holiday – One Chapter

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

As Cool As It Gets by Jory John

5 stars Children’s Picture Book

What a great book with a fantastic lesson! It’s the holiday season which brings stress upon Cool Bean. Not everything about the season stresses him out, it’s the gift exchange. The dreaded gift exchange.

All the beans have entered their names into a hat for the gift exchange. As they each draw a name to see who they get to find a gift for, Cool Bean draws Beanadette J.’s name. She is one of the coolest beans in town and immediately, Cool Bean starts to feel the pressure. She is going to want something expensive and cool.

With no bean-bucks to spend and no luck finding anything on his treasure hunt, panic sets in. What will Cool Bean do? Ah-ha! Cool Bean decides he will be creative and make something for Beanadette J. and he’s quite proud of it, for the moment. As time passes, his self-esteem starts to fade and on the day of the party, his panic returns. I could totally relate to his emotions as he mingled in the party just waiting for the ball to drop.

This was a great book dealing with self-worth, stress, peer pressure and acceptance. I liked how the author dealt with Cool Beans emotions as they swung in every direction and Cool Bean didn’t have an easy way out. Definitely a 5-star read for me.

Aggie and the Ghost by Matthew Forsythe

3.5 stars Children’s Picture Book

It finally happened; Aggie is out on her own. With her own house, she is very excited except her house is haunted. It wouldn’t be that bad except the ghost never leaves her alone! The ghost follows her everywhere! Aggie finally has enough and sets the ghost down and gives it a set of rules – a long list of rules.

The ghost proceeds to break all the rules. Yes, Aggie gets mad. Hoping to get rid of the ghost, she has competition with the ghost. Aggie thinks she can win and yes, the ghost believes it will be the winner.

You can just imagine how the competition goes. Who wins in the end? I think they both did.

I liked the thick pages of this book; I like cardstock pages in a children’s book. It feels meaty, and solid. The illustrations were bold and easy to follow, and the text was large and not wordy. I didn’t like how the author worded the ending, as it sounded confusing and choppy to me. The “Don’t ever visit me from time to time.” Perhaps it was the word choice too, I don’t know, it just didn’t flow for me. 3.5 stars

Ghost in the House by Ammi-Joan Paquette

5 stars Halloween Picture Book

Great interactive book. I liked the variety of Halloween guests that were included in this book.

As the guests gather one-by-one in the house, the rhyming text has them finding each other by hearing a sound they each make. A shriek, a voice, click-clack, etc. To reveal each new guest, you must lift the flap.

The ghost isn’t alone for long. The ending is cute. Simple text and cute illustrations. 5 stars

Boo the Library Ghost by Becky Paige

5 stars Children’s Picture Book

Stay away from this library! This library is haunted by a ghost who likes to scare all who enter while causing chaos inside the walls of this structure. Children are his favorite, frightening them so much that they run out of the library and head home. Boo does it all, from throwing books to ripping out the pages of the books, to making spooky scary faces on the walls. You have been warned.

Boo meets his match when Poppy walks into the library. After all of Boo antics, Poppy remains in the library. Poppy even asks Boo to calm down as she’s reading a book and he’s distracting her. This makes Boo mad, so he becomes more destructive. Wow, Boo is really tearing up the library! Poppy tries to stop Boo’s behavior and that’s when she realizes why Boo is really acting out.

Boo is reluctant to warm up to Poppy as she talks to him. He’s listening but he’s scared. Poppy’s patience and loving words warm Boo’s heart and they connect. Poppy is the perfect advocate for the library and soon she has Boo on board.

It’s a great story and I liked Boo’s transformation. Boo’s behavior was caused by something deeper and Poppy discovered it and helped Boo. I liked how she became friends with Boo. The illustrations were busy, colorful and they complimented the text. I enjoyed the text, but it did get a bit too long for my 3-year-old grandson. A fun book about books and the power of reading. 5 stars

Fireworks by Matthew Burgess

3 stars Children’s picture book

I was all excited about this book as I had read so much about it. The words flowed off the page as the excitement of the summer is in full bloom as everyone has been looking forward to this day.

