Giveawaya/CLOSED/Children's Book Review: Set of Books from Pretty Please Press

Pretty Please Press was created with the idea that reading to your children will help establish good communication between parents and children.  Many education and parenting experts stress that reading to or with children is one of the most important things parents can do to make sure kids stay on the right track.  Reading together during elementary school years helps parents and children bond as a family.  Opening up lines of communication with kids early in life will encourage them to talk to you later, when big “character issues” arise.   In addition, we provide free educational downloads including Vocabulary Building Cards, Concept Building Cards, and Character Building Lesson Plans, on our website (www.prettypleasepress.com). 

How cool is THAT? I love anything that helps with reading comprehension for kids these days!

Pretty Please Press was wonderful to send me a full set of the 4 books to review AND a full set to give away to one of my lucky readers! Here's the info on the books:

Bella Basset Ballerina By Laura Aimee Garn, Illustrated by Valerie Sokolova

Bella Basset is a pup when her mother takes her to see the famous Royal Borzoi Ballet for the first time. At the ballet, a dream is born: Bella wants to become a dancer! But in Bella's world, only Borzois can dance, so she has many obstacles to overcome before she can realize her dream. This is a story about dedication and perseverance, which may give children (and grown-ups) the inspiration to pursue their dreams. My daughter liked the book as 2 of the characters share the same names of our cats! I found that the story was very uplifting, it showed that if you had faith in yourself you could achieve anything. The illustrations are ultra-gorgeous!

The Scritchy Little Twitchell Sisters By Laura Aimee Garn, Illustrated by Erik Brooks

Lavinia and Emmeline Twitchell look like perfect little angels, but their behavior is anything but angelic! They squabble constantly, and their poor parents suffer in a noisy, divided household. When the girls are "discovered" by a creative vaudeville producer, their spectacular fights become entertainment, and they are launched on a glamorous career. Battles may be part of growing up with a sister, but it helps to look at them with humor. The Twitchell Sisters demonstrate that someday the fights may yield to understanding and appreciation.
This was an enjoyable book that any sibling will be able to relate to-even to how the sisters resolve their squabbling! A must read for older sisters/brothers.


Kick Block Punch,Written and illustrated by Jacquie Hann 

Sam arrives at his first karate class all ready to receive his black belt. To his surprise, he has a lot to learn about karate, and there are many other belts to earn before he attains the rank of black belt. With the help of his patient instructor, he learns how to work hard toward his goal and to master this new skill. This story shows that patience and practice are important when we are approaching a new challenge.
This would be a great book to give to a child before they start karate class, so they are more aware of the work and patience needed to achieve the different levels. The illustrations are photo/illustrated, giving the book a more modern feel.

Pynx, Written and illustrated by Jeffrey Greene

In a distant galaxy, on a very colorful planet, a brilliant purple Pynx settles into her new home in the jungle. But her noisy arrival upsets the other fanciful creatures who are already living there quite happily. When the Pynx expands her family with dozens of new babies, her neighbors are very upset. The very vocal Pynx has had this problem before, but this time, with a little luck, she finds a real home. This is a story about being tolerant, learning to appreciate differences, and about finding ways to communicate.
This is a cute story about accepting out differences and living together for the benefit of everyone, and how our uniqueness is a blessing in disquise.


Pretty Please Press is also offering a DISCOUNT for all my readers to purchase the above books- they would make great Christmas gifts! Go to their website and you will automatically get 20% off the list price for books purchased through prettypleasepress.com,  as well as a “buy 3 books, get 1 free” offer. Isn't that great?

 

Giveaway:

    1 BRAND new set of all 4 of the Pretty Please Books reviewed above

Entries:

Make sure I have an e-mail address, with your comment, so I can contact you, if you win!

If I don't have a way to contact you, you will forfeit your win!

Requirements: must be over 18, resident of US

Please post each entry separately, i.e. 2 posts for subscribing:
1.  Subscribe to the blog (1 entry)

(Please note I use Feedburner, which means you MUST click on the link in the

email sent to you to ACTIVATE the new subscription, or this entry will NOT count)
2.  Follow this blog (1 entry)
3. Put the "Bless Their Hearts Mom" Button on your blog or website (2 entries)
4. Follow me on Twitter AND tweet about this contest (2 entries)
5. Blog about this giveaway (3 entries)
6. NEW- Vote for my daughter on the GAP Casting Call Site and get FIVE entries! 
     That's right-FIVE entries! This can be done daily, so you can go to the Gap site and vote daily, then come back here and get ANOTHER FIVE entries DAILY! So make sure your entry shows WHAT day you voted!
 
  If you get your friends to vote for her also, come back and let me know and you get TWO more entries!  So you can get a total of SEVEN extra entries off this section DAILY!

(I'm not being a stage-mother, I'd just like to get the $500 Gap card if she can be a finalist! Have you SEEN the new Stella McCartney line for Gap? Then you understand-LOL) 

7. If you have entered the Loxly Gallery, Frog Prince Book, Chocolate Cookbook OR Five for Fighting cd giveaways, AND you VOTE for my daughter as per #6 above, you will get the SAME amount of extra entries for those giveaways- you just need to go back into those giveaway posts and let me know you voted and what day, and how many extra entries,etc. So that's a total of SEVEN extra entries daily for those contests as well!


Contest will end on November 18th, at midnight. Winner will be picked by Random Number (random.org) on November 19th, and emailed. As soon as winner's info is received from winner, the book set will be mailed to the winner directly!

Disclosure: Pretty Please Press sent me this book set, at no cost to me, for review purposes.I was NOT compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate or review this product!