Hopscotch

Walking can be a great way to relax and to come up with solutions, or to be inspired in some way.  For author Steve Cushman, the idea for his new book, Hopscotch, published in 2017, started while he was out walking his dog, Suzy, about 10 years ago.  In the author's own words, here's what happened.

"A block or so away from my house, we came across a hopscotch board someone had drawn on the sidewalk.  Normal enough stuff as we have a lot of kids in the neighborhood.  But for some reason on this day I wondered what would happen if a hopscotch board was on the sidewalk of the hospital where I worked.  I'd been working in hospitals for over twenty years and had never seen a hopscotch board at one of them.  So I started thinking about how such a thing might affect people at the hospital, whether patients or staff.  That was the start of it, and then over the years I added characters and situations and a hopeful mystery until somehow it felt done and ready for the world."

Hopscotch tells a story through the (third person) points of view of the main characters, Dr. Jeffrey Boles, Emily, John, Stan, Mary, Rosa, and Metalhead Mike.  Dr. Boles is the first one to notice a hopscotch board drawn in chalk in an unlikely place, on the sidewalk near the entrance of Alfred Stone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he works as an orthopedic surgeon.  John, a janitor at the hospital, is asked to remove the hopscotch board, and he does (after hopping around on it a bit).  But after it's cleaned off, the hopscotch board mysteriously re-appears.

Emily, a young girl fighting cancer, Stan, a wheelchair-bound Iraqi War veteran, Mary, the wife of a man who's doing very poorly, Metalhead Mike, who has had a bad head injury, hospital staff, and others are drawn to the hopscotch board.  Each chapter is headed by the name of the character whose story is being told, making it easy to follow.  As you read you learn more about each character as their individual stories unfold. 

Hopscotch is heartbreaking at times, but it's also hopeful.  Although it's not labeled specifically as YA fiction, I think this absorbing novel will appeal to young adults, due to a format that makes it easy to follow, its shorter length, and to the focus on some younger characters and the childhood game of hopscotch.  As an "older adult", though, I enjoyed reading this book very much.  I cared about the characters, which counts for a lot.  The hopscotch board--a symbol of hope in a setting that's often associated with illness and despair--makes the characters smile, and it made me smile, too.  This childhood game provides a welcome respite from their cares and troubles.  The stories in this book are touching, and the hopscotch board is a silver lining that connects the characters and provides joy, hope, and simple fun.  This is a wonderful book! 

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Every Saturday, Booking Mama hosts Kid Konnection, a fun feature that highlights books for children and young adults.  Many thanks to the author for sending me an advanced reading copy of his new book.

Thanks for stopping by!  Your comments are welcomed.

Seasons of Joy

"Wake up! It's Spring.
Trees are tipped in wisps of green.
Let's stretch our legs and run on soft, fresh grass."
~ Seasons of Joy, Claudia Marie Lenart

Published in 2017, Seasons of Joy: Every Day is for Outdoor Play is a children's book written and illustrated by nature enthusiast and fiber artist Claudia Marie Lenart.  The illustrations are finely rendered, colorful, 3-D wool paintings.  I know I would have lingered over these exquisite pictures as a child.  As an adult, I appreciate the many fine, artistic details in this book, as well as the simple yet profound message, to go outside and enjoy the beauty of nature, year-round.

Seasons of Joy is a gorgeous tribute to the four seasons.  It begins with our current season, Spring.  (My iPhoto below really does not do justice to this fine artwork.)

Spring

In the book, children will see that each season is special and beautiful.  Seasons of Joy features short, rhyming prose and lovely, soft wool paintings.  This picture book is truly a joy to look at and to read!  It depicts the beauty of the seasons and gently encourages children--and adults--to go outside and enjoy nature. What could be better than that? 

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Every Saturday, Booking Mama hosts Kid Konnection, a fun feature that highlights books for children.  Many thanks to Victor from Loving Healing Press for sending me this new children's  book.

Thank you very much for stopping by!  Your comments are welcomed.

