The Berenstain Bears' Country Cookbook by Mike Berenstain

As you all may know, I am a huge fan of anything Berenstain Bears. I have been since my girls were little, so I was very excited when I saw this book available for review through BookLook Bloggers. I snatched it up quick! It has 40 recipes in it that young children can help put together. The recipe's are all fairly simple and honey seems to be the featured ingredient in a lot of the recipes. Of course honey is a huge part of what the Bear family eats! There are recipes for breakfast, lunch, main dishes and desserts & snacks. Again, fairly simple to put together so those little ones can help prepare. I'm looking forward to having our granddaughters help when they stay for a week in the summertime. At the beginning of each section there is a bit of an introduction that the Bears share with the reader about what is to come, so not only is the book a recipe book, but also a story book. Along with each recipe there is a full color photo of the completed item you are making. I can't wait to let my granddaughters look through and see what draws their attention. This is a great addition to any Berenstain Bear collection!

**I received my copy from BookLook Bloggers for review purposes. All opinions are my own**

 

The Blessings of Friendship by Mary Engelbreit

This is a beautiful hardback book filled with lovely verses and poems and other writings on friendship. The best thing about it though is the wonderful pictures! I love the way the children are illustrated and the old-time innocence that each picture has about it. While the illustrations are creative and beautiful and detailed I don't think that the average child would sit down and have the patience to have this book read to them. I sat down with two of my grandchildren and they had me flip through the book and look at the pictures but they weren't interested in being read to. I think that the writing touches the adult heart much more than it would a young child. A beautifully illustrated book that touches the adult heart with the words and reminders of friendship and has the illustrations capturing a child's eye. This is going in my home library!

Andi Unexpected by Amanda Flower

Andora "Andi" Boggs and her older sister Bethany have come to live with their Aunt after the death of their parents. Both girls are still going through the grieving process and Bethany is less than happy that she and Andi are sharing a room. When Andi finds out that her father's room used to be the attic she asks her Aunt if she can move up there. The neighbor boy, Colin, comes to help Andi clean out the attic. When they discover a hidden trunk with Andora's name on it they find themselves in the middle of a mystery that they both want to find answers to. Who was the first Andora? And why won't anyone talk about her?

My Review:

 I am an absolute sucker for mysteries! From the time I started seriously reading on my own when I was 10, mysteries were my favorite genre. After having read The Appleseed Creek series by the same author I knew that I had to read Andi Unexpected and that I would not be disappointed. As a children's book Andi Unexpected was a quick read but not without great content. I found myself transported to childhood again as I followed Andi and Colin on their quest to find the answers to the original Andora. I would recommend this book to any 5th through 8th grader(even younger if they are mature readers and older if they don't mind reading about younger characters). Andi did find herself in a couple of tricky/dangerous situations that had me a little tense while reading, but that just added to the fun of the mystery. A great beginning to a new series by Amanda Flower!

A couple of scenes I liked in the book:

Andi's attire for church and Bethany's objection to it reminded me so much of my daughters. My youngest daughter would wear the exact same type outfit that Andi wore and my oldest daughter would comment pretty much the same way Bethany did. Made me laugh!

A scene I especially cracked up at was when Andi and Colin were talking to Miss Addy about the name Andora. Miss Addy commented,

"I miss names like Ruth or Mary or Rebecca. It's all Apple, Mango, and Pear these days. What, do people think they are making a fruit salad instead of naming a child?"

That had me laughing out loud as I am always on the lookout for those odd and unusual names that people tend to name their children nowadays. I share with a friend and we have a good laugh along with shaking of our heads in wonder. Miss Addy put it perfectly!

The Appleseed Creek Mysteries by Amanda Flower:

A Plain Death(not read yet)
A Plain Scandal
A Plain Disappearance

Amanda Flower has another series out, The India Hayes Mysteries, that I have not read yet.

