Jul17

Blobfish Throws a Party by Miranda Paul and Maggie Caton

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Blobfish Throws a Party by Miranda Paul and illustrated by Maggie Caton, hardback picture book, published by The Five Mile Press in 2017.

Blobfish lives at the bottom of the ocean all my himself. He is very lonely and would like some friends and some yummy treats. He decides to throw a party calling for everyone to come and join him and bring treats to share. Unfortunately, like a game of Chinese Whispers, Blobfish’s message is misheard, and repeated, and misheard again! With his party plans scuppered, will Blobfish get what he wants after all?

When my seven year old picked this book out at the library, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it nearly as much as I did. The story is funny, quirky and unpredictable. Each time the message is passed on, it undergoes a change that sounds similar to the last message, but which results in various odd and amusing behaviours. This made us laugh, T1 thought it particularly funny when the kids fling their underwear into the air (there’s nothing quite like toilet humour for a seven year old boy!). The story takes an unexpected turn (I won’t reveal what, you’ll have to read the book for yourself!), which we really liked. T1 thought it was hilarious! He loved the ending, and was pleased with how things worked out for Blobfish.

The simple, easy to read text, was accompanied by bright and vibrant illustrations. Each page was enjoyable to look at, and complemented the story perfectly. There were a couple of very busy scenes which we enjoyed perusing, and finding interesting or unusual things within.

Blobfish Throws a Party is most suitable for preschoolers and lower primary school students. While T1 could have read this book by himself, we enjoyed reading it together, and discussing what was happening. It was fun to repeat the misheard messages out loud to eachother too, hearing how they were similar sounds, but different meanings.

May2

Purple People Eater Art

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T1 often requests we listen to the same song over and over whenever we are in the car. For a very long time, that song was the Christmas carol, We Three Kings, but recently he decided we should listen to the Purple People Eater song. Having now heard it many, many times, I find myself singing it in the shower, under my breath at work, while I’m out walking…. I remember singing it when I was young, but in case you don’t know the song I’m talking about, it goes “one eyed, one horned, flying purple people eater, sure looks strange to me.”

That line got me thinking about what the purple people eater would actually look like. I challenged the kids to think about the song, and the way the creature is described, and then put their vision onto paper. We chose to use crayons for this artwork, as we have a big box of crayons with lots of different colours, including lots of shades of purple.

My Purple People Eater

I got in on the art as well, coming up with my own version of the Purple People Eater. All of the kids had a go, and I was very impressed with their efforts. One of T1’s monsters was carrying a school backpack and was called ‘X’, which I thought was interesting.

X carrying his school bag

This one was definitely the cutest!

 

 

 

 

Dec29

Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks

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Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell and illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks, paperback graphic novel, 209 pages, published by Macmillan Children’s Books in 2019.

Deja and Josiah work in a pumpkin patch fun park in the lead up to Halloween. It is their last night on the job, but Deja isn’t going to let that sadden her. She has a mission which will lead them on one last adventure together.

I don’t very often read graphic novels, but this one had been on my radar for a little while. I’d heard many good things about it, and I agree, it was really good. I didn’t want to put it down, so I read the whole thing in one go.

At first, when I read the blurb, I wasn’t sure how much fun two high schoolers working in a pumpkin patch (and at night??) would actually have. I’m Australian, so I was picturing them in the pumpkin fields, doing things like weeding, fertilising, or harvesting fat pumpkins! I had no idea that a pumpkin patch is actually a seasonal fair that is held in the lead up to Halloween. So right off the bat, I learnt something new! The map on the inner cover of the book really helped me discover the pumpkin patch, and orient myself through the story. When I think about the pumpkin patch, it does sound pretty neat. I think it would be lots of fun to wander about a corn maze, whilst eating a variety of holiday themed snacks, and seeing things like chicken races and pumpkin slingshots.

Graphic novels read like long comics, and this one was easy to get into. It was a quick and entertaining read, though a little predictable. The chapters were short, and the artwork was great. I was left feeling happy and satisfied after reading Pumpkinheads.

