Barnyard Stories

Barnyard Stories
by Sylvia Price Mueller

A sound idea, this book offers short chapters, roughly 2 pages, each with an individual story that can be connected back to the overall concept of a farm with talking animals.  The animals learn lessons, meet friends, have adventures and encounter morals along the way.

There are no illustrations in this book, a detriment, in my opinon.  Pages are bland without any creative pictures to accompany the story.

While the stories are imaginitive in nature, they are a bit odd.  As an adult, I cannot say what a child would think, but in comparison with other favored and popular children's tall tales, fables and stories involving animals, this book falls way to the bottom.  Beyond the silliness, which is welcome in tales such as these, the stories feel forced and beyond enjoyment as they are bland of detail, development and character. 

Sadly, not a book I will be keeping around my home, giving or recommending to friends.  A 1 our of 5 stars for me at the most.

You can find a copy of this book at: http://www.dorrancebookstore.com/barstor.htmlor see what else Dorrance has to offer at: http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?dorrance+7XZRvv+index.html

I received a complimentary copy of "Barnyard Stories" as a member of the Dorrance Publishing Book Review Team. Visit dorrancebookstore.com to learn how you can become a member of the Book Review Team. I was in no way compensated for this review or required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own.

Count Your Blessings

Count Your Blessings
by Susie Moore Hillery
illustrated by Wendy Bouch and Cindy Strosser

Each page of this book contains a number, counting from 1-20, a blessing, and a short poem or sentence about that blessing.  Opposing the text is an illustrated page to go along with the reading.  Blessings in this book being counted include Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister, Grandparents, pets, food, church and many others.  Blessings are short, easy for a child to read and understand.  Illustrations go right along with what is being read, making it easy for younger children to see through the picture what is being talked about.  The final four pages of the book leave room for the child to write their own blessings, making the story their own.

While sound in idea and a sweet book overall, several assumptions are made in each blessing that is not true for many children reading.  Not all children have both parents, have a dad that brings income, have pets, go to church, etc.  A little troubling to me was the church blessing page.  While this book was written by a former pastor, illustrations depict multiple religious symbols which would be very confusing to a young child. 

A $20.00 price tag is on this book... I don't think I would pay more than $5.00.  Very simple in form, this paper back is not nearly as catching or memorable as many other children's books available.  Not a book I would consider a classic in my house.  1 out of 5 stars for me.

You can find a copy of this book at: http://dorrance.stores.yahoo.net/treasofmodmo.html or see what else Dorrance has to offer at: http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?dorrance+7XZRvv+index.html

I received a complimentary copy of "Count Your Blessings" as a member of the Dorrance Publishing Book Review Team. Visit dorrancebookstore.com to learn how you can become a member of the Book Review Team. I was in no way compensated for this review or required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own.

A Treasury of Modern Mother Goose Rhymes

A Treasury of Modern Mother Goose Rhymes
by Lillian Rose Jensen

Written by a visually impaired mother and grandmother, presumably of Native American descent as deduced by the back cover description of her home on a reservation in Wisconsin.  Whether this is supposed to make the reader like the book more, I am unsure.  My props to anyone who writes and has a book published, as it is an accomplishment. I am, however, not so sure this one should have been published for mass readers...

Overall, not impressed with this book.  The only color in the book is on the cover.  For that matter, the only illustrations in the entire book are on the cover.  Not a book that is engaging for children in the least, the only draw to the book is the words, which offers a very small draw if any. 

The "modern" nursery rhymes seem to focus on flying around the moon in a space ship or some version of that, mixed in with Mother Goose and many other made up characters.  Each page is its own "nursery rhyme", and some only 2 verses long, leaving a very white and empty page behind.  The rhymes themselves feel forced, words being placed only because they did rhyme. 

A nice effort and a sound idea which could be fun and entertaining, but lacking in illustration, color and general reader interest.  Sadly, this book only gets one start out of five from me.

You can find a copy of this book at: http://dorrance.stores.yahoo.net/treasofmodmo.html or see what else Dorrance has to offer at: http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?dorrance+7XZRvv+index.html

 I received a complimentary copy of "A Treasury of Modern Mother Goose Rhymes" as a member of the Dorrance Publishing Book Review Team.  Visit dorrancebookstore.com to learn how you can become a member of the Book Review Team.  I was in no way compensated for this review or required to write a positive review.  The opinions expressed are my own.

ABC Sing-a-Long

ABC Sing-a-Long

by Gloria Seymour

Sad to say, this book is a worthless piece of junk.  I have never received such a poor representation of literature!

A simple run through of the alphabet with a phrase that rhymes with the last letter stopped at, and poorly rhymed at that.  Silly and ridiculous. Example: "DEF  I see and elf"  What?  For being a sing-a-long, there is no indication as to how to "sing" this book, no notes, comparison song, etc. to even give indication as to the tune.  How, then, can it be used as an educational tool?

This book is 8 pages long.  All pictures are very elementary in design, most likely word art or some simple computer graphic already pre-formed, not illustration or art to be sure.  Pictures are black and white - absolutely no color in this book outside of the cover.  A paper back, very flimsy and cheaply made.  The price tag is $8.00, I would not pay $.10 for this at a garage sale.  

Absolutely boring and of no use.  Very disappointing since it was written by an educator who specializes in children with special needs.  With my own personal background in the same area, I would NEVER use this book with this population, or any other students for that matter.  There is no interest, no attention grabbing, no fun... nothing that would help a child with learning difficulties.  Extremely disappointing!  This book is heading to the trash  bin.

You can find a copy of this book at: http://dorrance.stores.yahoo.net/abcsingalong.html or see what else Dorrance has to offer at: http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?dorrance+7XZRvv+index.html

 I received a complimentary copy of "ABC Sing-a-Long" as a member of the Dorrance Publishing Book Review Team.  Visit dorrancebookstore.com to learn how you can become a member of the Book Review Team.  I was in no way compensated for this review or required to write a positive review.  The opinions expressed are my own.

The ABC's of Being Me

The ABC's of Being Me

by Theresa A. McKeown

Published by Dorrance Publishing

The ABC's of Being Me is a sweet little book that addresses a character trait, emotion or feeling beginning with a specified letter of the alphabet.  A is for Appreciate, B is for Beauty...  For each letter, the word being discussed is in bold each time it is mentioned.  A poem or rhyme goes along with each word, identifying other words, ideas or thoughts that mean the same thing, offering learning of new words while also learning what they mean.  

Illustrations are in watercolor format, whimsical and soft, depicting a person for each letter/word depicting in some way what the particular word is.  Humor (H) shows a person laughing.

A book for elementary aged children, first grade-fifth, this book is not appropriate for younger children.  It is fairly long and involved, requiring deeper thought and understanding.

Overall, while the illustrations are cute and the idea is sound, the rhymes feel contrived to me, as if the author was searching for words to rhyme and filling in gaps with words just because they sounded the same as the previous line.  An A for effort, but lacking in interest and feeling forced, the book does not flow very nicely.  I cannot say I am particularly thrilled with this book, though not totally disappointed, I can only give it two and a half stars.

You can find a copy of this book at: http://dorrance.stores.yahoo.net/abcsofbeingme.html or see what else Dorrance has to offer at: http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?dorrance+7XZRvv+index.html

 I received a complimentary copy of "The ABC's of Being Me" as a member of the Dorrance Publishing Book Review Team.  Visit dorrancebookstore.com to learn how you can become a member of the Book Review Team.  I was in no way compensated for this review or required to write a positive review.  The opinions expressed are my own.