Children's Book Review: Spot The Dinosaur On The Island (Stella Maidment & Joelle Dreidemy)

Hardcover, 24 pages
Published April 1st 2015 by QEB Publishing

From spiky Stegosauruses to speedy Velocirapotors, there's so much to see on Dinosaur Island! With a hidden baby T.Rex to find on every scene and fun facts to discover throughout, step inside for hours of entertainment. Fantastic spot book activities, combined with non-fiction settings, make for an informative and entertaining series. Interesting facts add further educational value to the books. Titles in the new Spot the... series includeSpot the Monkey in the Jungle and Spot the Dinosaur on the Island.

BUY LINKS

Amazon * B & N * Indigo

Author: Stella Maidment

Illustrator: Joelle Dreidemy

First of all...THANK YOU to Quarto Publishing for allowing me to review this awesome children's book. I love the opportunity to review a work of art that could possibly make a difference in a child's life. 

Spot The Dinosaur On The Island is full of activities to do with your child. There are hidden objects to find, colorful scenes with animals to discover and learn about, and there are several informative sections that help to introduce interesting facts about nature and animals to children. 

"The Pterosaurs flew in the sky above the dinosaurs. Some of them were as big as planes." 

Spot The Dinosaur On The Island is full of engaging activities that parents can do with their children and the last page has several more activities that parents and children can do and learn together. 

There are so many dinosaurs and scenes that parents and children can make up several games and activities to do together on their own. I really loved the illustrations because they were bright, colorful, and lifelike which is sure to catch a child's attention. 

**The quotes from this book have been taken from an Advanced Reading Copy and are subject to change when the final book is printed. Please refer to the final, finished copy for exact quotes!**

**I want to say Thank You to Quarto Publishing for the opportunity to review this book!!**

Children's Book Review: Spot The Monkey In The Jungle (Stella Maidment & Joelle Dreidemy)

Hardcover, 24 pages

Published April 1st 2015 by QEB Publishing

Take a trip to the jungle and see what you can spot with this great title! Fantastic spot book activities, combined with non-fiction settings, make for an informative and entertaining series. Look for hidden objects as you work your way through every spread, taking in all the detail. By engaging the reader to express their opinion, Spot The Monkey in the Jungleencourages children to develop and express their own point of view. Whilst each scene will help develop the reader's numeracy, this title will also improve literacy by introducing new adjectives on every spread. 

BUY LINKS

Amazon * B & N * Indigo

Author: Stella Maidment

Illustrator: Joelle Dreidemy

First of all...THANK YOU to Quarto Publishing for allowing me to review this awesome children's book. I love the opportunity to review a work of art that could possibly make a difference in a child's life. 

Spot The Monkey In The Jungle is full of activities to do with your child. There are hidden objects to find, colorful scenes with animals to discover and learn about, and there are several informative sections that help to introduce interesting facts about nature and animals to children. 

"Baby tapirs have special spots and stripes to help them blend in and keep them safe while they are young."

Spot The Monkey In The Jungle is full of engaging activities that parents can do with their children and the last page has several more activities that parents and children can do and learn together. 

There are so many animals and scenes that parents and children can make up several games and activities to do together on their own. I really loved the illustrations because they were bright, colorful, and lifelike which is sure to catch a child's attention. 

**The quotes from this book have been taken from an Advanced Reading Copy and are subject to change when the final book is printed. Please refer to the final, finished copy for exact quotes!**

**I want to say Thank You to Quarto Publishing for the opportunity to review this book!!**

Children's Book Review: The Big Book of Color (Lisa Martin & Damien Barlow)

EAN (ISBN-13): 9781600584350
Publisher: Walter Foster Jr & Quarto Publishing Group USA
Pub. Date: January 6, 2015
Series: Big Book Series
Size: 8.75 x 11.67 in.
Ages: 5-99
Illustrations: 200

With big, bold images, The Big Book of Color introduces children to the art and science of color through a fun and engaging, easy-to-understand approach. Young artists will be treated to an in-depth exploration of the wonderful world of color through simple step-by-step projects and unique educational content. Myriad creative exercises and projects throughout the book make learning color concepts fun and applicable, while perforated pages make it easy to display new masterpieces. With a plethora of fun projects, easy-to-understand concepts, and pages bursting with color, The Big Book of Color is sure to be a hit for young readers and budding artists everywhere.

Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Indigo

The Big Book of Color is a extremely engaging and interactive children's book about the colors and shades of the rainbow. The cover is beautiful, bright, and attractive and immediately grabs your attention. 

The book explains and explores the colors of the rainbow and how colors can affect you and the world around you. The book explains several different tools and items that you can use when learning about color. The color wheel was a neat way of explaining the different types of colors and then the author allows the reader to work with the different colors and encourages interaction throughout the book. 

Everything in this book is so realistic and I loved how the author incorporated nature and animals throughout the books as examples of color. 

My favorite part of the entire book was where the author added interesting facts throughout the book in order to encourage learning and initiate the curiosity of the reader. This was a fantastic children's book that was not only informative but FUN and engaging for the reader!! 

Owl Kids Book ARC Review Wild Ideas (Elin Kelsey)

Hardcover, 32 pages
Expected publication: April 14th 2015 by Owlkids Books

From the creators of You Are Stardust comes a new informational picture book that brings the big ideas of their first book down to earth. Wild Ideaslooks deep into the forests, skies and oceans to explore how animals solve problems. Whether it’s weaving a safe place to rest and reflect, blowing a fine net of bubbles to trap fish, or leaping boldly into a new situation, the animals featured (including the orangutan, humpback whale and gibbon) can teach us a lot about creative problem solving tools and strategies.LikeYou Are Stardust, this book uses lyrical text grounded in current science alongside wonderfully detailed art to present problems as doorways to creative thinking. Wild Ideas encourages an inquiry-based approach to learning, inviting readers to indulge their sense of wonder and curiosity by observing the natural world, engaging with big ideas and asking questions. An author’s note at the end delves deeper into the research behind the text. 

Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Indigo

Erin Kelsey, PhD, is an internationally respected spokesperson for hope and the environment as well as the acclaimed author of You Are Stardust and Not Your Typical Book about the Environment, among other award-winning books. She consults around the world on environmental projects and loves to explore nature with kids wherever she goes. She lives in Pacific Grove, California. 

Soyean Kim is a Toronto-based, Korean-born artist and art educator who specializes in work that merges real-world materials, fine sketching, and painting techniques to produce three-dimensional dioramas. Her previous children's books include Is This Panama? and You Are Stardust, for which she won the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award. 

Wild Ideas is a children's book about how animals face their problems and how they use their imagination to solve the problems. Wild Ideas is full of beautiful, bright colored illustrations and the illustrator uses real items to create the background of the story. 

The story teaches children to really think about problems and helps them to think of ways to resolve the problem. 

"Step outside. 

LOOK.

 If squirrels can learn to cross roads by watching people, what can you learn by watching squirrels?"

Wild Ideas introduces all kinds of animals and their behaviors to children. It also shows how intelligent animals really are and how they survive and adapt to their surroundings. It also expresses how animals need family and friends just like humans do and that they recognize and care for their parents. 

Another huge part of this story is the use of imagination. The author really shows how the animals use their imagination when faced with a problem and how it helps them to resolve the problem they were facing. I really enjoyed Wild Ideas and I think it will grab and hold the attention of small children well. 

