Tag: #Childrensbook

#BookReview of #ChildrensBook – Chocolate Cake For Breakfast by J.L. Humphreys @Jlhumphreys59

Chocolate Cake For Breakfast
By J.L. Humphreys

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Who wants chocolate cake for breakfast? I’m sure a lot of hands will whoosh up. Find out if the girl in the story actually has it or not. Discover where her imagination takes her in this short fun story that has animals, food and the alphabet within it. It’s suitable for pre-school to 5/6 year olds. Find out more in the blurb and my full review. 
Thanks to J.L Humphreys for inviting me to review and for providing the book.

Chocolate Cake for Breakfast

Blurb

Do you know a child that struggles with reading and learning the alphabet? Do you wish your child would sit with you and enjoy reading? Learning to read starts early and you can instill a love for reading now! Chocolate Cake for Breakfast introduces children to the alphabet through the wild imagination of a little girl envisioning herself as different animals eating tasty treats. Your child will have fun and laugh out loud at the silly animals while learning the alphabet.

Chocolate Cake for Breakfast

Review

This book is fun and educational as it goes through the letters of the alphabet. Imagine having delicious chocolate cake, right in front of you and your mum telling you not to have any!!! This is what happens to the girl in this story. She then shows her wild imagination as she thinks of different animals and what she would eat if she could turn into them.  Each animal and food is in alphabetical order in the story, which is made up of short, sharp, rhyming sentences, most, accompanied by pictures. With the letters of the alphabet also in bold at the top of each page, it will make for a fun way for children to learn it, alongside a humorous story.

About the Author

J.L. Humphreys is the author of the picture books, Pumpkin’s Kitties, Super Sweet Pea, and Chocolate Cake for Breakfast. Humphreys is delighted that she has a job that allows her to teach children to use their imagination and dream big.

Humphreys lives in California with her husband, daughters, dog, and cat. Besides writing, reading, and teaching she is enthusiastic about the outdoors. She enjoys vacationing with her family, swimming, and getting her hands dirty. Her favorite ice-cream is mint-n-chip, her favorite color is blue, and her favorite animal is an elephant.
You can follow J.L. Humphreys on twitter @Jlhumphreys59

#BookReview by Lou of My Sister Is A Monster, My Brother Is A Monster by Natalie Reeves Billing @BillingReeves @RandomTTours #MonstrousMe #ChildrensBook

My Sister Is A Monster, My Brother Is A Monster
by Natalie Reeves Billing
Rated: 5 stars *****

I am absolutely delighted to be sharing with you the next installment of this wonderful series. Each book is complete within themselves and are worth collecting them all for the complete family of them. It is a split-perspective story, so you see both the sister and brother’s point of view. First one and then flip the book over to see the next, in whatever order you like, so it’s a bit like 2 stories for the price of 1 and with all the same excellent characters in both. It’s fun and it encourages a sense of self and empathy. Find out more about the author, the blurb and my full review of this excellent book as you meander down the page. Discover a link to activities that accompany the book after my review.
Thanks to Random Things Tours for inviting me to review. Thanks to the author Natalie Reeves Billing for sending me the book.

About the Author

Natalie Reeves Billing. Author Pic (5)Natalie Reeves Billing is a Liverpool lass with a dark sense of humour, which often spills onto the page. She loves to write spooky, fantastical stories for young audiences, and dabbles in poetry, contemporary fiction.
Natalie spent most of her early career in the music industry as a performer and professional songwriter. This lead, almost inevitably, to storytelling.

Natalie is an Arvon Foundation friend and is a student of the Golden Egg Academy. She is mentored under the Lloyds Bank SSE program, with her Bubs Literacy project. She is published in several anthologies with her poetry and flash fiction, including the Writing on the Wall, Read Now, Write Now, and is involved in several collaborations with fellow writers across poetry, song, and scriptwriting.
Her new book, My Mummy is a Monster (part of the Monstrous Me collection) will be available in March 2020 and Carry Love in June 2020
Connect with Natalie on Twitter @BillingReeves.

My Brother Graphic 1

Blurb

Two Books in 1! The Monstrous Me Collection are split perspective books looking at situations from other points of view, helping children develop a sense of balance, roundedness and wellbeing. Readers can literally and figuratively, turn the story on its head, and look at the very same situations from different angles. In this book, a brother and sister are convinced the other is a monster. But, are they really? When we look at the story from the other side, we see a very different story.

