Review: Rachel’s Day in the Garden by Giselle Shardlow

About the Book

Title: Rachel’s Day in the Garden (A Kids Yoga Spring Colors Book)   
Author: Giselle Shardlow
Illustrator: Hazel Quintanilla
Publication Date: December 23, 2014
Publisher: Kids Yoga Stories
Number of pages: 34
Recommended age: 3 to 6 years

Summary: Experience the benefits of yoga while learning about the signs of spring!

Join Rachel as she and her adorable puppy look for signs of spring in the garden. Crawl like a caterpillar, buzz like a bee, and flutter like a butterfly. Discover spring, explore movement, and learn the colors of the rainbow.

The storybook includes a list of kids yoga poses and a parent-teacher guide.

Kids Yoga Stories introduce you to engaging characters who will get your child laughing, moving, and creating. Reading is good for the mind AND body! The story links several yoga poses in a specific sequence to create a coherent and meaningful story.

This spring yoga story for ages 3 to 6 is more than a storybook, but it’s also a unique experience for children.  Rachel’s Day in the Garden is the first book in a seasonal yoga book series. The summer yoga book is also now available: Ella’s Summer Fun.  The fall and winter ones are in production, coming soon!

AMAZON * BOOK WEBSITE * GOODREADS

My Opinion:

I love this book a lot!

I love the idea that Rachel and her dog, Sammy, exploring the garden while doing yoga, or perhaps doing yoga while exploring the garden? :) It gave me ideas to tell my nieces and nephews that while we're doing exercise outdoor, we'll get to see and learn things, too. So not only you'd be healthier (and more relax), you'd be more richer in experiences and knowledge. So it's definitely good for mind, body and soul. ;)

The illustrations were clear, beautiful, colorful, and somehow brings the joy in me and I couldn't help smiling while going through pages. Maybe it's because Rachel and Sammy seems to enjoy it so much and have those happy faces with them. ^^ 

This kind of book is to be read and enjoyed with children ages 3- 8. But I guess I got that too though I read it by myself. Adult like me can learn and do the simple pose for daily simple exercise. It's so simple that it can be done anywhere. Perhaps in your office after sitting and working for hours? Definitely good for stretching the muscles and relaxation.
Just like the other of her book, the poses in this book were simple and easy to follow. Even if (big if) you don't really get it while reading and going through the pages, there would be list of poses in the end of the book. I also love the fact that there's a Parent-Teacher Guide with tips to get the most out of experiences of yoga stories with young children.

Overall, I really really love and enjoy this book.

***I was given a digital copy for an honest review.

About the Author

Giselle Shardlow draws from her experiences as a teacher, traveler, mother, and yogi to write her yoga-inspired children’s books. This story was inspired by her unforgettable travels to Bali and her desire to share these experiences with her daughter. She lives in Boston with her husband and daughter.

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About the Illustrator

Since her childhood, Hazel Quintanilla has been passionate about illustration. This dedication to her art has led very talented authors from around the world to her. She has illustrated more than twenty books, and she hopes there will be many more to come. She lives in Guatemala with her husband and their three beautiful dogs.

e-ARC Review : F Is for Feelings by Goldie Millar, Lisa Berger, Hazel Mitchell

F Is for Feelings

by Goldie Millar, Lisa Berger, Hazel Mitchell

Paperback, 40 pages

Free Spirit Publishing

Young children often need help learning and practicing their “feelings words” so they can express themselves well. When children learn from an early age to share their feelings in clear and healthy ways, they are more likely to grow into adults who feel capable of handling life’s challenges. Friendly and positive, this picture book uses an alphabet-book format to share and reinforce emotional language and the ideas that while some feelings are more comfortable than others, all emotions are natural and important. Charming, colorful illustrations accompany the sweet and simple text. A section in the back provides tips and activities for parents and caregivers to reinforce the themes and lessons of the book.

What I think:

I liked this book. A lot. 

At first glance of the cover, well, I didn't really care at all and almost skipped it. But then I think, hey, I could learn something from this, and teach or share something to my nieces and nephews. 

