Review of I Can Draw! Silly Sea Life

Learn how to draw simple versions of an octopus, a flamingo, a turtle, a jellyfish, and other sea creatures — and with this easy-to-follow guide, it only takes six or fewer steps! Every step appears on a grid that faces a page with an empty grid for you to fill in. Afterward, you can color your finished illustrations.

Book Links

Goodreads * Amazon * B&N

**My thoughts**

This is another collection of fun grid drawing with cartoon-like animals. They vary in degrees of difficulty, all broken down into six steps. The new lines are shown in blue in each step, to distinguish from the previous ones in black. I feel like some of them could have been broken down even more because they were a bit more intricate. And I do wish there were more blank practice grids in the back. But they are still fun to attempt as a starting point for drawing.

Thank you to the publisher for fulfilling my review request via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Review of A Kid's Guide to Drawing Cartoon Animals by Vicki Whiting

Exciting, simple, and full of fun!

• 28 cartoon animals to draw including crocodiles, cats, sea horses, sharks, elephants, tigers, pandas, and more
• Step-by-step drawing instructions are followed by full trace-and-draw sketches to put it all together
• Educational activity book for boys and girls aged 5-10 provides plenty of space to practice their own free-hand drawing
• Author Vicki Whiting, a former teacher, is founder and president of Kid Scoop, a weekly educational page syndicated in over 200 newspapers

This engaging activity book for boys and girls aged 5-10 helps kids learn how to draw 28 cartoon animals, from crocodiles and cats to sea horses and sharks!

With step-by-step, trace-and-draw instructions and plenty of room to practice, kids will be able to draw animals all by themselves in no time.

Author and former teacher Vicki Whiting is the founder of Kid Scoop, an award-winning weekly activity page that promotes standards-based learning. Parents and teachers around the world use Vicki's fun activities to stimulate academic success and a joy of learning.

With this expansive collection of exercises from Kid Scoop and Happy Fox Books, kids will have hours of fun creatively drawing all their favorite animals!

Book Links

Goodreads * Amazon * Barnes & Noble

(affiliate link included)

**My thoughts**
I loved to draw as a kid. Sometimes I get a chance to draw with my friends' kids when I am hanging out with them babysitting. It's a lot of fun! And I definitely prefer drawing cartoon animals over trying to draw more realistically. I think I do better with this.

This book is so much fun with the cartoon drawings. Each drawing is broken down into super simple steps that make it easy for just about anyone to become an illustrator. And then you have coloring suggestions and practice pages. You can even practice tracing one of hers right there in the book. 

The pictures do vary in difficulty and you can't be too upset if yours doesn't look exactly the same as the one in the book. You can even spread your wings and make your own variations. And there's no rule that says you have to go completely in order of the way they are presented in the book. Poke around and decide where you want to start and go from there. There's an animal for everyone!

As a bonus at the back, there are some cheesy animal jokes that kids love to share over and over again. 

Overall, it's a very fun book that even this adult enjoyed!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a requested review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Review of What Can You Do With Only One Shoe? by Simon & Sheryl Shapiro

One can, two can. Who can? You can!
Using junk from the landfill site.
Rusty cans and wood and wire,
thrumming, strumming, day and night.

In this inventive new collection of verse, Sheryl and Simon Shapiro introduce readers to 13 everyday objects that have been ingeniously reimagined into something else altogether.

Color photographs of recycled objects are accompanied by lighthearted, jaunty poems in a variety of lengths and rhyming patterns. Kids will love identifying each reinvented item, and will marvel at how a shoe makes a great bird’s nest, how old tin cans make a guitar, or how a car can be transformed into a bed!

Complete with Francis Blake’s lively color illustrations, What Can You Do With Only One Shoe? will delight young readers while introducing the idea of recycling and repurposing in a new and innovative way.

Book Links

Goodreads * Amazon * B&N * IndieBound

(affiliate link included)

**My thoughts**

This book is really cute! It combines poetry, crafts, and just plain silliness that is sure to appeal to kids of all ages. To capture their attention, it does start with a silly poem with some clever puns about repurposing a toilet into a planter. I don't know that I would want such a thing in my garden, but some of the other ideas, such as the shoe as a birdfeeder, may work. 

The poems offer up some silly suggestions for what to do with these found treasures. Those ideas are shown in clever drawings, with the real project being shown in a photograph.

The big problem is, there are no instructions as to how to make any of these fun projects! I do appreciate the inspiration, but now I want to know how to make a couple of them. Yes, some things like the aforementioned toilet planter and shoe birdfeeder are easy enough to figure out. Some of the later designs, though, such as a boat turned into a bench, a real life car as a bed, or a shopping cart chair would definitely be more complicated. A more practical idea is the purse made out of an old pair of jeans. That is something I could see myself making as a gift. My guess is that the authors simply wanted to share some fun ideas upon which they have come across. I just want more!

I gave it 3.5 stars.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for fulfilling my request for a review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

'The Easy to Make Paper Airplane Book: Created by a Kid' by Lane Simpson

Blurb:

Your children's fun will take off while they learn the basics of flight from this easy to use book. All designs have step by step instructions and are tested by children all over the world. All your child needs is notebook paper and off they go.

Available on Amazon

Check out other great books in Dr. Simpson's store.

Review of 'Jellybean Tiaras' by Sharon Penn

Description

Little princesses will adore the delicious products of this how-to book, which features 24 jewelry-making projects. Easy instructions and dozens of illustrations show how to transform pretzels, gumdrops, and other candies into radical rings and wonderful wands, princess pins and heavenly headbands, knockout necklaces and excellent earrings, and beautiful bracelets and glamorous glasses.


**My thoughts**

This is the kind of book that I would have eaten up as an elementary-aged girl. Candy necklaces were a rare treat and I was always creating with my arts and crafts supplies. Putting the two together would have been an ultimate combination of fun.

Sharon's instructions are broken down step-by-step with plenty of photographs to help illustrate her directions. Some of the steps will require adult assistance, but most of the projects can be done independently. Most of the materials are edible; however, on occasion you will need to use string, foam, and other inedible items in the creation process. I would recommend that children be six and older when undertaking these projects, and to fully understand what can and cannot be ingested.

The finished projects are worthy of Pinterest and the young models are absolutely adorable as they show off their bling. Remind crafters that it is okay for their project to not turn out as perfectly as the ones in this book. (Just like we have to remind our grown-up selves the same as we find new projects on Pinterest.) The important part is having fun while making these!

I will admit that the thought of putting candy in a child's hair or on her face makes me a bit squeamish, as I think of the potential for a sticky mess and extra germs. Be sure to set some ground rules about the consumption of the jewelry. Also, find a safe way to store it, so that little critters aren't attracted to a sweet snack when the jewelry isn't being worn.

I can see this as being a great way to bond with your kids during a special mother-daughter day, or some great entertainment during a sleepover or playdate.

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review, which was originally published on Examiner.

Buy links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Dover Publications.