Scar Island by Dan Gemeinhart
Recommended for grades 4-7

Jonathan Grisby is the newest arrival at Slabhenge Reformatory School for Troubled Boys. We don't know what awful thing he has done, but we know it is bad. The school is on an island, an ancient crumbling fortress in the middle of the ocean. But because he has done something truly horrible he is willing to take his punishment, whatever that might be. After a few days as he gets use to his new surroundings and learns about the different boys on the island, something horrific happens and the boys are all left on their own on the island to fend for themselves. Are the boys actually in more danger now than they were before the accident? A gripping novel with much suspense, mystery and intrigue. Read how these troubled boys come together to help and learn how to live with their sins of their past before moving forward with their lives.

You won't want to put this book down!

****1/2 Stars

Love

After a 2 year hiatus, I have come back to blogging about what I love most, books! 

Love by Matt de la Peña and Illustrated by Loren Long

This beautiful picture book is a celebration of love that will be enjoyed by readers of all ages. It shows love in very unexpected ways with small moments during our lives that help us to think about the feeling of love and recognize love within ourselves. It even brings about the question, what is love? Illustrator, Loren Long, has created realistic and diverse illustrations of people around the world with the use of color, texture and feeling. The illustrations show how we have small moments of love everyday in our lives with the good and the bad. This book will help develop resilience to push through the difficult times as well as understanding the moments of love within ourselves, with our friendships and within the world around us.

**** Stars

So Loud it Hurts

So Loud it Hurts 

By Elaheh Bos

Gus loves almost everything about birthdays, except for the Happy Birthday song.  Gus doesn’t like loud noises and becomes overwhelmed when there is too much going on around him. He suffers from sound sensitivity. Like many children, this type of sensitivity is hard to understand or control.

Gus continues to prepare for his own birthday party thinking about more of the things that he doesn’t want to deal with such as noise from the barking dog, balloons that might pop, children singing or talking loudly. He spends his entire day worrying about the loud noises that he will hear, wondering why other people aren’t bothered by sounds like him. Throughout the story Gus learns that maybe all people don’t get bothered by sounds like he does, but this makes him uniqiue. And being unique is very important.

The author has created a great teaching tool with this story with many wonderful discussions and tips in the back of the book to help children deal with this type of sensitivity. She includes a sound chart, a relaxation plan and tools with the help of a consulting psychologist, Stephanie Margolese, PhD.

Illustrations are a mixture of hand drawing and digitalization. They are bright and colorful pictures with expressive characters. The use of font sizes and color type conveys the play with words and expressions.

This story along with others from the 'plant love grow publishing company' creates books to help children understand, and implement strategies in dealing with sensitivity disorders. This also might include children that fall on the Autism Spectrum as well.

Other books to look for include: A Spot of Blue and The Tiger in My Chest

**Author, Elaheh Bos, has created a wonderful publishing company and website that teaches and encourages and most importantly creates tools and resources for parents, teachers, health professionals and children to guide, nurture, and inspire for change and growth. She deals with many different issues including anxiety, sound sensitivities, anger management, autism, sadness, fear, and many more. With bold digital and hand drawn illustrations, each of her books are unique in that they deal with different issues that speak or resonate to people

Audrey Bunny

Audrey Bunny 

by Angie Smith, Illustrated by Breezy Brookshire

Audrey Bunny isn’t perfect. She has a little hole above her heart. She wants nothing more than to be loved. But is she unworthy of being loved with her hole? When Caroline enters her life and takes her home from the toy shop, Audrey falls in love. But then is conflicted because she is worried that she will lose Caroline’s love when Caroline notices that she isn’t flawless.

Audrey Bunny is a sweet love story that proves nobody is perfect. Written with religious undertones, this story can be read over and over again. Thanks to Angie Smith, the author, for creating a lovable character and story that will touch your heart. Most importantly the message that the author builds on is differences make us unique and special. While there is so much more to this story that can be found on Angie Smith’s website, it is how she created the story and her spiritual closeness with G-d that makes this a gem. You don’t have to be religious to enjoy the story and share it with others. It can be a great tool for discussion with children on many levels and Angie has also included activities in the back of the book to do as well.

This is a love story, of a different sort. Recommended for children ages 4-8. 

All Too Much for Oliver

A Must Read for all Highly Sensitive Children!

Oliver is a very quiet little boy. He is sensitive and likes to avoid places that are noisy or crowded, which is a lot of places. Oliver likes to be by himself, or he thinks he likes to be by himself because it makes him feel comfortable. What happens when Oliver decides to try something new? And maybe that might even involve making a new friend too.  How will that make him feel? Will Oliver discover that crowded and noisy places aren’t so bad after all?

This is a wonderful realistic story for a child who is highly sensitive. And what is a highly sensitive child? This is a type of person that has an innate trait of high sensory processing sensitivity.

To compliment the story, the illustrations are simple, done in soft pastel pencils and watercolors, which are calming to the senses. This sweet enduring story allows any child to have feelings of being overwhelmed in different situations and understanding that these feelings are common. It can also help build self-esteem in sensitive children and guide them to learn coping strategies.

I look forward to seeing more books for highly sensitive children by My Quiet Adventures!

Recommended for ages 4-6

Waggers by Stacy Nyikos

Some dogs have the most excitable tail. Meet Waggers, who tries to be good all the time, but his tail just can’t do it! It wags and wags and wags and does a lot of harm. Waggers is an adorable, newly adopted puppy that has been taken home by a special family who discover he has a tail that causes a lot of trouble. What is the family to do when chaos ensues just from a little tail? And how can they make it stop wagging, or can they? But then something special happens and Wagger’s tail does something good, which brings about a great theme in the story, that everyone is good at something.

Stacy Nyikos has written several adorable books for kids. She writes her stories so her young readers can easily relate to her characters. Illustrations by Tamara Anegon captures Waggers with her bright, whimsical illustrations that make readers want to read the story again and again.

This is a highly recommended book for animal lovers and those who love to giggle! A great read-aloud or read-alone. Recommended for ages 4-8. I give Waggers 5 Stars!

Roxy Rogers: Your Destiny is Calling

Meet Roxy Rogers, a young girl with a family full of hall of fame baseball players. While Roxy might have been born to play ball, her dream is to sing. She wants to do something different but she doesn’t know how to tell her family. She is afraid they won’t understand. Her destiny is not baseball.

The author has created a wonderful story that speaks about following your passions in life. Roxy Rogers has the courage to not follow in the footsteps of her parents or grandparents in the world of baseball but rather go into the entertainment business as a famous songstress.

The illustrator created whimsical and colorful illustrations that bring the story to life. As Roxy believes in her dreams, the colors transform on the pages and get brighter and bolder. They enhance her dream to sing and show her passion for song, not baseball.

The author has included some great historical baseball facts at the end of the story along with a game of hidden clues to keep kids going back to read the story over and over again!

Roxy Rogers is a fabulous 5 star book recommended for ages 4-8. The author makes the message loud and clear, it is important to do what makes you happy in life! Kudos to the author for creating a wonderful storybook for children.