Book Review - Harry Potter Magical Places & Characters Coloring Book

About the Book
Explore the many places and characters of the Harry Potter films through the magic of color. From the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall at Hogwarts to the garish tones of the Dursley’s living room, this deluxe coloring book is filled with intricate images that bring fan-favorite wizarding locales to life. With pages of designs inspired by the characters themselves, this coloring book has something for every Harry Potter fan.



My Take on the Book
When I first encountered this coloring book, I immediately thought of my oldest daughter. She has read many of the Harry Potter books and is interested in all aspects of the books and the movies.

In this book there are not only pages to color but also photographs and illustrations from the Harry Potter movies too. Many of the coloring pages match the included photographs so someone could try and replicate what they see there if they so chose to do so.

In my opinion, this coloring book would be better used by an older child or adult There are many coloring pages with intricate lines.

When you use this coloring cook you'll travel back to the Gringott's halls, Diadon Alley and see the various main characters in Harry Potter.

I believe a Harry Potter fan who enjoys coloring will enjoy using this book!


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Book Review - Where Did All the Dinos Go?

About the Book


From Jim Benton, the international bestselling author and illustrator of Dear Dumb Diary and It s Happy Bunny, comes the latest board book addition to his series for Scholastic s youngest readers!

Where did all the dinos go?
Some say they vanished long ago.
Could they be living way out west
in cowboy books and fancy vests?

King of Funny, Jim Benton, offers a new kind of search-and-find dinosaur book that will have little ones rolling around with laughter, wondering, where have all the dinos gone?

Safe for all ages.

My Take on the Book
What a colorful, sturdy book that any young child will love. The book itself had great text that young children will relate too, providing a rhyming cadence that people kids will enjoy, as well as humor that will put a smile on their faces too.


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Book Review -In the Footsteps of Nonna: Recipes and Ramblings in Southern Italy and Sicily

About the Book
Bring home the taste of Italy!

Everyone wants to be Italian: Italian food is more than delicious—it’s heritage. Guided by author Bill Abruzzo, travel through the regions of Calabria, Lazio, Campania, and Sicily. Explore the many ways culinary traditions are connected to each region’s history and culture with easy-to-use recipes and personal anecdotes. Antipasti (Appetizers), Pane (Breads), Zuppe (Soups), Pasta, Cosi Dolci (Desserts), and Liquori (Liqueurs) form more than a mere meal: these dishes are your travel ticket. A special section on growing Italian ingredients and stocking your Italian pantry means great tastes and great stories are never further away than your own kitchen.


My Take on the Book
If you enjoy eating and cooking authentic Italian cuisine, you will love reading and preparing recipes from Bill Abruzzo'scookbook. Make sure you read the introduction. The author gives the reader important information about his history, family, and his inspiration for creating this cookbook.

Bill Abruzzo transports you through beautiful photographs to various locations in southern Italy and Sicily. Just looking at the photos created a desire to hop on a plane and arrive in Italy tomorrow.

As the author wrote each recipe, he preceded the ingredients with the area in Italy or Sicily that the recipe came from , along with an explanation. The reader will learn about the area and the choice of ingredients. As you read each section you will notice that local ingredients are used and how each section of the country is different. I found these writings so interesting so take the time to read each one.

I felt most of the ingredients you will need to prepare the recipes are easy to locate at your grocery store. The author wrote the procedure in excellent details which were easy to read and follow too.

The recipe selections were divided into the following: antipasti, breads and pizzas, egg dishes, soups , salads, pastas, vegetables, seafood, meats, and dessert. Each recipe has an accompanying photograph of the finished product.

I know you will enjoy using Bill's book, reading about his inspiration for the recipes, and actually preparing the selections.

Buon Appetito!

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Book Review - Step-By-Step Zen Doodle Origami

About the Book


Take the many benefits of Zen doodling--including stress relief and creativity boosting--and combine them with the artistic challenge of origami, and what do you get? Step-By-Step Zen Doodle Origami, a fun, intriguing new way to create something beautiful and unique. Inside the pages of this hands-on guide, you'll find:

• Step-by-step guides to drawing and paper folding
• Beautiful, vibrant illustrations
• 20 sheets of origami paper in pale shades of pink, gray, yellow, and blue
• Tools and techniques for different materials and processes
• Tips for applying simple and effective color, pattern building, and more

Packed with inspirational instructions and bold, exciting designs, this inspiring guide will encourage creativity and turn ordinary doodles into origami works of art.



My Take on the Book
I grew up doing origami with my own mother and always appreciated the art of this beautiful paper folding ever since. This book provides you with beautiful designs to follow and a number of great sheets to great some fun origami creatures too. You will be impressed at how easy this book makes it ready, act and create yourself!


