Friday, February 1, 2013

'Bird Brain' Books by Emlyn Chand - Virtual Book Review Tour

Bird Brain Books
By Emyln Chand

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BLURB:

Honey the Hero

Honey, an inquisitive young parakeet living in the Australian Outback, decides to become a superhero after she spies a human family watching Superman. Since she already has the power of flight, all she needs to do is create a costume to conceal her true identity and then fly off in search of animals that need rescuing.

Unfortunately, every time she tries to help, Honey only ends up making matters worse. She spoils Kangaroo’s game of hide-and-go-seek by revealing his hiding place to Wallaby; Mr. Anteater must go hungry when she alerts the ants to his presence, and Mrs. Koala is made a laughingstock among bears when Honey pretends to be her Joey. Finally realizing that she’s not as heroic as she’d like, Honey gives up her day-saving efforts.

But what happens when someone actually needs Honey’s help? Will she rise to the challenge?

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Davey the Detective

Davey dubs himself the luckiest crow in the entire world when he finds a wonderful, shiny object. It even has a fantastic name: “paperclip.” Wow!

One dark and dreary day, Davey’s treasure goes missing, and he is beside himself with grief. Luckily, he knows just how he can find out which of the forest animals is to blame for the theft. Inspired by the torn pages of a Sherlock Holmes story that were used to fashion his nest, Davey calls on the help of Sarah the sparrow to investigate the mystery and, hopefully, retrieve his prize.

Together the two birds begin to collect clues. Their trail leads them straight to Mr. Bushtail, a greedy squirrel who keeps a giant store of objects in a hollowed-out tree trunk. When Mr. Bushtail refuses to cooperate, the two birds have no choice but to break into his tree house in search of the truth.

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Justice will prevail and treasure will be found in this intriguing tale of mystery.

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Poppy the Proud

Poppy is the prettiest peacock in the entire garden, but one day his privileged existence is upset when an all-white peacock is born and promptly named the most beautiful by a smitten flock. Intensely jealous, Poppy no longer knows where he fits in and decides to reclaim his title as the fairest bird in all the land, no matter what it takes.

In a desperate attempt to regain the admiration of his peers, Poppy steals items from the humans that visit his park. He wraps himself in a beautiful silk scarf, wears a series of ornate bangles around his neck, and even tries to dye his feathers with colored dust from a festive Holi celebration. Unfortunately, each of these attempts not only fails to improve his appearance, they actually make it worse. What’s a poor bird to do?

In this compelling tale of self-esteem, pride, and learning what makes each of us special, Poppy the peacock discovers that true beauty lies beneath the feathers.

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Tommy goes Trick-or-Treating

Tommy is a mischievous little woodpecker who loves to fly to the edge of the forest and watch the people in the nearby suburb. One evening, something strange and exciting happens—people emerge from their houses wearing costumes and carrying colorful buckets with smiling faces on them. What’s even crazier is that they shout a special codeword while standing outside of each house, and are given delicious-looking candy.

Tommy simply must join in the fun. He and his friend, Michael the raccoon, fashion their own costumes and head off to join in the festivities. Thanks to Tommy’s knock-knocking beak and Michael’s quick paws, the duo is able to heist many a candy bar from the unsuspecting homeowners and children.

But are they missing out on the true spirit of Halloween?

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Courtney Saves Christmas

Courtney is a peppy young penguin who just loves exploring, and is overjoyed when she receives a compass from Santa on Christmas morning. She’s so grateful for the gift, in fact, that she just needs to give Santa a great big hug and say “Thank you!” in person. The only problem is she lives in the South Pole, and Santa is all the way on the other side of the globe!

With the aid of her new compass, Courtney sets off on a journey that takes her almost an entire year. By the time she reaches Santa’s workshop, the elves are in a flurry preparing for the upcoming holiday. Unfortunately, Rudolph is feeling very sick—too sick to guide the sleigh. If Courtney can’t find a way to help, Christmas will be ruined and all the children of the world will be devastated. What’s a little penguin to do?

**My thoughts**

I have been enjoying reading the Bird Brain series by Emlyn Chand. Each one stars a different type of bird, who is excited about something, just like a little kid would be. Perhaps it is Halloween or Christmas. Maybe it is a paperclip. Whatever excites the bird, is something that a kid could relate to.

Each of the birds ends up learning a valuable life lesson in his or her adventures. They learn how to be good friends and helpers to those in need. They learn important skills to help boost their self-esteem. Each one of these books easily lends itself to one-on-one conversations for parents to have with their children, or for teachers to have with their students. This series is only just getting started. More adventures and life lessons are yet to come!

These books will appeal to children ages 4 and up. I have read them with children ages 4-6 in a school setting and even older in a home setting. The children all seem to enjoy the stories, as well as the illustrations.


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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Emlyn Chand emerged from the womb with a fountain pen clutched in her left hand (true story). When she's not writing, she runs a large book club in Ann Arbor and is the president of author PR firm Novel Publicity. Best known for her Young Adult novels, she is also developing a small, but devoted, following to her children's book series and is beginning to dapple in other genres as well. Emlyn enjoys connecting with readers and is available via almost every social media site in existence. Visit EmlynChand.com for more info. Don't forget to say "hi" to her sun conure Ducky!

ONLINE LINKS:

Website & Blog: www.emlynchand.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/emlynchand

Twitter: www.twitter.com/emlynchand

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/emlynchand

  
Emlyn will be awarding a $25 Amazon Gift Card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. Follow the tour for more chances to win! 

12 comments:

  1. Fabulous to hear how the target audience enjoyed these books. I'm certain my daughter will too.

    marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

    ReplyDelete
  2. I didn't doubt kids would love your books, I've given them to my niece and she loved it, even my nephew, who doesn't like reading, stole one his sisters books and we saw him engrossed in Tommy's story. :)

    lennasloud[at]gmail[dot]com

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  3. Love these stories. Children will love them. I know I do.

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  4. I was sure the kids will love your books :)

    emiliana25 at web dot de

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  5. Emlyn...I know that some libraries have added your book Farsighted to their collections. What about the Bird Brain books? Would they be suitable Library books? We have a growing collection of pre-school books supporting our early childhood development center on campus and I'm always on the lookout for appealing books for them.
    catherinelee100 at gmail dot com

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  6. The books are great, I'm glad your target audience likes them as well :)

    moonsurfer123 AT gmail DOT com

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  7. What are your favorite books to read?

    galaschick78(at)gmail(dot)com

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  8. Thank you for the wonderful review, Andi! I have a special Bird Brain Book giveaway that just started today. I'd love for you to enter! :-D

    http://ow.ly/hkTrW

    Em

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  9. It's been a fun tour and the books are wonderful!

    shadowrunner1987(AT)gmail(DOT)com

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  10. It's been a great tour. I love the books.

    Kit3247(at)aol(dot)com

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  11. These sound cute and wonderful and I know my little cousin is going to love them.

    justforswag(AT)yahoo(DOT)com

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  12. Thanks for the reviews--I think this would be right up my younger kids' alley ;)

    f dot chen at comcast dot net

    ReplyDelete