Book Blast & Giveaway - Will You Be My Friend by Kim Heaton Ramsay

Title: Will You Be My Friend?
Genre: Childrens
Author: Kim Heaton Ramsay
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Pages: 16
Language: English
ISBN - 978-1-47729-503-8

Marley Mouse wants to make some new friends. During Marley's search she meets four kind creatures who are very different from her. Sweet Marley offers her friendship to each of them despite their differences and has lots of fun with her new friends.

Purchase Your Copy: AuthorHouse

About the Author:
Kim Heaton Ramsay works in healthcare and has spent her career helping people. Will You Be My Friend? is Kim’s first illustrated children’s book. She lives near Fort Worth, Texas with her husband, to whom she has been married for 27 years. Kim has two grown children, a son and a daughter.

To enter for a chance to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card: Go Here

Review - Lucy the Dinosaur by Joey Ahlbum (text by Molly Brouillette)

Moms and dads looking for the best kid's picture book will love Frederator Books' newest read along digital book! Lucy is an explorer and a leader. She has a natural curiosity about things because Lucy wants to learn. Meet Lucy and her other dino friends as they learn, joke and skateboard! Lucy is a larger than life dinosaur who loves adventures. With Lucy in the lead, her loyal crew crawls, skates, and dances their way to learning. Lucy’s curiosity holds no bounds—she counts, she hunts for treasure, she even puts on a play! Veteran animator, Joey Ahlbum will charm kids with his friendly and dynamic art. Fans of Dinosaur vs. Bedtime, Sandra Boynton & Mo Willems will love these cheerful read alongs.

Lucy the Dinosaur is actually a series of books for children by Joey Ahlbum. It's absolutely adorable and greater for younger kiddos. It's bright and attention grabbing. The illustrations are simple but eye catching. There are lots of fun things for children to look at. The best thing about these books, in my opinion, is the fact that Lucy loves to learn. She and her friends count, sing, play outside, and problem solve. Which I think is a fantastic alternative to things like video games.

I would probably recommend this series for children Kindergarten and under. They're not too long so little ones learning how to read won't become overwhelmed with pages. And they're a great length because we all know how the attention span of kids can be. Relatively non-existant. This series is perfect for them.

Review - The Snow Child: A Russian FolkTale by Freya Littledale (Illustrated by Barbara Lavellee)

An elderly couple's wish comes true when their little girl of snow magically comes to life. Each spring the snow child must leave, but every winter she returns with the first snowfall and comes to life with a kiss.

Let me start off by saying that this was one of my favorite books when I was right around the age of my youngest. It's short and sweet, but The Snow Child by Freya Littledale is also magical and wonderful and just the perfect story for a little girl to jump in to.

I won a gift card to Amazon in a giveaway recently (thank you PUYB Promotions!) and used it to complete a collection of books that I've been trying to complete for some time, buy a couple of movies I've always wanted to watch with my girls, and get them a little something special as well. My oldest got some origami things and my youngest got The Snow Child. It's actually the second time I've gotten it for her, the first copy I gave her disappeared. But that's ok, I love the book so I'm more than happy for her to get a second chance to read it.

It's a Russian folk tale about an older couple who is sad because they've never had any children. One winter day after all the children have gone home they decide to go out and build their own little snow person. They build a little girl and trim her dress in icicles and and give her willow branches covered in frost for hair. She comes to life when the old lady gives her a kiss and spends all winter with them. Spring comes though and she has to leave which makes the old couple sad again. But, much like Frosty the Snow Man, she comes back again the next winter, and every winter after.

It's just a sweet sweet story and it has a happy ending that just makes you smile and kind of warms your heart. I love the illustrations and all the beautiful colors. It's all very whimsical and playful. There really isn't much more that I can say about this little story. Even though it's a cute winter tale, it's still a fun read for little ones (or if you're like me and you've read it long long ago, adults too) no matter what season it is. So if you've got a little girl (or even a little boy) who wants you to read something to them or heck, if they want to read it themselves, I'd recommend this one. It will forever be one of my favorites.

Blog Tour Stop: Review - Nalah and the Pink Tiger by Anne Sawyer-Aitch

Nalah and the Pink Tiger is about a rambunctious little girl who lives so intensely in her imagination that grown-ups view her as a troublemaker. Things come to a head when, in addition to all the exotic animals that Nalah has "placed” in the house, a pink tiger "follows” her home from the zoo and creates havoc.

I got this book in exchange for an honest review. And apart from my Homeschool Reading Corner, I've never reviewed a children's novel on the blog (I think... I could be wrong). I've got a middle grade novel under my belt and now a children's book. And I tell you what... Nalah and the Pink Tiger by Anne Sawyer-Aitch is one of the most vividly colored and imaginative books I've read to my 5 year old. I mean, who better to write a book this colorful than a stilt-walking puppeteer? The illustrations were done by the author and were definitely eye-catching and imaginative and just overall amazing.

