Kids Book Corner #10

How the Nobble was Finally Found by C.K. Williams



I enjoyed this fantasy book with its cute little elf-like creature. Great illustrations. A little long winded for my 5 year old to sit through but worth the read!

Hooray for Amandan and Her Alligator! by Mo Willems



Reall cannot go wrong with Mo Willems. His stories are so funny and 5 year old loved it!! Read this one a few times and probably his pick of the week!

Mucumber McGee and the Lunch Lady's Liver by Patrick Loehr



Reminded me of a twisted version of Green Eggs and Ham. Not scary but sinister imagery kind of. I can't think the right word but it is a good book and my son says he will never eat liver, which is fine by me :)

Trains: Steaming! Pulling! Huffing! by Patricia Hubbell



2-year old loved it but anything with wheels gets his attention. Fun pictures of all different kinds of trains. Its a fun one.

We also checked out some Maisy books, Berenstain Bears, Backyardigans and Martha speaks. All fun good reads but decided to highlight the books most people wouldn't checkout. Hope you enjoy them!

Eve by Anna Carey Review

Summary from Goodreads:

The year is 2032, sixteen years after a deadly virus—and the vaccine intended to protect against it—wiped out most of the earth’s population. The night before eighteen-year-old Eve’s graduation from her all-girls school she discovers what really happens to new graduates, and the horrifying fate that awaits her.

Fleeing the only home she’s ever known, Eve sets off on a long, treacherous journey, searching for a place she can survive. Along the way she encounters Caleb, a rough, rebellious boy living in the wild. Separated from men her whole life, Eve has been taught to fear them, but Caleb slowly wins her trust...and her heart. He promises to protect her, but when soldiers begin hunting them, Eve must choose between true love and her life.

My Review:

Another amazing YA Dystopian story. A dystopian future I have never even thought of. They raise the girl's hopes only to crush them the day they think their real lives will begin. So saad and tragic but as always, humanity pervails and people live on, fighting for what is right.

Eve is so naive and misinformed I do have a hard time believing she would last as long as she does outside of the School but lucky for her she meets Caleb who is such a good guy to take care of her.

Overall I just loved the whole premise, the characters, the quick pace. I read it over the weekend which considering I have 2 small children is a feat in itself! Can't wait to get my hands on #2!

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore Review

Summary from Goodreads:

Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisors, who have run things since Leck died, believe in a forward-thinking plan: Pardon all who committed terrible acts under Leck’s reign, and forget anything bad ever happened. But when Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle—disguised and alone—to walk the streets of her own city, she starts realizing that the kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year spell of a madman, and the only way to move forward is to revisit the past.

Two thieves, who only steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck’s reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace that he hasn’t yet identified, holds a key to her heart.

My Review:

This series just gets better and better and I hope this isn't the last we have seen of this world. I was a little worried knowing this would be about Bitterblue. Last time we had seen her she was 10 and I was very happy to see that this story was set in the future with her at 18. I wasn't really interested in seeing things from a 10-year-old's perspective.

The characters are so real and well-written. I like that they have their obvious faults and not perfect but are so full of good qualities of compassion, hope, and just amazing people.

This series definately on the short list of my all-time favorite series. Kepp them coming!

Forget Batman, Christian Bale is the man!

As a Colorado resident, the shootings have impacted my life, the state, the country and the world. It's sad that such tragedy and ugliness has to be in our world but we are strong and I think most people will still continue to see the good things in world.

I just had to write about what an amazing guy I think Christian Bale is. As a megastar, he could have brought his posse and followers with him to Colorado and taken a bunch of publicity photos to get his name around and be a total attention whore like so many celebrities.

Did he do that?

No. He came quietly, on his own. Asked for no publicity photos. He visited the memorial site and spent time visiting the victims in the hospital. What an amazing, unselfish man. And honestly I don't really use the word man because I meet so few real men. I'm sure they're out there, I just know very few.

In any case I wanted to say thanks to him for doing that and bringing some good into such a tragedy. I have always been a fan but this act of such kindness  has officially moved him to the #1 spot of my favorites list!

Kids Book Corner #9

Nothing to terrible exciting from this weeks library haul. It has also been an up and down past few weeks. Sigh...

"Don't Read This Book" by Jill Lewis



Classic don't trun the page style book. It was a cute story in any case and my son liked it.

"The Ugly Truckling" by David Gordon



I liked this take on The Ugly Duckling. Good boy appeal dealing with trucks and planes.

"Commotion in the Ocean" by Giles Andreae



This was fun book introducing kids to different sea creatures. Very bright colors and fun rhymes.