I received my copy of Andi Unexpected from the publisher Zonderkidz through NetGalley. This review is my honest opinion.

Baby Lit Books by Jennifer Adams with Art by Alison Oliver

I bought this baby lit book after a friend told me about it a couple of months ago. We are both Austen fans and Pride & Prejudice is my absolute favorite Austen book. So of course when I saw this baby board book I had to have it for my granddaughter. It is a must to introduce her to Grandma's favorite book of all time!

Little Miss Austen's Pride & Prejudice is a counting primer that introduces children to the characters and countryside set in Pride & Prejudice. A board book with fun art and counting numbers up to 10. The first time through my granddaughter enjoyed it very much.

 The next two books were sent to me by the publisher for review:

Little Miss Bronte's Jane Eyre is another counting primer introducing Jane Eyre to young children. I loved this classic also when I was a young girl. This is a board book that also counts up to 10. I love how each number introduces something from the book and each picture depicts the number.

Little Master Carroll's Alice In Wonderland is a colors primer. Each color represents the order of the story from the white rabbit to the yellow tea pot. Each picture is a fun representative of the book and of course very colorful.

Each board book seems very durable, made out of recycled products(explained on the back cover). Advertising on the back cover also states "BabyLit is a fashionable way to introduce your child to the world of classic literature" I don't know how fashionable it is, but I do know that I thought they were fun and a great way to introduce young children to classics. One thing I do have a problem with is the cost of each book. I bought Pride & Prejudice and with shipping it cost me $15.00. Ouch! Each board book is $9.99 which I think is pretty steep. But I have looked at other board books and they always seem a little high priced to me so I don't believe this is an unusual occurrence for this type of product.

If you like the classics and you have a young child that you want to introduce them to, these are the perfect books for the job!

Gabby God's Little Angel by Sheila Walsh

Gabby is a guardian angel sent to guard Sophie, a little girl that needs lots of protection! Gabby was chosen for the job because she is precocious herself and seems to get into a lot of mishaps. Gabby's first day on the job proves challenging as Sophie takes a pony ride, and the pony gets scared and tries to buck Sophie off.

That evening Sophie tells her mom that she felt that someone was with her when she was on the pony. Her mom explains to her that God sends his angels to protect us.

This was such a cute story. The pictures were adorable. Looking forward to sharing it with my grandchildren.

Teddy's Button by Amy LeFeuvre

Teddy is a young boy full of mischief. He is very popular among the boys because of his great story-telling skills and ideas for getting into mischief. His favorite story of all is the one about his father. His father was a soldier, a hero who died in battle. Teddy carries his father's war button around with him and aspires to be a soldier just like his father.

When Teddy's mischief gets him into trouble at church he soon learns of another Captain he can follow~Jesus Christ. He soon "enlists" into the Lord's army. At first Teddy is wanting an enemy to fight. He soon finds that enemy in himself. He names his enemy "Bully" and he has many struggles throughout the rest of the story battling Bully in order to not disappoint his Captain.Teddy has such a sensitive heart for his Captain. He wants to serve his Captain well. He finds that sometimes though he loses his battle with Bully.

Originally written in 1890, Teddy's Button is still a relevant story for today. I loved how much Teddy wanted to please his Captain. One of my favorite parts of the whole story was when Teddy arranged for the local Vicar to host a tea party for the soldiers coming through town. He wanted the Vicar to tell the soldiers about his Captain. I also loved the description of Teddy's struggle within himself with good and evil. We all have our "Bullies" to battle. This was a great classic book to read and I can't wait to share it with my grandson someday soon.

Hate That Cat by Sharon Creech

Cute book. Poems written by Jack to his teacher. Almost like a conversation instead of poems really. Jack's dog died, he hates a cat that he sees hanging around in a tree, his mom is deaf, and he gets a cat for Christmas. All of these things going on in Jack's life he puts into poems that are assigned by his teacher. A quick read and cute.