Battle of the Grandmas

Battle of the Grandmas is written by Anthonette Klinkerman and is in appearance a children’s book. Klinkerman writes from a school teacher and mother’s perspective.

Klinkerman’s Grandmas are easily relatable for many adult readers of the story. It revolves around 3 grandparents and a young girl named Madelyn. In order to win her affections each of them tried to earn the title of “best grandma” by giving the greatest and most extravagant gifts to their granddaughter.

Through the telling of this story one can assume that the little girl must be the only grandchild based on the gifts that she receives. This story holds a definite moral for all of us. Physical presence and attention is more important that any gift that we can give to our child.

The younger the child, the happier they are with anything to share with you, whether it is a box, a craft you have made, a store bought toy, etc. Many times in a younger child’s life they will be just as happy, if not more so with the box the toy came in.

This story shows that all that the girls wanted was to be able to spend time with her grandmas, not the plethora of gifts she was receiving. She reached the point of gift reception that she began to dread getting a package in the mail. Their love seemed to be more for a façade than actual love to her because instead of being there with her, they were sending store bought “love”. Upon accidentally all sending their granddaughter the same book, this started an all-out gift giving trench warfare. The grandmothers started worrying more about competing with one another to send the best gift rather than what it was that their granddaughter really wanted/needed from them.

Battle of the Grandmas consists of 34 pages of full-length color cartoon-like illustrations. The story is told in a rhyming format. The lettering is easy to read and perfect for children with a slightly longer attention span in the age range of about 3-8 years old.

Overall I give this book 4/5 stars. I love that the moral is one of quantity over quality of relationships. It was a quick read, but it did seem more directed at an adult, and my 4 year old rated it low on re-readability. It is a great book to read if you are into teaching lasting values with your children, children’s book, illustrated books, sharing, grandmothers, gift-giving, etc.

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

What If Grandma Didn't Have a Nose?

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

What If Grandma Didn't Have A Nose? is an adorable children's story written by Annette Toenjes and illustrated by Patrick Bucoy.

This is an adorable children's rhyming book that teaches about body parts.  The book starts out with wondering what would happen if grandma didn't have a nose, would she wear her glass on her toes?  She goes on to lose other body parts such as her neck and her ears and her chine, etc.

The illustrations in the book are well done in a cartoonish style and are inspired by members of Annette's own family.

This book is cute, just long enough to have content, but not too long that my son gets bored with it.  It is a 24 page book with 4 lines of text on one page and an illustration on the next, throughout the entire book.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.  My son Liam absolutely loves it.  He thinks it is fun to read, and he laughs at the different parts of grandma that go missing.  It has excellent re-read value and my son wants to read it all the time.  I highly recommend it for children especially aged 2-7.  It is great for reading to your child and for beginning readers.

*As an added bonus, you do get an audio copy of the book as well with purchase.  

Click to go to the Tate Publishing site.

Patches & Buttons

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. 

Patches & Buttons is a cute children's story that is written and illustrated by Jennifer Link.  Buttons is an adorable bunny that seems to be afraid of everything, especially loud noises and the dog named Patches. 

It is 36 pages wrong with an illustration every other page.  Buttons the bunny likes to hide when he is scared.  The story culminates with Patches wanting to play with Buttons and bringing him a toy and buttons finally manages to get over his fear and be friends with patches.

This book is quite simplistic but cute, fun and easy to read.  My son loves it and we have already read it more than 5 times since it came in the mail.  It has the toddler stamp of approval.  The illustrations are vivid and go along with the story very well. 

I give the book 4 out of 5 stars.  Very cute and fun to share with little ones. An enjoyable read from the realm of children's books.

Q & A with the Author
Name:Jennifer Link
Website: Jennifer Link Bookstore

Why did you decide to write Patches & Buttons? 
Jennifer Link: I sketched different concepts and fantasized about the possibility of bringing my art to children's books for many years, but admit life often got in the way.  A few years ago, I decided I would write a book for my nephew when he turned one.  It was a board book and I made it just for him so I never planned on publishing it.  But after good responses from the book from friends and family I set a goal to finally write a book to publish.  I wanted to create one for children that would be colorful and serve as a story about my two favorite animals: a dog and a bunny.  I wrote the book in memory of my dog Amber and bunny Buster.  When a child reads the book and begins to smile I know I have done my job in honoring my pets in a way that allows them to still live on.

How did you get your book published?
JL: I spent a good amount of time researching different types of publishing options available for new authors and the best route for children's books in general.  I decided to go with self-publishing because it made the most sense and allowed me to keep the rights to my artwork and story.  I picked Outskirts Press because they seemed to offer the most control over not only my publishing options but marketing at well.  They have marketing options that I have not seen in other companies. 

What types of readers will be interested in your book?
JL: Patches & Buttons was written to be geared towards 2-5 year olds.  Half of the book pages were created with text and the other with only artwork in order to keep the short attention span on the little ones.  I wanted to use bright colors and variety throughout the book to allow my readers to connect with the personality of the characters. 

What is special about your book and differentiates it from other books in the same category?
JL: I think what sets my book apart from others is the style in which I created the artwork.  I drew the pages manually then took it into a computer artwork program in order to add the color and textures.  I still managed to create the impression of fur on parts of the bunny and the dog without making it appear like a photograph.  I combined cartoon and realism to appeal to children and adults at the same time.

Have you published any other books?  Do you plan to publish any future books?
JL: This is my first published book so far but I would like to work on another one eventually.  I haven't decided if this will be a series yet or if I would create my new book with a totally new story and characters.  

Wages Creek

I had the pleasure of reading a delightful children's book, Wages Creek as an advanced reader copy.

From the moment my son and I first pulled Wages Creek out of its packaging, he was enthralled with the cover art.  I loved the concept of the read-along CD that came with.  The CD included a complete reading as well as exciting sound effects to emphasize sections of the story. 

Wages Creek is a 30 page children's book written by Jeffrey Hickey and illustrated by Karen Kiser.  It is about a man that goes camping with his family and ends up catching a cold.  His family goes off to explore nature while letting dad rest.  He awakens to realize just how special Wages Creek and the ducks that reside there are.

This book was fun to read with my son, it is probably geared more towards ages 6 or 7 and up and with my toddler being 3 and a half, we just broke it up into 3 sessions to finish the book.  The storyline is very creative and teaches children to appreciate family and the small things around them.  The whole audio CD was so fun to read along with.  We would follow along in the book and my son was delighted by the sound effects.  I don't think I have ever had a children's book that was quite so fun to follow along with.

This book definitely needs to be paired with the Audio disc in order to get the full effect.  I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.  Brilliantly done all around.  I highly recommend this book, especially for campers and animal lovers, especially of the waterfowl variety.