TIGER TALES - Board Books

     

It's spring and that means it is time for some new releases from the publisher, Tiger Tales. The company has so many great releases coming out this spring that they decided to send them out in batches. This time I have 6 new board books and a puzzle+book set to review. (I could only find pictures for two of the books, but all of them have these same beautiful colors.)

My First Touch and Feel Farm - Five pages of animal pictures with a touch and feel portion as well as words that show what the animal "says."

My First Touch and Feel Pets - Five more pages of animal pictures with a touch as feel portion (my favorite was the lizard - very cool) as well as words that show what the animal "says."

My First Lift and Learn - First Colors - Ten pages with large flaps. The page asks what color the picture is. Inside the flap are pictures of other items that are that color. The words for those items are shown on the back of the flap.

My First Lift and Learn - First Numbers - Ten pages with large flaps. Readers can trace the number with a finger while counting the objects on each page.

My First Book of Things to Learn - Large board book with 6 tabs. Each page focuses on a different skill - colors, animal sounds, shapes, baby animals, numbers and matching.

My First Book of Things to See - Large board book with 6 tabs. Each page focuses on a different setting and pictures (and words) of things that go in that setting - like starfish at the beach.

My First Puzzle Set - Paperback alphabet book in the same graphic style as these other books. Comes with 30-piece alphabet puzzle. Both come in a beautiful box that looks like the books in this series. The box closes with two small pieces of velcro. 

These are lovely books. Very colorful and visually appealing. If I were to walk by these in the book store, they would definitely catch my eye!

Now, I don't have any readers in my house - or at school - who are young enough to enjoy these, but I do know some folks who do have younger book lovers at their homes. So, I'm going to do a giveaway of these. No one has looked at these books but me - they are in pristine condition. I haven't even opened the puzzle - all the pieces are still in the bag. If you would like a chance to win this whole collection, please leave a comment here or on this post on Facebook by Monday, April 15th. I will choose a winner on Tuesday, April 16th.

CHAPTER BOOK: The Red Blazer Girls: The Secret Cellar by Michael D. Beil

Sophie's quest for a Christmas gift for her dad sets the Red Blazer Girls on a new mystery involving a possible World War II spy, a missing will, a crabby and secretive bookseller, an auction, and a cellar full of treasures and secrets. The girls are in top form, each one contributing her individual expertise to help solve the puzzles. The adults are a good support cast, bringing their own expertise and tackling some of the tasks kids can't do alone to make the story work. I was between books when I picked this up, looking for something tangible to take on our holiday travels along with my Nook. I was drawn into the story right away and couldn't wait to see how all the pieces fit together in the end. Great mystery and great ensemble of characters. Fourth in a series.

4 out of 5 stars
No AR rating yet

Recommended for: readers fourth grade and older, fans of the series, as well as mystery fans and puzzle/code fans.

FRIDAY: Killer Sudoku and Ghost Sudoku

 In Killer Sudoku, Liza is at a sudoku tournament with old friends (including two of her three suitors) and new. But one by one, the top contenders start dying. Can Liza find a killer before she is the next champ targeted?

In Ghost Sudoku, Liza returns home after a two week secret vacation (to recover from her last adventure) and finds out she is somehow running for mayor. By the time Liza gets out of the race, she knows way more about the local political machine than she ever cared to... and someone is dead.

I enjoyed both mysteries. In Ghost, I figured out the who and the how fairly early, but there were still plenty of clues about why for me to discover. The puzzles are great, too. I got both books from the library, so I had to transfer the puzzles to paper in order to work them, and they range in difficulty from fairly simple to ones that stretch out over several days. Answers are included. My review of other books in the series can be found here.

[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.]

FRIDAY: Death by Sudoku

Another Sudoku series. Liza Kelly used to be a mover and shaker in Hollywood, but needed some times to regroup in her personal life, so she went home to Oregon to write sudoku puzzles for the local paper. In the first book, she returns to California for a sudoku tournament, and reconnects with an old friend. His sudden and mysterious death pushes Liza into solving sudoku for something much more serious than a tournament.

I have read the first three books in the series so far and enjoyed all of them. In my opinion, this series requires more background knowledge of sudoku than the other series I reviewed, but the author does a good job of explaining things for newbies.

FRIDAY: The Sudoku Murder

Kate McDonald returns home to New Hampshire at the request of her mentor, PT Avondale to help him with problems at his Puzzle Museum. When PT is killed, Katie tops the suspect list. She figures she better find the killer if she wants to save herself and her beloved museum.

It took me awhile to warm up to this story and the characters. Katie has a lot of baggage - memories of being teased by bullies for being so smart as well as family issues. I had to hang with the story for a few chapters to start to like her enough to care about her story. PT was withdrawn and frail, and there are plenty of bitter, nasty people making Katie's life difficult that added to the time it took for me to start liking the book.

But the story of how PT reached out to Katie as a little girl who tragically lost her mother and later to a young man in an abusive home sucked me in and I enjoyed the rest of the story. I would love to find a really Puzzle Museum to visit - it sounds like a lot of fun! Knowing how to do sudoku is not a requirement for enjoying the book. (first in a series)

FRIDAY: Puzzle Lady series

Dead Man's Puzzle is the latest in the Puzzle Lady series (A Clue for the Puzzle Lady is the first book in the series). Cora Felton is the Puzzle Lady, known for her syndicated crossword puzzles and comercials and other publicity opportunities. But in reality, it is her niece, Sherry, who writes the puzzles. Core is hopeless at them. Unfortunately, Sherry is on her honeymoon in Africa when a man dies with a crossword next to him. Before long, Cora is surrounded by goofy heirs and more bodies than she knows what to do with!

I don't do crossword puzzles - give me a number or logic puzzle any day! But my dislike of crosswords doesn't keep me from enjoying this series. I think the final interchange in the book sums up things nicely. Sherry asks her aunt what she's been up to while theyve been honeymooning. Cora responds, "Oh. I solved three murders, a fifty-year old convenience store robbery and shot a nonagenarian. The usual."

Cora's banter and evasive answers do get old sometimes but not enough to keep me from diving in to the next book in the series as soon as it comes out! Enjoy!

MAGAZINE WEEK part 4: puzzles

I am a puzzle-girl. I especially like logic puzzles - traditional, Battleship, Sudoku, Kakuro.... I love them. So, I often check out the Penny Press and Dell offerings in the magazine rack! Penny/Dell offer all sorts of options for puzzlers - word searches, crosswords, math/logic puzzles, and variations on all the classic themes. You can buy the books from bookstores and grocery stores everywhere. You can also order them in bulk from the company. They offer regular sales where you can buy a set of books that have one particular kind of puzzle - like Cross Sums or Petal Puzzles. You can also sets of back issues for only a $1 or $2 per issue. The website also has sample puzzles that you can try to see what sort of puzzles appeal to you. If you want to give your brain a little stretch, try out some puzzles!

[If you are a puzzler, check out the Conceptis link on the right side of this blog! Super fun online puzzles - well, they are "super fun" if you like that sort of thing, which I do]