Savvy is the first book in this series by Ingrid Law.  Amazon recommends this series for ages 9 - 12, and I think that is pretty accurate.  I listened to both Savvy and Scumble, and really enjoyed them.  They were clean and appropriate for my 6 year old to listen to a little bit, although I don’t think she would have followed the whole story. A Beaumont gets their savvy, or special power, on their 13th birthday.  Whether it’s controlling electricity or causing hurricanes, Mibs is almost 13 and is wondering what her savvy will be.  But just before the big day, her dad has a big accident and is admitted to hospital, so now Mibs is hoping for a power that can help save her dad.  Convinced she will get a powerful savvy, Mibs catches a ride along with the preacher’s kids to town.  And the ride is super eventful, along with talking tattoos and such - nobody will come away unchanged. Scumble is set 9 years after Savvy, and follows the summer Ledger g...

The next great Jane caught my attention because I’m a tentative Jane Austen fan, who really enjoys her stories, but has not ever managed to actually read one.  K.L. Going writes an interesting young adult novel here, in which we meet Jane, who loves to write and fancies herself the next great Jane. She has the fortune to meet a famous author who promises to share her secrets for great writing with Jane. Jane doesn’t seem to think the advice is all that revolutionary, but will some unlikely friendships, some science projects and some good old falling in love prove her wrong. This is a fun, quick read, which I can highly recommend for anyone over the age of 10 since it is appropriate for younger readers.  I’m interested to see what some of this author’s 10 other YA novels on Amazon are like - I would happily read any of them based on the enjoyment which I got from reading The Next Great Jane.

 My daughter got Hotel Flamingo Holiday Heatwave for her birthday a few months ago and we only just read it all together over the last week or so.  This easy chapter book of 180 pages is written by Alex Milway.  It’s charmingly illustrated in 3 colors, and with chapters of only a few pages each, it’s a great read aloud for kids as young as 3 I think, and definitely good for a first grader or second grader to read independently. We meet a cast of animal characters and a little girl, Anna Dupont, who together run a hotel in Animal Boulevard.  Their are some seriously fun animals to meet, like Lemmy the Lemur and Madame Le Pig, who is obviously a pig and is the hotel’s chef.   We pick up the story when the king and queen send their envoy to book a stay at Hotel Flamingo for the first time.  They have a very long list of demands, and it’s a race for Anna and her staff to get it all done.  While they’re trying very hard to be as good as The Glitz hotel for...

 There are now 8 books in this wonderful series by Asia Citro, with a 9th set to release later this year. They are early chapter books, great for a 2nd or 3rd grader to read independently and great as a read aloud for ages 5 to 10 I would imagine - Amazon agrees.  We first listed to the first, Dragons and Marshallows when it was on sale through Audible and recommended by Everyday Reading.  My girls really enjoyed this captivating story about a little girl and her mom who can see and assist ailing magical creatures who come to their barn.  Can Zoey figure out how to help the little Dragon who is sick by using scientific principles - you heard me right, these books use basic scientific principles in the stories, which this mommy really loved. We have since also read Merhorses and Bubbles , Catterflies and Ice and Unicorns and Germs .  Each of the books has a different magical creature which Zoey and her mom have to help, using a different scientific method or pr...

This children's novel was first published in 1947 and was written by Betty MacDonald.  Mrs. Piggle Wiggle is a charming, old fashioned story which I really enjoyed reading to my children.  It is full of good clean fun and entertaining names and crazy happenings. Mrs. Piggle Wiggle lives in an upside down house in a small town.  She loves children and all the neighborhood children visit her house every afternoon.  She is known for being able to fix children's ailments in a most interesting manner.  Mary becomes afflicted with answer-backerness, Dick is very selfish, Allen becomes a slow-eater-tiny-bite-taker and sisters Joan and Anne are afflicted with quarelitis - Mrs. Piggle Wiggle has the perfect cure for all of them.  The cures are as funny as they are sensible and they always work perfectly well. If you enjoy stories like Mary Poppins, you will surely enjoy this story.  My girls are 3 and 6 and they enjoyed this as a read aloud, but any confident...

