ABOUT:

A young stargazer receives a surprise late night visit and embarks on a journey he will never forget. This beautifully illustrated story is sure to warm the hearts of children of all ages, instilling childlike wonder and awe.

REVIEW:

I had the pleasure of picking up a copy of Jeff Stewart’s book in my local independent bookstore, All On The Same Page, here in St. Louis the week before Christmas.  At 24 pages, I gave it a quick look mainly to investigate the quality of such a book since it was published through Lulu.com.

The book measures 8.5 wide × 11.0 tall and is what they refer to as a saddle-stitch paperback.  This means the book is printed on flat paper that’s twice as wide and then folded in half and stapled, much like an activity or coloring book.

I have to say I was impressed!  Despite the high list price due to color printing, Lulu really does do good work even with small projects like this.  It may be small in size, but Jeff’s book is definitely not a small project itself.

The illustrations are beautiful inside and make this a very attractive and striking read for young readers.  The print is large and fills multiple pages top to bottom, so there is a well developed story here for kids and adults alike.

Due to the size of the book, I’d love to see a black and white version which kids could color themselves, just to make the story even more interactive.

Stop by All On The Same Page and pick up a signed copy and meet Jeff on January 7th at 1pm cst.  Or contact the store direct and order a copy in advance for Jeff to sign for you!

And if you don’t live in the area, check out All On The Same Page’s website for information on their author consignment program.

FROM THE BOOK:

A girl and her teddy bear share a promise to keep love alive in a home where it’s been all but forgotten. When they are forced apart one day, Solomon Bear is determined to find her at any cost!

In the tradition of The Velveteen Rabbit and The Little Prince comes Solomon Bear. At once a children’s romance and a fable about rediscovering innocence and unconditional love, this sentimental tale has the capacity to transcend genre and age boundaries. For while a taste for porridge, marmalade, or honey might make a bear more human, Solomon would remind us: it is love that brings us all to life.

REVIEW:

For anyone young or old, who has (or had) a lovable teddy bear, Phillip Laird has written a beautiful and charming story about the special relationship between a stuffed bear and his friend, a young girl.  They share a special loving relationship despite the lack of love in their household.  They dance, snuggle, and play games together. The little girl is his Princess and he is her Solomon Bear.

But when the little girl runs away, Solomon questions their bond and tries to figure out if the love they share is worth saving. After some advice given to him by the moon, Solomon learns about courage, beauty, love, and strength from other toys before finally venturing “outside” to search for his Princess.

At about 50 pages with no illustrations, there are some really beautiful passages in Mr. Laird’s writing. In fact, it’s very poetic and I found myself rereading some of them out loud and imagining how wonderful they’d probably sound to a young audience at story or bedtime. Here are a few of my favorites.

One from the very beginning of the story:

There was once a House that stood alone, on the edge of a vast and magical forest. And in this House so very far from all the others, there lied a lonely family, one that had almost quite forgotten the magic of loving. Why, in this House, even the toys themselves were falling under the spell of the Forgetting. There were but two who held to their promise never to forget the magic: a Girl and her Teddy Bear.

And another from later in the first chapter:

When so many new toys needed batteries, cables, or winding up to keep them going, for Solomon Bear, just the Girl’s hugs remained enough. All he knew was that when she held him, thee was nowhere else he would rather be. All uncertainty about who he was would melt away, and everything would become bright and clear and beautiful again for him, when he remembered that loving her was his greatest reason for being.

At times some of the writing is very dreamy and over romanticized, oozing with hugs and love. But afterall, what is a teddy bear for, right?  Kids will certainly enjoy the fantasy and pretend, the valuable life lessons, and the love that can be found in The Story of Solomon Bear.

Also availabe on iTunes
Sony’s EReader Store
B&N Nook

For those of you giving Ereading devices for the holidays to the young (or old) readers  in your lives over the next two days, I highly recommend purchasing Mark Adam Kaplan’s picture book called Monsters Do Ugly Things. It’s appropriate for readers “4 to 400.”

