Mini Me Corner Review: Tiny Little Rocket, The Magician's Hat, and The Misunderstood Shark

Alright Mini Me Corner is a type of post that I started here on my blog where I talk about Children's or Middle Grade books that are sent to me for review. Today I've got three fantasic books that I would love to recommend to any parent to read to their children. Each of these books were sent to me from Scholastic and I thank them very much for sending them to me to share with you! 

I am going to be doing something a bit different this go around for this post and each review will be short of shorter than normal. I really just want to talk about the main points of the book for each. Since I have three to talk about today it just makes it easier for you to read and for me to post!

 Tiny Little Rocket byRichard Collingridge 

 There's a tiny little rocket that will take you to the stars.
It only flies there once a year but zips you out past Mars.
Its fins are solid silver with a door made out of gold.
There's a cozy pilot seat inside for a person young or old.
Climb aboard for a bedtime picture book.

This adorable little book teaches children about space, the sun and even about birthdays. Yep I said birthdays. It teaches about the Earth's birthday which I thought was a great way to end the book. It also have a great pull out at the end of the book as well, which I loved. It has great illustrations and the words are beautifully written lyrics. All in all I really enjoyed reading this book. 

 The Magician's Hat byMalcolm Mitchell 

 Super Bowl champion and literacy crusader Malcolm Mitchell presents the story of a magician who reveals an awe-inspiring treasure from his bag of tricks -- books that make every kid's dream come true!

This is not your typical afternoon at the library -- a magician invites kids to reach into his hat to pull out whatever they find when they dig down deep. Soon -- poof! -- each child comes away with something better than they could've imagined -- a book that helps them become whatever they want to be, and makes their dreams come true through pages and words, and the adventures that follow. But each child can't help but wonder, What's really making the magic happen?

"Malcolm Mitchell is changing the world through the power of reading." -- Dav Pilkey, bestselling creator of the Dog Man and Captain Underpants series

"The Magician's Hat will cast its spell on you!" -- Jeff Kinney, bestselling author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series

Now this book is my favorite of the three I'm reviewing today. Mainly because of the meaning behind this story. The theme or meaning is that books are magical and take you wherever you as the reader want to go. To me as a reader who has loved books for so long, this book is just perfection. The illustrations, which are done by Joanne lew-vriethoff, are also perfection. The cover itself is very eye catching and pleasing to look at. There are also words throughout this book that pop out at you are in bold colors, which I really love when books do that. Always a great way to teach new words to kids. This fanastic story also teachers that dreams are magic as well. So much love for this cute book! 

Misunderstood Shark by Ane Dyckman 

Every beachgoer knows that there's nothing more terrifying than a... SHARRRK! But this shark is just misunderstood, or is he? In a wholly original, side-splittingly funny story, New York Times bestselling author Ame Dyckman and illustrator Scott Magoon take this perennial theme and turn it on its (hammer)head with a brand-new cheeky character.

The filming of an underwater TV show goes awry when the crew gets interrupted by a... SHARRRK! Poor Shark, he wasn't trying to scare them, he's just misunderstood! Then he's accused of trying to eat a fish. Will Shark ever catch a break? After all, he wasn't going to eat the fish, he was just showing it his new tooth! Or was he? Explosively funny, extraordinarily clever, and even full of fun shark facts, this surprisingly endearing story gets to the heart of what it feels like to be misunderstood by the people around you. With a surprise twist ending, our Misunderstood Shark will have kids rolling with laughter!

I found this adorable children's book to be very funny and easy to read. It's full of great shark facts so there is the learning aspect in this book as well. Which I always find to be a great way for kids to learn, especially when the book is as funny as this one. The illustrations are really cute as well. All in all I found this book to be a fun and cute read.

Each of these books would be for the younger age range, but even as an adult I thought they were really cute. My son also loved the one about the rocket ship and the shark! (And he's 10!) So if you see any of these books at an upcoming Book Fair or in your local library they are a must to pick up and read with your kids. Hope you all enjoyed this post and as always...

Here at Ali's Bookshelf we accept books in exchange for a honest review. The book above I recieved in exchance for my honest review from Scholastic publishing.

Mini Me Corner Review: The Paperboy

Mini Me Corner is a post I created here on the blog, it's a place where I can showcase Children's books that I have read with my kids.  This week we have another great Scholastic book to share with you. 

Title: The Paperboy
Author: Dav Pilkey
Illustrator: Dav Pilkey
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Published: September 1st 1999
Pages: 32 pages

A quiet mood piece that depicts the bond between a paperboy and his dog. Human and canine both struggle to rouse themselves, eat breakfast from bowls, and have an intimate knowledge of their route. Pilkey paints their shared experiences with a graceful economy of language.

