Brooke is ready for a big day at school. She has a huge presentation to make about one of her favorite inventors, and she spends the whole day learning about how ordinary things were invented. She even tries out inventing something herself while baking cookies in the kitchen. This book encourages the reader to be curious and explore and invent something amazing!

The story is fun and interesting, but very word-heavy with small print. Fifty pages makes for a long picture book. It almost reads more like a children's chapter book, but there aren't any chapters.

Every other page has a separate box for information about inventors and the history of ordinary objects. So one page follows Brooke's story, and the opposite page has facts and statistics and dates about how toasters were invented, or alarm clocks, street lights, athletic shoes, seatbelts, and a dozen other things. The information is nicely organized, and I liked how it blends together with Brooke's story.

The illustrations are cute, and I liked the simple art style. The characters are charming, and I loved the design elements across each page that presents the facts and information as if they were written on notepaper, or in a book, or on a clipboard. It's a clever design!

I'm not sure how the pink pajamas factor into the story. The illustration shows that Brooke has on pink pajamas when she jumps out of bed in the morning, but it is never mentioned in the story. For most of the book, she has on a regular T-shirt and jeans. Maybe I'm missing some inspirational point.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher 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 just couldn’t get into this book. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with it. The plot is interesting. The characters are cool and deep. The writing is beautiful and mysterious. The world is imaginative and magical. The pacing is good. I just couldn’t get immersed in the story. I didn’t care about the characters. I wasn’t curious about the mystery. I don’t know why. Maybe I’m just not in the mood for this book right now. I DNF’d it after 85 pages.

Daddy Lion loves the baby lion. Daddy Zebra loves baby zebra. Daddy Hippo loves baby hippo. All these daddies play with their babies, give them hugs and kisses, and read stories with them. Each family of animals has their bedtime routine of singing lullabies, taking a bath, and a snuggling into bed.

This board book has heart-shaped flaps to open and a little mirror on the last page for the reader to see themselves on the page and know that Daddy loves YOU!

I loved the cute illustrations in this sweet book! The characters are adorable, and I like the soft art style. The colors are bright, and the illustrations are simple, perfect for capturing the attention of little readers.

The book has a sturdy construction with thick cardboard pages that will withstand destructive little hands.

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

Mommy Bear loves baby bear. Mommy Panda loves baby panda. Mommy Elephant loves baby elephant. All these mommies play with their babies, give them hugs, and snuggle them close. The animals families giggle together and sing together in the sweetest way!

This board book has heart-shaped flaps to open and a little mirror on the last page for the reader to see themselves on the page and know that Mommy loves YOU!

I loved the cute illustrations in this sweet book! The characters are adorable, and I like the soft art style. The colors are bright, and the illustrations are simple, perfect for capturing the attention of little readers.

The book has a sturdy construction with thick cardboard pages that will withstand destructive little hands.

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

Pablo is a shy little chick who is too big for his eggshell. He's not quite ready to face the outside world, so he pecks one little hole in his shell to look around first. But one little hole leads to another little hole and another and another!

I loved this cute book! It's so adorable how Pablo pecks little holes for his eyes, and then another for his ears, and his nose. As he discovers sight and sound and smells, the reader learns along with him about some of the different senses.

The illustrations are very minimalist with simple black and white art, until the last page when we get to see Pablo's fluffy yellow feathers. I love the art style! I think it's very effective.

The cover of this book is thick like a board book, but the pages are glossy paper.

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

Priya has Lyme disease, and wakes up every morning with pain and fatigue. She joins a support group online with other people who have chronic illnesses, and discovers that her best friend might be a werewolf.

In the first 50 pages of this book, nothing happens at all. Well, we get to see some sweet character introductions of Priya and her siblings for about 3 pages. And Priya joins the support group. That's it. The entire first 50 pages could have been condensed into 5 pages.

And that's when I got bored and stopped reading. I have a rule that I have to read at least to page 50 before I will let myself DNF a book, knowing that I gave it a fair chance.

I had so much trouble reading through the endless pages of text messages. There would be like 4 pages of prose and then 10 pages of text messages or Tumblr comments. It was just a difficult medium to read, and did not capture my attention. And their dialogue is so boring! They rarely say anything of substance. It's mostly "Hi, how are you today?" type dialogue.

