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Category: Children’s Books

Review: Harness Horses, Bucking Broncos & Pit Ponies by Jeff Crosby and Shelley Ann Jackson

[ 0 ] February 4, 2012
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Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Reviewed by Alyssa Katanic

I asked my soon-to-be-nine-year-old daughter what she wanted for her birthday: “I want a book to read about horses!” And here it is: Harness Horses, Bucking Broncos & Pit Ponies by Jeff Crosby and Shelley Ann Jackson.

This is not just your standard book about horses in general and how to take care of them. Harness Horses, Bucking Broncos & Pit Ponies gives a history of many (43 to be exact) different breeds of horses, how and why they were bred with the different characteristic they have, and the important part they play in human history. The illustrations are beautifully done (no photographs here, but great artistry that places the horses in historical settings), which makes it a fun book for young and old, boys and girls alike (I know my son will be stealing this one to check out the scenes of horses in battle).

Showing the horses in historical settings stirs up historical interests without overwhelming the reader with information. We are given a snip-it on each breed, which whets the appetite for looking further elsewhere (a mark of a great book for kids – encouraging further exploration!). As an added bonus, the reverse of the cover doubles as a great poster to hang up and remind young ones of what they learned, which is great for keeping their excitement alive. It would also make a great visual aid if your child had to do a presentation.

Harness Horses, Bucking Broncos & Pit Ponies is a great book for horse lovers of any age! I highly recommend it!

Rating: ★★★★½ 

Alyssa is a wife and stay at home, homeschooling mother of five, with two boxers, two cats, a soft shelled turtle named after Bob the Builder, and 7 frogs (admittedly a homeschooling project gone froggy). In all her spare time, she loves to read and believes that there is no such thing as having too many books!

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Tundra Books. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Switched by Amanda Hocking

[ 4 ] February 2, 2012
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Rating: +1 (from 1 vote)

Reviewed by Elizabeth Talbott

Wendy Everly has never felt as if she fit in anywhere. When she was six, her own mother tried to murder her in a fit of delusion, convinced that she replaced her real child. People seem to dislike her upon meeting without knowing anything about her and she just seems to stumble into trouble without meaning to.

At seventeen, she’s living with her brother and her aunt, trying to be good and do well in school, and stay out of trouble for their sake. Then Finn, a boy at her school, starts to stalk her, making Wendy suspicious but interested. He reveals that she is a changeling and tells her that she must return to her true family or be kidnapped by an opposing faction. Is this new place where she truly belongs or will she be just as alien there as she is in the human world?

Switched is a typical teen fantasy book that is supposedly about trolls (AKA trylles). This aspect isn’t necessary at all and seems like an easy way to market it as something unique, when it’s actually just a typical fairy story.

There were some things I liked about the book, such as the trylle society and the dynamic of her blood family as opposed to her human family. The society has a rigid caste system that doesn’t allow for upward mobility. The regular, peasant trylles don’t have any special abilities, so they work in order to contribute. Those in the aristocracy have magical abilities of some sort, but they don’t know how to defend themselves. Trackers only have abilities that go with their trade and are considered very low on the totem pole, but humans hold the lowest position. The blatant hatred of humans and behavior of trylles and people at different levels of the caste system really intrigued me.

The rest of the story was fairly typical for a teen fantasy read. Of course there was a hot guy named Finn that made Wendy act completely senseless and melodramatic. Finn’s character was the most annoying aspect of the book for me; I really liked Wendy except when she acted as if she would die without Finn, as so many heroines do these days. It was also quite creepy that she found it sexy to be stalked instead of meeting and getting to know each other like real people. The plot was a little uneven with pacing and did not pick up until Wendy arrived in the trylle world.

Overall, Switched was enjoyable, but not a spectacular read. The writing was all right and the story kept my interest, but I don’t have a burning need to read the next book in the series.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Elizabeth is a student at Cal State Long Beach. She laughs a lot, loves cats, and lives for music and books. You can read her blog here: http://titania86-fishmuffins.blogspot.com/.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by St. Martin’s Griffin. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review & Giveaway: The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe

[ 71 ] January 23, 2012
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Rating: +1 (from 1 vote)

Reviewed by Meghan Saldecki

Kaelyn’s town has come down with a mysterious – and deadly – virus. First, you’re itching and you cannot stop. Next, you’re acting like you’re friends with everyone. Then there are paranoid hallucinations. And lastly, you’re dead.

The Way We Fall is about exactly that: a falling civilization, hindered not only by the deadly virus, but by the healthy inhabitants inside doing anything it takes to survive – even if that means killing someone.

Kaelyn holds her own and shines as a brave heroine, risking her life to help those with the virus and her family. She sometimes breaks down, sure, but who wouldn’t when the town you grew up in is crumbling beneath you? I felt proud of Kaelyn and would definitely want her on my side, should a deadly virus ever hit my town.

