Picture Book Review: The Rainbow Stick Boy by Michael Santolini

Picture Book Review: The Rainbow Stick Boy by Michael Santolini

What Squirels Do: The Squrirel Olympics -- By Hazel Nutt

This is a quite imaginative and fun book. I mostly enjoyed the pictures, especially the cover page with the different color squirrels are pretending the be the Olympic rings. It's cute and funny. This children's book is a rhyming book about how squirrels discover outdoor sports that are just like the Olympics. They Sprint, they jump, play tennis with acorns and even do pigeon curling. Hazel Nutt does a good job of creating the Squirrel Olympics with a unique view of animals play time and humans games. I would recommend this book to parents with small children. Thanks Hazel Nutt for writing a cool, interesting and fun little book about squirrels.

The Rainbow Stick Boy--FREE on Smashwords.com

Now Free on Smashwords.com Please check it out. It's available as a paperback for $7.99 on Amazon.com

Review #19 Escape From The Forbidden Planet--by Julie Anne Grasso

This book has it all: Elves, evil clones, intergalactic travel, adventure, techie talk,science talk, the battle of good vs. evil and tons of food and dessert references that will make your mouth water while you read.

This book is about Elfin world that has a natural resource that other planets in the galaxy are after. The Elf people are betrayed by someone close to them so that they can gain power by selling the elf planets natural resource to beings of another planet called the Alexanders. From there adventure ensues for the main character Caramel Cinnamon. Caramel is left for dead on a forbidden planet. She tries to work her magic as only elves can to heal and to speak telepathically to others. Caramel has to go through many obstacles to help her in the evil fight against the Alexanders as she tries to save her planet...Will justice be restored or will the Alexanders of the galaxy take over reign of the Elfin planet? ... read and find out what happens in the adventures of Caramel Cinnamon.

 This book is great for kids and adults alike. I enjoyed it because it had a great plot and it kept me wanting to read more as I got further into the story. I loved the sci-fi feel mixed with the fantasy world of elves that love their desserts. Julie Anne Grasso seems to take from her career of healing(nursing) and her husbands career of computer engineering and swirled them together with technology, science,elves and caramel to create this delicious book. It's part geeky, part science, and part fun, all brought together to become this awesome book called Escape From The Forbidden Planet. I would recommend this book to reading age kids and adults who like sci-fi kids books.
 Definitely something different. I really enjoyed reading it!

I was given this book as a gift from the author for review. All my comments are my own and I was not paid for this review.

Kids Book Holiday Blog Hop and Giveaway! Dec 7th-10th!

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Last chance for paperback The Rainbow Stick Boy on Goodreads.com

Last chance to enter the giveaway on Goodreads.com for one copy of the paperback The Rainbow Stick Boy! enter now here http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/37056-the-rainbow-stick-boy

Reviews Coming Soon Page!

Check out the reviews coming soon page. Do you have a children's book that you would like reviewed? Let me know!

Review#18 Wobby Blobby Ooh! on uTales.com --by J.R. Poulter

Ebooks for kids - Wobby Blobby Ooh! - uTales 
This book is a funny book about the horrible smells that a baby can make. It's a short book about a big brother that smells something horrible,  like a plume of toxic gas, the smell is so horrible he freaks out. He realizes that it's his brother's smell is a poopy diaper! It's a entertaining little book  that you can relate to if you have little ones in the house  and especially if you have two kids, because kids will say things like what is that smell. This book answers that questions for sure with great illustrations of the "gas"..haha! You can find this little book on utales. The author tells me they are trying to add some "fart" sound effects soon. Who doesn't love fart sounds! More about utales from their website:

uTales is a world of digital picture books for kids, driven by a worldwide community of passionate and professional writers and illustrators.
uTales is both a website and an app, but more importantly uTales is one big disruptive idea. We’re a global community aiming to innovate and improve the concept of books in every way we can. We’re making picture books more modern and engaging. We’re making a greater variety of picture books more accessible for kids everywhere. We’re eliminating boundaries for talented storytellers to get published. And we’re trying to make the world a little better for kids, one story at a time.

