Two Little Raindrops: An Exciting Story about Raindrops
Written by Adele Lamothe
Illustrated by Steve Tu
A new earth science picture book that explains the wonders of the water cycle to young children. Written in lyrical prose, the book features two adorable raindrop characters, Splish and Splash. Children love to splash in puddles. When curiosity about where this rain is coming from pops into their minds, read this book to answer their questions. The book teaches them the importance of the water cycle to our survival and how to conserve water through two endearing raindrops, Splish and Splash.
The diagrams are informative and easy to understand. The AB beat makes the book a fun read aloud. I recommend this book to curious minds ages three and older. Science teachers put this one on your shelf for class discussion.
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This is a charming story that is targeted to a middle-grade audience, but one that raises moral issues pertinent to children and adults as well.
Ashley, a fifth grader, and her friend Mason live in a world where all dogs have been euthanized and no longer claim to be man’s best friend. When they discover a scientist has managed to save a pack of renegade dogs, they set out on an adventure to find them and discover the truth.
Issues like bullying, empathy, and animal science raise good meaningful topics for discussion.
A short read with interesting characters and plot lines.
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I got completely absorbed in this middle-grade adventure. At the outset, readers meet Lucy who is arguing with her brother Tom. Readers feel at home in an average American family. When Lucy’s teacher introduces the topic of oceans, Lucy decides she is all-in on pursuing an adventure to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a boat without engines or sails.
Her determination and persistence convince her family, friends, and teacher to support Lucy in her adventure. She solicits sponsors, learns about navigation, secures supplies, accesses communication equipment, and prepares for the big day.
Readers share the elation of stars, sunsets, and serenity of the seas. They also experience its dangers at every turn. For forty-five days, they read her diary and the writings of her classmates at home.
I love the lessons of sea-faring knowledge, and the strong character displayed by the protagonist. This book is a page-turner and an enjoyable read for the target audience of ages seven through twelve, but I promise a rewardable experience for any age reader.
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Five Signs You Might Need to Focus on Emotional Healing
What is emotional healing? It’s the process by which you recover emotionally and mentally from a negative life experience. You can’t keep tough times from appearing in your life. When you are emotionally healthy and balanced, you deal with those difficult situations that inevitably pop up, and you can move on with your life.
This isn’t always the case when your emotions are out of whack.
Sometimes, we don’t understand we need emotional healing. That’s the problem. If you suffer some injury and have a broken bone, you can see it. You can certainly feel it. You know you have to get it fixed.
You might think your emotional responses to your experiences are correct and healthy. They may be anything but. Here are five signs you could use some emotional healing to live a more complete and fulfilling life.
You Don’t Experience a Wide Range of Emotions
You have access to 34,000 different and unique emotions. That’s what psychologist Robert Plutchik believed. He stated that most of us only experience eight primary emotions most of the time. These are anger, sadness, disgust, trust, fear, joy, surprise and anticipation.
If only a couple of those are usually present, you probably need more emotional balance. This could indicate that you aren’t properly processing situations and human interactions.
Low Self-Esteem and a Poor Self-Image
This is an offshoot of what we just talked about. You constantly look down on yourself. Everyone has times when they doubt their abilities. That’s only normal. We recover and move on. The emotionally unhealthy person usually has a low sense of self-worth, even when there is evidence this isn’t the case.
You Have Difficulty Trusting Others
A lack of trust can come from emotional imbalance. You must love yourself and truly believe you can overcome a bad relationship experience, or you’ll never trust others.
You Can’t Move Past a Negative Experience
Life can be difficult, at times seemingly impossible. It might look like you’ll never recover in the middle of the most trying hardship. You will. Don’t embrace and hold onto negative emotions. Practice gratitude for the great things in your life. Lean on your support network and get whatever help you need if you can’t seem to let go of negative emotions.
Constant Anxiety and Stress
Chronic stress is a killer and has been directly linked to many common causes of death. A constant display of stress and anxiety could mean you’re not always responding to life correctly where your emotions are concerned.
There is no miracle pill you can pop to always enjoy perfect emotional balance. You will have ups and downs, experiencing difficult times that hurt you emotionally.
For you to live your best life and for those that you love, you need to learn to recognize a negative life experience, give it its due, and then move on. Consider seeking help if you often display these signs of poor emotional health.
Have You Seen My Sock? A Fun Seek-and-Find Rhyming Children’s Book for Ages 3-7.
Written by Barbara B. Thompson
Illustrated by Remesh Ram
I loved this rhyming picture book for toddlers and preschoolers. A little boy becomes increasingly frustrated when he cannot find his favorite dinosaur sock. The repetitive lines encourage vocabulary retention and early reading skills. Bright illustrations draw children into the story. It teaches them the necessity of patience and the ability to be patient as they learn to logically follow a sequence of steps to solve a problem. This book encourages interactivity and helps parents and teachers to guide their young charges to follow through and remain on task.
I highly recommend it for a home or classroom bookshelf.
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Every child is unique and special. One of the reasons I believe each child’s educational setting needs to be unique not formulated by a cookie-cutter curriculum.
Abigail, the eight-year-old protagonist in this book is intelligent and happy until she notices that her reading group moves slower than the others and fellow classmates make fun of her. When she is diagnosed with dyslexia, Abigail feels stupid and lonely until her family and reading specialist show the remarkable capabilities and achievements of dyslexics. Through their love and support, Abigail learns there are many ways to be “special.”
