I recently read A Unicorn Named Sparkle by Amy Young and it seriously gave me a case of the giggles.
I mean, it’s a story about a little girl who orders a unicorn for 25 cents from an ad in the back of a magazine (whoever tells you that’s not a dream come true is lying), but what shows up is a goat with an ice cream cone stuck to his forehead.
How can you not love this premise?
It’s a delightful picture book that my children found to be fun and silly. The illustrations are bright and colorful and … sparkly.
Lucy’s wild hair and polka dot shirt are painted with soft watercolors and dance across pages of wide white spreads, and the baby unicorn/goat practically dances right into your heart with his own little heart-shaped cutie mark.
Now, when Lucy imagines what kind of unicorn will be delivered to her, she pictures something perfect and pretty with a flowing mane and impeccable manners. When the goat arrives, with his scruffy mane and tendency-to-eat-things manners, she decides to return him.
The truck arrives to take him back, but, luckily, Lucy realizes her mistake before it’s too late.
Because although he was not quite what she expected, “she had to admit: sometimes he made her smile and sometimes he made her laugh.” And while friends might not always be perfect, they are certainly precious.
So if you or your kids love unicorns (or goats), check out A Unicorn Named Sparklefor a fun and charming story!
With St. Patrick’s Day coming up, I’ve seen a few book recommendation lists that include Fiona’s Luck, which is written by Teresa Bateman and illustrated by Kelly Murphy.
I love seeing this book recommended at any time of year, however, because it is simply one of my very favorite picture books.
Both of my children love it, but of course it is my eldest, Fiona, who gets especially excited about it. My girls love to find their names in books or movies, as most children do, and that was what attracted me to Fiona’s Luckin the first place.
And I am so happy I decided to buy it.
Not only does it give me a chance to have fun playing around with my horrible Irish accent (which is possibly more entertaining to me than my kids), but it delivers a wonderful lesson in the form of a fun and engaging story.
Fiona is a young woman in Ireland, living in a time after the Leprechaun King has stolen all the luck that used to be floating freely around the country, and locked it away in a big wooden chest. He was upset that all of the luck floating around out there was getting attached to the Big Folk, and so he decided to keep it all for himself.
But he took ALL of the luck, every bit of it, and with no luck left floating around Ireland, a famine developed. The cows wouldn’t let down milk, the hens weren’t laying eggs, and the potatoes rotted in the ground.
Fiona uses her wits to trick everyone into thinking that she is in fact very lucky by pretending to harvest potatoes and be overloaded with baskets of eggs and buckets of milk.
Her ruse works, and the Leprechaun King magically transports her to his throne room to demand that she return the luck. Since she knows she is not lucky, she uses that to her advantage when he challenges her to tests of luck. And though she fails all of his tests, she wins something much greater: a little bit of the luck that he had locked away. And as it turns out, a little bit is enough.
Amidst this tale of a woman who would rather have her “wits about her” than all the luck in the world, are gorgeously painted illustrations. While reading the story, there is so much for kids to look at, and so many beautiful details for their eyes to peruse (like tiny sparkles of luck or hidden leprechauns).
The mood of the story comes alive against the soft natural colors, with the gloomier parts reflected by more subdued shades, and the lighter moments highlighted by the playful twinkling of the luck. The friendly faces set against the sprawling Irish countryside makes for gorgeous viewing for adults and kids alike.
I highly recommend this book. You won’t regret sharing the brave and spirited Fionawith your own amazing kids!
I am mildly (okay, that’s an understatement) obsessed with Shakespeare.
I’m not exactly a Shakespearean scholar or anything, even coming from a literature major in college, but really more of what I call a Shakespeare groupie.
I love Shakespeare and everything that he has given us, and I love to share the stories and the characters and the words with my kids. My girls are still very young, but we’ve already seen multiple live performances together, watched some of the plays as movies, and done crafts and activities based on the plays.
And one of the original reasons that I became a consultant with Usborne Books & More is because of Usborne Publishing’s amazing collection of books about Shakespeare. Which is what this post is about. I wanted to share with you how these books help to get kids excited about Shakespeare and help to research and understand his plays.
Though, honestly, I really got the books for myself. My kids just get the benefits of having them around. ;)
This seemed like the perfect time to share them, too, with this month being a worldwide celebration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. Not a celebration that he died, mind you, but a celebration that we’re still so excited about and grateful for everything that he brought into our world through his art.
Talking about books seemed to me a great way to honor the words he gave us. ;)
The books are much more impressive in person, however, than they appear from a simple photograph, so I’m first going to share a video review I made of the books listed here – so that you can see a glimpse inside of them and compare what they offer. Then I’m going to list each book with a brief description.
Ugh … I don’t like watching myself on video. But hopefully I was able to explain and demonstrate the books well enough for you to figure out what would be best for your household or classroom. (Even if I did get confused and stumble over my words here and there…)
But if anything was unclear, or you have any further questions, please leave a comment here and I’ll do my best to help!
Here are the books, including the gift collection not mentioned in the video:
The Illustrated Stories contains retellings of 6 plays, all fully illustrated with artwork on every page. It’s a hardcover book with a soft outer cover and includes a ribbon bookmark.
Plays included: Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and the Tempest
This sticker dressing book allows you to dress up characters from many of the plays with over 160 stickers, from Bottom to Macbeth and Cleopatra to Hamlet. Also includes some quotation stickers.
A truly fun and unique concept, this book of Where’s Will is the Shakespearean version of Where’s Waldo.
There is an illustrated summery from 10 of his plays, followed by a double spread illustration for each of those plays in which you must seek out characters from the play.
This book is covered with a sturdy flexi-binding and retells 10 of Shakespeare’s plays with large lively illustrations. Includes summaries of all of the plays.
Play include: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, As you like it, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice, The Winter’s Tale, Macbeth, and The Taming of the Shrew
Available in flexi-binding or in library binding, this book will thoroughly introduce you to Shakespeare. Find out how he lived, what Elizabethan London was like, and why we still perform his plays today.
Includes multiple glossaries plus information about how to further research the topics on the internet.
Shorter than the book mentioned just above, this hardcover reference book contains similar information, but in smaller chunks and with a more colorful format.
That’s it for my review! Overall, I highly recommend ALL of these books, but I understand most people aren’t going to rush out and stock up on each and every one of them, so I hope I’ve been able to help you decide on a favorite(s).
Also, be sure to follow me on Facebook where I have a habit of posting random funny or interesting Shakespeare stuff. ;)
This adorable Easter Bunny Flap Book is not only fun for kids – it’s the perfect size to fit into an Easter basket, too!
I like to give my kids new books for every holiday, and this year, this flap book is going into my daughter’s basket.
It’s technically a baby book, but I’m giving it to my 2 (almost 3) year old, and I know my 4 (almost 5) year old will enjoy flipping through it, too, helping her sister find where the Easter bunny hid all the eggs!
Aside from the flaps that you have to lift to find the eggs, kids will also enjoy the peek-through holes in the pages that give you a hint at who we’re going to visit on the next page.
You can watch me demonstrate more about this charming book in my video review:
The Easter Bunny Lift-a-Flap Board Book isn’t available any more on my Usborne Books site, but you can still find some used copies on Amazon.
Roaming Rosie 