Nessie and the Viking Gold by Lois June Wickstrom
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I loved the imaginative twist on the mythology of the loch ness monster. I think older children would really enjoy this twist on an adventure fantasy story. I think it is definitely aimed at children 8 and up with a better reading ability.
Cray Saves the Day by G. Pa Rhymes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a wonderful impactful children’s book is a fantastic book explaining environmental impact in a child-friendly way. This is a lovely story to be read to children or for older children to read and learn alone.
Magic Wanda by Lois Wickstrom
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
4 Stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Magic Wanda is a colorful, magical and imaginative story that we follow Carrie once again and what her Grandma has in store with something new. Carrie must get ready for the party, but all Carrie wants to do is to know more about “Wandas”. Carrie learns that “Wandas” are magical and fun. What does Carrie learn about this magic….definitely read and find out.
This is a fun filled story more for ages 4-8 years but can also be enjoyed for the young at heart. The illustrations are colorful and engaging and who does not love a magical book..
Beach Ball Blunder by G Pa Rhymes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Beach Ball blunder is another delightful adventure if “cray on the bay”. Beautiful illustrations by Erica Leigh and delightfully written by G Pa Rhymes depicts the tale of why you should never lie. Lies hurt your friends and the truth is always better.
Magic Wanda by Lois Wickstrom
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Always such beautiful illustrations to accompany the never-ending imagination of Lois Wickstrom and Carrie. Grandma’s really do always have the most interesting stuff. This installment was about magical wandas and honestly my favorite part was the comparison of wands and flashlights. They only work on things outside themselves. How does that make Wanda’s different well you’ll have to read and find out.
Cray Saves the Day by G. Pa Rhymes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a cute little story. Cray and his friends have a good time looking out for their world. I love how they worked together to clean up the mess made by humans. They worked together to make a difference. I think many children will enjoy this book and learn about working together and making a difference. I recommend this book to everyone who has a child that likes to read.
Beach Ball Blunder by G Pa Rhymes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Once again, life lessons for kids in a fun and realistic way. Accidents are a part of life good and bad ones. This book in the series focuses on the importance of telling the truth. Gray Seal had an accident it wasn’t on purpose, but it hurt his friends’ feelings and led to some mean words being said amongst them until he faced his fear and told the truth. It’s okay to have accidents but remember to tell the truth, once he did, he and his friends were able to work together to fix everything that happened. I can’t forget once more the beautiful illustrations of Erica’s that help bring the Bay to life with her incredible talent.
Cray Saves the Day by G. Pa Rhymes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Cray teaches us how to take care of our environment in this story. Humans enjoy their day at the beach, but don’t pay attention to their trash and how it is impacting the creatures that find the beach and the ocean home. This story is written in rhyme and has great illustrations. It teaches us the value of working together to keep our environment clean and safe for all.
<a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58869889-beach-ball-blunder” style=”float: left; padding-right: 20px”><img border=”0″ alt=”Beach Ball Blunder (The Adventures of Cray on the Bay)” src=”https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1630081378l/58869889._SX98_.jpg” /></a><a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58869889-beach-ball-blunder”>Beach Ball Blunder</a> by <a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21769345.G_Pa_Rhymes”>G Pa Rhymes</a><br/>
My rating: <a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6252199197″>5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Gray the seal is having fun with his ball, when he accidently shoots it across the beach. Causing a lot of trouble and making a mess. Gray lied to his friends and when they all started getting mad and saying hurtful things to each other. That’s when Gray confesses it was him. Gray learns it’s not okay to lie because it hurts people around you.
<br/><br/>
<a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/6813301-tori”>View all my reviews</a>
Cray Saves the Day by G. Pa Rhymes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Cray the crab is perfectly happy enjoying his home and his life on the beach and in the ocean. Cray the crab is unhappy when really nice days being out a lot of people to the beach, due to all the trash the human visitors to his home keep leaving behind. Cray, along with his friends, work to clean up their part of the ocean and the beach, and to rid it of the mess and trash. With an easy to understand story and beautiful illustrations, this book is great for young children to begin learning about pollution and cleaning up after themselves, even when they are not at home. I would definitely recommend this book for young children, in schools as well as at home.
Beach Ball Blunder by G Pa Rhymes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Cray and his friends are enjoying their home on the bay. One such friend is Seal Gray, who is playing on his rock with a beach ball until it gets away from him by accident and nearly hits Gull Ray before bouncing off of Turtle Fay, and knocking a young girl’s ice cream cone out of her hand before finally knocking over Fox Hay’s sandcastle. At first, Seal Gray denies having been responsible for the mishap, and all of the other beach friends make hurtful comments about how bad the one responsible for all the chaos is. While Seal Gray feels bad, he eventually tells the truth, and his friends explain why lying is bad. Seal spends the rest of the afternoon cleaning up and fixing his messes, after apologizing. This beautifully illustrated story is easy to understand and great for helping young children to understand why lying is bad.