Review#17--Beautiful, Magical, Amazing Ballet -- By Mary Lee

This is the second book of the Mia Book collection by Mary Lee -- Beautiful, Magical, Amazing Ballet is about  The little girl named Mia going to her first day of ballet class. Mia thought that ballerinas were the most beautiful, magical, and amazing people ever. She loved the puffy dresses and pretty shoes and everything else about them. She soon would find out that being a ballerina was harder than it looks, but with the help of her fellow ballerinas she would still have a beautiful, magical and amazing day in ballet class. In this book Mia thinks that she can just  make up ballet moves, but realizes that it might end in failure. She realizes that when directions are followed by watching the teacher she was able to be a great ballerina. She also has great classmates that show teamwork and support her whether she fails or succeeds.  My daughter does dance class and she loves it, she also loved this book especially the pictures of ballerinas. This book teaches kids that its alright to fail, and that you should try again, because even if you aren't good at one type of dance move you might be good at another. This book is a great addition to the first Mia book and I'm sure there will be more to come.

I received this book from the author for an honest review.

Reviews for Books

If you have any children's e-book that you want reviewed or you can recommend please send them my way. I'm always looking for the best  independent children's e-books to review ans to get get independent authors books more exposure, so please contact me via email at michaelsantolini(at)gmail(dot)com

Reviews will summarize what we thought the book was about from our perspective and personal view on the subject.

I am not paid for any review

I mostly read to my kids, but I also read the books alone for review. My kids are ages 5, 3 and 1.

A few things before contacting us:

1. I do not guarantee a review of your book. By contacting us, we are agreeing to consider it for review by either ourselves or one of our regular contributors.
2. I believe everyone should get a fair chance at a good review. I give 4 and 5 stars  for amazon, goodreads, and I post the review here on my blog, but I don't usually give it a rating on my blog.
3.  I post the review with a link to the book for sale mostly the link is from amazon.com. If I think it doesn't deserve a 4 or 5 star review I don't post a review. I haven't had to do this yet.
4. I will strive to provide you with a reasonable turnaround time but cannot guarantee a review within a specific time frame.
5. I can review e-books or print, but If you would like me to review a print book please let me know by email michaelsantolini(at)gmail(dot)com.

 Thanks!


Michael

Review #16-- Bosley Sees the World - Spanish Written by Tim Johnson,

This is a book that is a bilingual book in English and Spanish. There are also books available in English with: French, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, German,  Italian,  and Arabic. These books  that are bilingual are great. Its always a good thing to teach kids more than one language, and books are a great way to start. I especially like that there are the same words and simple phrases, opposites, highlighted words, contextual learning, and corresponding imagery  on the page in both English and the foreign language.  I also enjoyed the colorful pictures in this book. The book is a simple story about a bear who goes on a journey to climb a mountain and realizes there is much more of the world to see. Also a great story to make a collection of stories with new words for kids to learn.  There is also a glossary in the back of the book that goes over the new words in English and the foreign language again to repeat the words just learned in the book. Hopefully there will be many more adventures from Bosley the bear.

Review#15--Savannah’s Story Written and Illustrated By Jodi Stone

Savannah is a little girl who believes in magic. What lead her to believe in magic is partly her imagination and the fact that she was bored in her room, all alone. She was looking for someone to play with, but her sisters had "better" things to do.  Savannah was upset at first, but she was soon distracted by her dollhouse and her imagination and magic wishes had taken over. Soon she wished she could play in her doll house and before she knew it her wish had come true. She was small, as small as the dolls, and finally had someone to play with that was her size. Or at least she shrunk down to their size. The story continues with Savannah's adventures. She finally was tired of being in the dollhouse and realized she wanted to get back to her family. When she finally returned to be a normal size again she was very grateful, but she will always cherish the  magic that brought her to that special place inside the dollhouse.

Having kids I can say that they are probably the most imaginative and free thinking when they are alone with no distraction. They just play and make believe the greatest things, and they believe they are real. Sometimes it's sad to see them grow up and loose that imagination and magic that they had as small children, but I guess that is why we have books like this to remind us that our imaginations can still live on if we let them, as long as we believe in our heart. This book was given to me as a ARC  by the author.

