Kuma-Kuma Chan’s Travels is the third in the Kuma-Kuma Chan picture book series. Kuma-Kuma Chan loosely translates from Japanese as ‘cute little bear’. In this book we read about where this bear travels, such as a tropical beach and to the top of a mountain, although we learn that Kuma-Kuma Chan doesn’t actually go anywhere. He travels in his imagination, in his writing and in his dreams. He sends the unnamed narrator writings about his travels but because his writing is too messy, the narrator cannot read them.
I expect the intention of this book is to encourage readers to also use their imaginations. From reading reviews of previous books in the series I understand that this bear is quite popular in Japan. It’s not the kind of children’s book I gravitate to though as nothing really happens.
There isn’t the rhyming or excitement that usually engages young children or bright, detailed illustrations to capture their imaginations. The illustrations are simple and have muted colours. I got sort of a zen feel from reading the book, like I was floating in clouds while I was reading it.
Thank you very much to NetGalley and Museyon Inc. for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
In the third book in the Kuma-Kuma Chan series, the title character flies off to a south sea isle where he lies in the sun and drifts into a lazy snooze. He climbs to the summit of a mountain and views the sunrise while drinking a cup of hot chocolate. Instead of physically setting out for one place or another, Kuma-Kuma travels freely all over the world – inside his head. Once again, Kuma-Kuma Chan charms as he exemplifies the joy of a simple, peaceful, life. With its spare text and delightful illustrations, this small-format picture book invites readers to explore their own imaginations and create their own travels.
I didn’t think I could have any more admiration for the work librarians do, but that was before I read this book. This Is What a Librarian Looks Like is a celebration of the unsung superheroes of the literary world. They are the keepers of knowledge, protectors of words, and walking and talking book recommending extraordinaires! I’m sure they get their superpowers from inhaling the smell of new books. They perform surgical procedures second to none repairing stories that have been loved to pieces. They know the secrets of how to reserve the upcoming bestseller before there’s a queue 50 deep waiting for it (and if you’re nice to them they may even share this coveted knowledge with you). They are the holders of the key to unlocking the universe, a library card, and they’ll give you one for free! Friends to book nerds everywhere, librarians are underappreciated paperback royalty.
This Is What a Librarian Looks Like is a fantastic book and should be required reading for any politician or government official who has any say in how much funding libraries receive. I’ve haunted libraries for as long as I can remember yet I still didn’t realise how integral libraries and librarians are to society. While this book’s focus is America its principles are universal. In a nutshell, libraries and librarians are awesome!! This book is chock full of photographs and quotes from librarians who work at various public, school, prison and hospital libraries across America, along with essays about the history of libraries and personal library experiences of authors including Neil Gaiman and George R.R. Martin.
My Mum was the one who introduced me to our local library (A.K.A. the most magical place on earth). I’d marvel at the selection of books on offer that I got to choose from, knowing that the next time we visited I’d get to do it all over again. Mum and I would visit the library not only for ‘just for the pleasure of reading’ books but also for help with school projects.
The librarians knew everything! Mum and I would tell them what my project was about and they’d lead us to wherever Mr Dewey called. They’d make personal recommendations about the best books for the topics I was looking for and even let me in to the special back room that held the super important local history archives and other curiosities that you could photocopy but could never, ever cross the seal. Oh, wait … that was Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, but I swear I felt important enough that I may as well have been holding the Holy Grail.
When I came across Roald Dahl’s Matilda I wanted to read all of the books in my local library but ended up in awe of her because there were just so many to choose from. Some of my all time favourites that I first discovered on a library shelf as a child have made their way to my own personal library as an adult. I loved my school libraries as well and became a library monitor in high school. Even when I wasn’t ‘on the job’ I could be found hanging out chatting to the school librarians during my lunch break. Not much has changed. Just ask my local librarians!
