2 comments about What Freedom Means to Me: A Flag Day Story.

1. The illustrations and story are well done. This story gives the children a small idea of what Veteran's Day is all about. Young children do not receive Pepper being hit by a car very well. I found that it lessoned the value of the man's purple heart by giving it to a dog. It would have been better if it went to a hurt child.



2. What Freedom Means to Me: A Flag Day Story
   
   When teaching young children about Veterans and why it is so important to honor each and everyone of them this book is a great starting point. It is a terrific way to prepare students for upcoming Veteran's Day Clebrations or any of the patriotic holidays.

No comments about Torta cumpleanos Osito SP Birthday.

5 comments about Cassie Loves a Parade (Pictureback(R)).

1. As a proud mother of a 2.5 year old "shrinking dragon", I really enjoyed reading this book with my daughter. She is shy and seems to relate to Cassie more than the other characters on the show. When she saw this book, I knew I would only be reading this book to her for some time to come! I truly believe it helps her with her own shyness as well. The repeating passages that she is familiar with from the show make her eyes light up. It is fun to have her read it to me because she remembers so much of what happens from page to page. A must for preschoolers!



2. This book was very simple and just long enough that my children did not lose interest in a drawn out tale. As usual, the characters work together to find a solution that makes everybody feel good, and it helps my children talk about their feelings and come up with solutions. I love Dragon Tales, and this book is no exception! I am very glad that I ordered it!



3. If you and/or your kid enjoy watching Cassie, the smart, somewhat shy pink dragon on "Dragon Tales," then you're going to love this book!
   
   This is a book release of a TV story by the same name. In it, Cassie wants to be in the Dragon Land Parade, but is terribly upset when some other dragons are picked instead. She first shrinks to a very small size, then cries. Fortunately, she meets a new friend and her spirits are soon looking up.
   
   A great, touching story about experiencing disappointment and then solving your problem. Each page is fully and vibrantly illustrated in the style of the show. Enjoy!



4. This book is a great example of how to novelize a TV episode. Unlike the Between the Lions book "Red Hat, Green Hat", this book follows the TV episode faithfully, scene per scene, from the point where Max and Emmy are still in the playroom to the point where they're leaving Dragon Land. The illustrations are faithful to the TV series.
   
   Also on the illustration, these are some of the best I've ever seen. They looked like they're lifted directly from the TV series, and I'd believe that too if I didn't take a closer look at the pictures. They're all redone, and this time, with added shadow and highlights to bring out the extra depth in the images.
   
   As for the story, the book's story remain true to the episode on TV. No changes were made and details added. There is the slight bit of the scenes after Max and Emmy returns to the playroom cut off at the end, but it's no big deal.
   
   Overall, this is an excellent book. I give it 5 stars and two thumbs up.



5. This book has playful and engaging illustrations, and helped my toddler daughter fall in love with Dragon Tales! She loved the pictures so much that the book eventually fell apart! For that reason, it is well worth the money to give your little Dragon Tales fan.
   However, most Dragon Tales TV episodes have wonderful lessons about how to act and how to treat other people, but I don't believe this story fits. An earlier reviewer wrote that this is a "story about experiencing disappointment and then solving your problem." But Cassie does not solve her own problem; instead, she pouts that she was not chosen for the dragon parade, so her friends create a parade just for her. This did not bother me much at first, but when my husband read the book to our daughter for the first time, he was surprised. "This book teaches you that if you whine and feel sorry for yourself, you can get your way!" he told me. I tend to agree. Your young one may learn that pouting will make others feel sorry for her and give her what she wants. I don't think that's a lesson anyone wants to teach his or her child!

1 comments about Play Mas'! A Carnival ABC.

1. Play Mas'! A Carnival ABC is a delightful and informative introduction to the tradition of Carnival. Vibrant pictures by Ras Stone showcase Dirk McLean's evocative language capturing the spirit of this event, held all over the world at different times of the year. Carnival is rooted in the French tradition of the Masquerade (Mas'), but has been transformed by African, East Indian, and Spanish influences showcased is in such events as Mardi Gras in New Orleans and Caribana in Toronto. Play Mas'! A Carnival ABC introduces the rich language, traditions, food, costumes, music, and festival events in an alliterative text. To add to a young reader's enjoyment, there is a hidden letter embedded in each brightly color, boldly designed scene.

