#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.

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.

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

I 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/

#ChildrensBook #Review Happy Publication Day for Monster Max and The Bobble Hat Of Forgetting by Robin Bennett @writer_robin @fireflypress @rararesources #FunnyFebruary

Monster Max And The Bobble Hat Of Forgetting
By Robin Bennett
Illustrated by Tom Tinn Disbury
Rated:

I am delighted to be kicking off the blog tour for Monster Max And The Bobble Hat Of Forgetting on
Publication Day!!!
Meet Monster Max – a book that is sure to excite and entice your 7-9 year old children and make them laugh in this comedic tale. You may have seen it around in The Beano, Toppsta, Lovereading4kids. I am excited to be part of the blog tour in ‘Funny February’ to get the word out about this hilarious book. There is also a PRIZE you can win… see details after my review…
Robin is an experienced author who is also available for events and is preparing YouTube videos, an audiobook and social media competitions. So look out for those.
Thanks to Rachel at Random Resources Tours for inviting me and for FireFly Press for supplying me with a book.

About the Author

Aged 21 Robin was all set to become a cavalry officer; aged 21 and a half, he found himself working as an assistant gravedigger in south London wondering where it all went wrong. Robin has gone on to start and run over a dozen successful businesses from dog- sitting to cigars, tuition to translation. The list is quite exhausting. Robin is married with three young children. He spends his time between Pau in the Pyrenées and Henley-on- Thames.

Monster Max and the Bobble Hat of Forgetting is Robin’s first book with Firefly Press publishing in February 2021. He has also written other books for children, published with Monster Books.

Rampaging Rugby, first in the Stupendous Sports non-fiction series for 7-11-year-olds will publish August 2021.

Follow Robin on Twitter @writer_robin and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/robinbennettauthor/

Blurb

First book in the hilarious Monster Max series

Max is an unusual 9-year-old. He can turn himself into a huge, bin- eating monster by BURPING. Being a monster is brilliant, unless he sneezes (which turns him back) and he finds himself far from home in just his pants.

Max decides to be more responsible and ‘protect and do good stuff’, starting with catching a local vandal. But his nemesis, Peregrine, is convinced Max is the vandal, and invents his POOP (Portable Operating Omni Prison) machine to trap him. If Peregrine can prove the truth, Max and his mother could be put in a zoo … or worse. Max will have to use his wits as well as his strength to catch the real culprit, before Peregrine can catch him…

Review

Max is like any ordinary child and has a cat called Frankenstein and attends St. Cuthbert’s Primary School. Maybe, not just any ordinary child… with a burp, he will turn into a monster, until he sneezes and he turns back into a human boy. As a monster, he is out to do some good in stopping some bad guys from stealing ever again.
Moving onwards, children will discover this is just no ordinary family, with their tales of a king, a snake, sprites and much more. Within the humour is magical adventure and a nemesis.
The way the book is written has much comedy value that 7-9 year olds would most certainly appreciate. It’s all pitched very well at their level of humour, within the characters in what they say and do as well as many of their names.
It’s well illustrated throughout, that just adds to the humour.
With the P.A.N.T.S and P.O.O.P machine (each, clever acronyms) for what is used within a secret mission, children are sure to get much enjoyment out of that and in finding out if all will be well in the end, after some mild trepidation in the middle that will hold children’s attention and grip them further and yet still finding the comedy.
This is also a tale with a powerful message within it as it also illustrates how it is important to be yourself.
Don’t forget to read the epilogue. It’ll ready children for Book 2… it may just make them gasp and it may just fill them with intrigue as to what’s to come next!

Purchase Links:

UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Monster-Max-Bobble-Hat-Forgetting-ebook/dp/B088BJLLTM/

US – https://www.amazon.com/Monster-Max-Bobble-Hat-Forgetting-ebook/dp/B088BJLLTM/

Website: https://fireflypress.co.uk/books/monster-max/

Giveaway to Win a Monster Max Cuddly Toy (UK Only)

*Terms and Conditions –UK entries only, welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

Click Link To Enter: Monster Max Cuddly Toy

Lou’s #Review of How Do You Make A Rainbow @crowehoho @MacMillanKidsUK #ChildrensBook #KidsLit

How Do You Make A Rainbow
By Caroline Crowe
Rated: 5 stars *****

Beautifully written, this is no ordinary rainbow. This is one that promotes kindness and encourages children to care and not take things for granted. It’s a gloriously enticing book that’s full of joyous positivity and fun!
Perfect for homes and the classroom, it’s a treat of a book, with a story and activities.
Thanks to MacMillan Kids for accepting my request to review.
Please read further for the blurb and full review.