Decades later Mum and I once again haunt our local library together, but now my local library doesn’t just have books. Between us we borrow books, magazines, CD’s, and DVD’s, along with electronic books, audiobooks, music, magazines, comic books, movies and documentaries. My local library doesn’t even charge for reserving items from another branch and getting them sent to our Mother Ship branch, so I spend time every weekday scouring the new acquisitions and ordering everything Mum and/or I are interested in. There’s even the option to ask the library to buy something they don’t have in stock and I feel like a child at Christmas every time a librarian gives me an item I asked the library to purchase.
Now, I’m definitely not biased and I’m not one to boast, but my librarians are the best in the entire world! They’re so friendly and so helpful, and over the years have become friends I look forward to seeing and catching up with. I go to my library on certain days to see my favourite librarian and love hearing about their life, seeing their holiday photos, and of course hearing about what they’re reading. The best librarian in the world has recommended books to me she knows I’ll love, patiently explains when my brain decides it doesn’t want to understand something, has been a social worker to me when I’ve had bad news, is happy for me when I’m excited about something (like writing book reviews), and laughs with (and at?) me when I’m being weird, eccentric me.
Back to the book, I had too many favourite quotes to list but here are some that made the short list:
“The library was a safe place filled with thousands of potential life-changing friends who couldn’t talk to you, but would tell you a story nonetheless.” – Kyle Cassidy
“Libraries are the connective tissue of the community; connecting people with the resources they need and want in order to do, see, and be all they aspire.” – Brian Hart
“Libraries are very much like oysters; common, abundant, and seemingly ordinary. That is, until you find the endless beauty held within.” – Majed Khader
“Libraries are a safe space where you can challenge your views about life.” – Scott Nicholson
Thank you very much to NetGalley and Hachette Books for the opportunity to read this book. I love it!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
In 2014, author and photographer Kyle Cassidy published a photo essay on Slate.com called “This is What A Librarian Looks Like,” a montage of portraits and a tribute to librarians. Since then, Cassidy has made it his mission to remind us of how essential librarians and libraries are to our communities. His subjects are men and women of all ages, backgrounds, and personal style-from pink hair and leather jackets to button-downs and blazers. In short, not necessarily what one thinks a librarian looks like. The nearly 220 librarians photographed also share their personal thoughts on what it means to be a librarian. This is What A Librarian Looks Like also includes original essay by some of our most beloved writers, journalists, and commentators including Neil Gaiman, George R.R. Martin, Nancy Pearl, Cory Doctorow, Paula Poundstone, Amanda Palmer, Peter Sagal, Jeff VanderMeer, John Scalzi, Sara Farizan, Amy Dickinson, and others. Cassidy also profiles a handful of especially influential librarians and libraries.
When there’s a mystery, Honey Moon needs to solve it and she always goes where she’s needed. When Honey hears howling during a stormy night in Sleepy Hollow, the town where it’s Halloween all year round, she and her mother find a dog out in the storm. After looking after the dog for the night and christening her Stormy, they take her to the local animal shelter to give her the best chance at finding a forever home.
Through this experience Honey comes up with the idea for a dog walking business to keep busy during the holidays and earn some money. Along with her best friend Becky, the business begins and throughout the book there are adventures with runaway dogs, mud puddles, a competition with Honey’s arch nemesis, Clarice, and lots of fun along the way.
Honey and Becky make a new friend, Isabela, who lives in a foster home. Isabela volunteers at the dog shelter and empathises with the dogs because she’s also wanting to find her very own forever home.
The first in a new series and a companion to the Harry Moon series, young girls will really connect with Honey Moon. She’s quirky, is a loyal and trustworthy friend, and loves to have fun and help others. She wears her heart on her sleeve and is someone that you’d want your child to be friends with.
This book subtly teaches children so many valuable lessons and values including responsibility, honesty, bravery, generosity, empathy, resilience, helping others and being a good friend. Throughout the book you hope, right along with Honey, that Stormy and Isabela both find their own forever homes.
