The New Crown

Although I read very few ebooks, when author Jason Sandberg contacted me recently about his ebook, The New Crown, published in 2013, I knew I was in for a treat.  At the beginning of this year, I read his first book, Candy and the Cankersaur, a charming ebook for children, which focuses on a young girl and her pet dinosaur.  This time, the book is about the Kingdom of Platavia, which is ruled by King Plunder.  His name says it all.  King Plunder takes whatever he wants, and gives nothing to the people but bad advice.  The best way to deal with King Plunder is to avoid him as much as possible, and to visit Julietta instead for assistance and advice.  A skilled carpenter and inventor, Julietta can make just about anything, using wood, metal, or fabric.  She's  invented machines and can fix whatever is broken; she can even make fancy hats!  One day, Julietta is arrested for making a hat that's grander than King Plunder's crown.  Locked away in a tower, Julietta has to figure out a way to become free, and to continue to help the people of the kingdom, who are suffering under the rule of a very selfish king.

Once again, I read this picture book on my iPad mini, which is the perfect eReader for a book of this length (27 pages total).  I took a look at the book as well on my iPhone, but I preferred it on my iPad mini, because of the spacing and the size.

Author Jason Sandberg has put his imagination to good use again.  The illustrations are especially appealing, with just the right amount of detail.  The expressions of the main characters, pompous King Plunder and helpful Julietta, as well as of the other characters, skillfully convey various emotions, so that parents and children could discuss what characters are feeling or thinking.  Inspired by the Disney princess stage his daughter went through, the author has created a picture book with a fairy tale feel to it.  The New Crown would be a wonderful bedtime story for children ages 3-6, and a terrific read-alone book for children ages 6-9.  You're never too old for picture books, and I enjoyed reading The New Crown, which is colorful and clever and altogether captivating.

Kid Connection is a fabulous feature hosted by Julie from Booking Mama on Saturdays.  Even though it's a few days past Saturday, I'm adding my review link to this feature.  :)

Your comments are welcomed, as always.  Thanks for reading! 

Candy and the Cankersaur

It's a day of firsts for me!  For the first time, I used my iPad mini to read an ebook.  I'm also trying a feature I've never participated in before, called Kid Konnection.

Published in 2012, Candy and the Cankersaur is an ebook for children by Jason Sandberg. I don't usually read ebooks, but when the author invited me to take a look at his book, I decided to read it because the book is not currently available in print form.






Although money cannot buy happiness, it can buy you a sensational pet.  A young, well-to-do girl named Candy gets a pet dinosaur from her father, Mister Wellington, who only wants to make his daughter happy.  When the Cankersaurus Rex arrives at the Wellington mansion by helicopter from the Island that Time Forgot, Candy is thrilled.  She names her new pet Cank, and attempts to teach him not to bite.  Chucky, Candy's best friend and neighbor, becomes jealous and asks his (rather matronly-looking) mother if he can also have a dinosaur as a pet.  She tells him in no uncertain terms that he cannot--dinosaurs are extinct, after all.  Crestfallen, Chucky decides to take matters into his own hands. Wearing his signature sailor suit, Chucky kidnaps Cank, and eventually leaves him at a circus.

This book is adorable! Candy and the Cankersaur seems to be the right length for young children, 28 pages, with a few lines of text on each page.  There's some drama and tension in the story, enough to capture and hold the interest of children.  The author thinks that this picture book would work well as a bedtime story for children ages 3-6, and as a read-alone book for children ages 6-9.

The drawings are fabulous!  I loved how this book looked on my iPad mini. While I was reading it I marveled over how wonderful the pictures looked. The pages fit beautifully on the screen.  The colors of the cartoons are pleasing and the illustrations have the perfect amount of detail, neither too much nor too little.  After I read this book, I wished that my young nephews lived closer so that I could share the book with them on my iPad mini (maybe I'm not completely old-school if I can picture reading to them in this way).

With this book Jason Sandberg pays homage to author Syd Hoff, who wrote the book Danny and the Dinosaur (notice the similar titles and the pet dinosaurs).  I know kids are fascinated by dinosaurs and that many kids would probably like to have them as pets. (When I was a child, I longed to have a chimpanzee as a pet, but that's a story for another day.) 

I'm sure this book would stimulate the imaginations of young children.  As a child I loved looking at picture books, and I still remember the impact they had on me. I wanted to stare at the pictures for as long as possible, as if that would somehow enable me to enter the world on the pages.  This book would have a similar effect on children, I think.  It's simply charming.

Kid Connection is a fun feature hosted by Booking Mama each Saturday.  If you'd like to participate in Kid Konnection and share a post related to children's books (picture, middle grade, or young adult), please stop by Booking Mama and add your post to the Mister Linky.

Your comments are welcomed.