Storybook Corner Review & Giveaway: Don't Drink the Pink (Children's Picture Book)

Don't Drink the Pink

by

B.C.R. Fegan

Illustrated by Lenny Wen

Publisher: TaleBlade Press 
Publication date: 1st August 2019
Pages: 40
Format Read: eBook
Source: Courtesy of the publisher

Madeline adores her Grandpa Gilderberry – she always has. To everyone else he might seem a bit strange – an eccentric inventor – perhaps even a little mad. Yet Madeline knows that these are his very best qualities.

One of Grandpa Gilderberry’s most secret inventions is his box of potions which he delights in giving to Madeline each year on her birthday. Each potion conveys an unexpected and magical experience for Madeline. Year after year, Madeline selects a new potion with exciting results, however each time she reaches for her enchanted birthday present, her grandfather reminds her of only one rule – ‘don’t drink the pink’.

Follow the special relationship between Madeline and her Grandfather as they both grow and share in the most magical birthday experiences. Filled with secrets to uncover and brimming with imagination, Don't Drink the Pink explores a number of basic concepts including colors, numbers and the reality of growing older.

 

Madeline loves her Grandfather Gilderberry. They have a close relationship.

Dad thinks he’s crazy

Mom thinks he’s just old

But I think he’s amazing

And worth his weight in gold.

Every birthday since her very first birthday Madeline’s Grandfather has arrived with a box of potions. Madeline gets to choose a colour, but always with the rule ‘just don’t drink the pink.’

As each year passes wonderful magical things happen when Madeline drinks each potion.

This is an absolutely enjoyable and magical book. The story is told in rhyming verse with a fun repetition that the children quickly learn to join in with.

“Happy Birthday Madeline.”

He said with a wink

“Take a potion, take a brew

Just don’t drink the pink.”

We loved Don’t Ever Look Behind Door 32 and BCR Fegan has given his audience another delightful picture book that builds on the anticipation of what will be revealed at the end.

As each birthday came around Dot and I tried to guess what colour potion Madeline would pick and what magical quality she would receive. Flying, strength, invisibility, controlling the weather and super speed are just a few of the magical elements in this story.

Don’t Drink the Pink develops a child’s imagination and colour recognition. It has a major, but subtle, theme of ageing. As Madeline gets older so does her beloved Grandpa. Until one birthday Grandpa is no longer there. Madeline has one potion left. What will the magical pink potion do?

Lenny Wen’s whimsical illustrations add spots of humour that need no words. Madeline’s cute little white cat makes an appearance on each page and the expressions on Madeline’s mother’s and father’s faces as each potion is consumed are not to be missed.

Don’t Drink the Pink is another addition to Dot’s all-time favourite books. Her favourite parts were when Madeline turned into a mermaid and when she built a theme park with her mind.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

 rated by Dot 5/5

 

About the author

B.C.R. Fegan is an award-winning author who has written a number of fairy tales and fantasies for children and young adults.

Raised on a small hobby farm only minutes from some of Australia’s greatest beaches, Fegan grew up inspired by the power of natures ambience. His ravenous appetite for both reading and writing soon saw him drawing on the transformational influence of the world around him to craft short stories, poems and picture books.

As time wore on, Fegan also found inspiration in the magic and depth of authors and compositors like Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault. He was mesmerised by the potency of small but beautiful phrases that were carefully carved from the minds of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Alfred Lord Tennyson and Robert Frost. He grew to appreciate the worlds meticulously created by David Eddings, JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis.

Eventually, he began to forge his own complete works. Weaving his own magic, piecing together his own phrases and crafting his own worlds. Agonising over plots that would inspire, characters that would be loved and circumstances that would delight. In time, his efforts saw a number of children’s books and young adult fiction produced. 
  

About the illustrator

Lenny Wen is a freelance illustrator from Jakarta, Indonesia. She started her professional illustration career in 2013. Most of her illustrations possess a mixture of storytelling and emotions. Her works can be found in  children’s books, mobile games, and advertisements. She is very passionate about illustration and storytelling. When she is not illustrating, she might be found watching movies, reading books or watching the online cooking channel.  