No comments about Labor Day (American Holidays (Weigl Paperback)).

2 comments about Take Me Out to the Ballgame.

1. The illustrations is this book are so good that they made me love baseball even more than before. My 2 year old sings the song all of the time now. I wanted to buy the hard cover version after checking it out of the library, but I can't since it's out of print.



2. I thoought the Horn Book review was rough on this delightful picture book. My children have loved it from toddlerhood-- especially because we can "sing" our way through it (and sing over and over if the page turning pace is fast, slow, etc-- it doesn't matter). There is plenty of detail and nostalgia in the careful illustrations-- also a hit with Nana! And it depicts black and white fans side by side, with nods to Jackie Robinson. The end notes are fascinating too. Enjoy!

5 comments about Wild Blood (Switchers, Volume 3).

1. I've never read any books by kate thompson but one day i was looking through the new books at the library and i happened to see it. I started reading it and i couldn't put it down! it was great. i just got sucked into it. i felt like i was tess and i couldn't stop reading. tess is almost 15 which means she has to decide what animal she is going to stay as. she is at her uncles house and suddenly her cousins disappear. her and kevin go on a quest to find them in the woods her uncle is so desperate to sell, and quickly. this book is great and i recommend it to all readers!



2. Tess's fifteenth birthday is almost here. Soon she will have to decide her future -- and she must decide what form of an animal she will be for the rest of her life. When her parents send her to stay with her cousins for the summer on a rural farm out state, she realizes that she'll have to make her decision while she's there. But something is disturbing her, and it's something that has to do with the mysterious woods near the farm. As she tries to solve a dark mystery and avoid the rage of her tyrant Uncle Maurice, she becomes involved in ancient web of mystery and intrigue, and soon she is in utter danger. She has to keep herself from danger, but at the same time she has to make the biggest decision of her life. Her powers as a Switcher are almost up, and time is dwindling away. What animal will she choose to stay in forever? And will she ever get to see her fiteenth birthday? The final installment in Kate Thompson's fantastic fantasy Switchers trilogy, Wild Blood, was a little disappointing, and a bit boring. The story was just weak and not very suspenseful, and the plot kept repeating itself through the chapters. But I congratulate the author on writing this novel very well, and she constructs her paragraphs very beautifully. But, I had higher expectations in the conclusion of this wonderful trilogy. I recommend the Switchers trilogy to all fans of the Animorphs series, but the though you may find the plot similiar, this trilogy is actually very different, and unique in its own way.



3. Tess's fifteenth birthday is almost here. Soon she will have to decide her future -- and she must decide what form of an animal she will be for the rest of her life. When her parents send her to stay with her cousins for the summer on a rural farm out state, she realizes that she'll have to make her decision while she's there. But something is disturbing her, and it's something that has to do with the mysterious woods near the farm. As she tries to solve a dark mystery and avoid the rage of her tyrant Uncle Maurice, she becomes involved in ancient web of mystery and intrigue, and soon she is in utter danger. She has to keep herself from danger, but at the same time she has to make the biggest decision of her life. Her powers as a Switcher are almost up, and time is dwindling away. What animal will she choose to stay in forever? And will she ever get to see her fiteenth birthday? The final installment in Kate Thompson's fantastic fantasy Switchers trilogy, Wild Blood, was a little disappointing, and a bit boring. The story was just weak and not very suspenseful, and the plot kept repeating itself through the chapters. But I congratulate the author on writing this novel very well, and she constructs her paragraphs very beautifully. But, I had higher expectations in the conclusion of this wonderful trilogy. I recommend the Switchers trilogy to all fans of the Animorphs series, but though you may find the plot similiar, this trilogy is actually very different, and unique in its own way.