Three Picture Books for Children

In this post I'm featuring three children's books from Loving Healing Press. The first book, My Brother Is Special: A Cerebral Palsy Story, written and illustrated by Murray Stenton, is a brightly colored picture book narrated by Carter, the younger brother of 10-year-old Ethan, who has cerebral palsy.  Published in 2017, this book is dedicated to the late Jewel Kats, an author and disability advocate. My Brother is Special defines and presents cerebral palsy in a manner that children will understand. Told from the perspective of a child, in rhyming couplets, Carter describes Ethan in terms of the differences between them, and the things his brother can't do:

"I know my ABCs, numbers, and how to take a turn. Not Ethan, words, numbers and directions are hard for him to learn."
~ My Brother is Special, Murray Stenton

Fantastic pictures and words show that Carter is messy, whereas Ethan is neat.  Carter is a picky eater, but Ethan likes broccoli, etc.  Carter also mentions some of Ethan's strengths, such as his ability to listen to a song and quickly figure out the beat, and that Ethan is super friendly at school.  Most importantly, Carter says that he loves his brother, and would not "trade him for another".  I enjoyed reading this book, and know that My Brother is Special would be a terrific choice of book for children (5 - 8 years) who have a sibling with cerebral palsy, or a different disability.  The author's hope is that siblings of children with disabilities will know that they are not alone. The book is based on the author's young family; they are pictured in the back of the book, and are captured well in the illustrations.  I learned a few things about cerebral palsy, and am determined to learn more.  At the back of the book there's additional information about cerebral palsy, and some helpful websites are listed.

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Published in 2016, Jenny and Her Dog Both Fight Cancer: A Tale of Chemotherapy and Caring by author Jewel Kats, illustrated with beautiful 3-D wool paintings by Claudia Marie Lenart, is a picture book about a young girl, Jenny, who is being treated for stomach cancer, who learns that her dog, Dolly, has lung cancer.  Jenny "cannot believe her ears", and becomes angry and upset when she learns that Dolly, too, has cancer.  This book depicts the feelings of a child undergoing chemotherapy who then learns that her dog will also need chemotherapy.  In this book, Jenny feels her feelings, expresses (most) of them, and then decides that she will help Dolly by attending her dog's weekly chemotherapy sessions, and by spending a lot of time with Dolly, who's always been a loyal and devoted dog.

Jenny and Her Dog Both Fight Cancer is a sensitive and touching book that will help children who are dealing with cancer in some way.  Both the author and the illustrator lost dogs to cancer, so the book seems true to life and has the right amount of detail for young readers.  In the story, Jenny notices the changes in her dog, such as Dolly's loss of energy and appetite, and her desire for more sleep, and so she's extra loving to her dog.  The illustrations are soft sculptures made from wool and other natural fibers which are soothing to look at.  Children and adults alike will greatly enjoy these gentle, "soft focus" illustrations.  This  picture book is an excellent choice for children (6 - 9 years), and I highly recommend it for young readers and their families.

Prince Preemie: A Tale of a Tiny Puppy Who Arrives Earlyis another picture book for children (ages 4 - 7) by Jewel Kats (published posthumously in 2017), with 3-D wool paintings by Claudia Marie Lenart.  It is simply adorable.  This sweet picture book tells the story of the King and Queen, who are expecting their first baby, Prince Puppy.  But the pup arrives early, before his crown is built.  Oh, oh--tongues begin to wag!

Prince Preemie features magical illustrations which give this book a wonderful, fairy tale like appearance. The dog characters throughout the book are fun and child-friendly, and add to the unique appeal of this story.  Reading this book together would be a super way for parents to discuss their own feelings and experiences with a preemie child.  

Both of these books by Jewel Kats and Claudia Marie Lenart are cute, but they also deal with serious issues, in a child-appropriate manner.

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Each Saturday, Booking Mama hosts Kid Konnection, a fun feature that highlights notable books for children.  Many thanks to Victor from Loving Healing Press for sending me these outstanding books for children. Thank you for reading! I welcome your comments.

Aoléon: The Martian Girl

Take me to your reader.

You don't need to be a member of MUFON to read this book, but it does help to have a vigorous imagination.  I've just read the ebook Aoléon: The Martian Girl (Part One: First Contact), written and illustrated by Brent LeVasseur, on my iPad mini (my eReader).  This short book (under 100 pages) will have five parts, and is appropriate for middle-grade children.

In the first chapter of Part One, we meet a young boy, Gilbert Sullivan, who often has disturbing dreams before crop circles appear on his neighbor's farm in Nebraska.  Gilbert's interest in space and astronomy was sparked by mysterious crop circles that appeared in Old Farmer Neville Johnson's farm.  One night, wide awake after his recurring nightmare, Gilbert hears his parents arguing downstairs, and wishes for an end to the trouble, and for an angel who would take him far away.  When he notices a bright light outside, he decides to investigate.

