September 25, 2016
The Usborne Book Of Princess Stories
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This collection has 4 short stories.
1. The Princess and the Pig
2. The Little Dragon
3. The Tournament
4. The Royal Broomstick
None of the stories are exactly what you would expect from the titles. For example, you might think The Princess and the Pig would follow along the same vein as The Princess and the Frog, however it does not. While the pig does turn into a prince, they actually want him to stay a pig and make it happen.
The stories are told with short and descriptive sentences and large full page pictures, making it a great short story book for small children. Even if you only read one or two at a time, it makes for lots of fun. It'll be interesting to see at what point our little boy gets tired of all of big sister's princess books.
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Usborne Phonics Readers: Bee Makes Tea
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
As a phonics reader book, it has a bit of catchy rhyming to the phrases as it rushes through the story (and I say "rushes" more because the bee is in such a hurry to get everything made and set up just so more than the length of the actual book). It's cute and funny, and perfect for little girls especially. My daughter enjoys playing "tea time" now, so having a book that sets just the right stage like this is a bit of extra fun.
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Usborne Beginners: Dogs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Like Penguins and Horses & Ponies, this is a children's informational guide focusing on a specific animal type. In this case, dogs. For how small and short they are, these beginner books pack a punch, including a glossary, index, and reference sites to visit for further information. Being a common animal that is often seen and come in contact with, even though we don't have one as a pet, makes it an instant win for further learning. I suspect these books will be of more interest when the kids can read and understand them better themselves, but for the moment they still are appealing.
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Usborne Beginners: Penguins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is similar to the Horses & Ponies book, only about penguins instead. We received this as part of my daughter's summer reading program with Usborne Books. One of the stuffed animals she attached to around 1 year old and still clings to, is a penguin from Uncle Thomas. She also loves visiting the penguins at the zoo. These all combined to make this book an instant hit with her. Even if she isn't asking to read all the information this little book includes, she'll still sit and flip through the pictures and charts all on her own.
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A Treasury of Tales: Christmas Storybook Collection
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
With 18 different Christmas tales, each one from a different Disney movie, it's no wonder that this Treasury collection was a big hit the day we found it. While it's not Christmas time yet, I can see this being requested often as we work through the stories again coming up on the holiday and after. Of course, what Christmas collection would be complete without some rendition of A Christmas Carol. The stories are a little longer and more detailed than most children's books as they are probably meant for older kids overall. Still, if limited to one or two stories at a time, it is no problem for our 4-year-old to follow along. The toddler will take awhile to catch up.
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Winnie the Pooh Lessons from the Hundred-Acre Wood 6: I'm Really Sorry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
We found this at a resale shop the other day. Wish it had the rest of the series with it as Winnie the Pooh is a favorite in our house and it is a cute way to teach a valuable lesson. This particular story, I'm Really Sorry, is perfect as it is my daughter's common phrase when she knows she did something wrong or is in trouble. It's a cute way to help teach her why it's important to say sorry and just what that phrase really means.
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Disney Princess: Princess Tales
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
A cute collection of simple early reader books for small children. As this is a very different collection for the other princess set we have, we added it to our library for our daughter, who loves the Disney Princesses.
Cinderella's Countdown to the Ball
The name is a little misleading as it actually counts up from one to twelve before going back to one again. A cute tie in for a simple version of a fairy tale story for small children.
Friends for a Princess
This short tale combines contrasts with a bit of rhyming to describe the seven dwarfs and their interactions with Snow White. Another early reader from the learning to read series.
What is a Princess?
This story actually references many of the princesses as it repeatedly asks the title question, then uses that princesses' actions or words to explain why they fit that role. Done very concisely as it is short and tells the story almost as much in pictures as it does in words. Another good one for early readers.
A Pony for a Princess
Belle finds a wild pony out in the garden and gets it to trust her using picnic snacks before leading it to the barn. Of course, the pony looks like a small version of Philippe from the movie.
