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Mommy, Am I Indian Today? by Sheeba Varghese

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Mommy, Am I Indian Today?Mommy, Am I Indian Today? by Sheeba Varghese

The young boy noticed that his mom was having them dress in their special clothes that they only wore to big events. He asks his mom if he’s Indian today. She explains to him how her parents came to America to make a better life for their family and the boy was born in America. However, he is Indian everyday no matter what clothes he wears. His mom is honoring their culture and legacy by wearing their traditional attire and explaining her parents’ history.

This is a beautifully illustrated story that shows the author’s culture. It is so important to share different cultures with people so they learn the histories, the beauty of each one.

Beefy Goes From Bully To Buddy: Children’s book about bullying (Courage Tales) by Dagmara Sitek

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Beefy Goes From Bully To Buddy: Children's Book About Bullying (Courage Tales)Beefy Goes From Bully To Buddy: Children’s Book About Bullying by Dagmara Sitek

Even though Beefy’s team won the soccer match, he was still mad. In the locker room, he started bullying Gavin. Beefy was jealous of Gavin because he saw the attention his parents gave him. Gavin called his friends, Inaya, Loris, and Cam to help him. Inaya, Loris, and Cam made up the Super Buddies team along with their hero bot, Giorgio. The Super Buddies came to help him and Beefy started hitting Giorgio until he hurt his hand.

The Super Buddies team took Beefy home & wanted to talk to his parents, but they couldn’t find them. While looking for Beefy’s parents, they found different inventions that Beefy had made. He gave Giorgio a robot arm that can grab things. He showed them his favorite game and his best buddy in the game was a virtual goblin named Trumble.

They found items strewn around that belonged to Beefy’s mom and dad, but still couldn’t find them. Then they heard them calling from the TV. His parents needed his help because they were trapped inside of a computer game. But when Beefy pushed the button, they all were sucked into the game.

To Beefy’s surprise, they found Trumble who apparently had taken his parents because Beefy had told them they didn’t care about him. When they finally got the key from Trumble to rescue his parents, they all ran and jumped back through the TV. Beefy deleted the computer game and his parents promised they would change and spend more time with him. They started going to his games and taking an interest in his inventions. Beefy was so much happier than he’d ever been and stopped bullying. He now had real friends and enjoyed spending time with them. He even became a member of the Super Buddies team!

It is true that sometimes we don’t know what others are going through. It was very nice for Loris, Inaya and Cam to take an interest in Beefy to find out why he was so unhappy. They forgave him for his bullying and developed a friendship. Sometimes all it takes is a smile, conversation, and a little bit of interest to help brighten someone’s day. The illustrations are super colorful and make the story that much more enjoyable.

Gadrella by Tricia Gardella

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Gadrella was a witch and she looked like a witch. But Gadrella wanted changes. She was tired of the same black costumes, black cats and riding a broom. Gadrella decided to make the changes on her own. First, she started with transportation. She wanted something different than a broom. She’d always wanted a bike! Next, she decided to make her own clothes. Oh, how colorful she looked! Then she moved on to the potions. She didn’t want to use eye of newt or frog toes anymore, so she used different ingredients.

Gadrella showed up at the next Halloween gathering on her new bike wearing her colorful dragon costume and with her new potion. The other witches feared her thinking she was a monster. She decided to share her new ‘potion’ with the others. They were a little reluctant to try it, but when they did, they all loved her chocolate chip cookies and agreed that her potions smelled so much better than theirs.

Gadrella told the other witches they could be anything they wanted to be. When they realized this, they were all so excited and shared their dreams with the others. It seems the other witches wanted changes also but didn’t know how to share their thoughts with others. I’m sure the next Halloween gathering will be so colorful and smell so good!

I enjoyed reading about Gadrella and her courage to make changes when others didn’t think it was allowed. She wanted to express herself and wasn’t afraid to do that. The illustrations were so colorful and helped tell the story so well.

It’s Cool To Be Kind: A Children’s Book on Kindness and Friendship by Shermaine Perry-Knights

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Max, Michael, and Martin were talking about their social studies assignment. They had to , describe what they were really good at doing. Max loves swimming, Michael is good at math and Martin draws well. But they felt they were only good at these things when bigger kids weren’t around.

Later that day, Michael helped his grandfather carry groceries, Martin helped his little sister tie her shoes and Max played video games with a new kid that others were being mean to. They realized that there’s a lot they can do, and it doesn’t have to be big things. They can also help in small ways. Spreading kindness made the kids feel good so they decided to share these feelings with their class and write about kindness.

This was a very cute story to read about children realizing how important it is to be kind. We see so many stories of bullying and this book teaches a good lesson on helping others and showing kindness. At the end of the book there is a section that discusses kindness and a couple of kindness activities. The illustrations are so colorful and help tell this story.

Detective Dylan and the Thief of Camp Leaf Review by Trina Forbes

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4 stars

Dylan, Emily and their dog, Theodore, are camping with their family at Camp Leaf. Dylan brought his detective kit just in case there was a mystery. He was bored because there had been no mysteries to solve and worst of all, no Wi-Fi.

Mrs. Fan announced that she had planned some special games for the campers and the winner would receive a trophy. When she went to reveal the trophy, a moss-covered rock was there instead. Finally, a mystery to solve! Mrs. Fan agreed to let Dylan and Emily ask questions and look around if they didn’t bother the campers, but she wanted her niece, Paige, to go with them.

They set out looking for clues. Dylan had repainted the winner’s stand but didn’t know he had used glow in the dark paint until Emily told him. Using the UV flashlight in his kit, they followed the paint tracks as far as they would go. Then they started noticing paint on several kids’ shoes. Dylan’s list of suspects was getting a little longer.

Before they could figure out who took the trophy, it mysteriously re-appeared. Luckily, the guilty party revealed their identity, and two mysteries were solved, the games were played, and a relationship was rebuilt.

This is the third Detective Dylan book that I’ve read. I’ve enjoyed all his stories so far and they all seem to have a really good message and happy ending.