"Mickey Moonbeam" by Mike Brownlow



My 5-year-old's favorite of the week. Mickey saves his penpal from an accident only to realize his penpal is a giant!

"Little Monster Did It" by Helen Cooper



Cute story about a little girl who gets a little brother.

"There Was an Old Monkey Who Swallowed a Frog" by Jennifer Ward



Very funny take on the swallowed a fly storyline. Great pictures and the boys enjoyed it.

"Hot, Hot, Hot" by Neal Layton



About two wooly mammoths who get too hot in the sun. I picked this one because my strange child says he doesn't like summer because its too hot and he's never going outside again!

"Racer Dogs" by Bob Kolar



My little guy really liked this book. Race cars and dogs... can't go wrong in his eyes!

Thats it for this week!! Hope you check them out!

Desert Intrigue by Linda Weaver Clarke Review

Summary from Goodreads:

Desert Intrigue is a fascinating book and the latest in the adventures of John and Julia Evans series. As usual, John and Julia find their way into a mystery that Julia refuses to ignore. The intrigue starts when Julia's brother begins having problems on his ranch. Several catastrophes have plague Kelly's ranch lately, causing business to decline, loss of cattle, and layoff of personnel.

At first John and Julia send their twin daughters to help Kelly after some of his employees leave out of fear. When John and Julia join them, the episodes escalate to include loss of property and endangering lives. While they are gone, plans of their oldest daughter's wedding begin to fall apart. The rumors of The Thunder God repaying Kelly for trespassing on sacred grounds is hard to counter. The family believes there must be a logical answer.

My Review:

What to say about this book? I had higher expectations so I was disappointed. It was a kind of fun, light-hearted semi-suspense novel. In all reality it reminded me a of an episode of Scooby-Doo. No matter what is going on in the story, they're always laughing and not really being serious. I was just waiting for the bad guy to come out and say "And I would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for you meddling kids"

It is a quick read and even the author consider her novels "sweet" and thats what it is.

Fifty Shades Freed by E L James Review

Summary from Goodreads:

When unworldly student Ana Steele first encountered the driven, damaged young entrepreneur Christian Grey, it sparked a sensual affair that changed both their lives irrevocably. Shocked, intrigued, and ultimately repelled by Christian's singular sexual tastes, Ana demanded a deeper commitment; determined to keep her, Christian agreed. Now, together, they have more -- love, passion, intimacy, wealth, and a world of infinite possibilities. But Ana always knew that loving her Fifty Shades would not be easy and being together poses challenges neither of them ever anticipated. Ana must somehow learn to share Christian's opulent lifestyle without sacrificing her own integrity, identity, or independence; Christian must somehow overcome his compulsion to control and lay to rest the horrors that blighted his past and haunt his present. Just when it seems that together their love can conquer any obstacle, tragedy, malice and fate combine to make Ana's worst nightmares come true.

Review:

This is by far my favorite of the trilogy. I think its because there was less of the sexy stuff and more a story packed with emotion, kidnapping, fun, etc. I don't think  a relationship like this could really last in real life but that's part of the enjoyment of reading... suspending belief. Actually I wish I had a little more Ana in me and could deal as well as she does with all of Christian's nonsense.

The only thing I didn't particularly care for were all the little extra stories at the end. I wish they had been incorporated into the story as either a prologue or put in where they were relevant. I was happy with the ending and everything leadin up to it. It just seemed weird to go backwards once the story was really over. Not a big deal, just odd but it did add to the story.

I really do reccommend this series. The people who haven't read it are completely blowing it out of proportion. I don't hear complaint about say Danielle Steel or Jackie Collins who's books, in my opinion are a little raunchy. This series is a great story and if you don't like "those" parts then skip them. Its worth the read!

Kids Book Corner #8

Not a too exciting trip to the library this week but I did get my haircut before we went so that was a huge plus!!

"The Littlest Dinosaur and the Naughty Rock" by Camilla Reid



I got this one for the 5-year-old who unfortunately didn't get to hear, as he was being naughty himself but the 2-year-old liked it!

"Once Upon a Time, the End" by Geoffrey Kloske and  Barry Blitt



I liked this one. It did all the story editing for me ;) I am so guilty of skipping pages and shortening stories so this was perfect for me!

"A-maze-ing Farm Adventure" and "A-maze-ing Zoo Adventure" by Mattia Cerato



My 5-year-old loved these. He's a huge maze fan so he looked at these all of the time, tracing through the mazes with his fingers.

"Wild West Trail Ride Maze" by Roxie Munro



Another maze book but he didn't like this one as much. it was kind of confusing since it went from page to page. It was cool to see the the cowboys taking the cattle to seel through wild west terrain.