Surprise for a Princess
The surprise is actually Briar Rose's birthday party and gifts from the three fairies, covering the early part of her movie, Sleeping Beauty. As with other early reader books, it is told simply. There are many details left out as it focuses only on the fairies trying to put together this surprise for Rose.
A Pet for a Princess
A short and simple story telling of how Jasmine got Rajah from her father as a gift and how the tiger grew up with her. Cute, and a little different in that it doesn't pull from preexisting movie materials as much since it's an original story, even if the characters are already well known.
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Paw Patrol: Five Puptacular Tales!
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
We already had 3 of the 5 stories in this collection, but seeing as they did not have the other 2 available as singles and it's still cheaper to buy the collection than to buy 2 individually, we got the set and will be passing along the other copies to my nephew who also loves the series. This set includes the following 5 books:
1. Chase's Space Case
2. Rubble to the Rescue!
3. Chase is on the Case!
4. Pit Crew Pups
5. King for a Day!
The 2 we had not read yet are Rubble to the Rescue and King for a Day. Like other Paw Patrol books, these follow episodes of the TV series. Given they are early readers from the Step Into Reading series, they are all simplistic and good for reading to or with small children.
Rubble to the Rescue
This is one of the superhero pup stories where Rubble dresses up with his hero mask and wants to save the day. It doesn't end up being as easy as it looks on the shows he likes to watch, but he does still get the job done.
King for a Day
Marshall ends up stepping into the role of King Arthur for a play the pups are putting on when Chase ends up getting sick and is sent home after they finish saving Captain Turbot and rebuilding the set. Complete with his usual clumsy blunders, it's a laugh, but he pulls it off and the pups are all happy to have successfully put on the show. Even Chase, who was obviously disappointed he didn't get to stay in character.
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Paw Patrol: Meet Tracker!
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Like most of the other Paw Patrol books, this one follows one of the TV episodes. As we haven't yet seen this episode, it was refreshing to have a story that we didn't already have a foundation for. As a bonus, this one also introduces a new pup to the team: Tracker. As a early step into reading book, it is overly simplistic and short, making it great for small children.
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Step-By-Step: Drawing People
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
For a simple children's drawing book, it works. It would be better, however, if the pages were dry erase or if it was like other children's learning-to-draw books that came with the magnet drawing boards or something so it wasn't essentially used up as soon as it was tried. So far I've been able to keep the kids drawing on other paper rather than in the book, but you can tell they want to do it in the book because of the scenery and lines provided.
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Sticker Dolly Dressing: Movie Stars
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is a rather simplistic book that has more enjoyment from the sticker factor than from the story. The downside is that while the stickers are easy to peel off if need be, they are not the kind that can re-stick multiple times. It would be nice to have this designed more like with the wipe clean pages and plastic stickers like the ones you'd put on a window that could be reused. For a very brief bit of fun, it's enjoyable, but it gets used up quickly.
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Muddle & Match: Adventure
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a very simple book that gives a child multiple ways to read it. The pages are actually split into 3 parts. You can turn them together or individually. If you read the pages as a whole, the character and adventure description all focuses on the same starting letter (like "e" for "explorer"). If turned individually, you can mix up the descriptions and pictures to be whatever the child wishes. A fun bit of reading and play combined that doesn't have to be the same thing every time.
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September 9, 2016
In Death 43: Apprentice in Death
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This series doesn't disappoint! You think it's all been done, it should all just be variations of the same.... yet it captivates and has you eating it up as fast as you can every single time. This is the first time we see Eve up against an LDSK (long distance serial killer). More acronyms get thrown into the bunch, SWAT joins the investigation along with EDD, and Roarke dives into his civilian consultant routine full stop. We see very little of him "ruling his empire" and a lot of him doing everything he can to aid the NYPSD.... to the point that Eve teases him about getting him his own office at Central. The story is thrilling as it unfolds, with non-stop action and turns. Even Summerset is lacking his usual snipe with Eve as the two of them come together after one of the shootings to aide the victims. Add in Bella's first birthday party at the end, and you get a real good dose of "normal" life mixed in with all that thrill. It's just the right balance and really highlights a lot of ways that Eve and Roarke have grown both as individuals and as a couple.
