Shannon's Review - Firenze's Light by Jessica Collaco

Title: Firenze’s Light
Series: not at the moment
Author: Jessica Collaco
Illustrator/Book Cover Design: Angela Li
Genre: Fiction, Children’s, Picture book,
Publisher: Shine Your Light Books
Received:
Release Date: June 2014
Pages: 28
Rating:



Author Jessica Collaco’s Official Websites:



(borrowed from goodreads.com)

Website:
https://www.shineyourlightbooks.com/

Blog:
None

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/ShineYourLightBooks/

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/FirenzesLight

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/jessicacollacocreates/



Shannon’s Thoughts:

Firenze is a firefly that does not like her light. Her mother tells her it is what makes her special but she disagrees. She tries hard to hide her light even though others discourage it.

Even as an adult reading stories about what makes a person, animal, or insect special hits a note for me. As a human, I think we all want what we don’t have. Firenze has a light she would rather not have because she sees it (at first) as a negative. We always want what we can not have and then realize that we want what we did have.

I think it is a good story but kinda peters out in the end. Strong message but the realization at the end of the book is just unrememberable.

The art is beautiful and cute. It really helps tell the story. I would recommend this for kids ages 4 and up. I would absolutely read more from this author.

Shannon's Review - The Looney Balloonies Have Fun At A Birthday Party by Lilly Sky

Title: The Looney Balloonies Have Fun At A Birthday Party
Series: Not at the moment
Author: Lily Sky
Illustrator/Book Cover Design: I. Cenizal
Genre: Fiction, Children's, Picturebook, Birthday
Publisher: Amazon Direct Publishing
Received: Bought
Release Date: June 2013
Pages: 33
Rating:



Author Lily Sky Official Websites:
No picture found


Website:
None found

Blog:
None found

Facebook:
None found

Twitter:
None found

Instagram:
None found

Shannon’s Thoughts:


Benny the Balloon has a birthday party for himself. He invites all his colorful balloon friends.

The cover page makes the book looks like a good time you don’t want to miss. The story is not bad it is pretty simple probably better for younger children.

I think the title is a little misleading. They are balloons but they are not really looney unless you count the way they are drawn which is like an upsidedown balloon. This bugs me a little.

The story is cute as is the art. This will probably be liked by toddlers learning colors.

Shannon's Review - Little Mouse's Painting by Diane Wolkenstein

Title: Little Mouse’s Paining
Series: None
Author: Diane Wolkstein
Illustrator: Diane Wolkstein
Genre: Fiction, Children’s, Picture Book, Animals, Art
Publisher: HarperCollins
Received: Bought
Release Date: April 1992
Pages: ??
Rating:






Author Diane Wolkstein Official Websites:


(November 11, 1942 – January 31, 2013)

Website:
None active

Blog:
None active

Facebook:
None active

Twitter:
None active

Instagram:
None active


Shannon’s Thoughts:

Little Mouse is an artist and loves to paint. Three of Mouse’s friends visit and each friend sees something different from the painting Mouse has painted. Each friend sees themselves in the painting although Mouse did not paint the picture with them in mind. The painting becomes special for all four of them for different reasons.

This book has two things that caught my eyes. One it a kid's book which I love. Two it’s got the mouse is an artist and I am an artist. The art for this book is so detailed and story so sweet. I love how each character saw something different in painting.

I have seen some reviews that people did not like there were so many words for a picture book and I will say when I pick it up a glance through I felt the same. Although once I read it, that did not matter. It reads easily and with art so detailed the story should mirror that.

Toddlers will enjoy the book but those starting schools might connect with it more. A beautiful work of art in many ways.

Shannon's Review - Tomorrow Is Near But Today Is Here by Asaf Rozones

Title: Tomorrow Is Near But Today Is Here

Series: Mindful Mia #2

Author: Asaf Rozanes

Genre: Fiction, Children’s, Picture Book

Publisher: ???

Received: From Author For Review

Release Date:  February 2018

Pages: 16

Rating:

Author Asaf Rozanes’s Official Websites:

Website:

None

Blog:

None

Facebook:

None

Twitter:

None

Shannon’s Thoughts:

Little Mia enjoys playing with friends and enjoying her days but there was a time she could not enjoy them.  Mia use to worry instead of doing the things she liked to do. She worried so much that she missed a day that could have been fun, but because of worry, it was sad and short. Mia soon learns from her Dad that worrying does no good and tomorrow is a new day.

This is a book I could have used as a child.  In fact, I still need it now as a reminder to stop worrying about things I can not change.  The images are cute and Mia seems like a sweet child.

I found only one thing confusing.  There was a sentence or two that duplicate on two pages.   I wasn’t sure if that was on purpose or not. I realize that with children books replicating core thoughts help a child remember or learn but these sentences just felt like a record stuck on repeat.

This Mia series does seem to have wonderful messages of things I do not see often. I could see Mia as cartoon series someday.  She seems to be a little character with a very big heart.

Shannon's Review - Quiet In The Garden by Aliki

Title: Quiet In The Garden

Series: N/A

Author: Aliki

Genre: Fiction, Children’s, Picture Book

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Received: Borrowed From Library

Release Date: February 2009

Pages: 32

Rating:

Author Aliki’s Official Websites:

(the image was taken from Amazon.com)

Website:

None

Blog:

None

Facebook:

None

Twitter:

None

Shannon’s Thoughts:

An empathic little boy wanders a garden watching animals and with plants and each other.

Quite In The Garden is a cute and calming book. I feel it very relatable to me because as a child I watched and played with animals and bugs alike.  The little boy imagines different animals communicating with each other.

