American Girl: The Cécile Series by Denise Lewis Patrick

SUMMARY:

American Girl: The Cécile Series, written by Denise Lewis Patrick and illustrated by Christine Kornacki, is a great turn on just reading a history textbook–this time, it’s a story in history! Cécile Rey is a courageous and kind girl living in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1853. Although she lives in a country where others like her are slaves, her family is lucky–they are French, and they are very wealthy, free people. When Cécile meets another girl at her singing class, Marie-Grace,they unextectedly become the best of friends. After her new friendship, she finds herself doing more charitable things than ever–mainly at the local orphanage and nursing home. First, (Meet Cécile) she gets to have an extremely unique experience at the Mardi Gras Children’s Ball. Second, (Troubles for Cécile) she helps in a time of need when some family members come down with yellow fever! Last, (Cécile’s Gift) she helps a young girl, Perinne Dupree, who has lost most of her family to yellow fever. No matter what happens, though, Cécile always finds a great way to get through it and learn a good life lesson! 🙂

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Denise Lewis Patrick is the author of the Cécile Rey books: Meet Cécile, Troubles for Cécile, and Cécile’s Gift. She grew up in Louisiana, and is thrilled to write about its history in the stories of this new American Girl historical character. Denise wrote and illustrated her first book when she was ten—she glued yellow cloth to cardboard for the cover and sewed the pages together on her mom’s sewing machine! Today, Denise has published more than 35 picture books, biographies, and historical novels for young readers. (from http://www.americangirlpublishing.com/authors/deniselewispatrick.aspx, but you can also check out http://www.deniselewispatrick.com/index.htm)

MY OPINION:

This book is great! It kept my attention, and made me want to read more every time! This seems like the perfect book to keep a younger child’s attention span while learning a lot about history. I’m not sure if this is considered bad, but I…kind of liked it better in Troubles for Cécile when some of the family members were sick…I don’t know, it was just more interesting to find out what happened, but I’m not sure if I should think that since illnesses are a bad thing. XD

I wish that the Marie-Grace parts were at the library–they contained a lot of the important parts that happened, and they make up books 1, 3, and 5. I think this is the only American Girl series I haven’t read (it’s the newest!). So far, there isn’t one American Girl book that has failed to dissapoint me. 🙂

★★★★ 4/5 stars!

 

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Who was Rosa Parks? by Yona Zeldis McDonough

SUMMARY:

Who Was Rosa Parks? by Yona Zeldis McDonough is a great African-American biography for all ages! Although Rosa Parks was not born in slavery days, she still made a large impact on society. She grew up in Pine Level, Alabama and moved to Montgomery, Alabama when she was eleven. After marrying Raymond Parks at eighteen, she started working at the NAACP. Rosa’s most well-known incident is when she got arrested just for keeping her seat on the bus, but that isn’t all she did–read the book to find out more!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

“As a student at Vassar College, I never once took a writing course. I was not accepted into the poetry workshop I applied to, so I avoided all other writing classes, and instead focused on literature, language and art history, which was my declared major. I was so taken with the field that I decided to pursue my studies on a graduate level. I enrolled in a PhD program at Columbia University where I have to confess that I was miserable. I didn’t like the teachers, the students or the classes. I found graduate school the antithesis of undergraduate education; while the latter encouraged experimentation, growth, expansion, the former seemed to demand a kind of narrowing of focus and a rigidity that was simply at odds with my soul. It was like business school without the reward of a well-paying job at the end.” (piece of Yona Zeldis Mc Donough’s biogragraphy @ http://www.yonazeldismcdonough.com/content/index.php/about-yona/)

 

MY OPINION:

I really like how this book is nonfiction and it’s interesting too! Most nonfiction books don’t really seem that interesting to me, but this book was more like a story. This series is great for all ages! I also thought that some of the parts of the book were kind of sad, but not too sad for younger children to handle. I can’t wait to read more of the “Who Was” series–plus I love learning about black history!

 

Who was Rosa Parks? Well, now I know. 🙂

★★★★ 4/5 stars!

