[ARC REVIEW] Bluebell and the Silver Palace by P.J. Reed

 

Title:  Bluebell and the Silver Palace

Author:  P.J. Reed

Artist: Emma Gribble

Genre: Humor / Fantasy / Adventure / Mystery

Year Published: 2021

Number of Pages: 117 pages

Date Read: 11/3/2024

Series: The Fairies of Therwen Wood #2

Publisher:   Lost Tower Publications

Source:   eARC (Author)

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (No Objectionable Content)

Buy on:  Amazon // Goodreads

I would like to thank the author P.J. Reed for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

So, after I read the first book in the “Bluebell” book series, I just had to read more books from this series and lo and behold, I was given a copy of the sequel to the first “Bluebell” book, “Bluebell and the Silver Palace” and man, was it even more exciting than the first book!

The story starts off with Bluebell, the newly appointed Wish Fairy, buying some honey from the bumblebees that make the honey, in order to make some delicious honey cakes.  But unfortunately, Bluebell ends up being arrested by Queen Caraway and it turns out that the Queen’s honey has been stolen.  So, Queen Caraway wishes for Bluebell to find out who stole her honey.

Can Bluebell solve this mystery?

Find out in this book!

So, after reading the first book in this series, I was dying to read more adventures from Bluebell the Wish Fairy and man, this sequel does not disappoint me!  P.J. Reed did a fantastic job at writing this story as the tone of this story shifts to a mystery genre, rather than be a straight up adventure genre like in the first book.  I really loved this change in genre for the second book because I always loved reading mystery books and this book does a great job at setting up the mystery of who stolen the honey from the Queen and how Bluebell and her friends try to solve the case.  I also loved the relationship that Bluebell has with both Tobin the Gnome and newcomer, Billy the bee as they both provided some interesting dynamics with Bluebell.  Tobin is as usual, usually stern with Bluebell, while Billy is much more playful towards Bluebell. Emma Gribble’s artwork is great to look at as they are simplistic yet beautiful and they greatly complement the cute and mysterious tone of this book.

Overall, “Bluebell and the Silver Palace” is a fantastic sequel to the first “Bluebell” book and if you love reading about mysteries and delicious food, then this book is definitely worth checking out!  I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since there is nothing really inappropriate in this book.

You might also like: 

• The Fairy in the Kettle by Pauline Tait

• The Fairy in the Kettle Gets Magical by Pauline Tait
• Bluebell: The Wish Fairy by P.J. Reed

[ARC REVIEW] Gingerbread Christmas by Jan Brett (@PutnamBooks , @byjanbrett)

Title:  Gingerbread Christmas

Author:  Jan Brett

Genre:  Children's / Humor / Family / Christmas

Year Published: 2016

Year Read:  2019

Publisher:  G.P. Putnam's Sons

Source:  eARC (Edelweiss)

Content Rating:  Ages 4+ (Nothing Objectionable)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

I would like to thank Edelweiss and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was a bit familiar with Jan Brett’s “Gingerbread Baby” series and I was actually surprised that Edelweiss had a copy of the sequel “Gingerbread Christmas!”  Since the Christmas holidays is around the corner, I figured that I might pick up a Christmas read and this was quite a cute book to read!

The Gingerbread Baby is back and this time, he wants to start a musical band to play with in the Christmas Festival.  So, his friend Matti decided to bake the Gingerbread Baby a Gingerbread Band and the band ended up performing at the Christmas Festival.  Everything was going fine for the band until the children started noticing how tasty the band smelled and this causes the audience to try and get at the band.

Can the Gingerbread Baby and his band get out of being eaten during Christmas?

Read this book to find out!

Wow!  Jan Brett has one again created a wonderful story about the Gingerbread Baby and I found myself enjoying this book immensely!  I loved the fact that the Gingerbread Baby wanted to start a band to play with at the Christmas Festival and it was interesting seeing how the Gingerbread Baby would escape from being eaten on Christmas since he is a…well, you know…a gingerbread cookie.  I also loved the Gingerbread Baby’s relationship with Matti as Matti seems to be the only human being who does not want to eat the Gingerbread Baby.  Jan Brett’s artwork is beautiful as always as all of the characters look so realistic!  I also loved how colorful the artwork is, especially of the images of the Gingerbread Baby and his Gingerbread Band!