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Book Review - Color Quest: Extreme Coloring Challenges to Complete

About the Book
Colorists, puzzle fans, and challenge seekers, take note: you will love this color-by-number book that is unlike anything you've ever seen before. Grab your colored pens or pencils and start coloring the numbered shapes¦and in no time at all, you'll free the images concealed on the page. Your odyssey will take you on a magical journey to find artistic gems that are hiding in plain sight, including a mighty lion camouflaged beneath dots, a peacock prancing amidst hexagons, or a turtle masked by squares. Once you've completed them, perforated pages allow you to pull them out--making them perfect for decorating, framing, or giving as gifts. It's all just waiting to be liberated by you as you color each one, breathe new life into these pages, and uncover stunning and intricate works of art in your Color Quest.


My Take on the Book
This was a beautiful book that walks you through how you could create amazing pictures by coloring by number. The pages are very large and you get to see and experience the picture coming together in a fun way. My daughters and I loved working on these and loved the overall images that you receive with this too and you will also.



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Book Review - The Magic of Mandalas

About the Book
Reawaken your individuality with this hot new trend: coloring books! Adults love it because it allows them to tune in, tune out, and turn off their screens. The result? Less stress, enhanced creativity, and better health. Once you've completed each work of art, you can share it with the world with the help of this one-of-a-kind book. Its stand-up display and exchangeable cards let you showcase your colorful take on these gorgeous patterns. Best of all, each design is featured as a one-sided illustration, so today's work of art won't bleed through and ruin tomorrow's dazzling creation. In The Magic of Mandalas,, discover 30 magical, beautiful, and inspiring mandalas to color in as you relax, unwind, and gain greater clarity. You can share your masterpieces each day of the month! It's the perfect way to decorate your home or office.


My Take on the Book
This was a great set of designed cards that have some amazing mandalas on them. While the other set I tried had flower designs these are mandalas and they were intricate and beautifully made. On top of the cards you also get a wonderful cardboard frame where you can show off your artwork too. Because each of these designs are so intricate you can easily take a bit of time to get to create each masterpiece.

I used colored pencils and water-based markers on these and with the medium weight of the mandalas this medium worked very well.

I was very impressed with the set as well as the designs and you will be too!


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Book Review - The Magic of Flowers

About the Book
Reawaken your individuality with this hot new trend: coloring books! Adults love it because it allows them to tune in, tune out, and turn off their screens. The result? Less stress, enhanced creativity, and better health. Once you've completed each work of art, you can share it with the world with the help of this one-of-a-kind book. Its stand-up display and exchangeable cards let you showcase your colorful take on these gorgeous patterns.. Best of all, each design is featured as a one-sided illustration, so today's work of art won't bleed through and ruin tomorrow's dazzling creation. In The Magic of Flowers,, you'll discover 30 beautiful blooms--from roses to daisies and beyond--that will help you focus, release tension, and create.



My Take on the Book
This was a very cool coloring pack. that gives you 30 looseleaf coloring designs that you can use a ton of different mediums on to create some amazing creations. What was great was that this comes with a free standing frame that allows you to showcase your masterpieces and you can switch out the designs when you have a new one ready too.

I really liked this concept and having the frame to showcase my artwork and you will too!


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Book Review - How to Draw Incredible Sharks and Other Ocean Giants

About the Book
Fierce sharks, friendly dolphins, and enormous sting rays are just some of the 80 drawing projects ocean lovers and budding artists will find here. This small but informative drawing book will help young artists discover and expand on their creative drawing talent. Inside, they'll find easy, step-by-step instructions for drawing a variety of animals and objects. A handy index in the back of the book makes it easy to find favorites to practice again and again. Each title in the How to Draw series features lots of weird and wonderful drawing projects in a variety of categories. Collect them all!

My Take on the Book
Fiona Gwen illustrated this drawing book for Barron's. It is one in a series of drawing books. In this particular book there are 14 different specie entries but over 80 different animals you could learn to draw. The author grouped species on a page or two and if there were more than one kind of animal in the species she would show how that animal was different so it could be drawn. I felt the step by step directions and black on white illustrations were easy to follow.

If you know someone who enjoys drawing and likes learning about sharks, this would be a great gift.
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Book Review - Visual Explorer: Wonders of the World

About the Book
Learn about the biggest, oldest and most spectacular natural and man-made wonders of our world, including the Great Wall of China, Taj Mahal, Great Barrier Reef, and more. Engaging text, detailed facts, and impressive statistics give children exciting scientific insight into the many wonders of the world. A glossary at the end of the book helps reinforce the information. Parents, teachers, and librarians will want to collect all of the books in this series to create a very cool first encyclopedia to build early research skills.



