Ronaldo: The Reindeer Flying Academy (Book 1)

Sylvester, M. (2015). Ronaldo: The Flying Reindeer Academy, Book 1. 



Children's Illustrated Chapter Book / Fantasy


I give this book 4.5/5 Stars

About the book:  Ronaldo is the top flying cadet at the prestigious Reindeer Flying Academy. He dreams of getting his flying license and becoming one of Santa's reindeer, just like his hero, Vixen.

In the first adventure in the Ronaldo series, the second year flying cadets face their toughest ever flying test – The Endurance Challenge. Will Ronaldo be victorious and lift the silver cup? Or will mean brothers Dasher, Comet and Prancer ruin his chance for success?

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Check out Ronaldo's website for the Children's Play Zone with fun activities like drawing, coloring, jokes, magic tricks, puzzles,brain teasers, and even cooking!

WEBSITE

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HALL WAYS REVIEW: Ronaldo: The Flying Reindeer Academy is a terrific chapter book! I finished reading, looked at my husband, and said, "That was super freakin' cute!" Plus something about those reindeer illustrations absolutely tickled me. I laughed and laughed, and of course, I had to show the pictures around, too.

There's a perfect sprinkling of (did I mention HILARIOUS?) illustrations to provide a break for both reluctant readers and strong independent readers. The illustrations are colorful, clear, and detailed enough to stop and study them -- but readers won't want to stop for long because following Ronaldo's escapades is a blast.  I am so impressed that the author, Maxine Sylvester, is also the illustrator. Such talent!

The messages from reindeer parents to son hold true for humans, too. Cleanliness, hygiene, eating right, courtesy -- all are great messages for young readers. The main message of "Imagine! See it, feel it, believe it," is good advice about having and reaching goals. And there's likely to be some giggling, too, like when Ronaldo's grandad comments on the importance of polishing one's antlers because "no doe could resist a good pair of antlers."

There is plenty of humor in the words and actions (and illustrations) -- including scatological humor – always reliable for kid laughs -- and quirky characters. I loved that grandpa reindeer had "recently retired due to a hip injury caused by years of salsa dancing and, in desperate need of a hobby, chose knitting."

Other characters are entertaining too, like the ever-blushing Rudy, and the highest-ranking officer at the Reindeer Flying Academy, Commander Blitsen, who is female and a bit of a mess, but at least she can laugh at herself.  I did feel that it was a bit of a missed opportunity with Blitsen (as a female in a power position), but hopefully she will be less bumbling and more commanding in the next book in the series. Also, I will be interested to see how the bullying issues are addressed in future books – there was a convenient, but only temporary, solution in The Flying Reindeer Academy.

Other than a few errors that need cleaning up to make it top-notch (run-ons and comma errors), the book was an absolute delight to read, and I would highly recommend it for young chapter book readers.  I am looking forward to the next two installments (The Phantom Carrot Snatcher and Rudi’s Birthday Extravaganza are both already out) and would love to see these books come available in print format. Thank you to the author for providing a digital copy in exchange for my honest opinion -- the only kind I give. 

About the author, by the author:  I was born in Hounslow, Middlesex in the south of England. As a child, I loved drawing and took private art classes with a beautiful teacher called, Pearl Lee. She had an abundance of Disney magazines, and I would paint the characters on wood, card, canvas or anything else I was allowed to use, including walls. 

After Sixth Form College, I intended to go to art school, but my travel bug got the better of me, and I chose to work as a holiday representative in Greece instead. This was followed by seven years working on cruise ships, two years in Israel and Palestine, and six years in Russia and Armenia. Although I lapped up the different cultures, I found my work over the years very unfulfilling. I decided to dig out my Caran d’Arche pencils, and do something about it!

I enrolled in The College of Cartoon Art and was mentored by the renowned caricaturist, Steve Chadburn. I created a character called Ronaldo and decided to write a short story about him. Before I knew it, my head was spinning with ideas and the first book, The Reindeer Flying Academy, went from a small picture book into a fully blown chapter book … but more importantly, I loved every minute of the writing and illustrating process.

