Children's Book Review Tuesdays: Picture Books Released Today

Book Title: Chukfi Rabbit's Big, Bad Bellyache

Story Teller:  Grey Rodgers

Illustrator: Leslie Widener

Publish Date: June 24, 2014

 Why I Read this Book: I received a free copy of this book for review purposes from Edelweiss.  This in no way influenced my review.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Review

As a story that was passed down from Choctaw Indians, this story makes a great children's book.  Full of rich images and a meaningful story, this is a great book for children of any age.  The moral of the story, lying never pays off, is great for little children and the beautifully illustrated pictures will keep children (and their parents) interested in this very relevant story.

Final Statements

Recommended Reading Age: Any

Overall Rating: 5/5

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Book Title: My Pet Rattlesnake

Author:  Joe Hayes

Illustrator: Antonio Castro L

Publish Date: June 24, 2014

 Why I Read this Book: I received a free copy of this book for review purposes from Edelweiss.  This in no way influenced my review.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Review

This is a cute little story but I think that it gives the wrong idea to children.  Some animals are just not meant to be pets as they can be very dangerous.  At the end of the book, the narrator says that he was lying the whole time and that he never had a pet rattlesnake.  I think this is also a bad lesson for kids to learn.  It is great for children to have a large imagination, but it is not good to teach them that lying is okay.  For these reasons, I have to lower my rating of the book. 

Final Statements

Recommended Reading Age: Any

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Graphic Novel Review: Out from Boneville (Bone, Vol. 1) and Rose (Bone, Vol. 0)

Book Title: Out from Boneville

Author: Jeff Smith

Publish Date: February 1, 2005

Series: Bone, Vol. 1

Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy Graphic Novel

Plot (from Goodreads):  

After being run out of Boneville, the three Bone cousins, Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone, are separated and lost in a vast uncharted desert.
One by one, they find their way into a deep, forested valley filled with wonderful and terrifying creatures...

Humor, mystery, and adventure are spun together in this action-packed, side-splitting saga. Everyone who has ever left home for the first time only to find that the world outside is strange and overwhelming will love Bone.

Why I Read this Book: I checked out this book from the library.

 

Review

I loved this middle grade graphic novel.  It is full of adventure, great graphics, and a great plot.  Oftentimes, I have found that graphic novels can have very simplistic plots especially for a middle grade graphic novel, but Out from Boneville has wonderful plot progression at a great pace.  The illustrations are colorful and keep your attention.  Perfect for any age!

 

Final Statements

Recommended Reading Age: Any Age

Overall Rating: 5/5

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Book Title: Rose

Author: Faith Erin Hicks

Publish Date: February 28, 2012

Series: Bone, Vol. 0

Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy Graphic Novel

Plot (from Goodreads):  

With its striking artwork by multiple World Fantasy Award winner Charles Vess, this graphic novel prequel sets the table for Jeff Smith's continuing Bone saga. In this mini-epic, Rose (a.k.a. Gran'ma Ben) must repel a devastating dragon attack on Northern Valley villages. Resonant whether you read it as a series starter or a powerful stand-alone.

Why I Read this Book: I checked out this book from the library.

 

Review

I found that this graphic novel was not as satisfying as the first graphic novel in this series.  The artwork did not seem to be by the same illustrator and was not as high of quality.  The plot was not as complex as that of the first in the series.  It was worth the read, but was a let down after reading the first in the series.
 

Final Statements

Recommended Reading Age: Any Age

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Graphic Novel Review: Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks

Book Title: Friends with Boys

Author: Faith Erin Hicks

Publish Date: February 28, 2012

Genre: Young Adult Graphic Novel

Plot (from Goodreads):  

After years of homeschooling, Maggie is starting high school. It's pretty terrifying.

Maggie's big brothers are there to watch her back, but ever since Mom left it just hasn't been the same.

Besides her brothers, Maggie's never had any real friends before. Lucy and Alistair don't have lots of friends either. But they eat lunch with her at school and bring her along on their small-town adventures.

Missing mothers...distant brothers...high school...new friends... It's a lot to deal with. But there's just one more thing.

MAGGIE IS HAUNTED.

Why I Read this Book: I checked out this book from the library after it was recommended to me on Goodreads.

 

Review

The morals taught in this graphic novel are great: 

1. It is always good to forgive others.  
2. You should not judge others.  
3. It is okay to be different.  
4. Ignore stereotypes.  

The writing style was entertaining.  The art was amazing!  This is a wonderful coming of age novel which would be perfect for those going into high school.  With that being said, there are a few cuss words in it.

