This is the first book in a middle-grade adventure featuring two brothers named Iggy and Oz. Strange names because the boys consider their parents unusual. Iggy is twelve; his younger brother Oz was adopted from China. The boys compete against each other and exhibit the usual sibling rivalry.
Iggy loves to write and has an active imagination so his parents tend not to believe him. Oz wakes him up in the middle of the night to investigate monsters in the attic. When the boys finally get to the attic, they find some old plastic dinosaur toys have come to life, but the adventure begins when the dinos escape into their suburban neighborhood. There is a lot of humor, boyish banter, and a caste of interesting characters including bullies. Iggy, Oz, and their friends must save the neighborhood from destruction before it’s too late.
The plot is absurd, but perfectly believeable for the target middle-grade audience. Recommended for readers ages eight through twelve, particularly boys.
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Publisher’s Book Summary: Marion is a kind, creative, and easy kid… but he’s faced with BIG emotions. Help Marion identify those BIG feelings in this interactive children’s picture book.
Guess How Marion Feels is a transformative experience that lays the foundation for emotional intelligence and meaningful connections. A gentle Social Emotional Learning (SEL) tool to guide parents, caregivers, and teachers to teach kids who struggle to pick up social cues and have challenges in social situations.
This book is made to celebrate and honor the feelings of our little ones, foster open communication, and create inclusive learning with our neurodivergent kids. Written by a neurodivergent author, Miss Kaye aims to support kids and everyone struggling with social interactions.
Miss Kaye was born in the Philippines. She had challenges as an adult neurodivergent. This serves as her inspiration for writing fun, engaging, and educational stories to teach life skills and mindfulness to kids.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
Miss Waitthk is from Hongkong. She enjoys making people feel happy and joyful through her drawings. As a kid, she remembered drawing anime characters and coloring them with colored pencils. Since then, she kept on drawing.
MY REVIEW OF THIS BOOK
IT’S OKAY TO FEEL THIS WAY…
Guess how Marion Feels
Written by Miss Kaye
Illustrated by Miss Waitthk
A beautiful, interactive picture book that allows young children to explore and communicate their emotions with others.
Marion wakes up happy to start the day. When his mother reminds him that today is the first day at school, his feelings switch to being scared and apprehensive. As the day progresses, readers watch Marion, and his feelings change. A new situation creates mixed feelings of excitement, worry, hope, anger, confusion, and relief.
Young readers are asked to guess what Marion is feeling in each situation by studying the pictures and text. At the end of the book, they get a summary of the book when Marion discusses the whole range of emotions with his parents.
The book is targeted for readers ages one through seven, but I feel the message in the tale is just as valuable for older children.
GIVEAWAY
Enter the giveaway for the chance to win a 1-hour FREE coaching session to launch your own picture book, along with signed copies of Guess How Marion Feels (one to keep and one to share with a neurodivergent charity of your choice under your name).
Animal Antics: A Rhyming Book of Creatures Big and Small
Written and Illustrated by Tamar Tepper Kochen
A silly rhyming picture book, the first in a series about animals doing absurd things. A few examples are a deer with a rainbow ear, a ferret dressed as a carrot, and a flamingo who loved to play bingo.
The rhymes are short and easy to remember, the illustrations huge and vibrant. Children are encouraged to make up their own silly rhymes with several scenarios included at the end of the tale.
I think that preschoolers and primary grade children who enjoy books about animals and silly stories will especially enjoy this book. It’s fun as a read-aloud or a bedtime story.
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Sometimes we don’t know what to do with them or how to change our thoughts that cause these feelings. The first day of school can be scary, but “Furrapist” Jackson Johnson and cute pup Ralphy of Ralphy’s Rules for the Good Life are committed to helping a busload of kids understand and manage their big feelings. During the ride to school, Furrapist Jackson Johnson teaches the children that they can choose their emotions and decide how to respond to them. Ralphy and Jackson make the complicated subject of emotional intelligence accessible for kids to understand and, more importantly, implement in their everyday lives.
So hop on the bus with us, and let’s learn about how taking charge of our feelings can change our day!
