[BOOK REVIEW] The Big Balloon Race by Eleanor Coerr

Title:  The Big Balloon Race

Author:  Eleanor Coerr

Artist: Carolyn Croll

Genre: Balloons / Adventure / Family / Children's

Year Published: 1981

Year Read:  2019

Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers

Series: I Can Read Books

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 4+  (Some Complex Terms)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

When I was little, my parents used to buy me and my sisters a couple of books from the “I Can Read” book series.  We have quite a lot of books from this series and one of the books that we had owned for a long time was “The Big Balloon Race” by Eleanor Coerr along with artwork by Carolyn Croll.  This is definitely a book you should read if you are a huge fan of aeronauts!

The story starts off with Ariel begging her mother Carlotta the Great to go into the balloon race with her.  But Carlotta the Great thinks that Ariel is too young to be in the race and tells Ariel that as soon as they get to the race, she should stay in the Odds and Ends box until it was time for the race to begin.  When the Myers family finally made it to the balloon race, there was a huge celebration for the competing balloonists, which was between Bernard the Brave and Carlotta the Great herself.  Ariel then slept in the Odds and Ends box until the mayor’s speech was over.  But Ariel accidentally overslept and Carlotta the Great ended up going into her balloon and taking off with Ariel inside the basket.  When Ariel finally woke up, she noticed that she was now in the air with her mother and now she has to help her mother win the race against Bernard the Brave!

Wow!  I was quite impressed with this book!  Eleanor Coerr did a fantastic job at writing this book as the book is full of excitement and wonder as we get to see how the balloon races were set up during the 1880s!  I enjoyed seeing the excitement that the protagonists have for the balloon race and I loved the fact that they gave it their all in competing in the races.  I especially loved the way that Eleanor Coerr wrote both Carlotta the Great and Ariel as they were the most intriguing characters in the book.  I loved the fact that Carlotta the Great was a strong female protagonist who kept her cool throughout the entire race and even tried to protect Ariel throughout the race.  I also loved the fact that Ariel was so determined to be in the race and when she finally got into the race, she may have panicked at some moments, but she eventually got herself together when the situation got tough.  Carolyn Croll’s artwork is adorable and creative to look at as all the characters have nice rounded faces and I enjoyed seeing all of the different types of balloons that were used in the race.

Overall, “The Big Balloon Race” is a truly joyous read for anyone who loves reading books about balloon races and want to know what aeronauts are.  I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since some small children might not understand what the term “aeronaut” means, unless it was explained to them by a parent or a teacher.

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• Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff

• One, Two, Three Going to Sea by Alain

• Good Driving, Amelia Bedelia by Herman Parish

[BOOK REVIEW] The Very Bad Bunny by Marilyn Sadler

Title:  The Very Bad Bunny

Author:  Marilyn Sadler

Artist: Roger Bollen


Genre:  Children's / Animals / Family / Humor

Year Published: 1984

Year Read:  2019

Series: P.J. Funnybunny #2

Publisher:  Beginner Books

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 5+  (Confusing Message)

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads

Man, it’s been awhile since I last read a “P.J. Funnybunny” book, despite growing up with the series.  I think the last “P.J. Funnybunny” book I read was “It’s Not Easy Being a Bunny,” which was many years ago.  So, I finally picked up another “P.J. Funnybunny” book called “The Very Bad Bunny” by Marilyn Sadler, along with artwork by Roger Bollen and I had a blast reading this book!

P.J. Funnybunny did not mean to be a bad bunny. He would do things like break the vase while playing in the house, spill syrup on the floor, cut up the newspaper before his father had a chance to read it and invite his friends over without asking his mother.  Because of these things, P.J.’s parents and siblings all think that he is a bad bunny.  One day however, P.J.’s little cousin Binky comes in for a visit and he and P.J. started playing with each other.  But unfortunately, Binky turned out to be a bad bunny who was even worse than P.J. as he would do things like throw P.J.’s favorite ball into the lake, letting go of P.J.’s balloon and painting bunnies all over the walls in the house. 

Now P.J and his family are going to see just how bad a bunny can be!

Wow!  I was really having fun with this book!  Marilyn Sadler did a fantastic job at writing this book as it was full of good humor!  I enjoyed seeing the scenes where P.J. has to deal with Binky’s constant mischief and how he acted more mature in comparison.  I found it pretty amusing that P.J.’s family thought that P.J. was the bad bunny, until they met Binky and he turned out to be much worse than P.J. himself!  I also loved Roger Bollen’s artwork as it is humorous to look at, especially the images of P.J. and his family having to deal with Binky’s mischief throughout the book!  I also enjoyed seeing how big the bunnies’ ears were in this book as they are drawn as taking over most of the space in the pages and seem to be extremely thick in size.

