Childrens New Release and Review: The Queen of the Frogs by Davide Cali and Illustrated by Marco Soma

The Queen of the Frogs 
by Davide Cali (Author), Marco Somà (Illustrations)
 
Release Date: March 20, 2017

Description:
An enchanting modern fable.

The frogs enjoy their life at the pond, filling their days with fly brunches and night music. But one day a little frog finds a crown at the bottom of the pond and is instantly pronounced a queen. She starts doing what queens do: making demands and expecting others to serve her. But when her royal subjects start to question her authority, she must prove she's fit to rule—if she can.

Reminiscent of Aesop's fables, this beautifully illustrated book is sure to start a discussion about the concept of leadership and the importance of humility.


My Review:
What a sweet little story about a frog who finds a crown and becomes the frog queen. I like how it has a moral showing that having a crown doesn't make you a good queen. The explanation around the crown itself is also cool and left a smile on my face.

The illustrations are lovely, not cartoony, but interesting with neat froggy contraptions and scenarios. I think I would I have liked this had I read it as a kid, mostly for the details in the pictures, but also for the queen's plight. It is simple, but not simplistic.

I would have liked to know what happened to the queen beyond just after having lost her crown.

Overall, I really liked it. Good for bedtime reading, interesting pictures, and simple story. Recommended.

I picked this up on NetGalley for a quick read.


About the Author:
Davide Cali was born in Liestal, Switzerland and lives in Genoa. He was a comic writer and illustrator for various magazines until he turned to children's books in 2000. At first both an author and illustrator, he finally decided only to write. Since then, he has written more than 20 picture books, which have been translated into many languages. --translated from the Goodreads author profile

Goodreads (author page)
Amazon.com (books by)
Website
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Middle-grade Steampunk Review: Farsprocket by Dustin McGee

Farsprocket
by Dustin McGee 

Publication Date: February 9th 2013

Description:
The Kingdom of Stormgear flourished for many ages, before the events of the 7th Age brought that peace to an abrupt and devastating halt. A great war ravaged the Far North and spread corruption throughout the land. At the end, the war even reached the massive gates of the city of Stormgear, with its shining beacon of hope, the Academy, at its heart.

Though the city had already seen its fortunes fall when a plague swept through its western reaches, the defenders managed to hold back the assault, but at a great cost. With the war finally over, the city began to recover and life seemed to be returning to normal, but there are still threats lurking in the shadows, hoping to disrupt this fragile peace. Much of this danger lies in the manufacturing district in the western portion of the city, which remains a restricted area, but children regularly find their way in, to explore and discover the parts needed for their latest inventions.

It's every child's dream to become an engineer of legend and to do so they must first gain entry into the Academy of Engineering, a massive tower at the center of the city. An engineering marvel in itself, the tower has trained and nurtured many engineers through its diverse programs in various fields of engineering study. To be accepted, you must prove yourself and it’s this test that has led many a child to seek out the assortment of parts and wreckage that lie in the west.

With many of the old legends fading into history and the world just a tad darker than in ages past, it is through this search for elusive parts that a small group of children and early teens will be brought together to face this new age, together.

Though they are mostly naïve to the dangers surrounding them, they just might have the talent and heroism necessary to become legends themselves.

My Review:
Farsprocket is steampunk for the middle-grade crowd. The heroes in this story are Magnus, Vorrin, Melayna, and Cindra. Aided by their robots, Titan and Alpha, the kids decide to go on a rescue mission.

The thing I love most about this story is the humor. The author has great timing, particularly with the dialog and arguments. The non-verbal cues are also spot on. I could totally picture the faces the kids were making and it just made it all the more entertaining. The rivalry between Cindra and Magnus was hilarious. Poor Magnus.

The two robots that go along with the kids are also a hoot. They were just as charismatic as the kids, even without the ability to talk, especially Alpha, who kept turning on a certain setting despite how often Melayna turned it off.

Besides the heroic team, plenty of dangerous characters roam these pages, giving the story an exciting edge and the heroes a reason for working together. A devastating plague caused by pollution causes people to go insane, even so much as to engineer equally insane robots to wreak havoc. Scrappers, who roam the abandoned parts of the city to steal parts, are just as likely to steal away unsuspecting people to work in the mines. And corrupted robots are fueled by a dark power source that makes them incredibly strong and violent, a bad combination.