First off I want to say that I liked this book, not as much as I have the other books by Dav Pilkey, but I did in fact like it.  My kids on the other hand is another story.  My son loves all of the other books by Dav Pilkey, Captain Underpants being his favorite series, but The Paperboy just didn't keep his attention.  

I think the main reason is that the images are so dark, the colors of the sky and houses aren't bright at all.  They don't catch children's eyes.  I do understand that the book is set in the dark as the paperboy delivers his papers, but I've read a lot of children's books and I've read books set in the dark that kept my kids attention.  My son kept asking how does the dog know the paper route? That's the only thing he wanted to know or cared about.

I did enjoy the story and the moral of the story, so this raised my rating a little, but my kids being the reason I read the book and the reason I'm sharing my thoughts, it's the reason I have to give this book such a low rating.   

With the reason's above, we are going to give The Paperboy by Dav Pilkey an Ali's Bookshelf...

 Here at Ali's Bookshelf we accept books in exchange for a honest review. The book above came from the publisher. We also use Book Depository Affiliate links at times.

Mini Me Corner: Lionheart

Min Me Corner is a post I created here on the blog, it's a place where I can showcase Children's books that I have read with my kids.  This week we have another great Scholastic book to share with you.   One that will be released next month and as a mother I'm excited to share it with you!

Title: Lionheart

Author: Richard Collingridge

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Published:  February 23rd 2016

Format: Hardcover

Pages:  32 pages

 Goodreads * Amazon

 Richard hears something in his room before bedtime. Is it a monster? He doesn't wait to find out and sets off running through the streets, over the hills, through the forest, and into the fields until he finds himself in a magical jungle. With the help of his stuffed lion Lionheart, Richard finds the courage he needs to face his fears.

The first thing I want to say about this wonderful story is that if you have a child who is scared of anything, this is the perfect book to read to them.  It's one that teaches them that we can overcome our fears! I adored this story and watching my child mimic the ROAR part made this Mamma proud.    The illustrations are perfection and so beautiful, so much so that my son couldn't keep from touching them.  

The story shows a child who is running from his fears and has a toy lion with him named Lionheart, but at some point Lionheart becomes real and not just a toy.  This giant lion teaches the boy that to overcome your fears all you have to do is ROAR and have fun.  I really enjoyed reading this book to my son, he has autism and is afraid a lot, so this has become one of our new things to say. Let's be brave like Lionheart.  I would love to thank this fantastic author for bringing this book to life and sharing it with the world and my son.  Also thanks to Scholastic for sending this to me for review, it's perfection.  

If you have a child whose scared of anything, you should read this book to them.  I love books that teach a lesson and this one is a beautifully written one.  Fair warning my son likes this book so much now that we have been reading it every night for the past week.  Another reason I love it so much!

If you haven't guessed, we are giving Lionheart an Ali's Bookshelf...

 I want to thank Scholastic Press for sending us this book for review and thank them for continuing to put out quality Children's books! 

 Here at Ali's Bookshelf we accept books in exchange for a honest review. The book above came from the publisher. We also use Book Depository Affiliate links at times.

Mini Me Corner Review: All Year Round

Mini Me Corner is a post I created here on the blog, it's a place where I can showcase Children's books that I have read with my kids.  This week we have another great Scholastic book to share with you. 

Title: All Year Round 

Author: Susan B. Katz 

Illustrations: Eiko Ojala 

Format: Hardcover 

Pages: 32 pages

Publisher: Orchard Books  Scholastic Press

Published: January 5th 2016

ISBN:  0545741009

 A world of shapes, twelve months abound,
from four-cornered square, to circle, round.

Circle round, ready to roll. Add two sticks, a carrot and coal. (January)
A sporty diamond, player at bat. Bases loaded, tilt your hat. (June)
Triangle treats-pumpkin, peach. Want some pie? Excuse my reach! (November)

Poetic text by Susan B. Katz (ABC Baby Me!, My Mama Earth, ABC School's for Me) is paired with debut illustrator Eiko Ojala's intricate cut-paper artwork to bring the months and their shapes to life! Bold colors, adorable characters, and lyrical text fuse together perfectly in this truly creative look at the world around us.

All Year Round is an adorably written children's book filled with rhyming words and shapes.  Both of my kids enjoyed this book and the story made my son smile, which is saying something because most of the time he doesn't like the words only the images.  The colors and fonts are bright and I really loved the subtle teaching of the shapes and seasons. 