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September 4, 2016
Psy-Changeling 15.5: Wild Embrace
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I can't say this was my favorite book of the series, but it was a good read. Engaging, with good descriptions and emotions in and a variety of pairings. Also helps fill in some of the gaps and ties in several of the smaller pairings that might be more on the sideline of the main series.
Echo of Silence (#2.5)
Taking place after the second book in the series, this takes us back to the beginning with probably the first Psy/Human pairing currently known. Stefan is interesting as it becomes obvious he is not truly silent at all despite all outward signs pointing to him being another "perfect" psy. In their own ways, both Stefan and Tazia are sort of rebels, not fitting the molds of the societies they grew up in.
Dorian (#5.1)
This short focuses on one of the main characters in the original series as it time hops from his latent childhood to meeting his pack in his leopard form for the first time and learning how to be a sentinel in that form too. Not as much on the pairing aspect here, as that's covered in his main story. Rather, this is more about pack acceptance and learning how to live in two different forms, especially after one has been locked away for so long.
Partners in Persuasion (#11.5)
I wasn't sure what to expect from Felix and Desiree. It isn't the first time we see a submissive/dominant changeling pairing, but it is perhaps one of the first where the male is the submissive. Felix isn't as submissive as some people think once he comes out of his shell though, especially with the training SnowDancer gives all of its wolves to keep them safe. It is nice to see another wolf/leopard pair though, with a different dynamic than Mercy and Riley's dominant/dominant relationship.
Flirtation of Fate (#12.1)
Kenji and Garnet are another type of dominant/dominant pair, but one where everyone, including them, knew they were really supposed to be together and other things were getting in the way (namely Kenji's self-sacrificing delusions). It would seem that with Kenji being the one doing the pushing, that he would have to be the one to start repairing the rift, but that doesn't hold true when Garnet starts seeing things as they really are and decides she's not buying his lies any more. If not for Garnet knowing as surely as Kenji did that they were supposed to be mates, I doubt it would have (or should have) been so easy for the bond to have snapped into place. Despite both of them having very different emotional upheaval for different reasons over their seven year "separation," Kenji really did get off pretty easy in the end.
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September 1, 2016
Barbie 33: Star Light Adventure
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Barbie isn't exactly the best this time around, but she is unique in her abilities and easily convinces the rest of her team to want to follow her. The cover is a little misleading as only Barbie and Sal-Lee ride the hover boards, with the twins as their passengers. Constantine comes off as very rigid and more than a little vain with his determination to be "the one" to save the galaxy. Turns out if he'd just listened to his team of elites from the start, maybe he wouldn't have had such a bad disappointment. At the end of the day though, the galaxy is saved and the new "Princess Star Light" might just be able to teach the old King a thing or two about lightening up and "feeling the beat."
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This is actually the pilot for the TV series, which was then released as a stand alone DVD down the line. This tells the story of Buzz Lightyears early days in Star Command, how he "lost" his first partner and began working alone.... only to learn alone wasn't what it was cut out to be. It's easy to like his new recruits as well as dislike "Agent Z."
Toy Story: That Time Forgot
Toy Story: That Time Forgot (2014)
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Bonnie takes a few of her toys on a Christmas play date where the new toys don't yet realize they are toys and what their true purpose is for a child. It's up to Trixie to help teach the lot and save her friends from disaster. A cute and very fast clipped piece focusing on the new toys while Buzz and Woody take a back seat to the action.
Toy Story 3
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Andy has grown up and is down to one small toy chest of his favorite old toys. Woody, Buzz, and those left of the gang are faced with ending up attic storage or trash. Thinking they're being thrown away, they put themselves in a donation box only to learn Sunnyside isn't exactly sunny and Andy really wasn't trying to get rid of them after all. Thanks to Woody's own adventure trying to get home, he inadvertently found the perfect new home for the lot of toys and even found a way to convince Andy in the process. Now, they have a new home and new friends to continue their adventures with.
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