Magic Wanda by Lois Wickstrom
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
My kids liked the story and were interested in what the Magic Wanda’s could do. They asked a lot of questions about the magic Wanda’s and wanted more adventures!
Overall it was a cute story for an adult to read to a child. The constant change in font style and size may make it hard for kids to read on their own.
Beach Ball Blunder by G Pa Rhymes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Beach Ball Blunder (The Adventures of Cray Series) by G Pa Rhymes. These are the best books for young children because not only are they entertaining but they teach great lessons as well. Its another fun story about Cray on the Bay and his friends. This time its Seal Gray and his favorite beach ball. Seal learns that when you lose your ball and it creates all kinds of havoc its best to not lie and to own up to your mistakes. When you lie it messes up friendships and breaks trust. My 5 year old nephew loves these books and we always discuss the lesson involved. The pictures are always amazing as well. Add this great book to your child’s library, you won’t be disappointed! Great for gifting or for teachers to read to the classes.
Magic Wanda by Lois Wickstrom
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Magic Wanda (Grandma’s Closet Book) by Lois Wickstrom- 5 out of 5 stars
This was an adorable story. My kids loved all of the “adventures” and learning what a “Wanda” was. Beautiful illustrations perfectly depicting everything marked up the pages and brought the book to life. This was an enjoyable book all in all. I highly recommend this book especially to those with little ones.
Cray Saves the Day by G. Pa Rhymes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Another wonderful book about Cray and his friends. In this book the author touches on the subject of dropping litter and trying to save our oceans and beaches from the rubbish that people leave behind after they have enjoyed their days out. The story again is told in a lovely rhyme that is really engaging for children. My 4 year old really enjoyed this story. For slightly older children this book would be a great introduction to the subject of dropping rubbish and how it can have an effect on our environment.
Beach Ball Blunder by G Pa Rhymes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Another really cute and fun story about Cray on the Bay and his friends. The authors lovely rhyme throughout the story is so engaging and my 4 year old loved the story. There is a great moral to the story to about lying and how it is always better to tell the truth, something that we always teach children so this story would be a great starting point to encourage discussions about the subject. Again the story was accompanied by beautiful, colourful illustrations that complement it well.
A Miracle In Muffin: A True Story by Darlene Duemo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is not the usual book that I read however I do love cats so I thought I would give it a go. The story was sweet and you could really feel how important God and faith is to the author – whom this story is based on and this really came across well in the story. I can imagine people who have a particularly strong faith would find this book lovely to read and especially for younger children who are learning about prayer and believing. The book was well written, a nice short story for young children/adults to enjoy.
Whilst it was not my kind of story I did enjoy reading it.
Cray Saves the Day by G. Pa Rhymes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
So far every single book I’ve ready by this author has been so well written! This is another one I’ve sat and read to my 3 year old! He just adores Cray and his friends! This is such a wonderful series and we always wonder what Cray and his friends will do next!
<a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123554720-sasha-smart” style=”float: left; padding-right: 20px”><img border=”0″ alt=”Sasha Smart: Short Stories for Girls” src=”https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1679597640l/123554720._SX98_.jpg” /></a><a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123554720-sasha-smart”>Sasha Smart: Short Stories for Girls</a> by <a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20826027.Shermaine_Perry_Knights”>Shermaine Perry-Knights</a><br/>
<br /><br />
Me and my daughter really enjoyed this book. Each story has a different lesson behind it. Bounce back was great, learning that it’s okay to make mistakes, but if you try again you will succeed. Beautiful Differences, Sasha learns that all her friends are from all over the world. How different cultures around the world are, different foods. But there’s always something from a country that links sasha and her friends together. Just relax, Percy tells Sasha that she just needs to take a break. We learn that it’s okay not to go into overdrive and just keep going with everything, it’s okay to take a break and just relax before going to do what needs to be done.<br />Each chapter was so beautifully written. Everyone needs to read this book!
<br/><br/>
<a href=”https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/6813301-tori”>View all my reviews</a>
Magic Wanda by Lois Wickstrom
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
We are such fans of this series. I love Grandma’s Closet. Being a grandma myself makes this such a fun series. In this story, grandma tells her about the magic wandas, which look like flowers, but they have magicand can talk. They can look like anything. The story allows for creative thinking aand allows for the imagination to roam. We enjoyed reading this one and plan to add it to our story library.
A Miracle In Muffin: A True Story by Darlene Duemo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A cute short story about how a woman’s belief in God lead to the miracle return of her cat Muffin. The author based this on her real life, many different religions believe different things and that should be understood when reading this story, that the author’s views and beliefs maybe different than your own.