The rhyming words made it fun to read and at times made my kids laugh.  Which to me is a win, if a book can teach and make kids enjoy themselves as they read, then it's a perfect book.  The whole book had a very whimsical vibe to it.  I will say however, this book is more for the younger children, the reason I say this is mainly because of the easier words.

If your children are younger and love bright colored books with a great sing song vibe, then All Year Round is the perfect book for them.  

As a mother I give All Year Round an Ali's Bookshelf...

  

Here at Ali's Bookshelf we accept books in exchange for a honest review. The book above came from the publisher.  I was no way swayed in my opinion of this book by said publisher.  My opinions are my own.  We also use Book Depository Affiliate links at times.

Mini Me Corner Review: Little Red's Riding's Hood

Min Me Corner is a post I created here on the blog, it's a place where I can showcase Children's books that I have read with my kids.  This week we have another great Scholastic book to share with you.  

When Little Red's Granny Putt Putt gets sick, the tiny moped scooter races over the river and through the dark woods to bring her a basket of get-well goodies. But when Little Red crosses paths with Tank, the biggest, loudest, meanest machine around, that no-good monster truck has plans of his own. Why, Granny, what big wheels you have! Why, Granny, what big headlights you have! Why, Granny, what a big hood you have! From the sparkplug, creative minds of Peter Stein and Chris Gall comes a full-throttle version of the classic LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD tale that will have everyone revving for more.

Little Red's Riding' Hood is one of the cutest retellings of Little Red Riding Hood that I have ever seen.   It's also one of the best I've seen geared toward little boys.  Usually all I see if the story being told and geared toward little girls.  I'm loving all the retellings that I've been saying lately and it's always great to get another take on a story we've all heard a thousand times. 

My son loved this book so much that I had to re-read it several times to him and the best thing about it is the words are easy enough for the younger children to understand and follow along.  But it's not so easy that they lose interest in the story itself. 

Next I want to mention the illustrations in this adorable little book, Chris Gall did an amazing job with the pictures that grabbed my son's attention so much that he likes to go back and just look at the pictures of Little Red out running Tank.  I loved all the colors!  Oh and I must talk for a second about this cover, when Scholastic sends me books I usually get a few in the box. When I opened this box, my son gravitated to this book and went digging for it.  As soon as it was in his hands, he begged me to read it to him.  That says a lot about the cover design.

All in all Little Red's Riding' Hood is a great book for that little boy you want to love books. 

Well my son says my rating system needs to go higher than 5 Puppies because this book is a 10 according to him.  So, you know what I'm about to say. 

I want to thank Scholastic Press for sending us this book for review and thank them for continuing to put out quality Children's books!

Mini Me Corner Review: Sleeping Cinderella

Min Me Corner is a post I created here on the blog, it's a place where I can showcase Children's books that I have read with my kids.  This week we have one that Scholastic sent to us that my daughter fell in love with. 

Princesses Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Rapunzel swap fairy tales with one another in this hilariously clever new classic! Once upon a time, four fairy tale misses, tired of dwarves, witches, princes, and kisses, so bored and fed up, or just ready to flop, upped and left home for a fairy tale swap. What happens when Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Rapunzel get so fed up with their fairy tales that they decide to switch places with one another? Hilarity ensues in this clever, rhyming story about whether the grass really is greener at someone else's castle. Author Stephanie Clarkson crafts an incredibly witty manuscript, with rhymes that shine and predicaments that will make little girls everywhere laugh out loud, as illustrator Brigette Barrager brings these beautiful princesses to life with her rich, warm colors and charming retro-girl style!

Like I said above this book is one that I wasn't sure my daughter would love, but she ended up reading it a few times and loves it. Here lately, she hasn't wanted to read the books for younger children, she's more into the chapter books or middle grade books.  So I was happy when I received this one from Scholastic and she loved it. 

The best part about this book is that I enjoyed reading it with her.  It's a cute look at what the life's of the princesses could have been if they didn't live in a tower or eat that apple. I loved how they connected each princess and their story.  Sleeping Cinderella is an adorable retelling and it's a great starting point for my upcoming Retellings week that I'm planning here on the blog.

The illustrations are also adorable and I couldn't stop laughing as my daughter laughed at the dwarfs and how Snow White just up and left them because they were way to messy.  Authors Stephanie Clarkson and Bridgette Barrager did a fabulous job with this one and I can't wait to read more children's books written by these two.

Sleeping Cinderella deserves this rating of...

I want to thank Scholastic Press for sending us this book for review and thank them for continuing to put out quality Children's books!