Review: "VeggieTales Bible: New International Reader's Version"

VeggieTales Bible is specifically designed to be engaging and accessible to a younger audience, while still being a full Bible. It is not simply a collection of VeggieTales Bible stories.

A few key features set this bible apart:

• Spread throughout the Bible, there are 8 full-color VeggieTales comics that tell the Bible stories through the loveable VeggieTales characters. At the end of each, it includes the page of where to read the real story in the Bible, including a page number for easy reference. I could see this feature working well as a child grows with this Bible from reading the color comics to wanting to know more and reading the full story.
• There are frequent sidebars highlighting key verses, explaining a concept, or teaching a lesson. These always feature a VeggieTales character paired with a consistent heading such as "Truly amazing!, "Listen to this!", "Isn't it zee truth!", or "This made me look twice!".
• Each book begins with a page that gives the reader a heads up for whats to come with things to know, what it teaches, and interesting sections to check out. Also, of course this is all accompanied by a VeggieTales character.
• Reference materials at the back include an index to Veggie Values (be a good friend, don't be afraid, be respectful, trust God, etc), a dictionary, and a section for notes.
• Blue text and colored chapter numbers make it more visually appealing, but a little hard on the eyes for pages of full text.

This Bible would make a great gift for a child who had seen a few VeggieTales films. For someone unfamiliar with the films, I don't think this would have as big of an impact or be as relateable. It's written at a third grade reading level, but I could see starting with it earlier if an adult reads it to the child, especially the comics. It's definitely set up in a way to grow with the children and to help them understand things on their own.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from BookLook for this review.  The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

Review: "Whispers in the Reading Room" by Shelley Gray

"I would never stop you from reading whatever you like. I like that you are smart, Lydia. That is one of the things I admire about you."
"You are the first person who has told me anything of the sort." 

Another excellent installment in Shelley Gray's Chicago World's Fair Mysteries series, Whispers in the Reading Room delivers a fast-paced historical fiction/romance/mystery that succeeds on every level.

Lydia works at the library because she's passionate about books, but it also has the side benefit of the meager pay check that helps her support her mother and maintain a facade of wealth enough to find herself a suitor. She's prepared to marry a man she doesn't love, a man who isn't quite the man he appears, just to give her mother the comfortable lifestyle they shared when her father was alive.

She's resigned to her fate, but can't help but notice the handsome gentleman Sebastian Marks who frequents her library. Their shared love of reading, paired with a shared distaste for Lydia's fiance, Avondale, soon bring the two together in a way that neither was prepared for.

But Sebastian Marks has his secrets, too. Lydia has to come to terms with the face that he's a notorious club owner - a club full of illegal gambling. Absolutely no place for a lady, still she insists on visiting in an attempt to better know Mr. Marks. When a gentleman is murdered on the steps of the club, the recent violence streak in the area suddenly gets the police's attention. From Deception on Sable Hill, detectives Sean Ryan and Owen Howard are back - and this time Lydia and Sebastian are high on the list of suspects.

Lydia has an intense need to provide for her mother at any cost from the beginning, but as her character grows throughout the novel, she finally is making her own choices as an independent women. It's interesting to watch the women in this novel rebel against the standards of their time. They won't put up with a man trying to "own" them. Even Sebastian isn't everything a gentleman "should" be - he wants Lydia to experience the world, not shelter her.

The mystery is a good one, though it's not really at the forefront until much later in the book, though there are clips of newspaper articles throughout that let the reader know trouble is brewing. When the resolution finally comes, it feels too quick, but the journey there is full of suspense and intrigue. Definitely worth reading this one, as well as the second book in the series, Deception on Sable Hill. Now I need to go back and read the first one, since I haven't had the chance yet!

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Book Look for this review.  The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

Review: A Christmas Celebration Sticker & Activity Book

A Christmas Celebration Sticker & Activity Book is a 16-page paperback that includes more than 50 stickers. With the exception of the coloring pages, the other activity pages are brightly colored, which make for a very attractive book.

Activities include using stickers to finish a picture, finding hidden objects, finding hidden shapes and putting stickers over them, coloring, listing their favorite place to travel, spotting differences between two pictures, counting the number of animals or objects in a picture (2-10), tracing a path, solving a code with pictures representing letters, tracing a word, using stickers to complete a "puzzle", and a color by number.