It’s summertime at its finest – July 4^th –a time to celebrate – the time where the sky lights up and everyone gathers.

This book portrays the excitement, the energy and the sounds of the day. As the sky lights up at the end of the night, the pages explode in color, and I just had to stop in awe at the illustrations on those pages as they are truly spectacular!

The excitement, the energy, and the colors just burst out the page!! With the text accompanying the page, you just have to get excited and electrified as you watch the fireworks light up the sky.

My disappointment with this book was in the illustrations at the beginning of the book. I enjoyed the text, but I wasn’t a fan of how the illustrator portrayed it. Overall, a 3-star book for me

Cold Snap by Lindy Ryan

3 stars Fiction

What did I really read? Thinking that this book was going to be a good short read, I found myself slowing down as a read and trying to decipher exactly what was happening which made this book so long. For only 124 pages, it took me days to get this book finished. I loved the cover of the book. If you look closely at the deer on the cover, the added graphics made me excited for what was inside the pages of this book.

I thought the book started out strong as the main character Christine decides to head to their cabin with her 15-year-old son and their cat. A recent widow, Christine, is still mourning the loss of her husband so it’s off to their remote cabin in Pennsylvania to celebrate the holidays. Are you starting to understand the complications this trip “can” entail? Remote cabin. Recent widow. Grieving family. A family cabin. Well, I was really stoked about how this book was starting off.

Their son Billy hasn’t been the same since dad’s accident and well, neither has mom. Billy’s lack of communication is not helping the situation and if you add that to Christine’s emotional issues, the two of them together alone in a cabin over the Christmas holidays was not a good plan from the start. Christine was supposed to be the mother, but she frustrated me with her actions and her attitude towards those around her. She chose to go on this journey with her child and their cat, she was supposed to be the adult here, but I think she forgot that.

I liked that the book carried the creepy, mysterious traits that I was looking for, the pages were definitely turning quickly but when it came down to trying to straighten out any of the uncertainties that the characters were facing, I felt lost. I wasn’t sure if it was the grief, the weather, the characters, or just plain craziness but the book started to go off the rails for me. What was missing? Perhaps I was trying too hard to put everything together, perhaps it was a combination of a lot of different things, and I just needed to go with the flow of the book, but it was frustrating. I was stopping and rereading portions of the book, under the impression that I had missed something from the first read.

This is my first book by Lindy Ryan and I’d like to read another book by this author. I loved how the author set up the story and built upon it. Perhaps this book was not for me. 3 stars.

You Better Watch Out by James S. Murray

5 stars Thriller

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“You gotta see this.””

I couldn’t see fast enough nor read fast enough as Eddie and Jess tried to make sense of the world that had become their new world. As my husband was driving the car, I was trying to read him some of this book, but my mouth and my eyes were not in sync. I was talking gibberish and as my husband suggested, I just read silently, as silent as I could with all my gasps and shoutouts. Dang, I wasn’t expecting the last half of this book to be this exciting!

For only 225 pages, this book packs a punch! At first, the book reminded me of one of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes and I was intrigued to find out how this one was going to end. What would they find at the end of this so-called, “town”, if they ever do find the end and were they going to make it out alive? One-by-one, we meet the characters in this book and I’m trying to find their common dominator. They’re all stuck inside this little make-believe town but what is the purpose and what type of game is this that they are the “players” when they don’t know the rules. Dang, this book is one that I will definitely have to reread again, if I can ever get it out of my head! 5 stars++

Skulls! by Blair Thornburgh

4.5 stars Children’s Nonfiction

How much thought have you given to how important your skull is? Aimed for a young audience, this book gives children a general idea how important their skull is. It addresses how the skull protects your brain (like a car seat) and that there are many different sizes and shapes of skulls.

It talks about what a skull does, why a skull has holes, how a skull grows, and that skulls are not scary. This book is very general and doesn’t give a lot of detail, so it’s a good starting point and one that lower elementary children can understand.

I thought the pictures were good and helped explain the text. They’re cartoon based and they show lots of different skulls. This is a good feeling kind of book. 4.5 stars.