Children's Book Review Series: Learn Along With Lily

Learn Along With Lily by Donna McNaughton and illustrated by Mike Motz is a collection of short poems featuring Lily, the happy little goat. Each poem is a new adventure that teaches children about the world around them. With Lily they will learn about colors, numbers, shapes, opposites, their bodies, family and community members, animals from the zoo, the farm, and even undersea and so much more. Lily opens a new world of imagination to children while demonstrating manners and kindness.

Learn Along With Lily was awarded the 2009 Teacher's Choice Award by Learning Magazine and was a Best Books Award finalist with USA Book News. It combines rhyming with education in a way that young children can understand and enjoy. A great resource for parents, teachers, librarians, and home schoolers looking for an excellent addition to their preschool or kindergarten curriculum.

More information about the author Donna McNaughton and Lily can be found at the following websites.

http://www.raindropbooks.com/

http://www.learnalongwithlily.com/

Learn Along With Lily can also be purchased on Amazon by following this link:

http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Along-Lily-Donna-McNaughton/dp/0979967708

If you have this book or plan to purchase it, please stop back and let me know what you and the children you share it with think. My 9 year old daughter loved reading it and has asked if she can bring to school to read to her Reading Buddy. Her school pairs up older students (grades 4-6) with younger students (grades K-3) to read books each week. She can't wait to share Learn Along With Lily.

Children's Book Review Series: Casey and Bella by Jane Lovascio

Meet Casey and Bella, the real life stars of the adorable new children's series. They are joined by author Jane Lovascio and her husband Jeff. All attended this year's BEA in New York City, where Casey and Bella participated in a paw signing. This, as I stated in an earlier post, was my daughter's favorite part of our day at the BEA.

Now on to the books...



Casey and Bella Go To New York City
by Jane Lovascio
Illustrated by Aija Jasuna
*A portion of the proceeds from this book are donated to Loving Paws Assistance Dogs.
For more info: www.lovingpaws.com


Casey meets Bella when Jane and Jeff bring her home from a nearby shelter. They become fast friends and head out on adventure that brings them from Hoboken, New Jersey to New York City. While they explore the busy city they meet new friends and learn important lessons about having good manners and how to treat others.







Casey and Bella Go To Hollywood
by Jane Lovascio
Illustrated by Aija Jasuna
*This book was dedicated to the children of Hoboken's Jubilee Center
For more info: http://www.jubileecenterhoboken.org


Casey and Bella are off on a new adventure. This time they explore star studded Hollywood, California in search of celebrities. Along they way they meet and teach new friends that real happiness can not be bought. A cute story reinforcing the sentiment that the best things in life are still free, even in Hollywood.


I hope you have enjoyed meeting Casey and Bella. They are as cute in person (or should I say, in canine?) as they are in their books and have great messages to share with children. If you would like more information about Jane Lovascio, other Casey and Bella books, charities, contests, and fundraisers go to www.CaseyandBella.com

If you have a Casey and Bella book or are planning to purchase one I would love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below. If you have published a children's book and want to have it reviewed you can email me at dkcallender@sbcglobal.net

Thanks for stopping by,
Kristin : )

Children's Book Review Series: T'Aragam by Jack W. Regan

T'Aragam: The Max Ransome Chronicles by Jack W. Regan is a great new Juvenile/Fantasy novel. It is a story of medieval meets magic and is packed with adventure. The characters will have you laughing, cheering, and some you will just love to hate.

Max Ransome is thrust into a dangerous adult world at the young age of 13 after he witnessed his father's death and then is forced to fight to save his own. As the story progresses he realizes that it is not just his own life that is at risk, but all of the lives in T'Aragam. His father, Lord Ransome was a great and powerful ruler, but with him gone there is no stopping the evil Zodak and his army of Phantors from taking over the land and imprisoning the people. Is a boy of 13 any match for an evil empire? To find out he must learn who to trust and, most importantly, he has to learn to trust himself.

Max is befriended by some interested characters along the way. A pair of monster brothers, named Doom and Gloom, who are reduced to tears at every new obstacle. A clumsy medgekin, named Gramkin, who is motivated by his addiction to cheese, and a loyal wizard, named Zohar, who just happens to be the brother of the evil Zodak. Then you add the dark assortment of enemies like the beautiful Ariaal, whose magic and looks prove to be a treacherous combination and, of course Bob, the sea ever hungry sea serpent.

T'Aragam is well written, which does not come as a surprise since the author's mother is not only a writer but an English teacher also. Jack W. Regan's writing bio is impressive as well. He won 2nd place in a National Writing contest at the age of 16 and has enjoyed being editor to his school newspapers in high school and college. He has previously published Duke Dookums: Frontier Hero, a zany western for young boys.

I recommend T'Aragam. It has everything to captivate the imagination; danger, excitement, humor, and endless adventure.

T'Aragam by Jack W. Regan is available on http://www.amazon.com/TAragam-Jack-W-Regan/dp/1442114592 Want to know more about the author? You can follow his blog http://jackwregan.blogspot.com

New Children's Book Review Introduction

In an effort to help out other authors in one of my on line writers/readers group, I have offered to review some children's books. Why children's books?

Two reasons:

1) I have four children of my own and love how excited they get when a new book comes (well my 9 & 11 yr. olds anyway).

2) I have worked with children for years in private preschools and now in the public schools. This means I have many contacts in the child care and education fields with whom I can share all of these great new books.

What I offer is a review, which will be posted here, on IndieReaders.ning.com , on Amazon (or on whatever platform the book is distributed from), and I will talk about it on Twitter. That much I can guarantee will happen. What I also offer, but can not guarantee, is that I will share the books I review with the librarians, teachers, and child care workers that I have worked with. This will help to get word out about new children's books and may even lead to some sales.

In a recent post I shared Jane Lovascio's books, fundraiser, and charity information. She is the author of the new canine series, Casey and Bella. I had the pleasure of meeting Jane and her real life dogs, Casey and Bella at this years BEA in New York. Reviews for her books are coming soon. While there, I also met some other authors from her publisher, Big Tent Books. I will be reviewing their books as well. Looks like I will be busy for a while, but it's a good kind of busy.

With that said, let's start. Feel free to leave a comment about the books, especially if you have read it and want to share your thoughts.

Thanks,
Kristin :)