Parents should know that the message of this book might be a tad bit too confusing for some children.  The way that I am looking at this story is that P.J. has done some bad things, but he never meant to do any of those things on purpose. He seems genuinely sorry for his actions and only acted out badly when he was punished.  Meanwhile, Binky does a lot of bad things in this book, but he is never sorry about the things that he has done and he continues to misbehave towards the Funnybunny family throughout the book.  So, basically the book is trying to say that there is a difference between a child doing bad things by accident versus doing bad things on purpose?  I am not sure what the book is trying to save about children misbehaving here.  If you know what this book is trying to say about badly behaving children, then please feel free to tell me down below.

Overall, “The Very Bad Bunny” is a fun and cute little book about tackling the subject of children behaving badly and I would definitely recommend this book to fans of the “P.J. Funnybunny” series!  I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since the message in this book might confuse some children.

You might also like:

• No, David! by David Shannon

• It's Not Easy Being a Bunny by Marilyn Sadler

• The Napping House by Audrey Wood

[BOOK REVIEW] It's Not Easy Being a Bunny by Marilyn Sadler

Title:  It's Not Easy Being a Bunny

Author:  Marilyn Sadler

Artist: Roger Bollen


Genre:  Children's / Animals / Family / Humor

Year Published: 1983

Year Read:  2010

Series: P.J. Funnybunny #1

Publisher:  Beginner Books

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 3+  (Nothing Objectionable)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

“It’s Not Easy Being a Bunny” is apart of the famous “P.J. Funnybunny” series written by Marilyn Sadler along with illustrations by Roger Bollen.  In P.J’s latest adventure, P.J. decides that he does want to be a bunny anymore and so he goes on a journey to find another breed of animals to live with.  “It’s Not Easy Being a Bunny” will surely be a classic for fans of P.J. Funnybunny.

Marilyn Sadler has written a delightfully cute story about how P.J. Funnybunny was not satisfied with being a mere bunny until he experiences the lives of the other animals.  I love the way that Marilyn Sadler has made a point being yourself as P.J. soon finds out that maybe it is not so bad being a bunny as he experiences the various activities done by the other animals that he would not normally do.  Roger Bollen’s illustrations are hilarious and cute at the same time, especially of the image of P.J. Funnybunny having huge ears and a large pink nose, making look like a very cute bunny.

“It’s Not Easy Being a Bunny” is the perfect book about being yourself and being satisfied with your current lifestyle.  I would strongly recommend this book to children ages three and up since the content is extremely family-friendly and the format is easy to read.

You might also like:

• No, David! by David Shannon

• Love You Forever by Robert Munsch

• The Napping House by Audrey Wood

[BOOK REVIEW] The Princess and the Pea by Janet Stevens

Title:  The Princess and the Pea

Author:  Janet Stevens

Genre:  Animals / Royalty / Fairy Tale / Fantasy

Year Published: 1982

Year Read:  1990 (Re Read: 2018)

Publisher:  Scholastic Inc.

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 4+  (Nothing Objectionable)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

I will admit that I wanted to reread some of my childhood books for a long time now and I finally got that chance when I went back and reread one of my most favorite children’s books from my childhood called “The Princess and the Pea” by Janet Stevens!  This is seriously one childhood read that I highly recommend to anyone!

The story starts off with the prince wanting to marry a princess and his mother, the Queen, decided that they should search for a real princess (much like herself) and they ended up traveling around to world to find a princess.  Unfortunately, all the princesses that they came across did not meet the Queen’s expectations and they ended up going back to their kingdom without a princess.  One evening however, a terrible storm came across the kingdom and it was during this time that a wandering visitor came into the kingdom, telling the king and queen that she is a real princess, despite her untidy appearance.  The Queen is of course skeptical about the visitor and she decided to let the visitor stay in the castle for the night.  However, when the Queen set up the visitor’s bed, she put a small pea on the bed and then puts twenty mattresses on top of the pea.  The Queen did all this to see if the visitor is a real princess as she claims that a real princess would have such delicate skin that she could feel a pea underneath all of those mattresses.

Will the (supposed) princess pass this test?

Read this book to find out!