How do you make a rainbow? This joyful story, written by Caroline Crowe and illustrated by Cally Johnson-Isaacs, shows how to find colour and hope when days seem dim and grey: celebrating love, positivity and the precious relationship between a child and her grandad.

Stuck inside on a cloudy day, a little girl asks her grandad to help her paint a rainbow on the sky. But as Grandad tells her, rainbows aren’t painted on the sky, they grow out of kindness, hope, and helping other people.

How Do You Make a Rainbow? is a reassuring, heart-warming story of colours, kindness, community and nature, that shows that brighter times are always around the corner.

Review

This book is beautifully written and cute. This is far from any ordinary rainbow. It has colour, but more than that too… This presents ideas of how to paint a rainbow and it is different from what you may imagine… There is a story of A grand daughter who is curious about the rainbow in the sky, so asks her grandad about how to paint it, but it turns out the rainbow is made out of all different things. The book oozes with love and kindness and of untroubled times. It talks of the symbolism of a rainbow and what it means to them in a lyrical story-form. Grandad talks of how it is hope and kindness and a lot of other things from the natural world thrown into the mix as well as all the people you may know or may meet. It’s all the simple things people take for granted or don’t really think of. It’s incredibly heartwarming. It serves as this cosy reminder to children of what is good and positive around them and promotes kindness and encourages children to look around them and to think of who and what they see and really, properly care. It’s an important message as well as lots of fun for children. It champions who and what is good within the world they live in.

To go with the story is a crafting idea for each idea presented on each page for what makes up a rainbow and encourages children to think of all the things that would make up theirs, so it encourages discussion and also writing.

This book would be great in the home and any primary classroom and library.

#BookReview by Lou of – In The City of Fortunes and Flames – A Freddie Malone Adventure by Clive Mantle @MantleClive @award_books #ChildrensBooks #YA 8yrs plus

In the City of Fortunes and Flames
A Freddie Malone Adventure
By Clive Mantle
Rated: 5 stars *****

In The City of Fortunes and Flames is where to find a terrific time-travelling adventure to London, in the times of the plague, slavery and The Great Fire of London. This is book 3 of the Freddie Malone Adventure books and it’s quite the page-turner with lots of adventure and action, which is suitable from ages 8 and into younger YA/Teens.
Be re-acquainted with Freddie, Ruby and Connor and also meet some people from history along the way. There is good news in that there will be a further 2 books coming soon.
Find out more about In The City Of Fortune And Flames in the blurb and review…. I happened to have bought this book. It is available as a physical book and an e-book.

Links to books in order :-
                                 Amazon – Treasure At The Top of The Mountain
                                   Amazon – A Jewel In The Sands Of Time
Amazon – In the City of Fortune and Flames

Blurb

The mysterious world map on Freddie Malone’s bedroom wall ripples into life and the swirling vortex begins to form, but is Freddie prepared for where – and when – it will take him? Join Freddie, Connor and Ruby as they travel to the plague-stricken and fire-ravaged London of the seventeenth century, where the streets are ruled by a merciless gang of criminals and kidnappers. Stalked through time by the menacing, shrouded figure of the Collector, can the friends outwit their enemies and save history? It’s all just a question of time…

Review

Having read and reviewed and was very impressed by the calibre of the story-telling and the themes of the first two Freddie Malone books, I figured I would review the 3rd. Clive Mantle, quite rightly so, is The People’s Book Prize Winner Author. The books are suitable for confident readers ages 8 years plus. Very nicely this one starts off with what happened previously…

With the magical map Freddie got for his birthday in the first book, the map has more ideas…
The book starts with the brilliant and never-ageing poem – IF by Rudyard Kipling, it’s as pertinent now as it was in 1895, when it was written. IF is also pertinent to portals in this series.

The setting is London and the time is both the present and 1665/1666. There’s a map with a key chart, which illustrates the events at that time and then readers are reunited with Freddie and his friend Connor on a school production of The Pied Piper of Hamlin before a compelling adventure begins.

