This is a great book when you are ready for the kids to go down, it's past their bedtime and they still want a story. It's short and sweet. Read it anThis is a great book when you are ready for the kids to go down, it's past their bedtime and they still want a story. It's short and sweet. Read it and then put them to bed. Goodnight.
Not much here really. A mouse in the city looking for food. Can't we all relate?
Outstanding artwork in this one. Great colors that put you in the scene with each fairytale. Wonderful.
The book is simple. Each fairytale that might Outstanding artwork in this one. Great colors that put you in the scene with each fairytale. Wonderful.
The book is simple. Each fairytale that might be read before bedtime is going to sleep. It's all told with well done rhymes. Each page is like snow White going to bed, or the Little Mermaid so forth and so on. There are 15 of them.
A silly thing. Fans of fairytales might enjoy this....more
I enjoy the artwork for this story. There is so much to engage the imagination in this art. It's all fluffy and pink and full of theatrical fun.
CarmenI enjoy the artwork for this story. There is so much to engage the imagination in this art. It's all fluffy and pink and full of theatrical fun.
Carmen is one of those that need all eyes on her in the room. So exhausting. It's not enough to have one number, no she needs 18 songs to sing. Still, I do like that she has a change of heart with her brother and their relationship changes. That's nice to see.
It's a cute book and I think kids into theatre will just love it....more
Life gives us chances, doesn't it. Do we go for it, or step back from that chance at something new. Maybe it's a new team at school, or a new job? LeaLife gives us chances, doesn't it. Do we go for it, or step back from that chance at something new. Maybe it's a new team at school, or a new job? Learning how to step into that is a big deal.
This big is all about learning to do just that. The artwork is lovely. Chance is sort of like a paper butterfly glowing yellow like a sun. It flits by and one must grab one. Many pages don't have backgrounds. It focuses on the boy and the chance. Some pages do have backgrounds. I find the colors nice. I don't care for the fuzzy green brown stuff, but I think the art is great. It inspires.
Kids might appreciate the way this illuminates that abstract concept of having a chance at something....more
What a wonderful retelling of a classic fairytale. I love Jerry Pinkney's retellings of folktales and fairytales.
The artwork shines here. It is amaziWhat a wonderful retelling of a classic fairytale. I love Jerry Pinkney's retellings of folktales and fairytales.
The artwork shines here. It is amazing. I love the punked out Troll. He even gives the troll an arc and a chance to grow with a new ending. The Troll falls in the water and a big fish with lots and lots of teeth asks him his very question, "Who's crossing my river?" It's a bit of his own medicine.
I love that ending. A great tale. I recommend this one if you want to read this classic....more
Wow! Usually Tomie DePaola is wordy, not here. I was very surprised at the simplicity of this book. Nona goes to her garden, sees her tomatoes are ripWow! Usually Tomie DePaola is wordy, not here. I was very surprised at the simplicity of this book. Nona goes to her garden, sees her tomatoes are ripe and picks them. She brings them inside and counts them, interrupted, she leaves half way. Big Anthony comes in and undoes her work. End.
It's a basic Strega Nona story. It's not really much of a story at all. I suppose it's a book about tomatoes.
The artwork is pure Tomie dePaola. Nothing new there. Strange little tale....more
I saw someone else describe this story as "quiet and pensive". It's the perfect way to describe this story. This was translated from the Japanese.
The I saw someone else describe this story as "quiet and pensive". It's the perfect way to describe this story. This was translated from the Japanese.
The artwork is out of sight. Akiko is doing so much with light and shadow. It's wonderful. It's just amazing. The light looks so warm and cozy.
One of the reasons I love the winter is that it gets dark early. It can be cold and windy out and people have their lights on as you walk/drive by. It's dark outside and you can look into someones warm and cozy world. That's this story. A family is walking home from work and this young kid is looking into all the windows and seeing the people and wondering what their lives are like. That's how the light and shadow play so well in this book.
This book has a very moving quality. I'm not sure this book is for every kid, but I think some kids will be blown away by the specialness of this story. It's so simple....more
Here's a comedy set in Japanese high school about BL. It's not BL. This is just funny.
A fundanshi is a guy claiming to be straight who enjoys reading Here's a comedy set in Japanese high school about BL. It's not BL. This is just funny.
A fundanshi is a guy claiming to be straight who enjoys reading BL. Gucchi and his friends are very funny. This is about about being a fan of BL. The characters are cute and funny. It's rare to get a comedy like this. I enjoyed the pace. Yes, we are in a high school setting, but the humor excuses that. These kids are crazy for BL and I had no idea there were so many different varieties.
