First, congratulations to the winners of copies of The Laws of Harmony by Judith Ryan Hendricks! They are… Kathy, Alicia, Kelly C., LindseyatAKindredSpirit'sThoughts and Bridget. I will be in touch with you for your contact information. Thanks for entering!!!
Second, here are some reviews of kids' books that I received last week.
The first is Too Tall Alice by Barbara Worton. This is a cute book about an 8-year old who is four inches taller than every other girl in her class. She is very self-conscious about her size, until she has a dream that she goes to a house where every girl is much taller than she is. The tall girls are all happy with their height and have realized their dreams of being whatever they want to be. The book veers off into a little bit of New Agey-ness at this point, with some language that my four year-olds didn't understand (and I didn't love), but the final message is clear: our physical differences make us who we are as individuals and shouldn't hold us back from accomplishing whatever we want to do. This is a nice message, especially for girls, who tend to be self-conscious about how they look. My daughters liked this book, though I suspect it will resonate even more when they get older. The drawings are cute and there are some clever references throughout.
The second book is Baron Thinks Dogs Are People Too! by Laurie Dean. It's about a playful puppy who does what puppies do - sitting on couches, running around the house, and generally causing havoc. He runs into the street at one point, and is sent to puppy school. What he wants most is a best friend, which he finds in a young boy who is lonely and looking for a playmate. I thought this book was fine – not great. There isn't much plot (which certainly didn't bother my four year-olds) and the drawings seemed a little cartoonish to me. But my girls enjoyed the book, particularly the part where the dog goes off to puppy training school. This is a cute book for a family of animal lovers, or one that is contemplating getting a puppy.