Book Review: Life is a Bowl Full of Cherries by Vanita Oelschlager

I received a review copy of this book from netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion. This is not the first time I have reviewed a book by Vanita Oelschlager but this one was by far my favorite so far.

This wonderfully illustrated book is all about idioms or those phrases we use that have nothing to do with their meanings such as "two peas in a pod", "life is a bowl full of cherries", or "cold turkey". This is a very hard concept to teach to children but this book does a fairly good job at giving examples.

This was still a little too over my son's head but he still really enjoyed the book. His favorite being "one bad apple". The book was simple enough for him to follow along even if he didn't get what exactly an idiom is. We both enjoyed the illustrations and he asked me to read it to him again.

I would give this a solid 4 out of 5 stars.

Comic Book Review: The Last Christmas by Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn

I received a review copy from netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion. I finished this comic last week but due to a stomach virus and the holiday madness I'm just now finally able to put up my review.

Have you ever wondered what would happen to Santa and his dear elves in the event of the Apocalypse? Well the sick minds of Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn have. What came about is a hilariously dark comic fit only for those with the sickest of sick humors.

The Apocalypse has arrived and Santa goes on a bender after the death of his beloved Mrs. Clause. After turning his back on Christmas forever the earth is filled with nothing but evil. Save one lone boy who still believes in the magic of Santa. Can he make Santa believe in Christmas again? Can the world recover after the apocalypse?

Ok I LOVED this comic. But be warned this is not a comic for everyone. You have to have an extremely sick and twisted sense of humor to get and love this comic. Fortunately (or should that be unfortuantely?) I'm one of those people who just gets it. One of my favorite moments is a nod to Star Wars. Sick and twisted there were so many moments I found myself laughing out loud that my hubby kept asking me what was so funny. I finally had to let him read the comic as well. He is just as sick and twisted as me because he found it hilarious as well.

So if you are not weak of stomach, thin of skin and love sick twisted humor than this is the comic for you! I give this a solid 5 out of 5 stars for my final read of 2013!

Book to Movie Challenge 2014

Book to Movie Challenge: The Sequel

 Hosted by doingdeweydecimal

Although there will be a wrap-up post for the 2013 challenge later, I’d like to thank everyone who participated for making this challenge such fun that I can’t wait to host it again next year. Plus, can you believe all of the movies based on books that came out this year?! Doing this challenge, I’ve been amazed at the number of book to movie adaptations there are and I’ve loved seeing some great books brought to life on screen.

Like last year, the rules are simple and few. I’ll post a linky where you can share your reviews, but this thing works on the honor system. If you want to challenge yourself to only watch movies coming out this year or to make sure you always read the book and watch the movie during 2014, that’s great. But I won’t hold you to it  Personally, I usually count two hours of a TV show as enough to call it watched since that’s about as long as most movies. Again though, this challenge is all about having fun, so it’s really up to you.

To enter, just click through to the linky at the bottom of this post and link to a post on your blog mentioning the challenge and the challenge level you’re attempting. You can change challenge levels at any time and the challenge levels are the same as last year:

Movie Fan - read 3 books and watch their movies
Movie Devotee - read 6 books and watch their movies
Movie Lover - read 9 books and watch their movies
Movie Aficionado - read 12 books and watch their movies
Movie Auteur - read 24 books and watch their movies

This year, I’ve decided to make this a little more fun by adding a giveaway at some point during the year (NOT contingent on progress in the challenge), as well as a few read-a-longs (The Maze Runner in September anyone?). Other than that, everything is pretty much the same. Add an e-mail to the linky if you want my quarterly check-in posts e-mailed to you. Otherwise, feel free to put gibberish in that spot since inlinkz won’t let you leave it blank. Happy reading and watching!

Enter Here

Picture Credits: background photo from lusi, font source here, some design using this site


I am going to go for Movie aficionado which is 12 books and movies. That's one a month!

I Love Picture Books Reading Challenge 2014

I Love Picture Books

Reading Challenge

2014

hosted by Gina at Book Dragon's Lair

For all of you who still love picture books but find they don't qualify for your other challenges. . . You know you're going to read them, they might as well count!

Guidelines:

• Challenge runs from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014
• Read picture books. 
• Pick a number and go for it. Twelve too easy? Go for 20. Piece of cake? Go for 40.
• Books you own and library check outs count. So do ebooks and re-reads.
• Please post about the challenge and sign up with a direct link.
• A blog is not necessary, just link to where you talk about the challenge
• Reviews are not necessary but would be nice (so we know which ones to read ourselves!) A link for reviews will be posted in January.

For this reading challenge I plan on reading 125 picture books with my son. Yeah you read that right. 125! We read over 75 books this summer alone so I think we can easily do it. 

Books Read For Challenge
1. Life is a Bowl Full of Cherries by Vanita Oelschlager 
2. Kobee Manatee by Robert Scott Thayer
3. Donald Duck and the Super Sticky Secret 
4. My Dad by Charles Fuge
5. More Parts by Ted Arnold

6. The Giant Jam Sandwich by John Vernon Lord/ Janet Burroway

7. Just My Friend & Me by Mercer Mayer

8. Click Clack Moo by Doreen Cronin

9.
10. 
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
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18.
19.
20.