Gilbert ventures outside toward the distant, glowing light, through the wheat fields of the farm next door.  Farmer Johnson, at the urging of his wife, also goes outside, with his three-legged dog, Tripod, and walks toward the brilliant light.  Gilbert trips over someone in the field, and meets Aoléon, the Martian Girl.  

Strange-looking yet beautiful, with huge blue eyes and turquoise skin, this girl is from Mars (though Aoleon's website is accessible to Terrans like us).  She has special powers which are remarkable to Gilbert.  She seems to be able to read his mind, and her touch heals (she helps Tripod after he falls in a gopher hole).  To escape from Farmer Johnson, who believes that vandals are making the crop circles, the Martian Girl brings Gilbert onto her spacecraft.

Gilbert and Aoléon fly above the earth, travel through various countries, and experience many adventures together. As they soar toward the North Pole in Aoléon's spacecraft, Gilbert realizes that he's "been abducted by a nutty alien who's a speed freak".  Gilbert's wish to leave home has come true, and his boring, ordinary life is a thing of the past.

 
Aoléon: The Martian Girl features numerous large, brightly-colored pictures.  Three-dimensional images are an integral part of the story, and I asked how the author created them.  This is his reply:

"I used The Foundry Modo to make all the character models, buildings, props such as weapons and ships, and to render them, using Modo's amazing built in renderer.  The landscapes and the Planet Mars with the exclusion of Gilbert's farm field, were rendered using Planetside's Terragen 2/3.  The final renders were color corrected and any effects such as lens flares and or depth-of-field blurs were done in both Adobe After Effects and Photoshop."

Brent calls his pictures 3D renders.  They are really fantastic!  In fact, although I enjoyed the prose of the story, it's the images in this book that make it so appealing, at least to me.  The book features many pictures of space, as well as flying cows, and other humorous things (and one-liners), that would translate well into film.  This book has MOVIE written all over it.  While I was reading it, I wondered if this was going to be a movie--maybe it's already in pre-production?  It would be perfect as an animated film.

I enjoyed the ideas in the book about dreams (or nightmares), telepathy and mind-reading, and the ability to heal through touch and thought (yes, I'm a bit "new age").  It's imaginative and clever, and suitable for folks like me (who don't read a great deal of science fiction), as well as for young adults drawn to sci-fi and adventure stories.  At the end of the book there's a helpful glossary which defines some of the terms used in the book.  There's also a related song, Another World ~ Aoléon: The Martian Girl Song, featuring Élan Noelle, on iTunes!  I listened to it, and it's a pretty song (that would be great in the movie).  Aoléon: The Martian Girl (Part One) will be available at the end of January 2015, but you can pre-order the book now, on Amazon.  As for me, I look forward to reading Part Two!

Many thanks to Laura from iRead Book Tours for sending me an advanced readers copy of this ebook. For more reviews, please stop by iRead's book blog tour for Aoléon: The Martian Girl (Part One).  Since this book is for young adults, I've added a link to this review to Kid Konnection, hosted by Booking Mama.

Thanks very much for reading!  Your comments are welcomed.

Liesl's Ocean Rescue: Review and Guest Post

The most compelling stories are often based on true stories.  Liesl's Ocean Rescue is a book for children that's based on a true story, written by Barbara Krasner, and illustrated by Avi Katz.  Published in 2014, this picture book tells the story of 10-year-old Liesl Joseph and her family, through expressive prose and charming drawings that complement each other well.

In the book, Liesl's father, Josef Joseph, a lawyer, is arrested in his own home in Rheydt, Germany by Nazi soldiers, and Jewish homes and businesses all over Germany are attacked and destroyed during Kristallnacht, "Night of the Broken Glass".  In order to survive, the Joseph family, and many other Jews, decide to leave Germany.  In May of 1939, along with nearly 1,000 others, they board the MS St. Louis, a luxury ocean liner which was bound for Havana, and then America.

The MS St. Louis, from Wikipedia

The story is from Liesl's perspective, although it's told in the third person, and we see life through the eyes of the young protagonist.  Liesl adores her father.  She has faith that Father will make everything all right, even when she learns they have to leave Germany "forever", on the MS St. Louis.

Liesl enjoys being on the MS St. Louis.  She has more freedom on the ship than she had in Germany.  She can walk around freely, watch movies, and enjoy a variety of foods (in Germany, she only ate rationed bread and eggs).  She makes friends, plays checkers, bangs the gong to communicate with people on the ship, and helps in other ways, too.

