Book Review: Girls Can Dream (OT) (an alphabet of occupations, pictorially)

Girls Can Dream, by Jasmine Owens (Roshon Press, 2021, 32 pp, $14.39, ages 2-8)

A girl can become anything she wants to be when she grows up and this book has careers for her, for each letter of the alphabet. 

Inspiring for Girls of Any Color

A girl for every letter - with dark hair: hair up and hair down, hair pulled back, hair sleek and smooth to curly and natural, with dark skin in all skin tone ranges -  but you will recognize her in attire for each occupation with  props to go along with them - all, just perfect and immediately identifiable. 

From Aviator to Zookeeper, from Librarian to Musician, in skirts and pants with long hair and short, with glasses and not.

Girls can dream from A to Z. They do and they will - conquer the world! 

A Book to Keep and to Treasure!

Book Review: Perfect Enough (OT) (foster kids)

Perfect Enough, by Kelly Artieri (Elk Lake Publishing, 2020, 38 pp, $9.99, ages 6-10)

What We Liked

A difficult situation - two children live with Grandma but Grandma has to go to a nursing home and can no longer take care of the grandkids so they are sent to a foster home. George misses his grandma and, after another foster boy tells him he can't stay with his new family if he's not perfect, George runs away to try to find his grandmother.

But, not to worry, all ends well. Just how, I won't reveal but the kid in you will love this book as will your kids and all the kids they know.

Oh, and George has a big sister, Isabella, so girls as well as boys will like Perfect Enough..

What We Would Have Changed

George is a little boy yet his grandmother is 92. That is a pretty old grandmother! Did the author skip a generation? And George has curly blond hair - quite rare. Finally, why did the other foster boy say George had to be perfect or he would lose his foster family?

However, we do love this little book and so will you! The plot will keep you guessing.

Book Review: Just Because I Was Adopted (OT)

Just Because I Was Adopted: A Story about Adoption and Forever Love, by P. Shioma (Tonbo Press, 2021, 36 pp, $9.99, ages 13-18)

What Adoption Means

The cutest illustrations ever, enhance this story about an adopted boy who learns just how special that makes him. 

A Lovely Story with Lovely Illustrations

It's the first snowfall of the year and three friends decide to make their family's snowmen/women but the little girl tells our hero that his three 'sisters' are not his real family because he was adopted. Saddened, our hero wrecks his 'snowfamily.' 

Dad comes out to shovel snow and notices the fallen family. Perhaps he doesn't know what to think at first. He asks each child in turn to tell about his or her snow family and when he gets to  his own son. . . . the result is a lovely explanation that all three kids learn from.

What We Would Change

We think this book is for a younger set than the advertised 13-18 year old range, and because we know a girl named Suki, it took us a while to realize that the Suki in the book is a boy. Plus, the girl in pink knows what 'adopted' means (the definition) but a few pages later asks the dad what it means. And, a minor part - the words run into a dark object on one page, making it hard to make out the words.

Recommendation: an excellent book for families!

Book Review: I Dreamed You (OT)(a single mother's ode)

I Dreamed You, by Justine Avery (Suteki Creative, 2020, 36 pp, $14.95. ages: up to 8 years)

Many Layered

Every child starts out as a dream, for many years, then for nine months. This lovely book is penned on light sepia pages with a fun secret revealed at the end of this review.

A baby, a child, changes everything, and for a lifetime. Everything is new once the child comes home.

We posit I Dreamed You was meant to be read to youngsters from about 3 to about 8 years of age. It is a love poem from a probably single mom to her newborn with forever wishes. Each page has lovely water colored illustrations and unforgettable couplets: 

"Once, I dreamed you. Then, you came true.

"From my wishes, you grew.

"You were waiting there somewhere, For the perfect time to be.

"Something was missing. It was you, waiting to be mine.

"And you. . . are home."

Although this is a children's book, it is also, perhaps more so, for moms.

---------------

And the secret is. . . every page has a heart that grows larger and more complete with each additional page as you read the book - full of the flowers of life.

Did you notice that secret as you read along?

Book Review: Dog on Board: The True Story of Eclipse, the Bus-Riding Dog (Seattle)

Dog on Board: The True Story of Eclipse, the Bus-Riding Dog, by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent* (Crown Books for Young Reader, $16.99, 2016, 40 pages, ages 4-8 and above), as told by Eclipse, the dog, herself

I was going through our overdue library books, getting them ready to return when I came upon Dog on Board: we just had to sit down and read it. Again and again! And not only because the dog lives in Seattle!

