This book is written and illustrated by two people who have dedicated their lives to understanding and working with horses. Their passion is evident in the story and illustrations.
The plot features a young boy named Charlie who wants to be a cowboy. When he visits his grandparents’ ranch, Charlie learns the job entails a lot more work than he imagined. A cowboy works hard and trains hard.
The hand-drawn illustrations convery the mood of respect, kindness, empathy, responsibility, and hard work. They are simple and direct allowing preschoolers to visualize the message without understanding the words.
Highly recommended for children who love horses and might want to be a cowboy someday.
Boo Bear’s Light: An A B C Rhyming Picture Book for Children
Written by Catherine Ann Russell
Illustrated by Jessica Robin Harkey
This picture book provides a clever tale with embedded alphabet rhymes to teach preschool and kindergarten children their letters.
The rhymes are clever as they are embedded within the story plot. I appreciate the fact that the author uses a few challenging vocabulary words like vamoose and underdog rather than more familiar words. Colors of the illustrations match the theme and setting of the forest. My only criticism is that the size of the font might be a bit larger to allow it to stand out and become easier to read.
A good resource for parents and teachers to teach the alphabet in a creative and appealing fashion.
The protagonist is a heart who wandered among many hearts seeking to find out why she was named Love and what the word means. After much searching, Love comes to understand that it takes two separate hearts to make love come into being. It is something we cannot create within ourselves but must seek from another to make it complete.
The book makes the perfect Valentine’s Day present. Appropriate for any age.
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This book is an excellent tools for preparing toddlers for the preschool experience. It will work for children about to enter a typical nursery school or those with special needs in an inclusive or stand-alone special needs early intervention program.
As an educator with experience in both settings, I appreciate the way author and illustrator include children from multicultural backgrounds and those with different types of disabilities whether they be physical or learning disabilities. Children are shown with educational adaptive tools like picture boards and braille books. Support staff are depicted working alongside the classroom teacher. Typical activities like independent choice centers, circle time, outdoor play, and singing songs are portrayed.
A young child will get a good idea of what happens when entering any type of preschool classroom.
A good resource for parents as preparation or teachers to use on the first day of school.
Grandma, It’s Me!: A Children’s Book about Dementia
Written by Y. Y. Chan
Illustrated by Pearly L.
So many families contain an elderly member suffering from dementia. This book goes a long way toward explaining and humanizing the difficult situation.
The protagonist is a young girl named Riley. It follows her diary entries over a period of time. One day Riley notices that her grandmother is forgetting things. As time passes, grandma wanders off and forgets the names of family members. She needs constant care and that is a burden on the family. Chan shows how to combine love with patience as the family must constantly adjust their situation.
This book is a great resource in explaining dementia to young children. I liked the multicultural images, the characters, and the abundant resources included. Readers receive a list of questions and reflections about what they read as well as activities to download.
This book is highly recommended not only to parents and teachers but also counselors who work in mental health facilities or in schools with children.
It’s Cool To Be Kind: A Children’s Book on Kindness and Friendship
Written and illustrated by Shermaine Perry-Knights
The author introduces three friends and illustrated everyday examples where it is easy to show kindness. Carrying groceries for the elderly, showing a young child how to tie shoelaces, stopping mean kids from bullying, make each of them feel good about themselves as well as those who received their kindness. The illustrations include characters with disabilities.
As a bonus, the author provides a game with activities to show kindness, suggested lessons, and follow-up reading comprehension questions.
A good addition to parent and classroom libraries for any age but especially primary grade readers.
Bug is lazy. He does not like dressing, eating, brushing teeth, cleaning his room or any of the activities necessary in everyday living. At first, his parents do everything for him. That gets old, and he gets a rude awakening.
A funny and cleverly illustrated book to wake messy kids up fast.
Publisher’s Book Summary: Logan Osborne has spent his life chasing the shadows of the past.
As a child, he watched helplessly as his father was snatched from a fishing boat by what he swore was a mermaid. No one believed him then. No one believes him now.
Determined to prove that mythical creatures exist, Logan is drawn back to the small coastal town where his nightmares began after another mysterious disappearance stirs the waters.
Teaming up with his pragmatic colleague Elliot Sheppard and his fiercely loyal friend Penny Swanson, Logan dives headfirst into an adventure packed with danger and deception. As they dig deeper, the trio faces resistance at every turn—a secretive agency with its own agenda, a suspiciously unhelpful police force, and Logan’s old flame, who may know more than she’s letting on.
