My Thoughts:

What A Child Will Love: The main character, Aya is very relate-able for a young child. She is excited about her beach trip, she has a special toy that she must find, and she gets sad when something is ruined. My daughter really enjoyed the fun sandcastle building in this story and the imagination that Aya used to make it a special castle.

What I Loved: Aya’s sadness over her sandcastle being ruined by a wave was expertly handled by her family. It gave a child a nice solution to a problem. At the end of the book, the author recapped what had happened at the beach and Aya recalled what she did to make it better. I thought it was a nice ending to remind a child of how they can turn a problem into something new.

To Read or Not To Read: This book is age appropriate for pre-k through maybe 2nd grade. The book features imagination, problem solving, and family.

What’s This Book About Anyway?

Aya wakes up so excited for Beach Day! She must first find her special doll Papaya, and then she’s ready to go! Aya and her family have a picnic breakfast at the beach and then spend time making sandcastles. An enormous wave comes and takes out her beautiful castle. Aya is heartbroken. Her family helps her to make it ok and they build an even bigger sandcastle in a better location. They decorate it and pretend to be royalty. It’s a fun story with a nice lesson.

Footnotes:

This ARC was provided to me by NetGalley an the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Aya and Papaya Keep Trying is scheduled for publication on February 28, 2020.

#ayaandpapaya #ayaandpapayakeeptrying #netgalley #troubadorpublishing #kidsbookreview #kidsbook #kidslit #childrenslit #childrensbook #bookreview #bookblog #shejustlovesbooks #shejustlovesbooksforkids