Bookreview: Let's Get Ready for Bed by Michael W. Smith and Mike Nawrocki

This is a really cute bedtime book for toddlers. And as a bonus, if the parent can sing, there is a song included that is perfect as a new lullaby to sing to kids as they try to fall asleep.
The story in the book is a simple one. A little puppy needs to go to bed and as we see him go through his bedtime routine, he gets a little help from two friends to fall asleep. Because nothing works better than two friends singing a lullaby to get the puppy to fall asleep. There is an online song, but in order to listen to the song you have to agree to be added to a mailing list. For that reason, this book only gets 3 stars from me. Normally, this book would get five stars since the illustrations are absolutely adorable and the story is a lovely one. But I hate the fact that mailing lists are asked for, whether the email is used for spam or not (and I have no doubt that the use of it would be limited to this mailing list), but I hate how people try to get you to sign up for items that you have maybe a one time use for and treat your email like disposable wipes. Emails are supposed to be private and I sign up for the book. Advertising a lullaby online as a ploy to get your email is not good business practice in my opinion since the lullaby that is advertised on the cover is protected and only available if you sign up for a mailinglist. So please, do not buy the book if you really want the lullaby online song, it has nothing do with it.

available on amazon.com

available on amazon.com

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. The opinion expressed in this post is solely my own and has not been influenced by any third party.

Book Review: On This Christmas A Five-Year Journal of Your Favorite Traditions, Memories, and Gifts by Zondervan

This is a perfect book for a young family wanting to keep memories alive and save them for when the kids are all grown up. This book is intended as a keepsake journal for a timeframe of five years and is a good way to keep the memories alive from when the family gathered and something funny or memorable occurred that everyone seemingly remembers. But as most of us know, life goes on and things are forgotten. This book will allow you to write down these little memorable tidbits that make a family gathering around Christmas unique and entertaining. Whether it is a funny comment from a child, a relative making a rare visit or a particular nice gift was exchanged - the journal is your memory stick that can be enjoyed years later.


 Having pre-printed daily entries for December 1 through 25 and providing topics of interest, such as which gift is particularly appropriate for a family member or what the Christmas dinner will be? This journal entries are suitable for families, individuals and communities. I like that the pages are just big enough to add a small keepsake, such as a sample of a really nice gift wrap paper or part of a picture from that year. The book is hardcopy, with the pages being on solid paper that can withstand regular handling over many years. Overall, a good way to start a holiday tradition.

available on amazon.com

Disclaimer: I received a free book in exchange for an honest review. The opinion expressed in this post is solely my own and has not been influenced by any third party.

Book Review: How Do You Say Good Night? by Thomas Nelson & Catalina Echeverri

This is book for toddlers that interweaves Christian belief to teach about diversity and acceptance in a fun, entertaining fashion. It deals with a zebra that wants to know how other animals say goodnight and their evening prayers. On its journey of discovery the zebra meets lions, monkeys and warthogs, among other species. The drawings are fun and cute to look at, the text is easy to comprehend and the Christian message, focused on evening prayer, is not too strongly worded to take away from the night-time story character of the book.
This is a book that a Christian family can add to their collection and use it to teach toddlers that we are different, but have things in common and rather point out differences as something negative, embrace them, even if as children, we are always glad to be home again.

available on amazon.com

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. The opinion expressed in this post is solely my own and has not been influenced by any third party.

Book Review: The Cow Said Neigh! Board Book A Farm Story By Rory Feek

This is funny children's book that can be read by parents to their toddlers. It is also a book that can be read by kids in pre-school or elementary school because the text is minimal and the drawings are a lot of fun and cute to look at.
The book is about farm animals who wish they could be different animals and it is funny to see how the animals are impersonating other species. The text is good to be read by a toddler or be read aloud to a toddler by an adult. The book is full of opportunities to make funny sounds and engage the kid in making animal sounds. the drawing are cute and the book is well made and sturdy, so it will outlast even the most rambunctious toddler.

available on amazon.com

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. The opinion expressed in this post has not been influenced by any third party.