 

Thanks to TaleBlade Press you can win a paperback copy of Don’t Drink the Pink. Entry is open internationally via the form below and closes on 14^th August 2019.

This giveaway is now closed and the winner was - Katiria.

Storybook Corner Book Review: Don't Let the Beasties Escape This Book (Children's Picture Book)

Don't Let the Beasties Escape This Book

by

Julie Berry

Illustrated by April Lee

Publisher: Getty Publications
Expected Publication date: 10th September 2019
Pages: 36
RRP: $17.99US
Format read: Hardcover
Source:  Courtesy of the publisher

Beware strange and magical things can happen when you peek inside a Book of Beasts.

Young Godfrey and his family toil for the lord and lady of the castle. But  when Godfrey stumbles upon an unfinished Book of Beasts, it's spectacular pictures of animals make him forget his chores. He invents the story of a brave knight, Sir Godfrey the Glorious, who battles ferocious creatures.

But who's doing the work while Godfrey daydreams? Who feeds the chickens, spreads the straw, harvests the pears, rakes the leaves and sets the supper fire ablaze?

Julie Berry takes us into the heart of thirteenth century medieval England where young Godfrey sits in the yard surrounded by the castle walls. His mother, a maidservant, tells him he will need to help out with chores. Godfrey is known to forget his chores while he drifts off into his own imaginative world with the noble knight Sir Godfrey.

An artist is in residence painting a Book of Beasts for the lady of the castle. Godfrey spies the book and decides to look through the paintings as he tells a fanciful story about the beasts in the book and how his imaginary Sir Godfrey battles them. It just so happens this is a magical book and when Godfrey names the beasts (lion, unicorn, dragon etc) they come to life from the pages. As Godfrey continues his story each beast escapes and gets up to mischief behind Godfrey’s back. As they play they inadvertently complete Godfrey’s chores for him.

The story ends with all the beasts hiding in Godfrey’s home until the artist comes and zaps them all back into the book.

This is the most adorable introduction to medieval beasts I have seen. It arrived in my mail box at a very fortuitous time as Dot, who generally loves all things scary, has recently become concerned about monsters being real. Reading Don’t Let the Beasties Escape This Book was the perfect opportunity to explain how these beasts were made up from people’s imagination and altered information. There was no internet back then and a lot of people couldn’t read or have the opportunity to travel so it is easy to see how a sighting of a rhinoceros in Africa could morph into a Unicorn by the time the news got back to England.

The story portrays the beasts in a fun and whimsical way as they get up to mischief behind Godfrey’s back. The illustrations are a story within themselves and bring a new element of entertainment to the story as we see the yard animals reactions to the beasts arrival.

I would recommend this book for any child 3+years. Dot was enthralled by the whole story whilst Jay age 3 was more interested in the vivid illustrations and loved the hide and seek with the beasties at the end.

The book also contains engaging backmatter with information on life in the Middle Ages and a mini-bestiary drawn from original 13^th Century manuscripts along with typical legends and lore.

A big thank you to Getty Publications for my hardback copy.  I am sure this will become a treasured addition to our home library.

                             🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 

 Rated by Dot & Jay   5/5

After my fourth son was born, I decided that since my family dreams were now well underway, it was time to pursue writing novels. I went back to school and earned an M.F.A. in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of the Fine Arts, where I learned from many talented and committed writers for young people. My first novel for young readers was published in 2009.  All the Truth That’s In Me, my first YA novel, was named a 2013 Horn Book Fanfare title, a School Library Journal Best of 2013 book, and a Kirkus Best Teen Read for 2013. It has been named a Junior Library Guild Selection and has been nominated for a Carnegie Medal and a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults award, and will be published in 14 countries internationally. My next novel, a middle grade titled The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place, was published September 2014 in the US by Roaring Brook, and also in Germany, the UK, Japan, Brazil, and Viet Nam. It won an Odyssey Honor from the American Library Association, and was named a Best Children’s Book of 2014 by the Wall Street Journal, and was named to the Dorothy Canfield Fisher list. My next novel, The Passion of Dolssa, published by Viking Children’s Books, won a 2017 Printz Honor from the American Library Association, was a New York Times Notable title, was nominated for the Los Angeles Book Prize, earned five starred reviews, and earned a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Top Ten award. My next novel, The Emperor’s Ostrich, released June 2017 from Roaring Brook Press, and my upcoming novel, Lovely War, releases in spring 2019 from Viking children's books.

