One Chapter

Walrus in the Bathtub by Deborah Underwood

The facial expressions in this book are hilarious. When the family moves into their new house, the family didn’t know it, but they get a walrus with the deal. A walrus in their bathtub! They liked the house because it had a big backyard, a cool seagull nest, and a giant bathtub but they didn’t know about the walrus. There are plenty of things that are wrong with having a walrus in your bathtub and in this book, they’ll list them out for you. They try to get him out of the bathtub but nothing works so it looks like they might have to move again. It’s not something the family nor the walrus wants but what can they do? What a cute ending to this funny, entertaining book. A walrus in your bathtub? I loved the illustrations in this book and I thought they brought this book to life. The boy in the book is your narrator and he doesn’t enjoy having the walrus in his bathroom yet looking at the illustrations, his sister doesn’t seem to mind. She is all smiles and seems to be enjoying all the crazy activities that are occurring. Using lists, the boy explains his reasonings which is a great way to express his feelings and organize his thoughts and the illustrations back up these ideas. With bright, colorful, and busy illustrations this book is sure to bring smiles on the faces on young ones. 5 stars

A Day For Sandcastles by JonArno Lawson

It’s a beautiful day for building a sandcastle or should I say sandcastles? That’s exactly what happens in this picture book as these three young children set about making a sandcastle on a bright, sunny day at the water’s edge. They’ve scooped, packed, and smoothed everything down to make their amazing sandcastle when suddenly, something happens to it. From a hat flying into it to someone walking over the top of it, these youngsters see their masterpiece collapse and they’re pushing the sand back up and beginning again.

I liked how the children worked together getting the sandcastle built each time and their attitude each time they had to rebuild. I enjoyed how the story along with the illustrations conveyed this happy, relaxing day at the beach. Being a picture book with no words, the soft colors and the way that the story flowed, it felt like a warm, relaxing summer day as the beach goers enjoyed the sunshine. A cute book with fabulous illustrations that complete the story. I do wish that I could see more of the expressions on the individual faces in the illustrations, I think that would add more to the story. 4 stars

Jim Curious and the Jungle Journey: A 3-D Voyage into the Jungle by Matthias Picard

This is a fun book to look at but you’ll need the 3D glasses that come with it, to fully appreciate its beauty. There are no words to read inside this book, as that would be hard. This is an oversized, children’s graphic novel about a young boy who goes on an adventure. It’s up to you, the reader, to decide whether the adventure actually took place.

When the boy awakes, he is in a diving suit (make sure you notice how his house looks compared to the lighthouse. He decides to follow a bug which has landed on his suit. What an interesting world he has stepped into. I thought the trees looked interested and instead of walking on land, the boy decides to walk through the swamp waters. I liked the page where you can see part of him underwater and therefore you can see the both parts of the swamp too. It’s quite an adventure as he explores this new world with snakes, bugs, frogs, and loads of other interesting creatures. My ultimate favorite page was the butterfly pages. Those two pages were fantastic!! With lots of forest vegetation, trees, forest creatures, and the little boy, each page is bursting with life.

Finding his way through the swamp, he finds himself amongst some ruins. With a curious mind, he discovers steps, bridges, buildings, wall markings, and numerous other items that put a smile on his face. I’m tired from all of his walking yet he continues on walking. It’s a fun adventure, right at your fingertips. An entertaining, graphic novel to sit back and appreciate all the great 3D work that has gone into it. It’s a book I can see young ones enjoying as there is nothing scary in the illustrations and some of the illustrations might inspire some good questions out of them. 5 stars

Better Place by Duane Murray

My emotions were all over the place with this graphic novel. It started out super sweet with a grandson and his granddad playing the parts of Red Rocket and Kid Cosmo, the grandson’s favorite comic heroes. Mom had had her father move in with them and the duo were creating their own real-life versions of the comic book duos adventures. With granddad behind the shopping cart handle and grandson Dylan, helping with the navigation, they glide through the neighborhood saving the universe. As a new kid, Dylan doesn’t know anyone so granddad is the perfect friend.

Mother knows she should get granddad into a home since his recent diagnosis but granddad doesn’t want to go and they know that Dylan would be lost without him. Then, there’s an incident with Dylan in the parking garage and later, they arrive back home to some emergency vehicles at their house. Oh, granddad. I wasn’t ready for what happened next but granddad is no longer in the picture. Instead of being honest with Dylan, she tells him that granddad went to a “better place.” While mother deals with the loss of her father, Dylan begins another adventure looking for the “better place” so he can find his granddad.