Talar Herculian Coursey is a lawyer by day and a children’s book author, Life Coach, and philanthropist by night (more like mornings). She has been a General Counsel since 2011 and recently joined ComplyAuto, a privacy/cybersecurity SAAS company. Before going in-house, she was a file clerk, associate, and partner at the national labor and employment law firm Fisher Phillips LLP. Talar is a co-author of both #Networked: How 20 Women Lawyers Overcame the Confines of COVID-19 Social Distancing to Create Connections, CultivateCommunity, & Build Businesses in the Midst of a Global Pandemic and Women In Law: Discovering the True Meaning of Success. Her first children’s book,Ralphy’s Rules for Living the Good Life, was published in 2021.
Talar has served as the President of the Salt Lake City Chapter of the Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief (“SOAR”) since 2015. SOAR, founded in 2005, supports orphanages in Syria, Lebanon and Armenia. She runs the Salt Lake City Half Marathon every year to raise money for SOAR in memory of her father. Net proceeds from her children’s books also go to SOAR. In addition to being a mother, wife, lawyer, life coach, and philanthropist, she is also a runner, yogi, and Jesus, Eckhart Tolle, Peloton, and Brandon Flowers groupie.
SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL SKILLS EXPLAINED FOR YOUNG CHILDREN
Ralphy’s Rules for Feelings
Written by Talar and Riley Herculian Coursey
Illustrated by Meri Andreasyan
This is the second picture book in a series that defines and explains how to deal with emotions for elementary school age children.
Ralphy, a dog, drives the school bus and his friend Jackson Johnson, the Furrapist, sits next to him on the first day of school. As each child passenger enters the bus, Jackson asks how they are feeling. The children express feelings like excitement, sadness, nervousness, and tiredness. Jackson encourages each child to put this feeling on the front seat and decide later whether to leave it or take it with them when getting off the bus at school, teaching children that a feeling can be changed by thinking differently about it. The book portrays a wide range of feelings exhibited by multicultural children, which allows any reader to identify with the characters. At the end of the story, readers are encouraged to discuss their own feelings.
While the book is targeted for readers ages four through ten, it is relevant for a reader of any age. I would recommend it to parents and teachers for a read aloud and discussion.
GIVEAWAY
Enter the giveaway for the chance to win a classroom set that includes 25 copies of Ralphy’s Rules for Feelings!
A beautiful rhyming picture book illustrated in soft pastels. This book focuses on sibling relationships and parental love for the child who is born last. It is a perfect shower or newborn gift for such a family.
It stresses the advantages of being born last. These children are born to parents with experience in raising children and siblings who provide role models that shore up a child’s confidence and social emotional skills.
I strongly suggest it as a read aloud for a family to share with the youngest child who will surely grow with confidence as she achieves each of the milestones mentioned in the picture book.
Appropriate for any age but especially suggested for toddlers and preschoolers.
Publisher’s Book Summary: Bubba and Squirt are back for another rousing quest as they travel through the mysterious vortex to Paris, France. It’s another wild adventure as they track down art thieves, encounter terrifying monsters, and discover the whereabouts of their missing father.
Will they make it out alive or join the rest of the skeletons in the City of Bones?
Coming Soon: The fourth book in the series, Bubba and Squirt’s Shield of Athena, will be released on May 7, 2024, and the final book, Bubba and Squirt’s Legend of the Lost Pearl, will be released in September 2024.
Sherry Ellis is an award-winning author and professional musician who plays and teaches the violin, viola, and piano. When she is not writing or engaged in musical activities, she can be found doing household chores, hiking, or exploring the world. Ellis has previously published Bubba and Squirt’s Big Dig to China; Bubba and Squirt’s Mayan Adventure;Don’t Feed the Elephant; Ten Zany Birds; That Baby Woke Me Up, AGAIN; and That Mama is a Grouch. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
For more information about her work, she invites you to visit her website at www.sherryellis.org.
