winecellarlibrary's Reviews (657)

This book aims to help young children with anxiety. It is a simple, short rhyme with colorful illustrations of animals employing self-soothing tools. After the story, it has a three-step guide for parents/caregivers to help their children work through their anxiety.

Each page has a different animal using a different strategy. I feel that the book might have been more effective if one character held the story together rather than several; it would have allowed for a child to relate to the character.

The illustrations are bright and colorful and simply adorable. Parents with children who suffer from anxiety may find this book to be helpful.

I received a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing.

Rembrandt the cat meets a cat who doesn't meow. He decides to call her Callie. They play for a bit, but then Rembrandt decides they should go on an adventure to find her meow.

The illustrations are really cute, but some of the phrasing is awkward, and the story is a bit lacking. Rembrandt's brother Leo also doesn't meow, so it doesn't make sense why Rembrandt is determined to find Callie's meow but is not concerned about his brother's. I also fail to see what the lesson to be learned from this story is supposed to be.

Overall, the book was enjoyable and the pictures are beautiful.

I received a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Carpenter's Son Publishing of Clovercroft Publishing.

A little girl feels invisible to her busy parents, so she leaves a note and takes off on a journey to the sea. She is comforted by the familiarity of the route. Overnight, she is joined by a fox, whom she is able to identify with.

The synopsis on the back of the book describes the girl in this story as "spunky." I did not see anything in the book that supports that description. I understand what the author is trying to portray, but the story itself is a bit problematic. The little girl has decided that the answer to her problems is to run away, spending the night in the woods alone. When her parents find her, they are happy to see her, with no sign of concern or worry on their faces. I worry about the message that this tale is sending. The watercolor images are beautiful, but the story was overly simplistic, with just a few words per page. This could have worked fine if the story were developed just a bit more.

I received a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and NorthSouth Books.

This is the true story of Marian Anderson and Albert Einstein. After a beautiful performance at McCarter Theatre in 1937 to an all-white crowd, Marian is denied accommodations at the nearby Nassau Inn. Einstein, who had been in the crowd, invites Marian to stay at his home and shares that he, too, has experienced intolerance because of his Jewish heritage. Not only do they connect through their shared experience with racism, but the two bond over music as well. In the author's note at the end of the book, the author shares both Einstein's and Marian's involvement in the movement to end segregation and racism in the United States.

Beautifully illustrated and poignant, this book describes an amazing little-known story that should be brought to light. This would be a fantastic book to share with children this month during Black History Month, but unfortunately, it is not going to be published until April. It would be a perfect addition to any library--public, at school, and at home.

I received a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Kar-Ben Publishing.

This picture book teaches children about Halley's Comet. The pages have a narrative, told by the personified comet, as well as smaller font on the same page giving historical connotations. Though this style did not work for some readers, I rather enjoyed it. For younger children, you could simply read the comet's story in the larger print and enjoy the illustrations. As children get older, you could incorporate the smaller print. A good idea might be to let a child read the comet's story, and then you could read the smaller text. Many children who read this book will be alive to see the next passing of Halley's Comet in 2061. I hope to see it myself, as I was born one year after the last pass it made in 1986. Even as an adult, I found the book's explanation of the history of the comet to be very interesting, learning how different civilizations viewed and recorded the comet as far back as 240 BCE.

I received a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Owlkids Books.

This book is being published at the perfect time. While the world is still figuring out how to function during the COVID-19 pandemic, this book explains everything from germs to how to stay healthy in terms that children can understand. A lot of misinformation has been spread about COVID-19 over the past year, so this book would honestly be a great way to help adults understand the difference between the flu and coronavirus, too. The inclusion of micrographs depicting different bacteria, protozoa, fungi, and viruses makes for a very colorful and interesting read.

Personally, I had no idea that tooth cavities were caused by bacteria. We all are familiar with sugar causing cavities, but how many of us are aware that it's actually the acid excreted by strep bacteria while they eat that sugar that burns holes into our teeth? I've had a lot of cavities but have never had strep throat, despite being exposed many times, so I find myself wanting to investigate this further thanks to this book.

The only question I have for the author is why some germs are explained in great detail, while others are simply labeled on the micrograph. For instance, salmonella is a very well-known bacterium (being the reason why we are very cautious with raw chicken), but it simply labeled and not described. Of course, the author cannot be expected to cover every bacterium, but if it's labeled in the book, it could be explained to some degree.

Overall, this book is very informative and will hopefully provide many children with a greater understanding of germs and how to prevent their transmission.

I received a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Millbrook Press.

I volunteered with a cat rescue for many years, so a book about rescue kittens was sure to steal my heart. This book is the imagined story of how the author's two cats came to live with her.

Dizzy Lizzie is the runt of the litter and struggles against her eight siblings to nurse on Mama. One day, a wrecking ball comes through the kitties' home, and the workers take the kittens away, leaving Mama behind. A kind lady bottle feeds the kittens until they are adopted one by one. This story paints a realistic picture of how many kittens come to find themselves in shelters and rescues.

The pictures are adorable, and though it is very sad when the kittens are taken from Mama, it is a happy story overall. I plan to return to volunteering one day once my daughter is older, and I look forward to sharing this book with her.

I received a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial.

This book is intended to help children cope with separation from a parent due to military service. The author includes real postcards written by her father while he served in the Philippines in World War II.

The boy in the story is worried about his mother, who has gone to war, and his grandfather (the author's brother) comforts him by sharing the postcards he received from his father during World War II. Together, they decide to make a scrapbook of the WWII postcards and the emails the boy receives from his mother. I would have liked to see more about the scrapbook, but the book ended pretty abruptly at that point.

My husband is active duty Army and I am in the Army Reserves. My stepdaughter is always worried about her father going to war. Luckily, he has not deployed to a war zone since before she was born nearly a decade ago. Now that he and I have a daughter together, I would love to have a copy of this book on the childrens' bookshelf. Even if we are not separated by war, we will be separated by other military commitments that take place in order to prevent war, so this book will still be a useful tool.

Profits from the sale of this book are donated to Fisher House Foundation, Inc. Fisher House provides free housing for families of hospitalized servicemembers.

I received a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and VanitaBooks, LLC.