My daughter picked Rabbit and Bear - The pest in the nest by Julian Gough and Jim Field from the early chapter book at the library and read it while we were on vacation at the beach last week.  She enjoyed it so much that I thought I'd quickly read it at lunch time one work day.  And what a delightful little book. Reading through this book, I at first thought it was a good story for spring because Rabbit is waking up from his winter slumber with bear.  And then, I found myself thinking that this book was teaching me a lesson about where to look for what is troubling me.  Rabbit finds that he's not so much irritated with everyone else and the noise they are making, but with himself more than anything.  And perhaps Bear can show Rabbit how to feel better and teach him how to keep or repeat that feeling.  Feels almost more like an adult self help book disguised as a children's early chapter book.   And then when I looked it up I realized it's 1of 4 books...

In Belle's Discovery we meet a child version of Belle from Disney's Beauty and the Beast.  My older daughter actually watched the original animated movie last year, so when I saw this book on Instagram I though it might be a good fit.  She loved the idea when we found it at our local library, and blasted through it.  I decided to read it with her and her little sister once she was done, so that I could also see what it's like. We learned some good lessons about being yourself and following your own path even if your 'friends' don't approve, in this great story.  I would say it's a 2nd/3rd grade reading level, but great as a read aloud for slightly younger kids.  There are full color illustrations on probably every 4th page or so, if that's helpful information for your young reader.  And it had a wonderful happy ending too. I will be looking to read more of the books in the series.  Let me know if you've read any of them, and what they're like.

This wonderful book by Tom Fletcher was recommended by my sister as a story her 3 year old son was enjoying.  I immediately requested The Christmasaurus from our library, and even when it came in right after Christmas, we jumped right in.  If your kids are little, the audio version might be easier to stomach, because the book is 350 pages long.  I have read the whole thing aloud to my 6 year old, and my 3 year old has listened to a little over half quite happily. The story follows the Christmas wishes of William who absolutely loves dinosaurs, and the year he met a real dinosaur from the North Pole.  It is full of adventure, sweet moments, and plot points that allow for discussions about how to behave with our kids.  It is so exciting!  We did have a discussion about what a bullet is, but I would say that it's not too scary for young kids. The best ending too in a completely unexpected Christmas story. I will definitely be reading the next book - The Christ...

How Winston delivered Christmas is a lovely Christmas / Advent type book is written by Alex T. Smith and was  published in 2019.  In this story we follow a sweet mouse as he tries to deliver a letter he finds to Santa on Christmas eve.  He is very brave considering how small he is and how bad the weather is, and he meets some interesting characters along the way as well.  I won't spoil the story, but suffice to say it's a great ending that you wouldn't expect.   We read this one pretty quickly in the week after Christmas, and both my kids, aged 3 and 6 really enjoyed the story.  I thought it was really well written and fun to read, although if you read it quickly then some of the story seems to drag a little.  I definitely think it would be better to read as intended - 1 chapter per day from December 1st to December 25th . I would happily try reading this one again in December 2021, but slowly and perhaps we could tackle some of the activities.  ...

I cannot remember how I discovered this early chapter book series, but it’s probably one of 2020’s best finds in our house. Currently I think there are 14 books in the series and we now have most of them. I have enjoyed being able to tell family that they can buy my daughter another in the series when they ask for gift ideas, and even my younger daughter really enjoys listening to these. Some details: Start with book #1: Eva’s treetop festival , where we meet a cute owl and her friends and family.  It’s written in the style of a journal and each book has a different theme.  They can be read in any order if you happen to find one of the others first. Level - probably a 1st or 2nd grade level but great to read aloud to a child of 3 or 4.  Average of 80 pages per book, which means you can read it in under an hour. These books are written and illustrated by the talented Rebecca Elliot.  I also noticed that Amazon has this book listed as a ‘Teacher’s pick’, so you don’t o...