There are little references here and there of the Nepal (book 1) and Egyptian adventures (book 2), but it is okay if you’ve not read that one yet as it does also move onwards to this current adventure. This time the portal takes Freddie to London, 1665, where he meets a slave. Samuel Pepys is in need of a servant who can write, so Freddie is tested. There is, like the other books, a lot that children can gain within these books and that can feed their minds and get them curious about history. There’s also the mystery as to why the map took Freddie to 1665 and readers, apart from getting to know Pepys, also get to know something of King Charles II and the plague on Drury Lane. During the segments of Freddie being back in the present with Connor and Ruby, more is told of his journey. As time flips from the past to the present and back again, it is done in such a succinct way, that is easy to follow and understand. It’s a book that children and young teens can really get into as it is an engrossing page-turner. The facts mixed with the fiction is written in an expressive and exciting way with likeable fictional characters meeting those who really lived. This combination works really well.
As time moves on, Freddie (and readers), then experience the atmosphere of The Great Fire of London and the impact it had. There’s also intrigue within this, as indeed within the whole book.

#Review of #ChildrensBook – The Puddle People by Tommy Ellis @TommyEllis14 #MiddleGrade

The Puddle People
By Tommy Ellis
Rated: 4 Stars ****

Good versus Bad, Adventure, Action, Science – The Puddle People (the first in a series), will entertain ages 8-11 year olds who are looking to enter a new world to read for pleasure.
Thanks to Tommy Ellis for sending me over a copy to review.
Check out the eye-catching cover, blurb and my review.

Blurb

Eleven-year-old Ethan Myles is having a bad day: His summer holiday has been cancelled, the weird glowing crystal he found in the garden has given him an electric shock, draining him of enjoyment, and his mum is suffering from a terminal illness.
If that wasn’t bad enough, he’s only got minutes to stop a race of strange watery beings, led by evil ice-man, Doctor Freeze, sucking the fun from humanity, leaving the entire human race in the darkness of everlasting misery.
Will Ethan and his nine-year-old sister Amber manage to defeat Doctor Freeze before it’s too late, or will all human pleasure cease to exist?

Review

Suitable for 8-11 year olds, it places The Puddle People firmly in the Middle-Grade market. Jump in a puddle and see where it takes you. When I started out reading, it was Puddle Lane. Now for 8-11 year old kids, it’s Puddlemere to meet the Puddle People. The Puddle People is one of the latest books kids can have fun with and add to their book collection to read for pleasure, to begin a whole new adventure. This is book 1 of a series…. book 2 will come soon…

There is some sibling rivalry between Ethan and Amber. Ethan also gets a right telling off from his mum that will resonate with both parents and children alike. Parents who tell their children so many times not to do something and children, for how many times they’ve heard this. This is even though his mum isn’t at all well. It demonstrates well that nothing gets past parents, even when there is a health issue. It doesn’t dwell on this and instead develops into an action-packed adventure.

Ethan and Amber discover a cave, a strange piece of quartz and odd watery behaviour from a puddle and end up meeting Storm Floodwater, Private Drizzle, Private Drip and the evil Doctor Freeze. There is also an Emporer who is contemplating how humans, or Overlanders as residents of Puddlemere call them, can bring fun and against the evil Doctor Freeze’s wishes. There’s some trepidation and parts I’m sure kids will gasp at and want to continue in this relatively fast-paced book, where they will also discover some science, especially in the form of chemical symbols, neatly added as part of the story-line. In certain places, there is a bit of darkness, but mostly not so much different from action hero movies and tv shows. There are no illustrations, hence more for confident and gaining confident readers, but the descriptions are good and it’s a world that children will be able to imagine and have fun with.

This is a book suitable for confident readers or those gaining confidence in their reading.

What The World Needs Now – Bees By Cheryl Rosebush @cherylrosebush @freshly_press @lovebooksgroup #lovebookstours #ChildrensBook

What The World Needs Now – Bees
By Cheryl RoseBush

Today I have the great pleasure in introducing a wonderful, very exciting, timely children’s book called –What The World Needs Now – Bees!
Look out for my review coming soon. For now, take a look at the vibrant cover, the fun sounding blurb and some fascinating information about the author and her website.

Blurb

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.

About the Author

I 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 ageing 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-panelled station wagons. We spent summers swimming in friends’ backyards. These are my very fortunate roots.

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 a 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/