Adventures with Divot and Swish

Adventures with Divot and Swish in Costa Rica The Superpower of Courage

Beth Brown, PhD & Illustrated by Charlotte Strickland

2021

ISBN: 13: 978-1-7351700-0-8

Divot&Swish Publishing

45 pages

This is a world of discovery as we learn about living with others. Beth Brown PhD has written a picture book for children who like sports and travel adventures in 'Adventures with Divot and Swish in Costa Rica The Superpower of Courage'. Divot is a golf ball with grass shorts and Swish is a basketball hoop with a basketball for a head. Divot and Swish are two friends who has a friend named Sammy, the Surfer and their adventure in Costa Rica begins in a jungle. They learn the basics and how to stay safe for these two characters are very different as the reader follows the story as gaining courage in their own ways and learning a new sport.

Beth Brown, PhD has written a picture book the reads almost like an epic poem of four lines for each stanza. This would make it easy for teachers who use trade books to teach reading and social skills and even some rhyme scheme to make this a fun read. Charlotte Strickland has created the artwork from the cover and throughout the book very appealing to the eye and that gives the essense of Costa Rica.

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Moonling Adventures The Serengeti

Diann Floyd Boehm & Illustrated by: Katherine Louise Boehm

2020

ISBN: 978-1-989833-04-9

OC Publishing

34 pages

Who would like to go and travel the world? Starting with a special area of the African continent, as in The Serengeti. Diann and Katherine Boehm has written and illustrated a children's picture book about two children and their pets, which is a first in a series. 'Moonling Adventures The Serengeti' is the story of the Little Girl and Boy of the Moon and their dog Lola and her friend Shadow. The adventure begins in the simulator and watching the master screen approaching earth as they get closer and closer whey they saw the land and the animals of all kinds of indigeous animals to the area.

Dian has written a story that uses repetition to instill and help with memory skills with this line "Let's see what else we can see." on the animal that are on the even pages. Dian has written in my words a beginning zoology book for young readers. The list of Moonling words would make a proper and fun spelling test for elementary students. Katherine has drawn pictures of the animals depicting what they really look like in their natural suroundings, as well as the dogs' and the Little Boy and Girl of the Moon that almost looks like a sculpture or even papier mache. She used muted colors for the African scenes as well as blues, greys, and black for the space ship scenes. I cannot wait to see where they go next.

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Violets Are Blue

Barbara Dee

2021

ISBN: 978-1-5344-6918-1

Simon & Schuster/Aladdin

304 pages

'Oh, the issues that seem to be the fabric of our society. Barbara Dee has written a young adult novel about two of these issues in 'Violets Are Blue'. This is the story of Wren (aka) Renata and how she is trying to cope with her parents separation (divorce), and even liking her stepmother for she shares a kind of a special interest. Wren has a special talent that helps her to cope with what is going on in her life and her parents.

Barbara Dee has written 'Violets Are Blue' to encourage young adults to learn coping skills some way. Barbara Dee also shows how we can all find ways right or wrong with how we cope with our issues like how she deals with Wren's mothers' issues. One of my favorite aspects of the book were the pages in 'italics' that shows and tells her Wren's interests and what keeps her going. The cover was also a good show and tell aspect with the colors she chose to depict Wren's two sides of her personality. She wrote chapters that were very short that makes this book a real page turner for readers. This would make a good discussion assignment for an adolescent counseling group for adolescents with these kinds of issues to discuss and see if there are any similarities and/or differences in these situations.

(These book reviews were published on GoodReads.com and a few other online sites like BookroomReviews.com and maybe here on Vocal, but I made a few edits. I hope you do not mind and enjoy these reviews.)