My sister Cover

    My Brother FINAL cover

Review

This is again, another terrific book that flips 2-ways to tell 2 stories. This time it focuses on the brother and the sister. It, like other books in this collection, has interactive elements of trying to find the Monstrometer as you go along. It adds an extra layer of fun and it is great that there are activities on her Lollipop Lodge website, which you can find just after the review.
Half the book is My Brother Is A Monster and then you flip it over to find My Sister is a Monster, or indeed, vice-versa, which is also fun and quite different.
The story starts at breakfast time, moving onto school and back home again before heading to bed. It tells of how the brother has the worst eating habits, bully’s his sister at school and then at home, won’t let her play with his toys and messes up the rules and the house. Then at the end, it demonstrates how he does love his sister really and does something courageous for her.
On the flipside, her brother sees his sister as being a monster as she is fussy at breakfast and has rules and then come school, won’t join in any games she thinks she will lose. At home she won’t leave her brother alone and tidies up rather prematurely. After all that, she then gives her brother a lovely homemade gift and shows she does love him after all.

The book is well-rounded and encourages empathy and understanding as children will be able to see through the eyes of both characters and work out how things really are and what is percieved. I has wonderful humour, rhythm and illustrations throughout will easily engage children.
This is a book that is part of a great collection that will be sure to delight children throughout at home and in the classroom. It can be used for both reading for pleasure and in a nursery and young classroom school setting, such as Reception or Primary 1, for fun and for stimulating conversation. 

Link to Activities

www.lollipoplodge.com

My Brother BT Poster

#BookReview of The Unicorn Prince by Luca Simone Lo Piccolo and ArtinAction #ChildrensBook (4-6 yr olds) #Kidslit

The Unicorn Prince by
 Luca Simone Lo Piccolo
and ArtinAction

Rated: 4 stars ****

Enter a magical kingdom of a unicorn prince who learns a valuable lesson from a fairy. With bold illustrations, a story, plus colouring-in pages, this is a delightful book for 4-6 year olds that will give pleasure as well as subtly teach them social lessons. Please note on the book you may see his name as Lo Piccolo Luca Simone.
Follow down to find out more in the blurb and my review. Find out what the second book is called and a buy link.

The Unicorn Prince

Blurb

A fun and valuable tale which encourages kids to celebrate people for who they really are.

The Prince of the Unicorns is the most beautiful unicorn of them all – but he has a problem. He thinks he’s so beautiful and special that he doesn’t want to play with the other unicorns in the kingdom! But with the help of a magical fairy, he might just learn a valuable lesson about vanity and humility which changes his mind forever…

With lovely illustrations and a heartwarming story, this touching children’s book teaches kids a valuable lesson about how a person’s character matters far more than their looks or their status. Encouraging kids to see past vanity and celebrate others for who they truly are, The Unicorn Prince uses an enjoyable story to impart a lesson which they won’t soon forget.

Book details:

  • A Fun and Engaging Story For Children Aged 4-6
  • Teaches Kids a Valuable Lesson About Humility and Not Thinking Too Highly of Oneself
  • Makes a Creative Gift Idea For Christmas, Holidays, Birthdays and Special Occasions
  • Ideal as a Bedtime Story, For Groups, or To Help Your Child Strengthen Their Reading Skills
  • And Much More!

With free bonus coloring pages for your child to bring to life with color, this wonderful tale will quickly become a favorite part of your bookshelf and a story which you find yourselves returning to time and time again.

The Unicorn Prince

Review

Pitched well for 4-6 year olds, the book is bright and eye-catching in its full pages of illustrations. Don’t be put off by the fact it is 48 pages, this isn’t 48 pages full of writing . On each page where the story is being told in a few short sentences, are illustrations and almost uniquely, this alternates with pages with no words, but a full page of an illustration, accompanying also what has just been read, which definitely has a high visual impact. From around page 33 onwards are delightful colouring-in pages that accompany the story very well as they depict some of the story. The colourings are suitable for the age-range and not too intricate, but without being too basic either and there are plenty for children to have fun with.
This makes the book very accessible for children of all abilities and how it is as wide-ranging as 4-6 year olds.
It is sure to motivate those children who are also perhaps reluctant readers when they reach 5 and 6 year olds too. It’s very much a book that children can look at independantly, share with their friends and for the story, share with an adult to read it to them or with them. The story has the elements and types of characters that children will be familiar with many fairytales, but taken to modern times and issues surrounding how society, including children can view themselves and the valuable lessons on a more positive path can be realised, but in a magical and wondrous way, with a unicorn prince and a fairy.