Even though the book is very relaxing it gets a little to slow and might make the reader sleepy.  Then again maybe that is the goal since many parents may read this before bed.

I know that author Aliki has written many children books. This is the first book I have read by her. Illustrations are lovely and her writing gives a lot of feeling.  I hope to read more of the author’s work.

Shannon's Review - If You Were Me And Lived In France by Carole P. Roman

Title: If You Were Me And Lived In….France...

Series: If You Were Me And Lived In

Author: Carole P. Roman

Genre: Non-Fiction, Children's, Picturebook, Countries

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Received: From Author For Honest Review (Thank You, Carole!)

Release Date: May 2013

Pages: 28

Rating:

Carole P. Roman’s Official Websites:

(picture was taken from Goodreads.com)

Website

http://www.caroleproman.com/

Blog

N/A

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/CarolePRomanAwardWinningAuthorAndBooks

Twitter

@caroleproman

Shannon’s Thoughts:

In this second book in the series (no need to read in order) the reader is introduced to the country, France.  We learn a little about the French language and some of its big tourist sites, like the Eiffel Tower.

I enjoyed learning the small number of French words.  It’s a picture book and some authors overdo it by having too many hard or unknown words.  Author, Carole P. Roman, does not overdo it with her writing.

On the downside, I feel that having been to France, more landmarks and architecture could have been mentioned that kids would be interested in.  For instance Notre-Dame Cathedral, kids may recognize from Disney movie The Hunchback Of Notre Dame. I guess I wanted the book a little longer. The pages run a little on the low side for a picture book.  The typical is 32 pages where this was 28.

This is another wonderful addition to the If You Were Me And Lived In… series. So many places to learn from and so much information to share. Almost an endless supply of writing. I look forward to the next book.

Shannon's Review - A Boy Like You And Me by Eva Maria Schwarz-Pretner

Title: A Boy Like You And Me

Series: N/A

Author: Eva Maria Schwarz-Pretner

Genre: Fiction, Children's, Picturebook

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Received: Received from author for review

Release Date: December 2017

Pages: 32

Rating:

Author Eva Maria Schwarz-Pretner’s Official Websites:

Website:

N/A

Blog:

N/A

Facebook:

N/A

Twitter:

N/A

Shannon’s Thoughts:

A common little boy like you or me just wanting to have a nice day but there are some obstacles in his way. He goes out to watch a movie in a theatre but he is not able to see the screen, so he wishes for a long neck like a giraffe, to his surprise his wish is granted. As he goes through his day he makes more wishes which are granted.  He then goes home to only regret his wishes.

This picture book has an innocence about it.  The little boy is very sweet and makes wishes without a real thought to there outcome and luckily no one really gets hurts in the granting of the wishes.

There were some things I was expecting to happen. I thought other kids in the park seeing his differences and making fun or laugh at him. I also thought it would have been nice to just have one extra sentence on why it was better for him to wish away his wishes even though the illustrations do a little of the explaining.

A cute little book that I think little ones 5 and under will enjoy.  

Shannon's Review - If You Were Me And Lived In The Mayan Empire by Carole P. Roman

Title: If You Were Me And Lived In The Mayan Empire

Series: If You Were Me And Lived In

Author: Carole P. Roman

Genre: Non-Fiction, History, Children’s. Picture Book

Publisher: Create Space Independent Publishing Platform  

Received: From Author For Review

Release Date: March 2017

Pages: 66

Rating:

Author Carole P. Roman’s Official Websites:

Website

http://www.caroleproman.com/

Blog

http://caroleproman.blogspot.com/

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/CarolePRomanAwardWinningAuthorAndBooks/

Twitter

https://twitter.com/caroleproman

Shannon’s Thoughts:

Another book from the “If You Were Me And Lived…” series.  This edition is about the Mayan Empire.  

This series is great for kids to learn about history. Since I don’t have kids I think is also great for adults who do not read much history and want to learn by not getting overwhelmed with a huge history book. I learned many things that I did not know, like the fact that descendants of Mayans still live in the area and still speak Mayan. They placed boards on babies heads to elongated the head.  They embedded jewels in their teeth.

There is a lot of information in this little book. My only problem is the info does not really stay in my head but I think that is a me problem not a book problem.  Luckily since it is a kids book it is small and you can re-read the book quickly.

Carole P. Roman does a great job on the research of the history and on what to place in the books. I look forward to reading and learning more from the other books in the series.

Shannon's Review - Delilah Dusticle by A.J. York

Title: Delilah Dusticle

Series: Delilah Dusticle #1

Author: A. J. York

Genre: Children's, Fiction, Short Story

Publisher: A.J. York

Received: Purchased

Release Date: March 2013

Pages: 33

Rating:

Author’s Websites:

A.J. York’s Official Website - http://www.ajyork.com/

Delilah Dusticle Official Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/delilahdusticle

Shannon’s Thoughts:

With powers to make dust disappear, Delilah Dusticle, is character full of love and life until... something happens to cause her powers to spread dust not eliminate it.  She wanders off sad and alone, just living day by day.

I fell in love with Delilah Dusticle.  Through her sadness you feel for her and want her find happiness again. Delilah’s story can be relatable to many children or adults that have lost their shine and hope for happier days.

The only issue I had with Delilah Dusticle was that there was no illustrations which would have given the start of the book personality and also help with it not feeling that it was dragging.

Delilah Dusticle starts out as a children’s book in need of illustrations but end up a short story for all ages as it teaches a wonderful life lesson. I look forward to the next book in the series Delilah Dusticle’s Transylvanian Adventure.