Book Review: Dinosaur Devotions: 75 Dino Discoveries, Bible Truths, Fun Facts, and More! by Michelle Medlock Adams & Denise Turu

This is a cute book and not only educations, but also fun for kids. While I normally am hesitant to endorse a book that uses overtly religion to educate kids since they are in my opinion too young to make up their mind about beliefs and concepts such as religious affiliation, this book has many positive sides. The book, as the title states, contains information about 75 different dinosaurs. Even an adult like me learned about new forms of dinosaurs from this book, which always a plus for me since it makes it interesting for me to read with my child or to my child. Each section is starting off with a bible verse, then explains how the dinosaur is related to the quote and provides a life lessons to the child. This life lesson is also the overall title of the section.
The text is child appropriate and the life lessons focus on behavior that a child can understand and apply. The fun graphics make this an entertaining book for kids starting around 8 years of age, just when many boys are interested in dinosaurs. I recommend this book if your child is growing up in a Christian household and has learned about God and the bible. He or she should be familiar with the biblical concepts as well as what religion means. If these things are true for your child, this will be a fun book that can teach the child some fun facts about dinosaurs, while reinforcing concepts from Christianity.

available on amazon.com

Disclaimer: For purposes of this review, I received a free copy of the book. The opinion expressed in this review has not been influenced by a third party and only reflects my honest opinion.

Book Review: Delayed Justice By Cara Putman

While this is the third installment in a series, the book can be read on its own and readers new to the characters will be able to enjoy this legal novel. The main character is a defense attorney names Jamie Nichols, who went to law school to support women and women's rights. In the process, we learn that Jamie has had some bad experiences in the part and this in part pushed her into her current carrier and also makes her a champion of girls and women and an advocate for their rights. In her current case, Jamie has a case in which a young girl must testify. This girl is assisted by Chandler Bolton, whose work is support of crime victims and preparing vulnerable people to testify in court. All this work is done in conjunction with a therapy dog named Aslan. The story got high marks for me at this point since I used to perform pet therapy and owned a couple of therapy dogs; more people should look into training their dogs as therapy dogs.
But therapy dogs aside, through their work on the case, Jamie and Chandler get to know each other more and become closer. This case is difficult not just for the young girl but also for Jamie because the case shows many similarities to her own childhood trauma. Working on this case brings back a lot of bad memories for Jamie and reinforces in her the desire to seek justice for herself as well by bringing charged against her own uncle. As Chandler and Jamie diligently work on preparing the girl to testify, their relationship is starting to become stronger and supports Jamie in her quest to prosecute her uncle. Chandler is becoming more than just a colleague and a friend, but both Chandler and Jamie are reluctant to allow their relationship to deepen.
This book is a well written legal story that has a number of themes, one of them Jamie relationship to God. Overall, the book is good for fans of mystery stories and those interested in reading books that delve into legal proceedings and concepts.

available on amazon.com

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. The opinion expressed in this post have not been influenced by any third parties.

Book Review: Learn to Read for Kids with Dyslexia: 101 Games and Activities to Teach Your Child to Read by M.Ed Hannah Braun

Growing up in the 70s, I had a friend with dyslexia in elementary school and I understood that he perceived the letters in books differently than me and had therefore problems reading. I also realized that the teachers knew about this issue, but really did not do anything different for him, they just gave him more time when he needed to read something or just called on  him less than on other kids to read aloud in class. Of course, things have changed in the last 40+ years and so this book was of particular interest to me since I wanted to find out what could be done to help kids with dyslexia to improve reading skills. I do remember my mother telling me that I under no circumstances was to think of my friend as less intelligent, just that his brain was working differently just like I was left-handed while many other people were right-handed. Unfortunately, having problems reading can affect how well a child does in school and if classroom sizes are large, teachers may not have sufficient time to accommodate a dyslexic child. This makes it more important for the parent to be involved in the education and take time to work with a child on assignments.
This book is a collection of fun activities for a parent to help their dyslexic child with reading. And yes, I said fun - because the activities in this book while geared towards improving reading ability are fun and more like games than a reading lesson. From race games to coloring activities and funding matches, these activities are geared towards ages 7 to 12 in children and will require an adult or significantly older sibling to assist. This is not a book to hand to a child to work on their own. I found the activities in this book to have a nice variety of approaches to improve reading skills in the target age group using playful approaches that make the child forget that it is learning and instead make it appear as if the adult is playing a game with the child. Having fun while doing these activities is important in my opinion because it helps the child to stick with a routine of doing these activities regularly.
I highly recommend this book to any parent who has a child with dyslexia. But I also feel that this book can be used to improve reading skills in children that may be struggling for a number of reasons because they do encourage reading in a fun and entertaining manner.

available starting October 30, 2018 on amazon.com

Disclaimer: I received a free advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. The opinion expressed in this post is solely my own and has not been influenced by any third party.