The protagonist, Luna, is a young girl who is brave and compassionate. She lives at the edge of the Milky Way. Luna’s fondest desire is to venture into deep space and explore the universe.
When the opportunity arises, Luna’s mother pleads with her not to go. Drawn by her insatiable curiosity, Luna answers the call. Her adventure will lead to many dangers, but Luna’s determination, empathy for others, and spirit of teamwork allow her to overcome the most formidable obstacles.
The illustrations are marvelous and the rhymes spot on. While the book is targeted for ages five through eight, the longer page length and vocabulary suggest for me a middle-grade audience as well.
This book with its strong female role model and intriguing plot make it a top choice for your next book selection to a home or classroom bookshelf.
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KIDS and MONEY TEACHING FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND VALUES TO CHILDREN
Written by Connie Ragen Green
I believe it’s never too early to teach children about financial responsibility. This book begins with a history of money from the earliest times. Green explains that our concepts about money shift during our lifetime. She demonstrates how to determine a child’s financial personality and disputes the traditional viewpoint of setting up an allowance. Her five-part plan assists in fostering independence. Green shows why alleviating financial stress makes a dramatic difference in lifestyle.
This book can be introduced in the elementary grades or during the middle grades. Recommended for parents who want to foster financial independence and accountability skills in their children.
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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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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.
One Giant Leap has much to offer. A middle-grade read that leans a bit more to the upper grades of that range contains an interesting plot. Four students have won a science competition to take a trip to outer space from a space tourist organization, but both of Fin’s parents are in the hospital. He needs a guardian to participate.
A conflict of emotions and stress at the outset. Well, I will reveal that Fin accepts the prize, but not the details of this fantastic opportunity. The book combines lots of space trivia, factual scientific information, and middle-grade angst connected with coming of age. Its adventure plot moves swiftly.
I especially enjoyed the author’s approach of including rather advanced vocabulary definitions in the glossary and a section at the end separating fact from fiction. Space afficionados and science geeks will both enjoy the book. Even adults will not be disappointed.
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That phrase pretty much summarizes the feeling of twelve-year-old protagonist Porter Redmond. He just wants to hang out with friends at school and play soccer. Unfortunately, he must train to eventually replace his mother who is the gatekeeper between Earth and the parallel universe of Pericael.
The action begins almost immediately. Readers must quickly assimilate background information to keep up. While the action is nonstop filled with magic and fantasy, younger readers might have some difficulty at the outset. The vocabulary is rather complex and not intuitive. Slower or reluctant readers might not have the patience to stay with it to the end. I would classify it more of a young adult rather than a middle-grade choice.
The plot and characters would also appeal to an adult audience.
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Adventure in Butrint National Park (Magilicious Journeys Book 1)
Written by Barbara Pinke
Illustrated by Tehreem Igbal
Siblings Simon and Olivia experience mixed emotions when waking up in a new house. They feel sadness at friends left behind but nervous anticipation of new adventures.
That anticipation is heightened when they discover a magical book hidden in the floorboards of Olivia’s room. They decide to visit Butrint National Park in Albania as they already possess a keepsake to activate their time travel. Soon they whisk readers off making a new acquaintance who serves as a tourist guide.
Not long after, tragedy strikes when a precious statue is stolen. The siblings must confront a band of pirates. Will Olivia and Simon find their way home safely? The answer is at the end of this first book in a series, perfect for new chapter book readers. The book is packed with information about Albania. There are a plethora of learning activities including mazes, puzzles, reading comprehension, and design activities which also appeal to middle-grade readers.
Highly recommend this series to parents and teachers of children ages eight and older.
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Allie Strom and the Ring of Solomon: A Middle Grade Fantasy (Bringer of Light Book 1)
Written by Justin M. Stone
How much bad news can one twelve-year-old handle? Allie has just learned her best friend is leaving, her mom has been deployed overseas, and Allie is about to start seventh grade in a new school.
If that were not enough, Allie faces bullies, her mother’s disappearance, and finding a necklace belonging to her mother that appears to have mysterious powers. This is the first book of a series that contains themes familiar and popular to a middle-grade audience but written in a way to appeal to an older audience as well.
Allie meets Daniel who will participate with Allie on her quest. I enjoyed the interesting sketches of the characters included in the book that make them come alive. This feature also will engage reluctant readers.