A Miracle In Muffin: A True Story by Darlene Duemo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a cute children’s story about learning that you can trust in the Lord and that He is there when you need Him. This is a spiritual inspiration that any child would enjoy reading. The author brings this story to life with details and a plot that is true life. It has great illustrations that will pull your child in and keep them engaged to the end. There is so much to learn from this book that it is one you won’t regret adding to your child’s library. I enjoyed reading this book. I highly recommend it.
Review by @bjwagner
Magic Wanda by Lois Wickstrom
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
There are many wonderous things in Grandma’s Closet and in this case, it is Wanda’s. No, they are not magic wands. The Wanda’s themselves are magic.
Journey along as Carrie discovers what exactly the Wanda’s can do in this fun tale. Carrie is indeed fascinated by the Wanda’s and seeks out her grandma’s advice, but grandma wants Carrie to use her imagination and explore the possibilities.
The story is about bonds, the love of a grandmother and her granddaughter and the magic of life and discoveries.
Magic stirs the imagination in young and old alike.
Reviewed by @jennadb
Magic Wanda by Lois Wickstrom
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Lois Wickstrom’s “Magic Wanda” is a delightful and imaginative children’s book that explores the themes of magic, creativity, and the importance of using power wisely. The story is engaging and the illustrations are charming, capturing the wonder and excitement of Carrie’s adventures with the Wandas.
Overall, “Magic Wanda” is a fun and thought-provoking read that will entertain and inspire young readers. Wickstrom’s writing style is engaging and accessible, making it perfect for children who enjoy stories about magic and adventure.
Cray Saves the Day by G. Pa Rhymes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is another great book for littles. In this story it helps teach kids that need to pick up their trash when they are out on the beach. Cray sees all these people coming to the beach to have fun. The more that show up the more trash shows up on the beach and water. Cray and his friends make a plan to gather all the trash to clean up the beach.
.•°*°•. BOOK SPOTLIGHT SHOWCASE .•°*°•.Goodreads – Magic Wanda (Grandma’s Closet) by Lois Wickstrom
Bookbub – Magic Wanda (Grandma’s Closet) by Lois Wickstrom
~ AMAZON ~
<
Click here to view the Book Trailer for Magic Wanda (Grandma’s Closet) by Lois Wickstrom
Lois Wickstrom lives in a world where imaginary playmates are real. She doesn’t remember being born, so she finds unbirthdays are more exciting than the official once-a-year date on the calendar. She’s taken so many science classes that she believes science is the solution to almost every problem, including the dilemmas in fairy tales.
Jean Lorrah is a New York Times Best Selling author. She is also a retired English teacher, and an award winning artist. She has written Star Trek books with Jacqueline Lichtenberg, and books in worlds of her own creation. Together with Lois, she is co-author of Coal for Christmas which won the Gold Remi at Worldfest.
Sasha Smart: Short Stories for Girls by Shermaine Perry-Knights
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
5 Stars
Sasha Smart by Shermaine Perry-Knights
Sasha Smart by Shermaine Perry-Knights is a wonderfully written children’s book of short stories that children of any age can enjoy. It’s aimed for middle school aged children 8-12 but my son is almost six and he loved this book. I love that there’s a lesson to be learned and that it’s ok to be different and it’s ok to make mistakes because that’s how we learn. My son liked the illustrations and Sasha he kept saying he understood what she was going through but for a girl. .Friends and Friendships are important yet so is family. I know this might be about Sasha and young teen girls but my son really liked this story and said boys can read it too. We highly recommend reading this book to find out what happens next. We look forward to reading more from this Author.
Beach Ball Blunder by G Pa Rhymes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Seal Gray is playing with his beach ball when he loses control of it. Several things transpire from that and Gray finds himself in a situation where he’s lying about the ball being his. This book focuses on telling the truth and preserving friendships.
The illustrations in this book are very colorful and attractive. Be sure to show anyone you are reading this to the pictures. If a young reader is reading to you, use that as a teachable moment about items in the pictures, as well as the story itself.
Beach Ball Blunder by G Pa Rhymes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
What a fun and entertaining story this is. I loved the premise of the book and what is teaches children. I also loved how engaging the illustrations were. They are definitely what caught my kids attention first. We all enjoyed sitting and reading this book as a family, even reading it multiple times already.
It is always a joy to find a new author my kids like and, based on the last couple of books, I can definitely say we have found another one. We are all looking forward to reading more from this author, especially if they are as good as this one.
Nessie and the Viking Gold by Lois June Wickstrom
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Another Wickstrom story, well loved by my niece and nephew. She has become one of their most asked for authors. Craig and Linda’s adventures with Nessie have become their favorite. They can’t wait to see what adventure they all have next. While this story is geared more toward the 8 to 10 year old range, it can easily be enjoyed by younger children. My family would recommend this book as well as the author.