Nowadays, I live in Bali, Indonesia, with my amazing partner, Mark (Bristol born and bred).  I am still a self-confessed Disney geek and get excited as a five-year-old whenever a new Disney animated film comes out. I love the Disney theme parks and have visited Orlando, Paris, Hong Kong, and Tokyo – California and Shanghai are next on my bucket list.

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RELATED:

Ronaldo, Book 2

Ronaldo, Book 3

 

The Oregon Kids: The Big Catch

Richley, B. (2017). The Oregon Kids: The Big Catch. Self-published.

Children's Book / Illustrated / Life Lessons / K-3

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Blurb: Reading with your child builds intimacy with your child and a love for reading. It could be a great time to discuss moral character and values. 
In The Big Catch, the value of being selfless and giving to others is exemplified. Billy and Autumn are brother and sister. At the beginning of the story, Billy is selfish and prideful. He sees his sister as a bother and burden. All that concerns him is fishing and catching the biggest fish. At the end, however, Billy shows compassion for his sister, Autumn, allowing her to catch the biggest fish. The Big Catch is meant to be read with your child. It gives parents an opportunity to discuss Billy's character and presents a good example for teaching values of giving, being selfless, and sacrificing. 

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HALL WAYS REVIEW: At just twenty-two pages, The Oregon Kids: The Big Catch is the perfect length to keep young readers engaged.  Author Bob Richley gives readers a well-designed and well-written story with plenty of talking points for adults and children to share as they read together.

Readers will likely recognize themselves when they’ve been frustrated, impatient, self-centered, or clumsy like main character Billy in The Oregon Kids. Children with siblings (or cousins or playmates) will relate to either having the tag-along younger sibling or being that tag-along younger sibling who just wants to belong.  The importance of empathy and sympathy comes about in a natural way, showing readers how good it feels to make someone else happy.

The illustrations are crisp and simple, yet when it’s important that a certain emotion is being conveyed, the expressions on the characters’ faces speak volumes. The illustrator, Hilbert Bermejo, uses a colorful but somewhat muted palette that is pleasing but not distracting.  The layout is designed well with plenty of white space to make the pages less intimidating to young readers, but I would have preferred a larger and/or bolder font.

The Oregon Kids: The Big Catch is a promising start to a new series that offers quick, bite sized lessons on values and virtues. I look forward to the next book, The Oregon Kids: Runaway Whiskers (currently being illustrated). Click here for a preview!

Thank you to the author for providing me a print copy in exchange for my honest opinion – the only kind I give. 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: BOB RICHLEY grew up in the Chicago area and now lives in beautiful Colorado. Growing up Richley would often go camping in the Rocky Mountains. It was these childhood camping trips and especially his visit to Crater Lake in Oregon that was the inspiration for events in the Oregon Kids series. Richley is a parent, who has volunteered for years in children’s ministry. Teaching children good values and the grace of God are his passions. His stories, originally written for a single mom to help her raise her children, are a way to fulfill this passion. Richley has always loved children, wanting all children to be raised with love and grace. It is his hope that his stories will be one of many tools that parents will use to teach and to raise their children with Godly values.

  
Connect with Bob on his  AUTHOR PAGE     

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BetterNot! And the Tale of Bratsville

Del Vecchio, G. (2015).  BetterNot! And the Tale of Bratsville - Teaching Morals and Manners. Pasadena, CA: BetterNot! Enterprises, LLC.

Children's / Manners / Fantasy

I gave this book 5 of 5 Stars 

Bratsville is an eerie place, surrounded by swamps, where parents are at the end of their ropes because their children are so horribly behaved.  As the parents all warn their kids what they better not do, something magical happens and a purple creature named BetterNot arises from the swamp to teach the naughty kids personalized lessons they will never forget.

 Benjamin Booger picked his nose all day and all night.

No one had ever seen his booger finger in the light.

