Category: review

March 19, 2015

Donkey’s Kite Book Review and Giveaway

A wonderful set of new children’s books, The Three Little Horses and The Big Bully Donkey and The Donkey’s Kite written and illustrated by Liana-Melissa Allen are ready to entertain and engage your child.

Book One: The Three Little Horses and The Big Bully Donkey

This is the tale of three little horses who suddenly lose their home to a fire. The young horses are all alone and thrust out into the world. They must depend on themselves and each other to protect themselves from the bully donkey. The donkey wanders the forest wrecking homes and bullying other animals.

Book Two: Donkey’s Kite

The three horses and their friend Donkey are back! In this book, it is a perfect day for flying a kite. The four friends decide to make their own kites but try as he might, Donkey can not get his kite to fly! A friendly goose decides to help him out.

My Thoughts

I love a story that teaches and guides our children. A good story should show strong morals, understanding and compassion while still being engaging, fun and entertaining for a small child. Liana-Melissa Allen delivers this and more! In both books, Donkey learns some valuable lessons about friendship, respect and never giving up.

The illustrations are gorgeous! It is hard to believe such a young girl drew all of these drawings! They are truly beautiful and draw your child into the book. You will enjoy reading these books aloud with your child.

These two books will be the perfect addition to your home library. They are geared towards young children, ages 2-9.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Liana-Melissa is a young author and illustrator of children’s books and books for youth. She has written, illustrated and published six books. Reading and music are her primary passions in life. Her love of writing was fueled by her Father. You can connect with her on her website.

The Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received copies of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

March 16, 2015

Vostok by Steve Alten #bookreview #giveaway

New York Times best-selling author, Steve Alten, returns with the sequel to Loch: Vostok.

About Vostok

East Antarctica: The coldest, most desolate place on Earth. Two and a half miles below the ice cap is Vostok. Vostok is a six thousand square mile liquid lake over a thousand feet deep left untouched for more than fifteen million years. Now marine biologist, Zachary Wallace and two other scientists aboard a submersible tethered to a laser will journey 13,000 feet below the ice to discover Mesozoic life forms long believed to be extinct and an object of immense power responsible for the evolution of man.

My Thoughts

I love a good science fiction. Who doesn’t want to believe that there is life on another planet? Aliens? Pre-historic animals hidden in the world? This novel delivers pre-historic creatures at their finest hidden below the dark depths of the Antarctica. A place that has been left truly untouched and a world that we don’t know much about.

I loved how they explored underneath the ice of Antarctica and it was almost like an upside down world hidden there. A lake beneath what you would assume was a frozen lake, mountains, rain storms and creatures that it is hard to even imagine. It was definitely an incredible adventure to take with the main characters in this book especially with all the frights along the way. Steve was even able to throw in some aliens and a super secret plot that has so many twists it can be hard to follow.

The novel is fantastic start to finish, I love the idea of this undiscovered world underneath the ice. I found near the end if became a bit hard to follow with the amount of twists in the story and never quite knowing who to trust. I found myself re-reading parts just to make sure I understood them correctly. This only added to the suspense of the novel but definitely makes it a novel you have to pay full attention to.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Rating: 4/5

About Steve Alten

Steve Alten is a New York Times best-selling author of fourteen novels. His work has been published in over thirty countries and is being used by thousands of middle and high schools as part of the Adopt an Author program he founded in 1999 with teachers.

The giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

March 6, 2015

Aoleon The Martian Girl: Part Three by Brent LeVasseur

Aoleon is back in the third installment of the series, Aoleon The Martian Girl by Brent LeVasseur.

About Aoleon The Martian Girl: Part Three

In the third installment of this series, Aoleon and Gilbert are spying on the Luminon. The pair uncover a plot to steal Earth’s cows and make a disturbing discovery that the Martian leaders are planning to disrupt Mars galact supply. The duo race to warn Aoleon’s father, Deimos before the leaders can act.

While on the run, Aoleon takes her pilot’s exam so that she can join the Martian intergalactic fleet. But during the test run something goes very wrong. The two are put in a life threatening situation in which Aoleon’s friend, Bizwat, is the only person who can save them.

Gilbert finally gets to learn how to skyboard but his lesson turns into a test of skill as they are chased by the Royal Guard.

