This is an adorable children’s book with a great main character! Starr is a wonderfully unique panda, and she knows it! She is proud of herself and her talents, and she loves to share them with everyone! When she meets a new friend, Shine, who is not a comfortable in his own skin, Starr helps him to see how wonderful he is!
Continue reading “Starr’s Wonderful Discovery by Trey Jefferies”
What a fun, moving, and heartfelt story this was! I wasn’t sure where this story was going to go, and when Lucy is hit by a bus, this went from silly and lighthearted to quite serious very quickly! Lucy is such an interesting, vibrant, hilarious person, and when she loses years of memory from the accident, her family rises up in droves to help her in any way they can. All the sisters move back into their parents’ house together to help break the memories free.
Continue reading “Am I Allergic to Men? by Kristen Bailey”
I feel like there have been so many wonderful books coming out recently that really are a romance about falling in love with yourself, and I am HERE FOR IT! These types of stories are making my heart feel so full!
Yinka is the kind of character we all need to read about. She is a bit lost, feeling the pressure of family, culture and friends, to be like everyone else and get married. Her story is filled with failures, mishaps, and heartbreaks, but through it all, she is actually on a journey to find herself.
Continue reading “Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn”
Are you a glass half-full or a glass half-empty kind of person? This book will help you find a way to always make it a glass half-full kind of day!
Justin McRoberts shares his life’s stories with such a wonderful note of humor and honesty that it’s an absolute joy to read this book. I loved the way that McRoberts talks about not accepting a mindset of “It is what it is” but instead finding how we can make it what we want.
Continue reading “It Is What You Make of It by Justin McRoberts”
This book. I have nothing but love for this! What an absolutely fabulous way to help children with their feelings! The message is positive, encouraging, and understanding of children and their feelings! I love that it makes children feel like they are in a safe space to express and understand their emotions.
This was a wonderfully interactive story, which asks the children to participate in different ways. We have some seek and find activity, but also some really great actions for self-love. My daughter really enjoyed interacting with Piggie!
Continue reading “The Power of Piggie Bear by Mara James”
I love seeing children’s books that inspire children to love who they are. There are so many influences in the world pushing people to be the way others are, and it is important to remember that being you is special too.
Lunk is a chicken who wants to be special. He is given a magical object that allows him to be the version of himself that he thinks will be better. When he visits his friends though, they don’t even recognize him, and they don’t believe that Lunk is standing in front of him. Lunk learns that being something he is not, isn’t as great as he thought it would be.
Continue reading “Lunk by Connor Anvar”
What I Loved:
The illustrations throughout Yummy Me Feels So Good are children’s artwork. My daughter really enjoyed looking at each page and discussing the drawing. It was a lot of fun and a great addition to the book!
How I Felt:
Yummy Me Feels So Good has a great message for children, and adults really, about the different “Me’s” that we experience. They are all a part of who we are, and we can embrace them.
Continue reading “Yummy Me Feels So Good by Lion I Am”
What I Loved:
I absolutely adored the illustrations in this book! They are stunning with vibrant colors and wonderful details for the kids to really look at and enjoy!
My Synopsis:
Zafera is starting school for the first time. She’s different than the other children, but she doesn’t know it. They give her weird looks and talk about her, but she doesn’t notice any of it. She doesn’t know that the twigs in her hair and dirt on her clothes make her different. She’s a happy, healthy girl happy to be experiencing school and other children.
It’s time for her birthday party and she invites everyone! When the children get to the party they are all blown away by the location. Zafera’s home is beyond anything they could have ever imagined! Tucked into a hillside, it’s part of the earth. They play and explore the wonders of her home, and get to know Zafera for who she is, not what she wears.
How I Felt:
I really enjoyed the message this story provides. I liked that the children were not horrible to Zafera, it was more that they didn’t understand her. Her birthday party provided a wonderful opportunity for the children to see her in her own setting, and appreciate her.
Continue reading “The Dirt Girl by Jodi Dee”
What I Loved:
The message that this story gave was just amazing. I closed this book and thought I might have a book hangover from a children’s book! 😂 I just absolutely loved the way the message of being who you are and making the most of your situation was given!
My Synopsis:
Dylan St. Claire is the star of the show, always! He is getting ready for the school audition, fully intending to get the “star” role of the Star.
He instead is cast as the Squirrel…in space. Dylan is outraged, of course, because what is a squirrel doing in space?!?!? Dylan soon discovers though, that being the Squirrel is the best thing that could have happened to him.
How I Felt:
Well, I thought The One and Only Dylan St. Claire was absolutely adorable! Disappointment is an emotion that will come up for all children, and showing them that it is okay to feel the way they do was great.
Continue reading “The One and Only Dylan St. Claire by Kamen Edwards”
Let’s Go To Taekwondo! tells the story of Yoomi as she tries to earn her yellow belt in Taekwondo. I really enjoyed that the story features the struggles that children go through to achieve things sometimes and how wonderful it feels when you try again and succeed!
