One Fairy Tale Five Ways: Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Traditional

Bilingual

Alphabetical

Wordless

 

Fractured

 

Christmas From Heaven

Christmas from Heaven

Thanks to Shadow Mountain for giving me the opportunity to review this unique picture book that tells the story of the candy bomber. At the end of WWII Gail Halverson participated in the effort to drop supplies into West Berlin. Gail started out small in giving small treats to the children he saw and ended up at dropping thousands of parachutes of candy on the bombed out city.  Over 21 tons of candy was collected from company and private donations so that the sweets could be dropped on the city during the Christmas season.

I really enjoyed the historical aspect of this little Christmas story. As a former teacher I could imagine myself using it in a classroom setting on those last few days before the holiday break when the kids need a prod to focus on doing work.  The story sets up the political and social conditions that affected Europe after WWII and shows the kindness of the human spirit. The book has instructions on how to make your own candy parachutes that could be a fun hands-on project for younger children. I’m planning to use this little book in my picture book advent calendar this year, as our family counts down to Christmas. The book also includes a DVD of Tom Brokaw reading the text of the picture book with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in the background. It has a scene where they drop parachutes onto the audience during the finale that is just marvelous to watch.  

Find out more about the book at Deseretbook.

LDSPBP: Lezlie Evans

http://www.lezlieevans.com/

Lezlie was not a natural born writer as she states on her website, as she struggled with writing in middle school. She majored in communications at BYU and took several creative writing classes, which helped her discover her passion for writing. She didn't settle on writing picture books until she had young children at home and took them to the library each week. She loved sharing books with her kids and extended that love to writing for young children.

The Bunnies Trip

This lyrical little rhyme tells the story of a bunnies family adventure getting ready for a trip. The house must be cleaned and the bags packed, but the bunnies have packed too much in their trunk! They have to go through their clothes and toys and leave some behind. 

This fun little book is fun to read aloud. The text rolls of the tongue in a fun and rollicking way. They bunnies are placed into numbered pairs and work together as a family to get things done.

 The Bunnies Picnic

The bunnies are back! This time they are preparing a dinner together, a large big stew. All goes well until the bunnies have an accident. Dinner is cancelled. Instead they must all work together to prepare a picnic.

Another fun rhyme book to read about the Bunnies misadventures making dinner together.

Can you count Ten Toes? Count to ten in 10 different languages.

This little book helps kids learn to count to ten in ten different languages: Japanese, Russian, Hindi, Tagalog, Korean, Zulu, French, Hebrew, Spanish, and Chinese. 

Each language is presented with its own counting situation. In Hindi you count the hats on the wall in Hebrew you count the sailboats in the bay, and so forth. This is a clever idea for a book and I enjoyed looking through it. The author has put pronunciation clues in parentheses next to each number.

Can You Greet the Whole Wide World? 12 common phrases in 12 different languages.

Similar to the her counting book Can You Greet the Whole Wide World introduces children to different languages.  The book introduces simple words and phrases children use as they go throughout a school day: good morning, hello, yes, no, I’m sorry, please, and thank you are several examples.

Each phrase has a pronunciation guide in parenthesis to help children say the word correctly. Words are given in German, Hebrew, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Hindi, Chinese, Zulu, Japanese, Italian, French, and Portuguese. This is a fun way to help children explore other languages

Who Loves the Little Lamb

This little book is about mother’s loving their unruly animal children.  The lamb is fussy, but the mom loves her anyway and comes to comfort her. The messy puppy wonders who will love him, and his mother comes to help him clean and loves him still.

I thought this was a cute little book. The type that parents will love to read to their kids with a beautiful and comforting message for kids. That their moms will love them no matter what. 

 

Rain Song
This picture book is a lovely poem that coveys the excitement and beauty that comes with a summer thunderstorm.  For those that love rhyming picture books that roll off your tongue when you read them this is a perfect selection. Evans is competent at the craft of creating natural rhymes with consistent metrics. 




Snow Dance

Similar to rain song snow dance celebrates the excitement and special joys of a snow storm from the point of view of the child. Snowball fights, sledding, and hot cocoa abound. Once again, a perfect read for those that prefer a bit of poetics with their picture books.

 

Other books not reviewed.

