Bonnie Ferrante's Blog, page 59

Dragon in the School, Dora and Friends. A Little Golden Book. Adapted by Mary Tillworth. Illustrated by Dan Haskett and Brenda Goddard. Book Review.

This book is based on the teleplay Dragon in the School by Chris Gifford. I can only hope that the teleplay is better than the book. The story is choppy and confusing. It refers to things in the television show that unnecessarily disrupt the flow. It is in desperate need of an edit. The concept […]

There Was an Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight by Penny Parker Klostermann. Illustrated by Ben Mantle. Book Review.

This book is based on the song There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. The dragon swallows a knight, steed, squire, cook, lady, castle, and a moat. At the end, he burps out everything except the knight. (It could have been worse.) Oddly, the last picture shows him picking his teeth with the […]

There Was and Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight by Penny Parker Klostermann. Illustrated by Ben Mantle. Book Review.

This book is based on the song There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. The dragon swallows a knight, steed, squire, cook, lady, castle, and a moat. At the end, he burps out everything except the knight. (It could have been worse.) Oddly, the last picture shows him picking his teeth with the […]

A Lovely Surprise

I received notification today that Nightfall: Dawn’s End Book One received a five star review from  LitPik. I’d forgotten I submitted. https://litpick.com/review/dawns-end-... Blurb: Betrayed by her fiancé, Nicole Newman has put her love life on hold. She loses herself in fantasy, becoming isolated and despondent. When a voice from the woods identifies himself as the […]

Author Lucia Greene – Three Random Questions Interview

Lucia Green is the author of A Tunnel in the Pines, a suspense novel. “Best friends Andrew and Wills… start a club, adopting Andrew’s Darwinian science project as their guiding mission after being forced to accept Wills’ overbearing older brother Taylor, and his hulking sidekick, Strat, as members. But …the club’s underground initiation goes haywire, […]

Three Random Questions Interviews

As if dragons weren’t enough, August is especially exciting because I am launching a series titled Three Random Questions. I will be interviewing a variety of authors and illustrators, most writing for children but not all. I ask specific questions about their own writing and complete the interview with three random questions taken from Chat […]

A Month Of Dragons

When I mention dragons, the pious among you might think of the beast slain by St. George. Many will imagine Smaug lying amid his gold in the Lonely Mountain. More recently, readers may envision Eragon hatching from his “stone” or Daenerys Targaryen “Mother of Dragons” with her three fearsome monsters. Some might think of the […]

Once Upon a Golden Apple by Jean Little, Maggie De Vries, and Phoebe Gilman. Book Review.

This book seems like a good choice on which to end a month of “Once Upon A Time” stories. The book begins with a father sitting under a tree with his daughter and son while mother carries away a squalling baby. Father reads, “Once upon a golden apple…” His children chorus, “No!” It continues with […]

Once Upon a Princess and a Pea by Ann Campbell. Illustrations by Kathy Osborn Young. Book Review.

Once Upon a Princess and a Pea is both the traditional version of the story and a modernized version in that very little is changed except that the Princess runs away when her parents try to marry her to an old toothless man and the Prince drives a hot red car. I had high hopes […]

Once Upon a Starry Night, A Book of Constellations by Jacqueline Mitton. Illustrations by Christina Balit. Book Review.

This is a nonfiction book published by National Geographic. Inside the front cover are maps of the northern sky and the southern sky detailing the constellations. The book begins, “The last hands of pink and orange have faded in the West. Darkness creeps across the clear sky like a velvet curtain. It’s a perfect night […]