I had the pleasure of reading this little gem in the iBooks format and couldn’t resist reading it twice in one setting.  It’s approximately 41 pages long.  The first half explores the ugly things that monsters do: they play with their food, they sneeze on each other, they pick on other monsters…

The second half explores the pretty things that monsters do too: they take baths, they have friends, they protect their siblings, etc.

There’s one short sentence per page under a vibrantly colored, funny illustration.  The illustrations were provided by Glenn Scano.  Adults will appreciate the artwork simply for it being almost reminiscent of the classic Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, a classic picture book from our time.  I fully admit I laughed out loud and said a few “awes” while reading it.

There’s a lot of fun humor in the pictures alone which will really capture the young imagination.  For instance, the monsters bathing are in mud instead of water or the monster brushing his teeth is using an evergreen tree for a toothbrush. It’s definitely an enjoyable read for interactive sit down time or even bed time at the end of the day. And let’s not forget the “pretty lessons” it can help to teach kids. There’s also a list of all the monster’s names in the front of the book so kids can memorize who is who and pick their favorite.

The only regret is that this book is not available in hard copy yet. That’s too bad because I could totally envision a whole market of little stuffed ugly monsters to go along with the book. But “even monsters know that digital media is the future” according to their website!

There are lots of Ebook versions available (all listed above).  If you don’t have an Ereader, you can download the desktop Kindle app to enjoy it.  There’s free computer wallpaper available at the book’s website, Monsters Unbound.

There’s also black and white PDF downloads available of the ugly or pretty monsters for you to print out as coloring book pages.

And there’s even a slide show available on DVD for the classroom or play room complete with audio and music.

Monsters Do Ugly Things is a great way to share the digital reading experience with the young ones in your household.  And like I said, it’s a perfect gift for this holiday season!  I know I will be reading it again and again when I need a smile or a good laugh.

Thanks to Mark and Glenn for sharing a few pages from the book with our readers.

The House in Windward Leaves by Katherine L. Holmes is a perfect Halloween tale for kids who love to dress up or who have lively imaginations.

It’s the story of a group of friends who are anxiously awaiting Halloween and are planning out their costumes, while their curiosity is set on a stranger that has come to town to care for an odd house down the street.

What they aren’t expecting is the surprise in store when they decide to visit that spooky house in the neighborhood that is covered in leaves. Here, they meet the painter named Mistral and his cat named Matilda.

At the house, Mistral becomes an enchanter who magically transforms the children into their costumes when they are whisked away to a magic star.  Sadie becomes a real Fortune Teller.  Gretchen becomes a priest.

Tim becomes a real Zebra. Roger turns into George Washington. Ben becomes a professional trumpeter. Candy is the beautiful homecoming queen, and Rosemary is a patient.

What follows are chapters devoted to each child and their own little adventure based on their costume with important lessons learned along the way.

Ms. Holmes is the winner of The Loft’s Children’s Literature Prize, and has worked as a reporter and also in publishing.  Her talent shines through in this book with its tight storyline that is immaculately written.

I even think younger children might have trouble getting through it because the writing is very mature, but its the perfect story for parents to enjoy as a read-out-loud.  Ms. Holmes’ writing is that good and concise!

Parents will appreciate the special lessons hidden in the story to encourage individuality and imagination. I also got a strong “British” feel from the dialogue of the children and from their clever humor that I really liked.  I’m also glad the costumes were unique and not your typical cowboy, robot, or doctor.

Overall this is a great holiday read that captures the season and the magic of Halloween perfectly! A refreshing way to bid farewell to October.

Lots of us like to be scared on Halloween.  Who doesn’t enjoy a good fright?  But sometimes kids might become afraid of Halloween or trick-or-treating with all the monsters and goblins roaming about.  That’s why Lynn C. Douglas has written a book for kids about Halloween that celebrates the holiday in style, with not too many ghosts and spooks roaming about.  The fun black and white illustrations were drawn by Linda R. Zappe.