If I Were The Wind  (APG, 1997)
Sometimes I Feel Like a Stormcloud (Mondo Publishing, 1999)

LDSPBP: Brandon Dorman

http://brandondorman.com/

Pirates of the Sea by Brandon  Dorman
The lively crew of Cap’n Bones sets off upon the sea to enjoy the pirate life, but soon discover they are low on cash. The pirates are in luck because Cap’n Bones is in procession of a treasure map but the sailing life full of peril. Finally they crew arrives at Great Skull Rock and begins the search for their treasure. This fun little story is full of charming characters, bold adventure, and the hunt for buried treasure. In short it is a typical pirate tale, but I like the unique way that the author shows individual characters of the crew and their unity on the ship. This happy pirate tale will leave you grinning more than once with its clever quips and enthusiastic crew members.

Santa’s Stowaway by Brandon Dorman
One Christmas a curious elf asks Santa after all his work is done why exactly they work so hard all year making toys. In order to discover the answer for himself he hides on Santa’s sleigh. As he follows Santa down the chimney and into the home of one family he discovers for himself why Christmas is so special. This is a cute little story with beautiful pictures and such a clever perspective for a children’s book. I never thought about how the elves discovered why Christmas is important.

LDSPBP: Brett Helquist

http://bretthelquist.blogspot.com/

Brett Helquist moved to New York City shortly after graduating from BYU. His first job was an internship. He started showing his portfolio around and started taking jobs for newspapers and magazines. After years of working in area of the market Helquist made an effort to get into children's publishing. His first contract was to illustrate the Lemony Snicket series. The editor of that project invited him to send her a children's book manuscript if he ever had one. Helquist submitted the manuscript of Jolly Roger and has published several picture books following that.  

 

Bedtime for Bear by Brett Helquist              

At the very beginning of winter bear is getting ready to sleep for the winter but his friends are making it difficult. They urge him to come out and play, but he needs to get to bed. They sure do make a racket out there though and bear goes out to ask them to be quiet but instead is pulled into one last day of winter fun.  A fun-filled story about playing in the snow.

A Christmas Carol (picture book edition) by Brett Helquist

This is illustrated version of the old Charles Dickens classic. The illustrations remind the reader of a cold Victorian era winter with detailed historical clothing and surroundings. This book would make a nice addition to the library of Dickens fans or those wanting to share this classic story with their children.

Roger, the Jolly Pirate Pirate by Brett Helquist

Roger is not very good a being a pirate. He is too jolly, too friendly, and not very scary at all. In fact they hide him away where there is any real pirating to be done. That is until Roger saves the day when the pirate crew is attacked. In his honor they fly a new flag called the Jolly Roger.  Roger the Jolly pirate creates an origin story for the iconic Jolly Roger pirate flag. With a lively illustrations and a lovable character pirate loving children are sure to enjoy this story about heroism and the pirate flag.

Grumpy Goat comes out on January 12th and is currently available for pre-order on amazon.
Read the publisher's weekly review

LDSPBP: Richard Paul Evans

Richard Paul Evans is the New York Times Bestselling Author of The Christmas Box. He has written numerous novels several of which have been made into movies. He is the founder the the Christmas Box House, which was created to serve abused and neglected children.

Website: http://www.richardpaulevans.com/

The Dance  by Richard Paul Evans

A father watches his girl grow up and loves watching her dance as she grows. When she comes and visits him before he dies he asks her to dance for him before he goes.

A tender story about a father’s love for his daghter.  

          The Christmas Candle by Richard Paul Evans

Thomas walks to the candle makers shop on Christmas Eve to buy some candles. He ignores the woman begging outside the door, though he has money to spare and insults the shopkeeper for making fancy candles that are only made to burn. The shopkeeper sells him a candle in hopes that it will open his eyes. As Thomas makes his way home by the light of the candle he runs into his family members that all need something from him. He gives his cloak, his bag, and all his belongings, yet when he arrives home he finds all of his family safe and sound. Thomas realizes that the candle has tricked him into thinking that strangers were his family. Instead of making him angry he learns the lesson of services to others.

 

The Light of Christmas by Richad Paul Evans

Alexander lives in the beautiful town of Noel. Each year the town of Noel lights a torch to mark the celebration of Christmas. The Keeper of the Flame chooses the person who gives him the best gift to light the torch each year. Alexander thinks that he has nothing to offer, but when he gives service to a stranger when everyone is too busy celebrating, he gives the best gift of all.

A classic Christmas story that not only warms your heart but helps you remember the true meaning of Christmas. The beautiful illustrations and text made this story feel like magical fairy-tale.

Other picture books by Richard Paul Evans

The Tower: A story of Humility

The Spyglass: A story about Faith