 

Final Statements

Recommended Reading Age: 13+ for foul language

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

Children's Book Review Tuesdays: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Book Title: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Author: C.S. Lewis

Publish Date: March 5, 2012 (First Published in 1950)

Genre: Children's Fiction, Fantasy

Series Name: The Chronicles of Narnia (Publication Order, #2)

Plot (from Amazon):  

Narnia . . . a land frozen in eternal winter . . . a country waiting to be set free
Four adventurers step through a wardrobe door and into the land of Narnia, a land enslaved by the power of the White Witch. But when almost all hope is lost, the return of the Great Lion, Aslan, signals a great change . . . and a great sacrifice.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the second book in C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, a series that has become part of the canon of classic literature, drawing readers of all ages into a magical land with unforgettable characters for over fifty years. This is a stand-alone read, but if you would like to explore more of the Narnian realm, pick up The Horse and His Boy, the third book in The Chronicles of Narnia.

Why I Read this Book: I hope to read through this series throughout this summer.  I have never read this series before.

 

Review 

This novel was a great middle grade novel and was better than the Magician's Nephew.  I loved the fantasy elements in this book.  This series is filled with wonderful Christian allegories!  I cannot wait to read the rest of the series!

 

Final Statements

Recommended Reading Age: Any Age

Overall Rating: 4/5

Sweet Summer, Crazy for YA Books, Library Books Readathons: Weekly Wrap Up

Goals Summary

Read 2100 pages (average of 300 a day)

• Monday: 411 pages
• Tuesday: 408 pages
• Wednesday: 1288 pages
• Thursday: 429 pages
• Friday: 609 pages
• Saturday: 51 pages
• Sunday: 20 pages

I did not have much time to myself this weekend, so I did not get to read as much.  My total page count was 3216 pages for an average of 459 pages a day.  I would not have been able to do this if I had not read so many manga and graphic novels.

Post daily update posts during the read-a-thon

I have done a daily update post for all of the posts except for Sunday.
 
Post a wrap-up post after the read-a-thon 
 
Here is is! :)
 
Finish The Scorch Trials audiobook (somewhat completing the optional challenge for the Sweet Summer Readathon)

I did not finish this book, but I did make some progress :)
 
Participate in the daily challenges for the Sweet Summer Readathon

Luckily, I did not specify how many of these I would do.  I ended up completing 3 challenges, but did not do all of the challenges for this readathon.
 
Read a book set in the summer for the Sweet Summer Readathon optional challenge

I did not do this challenge :(
 
Read as many library books as I can for the Library Books Readathon 

I finished 1 novel and 14 graphic novels from the library.  That's pretty successful!

Thoughts

I really enjoyed participating in these readathons.  I had a lot of fun and made a lot of progress.  I wish that I had finished more novels.  I got kind of stuck in Everfound.  I will not pick a 500 page novel for a readathon.

Sweet Summer, Crazy for YA Books, and Library Book Readathons: Day 6 Wrap Up (Saturday, June 14)

Reading Completed

Today I was able to read 51 pages.  I did not reach my goal of 300 pages.  Here is what I read:

• Continued Everfound by Neal Shusterman (read 51 pages, total of 220/500 pages)

Thoughts

Today was a busy day for me and I did not read as much as I would have hoped.  Hopefully, I will get to read more today and maybe finish Everfound.

Sweet Summer, Crazy for YA Books, and Library Books Readathons: Day 5 Wrap-up (Friday, June 13)

Reading Completed

Today I was able to read 609 pages.  I exceeded my goal of 300 pages.  Here is what I read:

• Finished Rose (Bone # 0) by Jeff Smith (read 115 pages, total pages=136)
• Started and DNF Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol (read 86/221 pages)
• Continued Everfound by Neal Shusterman (read 59 pages, total 170/500)
• Finished Beautiful Creatures: The Manga by Kami Garcia (manga, 238 pages)

Thoughts

I enjoyed Rose, but not as much as I enjoyed the first book in the Bone graphic novel series.  The ending was good, but the rest was a little slow.  It was nice learning more about Rose's past.  I gave this book a 3.5/5 stars.  Review will be coming soon.

I started Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol.  I enjoyed the interactions that Anya had with the ghost, but there were too many sexual references and foul language.  I DNF this book.

I liked  Beautiful Creatures: The Manga, but it was not my favorite graphic novel.  I gave this book a 3.5/5 star rating.

Sweet Summer, Crazy for YA Books, Library Books Readathons: Day 4 Wrap Up (Thursday, June 13)

Reading Completed

Today I was able to read 429 pages.  I exceeded my goal of 300 pages.  Here is what I read:

• Started and finished Chaos by Ted Dekker (graphic novel based on the book, 144 pages)
• Started and finished White by Ted Dekker (graphic novel based on the book, 132 pages)
• Started and finished Red by Ted Dekker (graphic novel based on the book, 132 pages)
• Started Rose (Bone series #0) by Jeff Smith (graphic novel, 21/136 pages read)

Thoughts

I finished all of the Ted Dekker graphic novels that I had gotten from my library.  I gave Chaos and Red a 4/5 and White a 4.5/5 stars.  A series review will be coming soon.