I loved the relationship between Dylan and her granddad. Even though his granddad was sick and didn’t act like a typical granddad, they had fun together and you could see how much they loved and appreciated each other. Mother never really had time for Dylan at the beginning of the novel which I thought might change once her father died and left Dylan with no one but mom had her own emotions and issues surrounding her father’s death. It’s quite emotional as both Dylan and his mother realize what granddad’s death means in their life. They’ll need to start relying on each other.

The book did a great job of showing the emotions and difficulties that Dylan went through, whether he sailed or struggled through them. I really enjoyed the illustrations. I feel there is something about the facial expressions in a graphic novel that bring the story to life and these were spot on. With terrific details and the slightest use of color, this graphic novel is a winner. 5 stars

Outdoor Kids in an Inside World: Getting Your Family Out of the House and Radically Engaged with Nature by Steven Rinella

Being an outside person, I wanted to read this book to see what Steven had to say about getting kids outside. I have to agree with everything that Steven said although, some of what he said seems to me, like common sense which might be because I like to be outside. As he breaks this book into chapters, you don’t need to apply all this book to your life, you can apply what fits. As you read it and apply it, you might just decide to try more than you originally thought you would.

The book is broken down into seven chapters with an index. It starts with some little steps about having your children get used to the idea of nature from fish to rocks to mud. Steven addresses the pandemic, ticks, and other obstacles that have some individuals locking themselves inside. Offering suggestions on how to get your children out the door, we have mudpies, a small aquarium, or a farmers’ market, to help get this love of nature started. The author even provides a list of questions, at the end of this chapter to ask your children about items in their life which have to do with nature. These are thought-provoking questions from where do they think their drinking water comes from? What crops and livestock are grown around where they live? What birds live in their neighborhood? Stephen continues in this format throughout the book with the rest of his chapters when he addresses camping, foraging, gardening, fishing, and hunting. I think most people will find something interesting in this book, in one of the chapters. I’m not a forager but I found that chapter interesting. He’s got some good points on how to implant getting children out from behind their electronic devices and how to make it interesting. Steven points out that you have to be present to make this work. You can’t give them the supplies to go camping and then, you go home. No, this is a joint project. It takes at least two (2) to make this happen. It’s also engagement and I think this is key. Engagement is what we’re slacking on now, I feel. No one has the time; everyone is busy or so they say. If you engage with your child with whatever activity they are doing, they’re with you. Now engagement does not mean, doing all of it nor does it mean just sitting there while they’re doing it all. Engagement means physically and mentally participating, so you’ll need to get off your phone. You’ll need to tell everybody else you’re busy. You’ll need to make this a priority as your child should be a priority for, they’re only young once. So, engage, give them some positive energy and experience some nature together. 4 stars

Took (graphic novel): a Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn

Holy macaroni! You move your family into this neighborhood?!? What was you thinking? I got caught up inside the drama of this children’s graphic novel when I realized that the kids had no one looking out for them. Well, that’s not totally true. There was first the creepy house with the spooky forest next to it then, the two children start getting picked on at school. I read that a few of the area children have been disappearing over the years and how a witch might be connected with that. A witch? Erica starts talking to her doll ALL THE TIME and I was just waiting for that doll to start talking back to her and then, I don’t know what I would have done. Daniel has to go into the forest to look for his little sister as she has disappeared in there. Yep, why she went in there he has no idea but after she did some quiet talking with her doll, she got up and headed off into the woods.

Where is their mom and dad in all of this? Good question. They’re looking for jobs and they’re busy doing other things. Isn’t that how it always is. Now, what Daniel finds in the woods, when he’s looking for his little sister, has me reading this book into the early morning hours. What a great middle school read.

This is a gripping children’s graphic novel which I feel is good for upper elementary readers or middle schoolers. The illustrations are colorful and I liked the variety of sizes that they used for text boxes. It’s a book that will definitely grab your attention. 4.5 stars

Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia

I had a hard time with this book. I thought had the stories not been chopped up, I would have enjoyed the book more. Between the different timelines and all the characters in this book to keep track of. I felt I was learning about one person and the story would suddenly shift to someone else. I remember reading about making cigars and I was enjoying this passage when suddenly, that story was gone and I was reading something totally different. There were a few times when I was reading sections of the book and I thought, why was this included in the book? How does this pertain to anything I have previously read? Had I missed something? Don’t get me wrong as there were some very interesting sections in this book, sections that I would have loved to know more about but I never got to return to them.

I don’t think this book was for me. This book was read for book club and as we discussed the book, we talked about how disconnected some individuals felt as they read. I’m glad that I was not alone in my confusion. I see that others have read this book and loved it so I have to say that it was not a good choice for me. 3 stars

The Seventh Voyage by Jon J. Muth

This is no children’s graphic novel. I got to page 31 and I had to take a breather. Seriously, I can see some middle schoolers understanding the concept of time travel and vortexes but little ones, no. The illustrations were nicely done and if you could follow what was actually occurring, it was entertaining but it was disappointing that this was labeled for children.