MY REVIEW OF THIS BOOK:
NO BONES ABOUT IT
Bubba and Squirt City of Bones (Book 3 in the series)
Written by Sherry Ellis
This is the third book in a series featuring siblings, Bubba, and his younger sister, Squirt. In their first adventure, they travel through time back to Xian, China and the second hurls them back to the Mayan Empire. Each journey leads to a mystery they must solve and the possibility of never returning to the present.
This third adventure finds the pair falling through a vortex to ancient catacombs in Paris where they will encounter lots of creepy skeletons and nefarious characters in their attempt to rescue their father. The author relates the story with each sibling taking turns narrating the tale chapter by chapter. Combining history, fantasy, and a mystery adventure with lots of twists and turns creates a winning combination for middle grade readers, though I must admit it holds the interest of adults as well. Ellis supplies a glossary of information and a recipe as bonus items.
I highly recommend this educational and entertaining read for anyone age eight and older.
GIVEAWAY
Enter the giveaway for the chance to win an autographed copy of Bubba and Squirt’s City of Bones and a $50 Amazon gift card!
This picture book is part of a series that features two sibling pups searching for adventure in new places. Lola is an experienced traveler, but her sister Mia longs to follow in her footsteps.
This time, the duo travels to the Arizona desert to view its beautiful sunsets. Along the way, the pair encounter snakes, reptiles, dust storms, cacti, and beautiful vistas. Young readers will enjoy the funny “dogisms” shared by the siblings and the illustrations that capture their rapidly changing emotions as they experience their adventure.
I would especially recommend the book to animal and nature lovers who are early elementary school age readers.
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Monster Problems (A Magic Pen Adventure Book Book 1)
Written by Jason R. Lady
Middle-school and young adult readers will relate to this book with its quirky humor, memorable characters, and innovative lessons in dealing with peers and siblings.
Brad is a sixth-grade student who loves to draw. Unfortunately, that gets him into trouble with his science teacher when caught drawing in class. Brad’s grades have taken a nosedive, so his parents punish him by forbidding him to draw. To make matters worse, Brad has an intelligent younger brother named Daley, who blackmails and torments Brad whenever he gets a chance.
A mysterious crow arrives outside Brad’s window with a magic pen. Brad decides to draw a creature he names Daley-Destroyer, an ugly green monster who leaves a trail of orange slime who will stalk his brother. As the story unfolds, readers meet Quentin, Brad’s only real friend, different teachers, the unusual principal, and a mysterious girl, Blue Hoodie. These characters combined with a fast-moving plot keep readers turning the page. When the monster proves to be uncontrollable, Brad needs to decide how to handle a situation his emotions cannot handle. A good way to get readers to think about innovative ways to solve their problems.
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Dragon Cat Wins the Lottery(The Make-Your-Own Ending Collection)
Written by Audrey Beth Stein
Illustrated by Alina Lutaeva
This is a cute interactive book for elementary school children that encourages both artistic and storytelling skills and is part of a series.
Dragon Cat decides to buy a lottery ticket hoping to win $100. When he discovers he has won the next day, he gets the surprise of his life, discovering 100 otters in his kitchen. The book is filled with black and white illustrations that can be colored in the paperback edition. Yet, that is not the best feature of the book because the author leaves the ending of the story blank, allowing the young reader to become an author by finishing the story and becoming co-author of the book.
The book is a good choice for a reluctant or beginning reader. It could also be used with a group to encourage multiple outcomes to problem-solving.
Especially recommended for ages four through eight.
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The Mayfly and the Methuselah Tree: Memorable Children’s Story of Living Joyfully
Written by Bob Zaslow
Illustrated by Robert Askew
What a charming picture book done in soft pastel colors. The characters include a Methuselah Tree, which is almost five thousand years old, and a young Mayfly.
The tree has lost enthusiasm for life having seen and experienced similar experiences for so many centuries, but the newly born Mayfly lives with a zest for every sight and smell. The Mayfly challenges the tree as to why he cannot appreciate the beauty which surrounds it. These two completely opposite creatures share two diverse viewpoints that cause each of them to appreciate the joys of living each day.
This is a beautiful way to teach children empathy, compassion, and tolerance.
Recommended especially for readers in primary grades, but a beautiful reminder for any age reader.
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February 18, 2024
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