A longbow as tall as the archer. A tapestry capturing a battle scene that is 75 yards long. A castle that burns 1,000 candles per night. Everything is bigger in an Inside Out Medieval Castle. From the security built into the entrance to the stone toilets dropping waste into theContinue Reading
“What if Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland wasn’t something Lewis Carroll made up, but a history of what he saw when he came here?”—The Lost Wonderland Diaries Celia is the daughter of a librarian and the great-great-great-grandniece of Charles Dodson, the real name of the author of Alice in Wonderland. SoContinue Reading
Beverly Cleary captured the rebel inside every little girl when she first captured Ramona on a page. No one could replace Beverly. However, the illustrators did change throughout the years. Louis Darling, Alan Tiegreen, Joanne Scribner, Tracy Dockray, and Jacqueline Rogers all had a hand in creating the Art ofContinue Reading
By using simple shapes as a base, you can Learn to Draw (Almost) Anything in 6 Easy Steps by reading this book. If you, or more likely your children, can barely doodle a flower, this is the perfect book to up your drawing game. It assumes no prior knowledge ofContinue Reading
Everyone wants to be a hero, or even a superhero, in Beastars Vol 1, a new high school manga for grades 4 through 7. At Cherryton Academy, carnivores and herbivores live in separate dorms. But when an alpaca is killed, the carnivores are the prime suspects especially a large wolfContinue Reading
It is amazing how many advanced items can be made from objects around the typical home. Who knew you could be a MacGyver as long as you have the Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things, Revised Edition? Use a magnet to detect a counterfeit bill? Build a battery out of basicallyContinue Reading
With all the new escape room books for adults, it was only a matter of time before versions for kids appeared. Escape Game The Mad Hacker is a perfect choice for puzzle-loving children. Using skills like code-breaking, matching pictures, counting, following directions, and applying the correct tools to a problem,Continue Reading
In 1950 at age six, Marvin Hamlisch was the youngest student to be accepted to Juilliard, the famous New York City music school. He auditioned with a then-modern pop song, Goodnight Irene, instead of the usual classical music selection. Marvin was the American son of Jewish Austrian immigrants forced outContinue Reading
So, have you tried everything to get your kids off their phones and tablets? Dogs: A Coloring and Activity Book for Kids will keep your children or grandchildren (ages 4-8) occupied for hours. Only crayons or colored pencils are necessary to color beautiful dogs. Dogs: A Coloring and Activity BookContinue Reading
There is a Storm Rising in the Middle East that may indicate the End Times have arrived. Iskra, aka Viorica, is a trained assassin tasked with retrieving an ancient text called the Book of Wars in Israel. So is ex-SEAL Leif and his team provided by the US government. BothContinue Reading
Why didn’t they have books like Curious Creatable Creatures when I was young? I made a model of Frankenstein that just stood there (and would be worth a lot more now if I had never even opened it). Many of these twenty-two creatures light up, make music, and move! TwoContinue Reading
Snoopy: Boogie Down is a collection of veteran Peanuts strips marketed to the middle grades. It’s not just Snoopy. All the gang is here: Charlie Brown, Lucy, Sally, Peppermint Patty and even Snoopy’s brother Spike at the way from Needles. The comics were selected to appeal to the middle gradesContinue Reading
Sheets is a heartwarming graphic novel about the unusual friendship between a grieving girl and a lonely ghost boy. Marjorie’s mother is dead and her father is so depressed that he barely leaves his bedroom to eat. The family’s laundry is run before and after school by Marjorie. The mysteriousContinue Reading
Cute, well-illustrated picture book that explains why Lulu is a Rhinoceros. Lulu looks like a bulldog to everyone but herself. She knows deep inside that she is a rhinoceros. To fix her lack of horn, Lulu tries on a banana peel and an upside-down ice cream cone. It is onlyContinue Reading
Despite being depressingly far from the suggested age for The Ghost the Owl, I loved this middle grade (ages 9-12) comic. The story was intriguing. The artwork is unusual but superb. It merges a picture book and a graphic novel into a surreal dream world of the afterlife. A girlContinue Reading
Cute, funny, easy reader with awesome illustrations. Baby Monkey, Private Eye contains five cases for Baby Monkey, who is of course a baby monkey, to solve. This is a brilliant mash-up of picture and chapter book. The illustrations are more frequent than words and were my favorite part. Marketed toContinue Reading