The book tackles themes of loneliness amongst the young and also attitudes of thinking highly of themselves over others. It illustrates very well how the Prince has everything materialistically, but what he doesn’t have is friendship and how this makes him feel. It also shows his snobbery a bit and how he thinks because he is a prince, that he is better and higher than anyone else in society. There is a fairy who shows her power and changes perspectives on the Unicorn Prince and how he is viewed by making the sky dark, thereby diminishing his physical beauty and glow about it, making him seem like all the other unicorns.In amongst all the emotion children will see, there is a change in tide to show a more positive and happy pictures as the Prince Unicorn discovers games and the enjoyment of just playing around and being like the other unicorns.

This is a good book for any story-time and as well as reading for pleasure, it can be used to open-up a discussion too. There is also a second book called – The Unicorn Prince and The Fairy Vase.
Buy Link: Amazon

#BookReview by Lou of #ChildrensBook – Can This Family Survive Quarantine? – The Adventures of Sheltering in Place and Covid-19 by Susana Basanty @sbasanty

 Can This Family Survive Quarantine?
The Adventures of Sheltering in Place and Covid-19
by Susana Basanty
Illustrated by Anna Ishenko
Rated: 4 stars ****

A fun, uplifting children’s story that balances the very serious with some humour that reflects children’s lives of what they are living through today. Find out more about it in the blurb and review and in the various links below.
Thank you to Susana Basanty for contacting me to review her children’s book and for supplying it to me.

About The Author

Susana Basanty, author of ”When my Mom Goes to Tsunami Supermarket, Why Can’t I Tag Along”, is an American born in Madrid, Spain. Later she moved to California in the 1970s, worked in e-Commerce and is now writing. She is married to Robert and has two children Elena and Christopher. A daughter-in-law Courtney and
a granddaughter Aviana. When she is not writing, she enjoys, family, church, friends, cooking, acting, gardening, crafting, Tunisian crochet and a positive mindset. For more information on Susana’s upcoming releases visit fablewords.com website – Fablewords

Can This Family Survive Quarantine

Blurb

A family struggles and copes with COVID-19, sheltering in place. Their unique approach teaches them how to help each other and others.

Review

As we are still all in lockdown and there may be some form of it for some time to come, this is a very timely book indeed as it reminds children about the virus, which again is also timely in the fact it is going on for so long and as children see things slowly and steadily, come back into some form of being like school etc, then it’s a worthy read. The book is told from a child’s point of view as well as the supporting characters of the family. It explains what the virus is in a way that children can understand and what essential workers are. It also delves into the new routines. What is good about this family story is that it feels like there is a positive vibe as well as a realistic one. Children will also be able to relate as it feeds right into what they too would be experiencing.

I love that there are demonstrations of washing hands and how not to and how to wear a facemask. There’s a real conscience about this book and some thought and care about this book, which is pleasing.

Children really get to know the characters – the inventor, the spa owner, which is fun. It’s also fun that the story shows what children can be doing in this time, even though they are missing their school staff and friends. There is an uplifting humour too as the children try to help out and things not exactly quite going to plan, even when they employ a robot to do all the chores. Children will enjoy the chaos that ensues.

The book also encourages empathy for their immediate friends and family and also those in other countries.

It all concludes in a heartwarming message that may well bring children (and adults reading this book with them) some hope and perhaps some comfort too.

Buy and Social Media Links:

Amazon         Facebook            Twitter        Fablewords 

#BookReview of #ChildrensBook -Love Our Earth by Jane Cabrera #JaneCabrera @MacmillanKidsUK

Love Our Earth
By Jane Cabrera
Rated: 5 stars *****

Love Our Earth is perfect for the little ones in your family. Thanks to MacMillan Children’s Books for accepting my request to review.
Follow on down to the blurb and my full review.

Love Our Earth

Blurb

A young and playful picture book about caring for our Earth. With lots to spot and count, and a fold-out surprise at the end!

Meet planet Earth and come on a colourful adventure across mountains, rivers, jungles and oceans. Spot and count the friendly animals along the way. And say hello to the smiling flowers, trees and hills.

Includes a surprise fold-out ending, with simple tips on how to look after our amazing planet.

With warm, playful illustrations from Jane Cabrera and a gentle read-aloud text, this is the perfect introduction to the wonders of life on Earth.

