Book Review: Just in Case You Ever Wonder (OT)(children's book of love)

Just in Case You Ever Wonder, by Max Lucado (Tommy Nelson Publisher, 2019, 30 pp, $12.89 HC, up to grade 2) Review by Skye Anderson

The age-old story of a mama and her baby - in this case, a lovely Mama Bear who loves her little Baby Bear, just in case he ever wonders. . . . and also the story of God who loves them both, just in case they wonder.

A lovely little book with words that will keep you warm, with watercolor illustrations that will soften your heart. And a story to make your heart smile.

More than a million copies have been sold in just four years and no wonder. Wonder reads like Goodnight, Moon,

another perfect book with which to end the day, reflecting on the love you have encountered and the dream of even more unconditional love to come.

To every child: you are unique, you are special. And God chose me to love and protect you. And I am glad. And just in case you ever wonder, I will always love you, just as God loves you and me.

And now, in 2024, we have Just in Case You Ever Feel Alone!

Book Review: Mary Marianna, Great Owl, and the Chess Master (girls loses, regains happiness helping others)(OT)

Mary Marianna, Great Owl, and the Chess Master, by William Morkill (Brown Books Kids, 2023, 32pp HB, $16.99, ages 4-8, grades: Preschool - grade 2) Review by Skye Anderson

Wow, there is so much packed into this little book! And on so many levels with lessons for both adults and kids.

Her superpower: compassion. 

Her mission: helping others. 

Her game: chess. 

Her name: the amazing Mary Marianna!

Mary Marianna is voted the Happiest Kid in first grade and it's true - until she meets a homeless man with a chessboard. She runs into the forest to sit on 'her' tree stump and in flies wise old Great Owl who challenges her. Mary Marianna rises to the occasion with the surprise ending being the homeless man, homeless no more, coming to the elementary school every day to teach chess to the students. 

But just how this happens is a story to treasure in a book dedicated to Great Thunberg who first realized that little acts can make a big difference.

Lovely Words, Lovely Illustrations and Even a Chessboard!

". . . words dripping like tears, . . . " and "Happiness finds us when we help others." Knights hop, bishops glide, castles collide with timid kings and courageous queens. 

As an added bonus, the author has included chess pieces to cut out and use on a chessboard with instructions on his webpage.

Book Review: Obscura the Cat Sees Beyond (scaredy cat, green eyes shine in the dark)(OT)

Obscura the Cat Sees Beyond, by Ben Franchi (Brown Books Kids, 2023, $16.99, 32pp, ages 5-10) Review by Skye Anderson

Obscura the Cat is a cat to get to know at night, in low light, as you follow her emerald green eyes and search for her brown-black fur as she melts into the background. If. You. Dare. 

Her humans work on the top floor of their house but when Obscura wakes from a nap, the furniture chases her before a knight can hide her. Obscura, however, has to hurry and find her humans amidst the creepies and crawlies that pursue her in every room, every nook and cranny. And the reader will slowly look at all the details on each page, at the ghouls that seep out of the wallpaper, as Obscura runs into skeletons in the kitchen and scaries in the carpet.

Trace her travels (escapes?) throughout the house on the floor plan on the inside front and back covers and pray that she finds her humans in time to go outside for a picnic lunch.

The rhyming scheme reminds you of Edgar Allen Poe. . . . and as an added bonus, Obscura's eyes on the front dust cover shine in the dark!

Book Review: Lenny the Bulldog Goes to the Beach: The Bully on the Beach (Bulldog, that is)

Lenny the Bulldog Goes to the Beach: The Bully on the Beach, by Roxanne Dean (CreateSpace, 2015, $9.99 PB, 124pp) Review by Skye Anderson

Bulldogs don't swim. Or do they? Nobody told Lenny the Bulldog that Bulldogs don't swim, so he did -  even back as far as when he was a puppy. Because Lenny lives at the ocean shore both at Bethany Beach, DE, and St. Pete's in Florida, but though he is a bully, it is the good kind of bully (short for bulldog, not for the school bully)!

Lenny was a famous bulldog for ten years. Not only did he make therapy dog visits to the elderly but he wore a Marine Corps uniform when he helped collect Toys for Tots.

And like may dogs, Lenny (Leonard) lived for treats and petting. And for shoe chewing! The more expensive, the better.

Author Roxanne Dean even includes The Rainbow Bridge as well as a couple of poems starring Lenny that she has written along with chapters featuring a dog's life, the breed, Christmas spirit, the shoe thief and toys.

But perhaps the most important idea the reader will come away with is that even they can write a book about their favorite dog and his antics, be they chewing or swimming or even napping with tongue hanging out!

