Celie and her family are far away from the Castle in the land of Grath, preparing for Lilah's betrothal celebrations, and overseeing the construction of a Ship with components from the Castle. The Ship appears to have many of the same magical qualities that the Castle has, but can the Glower family trust that the Ship will protect and guide them, or does the Ship have its own agenda?

I adore the entire Glower family, and Celie is just as spunky and adventurous as always. I was interested to see this new side of the Castle-magic infused into the Ship, and the magical development in the story is wonderful! The plot drags a little bit at first, with lots of betrothal parties and parades, but once the Ship is at sea the adventure truly begins.

I really loved the mystery of the lost unicorns, and how that influenced so many of the characters and their decisions. I was especially interested in the differing reports they received about the history of the unicorns and why they were lost in the first place, which served as some interesting red herrings in the plot.

I only wish there were more books in this series! It's a good ending, but I want more!

This book is a wonderful overview of how Walt Disney began his business with a simple cartoon mouse and how it developed into the massive global company it is today. Focusing on the business savvy and the innovative concepts that built the Disney empire, this story explains how a business needs investors, branding, and loyal customers to succeed, but that it is the magic in the details that builds a heritage of excellence.

I really enjoyed reading this book! It is written for young children, so many business concepts that a child wouldn't know like "Revenue," Mortgage," or "Board of Directors" are explained with definitions for the bigger words. There are also "Fun Fact" boxes within the text that give extra tidbits of information about Walt Disney and his company.

I especially liked the emphasis on family, heritage, and excellence which the Disney company is known for. I think the author did a good job of giving a sweeping overview of the history of Disney with a few interesting details added in, but still keeping the main story fairly simple and easy to follow. The book doesn't get bogged down in too many details, but focuses on the bigger picture; and the details that ARE added in are obviously carefully chosen to reinforce the main themes of the story.

I would recommend this book to any child ages 7-12. It's fun and interesting, and kept my attention! I also liked the funny illustrations and drawings included on every page!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Media Masters Publicity in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.

This book tells how Phil Knight began his business with a simple idea for a better running shoe and how it developed into the massive global company it is today. Focusing on the marketing and the innovative concepts that built the Nike empire, this story explains how a business can use good branding, endorsements, and an understanding of the needs of their customers in order to succeed.

I really enjoyed reading this book! It is written for young children, so many business concepts that a child wouldn’t know like “Revenue,” Investments,” or “Board of Directors” are explained with definitions for the bigger words. There are also “Fun Fact” boxes within the text that give extra tidbits of information about how the Nike company was built.

There are funny anecdotes about how the company received its name, designed the classic Swoosh logo, and developed its rapport with athletes, then began reaching out to pros for endorsement deals.

I was interested to see that the book includes the history of Nike's endorsement deals with athletes who later embarrassed the company by using illegal steroids (Lance Armstrong) or whose personal lives were less than stellar (Tiger Woods). The book briefly states how Nike dealt with those situations and weathered the storms, but it doesn't go into details. However, there is no mention of the current Nike controversy with Colin Kaepernick and his inflammatory political demonstrations. (Bad move there, Nike. You would think that a good business plan would include staying away from politics, because you always end up offending half your customers. But it's not mentioned in this book.) There is also an entire chapter about Tiger Woods, and I got bored reading about how many championships he won wearing Nike shoes, and Nike shirts, and using Nike golf balls.

I would recommend this book to any child ages 7-12. It’s fun and interesting, and kept my attention! I also liked the funny illustrations and drawings included on every page!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Media Masters Publicity in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.

This knitting book would be perfect for a beginner, with simple patterns that only require one type of stitch. From easy patterns like a baby bib up to intermediate and more experienced patterns like a baby cardigan, this book has a variety of cute projects both small and large. If you only have a few hours, you could knit up some sweet baby booties in a flash! Or if you have time for a larger project, you could try one of the adorable sweater and hat combinations.

With clear instructions and photos to illustrate the stitches, this book is easy to follow and full of information.
I really like the beautiful colors and sweet details on each knitting project!

Disclaimer: I received an ecopy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.

This adorable counting book follows a little mouse as he discovers how to count to ten. He is struggling to count up his fingers and toes, so he goes on an adventure through a hole in the pages of a book, and he finds wondrous things on every page that help him count. He meets fish, butterflies, cats, and crows, and counts them all.

