book – One Chapter

The Wild Robot on the Island by Peter Brown

5 stars Children’s Picture Book

When I saw this book at the library, I was so excited! A picture book of the Wild Robot, yes!! Now, I can share the Wild Robot with my grandchildren! I hoped they loved it.

They absolutely loved this book and so did I. The illustrations are so frickin’ cute and perfect! Opening the book, we see a ship in a horrible storm. A wild, dark storm has caused a white crate from the ship’s deck to fall into the ocean. On the next page, the storm has ended, and the crate has floated close to an island. The land is lush with life and full of activity.

There are forest animals everywhere, birds are in sky, animals are swimming in the ocean, a waterfall curtain is in the distance and there are birds circling the white crate. Roz pops out of the box and well, this is where she belongs.

The island is dangerous and wild so Roz must learn to adapt to her new surroundings. Roz is a smart robot, so she studies everything around her and begins to fit right in.

She even discovers an orphaned goose egg which she decides to adopt and soon, she is a proud mother. Brightbill and Roz make a great pair, but Brightbill is a bird, and he must migrate with all the other birds.

Leaving Roz behind is a sad turn in this story. My grandkids had all kinds of questions about what Roz would do with Brightbill there and who would take care of Brightbill when he flew away.

As we continued with this story, they loved the ending and wanted to read it again. YES! I can’t wait till they get older and we can read the chapter books together.

We loved this book – from the illustrations to the condensed version of the story. Such a wonderful story and yes, I really want to get this one for myself. 5 stars for sure!!

The Couch Potato by Jory John

5 stars Children’s Picture Book

Funny story but a great lesson learned. Couch potato was exactly that, a couch potato. Potato liked to sit on his comfy, cozy couch all the time. Since he has everything within reach from this spot, why would he ever want anything different.

In front of Potato is a wall full of screens.

Screens that he can do anything he wants on: watch TV, talk to his best friend, use his computer, and even play video games. Life was fantastic for Potato!

When his latest purchase was delivered to his house, Potato went to install it and he lost power. In total darkness, Potato was forced to open his curtains, where…..he discovered the outside world. Hey, there’s life outside the walls of his living room!! Ha, this was funny! Potato decides to venture outside and soon, he’s enjoying the fresh outdoors again. Holy moly, there is more to life than just sitting on the couch! Potatoes life has changed forever!!

We laughed over this story but in reality, I can see this story actually taking place. Some individuals prefer to stay inside and stay connected to the internet when there is the great outdoors calling them. I liked everything about this book. The illustrations were fun and simple, nothing extra was added to illustrations. The story had a great flow and it was high energy. 5 stars.

The Gingerbread Man Loose at Christmas by Laura Murray

5 stars Children’s Picture Book

Super cute story!! I can’t wait to read the other Gingerbread stories, that are out there. Told in graphic novel style, this children’s pictures book was fun to read to the grandkids. They were into this story, and they wanted to know what the Gingerbread Man had made and they loved how the baker fixed him up.

It’s Christmas and the Gingerbread Man’s teacher is talking to the students in the class about giving. She wants the students to give the individuals in their neighborhood gifts that can be either something that they have made, something that they do, or something that they say to them. They will then deliver them at the end of the day.

Everyone gets busy creating. Gingerbread Man makes a surprise with glue and glitter while his classmates make cards, bake items and some even practice some songs to sing. When they are completed, they head outside to deliver their gifts. As they are delivering, a snowstorm begins and the teacher turns the children around and they head back to school. The Gingerbread Man is upset; he hasn’t delivered his gift yet! Sneaking away from his class, the Gingerbread Man proceeds to deliver his gift by himself. He gets into a mess as the storm progresses but at last, he finds his destination. It’s so sweet, the person he picked!! The rest of the book is amazing as he surprises this person, and the surprises don’t stop there. Lots of different surprises fill the rest of the book and the Gingerbread Man along with his class is ecstatic that they had such an amazing day.

Big bold illustrations that complement the text and provide energy for the story. I loved the use of all the different text fonts that were used in the story and how large the fonts were. A great story 5 stars

The Haunted Scavenger Hunt by Steve Patschke

5 stars Children’s Picture Book

Super fun and funny story. My grandson wanted to read this book repeatedly. It’s not so much a scary story as the front cover suggests but it’s the anticipation of what each turn of the page will bring that makes this story so fun. The ending brings it all together making it a funny story.
Friends Sammy, Jenny, Sara, and Pete are out on Halloween. It’s interesting but looking at the illustrations, none of the children have costumes on nor is there any mention of trick-or-treating. It’s a spooky night nevertheless and they discover a strange box. There are words written across the top of the box which draw their attention. “Don’t look at it! Don’t touch it! Don’t open it!” The friends talk amongst themselves about what they are going to do with the box. The author then, asks the reader, “So what did the friends do?”