Book Review: Saltwater Mittens (colorful knitting patterns from Newfoundland)(OT)

Saltwater Mittens: More Than 20 Heritage Designs to Knit, by Christine Legrow and Shirley Scott (Boulder Books, 2018, $29.95, 192pp PB) Review by Skye Anderson

First in a series of four lovely and entertaining knitting/touristy wish books, Saltwater Mittens has its origins in Newfoundland, Canada: a lovely collection of colors, photos, history and geography, traditional knitting patterns and even literary extracts. A book you will use but also will simply open and page through, to gaze upon the cliffs as well as the zigzag mittens and caps (instructions are also included). 

Colors you never thought would go together, do. Stripes and diamonds, scallops and arrows and squares and wrist ribbing  but always in contrasting colors. And, as with the other three books, Saltwater Mittens can stand alone. But, trust me, like potato chips, once you get one of the four,  you will want the others.

Saltwater Mitten Wheel

We love some of the titles in the bibliography: Don't Have Your Baby in the Dory, Fox & Geese & Fences, Flying Geese and Partridge Feet.

Samples of the Writing

"I was late in life learning to knit. I was eight. . . . " (p 13) and "In days gone by, knitters were not unduly worried about the size of the finished product. In large families, any garment was likely to fit some family member." (p 27)

Each of the four books has the same creative levels of difficulty labels (along with abbreviations and definitions): "Easy Does It" for beginning knitters, "Tangly" for intermediate skill levels and "Over the Wharf" for the advanced knitter.

1. Saltwater Mittens: More Than 20 Heritage Designs to Knit

2. Saltwater Classics: Caps, Vamps and Mittens from the Island of Newfoundland

3. Saltwater Gifts from the Island of Newfoundland: More than 25 Fashion and Home Styles to Knit

4. Saltwater Socks, Caps, Mittens and More

Book Review: A Lucky Dog: Owney, US Rail Mail Mascot (1800s, trains)

A Lucky Dog: Owney, US Rail Mail Mascot, by Dirk Wales (Great Plains Pr, 2003, 32 pp HB, ages 4-9, Preschool - grade 3, $15.95) Review by Skye Anderson

A True Story: A Huge Book about a Huge Story

A Lucky Dog: Owney, US Rail Mail Mascot, is a huge book that tells the huge story of a little mutt, many years ago, who jumped onto a box car that happened to be carrying the US mail and that was the first day of the rest of his life - as a mascot for the US mail.

It was a Dark and Stormy Night. . . . For This Mail Pouch Pooch

It was a dark and stormy night, that night in 1887 that our hero-mutt jumped onto the box car to get out of the rain in Albany, New York. He quickly became the pet of the local post office but soon also caught the travel bug. So, he hopped on the next mail train and hopped off at a distant station to stay a while.

Then he took about hop and another until he made his way across the country and into the history books of the US Postal Service for 9 years, guarding the mail. From Baltimore to Washington, DC, to Chicago and even on a ship that sailed round the world, Owney became famous as the pet of thousands of postal workers. One postal worker found him a coat and others affixed mailbag tags to it, starting a collection of Owney's itinerary that rivals Gulliver's travels.

Owney's book is mostly true but since Owney didn't tell his story to the author (the author wasn't around yet) we have only the recollections of postal workers across the county and across the world. Some of the story is what probably occurred to Owney as well as what did happen.

Illustrator of this edition (the book at the top of this review), Diane Kenna, uses brown-tinged water colors to depict a nondescript terrier-type - any dog (and every dog). Her full-page pictures are soft and friendly.

And it is only fitting that Owney now has his own postage stamp! Forever!

Book Review: Annabelle Bee and the Butterfly Tree (OT) (children's book, friends working together to find solutions)

Annabelle Bee and the Butterfly Tree, by Debra O'Connor (Brown Books Pub Group, 2023, ages 5-8, 32 pp HB, $12.74, Kindergarten -  Preschool) Review by Skye Anderson.

What a lovely little book with beehive cells (hexagons, where bees sleep in the hive and also deposit honey) completely covering the inside front and back covers. And can you imagine a bee being best friends with a butterfly?

If you are my age (or thereabouts) or live in Baltimore, you will automatically say "Annabelle Lee" rather than "Annabelle Bee" - but your first-grader will correct you!

Queen Bee Mom gently wakes Annabelle  in the morning and her first view is of the nearby butterfly tree - so full of beautiful orange butterflies who dry their large beautiful wings in the morning sunshine. Annabelle meets Benjamin Butterfly and they fly around together all day, sampling flowers, dipping and sipping, until something bad happens and Annabelle has to save Benjamin! In turn, Benjamin has to save Annabelle and then another scary thing happens - Queen Bee Mom says most of the the bees (family and friends) have to move to another location, so the bees start their search for a new home. But Annabelle and Benjamin don't want this to happen. What can they do? Can they find a new home for the bees in time?

Learn about bee dances and what they mean, learn about swarms and read a page full of bee facts before the book closes. But perhaps more importantly than bee facts is what young readers learn about friendship and working together. All in all, a truly lovely little bee book!