I started the prequel to the Bone series.  It is great so far.

Book Review: Ice Dogs by Terry Lynn Johnson

Book Title: Ice Dogs

Author: Terry Lynn Johnson

Publish Date: February 4, 2014

Genre: Young Adult, Survival

Plot (from Goodreads):  

Victoria Secord, a 14-year-old Alaskan dogsled racer, loses her way on a routine outing with her dogs. With food gone and temperatures dropping, her survival, and that of her dogs and the mysterious boy she meets in the woods, is entirely up to her.

Author Terry Lynn Johnson is a musher herself and her crackling writing puts readers at the reins as Victoria and Chris experience setbacks, mistakes, and small triumphs in their wilderness adventure.

Why I Read this Book: I saw this book in the new release section of my library and I thought it looked really interesting.  I have been interested in reading realistic survival stories lately.

 

Review 

This is a great survival story!  The author owns her own sled dog team, so this story seems really accurate to real life situations.  The adventure and the risk of surviving seemed real and kept me reading.  I needed to know what happened to Vicky and if they survived.

I feel in love not only with the human characters in this book, but also with the sled dogs.  I loved the writing style.  This book is marketed as a Children's Fiction novel, but it is written with elevated language and I feel it is more suited to a Young Adult audience.

I think this book would be great for fans of the Hatchet series by Gary Paulsen.  Although I have not read this book in a really long time, Ice Dogs reminds me of this novel.

 

Final Statements

Recommended Reading Age: 16+ for some sexual inuendos

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

Sweet Summer, Crazy for YA Books, and Library Books Readathons: Day 3 Updates (Wednesday, June 11)

Reading Completed

Today I was able to read 1288 pages.  I exceeded my goal of 300 pages.  Here is what I read:

• Started and finished Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks (graphic novel, 220 pages)
• Continued Scorch Trials audiobook by James Dashner (1 hour ~ 12%, total of 51% read)
• Continued Everfound by Neal Shusterman (read 72 pages, total read 110/500)
• Started and finished Cross Game 1 (Vol. 1-3) by Mitsuru Adachi (graphic novel, 572 pages)
• Started and finished Chosen by Ted Dekker (graphic novel based off of the book, 136 pages)
• Started and finished Infidel by Ted Dekker (graphic novel based off of the book, 144 pages)
• Started and finished Renegade by Ted Dekker (graphic novel based off of the book, 144 pages)

Thoughts

Friends with Boys was a great graphic novel!  It was about a girl who had always been home-schooled who was going to her first day of high school.  She was trying to find a way to fit in and also trying to find friends.  She had never had an friends outside of her family.  I gave this book a 4.5/5 because it had some foul language.  Full review will be coming soon.

I am continuing the audiobook of The Scorch Trial and I am enjoying it, but this is not my favorite series.  I am curious to see what will happen.  I am also continuing Everfound.  So far this is a great concluding book to the series.

Cross Game 1 was a good graphic novel that included the first three volumes in the series.  I really want to continue the series, but my library does not have the next volumes.  I gave this book a 3.5/5 star rating.  Full review will be coming soon.

I finished the first three graphic novels in the Lost Books series.  These books are based off of novels by Ted Dekker.  This books were great, although they did not follow the novels perfectly.  I hope to finish the last in this graphic novel series tomorrow (probably directly after this post goes up).  I gave each of these books a 4.5/5 star rating.

Book Review: Relentless by Dave Donaldson

Book Title: Relentless

Author: Dave Donaldson

Publish Date: March 7, 2013

Genre: Christian Nonfiction

Synopsis (from Goodreads):  

Relentless takes an honest look at some of the tragic problems many people face who are struggling against the odds and fighting a losing battle. But bigger than all these problems are the hearts and desires of the relentless individuals who are joining forces with others and allowing God to do something great in and through them. Do you feel a movement of hope gaining force all around you, drawing you toward making the world a better, safer, healthier, and hope-filled place? Then you may be part of the relentless: people who never of helping the needy because they believe in, and live from, the apostle Paul's words. "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed" (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).

Why I Read this Book: I was given an electronic copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way influenced my review.

 

Review 

I enjoyed the overall message of this book: As Christians, we need to reach out and help others.  There were some things that really bothered me about this book.  I felt like the book was relying on the guilt factor in order to get you to help others.  I also felt like the book was a promotional for certain organizations, mainly Convoy for Hope which the author founded.