I enjoyed this and I plan on getting the next volume. It's an old one. It was published in 2017 in the states so it's older than that....more
I feel like this is a take on Thumbelina. The story follows a boy who is very tiny. It looks like it would be very lonely as there is no one around yoI feel like this is a take on Thumbelina. The story follows a boy who is very tiny. It looks like it would be very lonely as there is no one around you your size. He rides grasshoppers as a horse.
The artwork was nice. There were great views of small things like grass in the backyard that were beautifully drawn.
I don't feel like there was much conclusion to the story. Also, I read it this morning (and granted, I was very tired after not much sleep) and I don't really remember much of the story. It didn't stick with me....more
This is an English to Mandarin or the other way around story. It's a good little book, but not a beginning book. They don't have the pin yin at all, sThis is an English to Mandarin or the other way around story. It's a good little book, but not a beginning book. They don't have the pin yin at all, so I can't say the words. They have long sentences with English and then the Mandarin, so I really can't isolate too many characters to figure out what says what. I still learned some new things. I figured out brother.
The story is a nice little story about sharing with your family for true happiness. Young rabbit just had a birthday and doesn't want to share his toys.
The artwork is fine.
I am not at this level yet. I appreciate the simpler books for learning the language. Still, a good beginning place to start....more
Here, we have a Japanese story about two college kids finding each other. One of them has a hearing disability.
Our main character happens to run intoHere, we have a Japanese story about two college kids finding each other. One of them has a hearing disability.
Our main character happens to run into this guy all lonesome eating by himself. The MC is a loud guy. The hearing fellow does a decent job reading lips. He hires our MC to be a note taker in class for him. He's not a very good note taker. Hearing guy gives him food and enjoys watching him eat.
It's a nice story. The beginning is fairly normal in these types of romances. The hearing disability is interesting and gives the story some depth. There are a few sugar moments between the two, but mostly, these two are simply very good friends. There's the whole, I hope you are happy with a girlfriend, but I'm super jealous, so I'll push you into the arms of another trope. It's not over done though.
I think it's going to be a good story. This is the one I have already read Volume 6 and now I have the beginning of the story. ...more
I read this as summer reading. It was fun and thought provoking for me. I do find the way Dan Brown tells the story to be so annoying. He draws certaiI read this as summer reading. It was fun and thought provoking for me. I do find the way Dan Brown tells the story to be so annoying. He draws certain things out to create tension, but in me it was not good. It made me want to set the book aside because it was so annoying. He will start telling part of the narrative we want to hear and then a character will go off on a tangent for a while before coming back to the story. Really?
This is the 5th Robert Langdon book and I love the symbologist and why doesn't the way Robert changes our world every show up in the next book. Dan keeps bringing religion up, but each book is supposed to alter religion and yet by the next book it doesn't seem to have made a dent. I do see one thing. In the Inferno a virus was released to keep the population down and in this story Ambra cannot have children. Is that from the virus of the previous book? Could be. We won't know.
Such a huge deal is made out of faith in this book and the fact that once this new paradigm is out, people will lose faith. I don't think there is any kind of proof that can be offered to stop the majority of believers from believing. I did like the question Robert Langdon asks, "Who made the laws of physics for life to begin?" It's a great question.
What I love is that Dan Brown only leaves questions about faith using his characters. Someone makes a point and Dan goes out of his way to then have a little question at the end of that statement. He wants to promote dialogue.
I'm not saying the writing is the best here, but the ideas about computers, religion, where we come from and where we going are huge and I feel they are handled well. The race around Spain isn't as awe inspiring as other places, but I have seen enough pictures in my head that it is interesting. There are a few symbols in here, but not as much as normal.
I was able to surmise several big plot points before they were revealed, which makes me feel smart and 'go me.'
Even though the pacing drives me crazy, this book was everything I want. I was engaged, my mind was provoked and made me think about deep topics and the nature of humans and technology while also just being a totally fun read. I had a great time reading this. It was better than his previous 2 books I felt. This is the best book since the Da Vinci Code I think.
There were good mysteries and I really like Winston. There was a great little chilling twist right at the end that once again turned everything on it's head. Dan is an expert at that. You think it's all played out and then there is one slight twist to shift the paradigm.
There is an idea of Entropy in this story and the way it's described is amazing. I never thought of this as a law of the universe, but it fits so much of life. Entropy is an interesting study and that is what blew my mind - BAM - splat, all over the way. It's a great concept and a paradigm shift to move forward.
