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Nicole Hadley (380 KP) rated The Coral Kingdom in Books

Jun 16, 2018

The Coral Kingdom by Laura Knowles is a beautifully illustrated picture book about coral reefs, as well as a pretty strong call to save them.

The story part of the book is a nice sing song of the animals and colors of the reef. The back matter is all about what is coral, how we can save it, and how we can save our planet. Told in a loose rhyming scheme, the reader is brought into the wonders of this undersea world. The watercolor pictures illustrate with beautiful colors of the reef and the life around it. There are lots of sea creatures to find as well as unusual things like boats that have become part of the reef over time. A call is made to save this beautiful space.

The book ends with some action ideas for sustaining the reef and how it is losing it's color. The message is clear, but I never felt like I was being beat over the head with it. The case is made gently and with beautiful art.

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Nicole Hadley (380 KP) rated The Shakespeare Stories: Henry V, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet in Books

Jun 16, 2018

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.

Kudos

Nicole Hadley (380 KP) rated Growing in God's Love: A Story Bible in Books

Jun 18, 2018

Growing in God's Love: A Story Bible by Elizabeth F. Caldwell; Carol A. Wehrheim is an illustrated book that pays attention to quality and detail. While it says it is a book that children can read, I believe it should be read to children. I am impressed with this book, the wording, and I like how it is designed to be interactive between adult and child with three simple questions at the end of each story.

Most of the stories are between one and two pages counting the illustrations and three questions and start at the beginning of the Bible in Genesis and through the old testament and then into the new testament. The verse location in the Bible is given under the story title.

The author did a great job of covering Bible topics in a way that children can understand but in a way that adults can gain a blessing as well.

I received an ARC from Westminster John Knox Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Kudos

Nicole Hadley (380 KP) rated Kawaii Doodle Class: Sketching Super-Cute Tacos, Sushi, Clouds, Flowers, Monsters, Cosmetics, and More in Books

Jun 18, 2018

Kawaii Doodle Class by Zainab Khan is an illustrated step-by-step resource guide on how to draw smiley lumps that look like food, animals, objects, holiday themes, and monsters. As down-putting as that may sound, it’s really quite useful, dainty, and, yes, cute.

The book starts with a list of tools and essentials what you can use to have a go with but so long as you have at least a pen or pencil with some paper to hand you can try some sketches from the off. The book pages are set with cute borders alike clouds, in pastel and deeper blue against the plain white background on which the drawing tips and demonstration step by step images sit on.

You don’t need to be an amazing artist to be able to use this book as everything is super simple to follow, I personally loved the flower designs best and there’s a handy way to draw a rose I found useful!

I received this Quarto Publishing Group and Race Point Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.