Read my review of Stuck by Oliver Jeffers, on the Good Reads with Ronna blog. This book will be released in November, and it’s worth reserving a copy now!

Visit Good Reads with Ronna to check out my review of Mirror by author/illustrator Jeannie Baker.

Check out my review of Queen Elizabeth I, The People’s Queen – a Chicago Press Review book for kids on Good Reads with Ronna. This is a great read!

Please read book my review of Olivia’s Birds: Saving the Gulf on Good Reads With Ronna. Olivia Bouler is a very special 11-year-old girl who helped raise over $200,000 to save the birds from the most recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Olivier not only wrote the book, but also created all the illustrations.

As a reviewer, I read countless books each month. Some are very good, a few are excellent, and many are OK, but once in a blue moon, a book moves me. Someone Named Eva is a book that really moved me.

Someone Named Eva is historical fiction for middle readers ages 9-12. It is written from the perspective of a Czech girl who is forced by the Nazis to leave her home in Lidice. She is selected as part of a group of Aryan children (the Nazi’s opinion of the “pure” race) due to her facial features, blond hair and blue eyes. She is swiftly plucked from her family, forced to attend a special program living in a dormitory in Lebensborn, Poland and treated with special privileges. It was here that she was forced to change her name, learn to speak German and become a “proper” Aryan girl under the auspices of Adolf Hitler. While spending 2 years in the program, not knowing what happened to her siblings, parents and grandmother, “Eva” struggles to keep her original identity alive in her mind, because she is not allowed to speak about her family and her former life.  Outside of the school, she has more extraordinary experiences that test her resilience to survive.

What I love about Someone Named Eva is that the story is engaging from the very first sentence, and the words flow naturally off the page like maple syrup off a tall stack of hotcakes. The book educates young readers about an aspect of World War II that many children may not already know – that Jewish people were not the only victims of the Holocaust. The author does a beautiful job of portraying the innocence of a young child and how she ever so gradually comes to understand the many atrocities of Hitler, especially in her hometown of Lidice. Ironically Eva was treated with special privileges in many ways, yet was a prisoner nonetheless. All the sensitive subject matter of the war is appropriately handled in the book with grace and taste, ideal for the target age group of the readers.

Ms. Wolf traveled to the Czech Republic, where her Great Grandmother was born, and to Poland to do research about WWII to write the book. It was there that she met several people former Lidice children themselves, who shared their compelling and inspiring stories of survival with her. Someone Named Eva has been widely read by educators and young readers of the English language and has also been translated into French and Korean. I highly recommend the book – not just to middle readers and young adults – but to all who enjoy a beautifully written story set in a place and time we must not let ourselves forget.

Someone Named Eva is sure to remain an important piece of literature for generations to come, and I’m so grateful I had the chance to enjoy it.

Please read my review on Wandering Educators of The Great Outdoors, a popular restaurant in High Springs, FL.

Yes, this chocolate layer cake tastes as good as it looks!

Read my latest children’s book review on LA Parent Magazine. This book is REALLY cute!

Today I went to the the new IMAX movie Born to Be Wild in 3D.

This movie parallels two different wildlife sanctuaries in two different parts of the world. And because the movie is filmed in 3D, with IMAX quality, viewers feel like they are right there. To top it off, Morgan Freeman is the narrator.

In Kenya the story takes you to a refuge for baby elephants managed by elephant expert, Dame Daphne Sheldrick. She and her team rescue baby elephants from the wild who have lost their mothers for various reasons and nurture them until they are old enough and strong enough to be released back into the wilderness. Half way across the earth from Kenya is Borneo, where an orangutan sanctuary – deep in the rain forest – rescues baby orangutans whose mothers have been killed. It is here that primatologist, Dr. Birute Galdikas, and her team, act as mothers to these fragile creatures until they can be released back into their natural habitat.

The cuteness factor of the baby animals in this movie is off the charts. There is a scene where a worker is pushing a group of baby orangutans in a wheel barrel, and everyone in the theater audibly sighed. There is another priceless scene where the primates are soaping themselves up in a bath. The baby elephants are playful and friendly and so darn adorable too. Some of the babies have trouble falling asleep so the workers have to stay with them to help them relax. You’ll wish you could take one home with you. I like the way the movie takes you back and forth to the two sanctuaries. The cinematography is spectacular, as it is in all IMAX movies I’ve ever seen.

Children will learn that, although wild animals are cute and friendly, they are still wild and that must be respected. The rescuers give these babies a second chance to survive and let them be the animals that they naturally are while in captivity. That way when they are set free, they have the greatest chance of survival.

Anyone, young or old, who loves animals will love this IMAX movie.

http://school.discoveryeducation.com

Every time I receive a stack of children’s books in the mail to review, I really get excited. Unlike most adult books, kids’ books are colorful and playful and really stir creativity in the reader. I thoroughly enjoy the process of taking the time to read each book, examine the illustrations and determine the message the writer intended to get across to the reader. Here’s what I’ve learned:

1. Books are way more sophisticated than they used to be. Many writers have figured out that children do not want to be patronized and can understand more than experts once thought. Science book for kids, in particular, are incredibly advanced these days, and enlighten parents as much as they teach children.
2. A picture book with a good story but without great, vibrant illustrations is unappealing.
3. A picture book with spectacular illustrations and an uninteresting or poorly written story is unappealing.
4. Poor quality printing or binding makes a book a loser no matter how great the story or how great the illustrations may be.
5. Muted colors in illustrations do not appeal to children (or to me).
6. If I have to read a sentence over more than twice, it is not a well-written sentence.
7. A good story is one that flows from page to page.
8. A book that is not interesting to a parent will not be interesting to a child.
9. Humor in writing or in illustrating is a very good thing.
10. What a reviewer is looking for in a children’s book is a unique angle, a remarkable lesson, an informative message or just pure fun and adorableness.
11. A story topic does not have to be new to be good; it just has to be presented in a unique way.
12. Some story topics are way overdone. (i.e. being different, wanting to belong, stereotyped children, fluffy animals, etc)
13. Some self-published books are very professionally done through and through.
14. Some self-published books are riddled with errors, poor grammar, have shoddy printing or weak binding or all of the above.
15. Just because a book is traditionally published does not mean it is excellent. In fact, some traditionally published books are very mediocre.
16. A book that may excite one reader, may not excite another, but that doesn’t mean it is a bad book. Everyone has different tastes. In fact no matter how popular a book may be or how many have been sold, there is always going to be a critic who does not like it.
17. Just because a book does not get a review does not mean it is a bad book. Thousands of books are published every day, and no review source can physically get to every book sent its way.

Click here to read some of my reviews and other great kids’ book reviews on the Good Reads with Ronna blog on LA Parent Magazine Online.

Read my reviews of these adorable animalbooks on LA Parent Magazine.