My Take on the Book
While reading this book full of beautiful photographs and descriptive passages, it made me feel like I want to travel to each one of the locations and see these beautiful wonders of our world up close. You will encounter such places as the Sahara Dessert, Victoria Falls, the Grand Canyon, the Great Barrier Reef, and the Giants Causeway in Ireland. You will see man made wonders like the Great Pyramid and nature made wonders like the Giant's Causeway in Ireland.

The text really assists the reader in understanding the special dimensions of a location. For example the United States would fit into the Sahara Desert. That is how huge this desert is in area.

Another great feature of the text is the author (s) included for example other large deserts in our world. On the page with geysers and geothermal locations, the author (s) included other areas in the world with geysers and geothermal activity.

I believe you will enjoy learning new information and seeing some beautiful locations in our world.
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Book Review - Visual Explorers: Insects and Spiders

About the Book
Creeping, crawling, flying, buzzing…discover all the exciting things that make a bug's life so fascinating. Engaging text, detailed facts, and impressive statistics give children exciting scientific insight into the world of insects and spiders. A glossary at the end of the book helps reinforce the information. Parents, teachers, and librarians will want to collect all of the books in this series to create a very cool first encyclopedia to build early research skills.



My Take on the Book
Whenever I read a book like this , I am always wondering how did they photograph the animals in the book. The reader will see amazing up close shots of insects and spiders. Up close like seeing venom dripping from one kind of spider. Another up close photo involved a person putting their hand next to a type of tarantula that eats larger animals ,such as birds and reptiles. The tarantula was very large.
So many fun facts to share with children or to learn as an adult.

Some interesting facts I would like to share are: insects and spiders have been on Earth before humans arrived and will probably still dwell on Earth after humans depart due to their adaptability in the environment. Butterflies migrate 4785 miles. Dragonflies migrate up to 8700 miles. Ladybugs have two sets of wings. They have their red spotted wings that lay over the rear wings which are the ones used for flying. The deadliest insect in the world is the mosquito because of the diseases they carry.

I think you will agree this book is worth reading. There are excellent detailed photographs and interesting and appropriate text with each photograph.
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Book Review - Visual Explorers: Space

About the Book
What's the Milky Way? What's a galaxy? How far away is the farthest planet in our solar system? How hot is the sun? Discover all this and more about deep, dark space. Engaging text, detailed facts, and impressive statistics give children exciting scientific insight into the world around them and the universe beyond. A glossary at the end of the book helps reinforce the information. Parents, teachers, and librarians will want to collect all of the books in this series to create a very cool first encyclopedia to build early research skills.



My Take on the Book
I think most people are fascinated with space and the objects in space. We are amazed by space travel and the photographs that satellites send back to Earth of other plants, stars, and even galaxies.

I enjoyed reading this book. It has beautiful photographs of the sun, planets, asteroids, comets, stars, galaxies and other space travel, including man landing on the moon. The text is easy to read, interesting, and adjacent to each photograph. Each section of text gives the reader specific information without a lot of reading.

I believe this book would be a nice one to share with your children and include in your home library.

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Book Review - How to Draw Ferocious Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Creatures

About the Book
ROAR! From Stegosaurus to Tyrannosaurus Rex, Mosasaurus, Spinosaurus, Velociraptor and beyond, kids learn to draw more than 80 amazing ancient creatures. This small but informative drawing book will help young artists discover and expand on their creative drawing talent. Inside, they'll find easy, step-by-step instructions for drawing a variety of animals and objects. A handy index in the back of the book makes it easy to find favorites to practice again and again. Each title in the How to Draw series features lots of weird and wonderful drawing projects in a variety of categories. Collect them all!


My Take on the Book
There are over 80 different dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures that you can choose to draw in this detailed drawing book. The illustrator has done a very good job showing how some dinosaurs were similar in shape. She grouped them on a page with step by step directions for drawing them.Some pages had only one animal to draw. One such page was the page with directions on drawing a mammoth. So many children enjoy learning and drawing dinosaurs. I believe this book will not only assist them in learning to draw the creatures but also give some new facts about dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures.

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Book Review - Fabulous Copycat Coloring: Pretty Pictures to Copy and Complete

About the Book
For the child who admires all things that are remarkable and pretty, this coloring book will provide hours of absorbing fun. Kids who love underwater marvels and gorgeous things in vibrant colors will find the images in this book hard to resist. This unusual book series puts a fun new twist on the traditional coloring book and inspires self-expression through imitation. Instead of page after page of black and white images to color, Copycat Coloring Books feature two versions of each image: one in the traditional coloring book format, and the other completely colored in. Kids can challenge themselves to copy the colored image exactly, or do their own thing to top it!


My Take on the Book
This coloring book has beautiful illustrations drawn and colorfully filled in on each set of two pages. So the reader will be able to observe the colors the authors used to color the illustrations and choose to copy those colors when coloring the exact illustration on the right side or decide to use their creativity and choose their own colors and designs.

