This post is sponsored by Fontreal. The review and opinions expressed in this post are based on my personal view.

ABOUT THE BOOK

ART

Written by Marin

34 Pages | Publisher: Fontreal

ISBN-13: 9781989661215

Publisher’s Book Summary: Art is autistic and artistic.

Art has just one friend – his teddy bear.

Art does not speak, but he makes art. Art that dismisses gravity.

The publication crowns the artist and turns royalty into a mere audience. The sophisticated illustrations inspire readers to express their emotions, verbalize their feelings, and create their own stories.

PURCHASE LINK

Amazon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marin is proud to be a self-published children’s book creator. He writes his stories, illustrates the books, designs the covers, formats the pages, and publishes the volumes. He even creates new fonts for his publications to make them one-of-a-kind. To achieve a world-class status for his books, Marin “marinates” them in a special creative compound.

Marin lives with his family on the Canadian East Coast. He is very thankful that the weather there is often bad and gives him more chances to sit in front of a computer and create. His works are available in several different formats:

HARDCOVER: books are cataloged and can be ordered in any bookstore or library in North America. A book title, author’s name, or ISBN is needed for placing an order.

SOFTCOVER and EBOOK: available on Amazon, Kobo, Google Books, Barnes & Noble, and other big and small book retailers.

AUDIOBOOK: obtainable from Audible, iTunes, MagicBlox, and other vendors.

For more information, visit https://fontreal.com.

MY REVIEW OF THIS BOOK

RIVETING AND COMPELLING

Art: A story about an autistic and artistic circus virtuoso and his teddy bear

Illustrated by Marin.

A compelling wordless picture book that is at once unsettling and unique. The protagonist is a young autistic man who possesses both artistic and musical talent. He is obsessed with the circus and magic. The whimsical illustrations are dramatic and dark, much like the world of an autistic soul. This man’s only friend is a teddy bear, which he uses to delight the circus audience and to escape the bonds of this world’s gravity as he soars high above the ground. In this way, Art creates a unique environment that provides joy and exhilaration, releasing him from the bonds of his autistic prison.

This picture book is a welcome resource for an autistic child, but certainly a wellspring of imaginative opportunities for any child to release his storytelling creativity. As a special educator who has worked with many children on the autism spectrum, I applaud Marin’s contribution as a bridge to understanding this disability as well as a unique opportunity for elementary and middle grade students to enhance their creative expression abilities.

GIVEAWAY

Enter the giveaway for the chance to win an autographed hardcover copy of Art and $50 sent via PayPal! A complimentary download of Marin’s book The Smile is also available to everyone right now on Amazon.

CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY

https://gleam.io/CzifW/art-book-giveaway

  TOUR SCHEDULE

Monday, November 27, 2023The Children’s Book ReviewBook Tour Kick-Off

Tuesday, November 28, 2023The Momma SpotBook Review of Art

Wednesday, November 29, 2023Life Is What It’s CalledAuthor Interview with Marin

Thursday, November 30, 2023icefairy’s Treasure ChestBook Review of Art

Friday, December 1, 2023Satisfaction for Insatiable ReadersAn Article by Marin

Monday, December 4, 2023Cover Lover Book ReviewBook Review of Art

Tuesday, December 5, 2023Confessions of a Book AddictBook Spotlight of All the Small Wonderful Things

Wednesday, December 6, 2023Barbara Ann MojicaBook Review of Art

Thursday, December 7, 2023Pages for PaigeBook Review of Art

Friday, December 8, 2023Crafty Moms ShareBook Review of Art

Monday, December 11, 2023A Blue Box Full of BooksBook Review of Art

Tuesday, December 12, 2023My Reading GetawayBook Review of Art

Wednesday, December 13, 2023Me Two BooksAuthor Interview with Marin

Thursday, December 14, 2023Star Girls Magical TaleBook Review of Art

In the Land of Broken Time

Written by Max Evan

Illustrated by Maria Evan

Translated by Helen Hagon

Charming tale mixing elements of fantasy, magic, adventure, and time travel. Christopher is looking out his window when he sees the circus passing by. He desperately wants to go out and investigate, but his mother refuses because he has been ill with a cold. Christopher sneaks out and arrives at the circus tent. A young girl his age named Sophie helps him gain admission. Their adventure begins when they are chased by a cleaning woman who looks like a witch. They hide in a hot air balloon basket and discover a golden retriever circus dog named Duke sleeping inside. Suddenly the fugitives find themselves aloft. What an adventure lies before them!

The three become friends and allies. Landing in The Forest of Chornos, they discover a magic sundial, and a professor called Temporis Certus who experiments with hourglasses and time.. He gives them advice on how to escape by sailing down a river into the town on the other side of the forest. There the trio encounter a gnome, a nefarious regent and the time machine that could allow them safe passage home. Duke finds himself in a strange predicament. Will Duke ever find his way back to the circus? How will Sophie and Christopher solve the shifts in time and adjust the time machine to return to their past?

This book is targeted for ages six through twelve; it is a chapter book most appropriate for children in grades three to six. The book is well-written, fun and fast paced. There are plenty of surprises and intriguing characters. Nice blend of fantasy with a bit of science intertwined. I hope to see additional books written by this talented couple.

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SUGAR AND CLIVE AND THE CIRCUS BEAR (DOGWOOD ISLAND MIDDLE GRADE ADVENTURES Book One)

Written by Alexandra Amor

The format of this book is a bit unusual for a middle grade adventure. The author begins with a prologue setting the scene for the climax of the book. She ends with an epilogue that answers the questions left in the reader’s minds.

Sugar is an energetic, caramel colored dog who lives a carefree life with her mistress Marion on Dogwood Island. Sugar has a somewhat unusual best friend, a barn swallow named Clive who lives on the farm with her. One day, while traipsing through the island, Clive urges Sugar to come to the library to see a strange site, a bear in a cage in the town square, who apparently has been abandoned on the island. The two friends strike up a conversation with the bear named Sebastian.

Soon it becomes apparent that the circus has closed up shop and Sebastian has been left in his cage to fend for himself. The townspeople decide it would be best to place the bear in a zoo, but Sugar and Clive feel that they would like to help Sebastian find his freedom At first the bear is reluctant, but after his brief separation from the circus, he decides they are right.

Clive and Sugar enlist island animal friends like Larry the Seagull, AnnMay, a Siamese cat, and a human friend, Stewart, to find a way to move the 500 pound bear off the island into a forested area where he could roam free. But the zookeepers are fast approaching, will they be able to carry out their daring plan?

I love the dialogue and clever conversations among the animals, and the ingenious solutions they come up to solve one problem after another. At just over one hundred pages this chapter book is just the right length to hold the interest of young readers and middle grade students with enough interesting plot twists and suspense. This book would be an excellent choice for a class read aloud and discussion book. Young animal and adventure lovers will not be able to put this one down.

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