This book is very weird. It's both a biography of Alan Turning, while at the same time there are monsters that are trying to defeat Turning. The entire point of the book is completely lost. There's more time spent on the monsters trying to defeat Turning that on telling the reader about the man and his history. This was a wasted read. I like the illustrations but nothing else. 

 

This is a typical entry into the Little People Big Dreams series.  While the story is fine, I don’t think it gets to how young Amanda is.  Is, as in, still is.  This makes her seem like an old lady of the past, and not a young bright woman with half a century still in front of her. 

 

This book was fun, but it has a shelf life.  A unicorn comes to earth and hides in a toy machine.  Its mission is to determine if the Unicorns should invade earth.  This book is the “log” of this unicorn explorer as he joins a family.  The story is nice and the illustrations are lovely.  But it would be awkward to read at Storytime.  It would be great for bedtime though. 

 

A little girl named Sophia loses her father to science exploration.  There is a shipwreck, and her father is lost at sea, but his scientific breakthrough is saved and brought home by the uncle.  The uncle and family are part of Aqualand, that is supposed to be about science but is more about money and entertainment.  Years later, Aqualand is in a bit of trouble, and the powers that be will not let the scientist work on/with their amazing discovery.  But an Aquanaut walks into the park and things start to change.  This is no man in a water suit.  It is the animals of the sea driving this human suit on a hunt to find a safe space.  This book is amazing.  Everything done by Santat is amazing, so this meets expectations.  It does feel a little sad, but the story is one kids will understand, and one they will want to read more than once. 

 

This is one of those books that you only recommend when it’s asked for. Angus was a loving family pet. That is until Angus died. Our main child still feels and sees Angus as they work through the grief of Angus passing. The story is lovely, and does its job,  but it’s not one you want to try it out for general reading. 

 

I really want to like this book. However, there are more negatives and there are positives. The biggest positive is the illustrations. They are bright, colorful, grab attention, and are incredibly well done. However, from there everything is downhill. First, for the layout this book. Tt’s published like a meme. What I mean by this is they do the wording in black and white letters like you would see any typical mean that could be seen on any type of illustration. It’s a lazy way of formatting. Then this is a picture book, but the author has chosen to divide it in two chapters. This story is too long. It’s too wordy. And it’s very self-aggrandizing. This could have been a simple, successful brilliantly done picture book, and instead, it’s an overly wordy, all about me, want to be chapter book, that just does not work. 

 

This book is overly long. It goes on and on and feels like a vanity Project. The scenarios are wildly outlandish, but not in the way where it’s meant to be outlandish. It’s meant to be fun and amazing, and it just isn’t. The illustrations are nice, but they’ve been done better. There’s not a lot to keep someone interested. The book is overly long and I DNFed it at 35%. 

 

This is a fun look at how one cat spends its day. In this case, Cosmo likes to dress up like Batman, trip, the mailman, and go for interesting adventures. The book is short and simple and sweet. All together the story works and kids will recognize the animals they have at their homes or in their friends’ homes. 

 

This book is in the title. Thank of farmer. It goes through various things that farmers may do and crops they might grow. It covers grains and milk, but also sheep for sweaters and trees for honey and maple syrup. What I particularly like about this, it shows all types of farmers.  From big farms in the middle of nowhere to small city farms or hydroponics farms in warehouses and it also shows a variety of farmers. This book is well done and is a great reminder how you need farmers to eat and to live in the world today. 

 

I really wish I had this book in hand rather than a digital galley. The main reason for this is I want the papers in the back to make the fun designed paper plane. However, the instructions are all there and the illustrations are easy to understand. My favorite part of the book is the interesting facts like record holders, and who shot the longest paper airplane, etc. Overall, this is a fantastic book that will get used and used and used.