Readers of coming of age, paranormal, fantasy and magic will find something to like here.
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This picture book is a lovely way to explore a whole range of emotions for children. At the outset, Rosie is a young girl who longs to spend time with her father but he spends most of his time working to support the family. Rosie longs for a Forever Doll, but the family cannot afford one.
The girl and her dad make a cardboard doll, named Rosie but the child feels disappointed. As time goes on, she learns to lean on the doll to share her feelings, hopes, disappointments, wishes, and dreams. But cardboard does not last forever. What will happen if Rosie disappears? Life changes and our feelings evolve. What lessons does the family learn?
A good book to use as a read aloud and family or class discussion book. Recommended for elementary and middle grade readers.
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Publisher: Union Square Kids (2023) | ISBN-13: 9781454934578
Publisher’s Book Summary: Jasmine A. Stirling, author of A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice, delivers a powerful, poetic picture book biography about suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt, perfect for fans of I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark and the Rebel Girls series.
As a child, Carrie Chapman Catt asked a lot of questions: How many stars are in the sky? Do germs have personalities? And why can’t Mama vote? Catt’s curiosity led her to college, to a career in journalism, and finally to becoming the president of The National American Woman Suffrage Association. Catt knew the movement needed a change—and she set to work mobilizing women (and men) across the nation to dare to question a woman’s right to vote.
On August 18, 1920, Catt pinned a yellow rose to her dress and waited while lawmakers in Tennessee cast their deciding votes to ratify the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. After a seventy-year campaign, had women finally won the right to vote?
Stirling’s suspenseful retelling of the dramatic final “yea” that changed the history of women’s rights brings the past to life for young readers.
Jasmine A. Stirling is the author of A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021), named a Best Book of the Year by A Mighty Girl and Book Riot, and winner of the IPNE Book Award. It is currently being translated to Mandarin.
Her new book, Dare to Question, Carrie Chapman Catt’s Voice for the Vote (Union Square & Co, 2023, Booklist starred review), tells the story of the queer power couple who transformed the suffrage movement. Her third book, about Jeanne Barret, the botanist who disguised herself as a man and became the first woman to circumnavigate the globe, comes out in 2025.
Udayana Lugo is a self-taught illustrator of mixed heritage. Having worked as a designer of many varied things, from jewelry to auto-parts and from furniture to whole interiors, she still does that but in children’s books which are her true passion. She and her husband have lived in Mexico, Italy, and England, but they call British Columbia their home, along with their two kids. When not working on a book, you can find her walking her dog or baking something with her children.
MY REVIEW OF THIS BOOK:
WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER
DARE TO QUESTION: Carrie Chapman Catt’s Voice for the Vote
Written by Jasmine Stirling
Illustrated by Udayana Lugo
This picture book portrays in images and words one of the most significant events in American history, the enactment of women’s suffrage. The struggle before Carrie Chapman entered the battle had been limited to a small group of educated women.
Carrie was born to question. Her curiosity moved her to investigate the why behind anything that excited her imagination. She aroused and incited women from every part of society to enter the cause. Why not me? When Carrie joined Susan B. Anthony, the fire spread across the country. Then World War I broke out, even though Carrie did not believe in the war, she mobilized women to replace male soldiers in the factories, garnering the support and appreciation of President Wilson who formerly opposed women’s suffrage.
Once passed, the final hurdle of state approval needed to be overcome. Carrie feared failure once more, but an unexpected development turned the tide.
This book encourages children to believe hard work, dedication, empathy, and fairness can succeed if one is determined to persevere in the cause of equality and justice.
A picture book that will inspire and educate children and adults alike.
GIVEAWAY
Enter for the chance to win a personalized, signed copy of Dare To Question: Carrie Chapman Catt’s Voice for the Vote, a set of 5 Girl Power Enamel pins, and a $100 Amazon gift card!
One (1) grand prize winner receives:
-A personalized, signed copy of Dare To Question: Carrie Chapman Catt’s Voice for the Vote
-A set of 5 Girl Power Enamel pins
-A $100 Amazon gift card!
Four (4) winners receive:
-A personalized, signed copy of Dare To Question: Carrie Chapman Catt’s Voice for the Vote
December 17, 2023
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