My Thoughts

The third installment lives up to the hype that the other two books give it! A novel series is always the best to read as you get to see the characters and relationships develop as well as learn more about the setting and the secondary characters in the story.

In this story we learn more about Aoleon’s home planet, her family and the secret plot that threatens to destroy those around them. This book was even more action packed (if you can imagine!) than the first two. We get to learn more about the Lumion and their leaders, who are our evil villains in this novel.

Aoleon really comes to life with her heroic skills and bravery. Gilbert being her partner provides some fantastic comic relief that left both my son and I giggling. The illustrations are fantastic – bright, bold and allowing for page breaks which is helpful for young readers. It also lets young readers help to visualize the story they are reading.

The Aoleon Martian Girl series will be books that not only your young reader will love, you will too!

You can purchase a copy on Amazon.

Rating: 5/5

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

March 5, 2015

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt #StreamTeam

The Babysitter’s Club. Word Up. Light Up Shoes.

Welcome to a blast of the past with the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt!

Synopsis

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is brought to us by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock. This half hour single camera comedy series stars Ellie Kemper as Kimmy, who escapes a doomsday cult and decides to reclaim her life and start over in New York City.

Armed with just a backpack, light up sneakers and a couple of way past due library books, Kimmy is ready to take on a world that she didn’t even think existed anymore. Wide eyed but resilient, nothing is going to stand in her way.

The thirteen episode series, produced by Universal Television, also stars Jane Krakowski, Tituss Burgess, Carol Kane and more. Fey and Carlock serve as executive producers along with David Milner and Jeff Richmond.

My Thoughts

I love a good comedy especially after a long day at work. All I want to do is come home and watch something that makes me laugh so hard I cry.

When I read the synopsis of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (and heard Tina Fey was involved in the production) I knew that this was going to be a must watch series. I was not disappointed! The shows run roughly for twenty-three to thirty minutes.

The first episode explains how Kimmy ended up in her current situation (the cult) and how she escaped her situation. The first episode was a little slower (giving a lot of background information) but the humour definitely picks up in the second episode and only gets better as the episodes continue. In the second episode we are shown more of the personalities behind Kimmy, her room-mate Tituss as well as her new employer and her family. Using common misconceptions (the young and terrible stepmother, the homosexual room-mate, the wild and angry step daughter) The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt offers up good laughs with fantastic reminders that kindness goes a long way. Kimmy is on a mission to make it in New York and help each one of those around her. This Netflix series is on par (humour wise) with The Mindy Project.

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt premieres tomorrow (March 6th) on Netflix!

Disclosure: I am a member of the Netflix #StreamTeam and received early access to this series in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

March 5, 2015

The Ultimate Easter Basket Gift from kaboom! #Giveaway #Review

Easter is right around the corner (doesn’t it just feel like it was the New Year?) and what better way to surprise your little ones with a Treehouse Cube full of their favourite shows on DVD format!

On March 3rd, kaboom! entertainment launched the Treehouse Ultimate Collection cube which includes ten hours of your favourite Treehouse shows. Inside this unique package you will find ten DVDs featuring: Toopy and Binoo, Franklin, Max and Ruby, Brother Bear, Captain Barnacles, Kwazii, Golias and Nessa. This collection features one hundred of your child’s favourite episodes!

Our youngest was so excited to come home and find the Cube. He didn’t know which one to watch first! So he settled with catching up on more Toopy and Binoo followed by Octonauts and Bernstein Bears for me.

Zack and Quack: Popping Hopping Easter came with this bundle which was the perfect movie to get just in time for Easter. This DVD features Zack and his best friend, an impulsive young duck named Quack. They live inside a pop up book. It is a place full of surprises where pulling pop ups makes exciting and unexpected things happen. This DVD comes with five episodes.

Remember the Guess How Much I Love You DVD I featured in January? This would be the perfect addition to add into your Easter gift basket for your little one. A special reminder to your little one on just how much they mean to you.

If you have a little one at home that would love to win this Ultimate Treehouse DVD cube and Zack and Quack Popping Hopping Easter, you can now win your own just in time for Easter! My Canadian residents can enter via the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Make sure to follow kaboom! on Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date with new releases.

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned products free of charge. All opinions expressed are my own.