I assume much of the science and math in the story from professors is real, it is all theoretical at this point. I will have to research when I am done with school.
That's all I got. Glad I read this.
Merged review:
I read this as summer reading. It was fun and thought provoking for me. I do find the way Dan Brown tells the story to be so annoying. He draws certain things out to create tension, but in me it was not good. It made me want to set the book aside because it was so annoying. He will start telling part of the narrative we want to hear and then a character will go off on a tangent for a while before coming back to the story. Really?
This is the 5th Robert Langdon book and I love the symbologist and why doesn't the way Robert changes our world every show up in the next book. Dan keeps bringing religion up, but each book is supposed to alter religion and yet by the next book it doesn't seem to have made a dent. I do see one thing. In the Inferno a virus was released to keep the population down and in this story Ambra cannot have children. Is that from the virus of the previous book? Could be. We won't know.
Such a huge deal is made out of faith in this book and the fact that once this new paradigm is out, people will lose faith. I don't think there is any kind of proof that can be offered to stop the majority of believers from believing. I did like the question Robert Langdon asks, "Who made the laws of physics for life to begin?" It's a great question.
What I love is that Dan Brown only leaves questions about faith using his characters. Someone makes a point and Dan goes out of his way to then have a little question at the end of that statement. He wants to promote dialogue.
I'm not saying the writing is the best here, but the ideas about computers, religion, where we come from and where we going are huge and I feel they are handled well. The race around Spain isn't as awe inspiring as other places, but I have seen enough pictures in my head that it is interesting. There are a few symbols in here, but not as much as normal.
I was able to surmise several big plot points before they were revealed, which makes me feel smart and 'go me.'
Even though the pacing drives me crazy, this book was everything I want. I was engaged, my mind was provoked and made me think about deep topics and the nature of humans and technology while also just being a totally fun read. I had a great time reading this. It was better than his previous 2 books I felt. This is the best book since the Da Vinci Code I think.
There were good mysteries and I really like Winston. There was a great little chilling twist right at the end that once again turned everything on it's head. Dan is an expert at that. You think it's all played out and then there is one slight twist to shift the paradigm.
There is an idea of Entropy in this story and the way it's described is amazing. I never thought of this as a law of the universe, but it fits so much of life. Entropy is an interesting study and that is what blew my mind - BAM - splat, all over the way. It's a great concept and a paradigm shift to move forward.
I assume much of the science and math in the story from professors is real, it is all theoretical at this point. I will have to research when I am done with school.
That's all I got. Glad I read this.
Merged review:
I read this as summer reading. It was fun and thought provoking for me. I do find the way Dan Brown tells the story to be so annoying. He draws certain things out to create tension, but in me it was not good. It made me want to set the book aside because it was so annoying. He will start telling part of the narrative we want to hear and then a character will go off on a tangent for a while before coming back to the story. Really?
This is the 5th Robert Langdon book and I love the symbologist and why doesn't the way Robert changes our world every show up in the next book. Dan keeps bringing religion up, but each book is supposed to alter religion and yet by the next book it doesn't seem to have made a dent. I do see one thing. In the Inferno a virus was released to keep the population down and in this story Ambra cannot have children. Is that from the virus of the previous book? Could be. We won't know.
Such a huge deal is made out of faith in this book and the fact that once this new paradigm is out, people will lose faith. I don't think there is any kind of proof that can be offered to stop the majority of believers from believing. I did like the question Robert Langdon asks, "Who made the laws of physics for life to begin?" It's a great question.
What I love is that Dan Brown only leaves questions about faith using his characters. Someone makes a point and Dan goes out of his way to then have a little question at the end of that statement. He wants to promote dialogue.
I'm not saying the writing is the best here, but the ideas about computers, religion, where we come from and where we going are huge and I feel they are handled well. The race around Spain isn't as awe inspiring as other places, but I have seen enough pictures in my head that it is interesting. There are a few symbols in here, but not as much as normal.
I was able to surmise several big plot points before they were revealed, which makes me feel smart and 'go me.'
Even though the pacing drives me crazy, this book was everything I want. I was engaged, my mind was provoked and made me think about deep topics and the nature of humans and technology while also just being a totally fun read. I had a great time reading this. It was better than his previous 2 books I felt. This is the best book since the Da Vinci Code I think.
There were good mysteries and I really like Winston. There was a great little chilling twist right at the end that once again turned everything on it's head. Dan is an expert at that. You think it's all played out and then there is one slight twist to shift the paradigm.