**The quotes from this book have been taken from an Advanced Reading Copy and are subject to change when the final book is printed. Please refer to the final, finished copy for exact quotes!**

**I want to say Thank You to So Cal Public Relations/Owl Kids Books for the opportunity to review this book!!**

Children's Book Review: Peter Panda Melts Down (Artie Bennett)

Hardcover, 40 pages
Published February 11th 2014 by Blue Apple Books
Book Provided by Author for Honest Review

Uh-oh. Here it comes. Here comes that frown. Peter Panda melts dowwwnnn!”
Poor Peter Panda. He’s only three and filled with frustration. And when things don’t quite go his way, he’s apt to throw a tantrum—in the car, in the library, in the supermarket, in the . . . He’s the most meltdownable panda we know.
Poor Mama Panda. How can she cope with Peter’s petulance while seeking to sidestep a monumental meltdown herself!? What’s a mama panda to do? Read this adorable new picture book by Artie Bennett, author of the much-lauded The Butt Book and Poopendous!, and virtuoso illustrator John Nez and find out! 

Purchase Links

Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Indigo 

Artie Bennett is a jet-setter and bon vivant— Shhh! He thinks he is. Let's start again.Artie Bennett is a rootin'-tootin', rip-snortin', two-fisted— Stop!!! Enough already. . . .Artie Bennett is the executive copy editor for a children's book publisher and he writes a little on the side (but not the backside!).

He grew up in Brooklyn, New York—born and fled, he likes to say—hightailing it to Georgia, where he matriculated at the University of, earning a journalism degree. He then went on to work for the local broadsheet, the Athens Banner-Herald, cheek by jowl with Kate Pierson of the B-52s, who was a paste-up artist there before her ship came in.

After seven years down south, he up and moved to a Galilean kibbutz, where he labored as the gardener's apprentice. "Good, honest toil," he calls it. He also put in his time in the kibbutz's banana orchard, so Harry Belafonte's "Day-o" ("It's six-foot, seven-foot, eight-foot bunch!") has a special resonance for him.

He came back stateside after nigh a year in Israel to a succession of (very) odd jobs, including cookware salesman, knishery counterman, and telephone solicitor for Poconos real estate. Then he found his way. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Website * Twitter

This was such a very cute children's book!

This story follows Peter Panda and his Mom as they carry out their daily activities. Peter is having somewhat of a bad day and the story tells about how Peter's Mom reacts to each situation. Peter tends to have "melt downs" when things don't go his way. 

 I have read it to my son over and over! He loves it! I read it up until the part where "Peter Panda melts dowwwwwwnnn" and then my son likes to read that part! 

I loved how the story is really similar to real life. As I read the story my son giggled and said "Mommie do I sound like that some times?" HA! My answer to that was YES! 

The illustrations were so cute and colorful. I loved how the illustrator portrays safety throughout the book as well. Peter is buckled in his car seat and his Mom advises him that they will pick up his dropped toy when the car is stopped and they have arrived at their destination. I like how this enforces the importance of safety. The illustrator also draws Peter safety in his shopping cart. 

I just truly loved this story. At the end of the day Peter Panda realizes how he has been acting and apologizes to his Mom! I just thought that was so sweet! This book was a perfect example of how actions and consequences affect everyone including Moms and their kids. 

Children's Book Review: A Bed For Fred (Lori Zoss)

Hardcover, 24 pages
Published November 16th 2013 by Hugo House Publishers
Book Provided by Author for Honest Review

Ready for a nap, young Fred the Basset Hound goes to his room after a morning of play and the unthinkable happens: his comfy, red bed has disappeared! After a search through his house with a less-than-helpful mouse, Fred sets out on a journey outside to find his bed. Along the way he meets a sedentary frog, an enthusiastic cricket, and a sympathetic owl. The dilemma of his lost bed intensifies as Fred realizes he has strayed too far from home without telling his father that he left. A Bed for Fred is a delightful journey that any young child can relate to. Changing beds from cribs to toddler beds and toddler beds to "big boy" or "big girl" beds are huge steps. Discover how Fred handles this experience of complication and change with good communication and a willingness to explore Help your child figure out the world they live in! 

