Review - Valentine's Day with Snowman Paul

Valentine's Day with Snowman Paul (Snowman Paul)
by Yossi Lapid
illustrated by Joanna Pasek
Date: 2021
Publisher: Yosef Lapid
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 24
Format: e-book
Source: Amazon.ca

How will Dan describe the meaning of love to his best friend who happens to be a Snowman?

With stunning watercolor illustrations and delightful rhymes, this holiday-themed picture book explores the meaning of Valentine's Day and show just how much fun it can be with beloved family and good friends.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This is the third of the Snowman Paul books I've read and, for me, it's one of the weakest. It's not terrible, by any means; it still has cute pictures and a nice message. However, I felt it was kind of a rehash of some of the other books rather than an entirely new story, and the punctuation in this one bothered me a little more than it did in the other titles.

That said, it's a refreshingly normal title—considering its release date amid all the COVID craziness—that shows friends getting close to each other to provide love, comfort, and support. As Snowman Paul and his friend Dan share examples of how they've felt love for each other, we're reminded of a simpler time when children were actually allowed to get close to their very best friends.

If you're a fan of Snowman Paul and his stories, you'll probably want to check this one out. If you're looking for a simple but sweet Valentine's book for kids, you might find something to like here, too.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall: 3 out of 5

Review - Valentine's Day: Stories and Poems

Valentine's Day: Stories and Poems
edited by Caroline Feller Bauer
illustrated by Blanche L. Sims
Date: 1993
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Reading level: C
Book type: short stories & poems
Pages: 90
Format: e-book
Source: Open Library

A sweet and silly collection of stories and poems, including selections by Lloyd Alexander, Karla Kuskin, and Nikki Giovanni. The celebration continues with a recipe for Valentine sweets and ways to say "I love you" in twelve different languages. 30 illustrations.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I'm not having much luck with Valentine's Day books. This is the second one in a row that I've read where the connection to Valentine's Day is tenuous, at best.

There are only three short stories here (and only one of them has a Valentine's Day theme). Aside from a couple of crafts/recipes, most of the rest of the book is taken up with poems. Few have an actual Valentine's Day premise. The word "Valentine" might be in the title, but that doesn't necessarily make it relevant. A lot of the poems are just about love in general (and that gets a bit icky in spots because it seems to sexualize children a bit too much). There are a few poems that don't seem to have anything to do with Valentine's Day or love at all: "Here It Is" is about a kid's favourite foods; "... And Then the Prince Knelt Down and Tried to Put the Glass Slipper on Cinderella's Foot" features a shallow girl who thinks the prince's nose is too big in the light of day; and "Giraffes" is just about... giraffes. Learning how to say "I love you" in twelve languages is kind of neat, but it can't save the whole book.

There's an appendix at the back with more suggested Valentine's Day reading, and these books look like they actually feature the holiday. There's too much here that's random and has nothing to do with Valentine's Day... and what is related is often kind of dated and cringe-worthy. (There are a couple of particularly mean-spirited poems, one of which leads me to think the speaker has an unhealthy sense of entitlement.)

This didn't impress me. I can kind of see why it's not longer in print. It doesn't keep the focus on Valentine's Day, and the selection of stories and poems is pretty weak. The black-and-white illustrations don't really do much other than break up the text; they're nothing special.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: 3/5
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.29 out of 5

Review - The Great Valentine's Day Balloon Race

The Great Valentine's Day Balloon Race
by Adrienne Adams
Date: 1980
Publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: Open Library

Bonnie and Orson, two young rabbits, build a hot air balloon to enter in a St. Valentine's Day balloon race.

(see it on Goodreads)

We're edging toward the middle of February, so I wanted to read some Valentine's Day books. This book kind of fails in that regard, but it's so charming that I really enjoyed it anyway.

Orson Abbott (a rabbit) gets it into his head to enter a Valentine's Day hot-air balloon race. There's just one problem: he doesn't have a balloon. So he enlists the help of his friend Bonnie (because she's very smart) and together with the help of Orson's parents they build a working hot-air balloon. During the race, the two young rabbits also use their smarts to rise above the rest (pun intended) and win the race.

While this has little to do with Valentine's Day, it's a great book if you want to learn about how hot-air balloons work. Seriously, for a fictional picture book, it's very informative. The rabbits don't always get things right on the first try, so there's a learning curve involved for them--and the reader.

The writing is simple, yet strong (and free of the grammar errors that seem to be trends in many of today's picture books). The illustrations are charmingly dated; Orson and Bonnie in their turtlenecks and skinny jeans look like they just stepped out of the late '70s (and, in fact, the book was published way back in 1980). But the story feels surprisingly modern in spite of this. There's really no reason today's kids couldn't read and enjoy this lovely book.

Quotable moment:

Premise: 4/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 4/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 4/5

Enjoyment: 4/5

Overall: 4 out of 5

Review - Llama Llama I Love You

Llama Llama I Love You (Llama Llama)
by Anna Dewdney
Date: 2014
Publisher: Viking Children's
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 14
Format: e-book
Source: library

With short and simple rhyming text, the Llama Llama board books introduce Llama Llama to babies and toddlers before they’re ready for longer full-length stories. And their small size and durable pages are perfect for little hands.

In Llama Llama I Love You, little llama shows his friends and family how much he loves them with heart-shaped cards and lots of hugs. What could be sweeter than Llama Llama on Valentine's Day?