The fun of being on the ship lasts for two weeks.  When they reach the harbor in Havana, the passengers are not allowed into Cuba.  They're ordered to go back to Germany, but they refuse because they know they'll be taken to the concentration camps and killed.  Father has been put in charge, and he sends out cablegrams for help.  Eventually, after some more time at sea, they receive good news from the head of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee's Paris office, Mr. Morris Troper.  The passengers will be allowed to go to Belgium, Holland, France, and England.  When Liesl meets Mr. Troper on the ship, on her birthday, she has a thank you speech prepared.

Liesl's Ocean Rescue is a good way to introduce elementary school children to this dark part of our history which includes the story of the MS St. Louis and the Holocaust.  The gray and white drawings inside of the book contribute to the underlying tone of the story, which is somber.  Thankfully, the book features some joyful moments.  At the beginning of the book (November 1938), Father's birthday is mentioned, and at the end of the book (June 1939), it's Liesl's eleventh birthday.  Children will enjoy the mentions of the birthdays.  Throughout the pages, they will imagine what it must have been like for Liesl.  The story ends on an optimistic note which is a relief, given the difficult subject matter of the book.

As an adult, I found Liesl's story poignant.  Lovely details in the story made me smile, despite the seriousness of this story.  I was very pleased to read the author's notes at the end of the book and learn that Liesl and her family made it safely to America in 1940, and settled in Philadelphia, PA.  Liesl Joseph Loeb became a graphic designer and artist, and died in August of 2013.

Author Barbara Krasner has written an exclusive guest post for us, which follows this review.

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Something Surprising About Me: A Guest Post by Barbara Krasner

About twenty-five years ago, when my son was born, I was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis, landing me in the hospital for more than two weeks.  It was a defining moment for me, as I began to realize my life’s priorities needed to change.  I ultimately became less enamored with my corporate life and wanted to connect to something higher and make more of an impact on the world.

I decided I wanted to leave a legacy to my son and once out of the hospital, I put plans in place to write for children and to research my family’s history.  The skills I learned as a genealogist help me as a historian and as a writer.

Barbara and her son

For example, one of the first steps one takes in researching the family tree is to speak with the eldest members of the family, collecting names, places, and dates, as well as family traditions and stories.  I didn’t know at the time that this would provide me with the foundation to become an oral historian.  I learned how to become a detective, how to put my B.A. in German and Russian to use in reading vital records from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and from Poland/Russia, and how to deal with conflicting information from multiple sources.

I had grown up with the story of the MS St. Louis, the ship the United States turned away, the ship with nearly 1,000 German-Jewish refugees seeking safety from the Nazis in 1939.  With the help of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. I located several survivors who had been children on board.  Using the oral history techniques I’d learned as a genealogist (and as a corporate market researcher), I collected testimonies about experiences on the St. Louis.  These, combined with material culled from the Holocaust Museum and from the archives of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in New York City, became the foundation for telling Liesl’s story aboard the St. Louis in Liesl’s Ocean Rescue.

I teach creative writing at William Paterson University, where I am also pursuing a master’s in public history, that is, making history accessible to the masses.  That is what I do as a writer.  But now I have even more opportunity to serve as an oral historian.  Currently, I’m helping the National Park Service collect oral histories of Paterson, New Jersey and I’ve collected several for my hometown of Kearny, New Jersey.

Being a genealogist and oral historian, I believe, brings a set of skills to writing and to writing for children that is unique.  It’s important to realize your strengths and to make them even stronger.  I hope that I continue to build on these skills for future books for kids and for adults.

Barbara, thank you for this interesting guest post!  Your work is purposeful and wonderful.  I think listening, intently, to the stories of others is incredibly important for writers, especially writers of history or historical fiction.

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Many thanks to Laura from iRead Book Tours for sending me an advanced readers copy of this book. For more reviews, giveaways, and other features, please stop by iRead's book blog tour for Liesl's Ocean Rescue.  Because this is a children's book, I've added a link to this review to Kid Konnection, hosted by Booking Mama.

 
Thanks for reading!  Your comments are welcomed.

Shadows In My Room & What’s That Noise?

At bedtime, many young children become anxious and have difficulty falling asleep.  A fear of the dark is a common fear among children, who imagine various dangers concealed by darkness.  Children who dread being left alone in their bedrooms at night may request story after story at bedtime, because they don't want to be left alone in the dark.  Shadows In My Room & What's That Noise?: Bedtime Stories by Linda Weaver Clarke is a book that will be released the third week of December (although it's available now on Amazon).  It's comprised of two stories that address specific fears that many young children have at night.

