Children's eBook review: Boe the Great by Joel Feldman

Illustrations: 5 Stars 
Cover: 5 Stars
Storyline: 5 Stars
Total: 5 Stars

It's very rare for one person to successfully both write and illustrate. Most of us, me included, must team up to create a children's picture book. Most unusually, with Boe the Great, Joel Feldman has single-handedly created a children's picture eBook that not only has a fun storyline and great illustrations, but a galloping read-aloud rhythm and steady rhyme. 

Storyline: Boe is so small, he's kicked out of the army by the  Barbarian Chief, who says, "Only warriors are allowed here!" Where can a little guy like Boe find a place to be of use? He attempts all kinds of work, and finally discovers a hidden talent for...You'll have to read the book to find out!

Adult point of view: I enjoyed the theme of "finding your place." We all must search to find out our talents and life mission, and it is beneficial for children to see that figuring out what we're good at takes work. 

Child's point of view: Boe is funny. I like it when he figures out what he's good at, but it's funny when he keeps trying things he is bad at and he wants to just stay in bed. 

Illustrations: The best illustrations add to a story, and these cartoonish medieval-set pictures add humor, setting, and color to the story. I enjoyed the illustration of Boe lying in the snow unable to pick up the hammer, Wise Grandpa, and the wide Barbarian Chief, among almost all the other pages. 

A firm five stars for both storyline and pictures.

Want to see some of the illustrations yourself? Here is a book trailer for Boe the Great:

 

Who is Joel Feldman?

Joel Feldman, born 1984, lives in Jerusalem, Israel. 

After Graduating from Bezalel Academy of Arts (2010), Joel started to work as an Animator, Illustrator and Concept artist. On the endless search for a dream job, Joel illustrated several children's books for famous authors. 

The love for illustrations and writing since early age, led to creating his own books. 










If you'd like to learn more about Joel Feldman, click here for his website, and here for his Twitter feed.

~Valerie Harmon
Children's Picture Book Reviewer, Author and Editor

Children's eBook Review: Stick's Masterpiece by Spencer Hanson, Illustrated by Randy Hanson

My Ratings for Stick's Masterpiece:
Cover and Illustrations: 5 Stars
Storyline: 4.75 Stars
Overall: 5 Stars

Stick doesn't feel like she can paint and is too scared to try. But when a bird is hungry she paints him food and goes on to paint help for many animals. In the end, she discovers that her acts of service while painting has created a masterpiece. 

This is a fabulously illustrated story about overcoming fear by serving others. I appreciated its deeper message--thinking about others first is an important one for my children to learn. I love love love the illustrations. I hope Stick goes on another painting adventure! 

Here is the book trailer for Stick's Masterpiece:

With almost Disney-esque illustrations, I read this aloud twice in one night because the illustrations are so well-done. 5 stars for cute and unique illustrations. 4.75 stars for storyline. The text is in ABCB rhyme and there was one read aloud stumble spot, rhyme is very difficult. But it was a tiny hiccup and the storyline of overcoming fear by thinking of others is very worth reading, so I give it a 5 stars overall (if you wonder at my high ratings on my blog, keep in mind that only the best books make it to my blog. I review a lot of children's eBooks that don't make my blog because they aren't quite up to quality). 

I highly recommend this book for an adorable and meaningful bedtime story. 

I also recommend this book because of its unusual sales strategy: You can download the book for FREE (in four different formats) and if you want a full color hardcopy, it's only $5! I admire this unusual strategy! And it's so endearing, that I think the authors know we readers will want to touch the book. 

Here's a video about them explaining Creative Commons (for their Kickstarter project):

And did you notice their company name? The Brother's Whim! The author and illustrator are brothers. Can I give extra points for clever names on this one?

You can find them on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr (for full photos of the book) and their Brothers Whim website.

~Valerie Harmon

Making a Book Trailer Part 2: The Music

Music is vital to any book trailer. 

Even if you include voiceover, you need to have music. Music creates mood, adds a professional feel, and can help people watch your book trailer all the way through (YouTube penalizes videos that people don't watch to the end). Most importantly, music contributes to a successful book trailer that helps you sell books.

However, the music HAS to fit your book and your video. This video  has horrible music (don't do this!) besides the fact that its cursive script is hard to read. Yet, this video has had over 15,000 views! Crazy! What this means to me is that a good book trailer could pull down even more views.

Take a look at this book trailer. This award winning author has great visuals (I must admit that children's picture books are ahead of the video game because they are already visually appealing), but although the visuals are fabulous, I think the music takes away from the video. Have you encountered some other bad book trailer videos? The same part of me that can stand B movies likes to watch poorly made book trailers and laugh. So feel free to link to them below.

If you want to see some book trailers that do it right, read this post on Book Trailer Content for a couple links. If you have some examples of well-done book trailers, put the link in my comments. I'm on the prowl for some more good book trailers (and they aren't easy to find).

So where do you find good video music?

My current favorite place to find free music is Incompetech.

It's royalty-free (no copyright) and, did I mention, it's FREE! Yes, I was excited about that too. You just need to give the credit like this: Music: courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (www.incompetech.com). I used Incompetech music for these two book trailers: for a jungle feel in The Elephant Who Wanted To Be A Bee and a child's fun type of music in The Snake Who Wanted To Be A Horse.

Next recommendation: Audio Jungle.

www.AudioJungle.com

AudioJungle is my current music-that-costs favorite site. The music is inexpensive and there is a lot to choose from. I am buying a song for my next book trailer there, and it costs $11! That's it. If you've never paid for video music, then you don't know what a great deal that is!

In doing professional video work, I would often buy music from Production Trax. I bought songs from $85 to $140. Per song. My clients were pleased with the finished video, and I liked the songs myself (watch and listen to two of them here or here), but I am thrilled that I can find other music sources with great music and a better price, and I'm glad I can share those contacts with you.

These are other music sources that were recently recommended by video making professionals in my network. I haven't used them yet myself. If you use them, tell me what you think! If you can recommend any others, let me know in the comments. I'm always on the lookout for better sources.

http://dig.ccmixter.org/

SmartSound.com

www.Looperman.com

www.VideoBlocks.com

Best wishes on your book trailer-making endeavors!