The illustrations by Becky Minor (based on the artwork of Christina Weidman) are perfect for the target audience. The use of an illustrated dog tag at the beginning of each chapter is a really cute but effective way of communicating something about the chapter’s contents.
I expect young girls to enjoy this book and want to continue reading about the new adventures Honey and her friends experience in subsequent books. I know I plan to continue reading the series. This book is both a fun read and a rewarding experience.
Thank you very much to NetGalley, Rabbit Publishers and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Wanting to start a business together to earn some spending money, Honey Moon and her friends have a magical idea. In the town where every day is Halloween night, Honey and friends start a dog–walking service called the Sleepy Hollow Howlers. But when the business becomes more than the girls can handle, dog–walking suddenly takes on a new leash and fur flies with disastrous and entertaining results.
You Hold Me Up is a lovely picture book that teaches children empathy, compassion, love and the importance of supporting one another. I’ve read this book twice so far and the second read was as sweet and heartwarming as my first time through.
Danielle Daniel’s illustrations are bright, colourful and happy. I loved that the principles outlined in this book are shown clearly relating to children’s interactions with not only their peers, but also adults and family.
I particularly loved the author’s note at the end of the book that provided deeper meaning to this project, that of much needed reconciliation and healing for Canada’s Indigenous population as a result of 150 years of abuse suffered by children in Indian Residential (boarding) Schools.
Thank you very much to NetGalley and Orca Book Publishers for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
This vibrant picture book, beautifully illustrated by celebrated artist Danielle Daniel, encourages children to show love and support for each other and to consider each other’s well-being in their everyday actions.
Consultant, international speaker and award-winning author Monique Gray Smith wrote You Hold Me Up to prompt a dialogue among young people, their care providers and educators about reconciliation and the importance of the connections children make with their friends, classmates and families. This is a foundational book about building relationships, fostering empathy and encouraging respect between peers, starting with our littlest citizens.
This book in a nutshell? Stop dreaming and start doing.
If you want the experience of having gone to see a motivational speaker while sitting on the lounge in your pyjamas, then this book may be what you’re looking for. It read to me like a motivational speaker’s speech that basically went along the lines of ‘if you can dream it then you can do it’ along with other clichés and plenty of anecdotes.
What you’ll get from this book is common sense advice to move you from thinking about it to doing it, whatever your creative ‘it’ may be. I didn’t read anything revolutionary but it was a quick read. If you feel the need to read something positive to get your butt into gear, try this book. More power to you.
My favourite sentence:
“The more people who align their lives with love, passion and action, the better this world becomes for everyone.”
Biggest annoyance of the book? Following a statement about how we’re all on our own hero’s journey and an anecdote about Luke Skywalker saving a planet with a suggestion for how you can step up your own hero game … by fixing the photocopier again even though you didn’t break it … Really?
At times I felt like I was sitting around a campfire listening to a guy in a tie dye shirt chilling out and telling me, “The Universe will guide you towards your highest good” and that my inner critic is a “snotball” (actual quotes).
This book wasn’t for me and if I hadn’t committed myself to reviewing it I wouldn’t have made it past the first 20%, but just because it wasn’t for me doesn’t mean you won’t get something from it that launches you into creative overdrive.
Thank you very much to NetGalley and Smith Publicity for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Can’t quite get your creative juices flowing? The day job sucking your soul? Fizzled out before you put the finishing touches on your amazing creation?
With relentless positivity, full-on authenticity and a punk rock thunder spirit, author Jeff Leisawitz pulls back the curtain on the creative process and reminds us that we are all creative SuperStars.
It’s time to get off the couch and get on the path. It’s time to tap into the cosmic heartbeat that thumps in your chest and shines from your soul. It’s time to get NFA!