The title of the book is The Witch and The Wizard. A group of friends and their cousins love to dress up on Halloween.  But two years ago, a neighbor named Mr. Nelson dared their mother to decorate the yard to see who could be the scariest.  Then, it became a costume contest and Mr. Nelson transformed into a scary wizard while their mother, Melissa, became a witch.  The girls are afraid the evil wizard is taking all their joyful fun out of Halloween, but he will not call off the dare.

The group of friends seek out the wisdom of a “real” witch named Mrs. Parness.  Mrs. Parness is not an evil old green faced witch, and she gives the girls a potion to cast a spell over the wizard’s house.  With them help of Mrs. Parness and her cat named Jack, the spell is casts and the friends may just get to enjoy Halloween after all without having to worry about the wizard.

I thought The Witch and The Wizard was a great little book for teaching kids that they can enjoy Halloween without having to be scared. I had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Douglas and Mrs. Zappe at a book signing where I talked to them about the book.  Mrs. Zappe created the wonderful illustrations in just a few months. Mrs. Douglas also took a few months to write the story, in which she wanted to focus on a story especially for children which wasn’t too scary and which celebrated make-believe.  And she’s done just that!

At 44 pages of story with large font, the book is a quick read which can be enjoyed in one setting or spread over several nights of bed time story.  The full page illustrations are scattered throughout, and include a photo album page in the front of the book of all of the characters.

Check out the publisher’s website for a copy of The Witch and The Wizard or contact All on the Same Page Bookstore possibly for a signed copy.

Think back in time to when you were young and had lost your first tooth. The excitement of putting it under your pillow, knowing that the tooth fairy would come and retrieve it and leave you some money in its place. And hoping, against all hope, that somehow you’d know when the tooth fairy came, and might sneak a peek at her as she carried away your tooth.

Emily and James are sister and brother and don’t get along that well. But when James disappears, Emily can’t help but wonder where he went, and doesn’t understand why all of the adults seem to have forgotten he ever existed. The situation continues to worsen, as Emily and her friend Sasha get in trouble with the worst teacher of all, Mr. Rotter and are bullied by some boys who threaten the girls to do their homework. When Emily spends the night at Sasha’s house, along with her cat Muffins, the girls ponder what has happened while Sasha readies her tooth which fell out for the tooth fairy. She awakens when the tooth fairy is collecting the tooth and is pulled through the portal with her. And Muffins, who was trying to find something to eat was pulled through the portal, too.

James has landed in the camp of the Candy King and Emily and Muffins have landed on the side of the Tooth Fairies, and the two of them will be drawn into the middle of a war over teeth — which the fairies need for their magic, and the Candy Creatures need to continue living. Will they fight in the war against each other?

Candy Wars: The Tooth Fairies vs The Candy King is an entertaining read. Cordiner has created a world where tooth fairies live in a castle made of teeth, and where chocolate comes to life in the form of archers. The teacher, Mr. Rotter is aptly named as there is nothing good about him. He really is a caricature, and in this case it works. Kids like to read about scary grown ups who have no redeeming features (just as long as the mean, scary grown up doesn’t win in the end. The kids in the book must prevail). And my favorite character in the book was Muffins, the cat. Muffins wanted belly rubs and something to eat… and if it had to be a fairy, so be it. He found out quickly not to stalk a Phoenix with hay fever because it was too easy to get burned.

As a child I think I would have been enthralled by this book and would have overlooked some of the issues I see as an adult. The fairies all had the same personality, and I would have liked to see a little variance in them. I also expected the Queen of the Tooth Fairies to be a bit more impressive. I also would have liked to see a little more character development for Emily and James. This is quite difficult to do in the short number of words the author has to work with when writing for younger audiences, but it can be done. That the candy creatures were not distinguishable one from another didn’t bother me at all because they were merely the creations of the Candy King for his own devious desires.

All of the things I mentioned will be forgiven by the target age-group readers and they will enjoy the escapades of Emily and James. Initially when looking at the book I thought the number of pages was well beyond the range of the target readers, however, the length is due to some double spacing of paragraphs throughout, so don’t let the page count scare you… it is a faster read than it appears.