One thing that I think was well done was the description of Priya's struggle with her chronic illness. It describes her moving back in with her parents, and how she feels guilty asking them for help. I found this very true to life and emotionally real. My sister has a chronic illness and there are specific situations that Priya describes that exactly mirror what my sister went through when she first began to come to terms with her illness. Too bad the rest of the book didn't have that kind of thoughtfulness and insight.

I was also disappointed to see some profanity sprinkled around in the text. It was completely unnecessary and did not fit with the mood or tone of the book.

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

The Flash and other superheroes answer questions about scientific subjects while fighting off supervillains and doing good. They explore atoms, energy, virtual reality technology, DNA, the solar system, and even the depths of the ocean.

Each chapter showcases a different superhero as they use science on their adventures. Green Lantern talks about renewable energy. The Flash explains forensic science. Poison Ivy talks about DNA in plants and animals and humans. Supergirl takes us on a tour of the solar system. I love the humor and adventure that is blended in with the scientific facts!

Each chapter has a different unique art style and supporting characters. The colors are bright and attractive, and each panel has energy and fun!

One thing that I really hate in scientific books is when a scientific THEORY is presented as if it were a fact. This is so unethical, and it would be so easy to correct. If only the text said, "One theory about this subject is ... etc." But they don't say that. They write as if the details of climate change, renewable energy sources (like solar panels and wind turbines), and the age of the universe are established empirical facts that have been tested and proven. But they're not. And it is dishonest to present a theory and pretend that it is a fact. It makes me not trust anything else that the book says. If they are misrepresenting one theory, they might be doing it all over the place. How can I trust what is written in this book if they aren't careful to present the information in the correct way? It's terrible that they are misleading children!

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

Rereading this for the tenth or twelfth time, I enjoy it just as much as ever!

Emily is growing up, honing her writing skills, and getting an education at Shrewsbury high school along with her friends, Ilse, Perry, and Teddy. She gets into innocent mischief, makes honest mistakes, and generally has little adventures around PEI.

I love the character development that Emily has in this book. There are some surprising developments with her family clan, the Murrays, as they begin to recognize that she's no longer a little girl that they can bully.

I love all the weird and funny adventures that Emily has while she is hanging out with Ilse. Their friendship is so wild and true and beautiful. It's a delight to read about two girls being such close friends, sharing secrets and dreams.

There is only one storyline in the book that I don't like, and that is Dean Priest. He's basically a pedophile, and he creeps me out.

Solveig and her siblings have been sent to a frozen fjord in the mountains where they will be safe during a Viking war between clans. The winter cold freezes the sea, preventing any ships from getting to them. However, there appears to be a traitor in their midst among the soldiers and servants, and they are trapped until the spring thaw can bring help.

I loved the thoughtful writing style in this book! The writing brings important details to the forefront, giving the characters depth and enhancing the setting without slowing down the pacing.

Solveig is a young girl who is just discovering her own strengths. She has been overlooked and dismissed, because she is not beautiful like her older sister. But she begins to learn that there are other characteristics that are more important than beauty. I loved her character growth!

I enjoyed the way Solveig analyzes and questions the people around her as she tries to figure out who the traitor could be. Her heart is so kind that she has trouble imagining that any of the people she has grown to love could be truly evil. She is intelligent, but young and inexperienced. It's fascinating to see how her emotional and mental growth into a young woman is showcased by the increase in her insight into the personalities of the people around her.

The adventure is a little slow, but full of suspense, and has an action-packed ending. Most of the book is dedicated to the analysis of each character to see if they would have the motivations or opportunity to be the traitor. As a character-driven reader, I loved it, but if you are a plot-driven reader, you might find it a little slow.

I think it's pretty cool that you can't tell which character is on the cover actually hammering into the ice. Through the entire book, you know it's coming, like a promise. And when it actually gets to that scene near the end, it's a completely wonderful surprise!

This book gives advice about forming friendships as an adult. It starts with how to find people that you have something in common with, where to look for friends, and how to recognize when a new acquaintance is interested in being friends. Then there are chapters about how to navigate difficult friend problems like hosting parties, lending money, or setting boundaries. There is some good advice about being compassionate and forgiving, and how to give a proper apology.

However, I found it odd that a book about friendship had so much political propaganda in it, almost preaching leftist ideology to the reader. It would have been much better to stick to the subject of friendship instead of forcing a political agenda into the book.

There are example conversations between people that are supposed to illustrate good ways to make new friends, but the dialogues don't sound like anything a real person would ever say.
There is also some profanity in this book that was completely unnecessary.

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