(synopsis from Goodreads)

These board books may be short, but they're super cute. The rhymes are great, and the pictures are adorable. There really isn't any need for this book to be longer, as it still manages to show what Valentine's Day is all about in just a few pages.

Older kids will probably want more, but this is a great Valentine's Day book for younger children and toddlers.

Quotable moment:

Premise: 3/5
Meter: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 4/5

Overall: 3.71 out of 5

Review - Peppa's Valentine's Day

Peppa's Valentine's Day (Peppa Pig)
by Courtney Carbone
illustrated by eOne
Date: 2017
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 24
Format: e-book
Source: library

Peppa Pig gets a pretty card in the mail from Zoe Zebra. It's a Valentine's Day card! Peppa learns about the meaning of Valentine's Day and decides to show all of her friends just how special they are to her.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This is, surprisingly, not terrible. I actually like it more than a non-fiction Valentine's Day picture book I read earlier today. It has just as little history about the holiday, but at least in this book there's a bit of a story.

When Peppa gets a valentine from her friend Zoe, she doesn't even know what it is. Her parents explain to her about the tradition of giving valentines, and then Mummy Pig suggests that they have a Valentine's Day party for the kids' friends (Mummy Pig is brave). So Peppa and Zoe set about delivering all the invitations. On the day of the party, all her friends show up and they dance, sing, and eat lots of sugar (Mummy Pig is very brave).

I'm still not a fan of the illustrations, but if kids like the TV show, they'll probably like the books based on it.

Overall, this isn't a terrible Valentine's Day picture book. It's not great, but it's certainly not the worst one I've read today.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall: 2.83 out of 5

Review - Queen of Hearts

Queen of Hearts (Ann Estelle Stories)
by Mary Engelbreit
Date: 2004
Publisher: HarperCollins
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: Amazon.ca

Making the best valentine box ever for her favorite holiday is Ann Estelle's newest school project.

It will have glitter, lace, feathers, and even wheels! There's just one thing that Ann Estelle has forgotten -- what could that be?

Valentine's Day will be your favorite holiday, too, when you enjoy this delightful tale with Ann Estelle and her friends as lovingly imagined by best-selling artist Mary Engelbreit.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

Queen of Hearts is a cute story about a little girl who gets so wrapped up in being crafty and making the best Valentine's Day box for herself that she forgets to make valentines for her classmates. It's a scenario that I can easily see happening... but it's handled quite well in this story. Ann Estelle doesn't have some huge revelation, but she does figure out a way to solve her problem and make her classmates really happy, which in turn makes her really happy. It's a nice message about friendship and generosity.

As with all of Mary Engelbreit's books, the illustrations are adorable. While they might look a little dated to some readers, they at least have a decent amount of diversity, and even show little girls playing with stereotypically "male" toys.

Fans of Mary Engelbreit will probably love this book, but I think it holds some value for other readers as well, especially with the way the story was handled.

Premise: 4/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 4/5

Enjoyment: 4/5

Overall: 3.83 out of 5

Review - 10 Valentine Friends

10 Valentine Friends
by Janet Schulman
illustrated by Linda Davick
Date: 2011
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: library

It's Valentine's Day and the 10 little neighbors in this book are busy making Valentines for their closest friends.

A dinosaur card, thinks little Pete,
My pal Max would find really neat.

Will everyone get a Valentine at the big Valentine's Day party? You can count on it!

With its fun counting element, bouncy text, and adorable illustrations, this book is the perfect gift for young lovebugs.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This is a rather weak counting book with clumsy rhymes and kind of creepy pictures (at least, I thought some of the kids were creepy; I think it's the teeth). I did like seeing the ten valentines build up as I went through the pages, but the formatting on the e-book was so bad that I was kind of confused throughout; the blocks of text were always a page ahead of the pictures, so it took me a moment to figure out why it seemed wrong. Also, the kids' names are probably going to cause frustration and/or confusion. Are kids who are young enough to need a counting book going to be able to read and pronounce names like Priscilla, Aloysius, and Alexandra?

As a picture book, it doesn't really work for me because I don't like the pictures. Kids might have some fun counting the silly valentines, but there are stronger counting books out there (hopefully with better formatting, at least for the e-book version).

Premise: 3/5
Meter: 2/5
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.14 out of 5

Review - Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day (Holidays)
by Julie Murray
Date: 2003
Publisher: Abdo Kids Junior
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book non-fiction
Pages: 24
Format: e-book
Source: library

Valentine's Day celebrates the feast day of St. Valentine. People other than Christians celebrate it because it has become more about showing ones fondness for friends and loved ones. Readers will learn that many people celebrate this holiday by giving cards and gifts, baking sweet treats, and more. Complete with simple text and colorful photographs. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

Part of my problem with this is that the synopsis is misleading. The book is much simpler than the synopsis makes it out to be. There's no mention of the history of the holiday in the text itself. It just states that Valentine's Day is a holiday about love, and then goes on to show different ways that people show their love. Which is fine... but since this is a book in a series about various holidays, I was hoping it would teach a little more about the holiday itself.

The pictures are simply stock photographs of children, but they're well chosen and reflect a diverse array of people who celebrate Valentine's Day in some way.

This book is not what I thought I'd be getting based on the synopsis. If you're looking for a book that explains the origins of Valentine's Day, you'll have to look elsewhere. If you just want a book that highlights the different ways people show love, this might work for you.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.17 out of 5