Growing Up Is Hard To Do Part 2

by Susan Marie Chapman, Natalia Loseva (illustrator)

Grumpy the Iguana, Green Parrot, Mr. Squirrel and Little Mouse are having a picnic in the park. Little Mouse decides to take a walk over to the pier to see the colorful fish, instead he sees a whale, or is it? He quickly runs back to tell his friends. Baby, the manatee just wants to make new friends. She tried to smile and say hello but the little mouse just ran away. Could this be the soul tribe that her mom told her about?

44 pages, Paperback

Published September 15, 2022

About the author

Susan Chapman is originally from Pennsylvania and lived most of her life outside of Philadelphia in a rural area of Amish country. She grew up on a farm with many different animals and a huge vegetable garden. Susan is one of eight children. Susan attended colleges in Pennsylvania. She has a BA in Economics from Wilkes University, an Associates Degree in Business Administration from the Business School of Widener University, and a Certification in Home Design from Philadelphia University.

After college, Susan met and married her husband, the late Michael Douglas Chapman. Susan and Michael have two beautiful children together, Michael Jr. and Avery Alanna.

Susan now resides in Naples, Florida with her two fur babies, Sugar and Cookie.

Reviews

[Natalie all_books_great_and_small · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Growing up is hard to do part 2 is the second book in this Grumpy the iguana series about Baby the manatee discovering her soul tribe. In part one, Baby is scared becilause she is nearly two years old and that's when manatees separate from their mothers and go out into the world alone. Baby meets Grumpy, squirrel, mouse and green parrot in this book and makes new friends. This book didn't go into as much about Baby as part one did and wasn't so much about growing up but more about making friends. I still enjoyed it but did expect different with the books title.

[Star Gater · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and The Gourmet Dog LLC, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles for accepting my request to read and review Growing Up is Hard To Do Part 1 and Part 2.

Author: Susan Marie Chapman
Published: 09/15/22
Genre: Children's Fiction -- Outdoors & Nature -- Parenting & Families

Please note, I review children's books as if I am randomly picking up the book reading to a child I don't know. With that said, both of these books are a miss for me, and note there will be a third book.

The books end mid thought. I questioned having a proper download. The first book started in what I consider missing a beginning. I looked and fiddled with the screen looking for a first page.

Unfortunately, there are more questions than answers when it comes to the title. Other than a manatee spends two years with its mother, there wasn't talk of growing up. The books seemed convoluted. I do wonder if these were accidental rough draft downloads.

The illustrations were okay. I was thrown off by the friendship species. The picnic scene had me thinking, don't birds eat mice.

The books were written for someone, specific, I do hope they worked for that person.

I reviewed together because the problems and issues are the same in both books.

[el (celestialbronz) · Rating 3 out of 5]

yep, still no exact story about growing up as the title promised. in this book, Baby and her new friends exploring the marina together and they met humans who took their picture. definitely imaginative but that's fine

[Donna Maguire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that this was an enjoyable book

The story was easy to follow and it was fun to read with my daughter who thoroughly enjoyed it too, the illustrations are lovely and really made us smile

It is four stars from me for this one –highly recommended!

[Joey Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to The Gourmet Dog LLC and Netgalley for the ebook to read and review.

The sweet story continues exactly where it was left, baby manatee seeing the group of friends an iguana, mouse, parrot and squirrel friends. When they spot her are all so intrigued and want to learn more about this unusual creature.

I really loved how quickly they became friends with no judgement at all, the animal friends simply had never heard of or seen a manatee before. I loved that agin like the first book we are given more factual information this time from baby sharing it’s ugh her new friends.

I loved the adventure that they all went on together it was so adorable and squirrel was scared but went anyway and her friend still cared and supported her. Such a sweet story and a fun read.

[Sally Wilsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked the second book. I read the first one and liked the different lessons it taught. This one continues the lesson. Again it is entertaining, educational and appealing to look at. It sparks children's imagination as the friendship is formed with all different characters. It also shows it’s okay to face things that fear you and ask for help.I really like this series and will be looking for more adventures from this group of friends.

[Ruby · Rating 1 out of 5]

the first book wasn’t too great content wise and this one was a certainly downgrade in quality. the illustrations are cute but the plot is just very non-engaging.