Review #14-- Mailbox Kitten Written by Mammy Oaklee and illustrated by Patricia J. Westbrook

This story starts out describing, a mailbox, a joyful mailbox that is the symbol of country living, freedom, and the unknown. It's all about the country living adventure, working on the land and living free. Then there are the mail ladies, the ladies that deliver the mail and will be friends of the farm forever because of their friendly nature. The mailbox kitten came as a gift from the mail ladies, a lost kitten, not belonging to anyone they know, so it was given to Bubba the little boy at Heart of Bottoms Up 2/3 Acre. They took in the kitten and gave it a good home and a good life. I won't give away the rest of the story, but there is a lot of love and God's will to create opportunity from this experience and adventure. In this story the love comes from Bubba caring for the kitten and Bubba's parents determination to find the kitten, for Bubba and the whole family to love. The kittens have brought the family much joy and adventure. This is a great story for young kids to realize the true meaning of caring, and that God will show us the way to love.

The Rainbow Stick Boy-- now a physical book on Create Space and soon sold on Amazon.com!

I have decided to make my e-book "The Rainbow Stick Boy" into a real physical book that you can hold in your hands. Check it out on Amazon.com or Create Space estore: https://www.createspace.com/3985186

Apple, B&N, and Smashwords.com

Now The Rainbow Stick Boy is available on ibooks for apple itunes, B&N Nookstore, and Smashwords.com! please search for it on your favorite device app today!

Just A Thought: The Rainbow Stick Boy

Just A Thought: The Rainbow Stick Boy: This children's book is a description of how people in society tend to place people into sections of society based on how they look or w...

The Rainbow Stick Boy is FREE today and tomorrow (August 30th -- Sept.1st) -

My book " The Rainbow Stick Boy " is free today and tomorrow please check it out!-- I'm extending it another day. MY BOOK WILL BE SEPTEMBER 1st  ALSO!

review#13--Brittle Bones by S. E. Pearl

This is a fun little book that tells the story of the dinosaurs in a simple, fun and imaginative way. It has simple pictures that little children will be sure to love. A man buys bones and plants them in his backyard to grow dinosaurs. It rained and sprouted dinosaurs, the dinosaurs had a great summer with eating treats and having a pool party, but when the autumn came the dinosaurs were sad because they knew their time had almost come to an end. They finally disappeared to be seen no more. All we have left is the bones to tell their story.  This is  a great little read that will give young kids a fun way to relate to the time of dinosaurs. If your kid is interested in dinosaurs they will probably enjoy this e-book.

Review#12--The Funny Adventures of Little Nani--CINTA GARCÍA DE LA ROSA

This book has not been published just yet, but I received a ARC from the author of this children's book. This story takes you through a whimsical journey of a little girl named Nani. She has magical powers by use of a magic wand that she took an online course on how to use it. This book sucks you into the story of a very magical, happy, funny, silly, charming, sometimes naughty, but naive little girl's adventures. She uses her magic wand to help her along her fairy tale journeys. Sometimes Nani tries to make things better with her magic, but she isn't quite as skilled as she would like to be and things turn out terribly wrong. She makes friends into animals and changes animals into other animals, but she also makes friends with people and animals she talks to along the way. The stories of the people she meets always get part of what they want to change, but not in the most pleasing way. She has a carefree attitude about most of the mishaps she makes, but she does show regret that they have happened. She always had good intentions at least! This book is a little longer than I usually read for a review, but the more I read it the more I wanted to read it... It drew me into the stories of this little witch girl that will have many adventures to come!

Review #11-- The Adventures of Minibro The Chair of Power

This is a entertaining little book about sibling rivalry and the youngest or smallest of the family doing what it takes to get his share of the chair. In this free ebook the five brothers are always on Minibros case and never let him do anything fun or anything his brothers get to do. In this situation Minibro needs to outwit his bigger brothers to get what he really wants and what he can't have. He does this by trying to attract his brothers with other material objects in the attic, so that he could enjoy the chair that his brothers have never let him use. Sometime when you are the smallest you have to be the smartest to get what you want and survive, you have to be creative in distracting or luring others away from what you want. This is a fun little book with cool illustrations.