Plenty of photos for the little ones to feel as if this story is happening to them, to make them fall in love with black lab Eclipse (who turns out to be a Mastador - half lab and half mastiff)

Dad in Seattle dogsits Eclipse for teenage son living on a farm but getting more and more involved in football. The temporary arrangement becomes permanent and Dad takes Eclipse to the dog park every day by bus (Seattle is a very dog-friendly city!)

One day, Dad is late and Eclipse boards the bus all by herself. She knows where to get off and a human opens the dog park gate for her.

Then follows Eclipse and her ever-expanding journeys, apparently alone (Dad is in the background).

Meet Seattle

Seattle is home to ferries and the Pike Street Fish Market and dog friends everywhere! Eclipse actually becomes a TV celeb!

Inside both front and back covers are 'bus map diagrams.' Even if you live in 'the other Washington', Washington, D.C.,  you will see a red line and a yellow line and a purple line for a kid-discussion.

And Eclipse likes to shop in MudBay on the way home from the dog park. After all, it is a store for dogs. (Well, actually it's a chain of pet stores owned by employees.)

Cruisin' Canine

Watch Eclipse here! And visit Scraps and Canine Pub here on Eclipse's day off in Seattle.

Who Let The Dog Out?

On ABC News, Eclipse turns out to be the MPP, Most Popular Passenger, on the D-line. Read what the Huff Post has to say here.

Buddy's Magic Window Wins Award!

 Update on Buddy's Magic Window: A Little Dog's BIG Adventure*

The Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA [ibpa]) last week announced their 33rd annual Benjamin Franklin Award winners for 2020 and Buddy's Magic Window was a finalist in two categories: Children's Picture Book (0-3 years) and Cover Design - Children's/Young Adult.

The Buddy book "brought home the gold" in the Children's Picture Book (0-3 years) category with the stunning nature photography on each page. 

Congratulations, Dennis! (and Buddy)

"Lost in the foggy forest, how will a golden retriever puppy find his way home? Join Buddy as he meets many woodland animals on the BIG adventure. an inspiring tale of bravery, trust, friendship, kindness, and believing in oneself. Award-winning photos guide you on Buddy's magical journey." (IBPA)

*Available from DennisGlennon.com, Amazon.com and bookstores everywhere and reviewed here.

(Buddy's Magic Window, by Dennis Glennon [Dennis Glennon Photography, 2020, 48 pages, $19.95])

Book Review (OT): Every Day is a Gift: A Memoir - Soldier, Senator, Mother, by Tammy Duckworth

Every Day is a Gift:  A Memoir - Soldier, Senator, Mother, by Tammy Duckworth (Hachette, 2021, $30.00, 275 pages)

A Cinderella Story - Soldier, Senator, Mother

Born in Bangkok; educated in Indonesia, Singapore and Hawaii; a PhD; a retired Army pilot shot down in Iraq; a double amputee; bi-racial; a US Senator; and a mother - a truly amazing woman who literally went from rages to riches.

Every Day is a Gift is a '24-hour book' - one you simply can't put down. If you have served in the military, you will relive the camaraderie you experienced. Early sections are tear-jerkers and after a few chapters, I read the rest with my emotions on the surface.

Author Tammy Duckworth had truly internalized the values of service to our nation (video here) and to her fellow soldiers. She was never hesitant to do what needed to be done and to work devilishly hard to attain almost-impossible goals.

". . . my explanation why America is worth it."*

Every Day is a memoir, a non-fiction book that reads like a story because that is precisely what it is - a true story that will leave you inspired to alway do your best and to constantly challenge yourself to achieve your goals and dreams.

You will experience living in Bangkok with not-terribly-welcoming relatives, then in a wealthy compound in Indonesia, and eventually in one room in Honolulu at age 16 trying to support your family by passing out fliers on Waikiki. You will live the shootdown by an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) in Iraq and learn how Duckworth's flight crew carried her to safety (minus one leg), thinking she had died. You will experience living at Walter Reed for months, enduring painful debridements and strenuous physical therapy sessions. You will also learn what Alive Day is and how different soldiers 'celebrate' it.

And you will come out of this vicarious experience a better person.

*https://people.com/politics/sen-tammy-duckworth-recaps-her-action-packed-life-in-a-new-memoir/