From the Family Bookshelf

It doesn’t seem possible that three weeks has passed since my July From the Family Bookshelf post, but it has. We celebrated the Lil Diva’s birthday yesterday by adding another furry creature to our crazy home. She had been asking for a kitten for a few years and I finally broke down and decided it would be okay to add a little kitty to this chaos. Well, except that I doubled my trouble by letting the Lil Princess adopt one too. As of tomorrow there will be five cats and four people living here.

I swear summer just started, but the girls return to school in 14 weekdays. The Lil Princess met her goal for the library’s “Go Green” summer reading program. In addition to the many weekly prizes she received, both girls got to attend a roller skating party to celebrate the readers who met their goals. It won’t surprise me if the Lil Princess decides to do it again next year.

While I won’t list the 27 books she read, the last couple were The Adventure of Oliver the Clownfish books by Stephanie Guzman, which we reviewed here.

Dad came home from North Carolina reading Vince Flynn’s The Third Option. This is a counterterrorism thriller. I like these kinds of books too, but they’re not my favorite. He’s still reading this one. He hopes maybe this weekend he might get more than five minutes to sit down with it.

The Lil Diva is trying to hold onto summertime play by not reading. Regular reading will pick up as soon as she starts school, so I’m not too worried.

I, on the other hand, have been a reading wizard. If you stop by The Book Connection, you’ll see I’ve posted several reviews. This list doesn’t include any books I mentioned in July’s post:

Drawing Strength from the Names of God by Catherine Martin (Christian living)

Drawn to the Land: The Romance of Farming by Elizabeth and Barton Cockey (historical nonfiction picture book)

The Big Ten of Grammar by William B. Bradshaw, PhD (reference)

For the King by Catherine Delors (historical novel set in Napoleonic Paris)

A Woman’s Heart That Dances: Keeping in Step with God’s Design for You by Catherine Martin

My reviews for When Love Ends and the Ice Cream Carton is Empty by Jackie M. Johnson (Christian relationship book) and Healing with Words: A Writer’s Cancer Journey (memoir) by Diana M. Raab will be posted at The Book Connection on August 17th and 24th, respectively. I am currently reading Paula Deen’s Savannah Style and The Chill of Night by James Hayman.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this latest edition of From the Family Bookshelf. Until next time, keep reading!

The Adventures of Oliver the Clownfish Series by Stephanie Guzman

If parents are looking for a fun series that teaches kids vital interpersonal skills, they don’t need to look any further than The Adventures of Oliver the Clownfish, a series by author Stephanie Guzman.  

When readers first meet Oliver in Invitation Slip-up, the cheerful clownfish is not his usual happy self. It seems everyone has been invited to Sally the seahorse’s birthday party except he. It sure doesn’t help that his friend Paul is talking about what a great time it will be. Hurt and angry, Oliver finally confronts Sally, which leads him to find that sometimes things aren’t the way they seem.

In Acting Cool, Oliver and Paul enjoy playing with their new neighbor, Dolly, a dolphin whose body is covered in neon shapes. They spend the rest of the summer together, but when school starts, their friend Sally says she isn’t going to play with Dolly because of the way she looks. Paul and Oliver want to be cool, so at first they go along; but in the end, Oliver decides he must do what is right.

My youngest daughter (6) and I have read these books, together and separately. She is drawn to the vibrant illustrations provided by P.S. Babu  (Invitation Slip-up) and TD (Acting Cool), and the ease with which she can read through them. I, on the other hand, like a story where animal characters display human characteristics and deal with human conflicts. I feel this makes the message of the book easier for children to accept and appreciate. Most of all, though, these are delightful stories that will engage your youngster. I’m sure my daughter and I will be reading The Adventures of Oliver the Clownfish again.

Rating:  🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Invitation Slip-Up

Publisher: Not So Plain Jane Publishing

ISBN-10: 1596640014

ISBN-13: 978-1596640016

SRP:  $14.95

Acting Cool

Publisher: Not So Plain Jane Publishing

ISBN-10: 1596640022

ISBN-13: 978-1596640023

SRP:  $14.95

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