 

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Who Was Harriet Tubman? by Yona Zeldis McDonough

SUMMARY:

Who Was Harriet Tubman? by Yona Zeldis McDonough is a great African-American history book for kids! Harriet Tubman, born Araminta “Minty” Harriet Ross, was probably one of the bravest African-American women of her time! After being a cruelly treated slave for a long while, she decides that she has had enough, and she ran up to the north. When Harriet got there, though, she realized–she was the only one. No one she knew was there–she was alone. So…being the courageous woman she was, Harriet went back down to the South. She knew other people needed her help. Did Harriet survive the journey?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

“As a student at Vassar College, I never once took a writing course. I was not accepted into the poetry workshop I applied to, so I avoided all other writing classes, and instead focused on literature, language and art history, which was my declared major. I was so taken with the field that I decided to pursue my studies on a graduate level. I enrolled in a PhD program at Columbia University where I have to confess that I was miserable. I didn’t like the teachers, the students or the classes. I found graduate school the antithesis of undergraduate education; while the latter encouraged experimentation, growth, expansion, the former seemed to demand a kind of narrowing of focus and a rigidity that was simply at odds with my soul. It was like business school without the reward of a well-paying job at the end.” (piece of Yona Zeldis Mc Donough’s biogragraphy @ http://www.yonazeldismcdonough.com/content/index.php/about-yona/)

 

MY OPINION:

I really like how this book is nonfiction and it’s interesting too! Most nonfiction books don’t really seem that interesting to me, but this book was more like a story. This series is great for all ages! I also thought that some of the parts of the book were kind of sad, but not too sad for younger children to handle. I can’t wait to read more of the “Who Was” series–plus I love learning about black history!

 

Who was Harriet Tubman? Well, now I know. 🙂

★★★★ 4/5 stars!

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The Magic Flyswatter: A Superhero Tale of Africa retold by Aaron Shepard

Surprise book review!! 😀

SUMMARY:

“I am Mwindo,

the one born walking,

the one born talking.

My father She-Mwindo does not want me.

My father the chief wants to kill me.

But what can he do against me?”

 

Just before his wives became pregnant, African chief She-Mwindo had said that if any of his children was a boy, then they would be killed, for when it comes to wedding expenses, only the groom’s family would have to pay for everything. Soon, six of his seven wives give birth on the same day–and luckily, they were all girls. When the seventh child, Mwindo, was born, he did not want to be killed. Mwindo chanted the song (see above) and could not be killed by his father! Later, because his father could not get rid of the boy, Mwindo was sent up the river. After being raised by his aunt Iyangura, Mwindo wants revenge–can he make his father get what he deserved?

AUTHOR BIO:
This book is a folktale, and it was retold by Aaron Shepard. The original author is unknown.

MY OPINION:

I found this book very amusing and even a bit funny at times–I don’t know if it was made to be funny or not, but I personally thought that the story was, a bit. 😉 I also think the ending is very sweet–it’s not what you think it will be! My new favorite folktale!! ❤

★★★★★ 5/5 stars!

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Starring Jules #1: Starring Jules (as herself)

SUMMARY:

Starring Jules #1: Starring Jules (As Herself) by Beth Ain is a cute and fun read for kids! Jules Bloom is a fun, spunky girl that has just broken her friendship with the fancy-pants Charlotte Pinkerton, and she’s trying to let another bloom with the new girl, Elinor…BUT, along the way, Jules is selected to be in a mouthwash commercial because she has “pizzazz,” as superstar Colby Kingston says. She’s really excited, until it turns out that the mouthwash is orange flavored–which is puke flavor in Jules’ mind! Will Elinor and Jules be BFFs like she imagined? And will she flunk the commercial just because of the flavor?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

“I was born in Hershey, Pennsylvania. (Yes, that Hershey—the one with all the chocolate!) But then my family moved to Allentown, Pennsylvania where I got to grow up across the street from my best friend, ride bikes after school, and get wet to my ankles in the creek in my neighborhood, trying to save frogs from being swept away. Then some things like junior high and high school happened and I was a cheerleader and a soccer player and a math-homework-avoider and a soap-opera watcher and an inventor of crazy-delicious after school snacks, and I was all kinds of other junior high and high school things. And then, I was lucky enough to go away to college, near the great city of Boston, Massachusetts where I learned a lot and met loads of interesting people and where I made very good friends with a lot of people from New York who dragged me back to New York City with them and well, that was the end of that.” (from http://www.bethain.com/BIO.html)

MY OPINION:

This book is really fun! It kind of reminds me of Junie B. Jones–but I’m not saying the author is copying, I’m pointing out that this should become a hit too. 🙂 This really sounds like Jules is real!–well, actually, she IS based on Ms. Ain’s daughter Grace, which makes it even better. I love the fact that Jules is going to be famous–I mean, who doesn’t want to read about a child star?! I just know all the younger girls are going to LOVE this! 😀 (Plus the fact that there…just isn’t a bad Scholastic book. That’s just not possible.)