As the book progresses, it tells the sorry of Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem and baby Jesus being born. On a few of the pages there is a full paragraph of description and then a small activity to follow. It would work best with a child already familiar with the Christmas story, reliving it through the activities, rather than hearing it for the first time since there is not too much detail.

My two and half year old niece was a little young to fully appreciate this book, but she did enjoy placing the stickers that matched the corresponding grayed out areas in the book. The recommended ages for this book are 4-8, and I think that the younger side of that range would have no problems with any of the activities.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Book Look for this review.  The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

Review: "Wild About Creation Sticker & Activity Book"

The Beginner's Bible Wild About Creation Sticker & Activity Book is a short, staple bound 16-page full-color book containing over 50 stickers.

The activities include: tracing, drawing, connecting the dots, spotting differences between two images, coloring, matching male & female animals, maze, word search, counting, puzzle solving, putting images in sequence of the story, and placing stickers as directed. I particularly liked that this book specifically said where to use which stickers, but also gave the freedom to place anywhere on the page.

This book tells the story of creation from "let there be light!" to banishment from the garden, but it doesn't tell the whole story. It would be hard for a child to understand why Eve eating the fruit was bad from just this book. I would use this book in combination with others, or with a child already familiar with the ideas presented.

The activities are great though and I think preschool/kindergarten aged children would really enjoy the variety in activities this book presents. I know I would've loved all of the adorable animal stickers as a child (especially the blue raccoon!).

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Book Look for this review.  The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

Review: "The Day is Waiting" by Don Freeman and Linda Zuckerman

The Day is Waiting is a collection of illustrations by the late Don Freeman, author and illustrator of Corduroy books I enjoyed as a child. This book is full of images that published posthumously with text written by a close friend and colleague of Freeman's.

The illustrations are just as beautiful as I remember and it is a very nice collection covering a wide variety of subjects. My favorite is a goat standing on top of a hut. There's also a mouse in a suit of armour, a squirrel wearing a scarf, a bear riding a unicycle, and more than one page of penguins.

The story itself poses three questions: What do you see when you look outside? Where can you go on a fine, free day? and What can you do with the long, lazy hours? Each is answered by a few pages of short rhyming list of things.

There's not a lot of cohesiveness, which I was wondering about when I heard about this book. However, since the book is about finding joy and peace in the world around you and treasuring your home (the concluding sentence), the random pictures of things you could see, places you could go, and things you could do works out pretty well.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Book Look for this review.  The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

Review: "Princess Charity Sticker & Activity Book" inspired by Jeanna Young & Jacqueline Johnson, pictures by Omar Aranda

Princess Charity is part of a five-book sticker and activity book series titled The Princess Parables. Each 16-page book focuses on one of five sisters and Princess Charity is the youngest.

The activities are similar to the other Princess Parable books, but some types are unique to this book as well. Activities include: coloring, filling in stickers, word search, connect the dots, color by number, maze, find things that don't belong, spot the differences, drawing yourself as a princess, and drawing a kingdom. It's a handy little book of entertainment that would be perfect for vacations or waiting rooms.

The only problem with these books is that the 50 sticker insert is in the middle of the book, which is always a two-page spread photo. The stickers sheets would have to be pulled out of the book's staples so that the child doing the activity could see both sides at once.

The story line for Princess Charity leaves a bit to desire...There are short descriptions of what Princess Charity is doing and directions for activity. Most of them are very generic, about the princess, her sisters, and their father, but all of a sudden one page there's a Prince Jack without any introduction and then later he leaves the kingdom. It just seems weird in the limited story that it would focus on him leaving instead of arriving, since there was no prior mention of him. Maybe that was explained in Hope and Faith's books, since I haven't read those yet.

The story isn't terribly important though, especially with all of the great activities and stickers for children to play with. I would still heartily recommend this book.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Book Look for this review.  The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

Review: "Princess Joy Sticker & Activity Book" inspired by Jeanna Young & Jacqueline Johnson with Pictures by Omar Aranda

The Princess Joy Sticker & Activity Book is a short 16-page booklet, but packs a lot of different activities into its few pages. The book starts with a "Once upon a time..." two sentence story with a full color picture and clearly identified places to put six of the 50 stickers that come with the book. The other stickers can be used to decorate other pages, but are not specified for a specific use.