Deja was a cool and outgoing character, who contrasted nicely with her work buddy Josiah, who was way more serious and quiet. They were both quite likable, but it was Deja’s enthusiasm and determination that sucked me in. She was a girl on a mission, well, more than one mission! She felt more real than many characters found in YA; she was just a normal teen working a part-time job, eating junk, hanging out with friends, and having fun. It was refreshing. Josiah was also portrayed well. He reminded me of several boys I knew growing up. So clueless, but adorably so.

Of course, the artwork brought the characters to life, but it also meant that I didn’t have a chance to create them in my mind first (one reason I hate seeing the movie before the book!). I guess that is a hazard of the graphic novel, but nevertheless, I thought everything was drawn with great talent. The facial expressions and body language of the characters was extremely good; it would have been possible to follow the story without reading the speech.

And that goat! Ha! That goat was just perfect. Love that goat.

Pumkinheads is suitable for high school students.

 

Nov17

It’s Raining Cats! It’s Raining Dogs! It’s Raining Bats! And Pollywogs! by Sherry West

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It’s Raining Cats! It’s Raining Dogs! It’s Raining Bats! And Pollywogs! written by Sherry West and illustrated by Sherry West and Larkin Stephen-Avery, picture e-book, published by Morgan James Publishing in 2019.

The rain began with cats, followed by dogs, but then things just got crazy! A zoo of animals begins raining from the sky in this fun picture book.

This really is a laugh out loud silly rhyming story book full of  gorgeously rendered animals in pastel colours.

Each page contained just a few lines of easy to read text. Most of the text is printed in black, but a selection of words are brightly coloured, which draws the eye to them. The lyrical story flows well, making it perfect for reading aloud. And overall, it was such a fun book to read.

The illustrations are whimsical and stylised, and perfect for little readers. I love the herd of guinea pigs, and the mice, and the penguins, and… oh, really I just adored all of the illustrations; they are so cute!

It’s Raining Cats! It’s Raining Dogs! It’s Raining Bats! And Pollywogs! is most suitable for toddlers and preschoolers. Lower primary school children may also enjoy reading this by themselves.

 

*I received this book as a digital copy from the author, who asked me for an honest review of this book. I did not receive any other remuneration, and the review is composed entirely of my own opinions.

 

Nov16

Sand Art Spelling

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Painting on the glue

I’ve been trying to get T1 excited about spelling, but he’d much rather be off playing video games or jumping on the trampoline.

 

We have actually done a lot of spelling on the trampoline; he says one letter of the word for every jump he does. And we have done lots using other activities, but when I found some tubs of coloured sand, I knew we needed to try making some sand art!

 

Sprinkling on sand

 

We used everyday white glue to paint each word onto a page of paper. T1 chose to do all of his words in red sand. After painting all of the letters in each word, he carefully sprinkled the sand onto the glue. Once there was enough sand to cover all of the glue, T1 tipped the excess sand off into the baking tray we were using underneath the paper (useful for reducing mess)

 

 

Shaking off excess sand

Each word or even letter could be done in different colours if desired. I think it would look good on black paper too. T1 is keen to make his next spelling list into sand art as well!

 

 

Sand art spelling words

Nov15

Hurricane Vacation by Heather L. Beal

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Hurricane Vacation by Dr. Heather L. Beal and illustrated by Jasmine Mills, picture e-book, published in 2019.

Lily and Niko are visiting with their aunt and uncle when a hurricane watch is issued. They have never experienced a hurricane before, so Uncle Brian, Aunt Sarah and cousin Emma explain all about them.

Hurricane Vacation is an educational picture book designed to explain hurricanes to young children. It does this through the explanations given to Niko and Lily, and the actions that the characters need to undertake in order to prepare for the storm.