In the first story, Shadows In My Room, a young girl named Kayla wants to be as brave as her brother, Adam, but she becomes nervous at night.  She's scared of the shadows she sees outside of her window, and inside of her room.  Mama comes in to reassure Kayla.  She's loving and doesn't belittle her daughter.  Mama also talks about the power of imagination.

In the second story, What's That Noise?, a young girl named Amber hears a "spooky sound" outside.  She considers going into her brother Cameron's room for safety, but then she hears it again, and cries out for her mother.  Mama comes into Amber's bedroom and they talk about the sounds they hear.  She spends time with her daughter, and offers her imaginative explanations and reassurance. 

Both of these sweet bedtime stories will appeal to children, especially to those who become fearful when darkness falls. The stories are not too long or too short--they seem just about right for reading before bedtime or naptime.  Shadows In My Room & What's That Noise? is only 29 pages long.  A parent or other caregiver could read one story and save the second one for the next time, or read both of them at once if time permits.  I read these on my iPad mini, which makes a nifty eReader.  The author's husband, George Ames Clarke, helped design the book, which features illustrations by Matthew Cole.  The cheerful, bright colors and cartoons will appeal to children and their parents.  These gentle stories offer comfort at bedtime, and should help children to fall asleep and have sweet dreams.

Thanks to author Linda Weaver Clarke for sharing her wonderful new book with me.  Kid Konnection is hosted each Saturday by Booking Mama.  If you'd like to participate, simply post about a children's book (picture, middle grade, or young adult), and stop by Booking Mama to add your post to the Mister Linky.


Your comments are welcomed.

What I Came to Tell You: A Guest Review

Move to the South, become a writer?  Lately I've been wondering if there's a unique inspiration in the South that leads to the pen.  I've noticed a new wave of authors in the southern states, including the Carolinas, although perhaps it's only my awareness of them which is new.  At any rate, one of "my" southern authors, Steve Cushman, the author of Heart With Joy, wrote a review of another southerner's book, Tommy Hay's book, published in 2013, What I Came to Tell You.  I enjoyed the review, and decided to share it with my readers.  I've also linked it to Kid Konnection, as the book is geared toward children in middle school.  I like that this book features a prominent, southern literary figure. You'll have to read the review to find out who I'm talking about!

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What I Came to Tell You by Tommy Hays:

A Guest Review by Steve Cushman

Asheville author Tommy Hays’ first middle grade novel, What I Came to Tell You is sure to touch the hearts of readers young and old alike.  The novel follows Grover Johnston, a 12-year-old Asheville boy, as he tries to come to terms with the loss of his mother 6 months earlier.  

After her death, Grover retreats into the bamboo forest near his house and creates beautiful weavings, or tapestries, out of bamboo and leaves and branches and anything else he can find.  While Grover retreats into the woods, his father spends more and more time at work, managing the failing Thomas Wolfe house and essentially leaving Grover and his 10-year-old sister, Sudie, to fend for themselves.

If things weren’t difficult enough for the Johnstons, it looks as though one local man’s greed may take away the very things that are keeping them going--the bamboo forest and the Thomas Wolfe house.  But over the course of a few months, the Asheville community along with new neighbors, the Roundtrees, who are recovering from their own loss, help put Grover and his family on the path to healing and loving each other again.  

The novel is set in Asheville, and Hays does a fine job of pulling in the local feel of the town with its bookstores and coffee shops.  The town’s most famous literary figure, Thomas Wolfe, is also omnipresent throughout.  The cemetery where Grover’s mother is buried also contains Wolfe’s family.  And Grover and his sister are named after characters in Wolfe’s most famous novel, Look Homeward, Angel.  

Hays is the Executive Director of the Great Smokies Writing Program and teaches at UNC Asheville.  His previous novel, The Pleasure was Mine, was a wonderful story of loss and connection and the importance of family, and was selected for several community-wide reading programs in various cities and counties, including Greenville, SC, and Greensboro, NC.

While What I Came To Tell You is aimed at younger readers, it certainly will catch and keep the interest of readers of all ages.  Anyone who believes in the healing power of art, and family and love, will find something here that will touch them and make them glad they’d taken the time read this new gem of a novel by one of North Carolina’s best writers, Tommy Hays.

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Thank you for this terrific review, Steve!  Kid Konnection is hosted each Saturday by Booking Mama.  Your comments are welcomed, as always. 

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.