When orphan Anne (with an e) Shirley is sent to live with siblings Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert in place of the boy they had requested to assist them with the farm work, neither could have imagined how this redheaded, freckled spit fire would impact their lives. Spirited, passionate and a chatterbox with a heart of gold who manages to accidentally get herself into trouble quite frequently, Anne transforms Green Gables and Avonlea with her presence. Kindred spirits with best friend Diana and ruthlessly competitive with Gilbert, who she’d swear she despises, Anne is one of those characters that never leaves your heart once she takes up residence.
While I fell in love with Megan Follows’ Anne in the 1985 miniseries of Anne of Green Gables and have watched it, along with its sequels, more times than I can count, and own the most beautiful hardcover 100th anniversary edition of the book, I feel I need to admit my utter failure to ever manage to be able to get into the book. I’m so sorry, L.M. Montgomery! I absolutely adored this graphic novel edition of Anne of Green Gables so much that I’m now determined to move Ms. Montgomery’s novel higher up my TBR pile and attempt it again.
Kindred spirits the world over, those long time friends of Anne and those meeting her for the first time, are going to be entranced by Mariah Marsden’s graphic novel adaptation of this classic. Faithful to the story and characters I know and love, Mariah has made Anne accessible to those who may not have come across her otherwise and reminded those of us who already love her why she will always have a place in our hearts.
Brenna Thummler’s whimsical illustrations match the story perfectly. She brings out the individual quirks and characters of each person she illustrates. Her bright, cheerful images transport you to Avonlea and make you want to take up residence.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the opportunity to read this graphic novel. I hope to see Mariah and Brenna team up again in the near future to tackle Anne sequels in the same format.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Schoolyard rivalries. Baking disasters. Puffed sleeves. Explore the violet vales and glorious green of Avonlea in this spirited adaptation.
The magic of L.M. Montgomery’s treasured classic is reimagined in a whimsically-illustrated graphic novel adaptation perfect for newcomers and kindred spirits alike. When Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert decide to adopt an orphan who can help manage their family farm, they have no idea what delightful trouble awaits them. With flame-red hair and an unstoppable imagination, 11-year-old Anne Shirley takes Green Gables by storm.
Anne’s misadventures bring a little romance to the lives of everyone she meets: her bosom friend, Diana Barry; the town gossip, Mrs. Lynde; and that infuriating tease, Gilbert Blythe. From triumphs and thrills to the depths of despair, Anne turns each everyday moment into something extraordinary.
There’s a medication you can take to be stronger. Another one to make you smarter. Another to make you more beautiful. Another to make you faster. In fact, there’s a medication for anything you want to change about yourself. You can take your pick and you have money to burn so you can take as many different types as you want. You continue taking them all because they work so well. Then you find out your liver is failing and you need a transplant or you’ll die. Do you question where your new liver is coming from? Do you brush aside any ethical dilemmas you might stumble across in the process and decide to go ahead with the surgery anyway? After all, your life is on the line.
I’m not quite sure how she did it but Jessica Kapp reeled me in by the end of the first page and had me on her hook until the end of the book. Body Parts provides a very interesting (and quite scary) commentary on both the organ transplant and pharmaceutical industries.
In the beginning of this book we meet a group of children at the Centre who are being trained to be as healthy as possible in order to increase their chances of being placed with a foster family. Each child has lived in hope that their dream of belonging in a real family will come true. We follow Tabitha as she’s given the news that a family wants to foster her and when she subsequently learns that nothing at the Centre is as it seems. Who can you trust when everything you’ve been taught growing up turns out to be lies?
I loved a lot of the characters, especially Mary, but felt like some of the peripheral characters blended into each other a bit. I enjoyed the uncertainty I felt along with Tabitha regarding who she could trust, and liked that some characters had motives that weren’t always immediately apparent. Some minor irritations, such as the ending feeling rushed and finding the Insta-love annoying at times, didn’t detract from my enjoyment of this book. I found myself wanting to rush through to find out if my suspicions about certain characters were valid and who would be saved from getting slaughtered for spare parts.