The romance in The Way We Fall was wonderful and very appropriate for the circumstances. Gav was sweet and was always saving Kaelyn, which got annoying at times but was easily overlooked. He provided a shoulder to lean on and not once did I feel that their relationship was forced.

In addition to the great heroine, Megan Crewe’s writing really shined. The plot wouldn’t be anything without her intense, page-turning writing. She made you feel just how desperate the inhabitants of Kaelyn’s town were. Some of them going so far as to form a gang and horde all the food and medicine for themselves and even killing the sick.

Overall, I loved The Way We Fall and would strongly recommend it to anyone. Megan Crewe paints a fantastic story of what could very well happen someday and the story left me breathless and wanting more, but also scared to have more.

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Visit Megan Crewe’s website and check out the book trailer to learn more

Meghan is a 18-year-old book blogger. She likes to read and write in her spare time and would like to become a published author one day. She plans on going to college soon.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Giveaway:
One winner will receive a Minimergency Kit and a copy of The Way We Fall!

Mandatory entry: Please comment here with your e-mail address (filling it in on the form works too).

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This giveaway is open to US and Canada residents. Deadline to enter is midnight on February 6, 2012.

Review and giveaway copies were provided free of any obligation by Big Honcho Media. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Did You Say Pears? by Arlene Alda

[ 5 ] January 21, 2012
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Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Reviewed by Alyssa Katanic

What book lover doesn’t also love a little play on words? Did You Say Pears? by Arlene Alda is a picture book full of word play. Each page spread shows a set of homonyms or homophones and illustrates the meaning of each with a photograph. The last page of the book lists each example throughout the book, whether it is a homonym or homophone, and gives the definition of both.

I loved the idea of this book as a great way to teach my kiddos all about these fun twists in the English language, but I must say that I was not impressed at all by the included photographs. The cover is beautiful, but there were few other photos between the covers that measured up to it. Being an illustrations lover, this was a major disappointment for me. Hopefully my kids won’t be quite so picky; the words really are clever and it does show the difference between the meanings.

If you have a child who is interested in homophones/homonyms, or who has been getting them confused, this is a great book to add to your collection, but don’t say I didn’t warn you about the bright white press-on (finger) nails opposite the pile of carpenter’s nails.

Rating: ★★½☆☆ 

Alyssa is a wife and stay at home, homeschooling mother of five, with two boxers, two cats, a soft shelled turtle named after Bob the Builder, and 7 frogs (admittedly a homeschooling project gone froggy). In all her spare time, she loves to read and believes that there is no such thing as having too many books!

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Tundra Books. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: The Blade of Shattered Hope by James Dashner

[ 5 ] January 21, 2012
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Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Reviewed by Caleb Shadis

The Blade of Shattered Hope is the third book in James Dashner’s 13th Reality series. This series is meant for young adults and is similar in many ways to Harry Potter, although Dashner likes to disagree and point out the differences. The series follows a teenage boy invited into a a secret world that few others know about with technology that has almost magical properties. Like all secret societies they have an agenda and enemies with ulterior designs.

Atticus ‘Tick’ Higginbottom has been selected to join the secret society of the Realitants who try to protect the 13 realities. The Realitants started as a group of physicists interested in exploring and mapping the realities but eventually found themselves fighting to protect reality from those with more dangerous motives. Tick was selected along with two other kids, Sofia and Paul, and the three became fast friends. They have been on many adventures together and have faced death more than once, which has only strengthened their friendship.

In my opinion James Dashner tells a great tale, starting with the The Journal of Curious Letters and continuing through the The Blade of Shattered Hope. Like the Harry Potter books, the story being told grows up with Tick as he grows older in successive books. I keep comparing these to Harry Potter not because I think it’s a copy but because I think that those who enjoyed Harry will really enjoy Tick as well, and Dashner does have his own unique tale to tell. I think the 13th Reality series fits well into the YA group of Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl and Alcatraz Smedry. It’s fun, funny and thought provoking. All in all a great read.

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Caleb is a software engineer and amature woodworker living in southern Minnesota. He has more hobbies than he has time or money for, and enjoys his quiet time reading.

The review copy of this book was provided free of any obligation by Shadow Mountain. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

[ 5 ] January 19, 2012
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Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Reviewed by Megan Saldecki

Nikki Beckett mysteriously vanished last spring, leaving her family, her friend Jules, and her boyfriend Jack devastated. She was taken to the Everneath, a place where immortals feed on humans’ emotions to sustain their immortality.

So when Nikki suddenly comes back to her old town, everyone is surprised. She tries to slowly get back into the flow of things, but she harbours a secret that’ll devastate her loved ones even more: she has to go back to the Everneath in six months. And this time forever.

