Tag Archives: Read to Me Dad

Review: The True Princess

Eva received the book, The True Princess for Christmas from my Aunt Donna. It is an excellent books with a very wonderful message. There is a religious vein to the book as the tag line of the book is “What makes someone a true princes in Jesus’ eyes?” The values of self reliance, humility, kindness and caring are universal values to teach our children and this book does so very well. The book was written bu Angela Elwell Hunt and the illustrations were done by Diana Magnuson.

The Story
A young princess is entrusted to the care of her father, the king’s servant Nana. The king had to leave the country for a while and to keep his princess safe the princess and Nana were disguised as bakers. While the princess had been used to a life of luxury she soon learned to be more self reliant and understand the roles of those who had the duties to care for her in her life as a princess. In the end she builds character and becomes a princess who is worthy of ruling.

The Illustrations
The illustrations are bright and beautiful. Very colorful and well drawn.

The Message
The message of learning to truly love yourself as well as others by being kind, caring, and humble is excellent. The princess learns to entertain herself and others, laugh and love. The true princess learns to serve others and in that she is elevated to her rightful place as a true princess.

Final Thoughts
This story is a nice read, there are many wonderful characters and moments for good reading. For me that means the option to use different voices and be different characters. Allison has been reading this to Eva often and she simply loves sitting there listening to the story and looking at the beautiful illustrations.

Read to Me Dad Ratings

  • Story – Excellent
  • Re-Readability – Excellent
  • Illustrations – Good – vibrant colors
  • Message – Excellent
  • Plot – Excellent
  • Characters – Excellent
  • Does Eva Like It – She loves looking at the pictures and she is very attentive when we read this to her.
  • Recommended Ages 4-8

Review: Wolstencroft the Bear

Wolstencroft the BearBefore Eva was born I would read to her. When I was traveling I found it difficult to always remember to bring a book with me and read it over the phone to Allison and Eva. On one trip I had forgotten a book and so I did a search for children’s stories. What I found was a beautiful little story about Wolstencroft the bear. The story was written by Karen Lewis and illustrated by Michael S. Weber.

The Story
The story is of a teddy bear named Wolstencroft who finds himself left on the shelf in a toy store. All the other teddy bears found homes and so did some bunnies. Wolstencroft is persuaded by a stuffed rabbit to shorten his name to Woolly so that someone will buy him and take him home and love him. Wolstencroft loves his name but figures that his name is the reason that he is not being sold. So the rabbit writes Woolly under his name and still Wolstencroft is not sold. That is until…

The Illustrations
Michael’s illustrations are wonderful. They are colorful and detailed with a style that fits the story of Wolstencroft the bear very well.

The Message
While Wolstencroft does change his name and therefore a key part of himself he merely changes it to a nickname which in the end is something that shows the specialness of his true name. Being unique is not often easy and being lonely is hard I would say that Wolstencroft is about adapting as well as not giving up on oneself. However I feel the story message could have been stronger about being unique and true to oneself.

Final Thoughts
The story is a very nice read. Out of the stories I read on the Children’s Storybooks Online website i was by far the best. The story was long enough for parent’s attention spans and not too long for a child plus the repeating of the phrase “no hug is too big for a teddy bear” was very cute. I think Eva deserves a Build-A-Bear named Wolstencroft.

Read to Me Dad Ratings

  • Story – Good
  • Re-Readability – Excellent
  • Illustrations – Excellent
  • Message – Good – could be stronger
  • Plot – Good – message brings it down a bit
  • Characters – Excellent
  • Does Eva Like It – Yes she smiled and smiled as I read this to her. Yes I read it to her after she was born too.
  • Recommended Ages – for Young Children