The soft illustrations have beautiful detailed lines that show every little whisker and pawprint. The gorgeous colors will appeal to little children as they count up items on each page!

The poetry is whimsical and fun, and at the end of each page when the mouse climbs through to the next page, the same poetic line repeats. Toddlers love repetition, so this is the perfect book to read aloud with a child learning to count.

This is not a board book, so maybe read it with slightly older toddlers, or just be careful of little hands that might tear the pages. The book's description even says on the back, "Open this book very gently! There's a little mouse inside! ... So, sloooowly and carefully, turn the pages..."

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Media Masters Publicity in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.

This sweet book is the perfect bedtime reading to lull children into sleep. With its repetitive prose and soft illustrations, it's sure to have you yawning and ready for a good night's sleep. As a sleepy big bear and a sleepy little bear prepare for bed, they snuggle under the covers, sing a gentle lullaby, and drift off to dreamland.

The soft and warm illustrations are delightful, with light colors and fuzzy brush strokes that invite the reader to give a little stretch and yawn a big yawn before crawling into bed.

I can't wait to read this to my niece at bedtime. I actually makes me sleepy reading it myself! haha!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Media Master Publicity in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.

I love this series more every time I read it!

Emi and her father live on Earth, where a plague is ravaging humanity, but Emi dreams of attending the elite IGIST school on the moon's space station, where she could fulfill her wish of making scientific breakthroughs to cure the plague.

This book comes with an app, available for iOS in the App store. You can read the entire book on the app, where you can earn coins for reading each chapter, and spend your coins to purchase special character bios, photo filters and stickers, and earn badges as you follow the character's stories. If you read on the app, the story is enhanced with graphics, videos, and illustrations that add to the reading experience.

I liked the main idea of the story, but the execution left me bored. The app is VERY cool! I loved the graphics and the badges and the special effects! But the writing is flat and awkward. The characters are one-dimensional, and I didn't care about any of them.

I didn't like the main character, Emi, and it was painful reading stiff scenes where she is supposed to be making connections with other characters. She could be making friends, making enemies, or connecting with a mentor, but there is no emotional attachment. The characters are made of cardboard with painted faces.

Emi herself is not a nice person. She completely ignores her health even when it could endanger other's health, takes very bad risks, disobeys her teachers, insists on doing everything alone, shows no wisdom or kindness or feeling, and barely even grieves when people die. I suppose at the end she DOES learn to ask others for help and work in a team, so there's a tiny bit of development there, but it's too little, too late. She is a danger to herself and others, and I grew to dislike her more and more throughout the book.

The plot was also disappointing, and the science elements in the story were not clearly explained, leaving me confused about how this fictional world is really structured. The world-building has a lot of potential with some imaginative ideas about the IGIST space station, and how the solar system has been colonized by humans, and how DNA is being manipulated to make humans faster and stronger, but ultimately, none of these ideas were explored to my satisfaction.

The writing style is strange and awkward. The writing "tells" instead of "showing", and gets bogged down in a lot of wordy description. Even though there aren't exactly grammatical errors, the sentence structure doesn't flow normally. It feels like it was translated from another language, or maybe English is not the author's first language.

Here are a few examples:
"Demanding and strict, Florin lacked any appreciation for creating a motivating environment." (misuse of the word "appreciation")

"She looked at the cracked glass. It would certainly break completely soon." (misplaced modifier)

"Her father tickled her at just the right time, and Emi smiled. His arm was around her, pointing in the distance." ( How is his arm pointing in the distance if his arm is also around her? Why would you point with the same arm that is hugging someone? Maybe a small point or gesture, but not a long distance point. Weird.)

" "It'll be fun," her father said. His bubbly tone and smile added a sense of excitement to life's mundanities." (This use of "mundanities" IS correct, but it just sounds awkward. It doesn't flow. Also using an adjective on the first of two nouns doesn't flow well. It would sound much better to say "His smile and bubbly tone..." )

I DNF'd this book after 124 pages, so I got to about 43% before I just couldn't anymore. I skimmed through some of the chapters to the end just to see what would happen in the plot. Not one time did I forget that I was reading a book. I was never captivated or immersed in the story enough to lose myself in it.

The basic story has potential, and the app is very cool with gorgeous graphics, but the writing and characters are bland.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.