Purchase Links

Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Indigo * Website

Lori Zoss is the author of A Bed for Fred. When not writing, Lori is the corporate support director for a public television and radio organization (ideastream®) in Cleveland, OH. Lori also lends her talents during radio and television fundraising, serving as one of ideastream’s on-air hosts during pledge drives. 
Lori has been a featured speaker at various public media and educational conferences and also spends time as an Adjunct Professor of Communications and Public Relations at Baldwin Wallace University, where she has taught courses in Online Marketing, Public Relations Writing, Publicity, Event Planning, and Crisis Management.
Lori holds an MBA and a Bachelor of Arts from Baldwin Wallace University.She lives in suburban Cleveland, OH with her husband David, Labrador Retriever Ginger, and Basset Hound Fred.

A Bed for Fred is her first book.

Website * Facebook 

What an adorable children's book!! Basset Hounds are so adorable so I was so excited with the opportunity to review this book! 

From the very first page where Fred is dreaming of chasing a red ball..me and my 6 year old son fell in love with Fred! I loved the ryhming in the story. It really made the story flow. 

The illustrations in this book are precious! The vibrant colors and placement of the pictures is perfect for this story and the illustrator just makes Fred look so adorable!

The mouse, the frog, the cricket, and the owl are such cute additions to the story! Fred's interactions with these animals is so cute! My son's favorite was the Owl. 

I love how the author wrote the story in such a way that makes the change from a baby bed to a big boy bed so encouraging! When Fred discovers the true reason why his bed is missing he is so excited about the change and so appreciative of what his Dad has done for him! 

This was such a encouraging, cute book and my son and I loved it! As soon as we finished reading he begged me to read it to him again!! I definitely recommend this to anyone with children between the age of 2-8! 

** A huge THANK YOU to Lori Zoss for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!! **

Children's Book Review: The Poodle Tales (Toni Tuso Faber)

Paperback, 26 pages
Published November 2nd 2012 by Mindstir Media

Copy Provided by Author In Exchange for Honest Review

The Poodle Tales, "Poodlemania" is the first of twenty-four in a whimsical collection of children's books written in rhyme. Enjoy these twelve Poodle puppies' antics and escapades as they grow and well...become out of control. 

Purchase Links

Amazon * Barnes & Noble  

Tony Tuso Faber began her modeling career at age 13 and went on to win over seventeen beauty pageant titles, including Miss California in the Miss World Contest. After graduating from college and with the money earned through modeling and pageant wins, she purchased a struggling magazine called "Orange County/Newport Life" and turned into "Orange Coast Magazine," the largest magazine in Orange County. About two years ago, she turned her love of poodles into authoring "The Poodle Tales" series that has extended beyond publishing into a children's website with activities and games, poodle toys and products, videos, and a soon-to-be-released cartoon feature. In addition, Tony develops real estate, designs clothing, and enjoys gourmet cooking. She and her husband, Bruce, live in Orange County with their standard poodles (of course!) names London, Deja Vu, and Dante.

Visit her website: 

www.thepoodletales.com

I was so honored to be given the chance to review this amazing children's book! What a cute story! The colors and illustrations are absolutely adorable. The colors are vibrant and make the illustrations really stand out. 

I read the story to my 6 year old son and he absolutely loves it. We have read it several nights in a row. His favorite part of the book is the page that shows all the puppies with their names on their food bowls. His favorite name was Rock Star!! Mine was Ziggy!!

The story had so much energy to it and kept my son's attention the whole time. He couldnt wait for me to turn the page to see where the missing puppy was. I just absolutely loved it! I will definitely be looking for future books from this author! 

Favorite Quote:

"I gave these pups a nickname, for short I called them Poos,

A dainty name to match their size, a perfect name to choose!"

I want to say a HUGE Thank You to Kelley & Hall Publicity for sending me a copy of this phenomenal children's book!!!