Nikki must find a way to stay above the ground, or lose everyone and everything again…

I found the premise of Everneath by Brodi Ashton extremely interesting, but because of a few problems, I just couldn’t like this book as much as I wanted to.

Nikki was all over the place for me. One minute she’d be entirely selfless and the next very selfish about having to go to the Tunnels at the end of her six months. She spent entirely too much time whining about the fact that she had to go back and that she wanted to make her disappearance up to her friends and family. Considering that her dad and her brother, Tommy, hardly entered the story, I didn’t feel that she made things better with them. This was also the case with her “best” friend, Jules, whom she hardly ever talked to or hung out with.

Now this is not to say I didn’t like Nikki at all. When she and Jack were actually making progress with each other and figuring out how to keep Nikki on Earth, I really enjoyed her character.

I did like Jack from the beginning of the story, however. I thought he was sweet and incredibly brave and understanding. I thought that he accepted Nikki’s story about the Everneath and her being a Forfeit way too fast, though.

Ashton’s writing was pretty simple, which was good in a way since it balanced out the complexity of the plot. I found the plot complex because it basically forced me to come up with explanations for the new vocabulary words such as Everliving, Tunnels, Forfeit and Feed. Some things were explained briefly in the beginning, but I thought the full answers were given too late, after I had already figured out what most things meant by the context clues.

Two things I definitely enjoyed, though, were the mythology incorporated in the story and the ending. The ending was executed perfectly in my opinion and I wish the rest of the novel was of the same quality.

Overall, once I looked past these flaws, I did enjoy Everneath quite a bit, but since so many things fell flat for me, I couldn’t give it a better rating. I would recommend this to fans of paranormal romance, though with some hesitation.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Meghan is a 18-year-old book blogger. She likes to read and write in her spare time and would like to become a published author one day. She plans on going to college soon.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Balzer + Bray. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: How Do You Feed a Hungry Giant? by Caitlin Friedman

[ 4 ] January 17, 2012
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Rating: +2 (from 2 votes)

Reviewed by Alyssa Katanic

How Do You Feed a Hungry Giant? by Caitlin Friedman is a super cute and interactive (pop-up, pull-here) book about a boy who finds a hungry giant, with a “Food Please” sign, hanging out in his back yard. The boy generously empties his family’s fridge in order to sate this giant’s hunger, but it takes the eventual help of his mom to fill the giant’s belly.

How Do You Feed a Hungry Giant? may also be a way to talk to your children about the people we see holding signs of their own (we saw two such men today as we were out and about). So many of us are blessed and have plenty to eat each day, but there are those nearby who are not. How can we help our children to see the needs of others and work with them to find creative ways to fill those needs as best we can? Perhaps How Do You Feed a Hungry Giant? will give you some ideas.

Caitlin Friedman also includes a small cookbook with giant sized recipes that will be fun to make with the kids: a huge burger, a pizza sized Chocolate-chip cookie, and a giant blueberry muffin, just to start.

How Do You Feed a Hungry Giant? is a fun and colorful book to explore together.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Alyssa is a wife and stay at home, homeschooling mother of five, with two boxers, two cats, a soft shelled turtle named after Bob the Builder, and 7 frogs (admittedly a homeschooling project gone froggy). In all her spare time, she loves to read and believes that there is no such thing as having too many books!

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Workman Publishing Company. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Cows Can’t Quack by Dave Reisman

[ 3 ] January 16, 2012
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Rating: +2 (from 2 votes)

Reviewed by Kathie Smith

Cows Can’t Quack is a fun read that will delight children from infancy through the early elementary school years.

Babies will be captivated by the rhythm as well as a story that can easily be read in an engaging and enthusiastic manner. Toddlers will enjoy learning animal sounds, recognizing rhymes and looking at whimsical illustrations. Kids up to age 6 will get a kick out of imagining animals making the wrong sounds and studying the reactions of each animal as they hear the unfamiliar sound of an another animal.

The expressive illustrations in Cows Can’t Quack are equally responsible for making it such a delightful book. Each animal is scared silly by the animal before it, running away crying out with their own sound, only to scare the next animal in line. The illustrations successfully complete the charm of the book by depicting hilariously surprised reactions and attempts to flee the scene.

Not only is the book entertaining, it also includes important underlying messages of respect and valuing diversity. Each animal brings an equally important element to the book and their differences are a valuable part of the story. Just as the story would be uninteresting if every animal sounded the same, the world would be dull without each of our own unique qualities.

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Check out our review of Cows Can’t Jump

Kathie is a writer, wife, mother and volunteer living in the beautiful Appalachian mountains. Her passion for the written word is fulfilled by creating her own fictional work, freelancing, acting as an adviser to another author, and reading with her six year old daughter.

Review copies were provided free of any obligation by Jumping Cow Press. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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