And I'm so glad I decided to read the book.

I didn't think that feelings can be listed in alphabet. I learned psychology and I should've known that there are lots of emotions. But since there are some basic, so sometimes I just paid attention on that. My bad!

Anyway, so I started reading the book, stopped in every alphabet and emotion, trying to understand and to translate it in bahasa. I also imagined it what to explain to my nieces and nephews once I get the chance to read this book with them. Although it might need some effort, the illustration and the example in every alphabet and emotion was very helpful. It helps the reader to differentiate between one emotion to the other.

Yes, this book is great for children. But for a grown up who would deal with kids, this book gives the activity guide for adults so that they can increasing the value of the book for the young readers. For example: how to explore, share and discuss the content of the book, the feeling. We can start from any emotion that interest us most.

There are lots of people out there (kids and adults) who have difficulties in expressing their emotions. Sometimes they put the wrong label for what they actually feel because they don't really understand the feeling and themselves. I do, too, sometimes. So this book would be a great start to understand about feeling better.

I really really think this is a great book and I can't wait to read and share it with my nieces and nephews.

I received the e-ARC via Net Galley. Thank you so much!

Review: A Risk Worth Taking by Victoria James

Interior designer Holly Carrington worked hard for her success. Then tragedy struck, leaving Holly the sole guardian of her infant niece. Now she’s swapped her designer purse for a diaper bag, and is going ahead with plans to renovate—and sell—her childhood home in Red River. But facing her past also means coming face-to-face with Quinn Manning all over again...Quinn was the object of her girlhood crush—and heartbreak— and is more gorgeous than ever. He’s also the only person qualified to oversee the renovation. Now they’re butting heads every step of the way... and their attraction is more electrifying than ever! But once the house is sold, Holly needs to return to her real life. And falling for Quinn all over again is one risk she can’t take... 

ebook, 170 pages

Published March 11th 2013 by Entangled: Indulgence

My Review:

I loved it! My very first of Victoria James, and already I couldn't wait for the next two books.

When I requested it from Net Galley, I didn't really expect it to be good. Simply I was just attracted to the cover, and the title. Not really into this old-crush thing, but I got curious. Why not give it a try.

Holly, a big city girl who had a perfect life, suddenly have to be a guardian for her baby niece when an accident caused her sister and her brother in law died. She decided to go back to her home town, renovate her grandparents' house that her sister planned to live in. But since she thought she couldn't live in it without thinking those people she lost, she planned to sell it. And of course, she needed to hire the best contractor which was happen to be Quinn's company, her old-crush back then. She couldn't forget him even after ten years. And the truth was, same thing on Quinn' side.

So they started to spend days together for the sake of the renovation, although there were, of course, so much more than that. 

I must admit that I have to stop reading after Quinn accused her for being cold because she intended to sell the house. And then Holly said, "That's cold." I felt something chill in my heart. To me, Quinn's reply about he didn't regret getting married, well, THAT'S cold. 

I'm melancholic. And it's my PMS time. Ha! So I got a bit sensitive. :p But my heart was squeezed at that sentence, and I knew how much it hurt Holly. It got me thinking about my love life, although it's not exactly the same. I gotta stop reading for few minutes, wrote down something on my journal, and then tried to hold back myself together, and started to read again. :)

Then it started getting better. I loved the way Quinn teased her. I loved the way they interact. You won't find lots of sex scene, which was just fine because that's not the whole point anyway. I think this book was fun to read, light, simple and sweet.

I guess I loved almost every characters in this book. Holly, after all she's been through, it's so understandable that she's afraid. Quinn, for being sooo adorable. I also enjoy Jake & Claire characters, Ella (she sounds so cute and trusting), and even Mrs. Jacob. Hahahahahaha...

Anyway, I can't wait to read the next book about Claire and Jake. I knew there's gotta be something between them by the time Holly found the pouch she sewed back then with Claire. Oh, I just can't wait. And Evan's.

I'm so glad I requested this book and got some times reading it.

e-copy provided by Entangled through Net Galley in exchange for honest review.