This book tells it like it is with ill-mannered little kids and BetterNot, the answer to the hapless parents' cries for help.  Author Gene Del Vecchio seems to understand how to lure in the audience and get the point across without being preachy. The kids of Bratsville are over-the-top and completely out-of-control, and the bright, engaging, slightly exaggerated illustrations perfectly reflect the mood and characters of the story.  Even real life offenders will hopefully see the light and value of good manners and respect, and adults may recognize how they inadvertently may contribute to less than desirable behaviors.  This is an ideal book to read aloud to or read along with children, and it lends itself well to discussions about manners and could even be used for a lesson about figurative language.

The book is told in rhyming sentences, but they are not always rhythmic, so it's best not to try and read them to sound musical. There was a lack of punctuation that created run-on sentences (perhaps to aid in the delivery of the rhymes?) and one capitalization error, but they definitely weren't show stoppers and didn't interfere with the delivery.  

Del Vecchio's approach to the subject matter, coupled with the wonderful illustrations by Roderick Fong make this a highly recommended book for parents who want not only results, but lots of giggles from their children. I recommend for kids ages 5-9, but BetterNot could be a little scary for younger or sensitive kids to read alone.

Thank you to the author for providing me a fabulous hardcover copy in exchange for my honest review -- the only kind I give. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Gene Del Vecchio is the author of seven books. His first young adult novel, The Pearl of Anton, was honored with a star review in Booklist, while the sequel, The Sword of Anton, was honored with the Young Adults' Choices Award from the International Reading Association. BetterNot! is his latest book.

A longtime entertainment consultant, Gene has worked for major studios and toy companies and has written extensively on the topic of creating great entertainment, including a book titled Creating Blockbusters. He also teaches at USC. Most importantly, Gene lives in Valencia, California with his wonderful wife, Linda. They are the proud parents of Matthew and Megan.

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Fibles: Children's eBook

Everette, M.R. (2015). Fibles: Children's eBook. 2nd Edition. Mesa, AR: Cookietwist Publishing.

Children's Short Stories / Illustrated / Problem-Solving

I gave this book 3 of 5 stars

Fibles: Children’s eBook gives readers a collection of twelve modern day stories, each having a different young animal as the main character.  The stories present the characters in a wide range of human dilemmas that teach lessons on problem solving and show consequences for choices made.  Every story starts with an illustration of the main characters and their fun and funny names and is followed by two more colorful illustrations as each story moves along, all which make the stories more engaging for readers.  

The strength of these stories is in author M.R. Everette’s clever plays on words, which is one reason that these stories might best be enjoyed in a read-aloud format, with an adult reading to a child.  Otherwise, young readers who don’t yet have a grasp on reading and/or spelling might stumble right through and miss what makes the stories funny. For example, in “The Ewe Wee,” some of the best laughs come from the names of the Ewe family, but Ewe is a difficult word. With Everette’s extended word play, the book could also lend itself to teaching literary devices to kids. For example, in “The Erlee Riser,” literal versus figurative language and double-entendres could be taught with all the bird references in the story (tweeting, hopping online, etc.).   Additionally, Everette uses parallel formatting so that every kind of animal is introduced in the same way: Erlee the bird, Potter the otter, Ellie the elephant.  So, when readers come across an unfamiliar word (pika, guib, eider), the context clues will help them identify a word as an animal (Pikasso the pika, Dwib the guib, Slider the eider) and may pique the reader’s curiosity to learn more.

Though there were a few stories that ended without making a clear point or resolution, the stories in Fibles: Children’s eBook were clever and entertaining, and the illustrations were bright and fun. Where the book needs work is in editing; there are extensive comma use errors, agreement errors, and missing or incorrect punctuation (particularly with plurals and possessives).  A thorough, professional editing would definitely improve the flow, and most importantly, model proper writing to the children reading the book.  As the book stands, I would recommend it only as a read-aloud, so that the writing errors aren’t modeled, and hope that the author will take the necessary steps to take the quality of the writing to the next level.

This book was reviewed for BookPlex, who provided me an ebook copy in exchange for my honest review -- the only kind I give.