The illustrations are soft and sensitive, yet emotionally powerful and appealing to the eye.
I would strongly suggest this book be included in elementary and middle school classroom bookshelves as a read aloud discussion book. It provides a wonderful asset for parents of a child with any type of disability to raise self-esteem.
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A beautiful rhyming picture book written for Christian children and their families.
What child does not love the mythical unicorn creature? Aden is introduced as a young yearling with spirit. He has a tender heart filled with compassion and kindness for others and never seems to put himself first.
One day Aden is gifted with a magical power. He is transformed into a unicorn. Rather than becoming impressed with this gift, Aden continues to be kind and unselfish. His love for others is soon tested. Will Aden ever fit in? Does he really want to be like all the others.
This book teaches children lessons from the Bible as well as strong character values.
I received a copy of this book from the author and voluntarily chose to read and review it with my honest opinions with no compensation.
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Publisher’s Book Summary: Coloring the Rainbow: The Power of Connection tells a story of the magic created when the unique talents of a diverse group of children are shared in a colorful adventure.
The adventure begins when we see through a boy’s window to find a young trombonist pausing his practice to wonder if other musical voices exist. When an alluring treble note wafts through his window, he begins an excited quest to find the answer. Playing his horn through his neighborhood, the boy draws other curious children to play their unique instruments along with him.
Together, they played: “Lend your voice, play your part! Something grand is beginning― join us for the start!”
The procession of music makers is touched with magic when their combined voices, raised in harmony, orchestrate a colorful miracle.
The ease of poetry and vibrant illustrations make this book a perfect keepsake for any gift-giver wishing to explore the values of diversity and inclusion with young, loved ones.
Catherine Rose is enjoying that time of life when one thinks of creating a legacy. What are the lessons learned from living life’s adventure that would benefit generations to come?
As a pediatric nurse, she wrote therapeutic stories to help children cope masterfully with injury and illness. Her present stories weave tales with similarly empowering messages to support children’s development of resilience, confidence and empathy.
Rose writes from the back porch of her log home, inspired by the profile of Mount Jefferson in North Carolina. Married to her high school sweetheart, they now enjoy perpetual recess with their two grandchildren, whose favorite activity is to read a book written by Nana!
Jeff Dale’s foray into artistic design began when his boss at a printing shop asked him to design a logo for a client. While the logo was an impressive design, creating the art had an even more impressive effect on motivating a true passion for creative design.
Educated in the design world of Washington, DC, Jeff’s wide scope of interest and talent has inspired him to design, create, and build just about anything one can conceive of creating, including this debut as an illustrator of a children’s book. Jeff is the founder of Dale Design, situated in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he resides with his wife and two grown children.
His varied talent in artistic design can be appreciated by visiting his website: www.daledesign.com.
GIVEAWAY
Enter the giveaway for the chance to win a signed hardcover copy of Coloring the Rainbow and a $100 Amazon gift card!
Coloring the Rainbow: A Story about the Power of Connection
Written by Catherine Rose
Illustrated by Jeffrey Dale
What a beautiful message for children in the primary grades but appropriate for any reader! This beautiful rhyming picture book features a young boy who enjoys playing his trombone. One day he ponders how much more enjoyable it might be if it were combined with the voices of other instruments. He walks through the streets searching for other children who play different musical instruments. Sounds high and low ring out from all parts of the world. What a beautiful symphony they create when blended. Just as music, the unique talents of each child combine to form a gorgeous tapestry creating harmony from individual differences.
Simple, soft colors in conjunction with crisp rhymes suggest this multicultural picture book to be a top choice on a parent or teacher’s bookshelf.
I was elated to receive book five in this author’s stunning picture book series about groundhogs, chipmunks, and squirrels. In this edition, adorable Fiston reveals the secrets of life as a chipmunk.
I love watching these adorable creatures prance around my backyard in the northeastern U.S. Snellings taught me how they eat, move, hibernate, raise their young, and protect themselves.
It is fascinating that these creatures can weigh only two to four ounces yet manage to collect as many as 165 acorns a day when preparing for hibernation! As a history buff, I was delighted to learn about the Iroquois myth connected to them and the analogy of their coloring to the uniforms of the Swiss Guards at the Vatican. The photography is spectacular. Children can visually understand and relate to the fascinating facts that Fiston reveals to his new friends.
I highly recommend adding this beautiful book both to a home or classroom library as a gem of knowledge and a beautiful piece of photography.
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Born in a Treacherous Time (Dawn of Humanity Book 1)
Written by Jacqui Murray
I read Jean Auel’s series and as other reviewers have mentioned, this series has a similar flavor.
The reader meets Lucy, a Homo Habilis creature, living in Africa 1.8 million years ago. She struggles each day to live to the next one. The author introduces a slew of characters. At the beginning of the book, it is difficult to sort them out, but they add depth to a plot that includes descriptions of ancient peoples struggles to communicate, to hunt and be hunted, and compete with an environment they did not know how to control.
This book is, of course, historical fiction. The amount of historical evidence is scant and much is left to our imagination. In my opinion, Murray does an excellent job of fitting the pieces together while adding compassion and empathy to soften the rough edges.
Recommended for readers ages ten and older who enjoy historical fiction, especially in the prehistory genre.
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November 29, 2023
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