Love Our Earth

Review

What do you see? Come and meet, in gorgeous illustrations, some animals having fun, travel to the jungle, the hills, the desert and the sea and river too. Come and see the flowers and the snow and all around planet earth and read aloud this beautiful short and sweet story. It really is enticing for your little ones as they get to know the world around them and come to love it.

The book encourages children to be observant when reading the book. It’s a book that would be perfect to snuggle with your child and read aloud and see what your child can see as you read along. It lends itself perfectly for some fun and easy interaction as an introduction to what is on planet earth. There is also some fun within the short sentences of the lyrically flowing text, which is also written out in a fun, flowing way, that fits well with how it is naturally read.

#Bookreview by Lou of #ChildrensBook for 5-7 year olds What The World Needs Now: Bees by Cheryl Rosebush @cherylrosebush @freshly_press @lovebooksgroup #lovebookstours

What The World Needs Now: Bees
By Cheryl Rosebush
Illustrated by Zuzana Svobodova
Rated: 5 stars *****

First, I took part in the cover reveal. Now I have even more for you. I am starting off the blog to a review of this wonderful book for 5-7 year olds. It’s a sweet, well illustrated story mixed with facts in various ways that will both entertain and add to children’s knowledge.
Thanks to Freshly Press for supplying me with a copy of the book and to Love Books Group for inviting me to review.
Find out more in the blurb and review and discover more about this intrepid author below.

BeesTour

Blurb

Inside the sprawling forests of Ontario, Canada lives a  friendly black bear named Melly. One of Melly’s favourite  things to do is EAT! And many of the delicious fruits she  snacks on wouldn’t grow without the help of some very  important little forest creatures.

What the World Needs Now: Bees! explores the vital role  busy, busy bees play in helping plants to grow the food  people and animals love to eat.

bees Cover_Final RGB

Review

Bees… We all know how important bees are to the environment and to the human and animal race. This bright and very cute book tells a story as to why in a way that children can follow… Children can follow the black bear – Melly, who is in Ontario, Canada. It is however quite a universal, environmental story.
It is fun and cute to explore with Melly through the forest to the berries she eats onto the flowers she plays in to the friends she meets. Throughout it also tells the story of the busy bees and how they help pollinate flowers and food and why that is important. Children can also learn in little segments, away from the main story, in neat fact boxes, about the bear too. There is minor trepidation when chemical pesticides are used, until natural sprays are used instead. It’s an absolutely great story that is pitched very well for 5-7 year olds. They get a cute story, plus facts along the way and at the back there is a great page about bees from around the world and other wildlife species that can be found in Ontario, Canada.

About the Author

What The World Needs Now -author picI was born and raised in Southern Ontario, Canada in the cities of Burlington and St. Catharines. Long before the internet and mobile phones (now I’m aging myself!), my childhood was spent in forests and parks, on bike rides, and playing hide and seek until the streetlights came on. My family did comical Griswold-style road trips in wood-paneled station wagons. We spent summers swimming in friends’ backyards. These are my very fortunate roots.

I knew from an early age that my destiny would take me far from Southern Ontario. I graduated high school and moved to Montreal to study international politics at McGill University. The subject fascinated me, but as graduation approached, I realized I didn’t know what I wanted to do with a degree in international politics. I didn’t want to become a lawyer. I didn’t want to become a politician or civil servant. The media industry, on the other hand, intrigued me.

The West Coast of Canada also intrigued me. So, after graduating McGill, I packed up again, moved to Vancouver and took the first media job I could get at a local Top 40 radio station (Z.95.3) in Vancouver. Best job. Great bosses. I learned so much. But after a couple of years there, the winds of change came calling again.

September 11, 2001. In a heartbeat, Z95.3 went from playing Britney Spears to reporting up-to-the-minute information on the local, national and international fallout of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. In that moment, I knew I had found my calling. I wanted to do something that was needed on a good day, and needed even more on a bad day. I wanted to become a full-time journalist.

So, I packed my bags again (a running theme in my life), and moved to Ottawa, Ontario to do my Masters of Journalism. Another incredible two years culminated in me getting a research internship with the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) in London, England. That position helped me land back in Montreal for a second chapter there as local news reporter for the CBC. While I was there, I wore just about every hat you could in CBC’s radio and TV newsrooms. Depending on the day, I was a researcher, producer, reporter, or online writer. I even filled in for the weather reports every once in a while.

Website: https://www.cherylrosebush.com/