Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Review and Author Guest Post: The Travel Adventures of PJ Mouse Series by author Gwyneth Jane Page




The Travel Adventures of PJ Mouse in Canada is the first book in a series about a little stuffed mouse named PJ.  He is found by a little girl and her mother during a rainstorm under a park bench.  As he becomes part of the family they decide to take him on their summer travels through Canada.  There was 6 travel stops and I learned a little bit more about Canada that I did not know before.  By the end of this beautifully illustrated book, I was ready to hop in a fifth wheel with my family and visit the glacier, the salt water lake for a swim, Niagara Falls (I have been there), Quebec City, Prince Edward Island, and Butchart Gardens.  Plus on all of these adventures, PJ mouse does seem to find himself in curious situations. 

The illustrations, which are drawn by the author’s daughter, are not only well done, but are cute and simple and are appealing to children.  I enjoyed this book and traveling with PJ and learning a little bit more about a neighboring country.  I received this book for an honest review from iRead Book Tours, and the opinions are my own.





In the Travel Adventures of PJ Mouse in Queensland, we hop on a plane with PJ and his family and head for his second adventure.  This time we went to Queensland, Australia.  I have always wanted to visit Australia so this was a fun little story book to read to my son about the different things PJ mouse was able to do in that far off country.  In this second story, PJ seems much more at home with his family and really excited to try out all the new and fun things.  As in the first, we learned a little bit more about a country and what it has to offer if we are able to visit there one day.    Our favorite chapter was the one where PJ goes to the amusement park and rides the Tower of Terror.  My little guy could relate to that. 

Again, the lovely illustrations were done by the author’s daughter in the sweet, simple style of the first book and PJ again found himself in interesting situations.  I look forward to more PJ Mouse and his adventures while traveling with his family.  I received a copy of the book for an honest review from iRead Book Tours and the opinions are my own.

What Makes My Books Different by Gwyneth Jane Page

My books are different in a number of ways.

1. Each book is about a different country and each chapter is about a different place. Along with the books, kids can get PJ's passport and stickers to track the trips as they learn about each place. There is a sticker to go with each chapter that they can put in the sticker book (passport) once they have read the chapter, like getting a stamp in your passport.

2. Kids can get their own PJ Mouse. This then makes the books about their stuffed animal and helps engage them in the reading/learning process.

3. While the books are a story about a fictional character they also provide factual information about places and have maps at the front and back of each book so kids can learn about the world. I also try to encourage kids to overcome their fears through the stories. Finally, I add an element of awareness of some of our endangered species and places. So while the books are fun and entertaining, they contain many lessons and messages as well.

4. I have returned to a more classic style of writing and artwork. While there is artwork on every page to help capture kids imaginations I also have plenty for them to read and I have left the big words in. Most kid's books seem to either be picture books with just a line or two on a page, or novels with all words and no pictures. I believe kids need to read from a young age, not just have pictures to look at, and I believe that older kids still like pictures in books. Thus, my books have ended up having a very broad age range, anywhere from two years old up to twelve years old.



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