"365 Penguins" by Jean-Luc Fromental



This one is an oversized boo so I think it had a fun appeal for the kids and they loved all the penguins.

"Sammy and the Robots" by Ian Whybrow



I didn't read this one prior to checking it out. Just saw robots and thought it would be good but when the boy's grandma's gets sick I was worried it would turn into a sad story but all was well and the boys loved the robots!

"Maisy Drives the Bus" and "Maisy, Charley and the Wobbly Tooth" by Lucy Cousins



Can nevr go wrong with Maisy stories. Short, sweet, colorful. We didn't read the one about the bus but I'm guessing it had a happy ending :)

Thats it for this week. Hope you check them out!

Kids Book Corner #7

Quite a few books from the library this week. Of course, my son didn't want to read half of them, but I did ;) So here we go...

"Blue Chicken" by Deborah Freedman



Funny book about a chicken in a picture who turns everything blue. Good artsy book for kids.

"Seeing Stars" by Sharleen Collicott



My son liked this one about two junkyard critters who build a rocket and visit "outer space". Great illustrations!

"Superhero Joe" by Jacqueline Weitzman



Superheroes... what more does a boy need?

"Do Not Open This Book" by Michaela Muntean



One of this week's favorites. Reminded me of "The Monster at the End of this Book" from when I was little.

"Sylvia and Bird" by Catherine Rayner



One of my favorites from this week. Has a dragon and I'm in. Sweet little story about a lonely dragon becoming friends with a bird.

"The Emperor of Absurdia" by Chris Riddell



By far my favorite of the week and my son liked it too. I loved the illustrations. A nice introduction to fantasy art!

"You're Somebody Special, Walliwigs!" by Joan Rankin



A chicken adopts a parrot. Good moral to it and the illustrations are cute.

"Art" by Patrick McDonnell



Great use of different art types and very colorful.

"When the Silliest Cat was Small" by Gilles Bachelet



An odd story about elephant shaped cats?? I dunno. Didn't make much sense to me!

"Maisy Goes to the Hospital" by Lucy Cousins



Both my boys love Maisy so these are always a hit.

I also wanted to mention a website we use for stories as well http://www.wegivebooks.org/ We have been reading some from here as well. A few great things about this site: It's free, has great title like Skippyjon Jones, Max and Ruby all different age groups. The main thing is for every book you read they donate a book to a charity which you can choose from their list. Once they meet the goal you'll be asked to pick a new one. My son loves to read the stories online.

Hope you check them out!

"Bourne" and "Tributary" by Lisa T. Bergren Review

Summary from Goodreads for "Bourne"

In this e-novella, River of Time #3.1, the dramatic tale about the Betarrinis and Forellis continues, picking up directly after where Torrent left off… The battle is done at the front, but the battle is only beginning back at Castello Forelli. Marcello fights for his life; Lord Greco fights to find his place; and Lia fights for love.

 

Summary from Goodreads for "Tributary"

 

TRIBUTARY, a novella (1/2 the length of a normal novel), picks up a year after BOURNE... Lia struggles to overcome the fear that constant battle has heaped upon her; Gabi and Marcello face an unexpected crisis; and Lord Greco just may be ready to leave the grief and loss of his past behind him, so that he might grab hold of the future...

 

Review

 

This series has been so fun to read and I'm a little sad to see them go but the author has said that maybe she'll revisit them again someday.

 

The basic premise of the whole series is two teenage sisters who accidently go back to medieval Italy and find themselves involved in all kinds of adventures and love. The characters are so likable and fun and the bad guys are very bad guys.

 

A fun series and a fun ride! And I have to say my favorite cover is the last on "Tributary", the picture of Lord Greco. Yumm-my! 

 

Kids Book Corner #6

This week's library haul turned out pretty well. One in paticular was the big hit of the week.

"A Mighty Fine Time Machine" By Suzanne Bloom



My son enjoyed this one. Funny animals and great use of imagination.

"Moonpowder" by John Rocco



This was the big hit for the week!! I think my son had me read it 4 or 5 times. Sweet story about a little boy who misses his dad. The illustrations were beautiful!

"Too Many Leprechauns" by Stephen Krensky



This was a fun story about how leprechaun gold got to the end of the rainbow.

"All Aboard the Dinotrain" by Deb Lund



Dinosaurs and trains. For my boys you can't go wrong!! Very colorful and fun illustrations.

"Jumanji" and "Zathura" by Chris Van Allsburg



I've seen both the movies but had never read the stories. My son really enjoyed these. He didn't even complain (too much) about the black and white pictures!

Hope you check them out!