Oct 29 2012
Dear Mr. Benton, A good friend of mine steered me in the direction of the Franny K. Stein books. Her daughter loves them so much that she was crushed when she discovered that she couldn’t make her own monster. Or at least….not yet. Her daughter is still young though so who knows what she’ll be(…)
Aug 24 2012
Dear Ms. Hughes, A few months ago, I was looking to buy another retelling of the Cinderella fairy tale and your book, “Ella’s Big Chance – A Jazz Age Cinderella” was recommended to me at the same time. Intrigued by the setting and cover illustration, I bought it as well. Though I love the Cinderella(…)
Aug 14 2012
“In this bestselling modern classic, Princess Elizabeth is slated to marry Prince Ronald when a dragon attacks the castle and kidnaps Ronald. In resourceful and humorous fashion, Elizabeth finds the dragon, outsmarts him, and rescues Ronald—who is less than pleased at her un-princess-like appearance.” Dear Mr. Munsch, I love children’s books, always have, and I’ve(…)
Jul 8 2012
Dear Readers, When I went to buy a copy of “Princess Furball” at Amazon, several other books were recommended to me as being of possible interest. “Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters” was one of them. It has some elements of the classic Grimm’s version of “Cinderella.” Yet those who dislike that story because the idiot Prince can’t(…)
Jun 23 2012
Dear Mr. Oakley, “The Church Mouse” was recommended to me by Cate, one our readers here at Dear Author, a few years ago. I took note of the title, wrote down your name and had always meant to seek out the book. With the best intentions it took me a while to finally match “I(…)
May 16 2012
Dear Ms. Huck, Your book “Princess Furball” was recommended to me by etv13, one of our readers here, after I posted a review of the movie “Donkey Skin.” I instantly fell in love with the name since I have two little Princess Furballs at home. Well, I finally got my own copy of the book(…)
Feb 8 2012
Allow me to engage in some nepotism here. Yesterday, tot came home and reported that she had started her own review blog pursuant to instruction from the teacher. Instead of the book reports that I used to write as a school child (or perhaps in addition to), tot and her class are learning to write(…)
Aug 4 2010
Dear Mr. Wynn-Jones, Years ago, before I was on the internet or associated the word amazon with anything other than ancient female warriors, I used to get a book catalogue called “A Common Reader.” It was an eclectic mix of fiction and nonfiction with enticing descriptions which several times coaxed me into buying many books.(…)
Dec 11 2008
Dear Ms. Baker, As I wandered through my local bookstore, the title of this book caught my eye. I love fairy tales retold from a modern perspective, given slight twists or are just cute. The cover, and that of the many sequels, certainly fits the cute profile. Alas, the book itself didn’t live up to(…)
Jun 17 2008
Apr 27 2008
Last month, I read about a new e book program for kids called Kidthing.com. Kidthing is based on Adobe flash and is one part audio book and one part video. It really harnesses the ability of a computer to translate into a learning tool for young children. During its beta period, users could access Horton(…)
Oct 16 2007
Dear Ms. Ibbotson, I’ve long been a fan of your adult novels. They have a way of showing even the most mundane things in a magical light, and that always makes me realize there’s a bit of fairy tale in everyone’s life. Your books set in Vienna are some of my favorites, because the city(…)
Aug 24 2007
I was at Barnes and Noble the other day and there was a display by the kids’ play table of two pop up books: one about dinosaurs and one about sharks. The covers are hard but slightly padded and they had a kind of old fashioned illustrated look to them. The interior featured wonderful 3D(…)
Apr 12 2007
Today is Drop Everything and Read Day. Set on the birthday of Beverly Clearly, D.E.A.R., this day is designed to remind families of the importance of reading together on a daily basis. According to some studies, children who read are less likely to do drugs, end up in prison or drop out of school. Some(…)
Dec 24 2006
Dear Ms. Childers, I admit I’m a sap for any books with cats in them and this one sounded cute and fluffy. Two older cats explain the magic and meaning of Christmas to a young kitten who’s puzzled by this whole Christmas Tree, packages, nativity scene and Santa idea. The story is sweet, the illustrations(…)
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