Yoomi is close to earning her yellow belt. She just needs to break her board. When it’s time to do it though, she can’t. Frustrated she tells her grandmother she is quitting. Grandma is struggling with learning a new skill too, the computer. Grandma uses her troubles to show Yoomi that quitting won’t solve her problems. Grandma works hard to learn to use the computer to call someone, and Yoomi decides to go back to her Taekewondo class. With practice and focus, she breaks the board!
Continue reading “Let’s Go To Taekwondo! by Aram Kim”
What I Loved:
The easy story telling in Blue Sky Mind is wonderful for young children. The illustrations were done so well making the story easy to understand. I loved how the thought clouds were done, connecting the thoughts of the child to the clouds. The colors chosen in the book help to tell the story as well. They are bright and vibrant at times, but dull and gray at other times. The mixture helped to convey the feelings on each of the pages. The thought clouds are bright and white when they are happy, but as the story progresses, the clouds get a bit darker, showing how the child’s thoughts get more clouded and worried. It made a great visual for a child reading the book.
How I Felt:
I really enjoyed this story overall. Any time a book is written to help a child understand their feelings and overcome their struggles, I am so happy. Blue Sky Mind is a story that creates great visuals for a child to help them understand the story and a new way to relax and let go of their stress.
The story is focused on a child’s blue sky. Clouds appear with different thoughts. Sometimes those thoughts are sad or upsetting, but the positive thoughts can come to help brighten your day. The story is easy to follow and understand.
The idea of blowing the thought clouds “bye-bye” is great. I have found that breathing helps my children to calm down and this visual is a great way to get a child to do this.
Overall, this Blue Sky Mind is a great children’s book to help a child learn a new coping technique. I loved the bright colors and the easy-to-follow story. I think that this is a great story that any young reader would enjoy.
To Read or Not To Read:
I would recommend Blue Sky Mind for young readers preschool to middle elementary age.
Where to Find This Book:
Blue Sky Mind by A.T. Waverly is available at these sites.
The #1 Mindfulness book and journal for kids (and adults).
A mindful story told in a calm, rhythmic, rhyme that helps kids (teens and adults) visualize their thoughts in a meditative way. Beautiful poem and relaxing illustrations about being mindful, meditation, meditative breathing with journal pages to draw and write mindful thoughts. Kids will become aware of a mindful thought process with this calm, fun and engaging book and journal. Encouraging happy thoughts and imagination.
Based on the Science of health benefits associated with mindfulness, meditation, breath work, and happy thoughts.
Just the Facts:
I was provided a copy of this book for free. I am leaving my honest, unbiased review voluntarily.
All Amazon links are affiliate links.
#shejustlovesbooks #bookreview #bookblog #kidslit #shejustlovesbooksforkids #blueskymind #atwaverly #thewaverlys
What I Loved:
It’s Okay to Be a Unicorn! is really focusing on how differences are okay and make each one of us special. I loved the way this is woven into the story with such perfection!
How I Felt:
The Story was so wonderful! Our secretly unicorn friend, Cornelius J. Sparklesteed is trying to hide that he is a unicorn from all his horse friends. His secret is shown to the reader early on in the book through the words, which I read to my daughter twice to see if she caught on to what the story was telling her. And she did. “Oh, HE’S a unicorn!” she said. She really enjoyed watching as Cornelius kept his secret hidden and watching his ultimate surprise to the entire town at the end.
The Illustration was so exciting. Bright colors and excellent details were added to each page making the book so enjoyable for a young reader to follow along as they are read the story.
I specifically LOVED that a map was added to the beginning of the book so the reader could envision the book’s location Hoofington. Adorable!
Overall, this was a wonderful story that we enjoyed greatly. The message of loving yourself and being true to yourself was so through the words, it was a powerful story that we will be reading again and again.
To Read or Not To Read:
This is a great book for a preschool to middle elementary school age readers. The story is bright and colorful with the words and the illustrations. It’s one you won’t want your littles to miss!
Where to Find This Book:
It’s Okay to be a Unicorn by Jason Tharpe is available at these sites.
Amazon| Amazon Kindle | Goodreads
Cornelius J. Sparklesteed is a fabulous horse with a wonderful, helpful personality…except that he’s not a horse. He has a secret that he hides under his hat. He’s a unicorn living in a town where the Mayor has forbidden unicorns.
We follow Cornelius all week as he helps all his friends with everything they need for the big event, Hoofapalooza. Cornelius is also getting ready, as he has been asked to perform!
The big day comes, and he looks out at the crowd with all of his friends and decides that everyone will like him for who he really is, so he has a big reveal, removing his hat . . . and the crowd roars with love and applause.
I was provided a free advanced reader’s copy of this book. I am leaving this honest, unbiased review voluntarily.
She Just Loves Books 