book review Archives

The Legend of Mr. Ween Book Review

October 28, 2019 by Beeb Leave a Comment

This is a sponsored post.

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. From costumes to candy, decorations to pumpkin patches, I love everything Halloween-related and try to get into the “Spirit” all month long. I think there’s nothing quite so cozy as curling up with a spooky book and a hot cup of pumpkin-spice-anything on a crisp Fall day, and I had the chance to do just that when I was introduced to The Legend of Mr. Ween by Daren Ross.

Combining elements of folklore and fantasy, The Legend of Mr. Ween spins an imaginative tale of the very first Halloween. The book opens with a mysterious traveler, Hal, arriving in Boston to seek work. Although the story is set in 1905, the frenetic pace of the city mirrors 2019 life, with the townspeople distracted, rushing around at breakneck pace and becoming increasingly more aggressive. Kind-hearted Hal senses that something is deeply wrong – and just as the hectic energy of the city belies something much more sinister, there is more to Hal than meets the eye as well.

What struck me the most about this short story is that the author clearly shares my warm feelings about Halloween. Most Halloween tales are horror-based, and while there are nefarious forces in The Legend of Mr. Ween, the focus of the narrative is on lighting up the darkness and triumphing over evil with kindness and positivity. Hal is a lovable figure, and the origins of Halloween traditions such as pumpkin carving are explained in a very charming way. This unique Halloween tale combines magic and battles against evil with the feelgood spirit of an uplifting Christmas story. I’m not personally a fan of scary stories, so I appreciated this take – I’ve always felt like Halloween was a time for childlike joy and fun, and it’s nice to see that I’m not the only one!

The Legend of Mr. Ween by Daren Ross is available as a free download on TheLegendofMrWeen.com, so go get your free copy today just in time for All Hallow’s Eve! You can also find Mr. Ween on Facebook.

The Mortification of Fovea Munson $50 Giveaway #MortificationOfFoveaMunson

October 21, 2018 by Momstart 49 Comments

We received a sample and gift bard in exchange for this post.

I really love all the books that Disney Books (that’s Disney’s publication company now) have been pushing out. They have a wide variety and this one is really a great one for kids that like a little disgusting in their lives. My daughter has always been a little on the edge of what is “appropriate”. I mean, completely kid friendly and all but really she is great at disgusting mom out. So The Mortification of Fovea Munson makes for an excellent read for this tween.

I also just have to take a moment to mention just how much I LOVE having her read in the car. It keeps the two of them from fighting.

About the Book

Fovea Munson is nobody’s Igor.

True, her parents own a cadaver lab where they perform surgeries on dead bodies. And yes, that makes her gross by association, at least according to everyone in seventh grade. And sure, Fovea’s stuck working at the lab now that her summer camp plans have fallen through. But she is by no means Dr. Frankenstein’s snuffling assistant! That is, until three disembodied heads, left to thaw in the wet lab, start talking. To her. Out loud. What seems like a nightmare, or bizarre hallucination, is not. Fovea is somebody’s Igor, all right. Three somebodies, actually. And they need a favor.

With a madcap sense of humor and a lot of heart (not to mention other body parts), this is a story about finding oneself, finding one’s friends, and embracing the moment.

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$50 Visa and Mortification of Fovea Munson

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Tell me what type of books your child likes to read.

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Love Santa A Beautiful Way To Transition the Story Of Santa to Children

November 28, 2017 by Momstart Leave a Comment

This post is sponsored by Scholastic.

To our family the story of Santa Claus has always been a game. My husband is of the mindset that you shouldn’t lie to children and telling them that Santa is real is a lie so my kids have always known that dad is Santa. We had to tell them that just because you know the truth doesn’t mean that other kids do and if you want a Christmas present from Santa you have to pretend he is real. They would end up getting gifts from us “from Santa” and from both sets of grandparents “from Santa” so it was a win win for them.

Not everyone knows how to handle the transition of telling your kids about Santa which makes this new book by Martha Brockenbrough, Love, Santa a great story. I had my daughter read it, I wanted to know what her perspective was, since she always knew the truth about Santa. So the little girl in the book writes to Santa every single year and Santa would always write back. One year she realizes that Santa isn’t real and wonders about the letters, so she instead writes to her mom and asks her if she is Santa. Her mom ends up telling her that everyone is Santa. I think the idea that everyone is Santa makes sense. When you look at what we do for for my kids that idea works, because we always had to clarify that this is Memaw’s Santa gift, this one was our Santa gift and that one was Papa Mark’s Santa gift.

My kids only wrote a few letters to Santa, maybe because they always knew, but some things are still fun. That’s why to us Santa was a game. What does your family do? DO your kids write to Santa every year? Have you ever wondered how you are going to make that transition with your kids? Love, Santa would be a great way to help explain the meaning of Santa in a gentle way of turning the way a child celebrates Christmas. The beautiful artwork helps tell this heartfelt story along with interactive letters which was also really cool.

