This book review is in connection with At Home Authors
Title : Balloons for Tiger
Author: Lori Orlinsky
Illustrator: Vanessa Alexandre
Publisher: Mascot Books
Death of a pet is a hard loss for children to understand. How do you help your child heal from this experience?
Lori Orlinsky has written the book every Home needs in order to open discussions around death and to help children both process and heal.
The story, in rhyme, follows the journey of some balloons set free in memory of the families beloved cat, Tiger and the whimsical illustrations help to convey the amazing journey they go on before funding Tiger on a cloud.
Written in age-appropriate language and with a parent guide in the back, this is one of the best stories we have read this year.
This book review is in connection with At Home Author
Title : Alycat and the Tournament Tuesday
Author: Alysson Forti Bourque
Illustrator: Chiara Civati
Publisher: Mascot Books
The story of a cute pair of cats, Aly and her brother Bugsy, who Learn that hard work, perseverance, and practice pay off.
Bugsy is off to a golf tournament but has forgotten his lucky ball behind. Aly runs back to fetch it and realizes at the tournament that she has the wrong ball.
She draws a star in but when the ball lands in a puddle of water, Bugsy discovers as the star wipes off, his lucky ball is not really his lucky ball.
Despondent, his parents explain how well he has done and how he doesn’t need the lucky ball to win.
A beautiful story of believing in yourself, perseverance, family support, and how practicing and working hard at your dreams helps you to accomplish a win.
A wonderful opportunity for parents to open lifeskill discussions as well as a great book to introduce the game of golf and explain the terminology used in the game. The book has a glossary of terms at the end of the story.
With its whimsical and expressive illustrations, young readers will automatically relate to the characters.
This tale is the story of Nanna Boselesele who is a wise, smart and brave woman. She builds her home on the busy road much to the bemusement of everyone.
As normal, one day she sets off to work leaving her beautiful children alone in the house. Several animals ask whose children they are and warn of Sondonzima the mighty elephant.
Very soon Sondonzima comes past and captures the children, swallowing them into his belly.
When Nanana returns to find her children missing she gathers her supplies and goes in search of the elephant to free her children and save the day.
Hamish thoroughly enjoyed the story and I found he related well to the characters. He was super eager to get the children out of the elephants tummy.
I however would warn you if you have a sensitive child or animal lover, not to read this until they are a bit older as the elephant is harmed and we spent quite a bit of time explaining that it was just a story and no elephants were really harmed.
The illustrations are fun with lots of details and allow for the opening of discussion.
Overall, I really did love the story but would recommend this book for an older group only due to the sensitivity we encountered with regards to the elephant.
Did you know that Elephants could knock over the mighty Boabab tree if it eats the bark?
For many years because of this reason the elephants were not invited to any of the festivities around the Boabab tree.
But there has been no celebrations for a long time as the sky has not cried at all, causing drought and hunger for the animals.
One little elephant breaks free and starts talking to the Boabab tree and together they realize that the elephant nose is a trunk and the Baobabs bottom is a trunk, and so begins their friendship.
With quick thinking, the elephants start to suck the water stored in the Boabab trunk and fill the dam to save the animals.
And the sky saw how beautiful it was and cried many happy tears.
From that day on the elephants were invited to all the parties.
I absolutely loved this story. It was sweet and a nice reminder that we shouldn’t judge others on what people say or believe but to get to know them ourselves.
I also loved that Hamish immediately identified the need for communities to work together to solve a problem.
The illustrations are powerfully descriptive and relatable to young children.
A sweet tale about a monkey and a Crocodile. The good hearted monkey knows that sharing is caring and so shares his bananas with the hungry Crocodile and so they become friends.
One day the Crocodile offers to show the monkey his world and takes him far from his tree only to let him know that he won’t return home as the Crocodile king needs a monkey heart to prevent him from dying.
The quick thinking monkey then trucks the sneaky Crocodile into taking him home.
This is a sweet story and highlights the importance of staying calm and thinking smart if you are in trouble.
The illustrations are fun, expressive and on point. It is easy to tell the story from the pictures alone and for little ones this makes it easier for them to retell the story back.
We love this book and can see us reading it often.
This interactive read with me allows your child to join the Paw Patrol pups and save the day as they press the buttons to call the pups or set the siren.
This board book is sturdy for little fingers and your child will love the turning steering wheel.
It plays 8 sounds and the read along feature is also great for developing pre-reading skills.
The story follows the pups as they use the treasure map to find captain Blackfur’s treasure.
Pastor Louie Giglio’s best seller Indescribable:100 devotions about God and science captivated readers around the world sharing incredible science facts alongside the wonder of God’s Majesty.
Indescribable for little ones shares the same message with interactive wheels and flaps to keep your child engaged and entertained.
A book to read often. The bright illustrations are fun and full of detail. Little ones will enjoy pointing out the animals and wonders of nature as they learn fun facts like what is the highest mountain in the world and which muscle in our body never stops working.
Hamish loved this book and it has become a firm favourite at bedtime.
Do you love sharks? Meg does and when she visits the pet shop she’s really upset to see that they don’t sell sharks and she sadly has to buy a goldfish.
That night, magic happens and to her delight the next morning she is greeted by a friendly shark standing right there in her bedroom.
Meg and her shark friend get up to some wild adventures as they learn about each other’s world and all too soon its time for the shark to return to the ocean.
This fin-tastic story is a great read and as Hamish loves sharks, it was nice for us to find a story that did not portray sharks in a negative light.
The illustrations are bright, fun and full of detail. We especially loved identifying the types of sharks under the ocean through their illustrations.
This book review is in connection with Little Book Nook
Title :Hedgehugs
Author: Steve Wilson
Illustrator: Lucy Tapper
Publisher: Maverick Art publishing
Recommended age: 3-8 years
This sweetly illustrated children’s book is the story of two hedgehog best friends, Horace and Hattie. Horace and Hattie do many things together like make daisy chains and search for four leaf clovers.
They really are best friends but discover that no matter how hard they try ,a hedgehog can’t hug because of their spikey sharp prickles.
They try all kinds of ways to soften their spikes until they stumble upon something magical that allows them to finally give the perfect Hedgehug.
I loved the sweet message of friendship and working together to find a solution to a problem within this book and Hamish immediately related to the little hedgehogs. A sweet read and a lovely bedtime story.
Hamish recieved this absolutely gorgeous personalised story book from Storybook Stars.
I’m a huge fan of anything personalised and an even bigger fan of books so this is a huge win in our home.
About Storybook Stars
Storybook stars will personalise a book for your child from the choice of two stories to draw your child into a world of adventure and develop a love of books and reading .
The adventures you can choose are :
-bushveld
-under the sea
How it works
You will also be given the option after choosing your story and personalizing the character ( skin, hair and eyes), of previewing the story before paying.
The process is easy and you choose from the 90 possible features options to represent your child.
Delivery was prompt and the books arrive in a sealed box via courier.
The character
Hamish immediately identified the star of the story character as himself with red hair and blue eyes.
I chose the under the sea book for him as he loves the aquarium and sea creatures.
About the story we chose
This is a beautiful story of a whale that loses his colours and an adventure to find thd colours. Hamish travels with a friendly turtle and meets a lot of different creatures along the way.
The book is well written and the characters are fun and engaging.
The illustrations are lovely and open up for further vocabulary building and conversation starters as you explore all the objects on the pages.
The books retail at R375 for a soft cover and R570 for a hard cover.
Other options
You have the option to add an activity book and poster to match your story. These both have your child’s personalised character on.
The activity book retails at R 130 each
The poster retails at R50 eachFor more information www.storybookstars.co.za