Turning the page, you discover that YES! They looked, they touched, and they opened the box! HA! So much for listening to what the box said. Now, what did the friends find inside that box? A key. A key with a message that again tells them what NOT to do. So, “what did the friends do?”

Yup, they did exactly what you think they would do. If this wasn’t funny enough, the characters in this story start to disappear. Yes, they are here in the story and then, suddenly they’re gone. The grandkids enjoyed the laugh when the characters weren’t listening to what they were supposed to do and they loved chiming in when the author asked them questions. So, where does this all lead them to? A great ending, where again…….”Don’t look at them! Don’t touch them! Don’t open them!”

I think this a great for a first and second read through. I would then put the book away for a while and then bring it back out, so it’s entertaining again. I can see this story becoming boring if read repeatedly as the anticipation could be memorized and not so much fun. We loved the illustrations and the text was simple yet, entertaining. I loved the facial expressions on the characters and the anticipation that grew throughout the book. Fun story. 5 stars

Bird Hugs by Ged Adamson

5 stars Children’s Picture Book

Awwwww, so sweet! As I was reading this to our grandchildren, I kept wondering how this was going to end. I felt so sorry for Bernard, and I was beginning to think that he might just need a new style to fix his problem but Bernard was fine, he was perfect just the way he was.

Bernard is a bird. A bird with very huge wings. You might even say humongous wings. As Bernard sat on a branch, his wings almost touched the ground. Bernard looked like he had a huge scarf having around his neck but no, they were his wings. As a young bird, it didn’t matter that his wings were so long as Bernard and the other birds didn’t really use the wings much. As Bernard and his friend grew, his friends started to test their wings for flying. Soon, his friends were flying and Bernard, well, he tried. Bernard couldn’t fly no matter how many times he tried or who tried to help him. Nothing worked.

His wings had to be good for something, right? Bernard tried to come up with ideas that would make his wings have a purpose, but he couldn’t find anything. Poor Bernard. Defeated, Bernard decided to just hang out on a branch . It’s there that accidently he made a huge discovery! Bernard had finally discovered what his wings were good for and it made everyone happy. Especially Bernard.

Such a sweet story! I loved how this story flowed. Bernard, as a young bird was on top of the world, then he got sad as he faced an obstacle, but he finally rose to the top again when he overcame his obstacle. It’s a great story for children as it shows the ability to accomplish something and be different. It shows that everyone is special ,unique person and that everyone should be happy and accept each other’s talents. The illustrations are nicely done and not too colorful and bright. 5++ story.

The Library of Fates by Margot Harrison

3 stars Fantasy

I really loved the idea behind this book. A magical library. Can you just imagine that?! Inside this magical library, lives a magical book which is governed by a special librarian. This magical book, The Book of Dark Nights, gives those who use it a gift. Those who write upon the pages of this magical book are granted a glimpse into their future. Sounds amazing, right? Yet, what must be written on the pages are your own deepest confessions. Would you be willing to share your most private confessions to see a glimpse of your future?

It’s a difficult decision but it becomes even more complicated when the predictions don’t materialize like they should. It’s a special library, and the librarian is part of the magic. If you tell the librarian that you “need” a book (no title suggested), she will go into the library’s shelves and find you the perfect book that you “need” for your situation right now.

Told in dual timelines, we follow Eleanor when she is a young student in college and when she is middle-aged. As a student, the library is a new experience and she’s excited to be a part of it. She’s dating a new guy and the library becomes a part of it. As an adult, Eleanor has been a mentee at the library but is now suddenly thrown into the position of Librarian. I liked the dural timelines, but I didn’t like how frequently they switched, I would have rather become more involved in one time period and then switched over, then have the constant switching. I was having a hard time connecting to the characters and I thought the story was choppy in the middle with all the flip flopping. Eleanor first job is to hunt down the missing The Book of Dark Nights. It’s a interesting journey with her mentor’s son beside her.

I wished that more of the back stories of the characters would have been explained to us. The story felt so long and drawn out in the middle, and I think it was because I was jumping through timelines and I had to switch the characters back and forth. I did like the characters, and I liked that there were not a lot of them. I was lost about Daniel and his actions. I just couldn’t understand why he didn’t recognize anything even after everything Eleanor said and did. Why wasn’t anything explained in the dual timeline? It was an okay read for me. 3 stars

Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder by Kerryn Mayne

4.5 stars Fiction

I have mixed feelings about this story. I liked the story, but I was confused with the anagrams that the character created in her mind. Lennie was a character who was content with her life, a well-constructed life that she had created. She keeps everyone at arm’s length, and she is in control. Lennie enjoys playing Scrabble so when she finds herself constructing the anagrams in her head, is it because she enjoys word playing? Or it is something else? I thought the use of the anagrams in the story felt too randomly used and they started to annoy me. I just didn’t know when they would pop up and as I read, the anagrams broke up the flow of the story and I started to skip them.