Blog Tour, Review and Giveaway: Not A Drop To Drink (Mindy McGinnis)

Regret was for people with nothing to defend, people who had no water.
Lynn knows every threat to her pond: drought, a snowless winter, coyotes, and, most importantly, people looking for a drink. She makes sure anyone who comes near the pond leaves thirsty, or doesn't leave at all.
Confident in her own abilities, Lynn has no use for the world beyond the nearby fields and forest. Having a life means dedicating it to survival, and the constant work of gathering wood and water. Having a pond requires the fortitude to protect it, something Mother taught her well during their quiet hours on the rooftop, rifles in hand.
But wisps of smoke on the horizon mean one thing: strangers. The mysterious footprints by the pond, nighttime threats, and gunshots make it all too clear Lynn has exactly what they want, and they won’t stop until they get it….
With evocative, spare language and incredible drama, danger, and romance, debut author Mindy McGinnis depicts one girl’s journey in a barren world not so different than our own.

Not A Drop To Drink
Mindy McGinnis
320 pages
Publisher: Katherine Tegen BooksRelease Date: September 24th, 2013

ARC Provided by Publisher for Honest Review

BUY LINKS:

Goodreads * Amazon * Book Depository * Barnes & Nobles

I'm a YA librarian and author, represented by Adriann Ranta of Wolf Literary. My YA debut, NOT A DROP TO DRINK, is a survival tale set in a world with limited fresh water. It will be available from Katherine Tegen / Harper Collins, September 24, 2013.
I'm an avid blogger, posting six days a week to my personal blog, Writer, Writer Pants on Fire, which features interviews with agents, established authors, and debut authors. Learn how they landed their agents, what the submission process is really like, and how it feels when you see your cover for the first time. I also do query critiques every Saturday on the Saturday Slash for those who are brave enough to volunteer.
I also contribute to the group blogs From the Write Angle, Book Pregnant, Friday the Thirteeners, The Lucky 13s, The League of Extraordinary Writers and am a member of the Class of 2k13.

WEBSITE:

  http://www.mindymcginnis.com

BLOG: 

http://writerwriterpantsonfire.blogspot.com.es

TWITTER: 

https://twitter.com/MindyMcGinnis

FACEBOOK:

  https://www.facebook.com/MindyMcGinnisAuthor

GOOGLE+:

  https://plus.google.com/u/0/117987168469022730340/posts

YOUTUBE:

  http://www.youtube.com/user/bigblackcat97

PINTEREST:

  http://pinterest.com/MindyMcGinnisMe/

GOODREADS:

  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13112869-not-a-drop-to-drink

TUMBLR:

  http://mindymcginnis.tumblr.com

The title is what drew me to this book. The title “Not A Drop To Drink” led me to believe that this would be a creepy, survival story and so I was immediately drawn in. The cover is gorgeous. A lone barn with a pond in a dark atmosphere…hmmm.. Veryyy interesting…

So the story begins 

“Lynn was nine the first time she killed to defend the pond” 

…UM YEAH!!! Hello Hunger Games! Lynn and her Mother are lone survivors on a small piece of land with one of the only watering ponds left and their entire existence depends solely upon the protection of their water supply. 

The first couple of chapters are incredibly intense with Lynn and her Mother “protecting” their land and let me tell you ….They leave NO prisoners!! I mean it was intense! Lynn’s mother spent her years training Lynn for anything and everything that involved war. She prepared Lynn for the worst and this is all she has known. 

For a while it is only Lynn and her mother in the story and then in comes the neighbor, Stebbs. I like his character. He is more fatherly and protective and something that Lynn has never known. 

There are several twists in the story that I DID NOT see coming and they really threw me for a loop. I liked it though. I liked that I was getting used to something and then the writer just totally recreated it and for the better. 

I like the introduction of Eli and his family. I really liked Lucy’s character. She dug into Lynn and made her feel emotions. She had been taught for so many years to be hard as stone and show no mercy and the introduction of this one little girl changed all that for her. 

If I say much more I will totally give away the story so I will leave it at this. This story is full of action, suspense, SURVIVAL, and a little romance on the side. I really liked the survival aspect the best and would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed Hunger Games YET…Don’t expect a lot of characters because they are very few…but just enough to make the story perfect. 

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