I kept thinking as I was reading that a scenario like that described in this book isn’t so far fetched that it’s not within the realms of possibility. Is it really that much of a leap, when there’s already distrust surrounding big drug companies and so many stories about black market organ theft, to believe they could easily merge into one hugely profitable venture?
Partway through this book and with questions like this playing in my head, the X-Phile in me accidentally escaped and thought it would be fun to go all conspiracy theory on me. My favourite outlandish conspiracy theory? What if this book isn’t fiction but is actually a memoir and one day far into the future, Jessica Kapp is going to come clean and reveal at long last that this is actually her story, that she is indeed Tabitha… Yeah, I know. I should be banned from watching The X-Files for life and perhaps conspiracy theory me should not be allowed out in polite company, but I love playing with what ifs. They make life much more entertaining.
Yes, I’m still happy to be an organ donor, but not until I’ve finished using them. Young adults and adults alike will enjoy this book and I’ll be looking out for future books by Jessica Kapp. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Diversion Books for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
People would kill for her body.
Raised in an elite foster center off the California coast, sixteen-year-old Tabitha’s been sculpted into a world-class athlete. Her trainers have told her she’ll need to be in top physical condition to be matched with a loving family, even though personal health has taken a backseat outside the training facility. While Tabitha swims laps and shaves seconds off her mile time, hoping to find a permanent home, the rest of the community takes pills produced by pharmaceutical giant PharmPerfect to erase their wrinkles, grow hair, and develop superhuman strength.
When Tabitha’s finally paired, instead of being taken to meet her new parents, she wakes up immobile on a hospital bed. Moments before she’s sliced open, a group of renegade teenagers rescues her, and she learns the real reason for her perfect health: PharmPerfect is using her foster program as a replacement factory for their pill-addicted clients’ failing organs. And her friends from the center, the only family she’s ever known, are next in line to be harvested.
Determined to save them, Tabitha joins forces with her rescuers, led by moody and mysterious Gavin Stiles. As they race to infiltrate the hospital and uncover the rest of PharmPerfect’s secrets, though, Tabitha finds herself with more questions than answers. Will trusting the enigmatic group of rebels lead her back to the slaughterhouse?
This adorable board book is aimed at toddlers from 12 months old. The farm animals in this book have lost their coats and need your child’s help to get them back. One page shows the animal and its young in silhouette and asks the child what animal it is. The animal is revealed in full colour on the next page.
I can imagine a toddler’s joy at saying the right answer and the page turning to magically reveal a coloured picture of the animal and its young. I’m sure I’d be following the correct answer with an, “And what does the duck say?” I’m getting clucky just thinking about it!
The coloured illustrations are lovely and make the animals look happy and friendly. I love young children’s books that are interactive and really like that this book engages the child by asking them to guess what animal the silhouette shape represents. Anita Bijsterbosch has created a really sweet book.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Clavis Publishing for the opportunity to read this book. If I knew anyone with a child in the right age group I’d be purchasing this book for them and would probably insist on being the first one to read it to them!
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
The farm animals in this book need your help. Will you help them find their coats and give them their colors back? Turn the page and discover who they are. Pigs, ducks or cows? Or maybe horses? An animal book with black-and-white and color pictures that stimulate visual development.
Poetry for Kids: Robert Frost is the latest in a Poetry for Kids series, with previous books featuring poetry by Emily Dickinson, Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman. This book contains 30 of Frost’s poems, prefaced by an introduction of Frost’s life and inspiration for his poetry, and followed by short explanations of each poem’s meaning in a section titled ‘What Robert Was Thinking’. There are definitions included with each poem for words children (and adults) may not be familiar with.
This book is part of an established series so obviously there must be a children’s market for this type of book but personally I would have preferred to see this book marketed as a gift book. Without the ‘for Kids’ branding I think the market would have opened right up for this book.
