I receive tons of great (and some not-so-great) children’s books to review, and I usually focus on titles that best suit my daughters’ ages and interests.
Recently I decided that some of the books for older kids deserve a mention, so I have enlisted my beautiful, avid-reading nine year old niece “Anastasia” (she got to choose her pseudonym!) to take a look and make some recommendations to my readers.
Here are her first picks, in her own words.
“Saltwater Taffy” by Eric DelaBarre
Saltwater Taffy is about five friends who try to find the lost treasure of Jean Lafitte (the great pirate). However they discover that the treasure is being happy and spending time with your family and friends. Happiness is not money. True happiness is spending time with those whom you love. {Yes, she really wrote “whom”.} The part I liked best was when the friends realized what the treasure really was. The part I didn’t like was when the children were almost caught trying to get revenge on somebody. (I hate it when children or anybody gets caught doing something bad!) I think 7 to 11 year olds would find this book particularly interesting.
{Visit the site at http://www.saltwatertaffybook.com}
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“Just Grace and The Terrible Tutu” by Charise Mericle Harper
“Just Grace and The Terrible Tutu” is about a girl (Grace) who tries to make a toddler like her friend (Mimi), because she thinks the toddler hangs around her too much. The drawings in this book are cartoonish and look like they are hand-drawn by a younger girl. The headings seem to me like the girl is almost writing in a diary, as if it’s a nonfiction story even though it isn’t. I liked the part in the book when the girl named Grace has an idea…because she is NOT very good at hiding her secret idea! I didn’t like the part where Grace’s friend Mimi was acting very strange. I think 6 to 9 year old girls would enjoy this book.
{This is part of the “Just Grace” series…it’s always nice to get kids hooked on a good series.}
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My thanks to Anastasia for her thoughtful contribitions to this post!
Disclosure: I received these books for review purposes. Opinions here belong to my niece, “Anastasia”.