There isn't much of a story line, but there's enough to give the book a theme: Princess Joy's birthday. Each page has a few sentences explaining the activity and talking about the upcoming birthday party. The illustrations give the book a very Disney feel.

Activities include: word search, coloring pages, party invitation decoration, maze, spot the differences, secret code (fill in the letters for the corresponding provided numerical equivalent), counting, and hidden item search.


The suggested age range is 4-8 and the activities do seem to vary quite a bit in the difficulty level. I don't think any of the activities would be too difficult for a four year old with some adult help though.

I imagine this would be a great book for a special occasion, such as camping or a weekend vacation. It's a short and sweet book that kids will love, where the only downside is the limited story and lack of more directions for sticker use.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from BookLook for this review.  The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

Review: "Deception on Sable Hill" by Shelley Gray

Though Deception on Sable Hill is the second of the Chicago World's Fair mystery series, I did not feel lost having not read the first novel. However, this book was so enjoyable I may have to go back and read it out of order!

Eloise Carstairs is considered by many to be the most eligible bachelorette: she comes from a very wealthy family, is beautiful, and has a spotless reputation. What her high society acquaintances don't know is that she's hiding a horrible secret. At the beginning of the novel she's hasn't told anyone that she was sexually assaulted, and that haunts her through the story. 

When Eloise finally gets up the courage to start attending parties again, she stumbles into another horrible nightmare. There's a "Society Slasher" on the loose, attacking well-to-do ladies with a stiletto knife, marring their beautiful faces. 

Lieutenant Detective Sean Ryan is on the case and he takes a special interest in ensuring Eloise's safety. Despite being of a much lower class, the two develop an affection for one another. Through their relationship, they teach each other that class shouldn't matter so much and that beauty is as internal as it is external. 

Though the story takes place during the Chicago World's Fair, it is mentioned only briefly and only one scene takes place there. I enjoyed reading about society, the Chicago slums, and in general what Chicago was like in that time period, but I would've liked to see more of the fair as well. 

The characters are lovable and have diverse personalities that create interesting situations. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a good romance story with a bit of mystery and  crime. 

I received this book courtesy of BookLook in exchange for an honest review. 

To Review: "Deception on Sable Hill" by Shelley Gray

I received Deception on Sable Hill by Shelley Gray to review from BookLook. It's part of the Chicago World Fair mystery series.

I love the cover on this one, and as a resident of Chicago, I'm very excited to read a book that takes place here.

I can't wait to get started reading it!

Review: "Two Renegade Realms" by Donita K. Paul

Donita K. Paul's second installment in the Realm Walkers series, Two Renegade Realms lives up to the high expectations set by its quirky predecessor. One Realm Beyond introduced this great new fantasy world where realm walkers are individuals chosen by Primen (God) to protect the realms. The Realm Walkers Guild that manages and watches over the realm walkers had become corrupt, as our young realm walkers Cantor and Bixby found out.



Two Renegade Realms, which picks up three years after the last book, begins with a reunion of our protagonists Cantor and Bixby, as well as Cantor's dragon companion, Bridger. Bridger is hugely talented in that he can shapeshift into pretty much anything, whereas other dragons of the same breed can usually only shapeshift into two or three different set forms. However, he tends to be a little bumbly, but that only adds to his charm.

The young realm walkers are deep in research trying to find a lost library that will hold the keys to saving the realms from two realms that are on a trajectory to collide with other realms, which would allow for the species inhabiting those realms to invade and take over.

Cantor, Bixby, and Bridger keep very busy searching for a lost library; getting sidetracked by looking for the lost right-hand man of Primen, Chomountian; and trying to protect the realm from invasion. The Realm Walker Guilds' corruption continues to pop up in unexpected places. Kidnappings and rescue missions ensure that there's never a dull moment.

As in the previous book, the religious elements are very clear and even sometimes too overtly stated so that it felt like it was a little forced. I did think the messages were important and it's still a great way for YA readers to be able to make those connections to their lives so that they can learn to trust and honor God as the characters trust and honor Primen.

Though I thoroughly enjoyed the book, the main plot line of the imminent invasion was the least interesting part and actually only took a few pages after a 400 page book leading up to it. I would recommend this book only to someone who read and enjoyed One Realm Beyond, because the charms of this book come from the loveable characters and all of their side-missions as things never go exactly as planned. This is still a great new fantasy series and I can't wait to read another one.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Book Look for this review.  The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

To Review: "Two Renegade Realms" by Donita K. Paul

Ready to Review: Two Renegade Realms by Donita K. Paul, the highly anticipated follow up to One Realm Beyond of the Realm Walker series. 

