order.

 

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

Three Children's Books by Kyle Fuhrer and Illustrator Bethany Tallack

Billy Bob the Dog & Torkelson Turtle in: The Ancient Art of Asking

Fiddler’s Green is hopping.  Everyone is busy. That is everyone except Goober Ninja.  He can’t find anything to do.  He wants to have fun but everyone is too busy.  The town had a major problem. They were too busy to play, but too afraid to ask anyone for help.  Goober decided to use his super ninja powers to help his friends.  Each time he helped out the mob of people chasing him grew. How could he be in so much trouble just for helping? What will happen when he finds himself in a dead in alley?  Maybe they both have a lesson to learn.

Good Food Gone Bad

Billy Bob the Dog and Torkelson the Turtle are cops in Fiddler’s Green.  Hypnotherapy was the evilest villain they had to deal with. When Bob and Torkelson’s friend Smallfridge tells them he thinks it would be fun to eat nothing but junk food, Hypnotherapy decides to steal all of the healthy food in Fiddler’s Green. Hypnotherapy hypnotizes all of the store owners. They lock away the healthy food leaving only juk food. Everone ate so much junk food they got fat and lazy. This allowed Hypnotherapy to play tricks on everyone. Luckily for fiddler’s Green Torkelson the Turtle didn’t eat junk food. It was up to him to save Fiddler’s Green.

The Magical Imagination of Smallfridge: The Leap of Space

Smallfridge is a young boy who likes to bounce on his bed before going to sleep each night. On one particular night he bounces himself into space where he has all kinds of adventures.  He visits the Moon, Mars and Saturn, Jupiter and Pluto. He drinks milk from the Milky Way then catches a ride back to Earth on a shooting star. This is a simple story with simplistic illustrations that make it a great bedtime story.

Suitcase Filled With Nails: Lessons Learned From Teaching Art in Kuwait by Yvonne Wakefield

Genre:  Adult, Memoir

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

From the back cover:

Artist and arts educator Yvonne Wakefield leaves a secure career and home life in the Pacific Northwest, so opposite to the climate and landscape she finds when she moves to the little desert state of Kuwait. For six years she will teach art there, to university aged Muslim women, and negotiate tribal and misogynistic land mines set by detractors who are threatened by anyone, especially a spirited American woman, who encourages freedom of expression. More than a good read, Suitcase Filled with Nails is filled with insights on working, living, and coping in a culture that transcends prevalent Middle East stereotypes.

My Thoughts:

I’m surprised by all that I read, and then to realize that after all she went through she continued to go back year after year. I feel I got a better look into life in Kuwait, even if it was told just from her side of it.  I believe there is more than one perspective to any story, and this is hers told from her experiences.One thing I admire is that no matter what happened she continued to fight for those she taught.  I know, even though I am an educator, I would not have the guts to go where she went and do what she do.  I believe that not only did she enrich their lives but they enriched hers.

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

Student Saturday: Flying Solo by Ralph Fletcher

Student Reviewer: Dylan S.
Genre: Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction

I finished reading the book Flying Solo by Ralph Fletcher. I had seen this book in my elementary school but just never bothered to pick it up and read it. I think this book was excellent and it owuld be funny if it happened to me. It is about some kids all in the same class that come to school and they do't have a teacher! So, the class decides to try to survive the school day without a teacher. Will they make it or will they get caught by aother teacher?  Read the book to find out! I had a connection to this book, because on the last day of school it feels like we don't have a teacher because we just played games. I really enjoyed this book and I recommend you read it too.

Student Saturday: Explorer: The Mystery Boxes by Kazu Kibuishi

Student Reviewer: Luis O.

Genre: Graphic Novel

Source: My teacher recommended this book to me because it’s an easy graphic novel

This book started with a little girl finding a white doll in a box that said, “I’m made of wax and very small I’ll be your friend, not just a doll. Keep me out of the sun and we’ll be fine. What’s mine is yours, what’s yours is mine”

The doll does all the little girl’s chores and starts to look like her until she’s 100% her. The doll draws on walls and her mother thinks it was her, but it was the doll. The girl chases the doll outside and the doll melts. There are a lot of stories like this one in this book I recommend this to people who like different stories talking about the same thing (the mystery box).