Enjoy Candy Wars: The Tooth Fairies vs The Candy King, but don’t let the sweet tooth get you.

Being a dog lover, I couldn’t resist a copy of James Beverly’s Seamus the Sheltie to the Rescue! This is actually the third book in a series about Seamus.  Being 10 x 7 in size, this book is very kid friendly and even contains some wonderful black and white illustrations, and photographs of the real Seamus.  The stories inside also carry life lesson themes that kids will pick up on and parents will certainly appreciate.

In Chapter 1, Seamus meets Roxy the Rottweiler who none of the other animals will play with because she’s too big and she’s different.  A thoughtful lesson about prejudice against those who are different.

Chapter 2, “Seamus and the Scary Booka-Booka,”  reinforces the themes of being different  and the importance of not being mean or teasing others.

There are six stories total. The other stories stress the importance of friendship, practice makes perfect, growing up, not being a bully, helping others, and even animal cruelty is discussed. All with Seamus at the center encountering other dogs and an array of colorful animal characters on his adventures.

There is no doubt children will enjoy this book. From an adult view, I had problems with Seamus’s speech. Words are shortened. There are no pronouns and no past-tense.  For example: “Eddybody gettin’ up dis day. Maybe dey wanna play wiff dis Seamus.” or “Dat big ol’ dogger smell sad! Dis Seamus gonna talk wiff dat bid ol’ doffer! Maybe big dogger wanna be friend dis Seamus. Dat Angus wanna go wiff dis Seamus?”

In fact, all of the animals throughout the book speak this way.  However, Beverly offers up a very good explanation in the introduction of the book.  He developed “Seamus-Speak” to be true to the age of the dog and the way children shorten words like “Cided” for decided or “Bout” for about.  Their vocabulary is not as developed, and neither are the vocal speech patterns of children. “These physical and mental limitations would be true for all dogs,” Beverly explains. If parents read the book out loud (and practiced first) in different voices, I’m sure kids would catch on quick.

The illustrations in the book are nice pencil sketches, but they are separated by the text by shaded frames, as if the 8×10 drawings themselves were scanned and then put right into the body of text like a photograph.  I would have like to have seen the artwork developed into the text itself and this “framed separation” eliminated.  However, I was just as happy to see illustrations.  So many books like this targeting this age group often forget illustrations.

Besides the detailed background information in the front of the book, the author also includes a glossary of “Seamus-Speak” words to help you understand what he is saying.  And there is a discussion guide for parents complete with an Appendix of theme explanations and questions and answers about each chapter.  Teachers or parents have a complete guide to assist them with teaching children important lessons through the adventures of Seamus.

Overall, I’d highly recommend this book to both parents and teachers.  If your children love dogs or enjoy animal stories, they will definitely love Seamus the Sheltie!

The Jazzy series is about a little girl named Jazzy and the adventures she gets into. These picture books are meant for young children, perhaps those learning to read, and have bright illustrations which help move the story forward.

In Jazzy and Puppy we learn that Jazzy is a little quirky because she has a cat named Puppy. And Puppy follows Jazzy everywhere, until one day Jazzy can’t find Puppy, which makes her sad. Jazzy is much happier when she finds Puppy and learns that Puppy has had kittens!

In Jazzy Gets a Dog we find that not only does Jazzy have a cat named Puppy, but that she had two birds, Kit and Kat, and a goldfish named Goldie. But Jazzy wants a puppy to add to her menagerie. So she asks her mom and dad and they finally agree, so Jazzy gets a little white puppy who tugged on her dress and licked her face. The puppy is named Snowflake.

In Jazzy’s Lovely Christmas Jazzy is excited about Christmas and when she hears her mother talk about buying gifts for the people she loves, Jazzy wants to buy gifts for her loved ones, her pets. Jazzy has saved up five dollars, and she and her mother go to the pet store. Then Jazzy is sad because everything she wanted to buy is too expensive. Then her mother asks if she wants to help take care of her pets, so she cleans the birdcage and feeds her pets and gives them fresh water. Her mother then explains she is giving them the best gift of all, the gift of love.

