Little Red Reads

Watson Series by Craig Farmer- Review and Signed Book Giveaway

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  • Watson Everyday 
  • by Craig Farmer
  • Paperback: 28 pages
  • Published January 22, 2013
  • by Tate Publishing 
  • ISBN-10: 162295808X
  • Book Source: author
  • 5 stars

Watson Everyday Book Summary from the author’s page: Watson knows that everyday life is filled with choices that affect his own happiness and that of others. He shows how daily decisions can make a big difference. Join Watson in his routines of getting ready for the day, performing his chores, caring for his toys, and heading to bed, among many other everyday adventures. If Watson can do it, you can too!

View a sample page of this book. To hear the audio book, click here and enter the code: eb15-dfea-79c1-f928-6798-42db-939b-af28

Heather’s Review: My children love Watson, the cute terrier who lives a life full of values and politeness. Each book in the four book series teaches children simply and clearly how to have manners, respect for their elders and how to contribute to school and home. As a mother I appreciate books like this that are enjoyable for all ages and have a moral built in. Out society needs more citizens like Watson who are willing to do chores without complaining and prodding. Thanks so much to the author for his insight!

About the Author: Craig Farmer is the author of the Watson series. He lives in Riverton, Utah with his wife Julia, and of course, Watson.

Watson books are published through Tate Publishing, a mainline publishing house dedicated to working with aspiring authors and giving their book its best chance in the marketplace. If you’ve ever thought about publishing a book, you should visit Tate Publishing.

The Giveaway: Little Red Reads is giving away your choice of the four Watson books autographed by the author. 

Simply comment below to enter. Giveaway ends May 21, 2013 and is open to US only.

Movie Review by Children- Spiderwick Chronicles

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The Spiderwick Chronicles
Full Screen Edition
2008
Freddie Highmore Actor
Rated: PG 
Format: DVD
Product Description from Amazon: From the beloved, best-selling series of books comes an extraordinary fantasy adventure, revealing the unseen world that exists all around us. From the moment the Grace family moves into a secluded old house peculiar things start to happen. Unable to explain the accidents and strange disappearances, the Grace children, Jared, Simon and Mallory start to investigate and find the unbelievable truth of the Spiderwick Estate and the amazing creatures that inhabit it.
My children see me working all the time on the computer and wanted to try their hand at reviewing. Ages 9,8,6,and 4 they weigh in on the movie adaption of one of our favorite series, The Spiderwick Chronicles.
Children’s input: “I like all the adventures. I Like it when her mother doesn’t believe her and then she looks in the window that makes her see goblins and she makes a face. I also really liked all the old things of their uncles and aunts.”- girl, 9 ears old
“I like the part when Malther gets her hair tied to the bed and the part when they break through the wall and you can see Thimbletack’s home and also when he eats lots of honey.”-boy, 8 years old

Both of my children’s favorite part is then they attack the Goblins with tomatoes and the oven explodes. They were disappointed that the movie didn’t include the part when Malory was in the glass coffin.

Mom’s input: Overall, enjoyable, but a titch too violent for my taste. There are some scary effects and scenes that were too much for our 4 year old and I wouldn’t recommend it for children younger than 7. I recommend the book or audio series over the movie. It’s one I would rent, not buy.

Children’s Ebook Review – Scary School

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Scary School 
by Derek the Ghost aka Derek Taylor Kent 
Ebook format 
Published June 21st, 2011 
by HarperCollins 
ISBN 0061960926
Book Source: Author 
4 Stars 

Book Summary: You think your school’s scary?
Get a load of these teachers:
Ms. Fang, an 850-year-old vampire!
Dr. Dragonbreath, who just might eat you before recess!
Mr. Snakeskin—science class is so much more fun when it’s taught by someone who’s half zombie!
Mrs. T—break the rules and spend your detention with a hungry Tyrannosaurus rex!
Plus, Gargoyles, goblins, and Frankenstein’s monster on the loose!
The world’s most frighteningly delicious school lunch! And, the narrator’s an eleven-year-old ghost!
Join Charles “New Kid” Nukid as he makes some very Scary friends—including Petunia, Johnny, and Peter the Wolf—and figures out that Scary School can be just as funny as it is spooky!

Margie’s Review: All middle grade readers will definitely love this new series! Such a fun and quirky book that starts with us meeting our narrator, Derek the Ghost. We get to know a little about Derek and how/why he is a ghost… and then he introduces us to what we will find and who we will meet at Scary School. 

In my opinion, this book was more of an introduction to the series than actual story telling. Every chapter is dedicated to a different teacher or student, giving us their story and background – if it wasn’t for the fact that Derek the Ghost reminds you of the underlying story that he’s trying to tell you, it felt like I was reading a bunch of short stories. Because of this, it was a bit hard to get into at first, but with the help of the illustrations at the beginning of each chapter, it started to flow easily and was a lot of fun. 

My 8yo son is now reading it – and he is enjoying it more than I thought he would! We have already talked about a few of the characters and side stories and have learned… 

“Don’t judge a monster by the way he/she looks, looks can be deceiving!” 
“Always follow the rules! They’re made for a reason!” 

And here is some exciting news! Derek the Ghost is hard at work and writing up a storm! 
The next book will also be released as a hardcover on June 26th, 2012… Scary School #2: Monsters on the March. 
There is no official blurbs/quotes for it yet. But I’m pretty confident that it is going to be a good, laugh-out-loud story for the kiddos 🙂 Keep an eye out for it! 

I recommend this book for ages 8 and up.

About the author:  Derek the Ghost is an eleven-year-old ghost who haunts the classrooms and hallways of Scary School writing down all the spine-tingling, often hilarious things that go on there. Despite his ghostly state, Derek still enjoys reading comic books and hopes to one day become a master ninja. If that doesn’t work out, he will continue to share the fun of this very special, very secret school, so all kids can experience the scariest school on Earth.

Find more about Derek the Ghost on Scary School’s Official Website, Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.