Love, Santa

By Martha Brockenbrough

Illustrated by Lee White

In Stores Now! Released September 26, 2017

For Parents and Kids ages 6-11 (for telling the truth about Santa)

About Love, Santa

In a series of letters, a young girl writes to Santa to ask about the North Pole, Mrs. Claus, and of course, Christmas goodies. Year after year, Santa writes back, and a heartwarming relationship develops, until one year, the girl writes to her mother instead: Mom, are you Santa? Her mother responds to say that no, she is not Santa. Because Santa is bigger than any one person — we bring him out through kindness to one another and the power of imagination. This transformative tale spins a universal childhood experience into a story about love, giving, and the spirit of Christmas.

About the Creators

Martha Brockenbrough is the author of two books for adults and five books for young readers, including The Game of Love and Death, which earned four starred reviews and was a Kirkus Prize finalist, Devine Intervention, and The Dinosaur Tooth Fairy. She lives in Seattle, Washington, with her husband and their two daughters. Visit her online at marthabrockenbrough.com.

Lee White is an artist and teacher who loves watercolor, print making, and climbing trees. He spends his days splashing paint in his backyard studio, where there are absolutely no clocks allowed! He has illustrated more than fifteen books and shown in galleries across the country, from Los Angeles to New York. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife and young son.

Follow Along Socially:

Learn more about the book on Scholastic.com

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Follow Hashtag #LoveSantaBook

Growing Friendships: A Kids’ Guide to Making and Keeping Friends

September 30, 2017 by Momstart Leave a Comment

We received a sample book:

I’m not that good at keeping friends so I want to make sure that I equip my kids with the skills that I don’t seem to have. I mean, I know what I’m going wrong, but I could use some help and this is my way of helping both of us. It’s a great book full of great ideas. It helps kids understand different body language and things that help in understanding what kind of mood you or someone else is in.

For kids struggling with:

· shyness

· making friends

· what to do when a friend dumps them

· the social challenges of ADHD

· how to resolve conflicts with friends

I really got this book for my daughter. She can make friends so easily but she does have issues finding ways to resolve conflicts with her friends. Growing Friendships: A Kids’ Guide to Making and Keeping Friends (Simon & Schuster’s Aladdin / Beyond Words; July 2017) by Princeton psychologist and children’s friendships expert Eileen Kennedy-Moore, Ph.D. and parenting and health writer Christine McLaughlin, a social development primer that gives kids like her the answers they need. Oh and surprisingly, my son read it too.

What makes some kids popular? Is your child inviting rejection? Can boys and girls be friends?
Dr. Kennedy-Moore and McLaughlin answer all of the above and much more with cute cartoons that squash common friendship problems. A narrator explains what’s happening and offers research-based tips about what to do; the stars of the book, a cat and dog, wander through the text offering goofy suggestions.
Every child runs into friendship issues: arguments with a friend, getting teased or even trying to find a buddy in a new classroom—these are typical problems, but they can be very painful for girls and boys.
Good friendships are key to a happy childhood, but they’re not always easy to build or maintain. Research shows that first graders keep only about half of their friendships from fall to spring. Fourth-graders maintain about three-quarters of their friendships across the school year.
Growing Friendships offers real help that kids can use immediately with enough humor to make the messages appealing and memorable.

Beatrice Zinker Upside Down Thinker $100 Book Giveaway

September 29, 2017 by Momstart 1 Comment

We received a copy of the book.

My daughter loves to read and we’re trying to get my son into reading too. If I can get him to read anything other than a Minecraft book I’m jumping for joy and Beatrice Zinker Upside Down Thinker is just what we needed to get him into trying something else. It’s a easy read with a cute story. It’s outside of the box and that’s exactly what he needs. He never likes what you think he will like. So I’m glad we received a copy of this book.

We are hosting two giveaways in honor of this book. One of the giveaways is in conjunction with Carol from All Mommy Wants and excitingly her giveaway includes a $100 Visa Gift Card. Our local giveaway to this blog only includes the book, but the entries for both are so easy. So while you are here you might as well enter both giveaways right? Of course you should.

Ever feel like the whole world is upside down?

Oh and this book is with one of our favorite publishers, Disney-Hyperion, Beatrice Zinker, Upside-Down Thinker by Shelley Johannes.

Hanging from trees by her knees, doing handstands . . . for Beatrice Zinker, upside down works every time. She was definitely upside down when she and her best friend, Lenny, agreed to wear matching ninja suits on the first day of third grade. But when Beatrice shows up at school dressed in black, Lenny arrives with a cool new outfit and a cool new friend. Even worse, she seems to have forgotten all about the top-secret operation they planned!