 
There is a wide range of subject matter in this book. You could choose pages with flowers, butterflies and birds. You could also select pages which contain people dancing, fancy umbrellas, and even a windmill.

Most of the designs drawn have large spaces to color. 

I would think children and adults would enjoy using this book. There are certainly many hours of enjoyment if you choose to use this book.
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Book Review - Creative Copycat Coloring: Cool Pictures to Copy and Complete

About the Book
Is your little boy or girl an action and adventure lover with a sensitive artistic side? Then they will love this coloring book that's filled with brilliant pictures. Incredible creatures and stunning scenes will inspire adventurous artists to get copying and coloring. This unusual book series puts a fun new twist on the traditional coloring book and inspires self-expression through imitation. Instead of page after page of black and white images to color, all books in the Copycat Coloring series feature two versions of each image: one in the traditional coloring book format, and the other completely colored in. Kids can challenge themselves to copy the colored image exactly, or do their own thing to top it!



My Take on the Book
Barron's coloring book could be used from childhood to adulthood. The illustrations vary from simple designs or pictures like acrobats at a circus, to more intricate pictures like the monkeys in the jungle.
Each set of two pages contains a completely colored picture on the left and the same picture on the right without color.

The reader using this book can choose to copy the blank side with the same colors as the authors used or use their own creativity to complete the incomplete page. 

I think it was a great idea to have two options for the artist.

The subject matter is quite diverse and will give the artist many choices in topics and method.
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Book Review - Extreme Coloring Mandalas

About the Book
This unique adult coloring book is for people who like to take their artistic pursuits to the next level. The Extreme Art series features high-quality, lavishly packaged, and specially commissioned artworks that will challenge, entertain, and stimulate you for hours. Taking inspiration from intricate mandala designs, Extreme Coloring Mandalashelps you create your own individual masterpieces with these exquisite images. Inspirational quotes stand beside the art, so you are intrigued and informed even as you color. Plus, perforated pages in every book allow you to share your incredible creations. You're sure to come away relaxed, enthused, and longing to do it all over again!


My Take on the Book
As you look at this coloring book, you will quickly realize it is not an ordinary coloring book. Each page contains intricate designs using the mandala design.

The mandala design is one in which there is a center and the design radiates from the center in geometric patterns.Mandala is a word in Sanskrit . If you have visited churches,especially the churches that are older like Notre Dame you will recognize the mandala design as it is used in a major stained glass window in the church.

Because the designs are so intricate, you will need to make sure your coloring instruments have sharpened points. There are many hours of relaxing coloring and creativity for the artist in the EXTREME COLORING MANDALAS coloring book.

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Book Review - Explore 360° The Tomb of Tutankhamun: Discover Egypt's Greatest Wonder!

About the Book
The discovery of Tutankhamun's lost tomb and its glittering cache of treasures was surely one of the most exciting archaeological finds ever made. Now, you can journey back to the land of King Tut and explore the temples, tombs, and monuments of Ancient Egypt in breathtaking detail. As you explore each monument, you'll discover just what it looked like in ancient times through:

A FREE downloadable app that includes amazing 3-D graphics that recreate Tutankhamun's tomb and all of the treasures found there, as well as other awe-inspiring sites such as the Great Pyramid and Karnak Temple.

Spectacular fold-out artwork of the tomb of Tutankhamun
Stunning 3-D spreads illustrating the Great Pyramids, Karnak Temple, Abu Simbel, and more
A historical review of Ancient Egypt, from life along the mighty Nile to the discovery of the tomb by Harold Carter in 1922



My Take on the Book
This was an amazing book filled with so many facts figures and images of The Tomb of Tutankhamun. My daughters were fascinated by this boy king that has mesmorized so many over the years. The book was very thorough and when they say a 360 degree look at the tomb they mean it. The book is very inclusive of everything and goes into painstaking detail, much more than other books written on the subject for similar age readers. I was very impressed with the depth and breadth of the book an you will be too!

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Book Review - Train Your Brain Cranium Crunchers

About the Book
Hey kids--are you ready to train your brains? This series of fun books will really let kids give their brains a workout! Designed by three puzzle-book pros and Mensa members, these brain-teasing books are brimming with mind-scrambling puzzles. In Cranium Crunchers, there's almost 100 pages of number stumpers, visual teasers, logic problems, and verbal tests. Split into three levels of difficulty--called Super Brain, Mega Mind, and Ultra Genius--the books get more challenging as they progress. Kids, adults, and anyone else who enjoys a good dose of mental calisthenics will find themselves hooked by each puzzle-solving challenge.



My Take on the Book
Another great puzzle book that will challenge the smartest people! We loved trying all of the number games and I for one was pleased to see my kids thinking hard about these and trying their best to do well. Even when they failed the first time they tried again which I was proud to see! This was a great book that was entertaining and challenging!

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