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8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I had the pleasure of meeting [J.J. Parsons] at the Savannah Children's Book Festival. I told her I had picked up her book [Dead Chest Island] at a local book seller. She kindly gave me the second book. That said, this is an unsolicited and honest review.

[Dead Chest Island] is a throw back to the mysteries of the 1950's. It made me think of The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. Young children getting into adventure after hearing a story about an island that leads to solving a international crime, or foiling it, rather.

[Parson's] writing has a good flow and is well thought out. The characters are well developed. I am looking forward to reading the second book and hearing more of Edison'd adventures and see if his sister is still a pest. Highly recommend this book to school libraries.
  
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain, Emory Elliott | 2008 | Children
8
6.9 (28 Ratings)
Book Rating
An insight into the period (0 more)
Slow (0 more)
A good book for its time
It takes a while to get into this book mostly because of the narrative voice. It is the narrative voice that makes the book as good as it is. Written in 1st person, the unreliable narrator fools the reader into just how uneducated he is (he did write a book after all). Huck has bags of common sense but relies on Tom for silliness. There is however, a lot of innocence in Huckleberry and a huge desire for freedom but I do think he secretly wants to civilised. The last few chapters of the book are more like a children's adventure story showing the child like Huckleberry compared to the innocent and uncivilised boy at the start of the book. I liked this. I enjoyed the ending very much.
  
40x40

Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Aug 20, 2020  
Today's special guest on my blog is Sandra Nickel, Author of the children's food history picture book NACHO'S NACHOS! Read my interview with Sandra about the book, and enter the GIVEAWAY to win a print copy of the book and/or a recipe card - 5 winners total!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2020/08/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-nachos.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
NACHO’S NACHOS is the deliciously true story about how nachos were invented—about what happened when a regular customer asked Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya for something new, and there were no chefs in the kitchen.

2020 is the eightieth anniversary of the invention, and Oliver Dominguez’s illustrations transport us back to the border of the Rio Grande in 1940, when Nacho’s quick thinking resulted in a snack now eaten everywhere from Texas to Paris to Hong Kong!
     
Pages and Co: The Bookwanderers (Pages and Co. #1)
Pages and Co: The Bookwanderers (Pages and Co. #1)
Anna James | 2019 | Children, Science Fiction/Fantasy
9
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Fun Characters (0 more)
I received an uncorrected ARC from a Job I used to have and this children's book is a fun read no matter your age. Tilly a bookworm who lives with her grandparents next to the bookshop they own. Tilly and her friend Oskar's life gets turned upside-down. Tilly discovers that she has the ability to travel inside books and talk to her favorite literary characters.
  
Before We Were Yours
Before We Were Yours
Lisa Wingate | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.6 (11 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book tells the stories of Rill Foss and Avery Stafford. Rill is a young girl growing up on the Mississippi River in 1939. Through an unfortunate series of events, she and her siblings are placed in the Tennessee Children's Home orphanage. Avery Stafford is a privileged young woman who has recently moved back to Aiken, SC to help her parents out. She stumbles across a mystery involving her grandmother on her paternal side which leads her to uncover Rill's story.

This book is based on actual events. The stories of Rill and Avery are fiction but some of the facts around the Tennessee Children's Home are factual. The kidnapping and eventual adoption of these "orphan" children was organized by Georgia Tann, Director. She had lots of influential people that looked the other way until she was eventually closed the center down after a state investigation into numerous instances of adoption fraud.
  
I love the meaning behind this book and the only reason why I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars is because the art style is what got me. I love art in children's books and I saw so much that could have been improved.

The art style was good since it's a children's book, but at the same time it could have been improved a bit. Being a crafty and art fanatic myself, I noticed a lot of times where there were cartoony characters but then some of the characters seemed to be caring on some realistic characteristics. Mixing art styles is totally okay, but at the same time you have to be careful when mixing.

The story: I would have changed a few things myself. But for a child reading it, they would have understood everything just fine.

Would I read it again? No. But I also don't have children so that's a main factor in the rereading category.
  
Where the Wild Things Are
Where the Wild Things Are
Maurice Sendak | 2000 | Children
10
8.1 (46 Ratings)
Book Rating
When Maurice Sendak passed away, I thought it would be only appropriate to review what arguably, is his best children's book. "Where the Wild Things Are" captured the hearts of so many people - both young and old. It is so much loved that they had to make a movie out of it (unfortunately). You can read my full review here. https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2014/07/18/wild-and-crazy-love-for-children/
  
The Velveteen Daughter
The Velveteen Daughter
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Laurel Davis Huber's debut historical fiction novel investigates Margery Williams Bianco, the author of the world-famous children's book, The Velveteen Rabbit, and her child prodigy artist daughter, Pamela Bianco. Huber gives us us a portrait of two lives, their relationship with each other and the problems they faced, both together and as individual talented women. Read more in my review here. https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2017/07/08/the-art-of-becoming-real/
  
A Monster Calls
A Monster Calls
Patrick Ness | 2016 | Children
10
8.6 (40 Ratings)
Book Rating
Beautiful story (2 more)
Relateable characters
Absolutely gorgeous illistrations
Personally, it hurt to read (0 more)
No matter your age this book will affect you in some way.
A Monster Calls is one of those books that really stuck with me after reading it and I can really see it sticking with me for years to come because at its bare bones it is a book about grief and just how unfair life can seem to be.

I will admit that this book did make me cry like a freaking baby even though I was reading it on the train on the way home from work, and the thing was that it wasn't really the ending( I pretty much figured where the story was going from the beginning) but it was that it brought up so many not only memories but the feelings I went through under a similar event.

Even though this book is listed as a children's book it really is a book for a person of any age.
  
The Christmasaurus and the Winter Witch
The Christmasaurus and the Winter Witch
Tom Fletcher | 2019 | Children, Humor & Comedy, Science Fiction/Fantasy
9
9.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Full of the Christmas magic (0 more)
Can't think of one (0 more)
I believe
The Christmasaurus was wonderful book mixing the children's magic of christmas with dinosaurs, two things kids love. This, the second book in the series doesn't let the magic go, if anything this is a better story. Tom Fletcher manages to weave a complicated story about magic and time travel and yet still make it suitable for children and the illustrations make it even more gorgeous. This series has the potential to be made into a movie and become some of the best love Christmas characters in the world. My daughter loved this book, so did i. She is 8 and I am 40.