Pollyanna Grows Up is the second Pollyanna book, but the last one written by Eleanor Porter. It’s a servicable read, but a lot of the charm of the first book is lost in this one. The plot is split in two parts. The first half of the book is still about young Pollyanna, not even a year after her accident and recovery in the first book. She’s sent to stay with a complete stranger in Boston while her aunt and Dr. Chilton go off to […]
Anyone can learn to draw a LION!!
(This is a review of a book series but I’ll count it as one review. I highly recommend any of these books.) Sometime last year on a Pajiba comment thread, I was reminded of Ed Emberley’s drawing books. I knew I had one of his books as a kid; I could so clearly see the cover in my mind’s eye (pictured above). I know that I used the book to learn to draw, because at the age of about 7-8, I had drawn a […]
The one with the skunks.
So Cassie is the killjoy Animorph, apparently? I wasn’t a part of the fandom back in the day, and I’m still not, so I really have zero idea what other Animorphs fans think of plots and characters. I just know what I think, and I always liked her when I was a kid, perhaps because I have a permanent streak of killjoy in me myself. I was always the first kid asleep at slumber parties by several hours (if I didn’t call my mom to […]
More Books I’m Giving As Gifts (Reading On Their Own Edition)
Now, just because they can read on their own does not mean that you can’t read these books with them, just saying. Because that’s definitely the case with this first book: Good Night Stories For Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli & Francesca Cavallo – So the only problem with this book is that I only ordered one copy. And now I have about ten different girls I want to give a copy to. Because guys, it’s SO GOOD. There’s 100 different amazing women, with 100 […]
Picture books for little pals
Are You Sleeping Little One by Hans-Christian Schmidt & Cynthia Vance – An adorable bedtime board book to add to your toddler’s collection: The illustrations are cheerful, sweet & simple – even the snake is cute! The baby animals are all given appropriate names (joey, owlet), so there’s some sneaky learning involved, and (because I am the literal worst when it comes to rhyme schemes and needing the meter to be ab.so.lute.ly perfect, and “flamingo” is pushing it a bit too far syllable-wise,) 9/10 points […]
A book so sweet you’ll get cavities
This is a very sweet book about acceptance and friendship. Twig Fowler is a 12-year-old girl living in Sidwell, Massachusetts who doesn’t have any friends. That is not by choice, but her mother insists that they not visit other people, because then a reciprocal visit would be expected, and no one is to come to their house. Because they have a secret. The secret is Twig’s brother, James, who no one else knows exists. He is a secret because he has been hit with the […]