Children's e-Book Review: Princess Kiah series

Today's Children's Picture e-Book Review is the Princess Kiah series, Princess Kiah and the Peas, Princess Kiah and the Frog, and Princess Kiah and the Glass Slipper, written and illustrated by Joy Findlay for girls Ages 3-9.

My Ratings: 
Overall: 4.0 Stars
Cover and Illustrations: 5 Stars
Story: 3 Stars

Kiah is a girl who reads princess stories. She applies the stories to herself, with mixed results, but she always knows her parents love her. 

The illustrations are gorgeous. They are delicate and girly and would make nice wall posters. The storyline is cute and simple and my 8 year old daughter cuddled with me as we read them. She REALLY liked Princess Kiah and the Peas story. Probably because she could relate, being a Princess too! 

I rate the storyline a 3.0, but the illustrations a 5.0, which makes a total of 4.0 stars. Fun little tales! They are short, so I am glad they came in a set of three. 

~Valerie Harmon

(Disclaimer: Valerie Harmon received a free copy of the these books in exchange for a fair and honest review)

Children's Book Review: Freddie Goes Fishing With Grandpa

Today's Children's Picture e-Book Review is Freddie Goes Fishing With Grandpa written by Dagbjort Asgeirsdottir and illustrated by Karl Johann Jonsson, for Ages 3-9.

My Ratings: 
Overall: 5.0 Stars
Cover: 5 Stars
Illustrations: 5 Stars
Story: 5 Stars

Freddie Goes Fishing With Grandpa is a book that has hit #1 Best Seller in Category on Amazon and it's about a little boy named Freddie who goes fishing in the cove with Grandpa in Iceland. When he accidentally falls in, Grandpa pulls him out and tells him a sea monster story to cheer him up.

The watercolor illustrations by Jonsson are full of color and details that reveal parts of traditional Icelandic culture as well as adding to the cozy story that makes me miss my own grandparents. I appreciate that Asgeirsdottir added a note at the beginning explaining that pet foxes are real, as is their tendency to hide things that are left out.

I highly recommend this children's picture e-book and can see it becoming a classic with my own children. I hope Asgeirsdottir adds a hardback version someday.

It's FREE today and tomorrow, you can download it here.

~Valerie Harmon, from the Kindle Book Review

(Disclaimer: Valerie Harmon received a free copy of the this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. She is not affiliated with Amazon or the author)

I'm on The Kindle Book Review team!

As an author, I found the links on Author Resources of The Kindle Book Review very helpful. Especially as I prepared a KDP Amazon promotion with The Snake Who Wanted To Be A Horse.

Then I discovered the Get Reviewed page which lists book reviewers. There wasn't a reviewer who specialized in Children's Picture Books, so I applied. And was accepted! You can see me on that Get Reviewed page. If you want to have your book reviewed, then follow the precise instructions and make sure you only email it to one reviewer at a time. A reviewer for Kindle Book Review posts their review on Amazon, and because there's so many quality and helpful reviews from that one account, these reviews have more weight than an everyday reviewer. You need to understand how reviewing works with Amazon in order to understand what I mean.

How does Amazon reviewing work? Anyone who has an Amazon account can review the books they buy. After a certain amount of reviews that are voted "helpful" (I'll explain that in a minute) then anyon can reach a point where they can review any book, even if it wasn't bought through Amazon.

How are reviews voted helpful? At the bottom of each review there's a question: Did you find this review helpful? Yes or No. When you click Yes, then that reviewer gains "status." By status, I mean that his/her reviews are given more weight by Amazon, because other people have found them helpful. The more helpful votes, the more weight the reviewer is given. In fact, some reviewers become Top Amazon Reviewers. These are the reviewers that we, as authors, want to review our books!

Here's a guide that goes more in depth for about contacting those top reviewers. Keep in mind that the very top reviewers receive a great deal of review requests, so you might have better luck with reviewers lower down on the list. Also, my advice is to choose a reviewer who reviews books in your genre. You'll have better luck getting a review.

~Valerie Harmon

Children's Picture E-Book Review: Ug The Little Stone Age Boy

Today's Children's Picture e-Book Review is Ug The Little Stone Age Boy, by Barry J. McDonald, for Ages 3-9.

My Ratings: 

Overall: 4.0 Stars

Cover: 5 Stars

Illustrations: 4 Stars

Story: 4 Stars

Bug is jealous and he plays a trick on Ug that gets Ug into trouble. Will he get caught? Will he say sorry?

This children's picture e-book has adorable illustrations, and I don't mind that the illustrator used the same backgrounds and just set the characters in (probably created on Adobe Illustrator, which provides that kind of flexibility). However, I do feel short-changed when he used the exact same illustrations on two pages, TWICE! That's what kept this book from a five star rating. The illustrations were excellent enough, but McDonald cheated a little. 

The plot is simple, and set to an uncomplicated verse, but when I read it aloud to my 4 and 7 year olds, we liked it the rhythm of the words and the story. My 4 year old especially loved the Mammoth and the Triceratops. 

Our Third Best Seller!

Today the third book in our WantsToBe children's picture book series, The Alligator Who Wanted To Be A Dog, hit the #1 Best Seller list (within its category on Amazon)! 

From This...

When we get to add the gold #1 Best Seller badge, well, it feels good. Real good. 

To This!

THANK YOU to all of you who enjoy our books and have sent Snorse, Ellabee and Allidog to #1 Best Seller status. It is a compliment of the highest order!!

Publication Day For Book One: The Snake Who Wanted To Be A Horse

I am now the author of a published book.

I've dreamed for years about becoming a published author. With six children, and knowing my time to raise them is only a small portion of my life (I plan to live long), I've put my writing on the "takes a decade or two to finish a novel" track. And as my eldest children have entered adolescence, my writing has slowed even more.

I've been fine with the slower writing pace. Motherhood is a choice I've made and never regretted, even when it's been difficult. But that doesn't mean the dream dies. It just waits. Patient. Hopeful. And gaining in experience.

While writing as a teen, I felt my lack of experience as an obstacle to a worthy book. And I was probably right. I had only a tinge of adolescent angst, much less than most teens. With an idyllic childhood and the habits of an optimist, I didn't have enough of a story. And without conflict, there is not story. Nothing is more boring to read about than a happy life. That's why "And they lived happily ever after" is an ending, not a beginning.

So I gained in experience. But by the time I had enough experience, I was out of free time.

But then veteran illustrator Carol Stevens calls me up and invites me to write a children's book with her. And here I am, stunned and thrilled. Dinner is unmade, and it's 6:30pm. And I keep staring at my Amazon author page, my Amazon book page, and my GoodReads author page. I keep reading the wonderful supporting comments from my friends on Facebook who are rooting for my success (and over 90 of them were beta readers for this first book--THANK YOU).

And so, today has made it to "The top ten days of my life." Thank you for sharing it.