childrens – Page 3 – One Chapter

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.

Don’t Trust the Dog: Life Lessons From Chip the Dog by Dev Petty

3 stars Children’s Picture Book

I loved the illustrations inside this book. The illustrations are colorful, funny and are full of emotions. The facial expressions on both humans and animals are definitely something that you need to notice as you turn the pages of this book, the illustrator did a fantastic job capturing these sentiments. From the innocent, ecstatic dog to the devious eyes of the feline, you just never know what these two are up to.

Chip feels that he has a lot of knowledge to share with his readers. He has had his share of issues with cats and he’s here to share his experience. Chip, by the way, is a dog. Chip knows for sure that cats are not your friend, and they cannot be trusted. Chip would rather trust anyone but a cat, yet by looking at the situations that he gets into, I think he better start trusting cats. It’s funny watching Chip as he gets into some awkward and hilarious situations as the cats sit by and just watch him.

I think this is a book for older elementary school readers, as some younger readers might not understand the humor. 3.5 stars

Knight Owl and Early Bird by Christopher Denise

5 stars Children’s Picture Books

We loved Knight Owl and now, we get to experience Early Bird! Early Bird wants to be like Knight Owl but ……it’s complicated. No one can ever be like Knight Owl. Knight Owl is Captain of the Knight Night Watch. He has the night shift guarding the castle while others are sleeping plus he’s an owl. Early Bird is a bird; hence, he sleeps at night and he’s very noisy!

Knight Owl does teach Early Bird what he does during the Knight Night Watch in the afternoon but as the day turns to night, Early Bird falls asleep. When the sun rises, Early Bird arises and he’s ready for this new day, but Knight Owl is tired from working all night and he’s ready for bed.

After a few days of training and Early Bird’s overzealous behavior, Knight Owl can’t handle him any longer. He tells Early Bird that he has had enough, and he needs to “PLEASE, GO AWAY!” Broken hearted, Early Bird heads out into the forest outside the castle walls (sad picture). Knight Owl starts to have second thoughts and begins to worry about him. Knight Owl heads out to look for him. Now they are both outside the castle walls! Goodness!! They hear a sound and that’s not a good one!!

There’s an illustration of glowing eyes; owl is standing all alone with wolves starting to close in around him. What ?!?!

Yes, it’s that good! Check it out and the other books with Knight Owl.

The Monster in the Lake by Leo Timmers

5 stars Children’s Picture Book

Three ducks want to go to the lake but the mallard is worried about the monster. His friends say there is nothing to that story. When Mallard looks under the water at the lake he sees a huge monster fish. The monster fish smiles at him, and Mallard follows him under the water. Mallard finds at the bottom of the lake a huge party of monster fishes and Mallard has a good time down there. Mallards’ three friends are still swimming up above and don’t really notice that Mallard is gone until later. When they realize that Mallard is gone that are scared that he was taken by a monster until Mallard tells them that there’s no monster in the lake. Yet, as Mallard walks off on dry land, all the monsters from down below are making their way onland, happy smiling monsters.

Funny, cute story. The illustrations are amazing! It’s a simple story with few words but the story is good and has a good message. 5 stars

There Was An Old Scientist Who Swallowed a Dinosaur by Lucille Colandro

2 stars Children’s Picture Book

take on I Know An Old Lady, this book adds pages of information between the traditional rhyming storyline which my grandchildren did not like. In the traditional rhyming storyline, a person swallows various items, correlating to the previous swallowed item and then, at the end, they spit everything out. In this book, between each of the pages of the scientist swallowing items, there is a two-page spread of two children questioning each other about dinosaurs.

This questioning is told in a rhyming format, and it is informative, but it does throw off the pace /rhythm that a reader gets into when reading one of the “I Know an Old Lady” books.

The illustrations are fun and colorful also. There’s a glossary of terms at the back of the book which is informative.

There is also a game of Search and Find which is outlined in the back of the book, where you can go back through the pages in the book and find about 20 items that are listed and illustrated in the pages at the back of the book.

I think the reason why I didn’t care for this book was the interruption in the flow of the rhythm of the book and the ending. The scientist had been swallowing all this “stuff “ throughout the book and the last couple items that she swallows, there are no tie ins into the previous items that are already inside her. What happened to that sequencing? It suddenly stopped. What finally happens to this scientist who swallowed all this “stuff” inside her at the end? Who knows.

My feelings: don’t mess with a good series. If you want to be creative, make another book and make it different but don’t tie it in with a series, if it doesn’t follow the same format.

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Rainbow by Lucille Colandro

3 stars Children’s Picture Book

A take on I Know An Old Lady, this book follows the same rhyming storyline. A person swallows various items, correlating to the previous swallowed item and then, at the end, they spit everything out.

We thought while reading this version of the story, that some of the items that she swallowed items were strange. She swallowed glitter to brighten the cloud (which shows clouds sparked with glitter) and in the next few pages, she swallowed a cone to catch the glitter.

Why would she want to catch the glitter that is now brightening the cloud? She’s then swallowing a pole to lift the cone.

I understood at the end what the purpose was but perhaps she could have swallowed something different to create the final scene.

We weren’t fans of this version. 3 stars

The Imposter by Kelly Collier

5 stars Children’s Picture Book

Oh, how funny! He only wanted a family. His own family, someone who would want and love him. Perhaps he might just get his chance. Seeing a Lost Poster for Max, a black and white dog, he wonders if perhaps he might take the place of Max. Would the owners of Max even know he is not Max? It is worth a shot.

So, Skunk, yes Skunk tries the idea out and soon, he has some animal friends who decide to help Skunk.

They try to teach him how to look, sound, and act like a dog. It’s time to approach Max’s owners and pretend to be Max, can Skunk be Max?

Hilarious! The ending is sweet, and you’ll love this book!!

My grandchildren and I have read this book over and over again as it’s funny and the illustrations are cute and fit perfectly with the story. 5 stars

Sleepy, the Goodnight Buddy by Drew Daywalt

5 stars Children’s Picture Book

Do not read this before bed especially if it’s your first time reading the book as you’ll be laughing and want to read it again. My grandkids laughed and wanted to read it again. I wasn’t thrilled with the book cover, but the inside of the book is fantastic! Roderick hated going to bed and came up with every excuse to stay up. His parents decided to get him a goodnight buddy to help him sleep.

The buddy’s name was Sleepy.

Roderick didn’t like Sleepy. While trying to hide him, he discovered that Sleepy could actually talk and carry on with a conversation. That could be cool except that Sleepy began to be annoying and want Roderick to do things for him.

Roderick thought that Sleepy was supposed to provide him comfort and not be so needy. The tables have been turned and now, its Sleepy that needs Roderick to get to sleep. Ha! Will Roderick and Sleepy ever get to sleep?

The illustrations are funny and the facial expressions are hilarious. A great story that you’ll laugh over. 5 stars