Storybook Corner Review & Giveaway: I Love My Dad Because (Children's Picture Activity Book) + related children's craft

I Love My Dad Because

by

Petra James

Illustrated by Allisa Dinallo

Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Publication date: 23rd July 2019
Pages: 32
RRP: $14.99
Format Read: Hardback
Source: Courtesy of the publisher

 
This book is for you and your dad.

Draw, decorate, colour in, count, play noughts and crosses, make a fish (or two) and then present the book to your dad for any special occasion: birthday, Xmas, Father's Day ... or just because.

An interactive picture book to personalise for your dad.

I Love My Dad Because will be out in bookstores in time for Father’s Day giving. A book to keep and cherish that is completed by your own child. There are activities to share; colour the fish, complete dad’s story, connect the stars, play noughts and crosses, decorate a castle, draw a picture of you and your dad. Thirty two pages of fun colouring and activities for you to share and keep as a lasting reminder of your little ones thoughts and dreams.

I Love My dad Because is a natural follow on from I Love My Mum Because, which we reviewed back in April. Dot loved this book! What child doesn’t love to draw colour and decorate, especially if it is a special gift to give to a parent. Completing the book and presenting it as their own work gives them a sense of accomplishment and pride and gives dad a lasting memento of their child’s formative years.

The book, designed and illustrated by Alissa Dinallo, features bright engaging colours and the illustrations have a childlike whimsy about them that is sure to appeal to young children.

I Love My Dad Because is an interactive picture book perfect for ages 3 – 7

Dot & Jay's rating 5/5  🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

This review is part of the Book Lover Book Review Aussie author challenge

and book #27 in the Australian Women Writers challenge

 

Dot had a lot of fun picking her favourite parts of the book for a craft activity. We decided on the fireworks and the fish colouring-in. 

Create your own fireworks:

Colour a sheet of paper with crayons in a multitude of colours.

Paint over the crayon with two to three coats of black paint.

When the paint dries scratch fireworks patterns with a pen lid or a pencil.

Trace and colour a fish:  

 Trace over the fish picture in the book. You will also need one large patty case for the tail and different coloured mini patty cases for the scales.

Starting from the tail of the fish cut the mini patty cases in half and glue them onto the fish. You can do stripes like Dot or mix them all up for a colourful fish.

Now for the giveaway:

With thanks to Pan Macmillan Australia I have one copy to giveaway. Enter via the form below.

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

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: Hide and Seek Little Chameleon (Children's Picture Book)

Hide and Seek Little Chameleon

by

Anita Bijsterbosch

Publisher: Clavis Publishing
Publication date: 15th May 2019
Pages: 18
Format Read: eBook
Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley

Little Chameleon loves to play hide-and-seek. He knows a few special hiding tricks. Will you help look for Little Chameleon?

A cheerful seek-and-find book filled with colors, numbers, and animal friends. For toddlers ages 30 months and up, with a focus on the child's language development.

Mummy chameleon and little chameleon are playing hide and seek.

Help mummy find little chameleon as he hides and changes colour to blend into his surroundings.

While you are looking for little chameleon each page features a different colour. There are other insects and animals to find; one red spider, two red ladybugs.

As the hide and seek game progresses through different colours the story introduces different animals and the sound they make plus the number of objects to find increases from 1 through to 10. Each page ends with the question: But...... where is little chameleon?

This is a gorgeously illustrated children’s book suitable for ages 2+ which introduces and reinforces colour and counting with a fun repetition to the end of each page. Further education can be made with older children by discussing the way chameleons can change colour to blend into the surroundings just as little chameleon has done.

                             🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Rated by Dot & Jay   5/5

We decided to colour our own chameleon and what better colour for our chameleon than all the colours of the rainbow. 

 

 

Storybook Corner Book Review: Jacob's Toys (Children's Picture Book) + related children's craft

Jacob's Toys

by 

Claudia  Woods

Publisher: Harbour Publishing House 
Publication date: 1st May 2018
Series: #1 The Big Backyard Adventure 
Pages: 32
RRP: $16.99 AUD
Format read: softcover
Source: Courtesy of the author

First to flee were Ted and Dupree, then Tessa Turtle, Poncho and Mousy Dundee. Not far behind was the smallest of all, the teeny tiny reindeer that Jacob called Paul.
Jacob tells his mother that he is too old for soft toys and he wants to give them away. His mother washes them and hangs them on the line to dry. But wild weather sets the toys free and sends them on an exciting adventure across the garden.
What will become of the toys? Will they make it to their new home safely? Will Jacob realise he will never be too old for his soft toy friends?
Celebrating the concepts of friendship and loyalty, Jacob’s Toys is a heart-warming story for both young and old, which reminds us of the magic of childhood. The simple rhyming text encourages early readers’ efforts and makes it ideal for reading out loud to pre and early readers. It features stunning illustrations that bring the story to life.

Jacob’s Toys is a gorgeous collage picture book for ages 2+

Jacob decides he is too big for his soft toys so before finding them a new home they are washed and hung on the clothes line. A storm blows up and the toys are blown off the line.

We follow the toys, in a melodic rhyme and repetition of the six toys names, as they go on a wondrous adventure.

Each page is beautifully depicted in colourful collage materials and hiding on each page is a special insect to find.

Woods manipulates the text to emphasise the story using variations in size, colour and special effects to match the meaning of the word and in turn encourages the reader to change expression according to the text (loud and bold or tiny).

At five, Dot is the perfect age to understand the meaning behind the story and enjoyed the toys adventure and the added bonus of the look and find throughout the pages.

My favourite children’s picture book is Where the Forest Meets the Sea by Jeannie Baker and I am happy to say that Jacob’s Toys is up there with this brilliant book.

We have read this book many times over the last few weeks and sometimes just enjoyed looking through the pictures. We are eagerly looking forward to the second book in the Jacob’s Toys series.

                            🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 

Rated by Dot & Jay   5/5

*this review is part of the Book Lover Book Review Aussie author challenge

and book #20 in the Australian Women Writers challenge

Letter 'J' in the 2019 A-Z challenge

Dot's favourite page was all the toys hanging on the clothes line. There was Ted, Dupree, Tess Turtle, Poncho, Mousy Dundee and teeny-tiny Paul.  

We decided to recreate the scene with our own collage materials that we collected from the backyard and the craft box. 

Dot thought she might add a few more artistic elements to finish it off. 

Claudia resides on the South Coast of NSW with her partner Peter. Drawing and creativity have always been an important part of her life. 

Claudia first became interested in writing and illustrating children’s stories whilst studying Primary education at university, with one of her early assignments being to write a children’s story. She enjoyed the creative process so much that she knew from that time, she wanted to have her own work published. For the past nine years Claudia has worked as an Early Childhood Educator where she loves sharing stories with the children and seeing them captivated by beautiful illustrations. 

The adventure of Jacob’s Toys was inspired by Claudia's son Jacob. Claudia is currently working on the next book in the Jacobs toys series.