One winner will receive:

Copy of Beatrice Zinker, Upside Down Thinker
Branded pencil case and notepad
Plus a $100 Visa gift card

It’s a GREAT way to get your child a book and Back-to-School look that is just so her (or him!).

Enter below! Ends October 10, 2017!

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And for our Book Giveaway:

One winner will receive a copy of Beatrice Zinker, Upside Down Thinker

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Disney Hyperion Clickd Book Giveaway #ClickdBook

September 20, 2017 by Momstart 3 Comments

This post is in partnership with Disney-Hyperion.

Click’d is a new story by Tamara Ireland Stone, released on September 5, 2017. My daughter is ten and the perfect age for it since it’s recommended for ages 9+. So far she says it’s a good story. She just started it today as she’s been reading another book published by Disney Hyperion and we’ll tell you all about that book on another day. This book is about STEM. It follows a young girl after she went away to CodeGirls summer camp. I think that STEM is so important. Girls need even more encouragement than boys do in the fields of science, math and technology and here at our house we do whatever we can to support all three. For us we do this with a lot of games. We have bunch of games from different game companies that all encourage STEM skills.

I’m really glad we received this book and I’m hoping that it further encourages Zoe to be interested in the STEM fields.

Read and Excerpt from the book:

Click’d here

Follow along socially:

Visit the Official Site

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Hashtag #ClickdBook

About the Book

New York Times best-selling author Tamara Ireland Stone combines friendship, coding, and lots of popcorn in her fun and empowering middle-grade debut.

Allie Navarro can’t wait to show her best friends the app she built at CodeGirls summer camp. Click’d pairs users based on common interests and sends them on a fun (and occasionally rule-breaking) scavenger hunt to find each other. And it’s a hit. By the second day of school, everyone is talking about Click’d.

Watching her app go viral is amazing. Leaderboards are filling up! Everyone’s making new friends. And with all the data Allie is collecting, she has an even better shot at beating her archenemy, Nathan, at the upcoming youth coding competition. But when Allie discovers a glitch that threatens to expose everyone’s secrets, she has to figure out how to make things right, even if that means sharing the computer lab with Nathan. Can Allie fix her app, stop it from doing any more damage, and win back the friends it hurt—all before she steps on stage to present Click’d to the judges?

About the Author

Tamara Ireland Stone (www.TamaraIrelandStone.com) is the author of Time and Time Again, a collection of her two novels Time Between Us and Time After Time, and the New York Times best seller Every Last Word. A Silicon Valley-native, she has worked in the technology industry all her life, first testing Atari game boards in her parents’ garage, and later, co-founding a woman-owned marketing strategy firm where she worked with some of the world’s largest software companies. She enjoys skiing, hiking,and spending time with her husband and two children. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Enter to Win:

Go Viral!

In Click’d, Allie’s app is a total hit! Get a solid grip on your phone while testing out all the hottest apps.

One (1) winner receives:

copy of Click’d
and a branded popsocket with mount!

Giveaway open to US addresses only.

Prizing and samples provided by Disney-Hyperion.

To Enter:

Tell me what your family does to encourage STEM

Extra Entries:

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Reading Club & World Book Fundamentals of STEM

July 27, 2017 by Momstart Leave a Comment

I’m a huge fan of finding any and all books I can to put in my little one’s hands. Zoe adores reading and Miles is starting to. So I have to work twice as hard to find books for him. I’ve found that he actually likes to read educational books. He craves knowledge. I believe he gets that from his dad. So I have two offers I want to share with everyone…

Order World Book Fundamentals of STEM for only $1 and receive 2 books that introduce your kids to fun and easy-to-understand Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math topics.

ABOUT OFFER:

· FREE shipping

· Appeals to kids in grades 3-5

· Reading level 4

· 32 pages, 8″x10″ hardcover books

· 14-day trial period

· After Trial Period:

· $12.50 each ($25.00 total)

· 2 books per month

· Free shipping and handling

· 30-day money back guarantee

Then we also have another great offer for you. It’s the World Book Independent Reading Club. My daughter so wants to be part of a reading book club but it’s been slow to set it up. This is for the younger kids. Order World Book Independent Reading Club for only $1 and receive 2 books that help your child develop the skills and confidence to read independently.

ABOUT OFFER:

· FREE shipping

· Appeals to kids in grades K-2

· Reading level 2

· 9″x12″ hardcover books, 32 pages

· 30-day money back guarantee

· After Trial Period:

· $12.50 each ($25.00 total)

· 2 books per month

· Free shipping and handling

· 30-day money back guarantee

Get your kids reading today!