I really enjoyed some of the messages in this book.  For instance, it showed how Jesus looked at others with compassion and how we should do the same.

I also enjoyed the personal testimonies and the other stories that were told in the book in order to evoke emotions from the reader and to show why the author was moved to serve.

Overall, I found the book depressing as it talked about all the people who are suffering around the world.  It has always been one of my strongest desires to help others and it hurts to see others suffering.  I do feel led to serve others, but I do not think that this book approached this topic in the best way. I feel like the book Thrive by Mark Hall approached this topic a lot better than this book did.

If you are looking for organizations that serve others and want to know more about these organizations, than I think this would be a good book for you.  Personally, this book did not live up to my expectations.

 

Final Statements

Recommended Reading Age: Any Age

Overall Rating: 3/5

Sweet Summer Readathon: Day 3 Daily Spell It Out Challenge

Today, Hannah from The Book Tower is hosting the Spell It Out challenge for the Sweet Summer Readathon.  The rules are simple; spell out your name or the name of your blog using book titles.  I chose to spell out my name with books that I am looking forward to reading.  Some of these are on my readathon TBR.

Jesus Is by Judah Smith
Everfound by Neal Shusterman
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
Summerhill Secrets (Volume 1) by Beverly Lewis
Insurgent
Cross Game 1 (Vol 1-3) by Mitsuru Adachi
Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

Sweet Summer, Crazy for YA Books, and Library Readathon: Day 2 Updates (Tuesday, June 10)

Today, along with reading.  I also participated in rainbow spines challenge as part of the Sweet Summer Readathon.

Reading Completed

Today I was able to read 408 pages.  I exceeded my goal of 300 pages.  Here is what I read:

• Started and completed Death Note, Vol. 1 (graphic novel, 195 pages)
• Continued The Scorch Trials audiobook by James Dashner (34 minutes, 6%, total of 39% complete)
• Finished Once Upon a Curse by E.D. Baker (pages 69-244)
• Started Everfound by Neal Shusterman (YA novel, pages 1-38)

Thoughts

Death Note. volume 1 was a reread for me.  I originally read it last summer.  I have seen the anime series and I want to read all of the manga novels.  I reread the first volume in preparation to reading the rest of the series.  I enjoyed this volume even though this is a dark series.  I love the psychological aspects of the book.  This series keeps you on your toes. 

I continued The Scorch Trials.  I actually had to re-listen to some of it that I had listened to before because I had forgotten what had happened.  I am only 39% finished with the book, but it is good so far so I hope to continue more on this tomorrow.

I finished Once Upon a Curse by E.D. Baker which is a middle-grade fantasy novel about a 15 year old princess witch that has a curse put on her family.  She seeks for a way for the curse to be removed.  This book was really good.  This is actually the third in a series of which I have not read the first two books, but it was really easy to follow.  I gave this book a 4/5 stars and I will be writing a full review of this book soon. 

I started Everfound (Skinjacker #3).  This is a great book so far, although I have forgotten some things that happened in the second novel in this series.  This book is 500 pages so hopefully I will finish it tomorrow, but I am not sure if I will be able to read that much in one day.

Children's Book Review Tuesdays: Two Picture Books

Book Title: Are You Sleeping Little One?

Author:  Hans-Christian Schmidt and Cynthia Vance

Publish Date: August 14, 2012

 Why I Read this Book: I received a free copy of this book for review purposes from NetGalley.  This in no way influenced my review.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Review

This is a cute book about animals and how they sleep.  This would be a great bedtime story.  It is both educational and fun!  It has great illustrations.

Final Statements

Recommended Reading Age: Any Age

Overall Rating: 5/5


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Book Title: Monsters, Monsters Everywhere!

Author:  Shawn Shields

Publish Date: May 6, 2014

 Why I Read this Book: I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.  This in no way influenced my review.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Review

This is a cute book with gorgeous illustrations!  There is not much of a storyline or a theme, but it would be great for young children.  This book is optimized for iBooks and can be found here.  I do not own any Apple products other than an ancient iPod, so I was unable to enjoy the enhanced features, but the book alone was well worth it!  The book is currently free on iTunes.

Final Statements

Recommended Reading Age: Any Age

Overall Rating: 4/5

Sweet Summer Readathon: Day 2 Rainbow Spines Challenge (Tuesday June 10)

Today's daily challenge for the Sweet Summer Readathon was the Rainbow Bookshelf Challenge.  The host for this challenge is Sof from The Rainbow Bookshelf.  Here are the rules:

1. Stack up your books in the following order according to the spine color.

• Black
• Purple or Violet
• Blue
• Green
• Yellow
• Orange
• Red
• White

2. Take a picture. It can be as creative as you want.

3. Add your link to the link-up to the host's post.