It was a bit like the Who’s on First comedy act by Abbott and Costello. The Who, What, I Don’t Know, Why. You remember that skit as Costello is trying to figure out the individuals playing out on the baseball field and Abbott is trying to give them to him but their names are so peculiar that Costello can’t understand. Well, this is what is happening to Ijon. Space explorer Ijon Tichy is suddenly dealing with a major issue when his spaceship’s rudder is damaged and it needs repair. Thinking that he can do it on his own, he soon realizes that it’ll take two individuals but he’s the only one in his spaceship.

With the damaged rudder, Ijon’s spaceship is caught in a space loop where he finds himself confronting someone new in his spaceship. Oh, it’s his Monday self! What!?! Just when I thought I understood this, someone else makes an appearance. It’s his Wednesday self. But what happened to his Monday self?

“Well, the Monday me on Monday night became Tuesday morning, the Tuesday me, and so on.”

Folks, my head was spinning. I tried to follow along. Poor Ijon was as confused as I was. He was asking his other selves who they were and how it all worked and I, I wanted them to go fix the rudder (for now, there were at least 2 individuals in the spaceship). Perhaps then they could get rid of Tuesday, Wednesday, or whoever was with Ijon and let him finish his trip alone.

This book is definitely not for young kids unless it’s a young Sheldon Cooper. I do think that the text boxes were easy to follow and I liked how they were done. This book does have a lot of words to read too.

We Are Wolves by Katrina Nannestad

Such a wonderful, heartfelt story. When father is called up to serve, 2 months later he is MIA. When I read this, I kept thinking that he fled and was coming back to be with his family. As I read, I kept searching and waiting for his return.

They leave their home and flee with their loaded down wagon and their horse Mozart traveling West away from the Red Army. Joining into the line of traffic of young and old travelers, they fit right in. There are walkers, riders, and a combination of both- everyone just wants to get away. Finding refuge in a farmhouse, they discover that it hasn’t been ransacked by the Russian soldiers and it’s well-stocked.

I liked how they were taught by their Papa to recite their relatives’ names. The desperation of foraging while on their journey, their encounter with the Russians and how the family stayed together were key highlights of this book which I enjoyed. The ending was not what I expected and wanted. Another great historical middle school read. 5 stars

The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult

Too many flashbacks, that’s what I say. I may be the oddball out but I think this book could have been written differently had you wanted to put ALL and I say ALL with capital letters, all those Egyptian rules and information in there. Don’t get me wrong, I like reading a book and getting educated at the same time but don’t present it in the way you did here by having the reader jump back and forth through time periods. I did like the two separate stories but let’s keep them separate and then, converge them together.

It was a story of what if. What if you’d taken a different path instead of the path you had chosen? That’s the question Dawn had on her mind and one she needed answers to. Was her husband Bryan a good choice or should she had stayed in Egypt with Wyatt?

While studying to be an Egyptologist, Dawn meets Wyatt who ends up being her friend and later, they have a relationship. Dawn learns one day that her mother is dying and she returns to the states. While visiting her mom, she meets Bryan who is also visiting a relative. They begin as friends but it leads into a relationship, then a pregnancy, and eventually, they get married. They have a stable life, they’re content, but does she still love him? One day at her job as a death doula, Dawn gets a request from one of her patients. Can she do this for her patient – the patient’s dying wish? This wish gets Dawn thinking about her own past and about her relationship with Wyatt.

With her stable life at home, Dawn feels compelled to return to Egypt to see Wyatt. Dropping everything, she’s off! I felt for Bryan as he’s at home while his wife is off in Egypt seeing if there’s still some fire in her old relationship. With tons of information about Egyptian ruins and mummies I felt overwhelmed at times on whether I was there to learn about Dawn’s relationship or about historical facts. The facts were interesting but they felt heavy as I made through this book. Would I need to know these interesting facts later and would they come into play later in the book? I sure hope not as there were just too many of them. Dawn was getting on my nerves as it felt as if she was playing now in Egypt while the rest of the team was trying to work and make some amazing new discoveries. They needed funding; each minute meant money to them yet Dawn just needed to know if she had made the right choice when she didn’t return years ago. Quit talking about the wrappings and the mummies, let them get some work done.

This didn’t read like some of the other books I have read by Jodi. I liked the stories; it was the presentation of the stories and all the nonfiction information that threw me off. If you’re able to block out distractions while reading, this might be a good book for you but it wasn’t a good book for me. 3 stars #TheBookofTwoWays #NetGalley

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group in exchange for an honest opinion. Thank you for letting me review this copy.