Busy Dizzy {Review}

Busy Dizzy by Dr. Orly Katz is about that little voice in our heads that makes us doubt ourselves or our abilities. The story is set in a classroom, led by teacher Mrs. Young, where various kids are plagued with being shy, embarrassed, or being afraid to lose. Mrs. Young recognizes these doubts and teaches the kids about the "Busy Dizzies", describing them as:

 "...creatures that no one can see...some make you feel angry, some make you feel shy, some make you embarrassed and some make you cry...Busy Dizzies say words that JUST AREN'T TRUE! Busy Dizzies make you think there are things you can't do!"

Mrs. Young has the kids draw what they think their Busy Dizzies look like and teaches them a song to sing when they feel their Busy Dizzy close to get it to go away and get their confident selves back.  

My take: I really like the concept of this book. I like that it gives kids the opportunity to give name to their self doubts and gives them the power and the tools to get rid of them in a fun way. When a situation arises, I'll be interested to see if my kids recall this story and can give name to their own "Busy Dizzy"! We read the e-book version of this book and I'm not entirely sold on the format. I have been mostly reading e-books for myself, but this is the first that I've read with the kids. I think it was a bit more difficult to allow all three kids to see the "book" at once, and there are really fun pages in the back of the book where the reader can name and illustrate their own "Busy Dizzy", but those sort of get lost in the e-book format. That said, my kids thought it was really cool that they had a book on their Kindle Fire (that, I'm not going to lie, they use mostly for Minecraft!). The intended audience of this book is ages 4-8 and I agree that it is an appropriate age range, although Jack enjoyed it as well and he's slightly older than that at nine.  

Jack's take: Jack is actually the one who read this story aloud to the rest of us on his Kindle Fire. He is nine and had no trouble with any words or with the flow of the story. His favorite part of the story was the silly looking "Dizzies" - some of them look like little monsters and some of them look like exaggerated versions of their owner. As I said before, he was pretty excited to have the book on his Kindle and despite my own reservations, really enjoyed reading this story in the e-book format.  

Colin's take: Colin was less interested in the story, but he is also less interested in abstract concepts like feelings and self-doubt, so this didn't surprise me. Like Jack, he did love the illustrations of the kids' "Dizzies" and the silliness of it all. They definitely made him giggle!

You can find this book on Amazon (not an affiliate link) in e-book format ($1.99) as well as paperback ($12.57). If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited, you can read this book for free! We recommend that you check it out!

*We received a copy of this e-book from the author, but the review is purely our own.

 

Moses Jones And The Case of the Missing Sneaker

Moses Jones And The Case of the Missing Sneaker by N.T. McQueen is the story of Moses Jones and his faithful feline companion, Finkle, who go on an epic search for Moses' missing sneaker.  With one sneaker on, they search the grocery store, the music store and the hardware store.  I won't give away where they end up finding the sneaker, but it is in the most unexpected of places!

This book is a fun story, especially for kids ages 4-8 (in my opinion).  The illustrations are bright and engaging, but the story also stands well on its own.  I have to say, that for us, Finkle the cat steals the show.  He is so expressive and is always doing something funny.  He's a perfect companion to Moses Jones and a great accompaniment to the story overall.

What Jack liked:  Jack loved this story.  I know because he asked me to read it more than once!  His favorite page is the very first one, where Finkle the cat is sitting on the toilet.  Always stealing the show!

What Colin liked:  Colin loved when Moses found his missing sneaker.  I won't give it away, but Colin loved the silliness!

We all loved this book and look forward to more adventures with Moses Jones and Finkle the cat.  You can purchase a copy of your own here on Amazon (not an affiliate link).

We were provided a copy of this book by the author, but the review is purely our own.

The Treasure Bath by Dan Andreasen

This is a wordless picture book that depicts the story of a young boy who discovers treasure "under the sea" in his bath.  The pictures start out showing the boy getting messy helping his Mom bake a cake.  Of course this leads to a reluctant bath time until the boy discovers a whole under the sea adventure, including a treasure map, sea creatures and eventually a treasure chest (full of soap!).

I was reluctant to bring home this book just because I'm not too hot on making up stories.  However, both my kids like this book a lot.  Colin loves the fish and loves the part where the octopus and other sea creatures are washing the little boy.  Jack loves to tell stories anyway, so this book gave him a chance to make up a great story to go along with the pictures.  I have to say that my favorite part is when the little boy is all dressed in his button up pajamas with his hair combed over just so.  I mean, what is cuter than a little boy in button up pajamas?

The book jacket indicates that the intended audience is ages 4-8.  I think that age range is a bit high, but this is definitely a good book for the pre-school crowd.

I can't say that I love it enough to buy it (here), but definitely check it out at the library.

I Took the Moon for a Walk by Carolyn Curtis and Alison Jay

"I took the Moon for a walk last night.  It followed behind like a still summer kite, though there wasn't a string or a tail in sight when I took the Moon for a walk."

This is how the adventure starts for a young boy telling the tale of his moonlit walk the night before.  The boy and the Moon walk together through the neighborhood visiting the dogs, swinging together and crossing a bridge (had a great discussion about reflections with Jack on this page).

The sing-songiness (spell check tells me that this is not a word) of the writing makes this an excellent bedtime book.

Colin loves this book - he says "moon" at every page and giggles at the Moon's red shoes.  =)

Jack also loves this book but his favorite part is the last couple of pages after the story ends where the author has illustrations of the different phases of the moon (Jack loves being quizzed on waxing versus waning) as well as animals and flowers that are nocturnal.

Oh, the illustrations!  They are beyond beautiful.  I read on the book jacket that Alison Jay uses alkyd oil paint on paper with a crackling varnish, which gives her illustrations an antique, nostalgic quality.  The illustrations are truly unique and add so much to the character of the story.  I plan to seek out other books with her illustrations for sure.

I should mention that according to Amazon (here), this book is aimed at ages 4-8, but it easily held the attention of my 4 year old and almost 3 year old.  =)

This book gets a definite thumbs up from us!

Hieronymus Betts and his Unusual Pets

Hieronymus Betts does have unusual pets, including Gobbler the sabre-toothed rhino toad, Cuddles the porcupython and Oojamaflip the whatchamacallit. But no matter how greedy, scary or strange his pets are, Heironymus knows somebody even greedier, even scarier and even stranger...his little brother!

Jack & Colin both love this book! Out of all of the books in the house, they have chosen this as their bedtime story three nights this week. Their absolute favorite page is the one in which the little brother is being compared to the "fierce grizzly hare" and is biting the back of the big brother's pants. This just cracks the kids up!

The illustrations in the book are bright & engaging.  Some of the creatures are a bit fierce-looking, but didn't seem to bother Colin at all.  The writing is also engaging---and a bit suspenseful for the little ones.

The only difficulty I came across was pronouncing some of the creature names, but no biggie, I made it up. That's the great thing about reading to kids that can't read yet - they don't criticize your pronunciation!

We will miss this book when it gets returned to the library next week!

The recommended ages (on Amazon) is 4-8 years, but it easily held the attention of my two year old.