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Amazing Crayon Drawing was truly amazing. Remember how Awesome used to be a word to describe something that was truly "Awe-some?" well, it's Awesome.

Looking at the drawings were really inspiring and amazing. When I think of crayons, I think of cheap kids art supplies. My family business is retail art supplies and art classes for kids ages 4-12, and we don't have your typical Crayola crayons. We have the fancy pastels and the high-quality pencils and stuff. But Hammond uses Crayola, something I never considered a professional artist's tool.

Crayon drawing looks a lot like colored pencil or hard pastel on a gritty paper. depending on how hard you press you get either a buffed glossy look, or a light colored pencil look.

The instructions are good, though I can't draw and don't feel that this book would make me any better at it, but it definitely leads artists through the step by step process of laying down colors in a realistic way.

Recommendation: Ages 8+ to anyone who loves to draw with color (at a very reasonable price).
  
The Queens Corgi (2019)
The Queens Corgi (2019)
2019 |
1
2.0 (8 Ratings)
Movie Rating
The first 2 mins (0 more)
Everything after the first 2mins (0 more)
The Queens Corgi needs putting down
Contains spoilers, click to show
Wow what did I just watch.
It started well a cute and funny 2mins showing the new corgi arrive. The interaction between the dogs and the palace servants was good.

From here:
Trump shows up and flirts with a random woman which is cringy and just feels wrong

The animation of anyone outside of the palace looks rushed

Trump brings a final dog to breed with the queens corgi, so proceeds a scene where the queens dog is sexually harrassed whilst the American dog declares shes on heat and wants him.

Queens dog ends up in dogs pound where dog fights occur, one dog is dragged out after one such fight in a mess.

The animation of the other dogs is poor

Nothing fun or interesting in the final half hr.

It is a poor kids film, that poorly tries to insert adult humour that is just cringeworthy or in bad taste.

Avoid at all costs. The worst animated kids film I have ever seen... ever!!
  
Rise of the Isle of the Lost (Descendants #3)
Rise of the Isle of the Lost (Descendants #3)
Melissa de la Cruz | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
8
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Rise of the Isle of the Lost is the third book in the Descendants series, a collection of books about the kids of the most infamous Disney villains. It is based on the Disney Channel Original Movie by the same name and Rise occurs just before the events of the second movie. It follows the villain kids Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos in Auradon, as well as Uma and her pirate crew on the Isle of the Lost.

The book is a middle school reading level, so it is very simply written. I wasn't particularly impressed with the story or the writing, although the book was enjoyable enough. I chose to read it because I am a fan of Disney and found the premise to be intriguing. The execution was underwhelming, but I feel that younger readers would really enjoy this book. It is perfect for those in grades five to seven. I would recommend it to those that are fans of the movie and suggest that you read it before seeing the second movie, as that is where it falls chronologically.
  
AA
Abigail And The North Pole Adventure
Tali Carmi | 2015 | Children
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Abigail and the North Pole Adventure by Tali Carmi This is another quick read. It good for children. Children learn to use their imagination. It teaches your kids or children values and about giving a helping hand. It also teaches your children about making friendships. Each book tell you about a different place and culture. You learn about the animals and the habit of the folk that live in that area.The images are down really well. You can see what the description is talking about. This is good for children ages for young children. Parent can read this to their children. Kids can learn to read with these beginner books. Pictures are quite nice and understandable. This is also a good book for children that enjoy adventure books.I would recommend this book and this series to young readers and children learn to read. If you would like to check out my other review on a book in this series. Here the review to Abigail & Tropical Island adventure.
  
101 Video Games to Play Before You Grow Up:The unofficial must-play video game list for kids by Ben Bertoli is a great introduction guide to video games that adults may have played while growing up, and will be a great platform for families to meet and have fun. This book begins with a comprehensive table of contents for quick and easy reference. There are fill in boxes to note if you played it, "my rating", "My favorite moment" and "Notes for each game. It has great divisions such as action adventure, sports, and party games. Each game in the list includes platform, rating, other suggested games, and interesting trivia.