Lennie lives a very strict and structed life. A strict and structed life, alone. She hasn’t made any deep connections with anyone, and I think in the back of my mind, she was just used to that. She buys the same food week after week, and her bookshelf is lined with copies of The Hobbit. She played Scrabble with her imaginary friend, Monica (Lennie loved watching Friends), and her most recent addition is a dog that she rescued from the street. Lennie is now not walking down that street anymore, for she fears that she might run into some individuals who would not be happy about her newly “adopted” dog. Yes, Lennie leads a very strict and structured life, a life that Lennie is content in and she’s happy.

Lenny, the schoolteacher, would have loved to live this way forever but one day, she received a letter which changed her life. The return address, on this letter, stumps her. She doesn’t know anyone from the Adult Parole Board, or did she? Lennie is forced to remember her past, a past that she didn’t recall she had forgotten.

This book reminded me of a book I had read previously, up to a point. Lennie had suppressed her childhood, and it took the letter to start bringing back everything. As she finds the truth, I hoped that it was worth it and that she would finally be able to make some connections with individuals who were actually real. This was a good story that I enjoyed, and I was happy to see the new Lenny. 4.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin Press, and the author for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Troubling Tonsils! By Aaron Reynolds

5 stars Children’s Picture Book

Charlie is a furry rodent. Like all furry rodents, he attends school. It’s fall and he has just returned from the pumpkin patch with his very own pumpkin! He’s got a sore throat, so Charlie is coughing, and coughing, and coughing. This sets off an alarm with his mother who checks Charlie out and finds that his adenoids are swollen. What adenoids!?! Charlie is alarmed at first, like what are they, but his mother calms him down and he realizes it’s not a death sentence and he’ll just needs to visit the doctor tomorrow.

Yep, the doctor confirms what his mother diagnosed and he’ll have to have them removed. WHAT?!? I liked Charlie’s reactions to all this new information that he hears about his body. Charlie’s vocal and dramatic which made me laugh. There’s a lengthy conversation between the doctor, his dad and Charlie and it’s decided that Charlie will be able to keep his tonsils after they are removed.

You can imagine the excitement and images that invade Charlie’s mind as he envisions bringing his own extracted tonsils to school to show everyone. As that surgery day approaches, Charlie starts to have mixed feelings. As Charlie is being prepped for surgery, a problem occurs. Situated on the table , Charlie enters the world of the unknown. He’s lost and confused. He is trying to escape but he can’t find his way out. Oh Charlie…it’ll be okay.

I liked the drama and the flow of this story, it had a lot of energy, and it moved quickly. Convincing the doctor into letting Charlie keep his tonsils was an unexpected twist in the book and it helped change his mood. Charlie’s emotions were felt, and the illustrations conveyed the book’s message. It was a fun story and not creepy for individuals who know reality from fiction. 4.5 stars

The House That Floated by Guojing

5 stars Children’s Picture Book

A wordless book. There once was a house on a cliff. There was a tree, some chairs, and a clothesline by the house. A weathervane was on top of the house. Inside the house, lived a lady and her son. Underneath the cliff, the ocean stretched on for miles. A woman and her son lived in the house. Walking down the cliff, the family would take their fishing boat out into the ocean. One afternoon, the family successfully rescues a trapped animal in the ocean.

Time passes and the family grows. The illustrations do a wonderful job showing the progression of time as a baby is born and grows into a young child. It’s a fantastic day in the water when the family realizes that over time, their family is not the only family that has grown.

A violent storm develops and hits the cliff, unleashing its power on the house and everything around it. In its aftermath, the landscape has changed, and the family has some major decisions to make concerning their future. What was their home and their land is no longer sustainable, what now?

This was a powerful story, and I enjoyed the details of the illustrations. I enjoy the facial expressions yet this book being a wordless one, didn’t provide many of them. I was surprised how well the story flowed without them. There was plenty of color on the illustrations without them being loud and overpowering. Great story! 5 stars

Be Quiet! By Ryan T. Higgins

2 stars Children’s Picture Book

It’s supposed to be a wordless book, but two friends won’t stop talking. Rupert wants to write a wordless book, but his companions will NOT be quiet! Rupert gets angrier and angrier throughout the book until he’s screaming for Nibbs and Thistle to stop talking.

The friends are three mice. Rupert wants to write a wordless book but that would mean silence and Nibbs and Thistle cannot provide that to him. Nibbs and Thistle try to help Rupert in other ways with his book but what Rupert really wants is silence. The book tries to be funny, but I didn’t appreciate the humor. It got old for me. I was getting angry like Rupert. This book didn’t work for me.