About the illustrator: 
April Lee is an illustrator, character animator, and 2D special effects animator who works for several major television and film studios. Her animated e-book The Dragon and the Pixies earned honorable mentions at the London Book Festival and the Los Angeles Book Festival.   

 

Storybook Corner Book Review: The Go-Away Bird (Children's Picture Book) + related children's craft

The Go-Away Bird

by 

Julia Donaldson

illustrated by Catherine Rayner

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
Publication date: 26th February 2019
Pages: 32
RRP: $24.99
Format Read: Hardcover
Source: Courtesy of the publisher

 

‘The Go-Away bird sat up in her nest, With her fine grey wings and her fine grey crest.’ One by one, the other birds fly into her tree, wanting to talk or to play, but the Go-Away bird just shakes her head and sends them all away. But then the dangerous Get-You bird comes along, and she soon realizes that she might need some friends after all . . .

The Go-Away Bird combines brilliant rhyming verse from much-loved children’s author Julia Donaldson, creator of the bestselling picture books The Gruffalo and What the Ladybird Heard, with stunning illustrations from the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal-winning Catherine Rayner.  

Julia Donaldson’s name is always synonymous with delightful picture books for children and she doesn’t disappoint with her latest offering The Go-Away Bird.

The Go-Away Bird is a beautifully crafted hard cover picture book with blue foil lettering and highlights on the birds wings on the cover, giving it additional shelf appeal.

On the title page the star of the story sits alone, just how she likes it, in an exquisitely illustrated tree.

Different birds drop by to engage the Go-Away bird but each time she shakes her head and with a few mean words tells each little bird, not too kindly, to go away. Then a very large Get-You bird comes by and he doesn’t listen to the Go-Away bird, instead shouting “I’m going to get you, get you."  The Go-Away bird was getting very scared now until one little bird called for all the other birds to come back and together they chased the big bird away.

Sometimes you feel like being left alone but you shouldn’t be mean and  hurtful to others, it’s always good to have friends close by when you are feeling scared. There is also a lesson on forgiving someone who is angry and mean and giving them a second chance.

Dot loved this story of friendship and working together and is happy to have it read over and over joining in with the story.

The watercolour illustrations are bright and engaging. The rhyming is fun and the prose flow seamlessly. The repetition of key words makes it easy for children to join in which in turn makes the story more engaging.

Dot’s favourite bird was the Chit-Chat bird. The other birds having equally delightful names; the Peck-Peck bird, the Flip-Flap bird and the Come-Back bird.

Dot and I decided to make our own birds using the colours in the book as inspiration. The Go-Away bird is sitting on a branch looking suitably annoyed by all the birds flying down to play with her. All the birds are simply made from coloured carded paper and feathers.

 Rated by Dot  5 / 5  🐦🐦🐦🐦🐦

Julia Donaldson is the author of some of the world's best-loved children's books, including the modern classic The Gruffalo, which has sold over 17 million copies worldwide, and the hugely successful What the Ladybird Heard adventures. Julie also writes fiction, including the Princess Mirror-Belle books illustrated by Lydia Monks, as well as poems, plays and songs - and her brilliant live shows are always in demand.






About the Illustrator 

Catherine Rayner studied illustration at Edingurgh College of Art. Catherine won the Best New Illustrator Award at the Booktrust Early Years Awards for Augustus and His Smile and has been awarded the prestigious CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal. Catherine's other title for Macmillan include the critically acclaimed Solomon Crocodile and the award-winning Smelly Louie.