The book is printed in bright colors with cartoony type characters which is eye catching. The book is a quick read and a useful reference guide to throw in with your game consoles. Perfect for sharing with kids, revisiting memory lane, or for avid gaming fans.

I give this book 4/5 stars

I received this book fromQuarto Publishing Group – Walter Foster, Jr. and Walter Foster Jr via NetGalley
  
Contains spoilers, click to show
The Shakespeare Stories: Henry V, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet by Andrew Matthews presents four of William Shakespeare’s famous plays in an easy-to-digest format for kids. Accompanied by Tony Ross’ illustrations, Matthews re-imagines these Shakespearean plays as short stories more akin to classic fairy tales.

Matthews manages to take some of the most plot-heavy and confusing Shakespeare plays and break them down to their most basic elements. The language is easy to follow without lacking intellect or wit, and he stays true to Shakespeare’s concepts and characters. Illustrated short stories for kids are a no-brainer for getting children interested in William Shakespeare, and Matthews was smart to dive into the genre. He isn’t reinventing the wheel, but he is making the wheel accessible to a wide range of audiences.

I like how it has pictures, gives the cast and a quote from the original play. Then it tells the story and finishes up with an explanation of what just happened and some history of Shakespeare and the play.
  
Gracefully Grayson
Gracefully Grayson
Ami Polonsky | 2014 | LGBTQ+, Young Adult (YA)
6
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I have to say, this book was much better than I was expecting. I'm always wary going into a book about trans issues not written by trans people. But Grayson's story was treated thoughtfully and with respect. (Such a stereotypical name, though!) However, I'm disappointed that this story focused so much on violence and social resistance to trans people. While that can often be the reality for some of us, this book is intended for young readers, and I'm concerned that this could be scary for them. On the other hand, cisgendered kids who pick this one up might be more empathetic towards trans people in general. (But would cisgender kids be inspired to pick GRACEFULLY GRAYSON up if they've already formed negative opinions on trans issues? I don't know; I'm thankfully not a parent.)

Another thing: did this story really have to coalesce in a bathroom? It felt lazy. Where we pee is not the only political issue we face, and it's obvious the author knows this. I don't know. This book left me with mixed feelings.
  
Isle of Dogs (2018)
Isle of Dogs (2018)
2018 | Adventure, Animation
8
7.8 (39 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Amazing animation (1 more)
Fantastic voice acting
Good Dog
In my opinion, Wes Anderson is pretty overrated. Other than Grand Budapest Hotel, I haven't been a big fan of anything else that he has done, yet critics and fans seem to adore everything he touches. This meant that I had hardly any hype going into Isle Of Dogs and only seen it because of some good reviews I had read online.
This film is great. It features an incredible cast, whose voices all work remarkably well for this story. The stop-motion animation is astonishing and beautiful at times and it tells an interesting, satisfying story.
There isn't much not to like here, the only thing that I will say is that although the animation style makes this sort of look like a kids movie, I would not recommend it for kids. There are some fairly adult themes present and a kid would probably get bored while watching too.
Overall, this film is definitely worth a watch, even if only to see the impressive stop-motion animation on show.
  
Mary Poppins Returns (2018)
Mary Poppins Returns (2018)
2018 | Family
Acting (1 more)
Animation
Story (1 more)
Music
Unfortunately, I appear to have outgrown poor Mary...
Unfortunately, after wearing out my video of the original Mary Poppins, recorded off of the TV in 1996, I have outgrown Mary Poppins, and unfortunately did not enjoy Mary Poppins or Mary Poppins Returns.

But that is not to say they aren't excellent movies for kids! For kids, both movies are practically perfect in every way, practically because the endless music will likely drive parents to despair as it did with me.

But it did have its redeeming features, I was dubious about a sequel to Mary Poppins after so many years with a new younger actress. But Emily Blunt fills the role perfectly, and gives a pleasant surprise!

Another plus is good old fashioned animation, similar to the original, a mix of animation and real life reminiscent of the original, and other classics such as Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Pete's Dragon.

So overall, come for the nostalgia, leave when the music starts.

P.S. Thank you Smashbomb for the DVD, I apologise for the delay in the review! :)