Even so, I noticed a few things that didn’t quite work for me. The kids tend to yell and shout when they’re supposed to be hiding, yet they’re never noticed. They also become friends almost the instant they meet. The story spans only a couple of days, but very quickly refers to them all as being close friends or family. Not a big deal, just seemed a bit easy.

Overall, I really liked this story. I’d recommend it to folks who enjoy kid-friendly action, humor, and robots. In particular, I think the middle school crowd would dig it.

I picked this up some time ago while it was on a free promotion. Finally got a chance to read it.

Childrens Book Review: Millie Hardiman and the Red Parrot Fever by Eddie Owens

Millie Hardiman and the Red Parrot Fever
by Eddie Owens

Released: July 24, 2016
Description:
Millie Hardiman is a thirteen-year-old from Bognor Regis, with a wild imagination, who dreams of becoming a writer.

When Millie’s scriptwriter Dad, Barry, has writer’s block, Millie becomes his muse for the daytime television soap, Double Top.

After her success on Double Top, Millie creates a Sci-Fi, teen drama, The Adventures of Martian Girl.

Millie falls in love for the first time with Wolf Van Der Beek, an arrogant, South African child actor.

This is a story about friendship, first love and growing up.


My Review:
Millie Hardiman and the Red Parrot Fever almost sounds like a mystery novel, based on the title, but it’s more of a humorous coming of age story. Millie’s a kid with an over-the-top imagination and a knack for convincing unwary adults her stories are true. It drives her parents crazy, but when her dad hits a mega writing block at the worst possible time, they make a deal with her that opens the floodgates.

First off, I don’t think the description does this justice. It’s quite a fun read, but it’s more about Millie’s crazy stories both bringing her opportunities and getting her into trouble than about her love story and her budding writing career.

Besides the stuff Millie comes up with, I really enjoyed her growth as she pushes the boundaries and begins to recognize that even a fictional tale can have real consequences. The love story was more of a first crush tale, which I found plausible for kids that age. There are lessons to be learned, but overall, the stories and hijinks make it a quick and entertaining read.

The only thing I didn’t particularly care for was some clunky punctuation in the beginning, mostly odd pauses in the flow of the words that led to a lot of having to reread things. I didn’t notice very much of this near the end of the story, though.

Overall, I really liked this story and would recommend it to middle-schoolers and up who like humor and lots of shenanigans.

I received the review copy of this book from the author.


Book Links:
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Goodreads


About the Author:

Well, I didn't find much about the author other than a picture and that he was born in Glasgow. Oh, and this quote of his on his Goodreads profile:

“"I didn't read "The Hunger Games" for ages. I thought it was some poxy book about a TV reality cooking show."

Fat Jimmy

From "Fat Jimmy and the Blind Ballerina" due out Jan 2017 (hopefully)”

Author Links:
Goodreads
Amazon.com

Children's Book Review: In the Land of Broken Time: The Incredible Journey by Max Evan and Maria Evan

In The Land of Broken Time: The Incredible Journey
by Max Evan and Maria Evan 

Description:
This book is about the adventures of a boy named Christopher, a girl named Sophia and a retriever named Duke. By chance they find themselves in a balloon that takes them to a fairyland where mysterious events happen.

The children want to find the way home, but first they have to solve a lot of mysteries and learn interesting ways of measuring time.


My Review:
In the Land of Broken Time: The Incredible Journey is a short story featuring an unexpected adventure that lands three new friends in a place where time has gone wrong, dogs talk, and pacifying caps are in, especially for grumpy gnomes with bad reputations.

What I liked most about the story is that it’s fun and paced well. There’s a good bit of humor, too, but it also presents some interesting tips about keeping your vision when moving into a dark room or how matter changes when it heats up or cools down. I also like the part about how the gnome’s reputation was damaged after a single outburst—he was an amusing character, but his dilemma teaches an important lesson.