There is an idea of Entropy in this story and the way it's described is amazing. I never thought of this as a law of the universe, but it fits so much of life. Entropy is an interesting study and that is what blew my mind - BAM - splat, all over the way. It's a great concept and a paradigm shift to move forward.
I assume much of the science and math in the story from professors is real, it is all theoretical at this point. I will have to research when I am done with school.
I have been loving Demi's work, but not this one so much. I had a real problem with the artwork.
She used these beautifully painted people and set themI have been loving Demi's work, but not this one so much. I had a real problem with the artwork.
She used these beautifully painted people and set them on a plain watercolor background. I really didn't like the effect. I don't think it worked. It was very surreal, I suppose.
The story is about St. Bernadette who I've never heard of. Being raised baptist, we didn't talk about all the saints. It's too bad because it's sort of interesting.
Bernadette was a poor cheerful girl. One day at the river she sees a vision of Mary. As she prays to Mary in the 1860's, people notice her and they all start to show up. One day, Mary tells Bernadette to drink from a newly formed spring. She does and the spring flows forth. Later several people dip their bodies in the spring and are healed. The spring becomes important.
Today in Lourdes, there is a large Cathedral where that spring is and miracles still happen in it. Some people still see Mary to this day.
A nice story I didn't know. I simply wasn't impressed with the medium it was told in. I guess I expect more from Demi now. ...more
This is a fun Bilingual story using the cute animals from the Chinese Zodiac. This focuses on Rooster. They find a feather of the phoenix and so the rThis is a fun Bilingual story using the cute animals from the Chinese Zodiac. This focuses on Rooster. They find a feather of the phoenix and so the rooster and a girl go on an adventure to find the Phoenix in person, which is very lucky and all the zodiac help them.
The text is laid out with all the English blocked together and all the Chinese blocked together. I'm sure that's easiest with the artwork, but for a learner of one or the other, it would be helpful if we could see how they lined up. The last page, we see the characters for each animal. That was helpful.
It's a fun way to help learn a language if you have more of an understanding than me....more
A cute little Bilingual book about brushing your teeth. This is English and Mandarin.
I figured out many characters in this, but I never figured out wA cute little Bilingual book about brushing your teeth. This is English and Mandarin.
I figured out many characters in this, but I never figured out what is brush or teeth which is sort of funny. Great brother is older brother, middle brother is second brother.
I like that they have a bit of action in English and the Chinese is right under it, so you can sort of compare the sentences.
I hate feeling so ignorant and not being able to learn a language any better than this. This is so hard. Why can't I have a break through. I have had a few dreams where people are speaking mandarin in my dream, but I don't know what they are saying yet. I'll keep at it. ...more
Another Lynn Plourde book. I have loved her humorous books. This one is playful, and the sense of humor is not as present in this one. It's cute thougAnother Lynn Plourde book. I have loved her humorous books. This one is playful, and the sense of humor is not as present in this one. It's cute though.
Bear wants to stay up through the winter and not hibernate. This would still be my niece and nephew. Still, at 10 and 13, neither of them want to sleep and still procrastinate bedtime. I can't read to them anymore because now picture books are baby books. When they told me that, my heart cried a little. My niece made fun of me for reading picture books.
Anyway, Bear talks with Owl, Moose and Rabbit about how they stay up all winter and he tries to do the same things. The humor we get comes from this. The whole time daddy bear is watching over him. I do love that touch. A loving parent taking care of their kids. That was so good.
This is another story in the 'Gaston' world. It's about a young puppy who is trying to figure out her gift since all her brothers have found theres. OThis is another story in the 'Gaston' world. It's about a young puppy who is trying to figure out her gift since all her brothers have found theres. One puppy from another family gets lost and Antoinette figures out what her gift is.
I wasn't impressed by the artwork and I thought the story a little bland. I was kind and gave it 3 stars. ...more
This books starts with that wonderful moment. You go to bed and the world is normal, maybe a few flakes started to fly. One wakes up and the world is This books starts with that wonderful moment. You go to bed and the world is normal, maybe a few flakes started to fly. One wakes up and the world is totally new and fresh being covered in white. It's such a beautiful moment.
The kids go out and build a snowman, that end up looking like a snowbear. They live on a huge hill and then they sled down the hill into the trees.
The artwork is lovely. There is lots of white snow.
The ending is dramatic.
Spoiler:
The snowbear comes alive. Does it run off to try and live and not melt. Does it go to protect more kids. Who knows? The bear does protect the kids from a wolf....more