Month: September 2015

children, humor

Animal Gas: A Farty Farce

Bergers Book Reviews

Animal Gas
Author & Illustrator: Bryan Ballinger
Publisher: Sterling Children’s Books
Genre: Children / Humor
ISBN: 978-1-4549-1616-1
Pages: 24
Price: $12.95

Author’s website
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Pig says, “I foof in the night as well as the day. It smells like perfume or flowers in May.” But the bird standing next to him exclaims, “Perfume…? Flowers…? Now that’s quite a leap. Try mold and some beans piled up in a heap.”

As each animal thinks of his own farts, he believes they smell pleasant, and describes them in flowery words. But the next in line reminds him that he’s only emitting highly noxious fumes. One by one the animals share their thoughts in humorous rhyme, until the goat finally comes up with a clever idea to outwit them all.

Animal Gas is probably not for everyone, since some folks find fart humor offensive. But for those who can handle gentle toilet humor, this book is a real gas! Kids will love it.

Reviewer: Alice Berger

art

Drawing Animals Shape by Shape

Bergers Book Reviews

Drawing Animals Shape by Shape
Created by: Christopher Hart
Publisher: Drawing with Christopher Hart
Genre: Art
ISBN: 978-1-936096-95-4
Pages: 176
Price: $14.95

Author’s website
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If you’re artistically-challenged (like me), drawing all but the simplest things may seem far beyond your talents. Drawing Animals Shape by Shape challenges us to believe otherwise. Starting from circles, squares, rectangles and triangles, Christopher Hart shows us an easy way to master cartoon animals.

Animal categories featured in this guide include dogs, cats, farm animals, woodland creatures, safari animals, birds, water dwellers, reptiles, bugs and dinosaurs. Each animal is shown in various stages as details are added to its basic form. Almost magically, a half circle becomes an owl, a square becomes an elephant, an oval becomes a pig, and a triangle becomes a unicorn. Then the animal is colored as a final touch.

In order to see if this step-by step process actually works, I decided to give it a try, and managed a halfway decent hippopotamus and dinosaur. Making a perfect circle is a challenge for me, but once I had my basic shapes in place, adding the details wasn’t that hard at all. One of the nice features of this book is its spiral binding that allows pages to lie flat while budding artists attempt to copy Hart’s creations. I wish I had a copy of this book when I was younger, since it gives kids the tools to be successful at art. I highly recommend it.

Reviewer: Alice Berger

children, fantasy

The Witch, the Cat and the Water Dragon

Bergers Book Reviews

The Witch, the Cat and the Water Dragon
Author: Joanne Lécuyer
Illustrator: Brooke Alexander
Publisher: Topsy Books
Genre: Fantasy / Children
ISBN: 978-1-927353-34-9
Pages: 79
Price: $16.99

Author’s website
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In The Witch, the Cat and the Egg, a young witch named Juliane is entrusted with the care of a very special egg. Now the egg has hatched into the majestic water dragon, Tarak.

Just as Juliane is about to return Tarak to his mother, a stranger desires to be led through the forest. As guide, Juliane leads him inside, but this stranger has evil intentions. Juliane and her friends will need to work together to stop him. Good thing Tarak shows up just in the nick of time.

The Witch, the Cat and the Water Dragon is a sweet story demonstrating the power of goodness to overcome adversity. Without resorting to any unkindness, these friends defeat the intruder and save the forest from his actions. Children will enjoy this unique, magical series.

Reviewer: Alice Berger

Bergers Book Reviews spent some time chatting with Joanne Lécuyer. Please be sure to read what she has to say!

mystery

Neurotic November (Mary Magruder Katz #4)

Bergers Book Reviews

Neurotic November
Author: Barbara Levenson
Publisher: CreateSpace
Genre: Mystery
ISBN: 978-1-5005-1945-2
Pages: 322
Price: $11.99

Author’s website
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Mary Magruder Katz is back in this sequel to Outrageous October. After her short stay in New Hampshire, she has come home to Florida and is now trying to reestablish her law practice.

Her newest client, college football star Jay Lincoln, is facing rape charges. Carlos’s father is caught up in some bank fraud issues, and Mary’s secretary’s fiance (and Carlos’s cousin) is facing murder charges. To add to the stress, Mary is all mixed up about her relationship with Carlos, and her family is pressuring her to commit. Does she really want to stay single, or would she like to get married one day?

Neurotic November is a fast-paced mystery with legal finesse, but there are some editing glitches in this one. Jay Lincoln becomes Jay Washington for a chapter or two in the middle, and there are numerous typos. Unfortunately, I lost respect for Mary in Outrageous October and she did little in this book to earn it back. In my opinion, she’s a spoiled brat who doesn’t deserve a nice guy like Carlos. Read this one for the mystery, but the hot romance is pretty much gone.

Reviewer: Alice Berger