Now, I have to tell you that part of the reason why this version of the classic fairy tale has a special place in my heart is because it was the very first version of the fairy tale I had ever read, therefore being the one to introduce me to the story of “The Princess and the Pea!”  Janet Stevens had done a fantastic job at both writing and illustrating this classic fairy tale as the story and artwork were both beautiful and cute to read through!  I loved the way that Janet Stevens wrote this tale as it was quite an adorable read and I really liked the scenes where the Queen and her son searched across the land to find a real princess for the Prince to marry as the Queen’s expectations were quite hilarious such as a real princess “can play soft music on three instruments at once” or “a real princess can skip across the lawn without bending the grass.”  Janet Stevens’ artwork is truly dazzling to look at as I loved the fact that all the main characters are animal characters, which added to the creative nature of this story.  I really loved the appearances of the royal family themselves as the king and the prince are lions while the queen is a tiger and I never once questioned about how can a tiger and a lion have a lion son together (because in stories like these, those questions do not matter as long as the story is good)!

Overall, “The Princess and the Pea” is a truly fantastic fairy tale that children both young and old will definitely enjoy!  I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.

You might also like:

• Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens

• The Tortoise and the Hare by Janet Stevens

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[BOOK REVIEW] Farmer Goff and His Turkey Sam by Brian Schatell

Title:  Farmer Goff and His Turkey Sam

Author:  Brian Schatell

Genre:  Animals / Contests / Fair / Food / Humor

Year Published: 1982

Year Read:  1994 (Re Read: 2018)

Publisher:  J.B. Lippincott

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 5+  (Some Suggestive Themes)

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads

Now, I have a little story to tell here.  When I was in the first grade, my teacher was reading us this book that involved a farmer, a turkey and a pie eating contest and for the longest time, I could not remember the name of this book and therefore, I was not able to read this book for years…. until NOW!  Now, I found out that the title of this book was called “Farmer Goff and his Turkey Sam” by Brian Schatell and man, was it awesome reliving this book again after all of these years!

Farmer Goff was a farmer who lived with his wife and his turkey Sam on a small farm and every year, Farmer Goff would take Sam to the county fair for the annual Turkey contest where Sam would win a blue ribbon every year.  Sam also happens to be extremely fond of Mrs. Goff’s delicious apple and turnip pies, but Farmer Goff is always telling Sam that he has to eat his turkey feed and to not eat any of the pies…or ELSE!  One day, Mrs. Goff baked over 294 pies for the county fair and Farmer Goff took the pies and Sam with him to the fair.  Once Farmer Goff and Sam got into the contest, Farmer Goff started bragging to the other farmers that his turkey Sam will win the contest since he had been training him and feeding him nothing but turkey feed.  At this, Sam got angry at Farmer Goff since he does not like eating turkey feed and he decided to do something about it.

Will Sam the turkey wins the contest and will he finally eat Mrs. Goff’s famous apple and turnip pies?

Read this book to find out!

YAY!  I finally got the chance to read this book again after so many years!  It is a shame that this book is not so well-known among the book community and it is an even bigger shame that this book ended up going out of print, to the point where I had to buy a library copy of this book just to own this book (not that it is bad that it is a library copy, but that just tells me that this book does not have its own printed edition).  Brian Schatell has done an excellent job at both writing and illustrating this book as the tone of the book is extremely humorous and sarcastic and I loved the way that Sam the Turkey gets back at Farmer Goff for all the abuse he has taken from Farmer Goff.  I also like the fact that this book is a bit similar to the antics of Looney Tunes as Farmer Goff and Sam seem to have a bit of a Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner type of relationship with each other as Farmer Goff is Wile E. Coyote and Sam is the Road Runner.  Brian Schatell’s artwork may seem a bit too simplistic, but I think that the artwork works extremely well with the book’s simple yet sarcastic and humorous tone.  The only problem I had with the artwork is that they say that the characters won blue ribbons, but because of the colorings being mainly gray, light brown and red, the *BLUE* ribbons are shown to be *RED* ribbons instead.

Parents might want to know that Farmer Goff acts extremely condescending towards Sam the turkey, especially denying him the right to eat Mrs. Goff’s pies, even though Sam has not done anything wrong prior to the contest.  Parents should let their children know that it is wrong to act rude towards other people and that they should be more kind towards people who have helped them out many times.

Overall, “Farmer Goff and His Turkey Sam” is a truly fantastic and underrated classic that anyone who loves checking out obscure books and books with sarcastic tones will definitely enjoy!  I would recommend this book to children ages five and up due to Farmer Goff having a bad attitude throughout this book.

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• Battle Bunny (Birthday Bunny) by Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett

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