★★★★ 4/5 stars!

**I received a copy of this eBook for free from Scholastic through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I received no other compensation.**

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Worry Wart by Lisa Kildahl

Worry Wart is a good story to teach a good lesson. Chloe Lore is a very worrisome girl–that’s all she ever thinks about! After worrying WAY too much, she grows a “worry wart” on her nose–and she wants it to go away. In this cute story, watch Chloe as she figures out how exactly not to be such a worrywart.

Lisa Kildahl received her BA in Economics at Oakland University in Rochester Hills Michigan. With over 15 years of business experience, she has a diverse background including underwriting at John Hancock, employee benefits analysis at Johnson & Higgins and most currently working with The Fisher Agency. [from http://parablesandbooks.com/authors/lisa-kildahl/]

This book is pretty cute. I love the pictures–are they clay? It’s also great that a moral is incorporated into the story. However, I don’t feel as if this is the most attention catching book for young children–nothing particularly crazy, funny, or interesting happens in the book. It’s just about a girl who finds out how not to worry…well, I’m not saying it has no plot, (I mean, it’s not every day you see a girl who gets a wart on her nose from worrying!) it’s just that it’s not very stand-out-ish.

Overall, I would rate this book 3.5 stars.

**I received a copy of this eBook for free from Parables & Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I received no other compensation.**

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In Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I wrote this poem in October 2012 for a poetry book project at school. This was my elegy, and since it’s about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, I decided to post it. 🙂

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Sean’s Master Plan

Kristina and Sean Cardoza (July 2009)

Over the weekend, I realized my brother, Sean Cardoza, has basically his entire life planned out–he wants to be in the LEGO Robotics Club when he turns 9, go to the Dayton Regional STEM School for 6th grade, work for Best Buy‘s Geek Squad as a teenager, and go to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for college to work on robots. Sean also said he wants to be a rich mad scientist who lives in a huge mansion when he grows up. He’s “going to make people grow wings!” and “invent the time machine.” He’s been saying that since he was only 5. XD

Zombie Kid Diaries: Playing Dead by Fred Perry

Zombie Kid Diaries: Playing Dead by Fred Perry is about Bill Stokes, your average video-gaming, homework-hating sixth grade boy who dreams of becoming a pro gamer–but one day his mom comes home from work all slow and groggy, and because she works for various companies testing out different medicines, (like a guinea pig) she comes home like this a lot. This time, it’s different though–she’s turned into a zombie! The next day, Bill notices a few things different with himself…and then he finds out that he is a zombie too! Bill is having LOTS of *fun*, juggling puberty, middle school, and being zombiefied all at once…

Fred Perry is a writer/comic book artist for Antarctic Press. He is best known for his series Gold Digger, and besides that, he has books on drawing and another zombie book, The Littlest Zombie. To learn more about Mr. Perry, you can go to his Facebook page.

Zombie Kid Diaries was a good book! The storyline was really original–no more of the dead coming back to life, just mysterious zombiefying drugs. I’m actually surprised that Bill  could focus on gaming, with all the stuff going on in his life, you know? It was well written too…Oh, and I have to say, the drawings are really cute too. 4 stars! 😉

**I received a copy of this eBook for free from Antarctic Press through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I received no other compensation.**

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Pinky Bunny’s Crazy Halloween!

 

Check out my newest book/eBook, Pinky Bunny’s Crazy Halloween! You can also find it in the iBookstore. Don’t forget to rate it and tell me what you think.

In Pinky Bunny’s Crazy Halloween,  Pinky, her brother Thumper, and her friends go trick-or-treating…but there are some unexpected surprises waiting for them! Don’t judge someone by their outer appearance–it’s the inside that matters. Learn some opposites on the way. 🙂

 

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