Teaching Children About Puberty

July 14, 2017 by Momstart 3 Comments

We received samples.

Teaching children about puberty can be quite awkward. My son even goes “la la la” when I try to talk to him about things. He tries to tell me that he’s too young but I know what he’s talking about with his friends. I’m a firm believe in you can’t leave sex education up to the schools, plus my kids are home schooled anyway. The Girls body Book and the Boys Body Book are a perfect way to start the conversation of kids sex ed. We are Teaching Children About Puberty with The Girls Body Book and The Boys Body Book.

In this video Zoe shared highlights that she learned about puberty, her body, friendships and all kinds of changes from The Girls Body Book.

I’m still trying to get my son to start reading his book. My husband said he thinks he might be sneaking peeks at it because he has been asking him questions. I hope eventually he will read his book just as his sister read hers.

The Boy’s Body Book by Kelli Dunham, R.N., is the #1 best-selling guide for pre-teen boys. These new editions include many new sections covering topics about boosting self esteem, staying safe and protecting your reputation online and off, and navigating a variety of social situations, and many more–without ever mentioning sexual content.

Zoe said that she loved how it shared things about body image and how others perceive you. I’ve tried to teach my kids about how they might “look grumpy” even though they aren’t. Even though I of course know they are. I think it’s going to help her understand other kids feelings and allow her to do better in her relationships. These books are very thorough.

Childrens Sex Ed Topics covered include:

* From hair care to high heels, a head-to-toe guide to what’s happening with your changing body
* Dealing with your friends, even when they don’t want to deal with you – and how to handle “Mean Girls,” bullies, and cyberbullies
* The care and keeping of parents, teachers, brothers, and sisters
* Finding out what you like (from sports to art to music), and learning to like who you are
* And so much more!

Penguins of America Children’s Book & $100 GC Giveaway

May 26, 2017 by Momstart 20 Comments

Jana at MerlotMommy.com has partnered with Little, Brown & Co. And we are partnering with her to bring you a fun little giveaway……..

Are you a mom of kids in sports? My son loves to play hard and is very active. I have to watch myself and not get involved with the other kids sometimes so I find what Jana has created helpful. She is a sports mom and understand “rules” of being a sports mom.

As a sports mom, we have all have our own list of dos and don’ts of being a sports mom we’ve developed over the years.

Jana at MerlotMommy.com started thinking about all the “rules” of being a sports mom after reading Penguins of America, a new illustrated book from James Patterson and his son Jack.

Be sure to check out her list of sports Dos and Don’ts.

Enter to win a copy of the Penguins of America and $100 Visa Gift Card

Use the Rafflecopter below to enter to win. U.S. entrants only, ages 18+. Ends 6/7/2017 at 11:59 pm PST. We’ve partnered with Little, Brown & Co. and Merlot Mommy to share this giveaway! a Rafflecopter giveaway

About Penguins of America:

Penguins–are lovable, cute, flightless friends who are constantly dressed for a formal occasion–have always fascinated humans. As we shuffle through life one day at a time, it’s easy to take things far too seriously, but when we see penguins taking a walk in our shoes it’s impossible not to recognize how silly we can actually be. Featuring humorous illustrations with captions that show penguins in the day-to-day situations that we’ve all experienced–from a relaxing day at the beach to a stressful morning commute–PENGUINS OF AMERICA is a hilarious and charming send-up of daily life.

Summer Reading 25 Free eBooks Passport & Free Books

May 3, 2017 by Momstart 1 Comment

It’s getting so close to summer break for kids in school We are counting down the days with only one month left and others have even less time left. So what do we do? We look into ways to keep away the summer slide.

Summer Reading Around the World from Arbordale Publishing is offering a free program including 25 interactive ebooks, a passport to reading, and the opportunity to earn hardcover books.

Arbordale has selected books that feature animals and places near and far. Learning about science and math is fun through stories, and Arbordale’s signature “For Creative Minds” section extends the themes within the story.

A downloadable passport magnifies the fun, and voracious readers are able to return their passport for their very own book and reading certificate. Additionally, educators and librarians can earn up to 25 free books and online access to the entire library on Arbordale’s Fun eReader® by sending in groups of passports.

The Fun eReader platform allows for easy access, and families on the go are able to download the books onto tablets via the Fun eReader app. Each interactive ebook includes English & Spanish text and audio with speed control, word highlighting, and some now have tappable animal sounds.

Perfect for a rainy day or community programs, Arbordale has included special bingo cards, crafts, and activities for download. New activities will be added throughout the summer via the publisher’s social media channels @ArbordaleKids.

The free ebook access is available through the Summer Reading site at Arbordale Publishing (www.arbordalepublishing.com/SummerReading.php). Parents, educators and librarians will find passport instructions and submission information with details to redeem the passports for free books.