As well as being nicely integrated into the story, all of the information presented is clear and logical. The level of detail given is suitable for young children, including explanations of evacuation and storm shelters. A short song about shelters is included in the text, making it easy to remember that the shelters are the safest places to be during a hurricane.

It’s wonderful to see that even though something quite scary is happening in the story, the characters are all helping each other, and being happy to be together. The character’s reactions to the oncoming storm are calm and reasonable; there is no hysteria or anxiety, just the need to complete the preparations and get to the shelter safely. This helps remind us that we need to keep our heads in an emergency.

At the end of the story there are questions and activity suggestions, which will help to reinforce the knowledge gained via the story. There is also a list of resources for further investigation. Reading this story and trying some of the activities is a great way to prepare children for the possibility of a hurricane.

I really like the cover art for this book, it is clever and appealing, something that I would want to pick up and have a look at. The illustrations throughout the story are colourful and realistic. I like that the eye of the storm is drawn literally!

Hurricane Vacation is suitable for preschool children and primary school children, and would make an excellent tool for use in hurricane prone areas.

 

*I received this book as a digital copy from the author, who asked me for an honest review of this book. I did not receive any other remuneration, and the review is composed entirely of my own opinions.

Nov3

The Booger Hunter’s Apprentice by Benoit Chartier

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The Booger Hunter’s Apprentice by Benoit Chartier and illustrated by JuanBJuan Oliver, picture e-book, published by Trode Publications in 2019.

Flintebetty Flonagan (Flin Flon for short) responds to a poster advertising for the position of Booger Hunter’s Apprentice. Flin Flon is not sure what the position will entail, but she accompanies the current Booger Hunter on her nightly rounds to find out.

When I saw the title had the word “booger” in it, I was prepared to read something gross, and probably funny, in a disgusting way. So I was pleasantly surprised when the story turned out to be about helping others rather than about snot wrestling. Of course, there are many ways to help and be kind to others, but the Booger Hunter works in a unique and niche role, not suited to many. Never had I considered that beasties would require help to remove the boogers from their offspring’s noses!

The story was nice enough, and certainly creative, but some of the word selection seemed forced. Parts rhymed, parts didn’t, and overall I found the flow of the story to be a bit stilted. The illustrations were detailed and colourful, and covered the entirety of the pages. I liked the owl on the first page, the length of the Booger Hunter’s nose and the feathery house the most. Due to the extensive pictures, the text was printed in white on the coloured illustrations, which I find more difficult to read. The text was also much smaller than I like to see in picture books.

I think that generally kids will like this story, first attracted by the word “booger”, and then fascinated by the illustrations, and the idea of a job removing boogers! And it does help to highlight that even small acts of kindness can make a difference.

The Booger Hunter’s Apprentice is most suited to preschool and lower primary school children.

 

*I received this book as a digital copy from the author, who asked me for an honest review of this book. I did not receive any other remuneration, and the review is composed entirely of my own opinions.

Sep2

The Amazing True Story of How Babies Are Made by Fiona Katauskas

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The Amazing True Story of How Babies Are Made by Fiona Katauskas, hardback picture book, published by ABC Books in 2015.

This is a cute and comprehensive aid for helping parents explain human reproduction to younger children. It covers basic anatomy, puberty changes, sexual intercourse, IVF, sperm donation, fertilisation, gestation, birth and breastfeeding.

We are very open in our family, with no topic off limits for discussion. We adjust the depth and detail of information as well as our language to suit the kids’ ages, but we never avoid their questions. I’d much rather they hear about some things from us, then get a grossly twisted version on the playground! So The Amazing True Story of How Babies Are Made really suited us. It provides all of the necessary information respectfully, with appropriate language and a little humour. I have used it with my three younger children when they were each around the age of five. We read it together and I answered any questions they had. They were all engaged and curious.

I really liked the way that gestation is explained, using a fruit analogy along illustrations of the growing baby inside its mother. The kids wanted to know if it actually felt like carrying a watermelon by eight months along. And my son did a wonderful impression of a caesarean birth, where he was the mother behind the sheet having her tummy cut open!