What have the loveable realm walkers Cantor and Bixby been up to over the past three years since the first book left off?

See my review on the first book One Realm Beyond. And look for my new review coming soon!

Review: "One Realm Beyond" by Donita K. Paul

One Realm Beyond is the first book (and currently only book) of the Realm Walkers series by Donita K. Paul.  Once young realm walkers have learned all they can under their mentors, they are free to roam the realms looking for a dragon companion.  Cantor thought that would be an easy task compared to all of the things he would do once an official member of the Realm Walkers Guild: protecting and defending the realms.

Upon stepping through his first portal to another realm, he immediately encounters a dragon that is intent on becoming his constant companion.  Cantor is thoroughly unimpressed by the clumsy, goofy dragon and tries repeatedly to send him away.  This dragon, Bridger, may be one of my favorite dragons of all time. He's endearing, eccentric, and fiercely loyal, qualities that Cantor stubbornly ignores.

Cantor learns of the corruption in the Guild, from which his mentors had sheltered him for his entire life.  The unique characters he meets along the way join forces to attempt to bring the Guild back to the noble cause it was created to uphold.

On top of an exciting adventure, plenty of mishaps, and likeable characters, the book had an encompassing positive message. Even when facing the bad guys, it doesn't mean the heroes have to stoop to their level:

"Darling, one should always have weapons at hand [...] But sometimes a sharp tongue parries an evil intent.  A witty retort may stymie an enemy. And best of all, a kind and generous reply can take the wind out of the sails of a foe." (274)

It's also simple messages, such as looking at what's going right, instead of everything that's messed up, that make me love the message this book would give to any reader, especially teenagers.

One Realm Beyond, published by Zondervan, is a book with a Christian theme that is not over the top or out of place.  As it takes place in another world, they refer to God by another name: Primen.  Much of the characters' motivations are influenced by their loyalty to Primen and doing what is right.

As a lover of language, I appreciated that the book had nice vocabulary in it. The book is witty in introducing words that may not be so familiar to the teen audience:

"Deprived tongue?" She scoffed.  "You've a depraved mind, I'm thinking."

[...]

"The words aren't the same, Ahma. Depraved means he commits evil deeps involving blatant turpitude." (20-21)

To go a step further, the book even talks about how "vulgarities and profanity demonstrated lazy thinking" (343).  When the corrupt guild members spoke like that, the heroes recognized that it was their uneducated, evil minds that couldn't come up with words that carried real weight.

There was one odd time jump that put me off a little bit.  The chapter ends with a dragon on the roof of a building in the middle of a heavily guarded city.  It would seem as though it might be challenging for our heroes to escape the city without notice, but the next chapter begins with the characters outside the city. I guess it must've been an uneventful exit.

Other than at that one particular chapter break, I absolutely loved the book and would highly recommend it to anyone who likes young adult fantasy books, especially if they love quirky characters and a quick, fun read.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Book Look for this review.  The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

To Review: "Just 18 Summers" by Rene Gutteridge & Michelle Cox and "One Realm Beyond" by Donita K. Paul

Last week, Just 18 Summers by Rene Gutteridge & Michelle Cox arrived, courtesy of Tyndale.  Here's a sneak peek from page one: "But that was before global warming, or as Butch Browning liked to describe it, before season became irrelevant.  Now there were tornadoes in winter and heat waves in May."  Look for my review coming up early in May!



One Realm Beyond by Donita K. Paul arrived this week! I thought I'd share the first paragraph, for anyone who might be interested:

Cantor straddled the thick tree limb suspended less than three feet over his favorite fishing hole.  He'd fished from this spot for more than eighteen years, from teh time he could barely straddle the fat limb 'til now, when the tips of his sandals almost brushed the surface of the clear, cold water.  He watched the small fish circling below him, waiting for the big one just as he had been taught.  His fishing mentor, Odem, probably took him fishing here before he was out of diapers.  Cantor wouldn't want to share the limb now.  Though the tree had grown with him over the years, he didnt' think the branch woul dhold the weight of two grown men.  He wasn't eager for a bath in the frigid water from the mountain's runoff. (5)

I'll be reviewing this novel from Zondervan soon, too!