What they uncover is far darker and more terrifying than Logan ever imagined: the truth about his father, the secrets of Minatuck, and the horrifying reality of the Mermaid of the Hamptons.
Will Logan and his friends expose the lies that have haunted him for years, or will they be Dragged Down Deep into the swampy, secretive underbelly of a town that guards its mysteries with deadly intent?
Michael Okon is an award-winning and best-selling author of multiple genres, including paranormal, thriller, horror, action/adventure, and self-help. He graduated from Long Island University with an English degree and later received his MBA in business and finance. Coming from a family of writers, he has storytelling in his DNA. Michael has been writing from as far back as he can remember, his inspiration being his love for films and their impact on his life. From the time he saw The Goonies, he was hooked on the idea of entertaining people through unforgettable characters.
Michael is a lifelong movie buff, a music playlist aficionado, and a sucker for self-help books. He lives on the North Shore of Long Island with his wife and children.
Logan Osbourne struggles to recover from a childhood trauma. When his father was dragged from a small boat and drowned by what he insisted was a mermaid, no one believed the tale. Now an adult scientist, Logan is determined to prove that a mythological creature called The Thunderbird exists. Together with his partner Elliot and the support of his university, Logan sets off to prove that the Native legend is true.
No one in the small town seems willing to talk, and Aimee, a former girlfriend, is out to beat him to the punch in finding the creature. Deception and deceit lurk around every corner. Logan faces physical danger, mental anguish, and socal ridicule. Will he succeed in uncovering the mystery surrounding his father’s death and the secrets of Minatuk? Why is everyone afraid of the answers?
From the intriguing quotes that introduce the adventure to the final chapter, readers are drawn into the complex characters and the twists and turns of the thriller. Another wonderful tale by a talented author that does not disappoint.
GIVEAWAY
Readers who join us on this tour can enter the giveaway below for a chance to win a copy of Dragged Down Deep, signed by Michael Okon. The grand prize winner will also take home a $100 Amazon gift card!
A cute picture book that will stimulate the imagination of the youngest readers. The author poses simple questions concerning common mysteries like “Why does buttered toast always land butter-side down?” and “Why does the internet get slow” Those little ghostly gremlins just might be responsible.
This book about ghosts presents them as non-threatening and not scary. The humor and light-hearted illustrations makes this book a great choice for a read aloud or bedtime story. Appropriate and fun for all ages beginning with preschool.
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Publisher: Jodi Dee Publishing (2025) | ISBN: 978-1736209363
Publisher’s Book Summary: Myles is an average thirteen-year-old boy until one day, Sally Munson shows up with purple pants on that look like a Halloween costume. As classmates tease and make fun of her, Myles starts to see these negative words as fireballs of energy being thrown at Sally. He finds himself in the middle of a war zone, invisible to everyone but him!
In a suspenseful, supernatural tale of self-discovery and friendship with constant, unexpected twists and turns, Myles tries to understand his newfound superpower. He not only learns about the energy exchange between humans but the energy of all things.
Myles and his friends discover the new ZS phone is stealing people’s energy. Follow Myles as he navigates this new reality and works to stop the theft of this energy with the help of his friends.
Jodi Dee is an award-winning author of the best-selling books The Dirt Girl and The Seeking Tree. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and History and a Master’s in Education from Clark University. She is a dedicated mother of three with more than twenty years of experience in education. Jodi is a passionate advocate and teacher of self-love, self-awareness, emotional mastery, and empowering children to learn through independence, creativity, self-exploration, and discovery.
OUT OF THIS WORLD Energy Wars: The Awakening Written by Jodi Dee
This book is the first of a new series of thrilling adventures. Dee succeeds in developing interesting and complex characters that challenge the imagination, but also compels the middle- grade reader to pay attention to the important underlying messages.
The protagonist, Myles, is a typical thirteen-year-old who lives in a somewhat dysfunctional family. His father pays him little attention, and his mother disappeared shortly after his birth. One day his ordinary life is transformed by the discovery of a superpower. He learns about his mission to spread happiness through his ability to observe the energy fields of others.
As Myles draws his two closest friends into the mystery, they research the science and psychology of energy fields. The plot comes to a climax when Myles’ grandfather gifts him five boxes that belonged to his grandmother revealing more strange truths.
Readers won’t want to put the book down until all is revealed. The ending sets up the next installment.
GIVEAWAY
Readers who follow the tour can enter the giveaway below for a chance to win a hardcover copy of Energy Wars: The Awakening. One grand prize winner will win one of the signed first copies of the second book in the series, releasing in Fall 2025.
February 19, 2025
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