Through the series, Ms. Ishani’s illustrations increase in vibrancy. I like bright colorful books for kids and find them appealing. Jazzy and Puppy starts the series and the colors are muted, but depict the action well. With each successive book the illustrations become stronger and more confident. While I love the illustrations Jazzy’s Lovely Christmas there are more words on the page and the words are bigger, so if you are looking for a book for beginning readers, this book requires more advanced reading skills. To check out these books and see whether they are the right gift for the children in your life:

Preview the books on Amazon.com

Reviewed by author Sunni Morris

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  Although it’s for young readers (8-12) I think it could be enjoyed by any age group.  The book is full of adventures and activities that young teens could relate to; horseback riding, skating, and listening to music, dances, relationships, shopping and homework.  And of course there are adventures with good and evil and bits of “magick” scattered throughout the pages.

I liked all the characters in this book.  I think they are well drawn and we get a sense of what everyone is like.  There’s also good description throughout, so the reader can easily picture all the places and events in the story.

Our main character Marigold (or Maggie as she likes to be called) is a half human and half elf child and because of this she’s always felt different and is very lonely, especially after moving from Ireland to Washington State, so her workaholic dad could start his new job.  The kids at her new school make fun of her and she generally doesn’t fit in.  Maggie is self-conscious of her pointed ears and keeps them covered with her long hair.  She hates the school and takes solace in her best friend, a horse named Biscuit.

Marigold’s life begins to change after she rescues a boy and is able to follow him to the kingdom of ElvenHome, which is home to the elves.  It isn’t long and she finds herself enrolled in ElvenAcademy.  Here she makes new friends that she shares things in common with, plus she gets to sharpen her magick skills.

Maggie is full of courage as she battles the banshees and rescues her new schoolmates.  She is always up to a challenge and tries to do the right thing as events unfold.  The conclusion leaves you wondering what will happen next.

The illustrations were what first caught my eye in What’s the Trouble in the Forest of Kerfubble, written and illustrated by a married couple named Roger and Jennifer Sulham who have been together for 22 years.  But after reading it, the words are equally engaging.  I just wish my niece or nephew were still of age to enjoy a book like this because I would love to give it to them as a gift.

The story begins with three rabbits sleeping soundly in their burrow in the forest, until a loud noise wakes them.  It’s a tree falling, but they fear the worst – a monster – and decide to run into the forest to escape.  As they flee, they run into a cat who joins them on their escape.

Page after page, the group of animals grows and their fears worsen as each animal envisions how horrible the monster must be.  It’s the classic “the sky is falling” fairy tale, told in a new fresh way that I absolutely fell in love with.

The book is organized in a very professional and kid friendly manner with lots of brilliant colors.  The story is told in rhyme, that kids are sure to sing along to as you read it to them again and again, on the left side with a border of colorful leaves.  There’s an illustration of the animals on the right side as they run through the forest meeting up with others and falling into great panic!

The flock of animals ultimately come across the farm dog who has the best idea of all – Go ask the farmer!  Each animal appears to be a different texture, giving the book a nice handmade scrapbook feel that is really unique.  I asked Roger how the book was created.  Here’s what he had to say:

The eye catching illustrations are a unique blend of hand painted paper, rice paper, felt, and patterned paper. This mixed media collage gives the artwork a textural, homemade feel. The mixed media collage style does increase both time and expense of production, yet we feel the added depth and warmth are worth the effort.

And indeed it was!  After handcrafting each page, the Sulhams digitally scanned each page into their computer to create the finished book.  It almost reminds me of the classic DK touch and feel books that have been favorites with children for years.

Ultimately, there’s a valuable life lesson to learn here – not to jump to conclusions and let your fears get the best of you, told in an understandable manner that is pleasant to both children and adults. If I had children of my own, this book would definitely be a family favorite. If you are looking for an ideal and different gift for your young reader, you’ve found it!