Overall, “Gingerbread Christmas” is a truly cute read that would be perfect for the Christmas season!  I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.

You might also like:

• A Gingerbread Christmas by Tim Raglin and Eric Metaxas

• The Tale of the Tiger Slippers by Jan Brett

• Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve? by Jan Brett

[ARC REVIEW] Snack Attack! by Terry Border (@PhilomelBooks)

Title:  Snack Attack!

Author:  Terry Border

Genre:  Children's / Food / Humor / Horror

Year Published: 2019

Year Read:  2019

Publisher: Philomel Books  

Source:  eARC (Edelweiss)

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (Some Scary Images)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

I would like to thank Edelweiss and Philomel Books for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Now, I had read a few children’s books that dealt with talking food and how they view human beings.  However, “Snack Attack!” by Terry Border was an extremely unique case where we actually get to see how the food items fear the human beings due to them being eaten by them.  “Snack Attack!” is definitely one book about food that children will definitely get a laugh out of!

The food items Cookie, Pretzel and Cheese Doodle had heard tales about Monster Kids who would come up and eat the food items for snacks.  But these three food items decided to come out of their packages and play around in the kitchen.  But unfortunately, the three food items stumbled upon a note from the Monster Kid’s mother that states that when her child comes back home, he or she can eat some of the snacks when they come home.  It was then that Cookie, Pretzel and Cheese Doodle have to come up with a plan to save themselves from the Monster Kid.

Can the food items escape their gruesome fate?

Read this book to find out!

Wow! Terry Border’s writing and artwork was quite creative and hilarious to look at!  I loved the way that Terry Border made the story both hilarious and intense at the same time as I was laughing along with the food items’ antics while being scared for their survival against the Monster Kid.  I also loved the concept about what would happen if food items become sentient and we get to see from their perspective about how they feel about being eaten by human beings (which is terrifying)!  Terry Border’s artwork was also highly creative as he uses realistic photographs of various food items and kitchen materials, while drawing some slight cartoonish expressions on the food items’ faces to give them some personalities.

Parents should know that there are some scary images in this book that might frighten smaller children.  There are some images that portray what the monster kid would look like from the food items’ point of view and the Monster Kid is often drawn as a terrifying blue creature with a long tongue that slurps up the food items.  Parents might want to read this book first before reading it to their children to see if this book would be okay for them.

Overall, “Snack Attack!” is a truly creative and entertaining book that children who love reading about food in general will definitely enjoy!  I would recommend this book for children ages five and up since there are some scary images that might frighten small children.

You might also like:

• My Little Sister Ate One Hare by Bill Grossman

• A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon

• Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich by Adam Rex

[ARC REVIEW] Sigfried's Smelly Socks! by Len Foley

Title:  Sigfried's Smelly Socks!

Author:  Len Foley

Genre:  Children's / Humor / Food / Clothing

Year Published: 2017

Year Read:  5/22/2018

Publisher: New Horizon Health, Inc.    

Source: eARC (Amazon Kindle)

Content Rating:  Ages 4+ (Some Gross Humor)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads

I received this book through Amazon Kindle and OnlineBookClub.org in exchange for an honest review.

 Alright, I have a confession to make.  I have been trying to get into some new ways to read books online, which includes signing up for NetGalley and Edelweiss (which I have been enjoying so much lately).  So, I was a bit hesitant in using Amazon Kindle since I was so used to using NetGalley and Edelweiss to get my books online.  But, once I decided to try Amazon Kindle, I actually started to enjoy using it and one of the first books I had read from Amazon Kindle is “Sigfried’s Smelly Socks!” by Len Foley and it was quite a cute read!

A young boy is narrating the story about how he encounters several different things that smell horrible which included a rotten banana, dog urine, and his sister Piper’s dirty diaper.  But none of those things compared to the smell of his socks, which the boy describes as smelling like rotten cabbage, a toilet seat and dog slobber!  Now, that is what I call “SMELLY SOCKS!”