Nalah and the Pink Tiger catches a child's imagination perfectly. From the animals that inhabit the house to the tiger that eventually follows Nalah home from the zoo (and causes quite a bit of chaos in the process). Unfortunately, Nalah is the most imaginative of her family which, according to her, means no one else can see the animals swinging from the chandeliers and hiding in the sock drawer, so she gets blamed for their random shenanigans all the time.

Immediately upon my finishing reading the book to my daughter who stayed home sick from school, she grabbed it right up and began reading it herself. Then she searched the house high and low for paper so that she could recreate the story once she was done.

She has now told me she's going to be an author. If only I could always find books for my kids that inspire them this way.

I definitely recommend it as a read for anyone with young children. Or for adults who still have the imagination they did when they were little. It will appeal to both in my opinion. What a wonderful read. I hope your children enjoyed it as much as my little girl did.

Guest Post: Anne Sawyer-Aitch Author of Nalah and the Pink Tiger

Cave Woman Puppeteer Moves Into The Age of Technology
 

Two years ago, if you'd told me that at last my first children's book Nalah and the Pink Tiger would be published, I would have fainted with joy. Once revived (hopefully with ostrich feather fans, while lounging on a velvet red divan) the next bit of fortune-telling would have simply puzzled me.

You (the Visionary) would say to me: "Nalah and the Pink Tiger will not only be a book, but there will be an iPad app."

"A what?" I would have said.The last two words of that sentence were simply not in my vocabulary.

I move in a world of exacto knives, hand-sewing, and heavy-duty staplers. There are orphan pieces of thread on my couch and cut-out stars of paper in my rug, even after I clean. Up until 14 months ago, the word "app" sounded to me like a baby trying to ask for a piece of fruit. My cell phone was like something exhumed from King Tut's tomb.

But one day, while attending a gallery opening, I saw one of my friend's little girls playing with this new-fangled thing called an iPad. Intrigued, I sat down next to her and watched as she drew, read stories, and played games on portable little tablet. I noticed that the books had audio, and that if she tapped certain characters, they spoke or moved.

"Wow, cool," I said.

She smiled and graciously let me try the thing for myself. It was a different experience than a book. It didn't replace the experience of paging through a picture book, where you linger on an image and examine the details. But it was another way of interacting with the art and the story, and I liked that.

Now, thanks to a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council in my home town, my book also exists as an iPad app. It's bilingual (Spanish and English) and it has music by composer Matt Larson and a local jug band named the Mississippi Mudsteppas. My niece Nalah, her cousin Maliah, her siblings and her Dad helped out by letting us record their own voices. Translator Marcela Sánchez did a bang-up job performing the Spanish version. Mighty Media and Scarletta Press put this home-cooked piece together into a really professional app. It's now in the iTunes store.

Really. It's legit. You should check it out.

 

 Anne Sawyer-Aitch (pronounced like the letter “H”) is a puppeteer and stilt-walker. She has worked for years with Minneapolis-based groups In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre and the all-women’s stilting troupe Chicks on Sticks. Anne likes to create all kinds of puppets: parade floats, giant stilt puppets, and intricate color shadow shows. Nalah and the Pink Tiger is her first children’s book. Currently, she is performing her Nalah and the Pink Tiger puppet show in English and Spanish around MN. She is a recipient of awards from the Jim Henson Foundation, the Puppeteers of America, VSA Arts MN, and the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council. She lives in Minneapolis with her computer genius husband and a pack of imaginary dogs. For more info: http://nalahandthepinktiger.com/

Homeschool Reading Corner: If the Dinosaurs Came Back by Bernard Most

My daughter and I just finished up a unit study on Dinosaurs. If the Dinosaurs Came Back by Bernard Most was on the list of recommended reading for this particular unit study which was supposed to be at a 3rd grade level.

After actually reading through the book, it was a little below a 3rd grade level, but still a cute book to read. And it inspired her creativity so that when I asked her to write her own "If the dinosaurs came back" story, she had plenty of ideas.

The book itself is great for probably 1st or 2nd grade. The drawings are simple and the fact that everything but the dinosaur is black and white helped them stick out. And in the back of the book there was a picture guide and names of all the dinosaurs who had been in the story. So while not exactly old enough for my kiddo, it was still fun for her to read through.

Goodreads Blurb:

What would the world be like if the dinosaurs came back? Well, just think of all the useful things they could do! They could reach books from tall shelves, cut down trees, mow lawns, give giraffes someone to look up to--and, most of all, be pets for those who love dinosaurs! Most's whimsical first book, illustrated with simple, childlike drawings, is a springboard for discussion with young dinosaur lovers.