In the Feeding Baby section, the two pictures depict women breastfeeding. This is great, but I would have liked to see a picture of a baby being bottle-fed too. Fed is best, irrespective of whether that is from breast or bottle. (Trying not to rant here, just thinking about how I was made to feel like a failure when my baby needed formula, and I feel strongly that no one should be shamed for feeding their baby milk in whatever form they need).

The Amazing True Story of How Babies Are Made is suitable for lower primary school children and above. It is best read together!

 

I’ve been busy…

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As many of you will have noticed, I haven’t been posting much this year, and especially in the past few months. Now, it’s not because I’ve lost interest (I haven’t), or that there is a lack of review requests (there’s not) or even because I’m not reading (picture books still count!) No, it is because I simply haven’t had the time of late to spend at my computer, or to read much of anything that requires me to concentrate. My time has always been stretched thin with four kids, a couple of part-time jobs, volunteering at the schools, and a house to upkeep, but this year all of my kids have required some extra TLC. I don’t want to go much into it, just suffice to say I have found myself bouncing between various appointments, meetings and educational courses and seminars to help us through, and as an added bonus our family has been repeatedly hit with the virus stick, knocking us down one after the other for the last six months or so. I’m pretty tired…. and I’m only getting time on my computer today because I’m in bed recovering from the latest illness.

Now, I hope you won’t give up on me just yet! With spring in the air, hopefully the coughs, sneezes and snots will leave us be for a while, and life will return to some semblance of its normal chaotic self. I can’t predict when I will be back on the blog more regularly, but I will try to get more reviews happening, though I may be limited to picture books for a while….

I apologise if you have sent me a review request and I haven’t gotten to it yet, I do keep all review requests on file, so it’s still in my to do pile! I get more requests than I could ever complete even when times are good, but I will do my best!

Thanks for your understanding,

Sara

Jun9

The Bad Guys: Episode 1 by Aaron Blabey

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The Bad Guys: Episode 1 by Aaron Blabey, paperback chapter book, 144 pages, published by Scholastic Australia in 2015.

Mr Wolf is known for trying to eat old ladies and their relatives, but does that make him a “Bad Guy”? To change his image, Mr Wolf starts a good guys club with Mr Shark, Mr Piranha and Mr Snake, with the aim to help people, and to become heroes. Mr Wolf has plans to make this band of stereotypical baddies be seen in a better light, through rescuing cats in trees and freeing dogs from the pound. But, will his plan work?

The Bad Guys is an easy to read chapter book, fantastic for those just moving up from first readers. The book had a comic book feel to it, with the story told through the extensive black and white illustrations and character dialogue.

I read the first episode to my kindergartener, who absolutely loved it (and I did too!). I think my son could have read it himself, but at 144 pages, he was a little intimidated by the physical size of the book. However, with all of the illustrations, and only a small amount of text on any one page, it was quite a quick read.

All of the characters have some quirky traits, but I particularly liked Mr Wolf’s upbeat nature and his unwillingness to accept defeat. My son liked Mr Shark’s ability (and desire) to eat anything and everything, even his own hat! The group dynamic and the interaction between the individual characters was excellent. It was easy to believe that this group could turn their bad ways over for good with Mr Wolf’s leadership and some great teamwork.

Be prepared for a good laugh whilst reading The Bad Guys; just about everything in this story was funny. The reactions to being rescued by a wolf, a shark, a snake and a piranha are great, and of course, my son thought Mr Piranha’s gassy little problem in the car was hilarious! How sceptical of Mr Wolf’s plans the others are, and how completely committed to his mission Mr Wolf is, even how they dress, it is all funny. Overall, we just really enjoyed this turned backwards tale.

The Bad Guys series is now up to, as I write this, I believe, episode 9, so there is a lot more laughter and joy to be had from these four formerly dangerous pals. We are looking forward to their next mission.

The Bad Guys: Episode 1 is suitable for lower and middle primary school children.