As for the translation and editing, it’s almost completely solid. There was one very short spot (maybe 2-3 paragraphs) at about the 83% mark, where it seemed to revert to rough translation, but everywhere else, it’s perfect. I just skimmed over that one place.

Overall, I really liked this book. It’s fun, educational, and well-paced. I think children in the elementary or younger middle school age groups would most likely enjoy either reading it or having it read to them.

I received the review copy of this book from one of the authors.

About the Authors:

From Maria Evan via Amazon:

Hello! I am the author and the illustrator of children's books.

The idea to write a fairy tale came at a time when my son was 5 years old. He was sick, and I wanted to please him more than anything. He likes to read books, but all of our books have been read several times so I had a desire to come up with new stories, the first of them -- an adventure in which our son and our boxer dog travel by balloon. It was very exciting for me, starting the next series. I did not know how it would end. :)

Then I saw how his eyes lit up, and thus, he gave me the belief that my writings are interesting.

Together with my husband - Max Evan - we were able to realize this idea, and for me, it is important to know your opinion about our first children's book.   

-----
Note that the book, description, and author profile are all translations from Russian. The book was translated by Helen Hagon, who did a fantastic job. I'm not sure who translated the author bio and book description, but I edited the versions you see in this post to better reflect the quality I saw in the book.  I tried to keep true to the intent I saw in the original versions.       

Childrens Picture Book Review: My Grandma's a Ninja by Todd Tarpley

My Grandma's a Ninja by Todd Tarpley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This kept me laughing the whole time. I actually have tears in my eyes.

Ok, first off, the cadence of this story is excellent. I think this would be a great bedtime story. It's quick and funny. The pictures are cute and the jokes are, too.

The illustrations are simple, but funny. I like how the grandma ninja still wears her necklace. The slow motion ninja moves are well done, too.

And the ending? Priceless.

I would say the only thing that could be done better is the font and text formatting used inside. It looks like it's Arial, which isn't a particularly interesting font. Plus, it seems rather small. I think a serif font, a bit bigger, would fit in with the illustrations a bit better. Also, the larger font would be easier to read during bedtime when lights might be dimmed a bit to get the youngsters in the mood for sleep. Another note on the text is that the paragraph indents seem weird. Sure, paragraphs tend to start with an indent, but in picture books, we're talking one or two liners. I think no indent would look better.

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Children's Book Review: Eliza Bluebell by A.J. York

Eliza Bluebell by A.J. York
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another one of A.J.'s magical stories. This one features a mysterious young woman who takes a break from her quest to find family to open a sweet shop in a small town. No one is certain how or when Eliza showed up, but everyone remembers it. After that, each chapter features one or two of the people from the town and how Eliza touches their lives. Eliza becomes a legend in the town's lore. A woman whose departure was as mysterious as her arrival.

In this story, which is pretty short, I most enjoyed the chapters in the middle, because each one is told from the perspective of a different villager. The nosy neighborhood women, the best friends in the grade school, the old man who grumbles and times the bus, and the young couple who are down on their luck. I like how Eliza draws them out of their shells and helps them connect to each other. Eliza's sentient and playful shadow adds that element of magic to everything. The people don't notice it directly, but they are affected by it. This is one of those stories that just left me feeling good.

The illustrations are also well done, though simple in their execution. Just silhouettes and shadows against a white background. They are obviously done by a skilled artist, though not as whimsical or laughter inducing as those in the author's other books. They fit the story and introduce the subject of each chapter effectively.

Although I liked this story, I think the story could have done just as well either without the first chapter, or with a much shorter one. I think this was because the first chapter was more of a telling than a showing. Later ones were more of a showing, which is why I enjoyed them more. There was also a fair amount of repetition, particularly within the first chapter.

Overall, I really liked the story, though it had a slow start. I'd recommend Eliza Bluebell to folks who like uplifting short stories with a touch of humor and magic.

I received a free copy of this book in return for an honest review.

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Add Eliza Bluebell to your TBR

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23652748-eliza-bluebell

Get Eliza Bluebell now!

http://www.amazon.com/Eliza-Bluebell-J-York-ebook/dp/B00QFZ6XLO

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