Len Foley did a good job at both writing and illustrating this bizarre children’s book!  I liked the way that Len Foley wrote this book as the story was quite humorous and exaggerated with the little boy, who is the narrator, listing all the horrible smells that he has encountered, including rotten foods and his smelly socks.  I liked the way that the boy in the story was exaggerating his descriptions of how badly his socks smell, such as saying that his socks smell like dog slobber and rotten cabbages as it puts an interesting spin on how children identify the different types of smells they encountered in real life.  I also liked the fact that the little boy was comparing the smell of his smelly socks to other smelly items such as a dirty diaper, a rotten banana and an old pizza slice as it would help children identify with what items have stinky smells.  Len Foley’s artwork was quite humorous to look at as all the characters have exaggerated features such as large noses and large rounded eyes.  The artwork reminds me a bit of Tedd Arnold’s artwork from his children’s books “Green Wilma” and the “Parts” series as they both have characters who have large rounded eyes that make their appearances look humorous.

The reason why I gave this book a four-star rating was because even though I found the premise to be cute, the story was not quite as hilarious to me as other children’s books with gross out humor like “Walter the Farting Dog” and “Pat the Beastie.”  Also, for anyone who does not like gross out humor, this book does have some gross moments, such as giving us images of realistic food items that are rotting (which I will admit made me feel a bit nauseous at times).

Overall, “Siegfried’s Smelly Socks” is a truly cute children’s book about exploring horrible smells that children who are interested in gross humor will definitely enjoy!  I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since some children might be a bit gross out by some of the rotting food imagery.

You might also like:

• Walter the Farting Dog by William Kotzwinkle and Glenn Murray

• Green Wilma by Tedd Arnold
• Pat the Beastie by Henrik Drescher

[ARC REVIEW] This is a Taco! by Andrew Cangelose

Title:  This is a Taco!

Author:  Andrew Cangelose

Artist:  Josh Shipley

Genre:  Children's / Animals / Humor / Food

Year Published: 2018

Year Read:  4/28/2018

Publisher: Lion Forge

Source: eARC (NetGalley)

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (Some Mischief)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

I would like to thank NetGalley and Lion Forge for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

So, I got yet another children’s book from NetGalley and this book is called “This is a Taco!” by Andrew Cangelose along with artwork by Josh Shipley.  I must say that this is seriously one of the FUNNIEST children’s books I had ever read for the modern era of children’s books!

Meet Taco!  Taco is a squirrel who happens to love eating tacos and he only agreed to be in this book if he can have some tacos. Unfortunately for Taco, this book is not about tacos as it is a book that teaches the readers about the life of a squirrel and how they are able to survive in the wild. 

Will Taco the Squirrel get his tacos?

Read this book to find out!

Wow! Just wow!  I thought that I would never read another children’s book that contains so much humor and wit in this day and age, but lo and behold, I found such a book! Andrew Cangelose has done an excellent job at writing this book as this story is truly hilarious to read! I loved the way that Andrew Cangelose wrote Taco the Squirrel himself as he is such a hilarious character who just wanted to have tacos to eat but has to endure lots of mishaps in this book so that the reader would learn more about squirrels.  I especially loved the way that Taco the Squirrel solved the problem of not getting tacos at the end of this book as it was a truly witty and humorous conclusion to the story!  I also loved the fact that the tone of this book reminded me so much of the popular children’s book “The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales” as both books have sarcastic humor and characters who continually break the fourth wall and wanted the stories to go the way they see fit.  Josh Shipley’s artwork is adorable and hilarious to look at, especially of the images of Taco the Squirrel himself as he is shown as being a puffy looking squirrel with a humorous smile on his face on each panel.  I also loved the watercolors in the background as it gives the book a down to earth tone that compliments well with the mellowness of this book.

Overall, “This is a Taco!” is a truly hilarious book about squirrels and unconventional storytelling that children should definitely check out!  I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.

You might also like:

• The Frog Prince Continued by Jon Scieszka

• The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! by Jon Scieszka
• The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka