Reviews | Page 3 of 24

Me, Myselfie & I, A Cautionary Tale rings true for too many folks

We would all be better off without social media, wouldn’t we? A blogging friend of mine had to re-access his social media usage when his 4 YO daughter drew a picture of them-and they were on the phone. After that illustration they went on a social detox to evaluate what’s really important. Me, Myselfie & I, A Cautionary Tale is a book that some parents need to read and all parents won’t mind reading. Thankfully, it’s presented in a manner that kids in pre-K through second grade will actually want to read it also.

Moreover, the book is one that parents can read without feeling guilty. It celebrates the smartphone, as well as social media and presents the life bonding moments that they can bring. The book also teaches the lesson of moderation, which is one that we all could use a reminder of from time to time.

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Ginny Goblin Is Not Allowed To Open This Box, the book review

A title like Ginny Goblin Is Not Allowed To Open This Box baits you. Granted the odds on a living person actually being named Ginny Goblin are slim (plus there’s probably that disclaimer about it being a work of fiction yada yada..), but it taunts you. Why can’t she open the box? Is it like Brad Pitt asking what’s in the box? And Ginny Goblin looks very cute, with her Shrek colored skin and half grown monster ears. I want her to open the box, can I? You, can open the box, but, Ginny Goblin Is Not Allowed To Open This Box and it’ll put a soft smile on readers aged three and up.

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Breakout, mixed results from a middle school book with good intentions

From the cover, Breakout by Kate Messner feels like an epic novel. It’s thick, clocks in at 433 pages and has notations at the end of the book for those that want to read more about the content in Breakout. Breakout takes place in a sleepy mountain town in New York as two inmates have just escaped from a prison. The story is told through the eyes of two seventh-graders in a variety of ways including text messages, cartoons, poems, and letters to the paper, their friends and more. Breakout is loosely based on the real 2015 prison escape from Clinton Correctional Facility. It sees a fictionalized account of how those youth might have imagined the situation as they saw it. Continue reading Breakout, mixed results from a middle school book with good intentions

Perfectly Norman is just about that in a children’s book

Children are fascinating creatures who are impossible to understand. They have secrets, friendships that are needlessly complex and make small matters seem like mountains that they’ll never be able to overcome. In short, children are just like us, except a couple decades younger and can text faster than you. Perfectly Norman by Tom Percival is a children’s book that perfectly encapsulates an element of what being a kids is like. It’s their belief that nobody is like me. Nobody has this and everybody else is living the life of Riley. Continue reading Perfectly Norman is just about that in a children’s book

We Don’t Eat Our Classmates, fabulous allegory and all

Penelope Rex is at a crossroads. She’s about to go to school and it’s a bit time change. Either she’s going into kindergarten or first grade; it’s one of those landmark years in early elementary school. She’s quite worried about making friends in her class and how they’ll treat her, given that she’s a T. Rex. We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins is laugh-out-loud comfort food for readers 4-8. This is the kind of book that parents don’t mind reading more than once. It’s a great-good-night book and one that will make it through to the grandchildren’s library in 20 years or so.

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Bad Mermaids Make Waves is great reading for girls 8 and up

I am not enjoying a book about mermaids….I tell myself….but I am. Bad Mermaids Make Waves is the type of madcap, creative, fun book that will utterly entrance readers who are 8 and up, even boys, if they dare. This is a book that will mainly cater towards girls due to the title and subject matter. However, I, as a grown adult male stumbled into Hidden Lagoon and can wholeheartedly recommend Bad Mermaids Make Waves for several reasons. Continue reading Bad Mermaids Make Waves is great reading for girls 8 and up

Dr. Critchlore’s School For Minions, Twice Cursed review

Dr. Critchlore’s School For Minions, Twice Cursed is the fourth and final book in this series by Sheila Grau with illustrations by Joe Suthpin. It’s three-ring-circus of a book for mid-elementary through middle school that jams monsters, plot twists, more monsters and laughs. Just when you think that nothing else could happen in the book, something does and it only adds to the greater story. Continue reading Dr. Critchlore’s School For Minions, Twice Cursed review

Lumberjanes: Unicorn Power! makes you believe in Friendship

Remember when Sammy Hagar joined Van Halen and it was a big deal? If not-or it was before you knew rock and roll, let’s go back in the time machine. A famous singer, with his own band, was joining a world-famous band to be their lead singer. Most singers went solo after leaving a band. Hagar quipped that he was simply going the other way around. Lumberjanes, one of the best all ages comics on the marketplace is going Van Hagar on us by releasing Lumberjanes: Unicorn Power!, an original novel by Mariko Tamaki with illustrations by Brooke Allen.

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