The audience for this book is listed as 8+ but I know I wouldn’t have appreciated this book as a child. At 8 I was reading Roald Dahl, not poetry books, and I don’t think that’s so unusual.
My fear for this book is that it may be used in schools to teach poetry at kids instead of to kids, and that could ruin Robert Frost for them. I say this because the only poetry I’ve ever hated with a passion have been poems taught to me. I always baulked at a teacher telling me emphatically what the poet meant by each word, line by line. I wanted to have the opportunity to think about the poem myself and decide what it meant to me, and always wondered if the poet actually intended the poem to be interpreted the way my teacher said was the only way, the right way.
Digressing, that reminds me of a story about Alfred Hitchcock helping his granddaughter write an essay for film school about his movie Shadow of a Doubt. Her grade? C. So the story goes, he shrugged and said, “That’s the best I can do”.
Anyway … I grew up adoring The Road Not Taken but that was mostly because my Nan used to quote it all of the time and I’d often read the photocopied poem stuck to a wall in her house with Blu-Tack. I don’t know I would have liked it as a kid without my Nan’s influence.
Michael Paraskevas’ illustrations are absolutely wonderful! They complement the poetry beautifully. I think adults will like them better than kids though. It’s only as an adult that I appreciate artwork like this.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – MoonDance Press for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
A collection to be read, experienced, and treasured.
Whether capturing a cold New England winter’s evening, or the beauty of an old, abandoned house, four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Robert Frost left an indelible mark on our consciousness. This stunning celebration of his best-loved work includes 35 poems specially chosen for children ages 8 to 14 by author and historian Jay Parini.
Illustrator Michael Paraskevas brings the poems to life with his pitch-perfect scenes, infused with majestic color and quiet simplicity. Poems include “Mending Wall,” “Birches,” “The Road Not Taken,” “Fire and Ice,” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,”
This gentle introduction also includes commentary, definitions of key words, and an introduction to the poet’s life.
I had hoped this would be a book I could recommend to psychologist friends for use with their younger clients experiencing separation anxiety or grief. Based on the blurb I expected Everybody’s Somewhere to be focused on bereavement or to be aimed toward children who may live with one parent and be missing the other, or perhaps who have a parent that has had to go away for a work trip. Given that the book was written by a social worker my assumptions were strengthened.
That’s not what this book is though. It’s basically saying that people are everywhere – up trees, under the stars, in cars, etc. Based on the reality of what the book is instead of what I hoped it would be, it’s a cute book. It would be a nice bedtime story. The rhyming and easy words are appropriate for the young target audience.
Alea Marley has done a beautiful job with the illustrations. The colour scheme is soft and comforting. I liked the diversity of the children featured in the pictures and think children as well as adults will enjoy looking at them.
I received an ARC from NetGalley (thank you so much to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Seagrass Press for the opportunity) in exchange for honest feedback.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
UPDATE:If the blurb was fixed to reflect what the author intended then the story works perfectly. I still believe this will make a lovely bedtime story that children will enjoy.
Once Upon a Blurb
Everybody’s somewhere, where are you? I’m right here, I’m somebody, too. Some are in the country, some are in the town. Everybody’s somewhere, up or down.
Everybody — mums, dads, grandpas, grandmas, friends, and people you’ve never met — is somewhere in the world, doing something right now, even if you can’t see them.
Everybody’s Somewhere is a fun, colorful introduction to the idea that everyone you’ve met, or haven’t met, is somewhere. Written perfectly for young minds that might not fully comprehend how big the world is, or the number of people on it, this fun children’s book will plant the seeds of the ideas in their minds.
With its playful poetry, bouncy rhymes, Everybody’s Somewhere asks children to expand their perspective, and follows up with fun illustrations. Award-winning author Cornelia Maude Spelman invites children to imagine other people in other places doing different things, to be delighted by new ideas, and to be reassured that everyone is important and sharing the same world.
Schizanthus Nerd 