4. "Wild Blood" is the final book in Kate Thompson's "Switchers" trilogy and deals with the inevitable choice that her young heroine Tess has to face: at the age of fifteen her Switcher powers come to an end, and she can choose either to remain human or to become any one of the animals that she can transform into permanently. To make things worse, her parents are going on holiday without her, and have sent her to stay with her Uncle Maurice, Aunt Dierdre and three cousins.
   
   Life on the farm isn't too bad considering Tess now has a huge environment to explore, but she misses her fellow-Switcher Kevin who she needs to help her make a final decision. Furthermore, there are strange things happening at the farmhouse: odd-looking animals, shadowy figures in the woods and suspicious activity from her bad-tempered uncle and three secretive cousins. There is a mystery concerning the disappearance of Uncle Declan, and no one in the family is eager to talk about it.
   And there is even more at risk - Uncle Maurice seems set to sell of the beautiful forest land to developers, and threatens to call up exterminators to rid the house of all the rats. Since Tess is on familiar terms with these rats, and since Kevin has finally gotten hold of her, she comes up with an ingenious way to save the rats, but a plan that has terrible consequences.
   
   In the previous books "Switchers" and "Midnight's Choice" I was always rather confused at the emphasis that Thompson places on the rats, but now with a wonderful reworking of "The Pied Piper of Hamilton", it all makes sense. Thompson uses a wonderful blend of old folklore and fairy myth in order to create an interesting story that is superior to "Midnight's Choice," though not quite up to par with "Switchers". Although the final conflict and choice between opposing factions of the story are brought to quite an easy solution (even an abrupt one), readers who have followed Tess's story will get their questions answered.
   For the first time I felt that I could relate better to Tess: she was rather distant in the previous books, but now finally she and Kevin come across as understandable, three-dimensional characters. Likewise, Uncle Maurice and the cousins Brian, Orla and Colm are interesting enough, but if you were a fan of Lizzie you'll be disappointed: she appears in the first couple of pages, imparts some more cryptic advice and then is gone. But she does better than Martin, who doesn't appear at all, and though Thompson does give us an update on his condition I was hoping for more character development on his behalf.
   
   There are some components of the book that just don't work, namely the "Star Wars" references to the droids C3-PO and R2D2. Within the book there are Switching characters that turn into these droids, and visualising this borders on the ridiculous. How can one appreciate the mood of the Tuatha Da Dannan when there are science fiction characters from an entirely different story running around? All the instances in which they appear is extremely jarring, and often just plain silly: like when C3-PO tries to subdue a bear. I hope George Lucas doesn't sue.
   
   Likewise, toward the end of the book the origins of the Switching powers are revealed, and as you may have guessed, it derives from the "wild blood" that is passed down from the Tuatha Da Dannan to their descendants. This is all very good and well, but in the first book "Switchers", Thompson establishes the fact that *all* children are born with Switching powers, though only a few discover and retain them. So what are we meant to believe? Are all children descended from the Tuatha? I highly doubt it, and therefore Thompson has contradicted the fundamental component of her trilogy.
   
   Of all the Switchers books, I recommend the first installment - the next two never measure up to it, and may in fact leave readers disappointed and/or confused. It's up to you.



5. 14and 11 months old, Tess is totally not looking forward to her birthday-her fifteenth when she will lose her ability to switch.
   Tess is not an ordinary person and neither is her family. Wild blood flows in their veins.In this book Tess has a taste of her other life.The life every switcher can live.She sees the tough choice her uncle has made and compares his very ordinary life with the glamourous life of her other uncle.Tess has an experience of a lifetime with her glamourous uncle Declan.in the end she returns to what really counts. she returns to make a difference in the world!
   

1 comments about My Very Own Birthday: A Book of Cooking and Crafts (My Very Own Holiday).

1. This book is filled with kid-friendly recipes and craft ideas. The best part is that the ideas are simple enough for kids to help, and we all know that kids love to help with planning parties! It makes planning the party fun for parents and kids.

No comments about The Day the Computers Broke Down (Publish-a-Book Series).

No comments about Party Fun (DK Readers, Pre -- Level 1).