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Hedy's Journey by Michelle Bisson is a horrific, true story about a Hungarian Jewish girl named Hedy who had to travel through Germany during the Holocaust in search of safety. She takes a portion of the journey to America alone, as she is required to separate from her parents.

She and her family suffered through trials and tribulations on the unpredictable journey. Plans often changed, and she had no choice but to be brave. Follow along in the story to learn there destination and future.

The author, Michelle Bisson, is Hedy's daughter. She tells the story of Hedy's (Hungarian Jewish) journey to safety, from the Nazis to the US. The story is sort of passing of the baton. Someone has to continue to tell their stories, history in its worst manifestation, and I appreciated the effort of this daughter. The story is told with extreme delicacy and the designs convey this emotion. I truly appreciate that she has taken the story about her mother's experience and offered it to others so that they can retain this piece of history that is so essential to children's education. In addition, I appreciated the author mentioning that it wasn't just Jews who were persecuted.

The book also contains lots of photographs of Hedy and her family as well as a timeline of events. This book is one I believe should be integral to children's curriculums and should be in every library.
  
Twisted Fairy Tales: Little Rude Riding Hood
Twisted Fairy Tales: Little Rude Riding Hood
Jo Franklin | 2020 | Children
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Telling of Little Red Riding Hood to help children learn the importance of manners
‏I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review.

I am sure you realize from the title, Twisted Fairy Tales: Little Rude Riding Hood, is a twist on Little Red Riding Hood. Author Jo Franklin and illustrator Chris Jevons are able to produce a children's book that teaches the necessity of good manners.

It is not a long book. Several reviewers noted the book felt rushed. It did feel the main character, Little Rude Riding Hood, learned her lesson quickly. It is this brevity that allows it to be perfect for storytime in schools.

Little Rude Riding Hood heads to her grandmother's house and is rude to everyone she meets along the way. It is no surprise when she learns her lesson in the end and earns the name Little Red Riding Hood. She learns to say please and thank you and stops being rude. Children will enjoy the illustrations and, hopefully, learn their manners from this story.

Twisted Fairy Tales is a series of children's books published by Arcturus Publishing. Others in the series illustrated by Chris Jevons include Twisted Fairy Tales: Snow White and the Seven Robots and Twisted Fairy Tales: The Three Little Narwhals. This is the only book in the series written by Jo Franklin.

This 200-word review was published on Philomathinphila.com on 3/25/20.
  
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Lindsay (1804 KP) rated It's Time for Halloween in Books

Mar 2, 2026 - 8:25 PM  
It's Time for Halloween
It's Time for Halloween
Kathrin Fehrl | 2025 | Children
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
It's Time for Halloween is a decent book. I enjoyed it. This book is for babies to three-year-olds. However, I do love children's books and reviewing them. All children's books will be passed along to newborns or new parents to enjoy.

I do this with most of my board books. However, I do hold on to them for a bit or for special occasions. I read this book in a few minutes, and I really enjoyed it. The layered view as you turn the pages is a neat idea I haven't seen in a board book. I also enjoyed that one of the critters could be seen from the beginning to the end of the book.

The pictures tell the story, and you find different things on each page. Children and little ones can count for pumpkins or who has what costumes. It's all fun and learning for the little ones. There is rhyming going on throughout the book as well.


I really liked the fact that each page has you do a little bit of something different. Your child or children can count or make it so that if the child wants to learn the sounds of the different animals in the book. You can do that with this. This book is for babies to toddlers. It's great for the Fall / Autumn season or for the seasonal holiday of Halloween, which some call it.
  
Caught in a Cycle
Caught in a Cycle
Amy B. Crowe | 2017 | Children
6
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
engaging story (0 more)
not always a clear message (0 more)
What do I want to be?
This children's book has its issues deciding what message it is really trying to give. The main theme is bullying is wrong, but it also gets mixed up with telling lies just makes things worse and while set in a zoo doing less that likely jobs make the whole thing difficult for it to give its message clearly and uncluttered by the extras.
A shame really, my daughter enjoyed it but didn't pick up the full message without some reinforcements.
Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher. and the author for allowing me to read and review a digital copy of this book.