Book Description for The Three Little Horses and the
Big Bully Donkey (Book 1):
A tale (based on the “Three Little Pigs”) about three
little horse brothers who suddenly lose their house that is destroyed by a fire.
The young horses are totally alone and thrust into the reality of having to
depend on themselves and each other against a bully donkey, who wanders the
forest wrecking homes and bullying the other animals. This warm-hearted tale
promotes strong values and has a fun premise. Written and humorously illustrated
in vivid color throughout by Liana-Melissa Allen, the story is a proven winner
for reading aloud to children.
My Review of The Three Little Horses and the
Big Bully Donkey:
Before I was a blogger, I spent years teaching preschool. I always looked for great read aloud books. A good read aloud will have lots of pictures that engage children, lively dialogue, and a fun, fast moving story. The Three Little Horses and the Big Bully Donkey has all these traits. It would be a perfect read aloud for a preschool child or classroom.
This book is loosely based on The Three Little Pigs, and it is fun read for young children. It also has a terrific message: we are stronger when we work together and show kindness.
The illustrations are charming, colorful and engaging. Liana-Melissa Allen captures the different personalities of the three horses, Max, Lax, and Jack, and the bully Donkey too. I especially loved her illustrations of the different houses the horses build.
This cute book would be wonderful at home or in a classroom. Children are sure to enjoy it!
Book Description for
Donkey's Kite (Book 2):
The three horses
Jack, Max, Lax and their friend Donkey are back!
In Horse Valley, it's a
perfect day to go kite flying. Jack, Max, Lax, and Donkey decide to get creative
by putting together their own homemade kites. However, Donkey's kite doesn't
work. No matter how hard he tries to get it to fly, it just keeps tumbling to
the ground. How will poor Donkey get his kite to fly? A friendly goose named
Gusty is delighted to help him out.
In this Horse Valley Adventure,
Donkey learns not to give up when all seems hopeless. The friends all learn a
lesson about helping others and true friendship.
My Review of Donkey's Kite:
Donkey's Kite is a cute children's book by Liana-Melissa Allen. It tells the story of the three horse brothers, Lax, Max, and Jack, and their good friend Donkey. The animals decide to build kites together. The horses are so busy building perfect kites that they don't have time to help Donkey, who is struggling.
At the park, donkey meets a bully but also makes a great new friend - Gusty the goose. Gusty helps him learn to fly a kite, and teaches the animal friends an important lesson about helping each other and working together.
This book has bright, colorful illustrations that children are sure to enjoy. The dialogue is lively and fast moving; it would be a fun read aloud for preschool children.
I am so impressed with Liana-Melissa Allen's talent as both a writer and illustrator. I also love the important messages the Horse Valley Adventure books teach. I highly recommend this book for young children. They are sure to enjoy it!
Author's
Bio:
Liana-Melissa Allen is a young author and illustrator of
children's books and books for youth. She has written, illustrated and published
six books. Her most recent one is the colorfully illustrated children's book
"Donkey's Kite", the second book of "A Horse Valley Adventure" series. The first
was "The Three Little Horses and the Big Bully Donkey". The lovable cartoon
characters, Max, Lax, Jack and Donkey makes them a favorite of first and second
grade students. She is now working on her third book of "A Horse Valley
Adventure".
The magical world of fantasy has inspired Liana's
imagination since as long as she can remember. Part of this was fueled by her
dad reading aloud to her every day when she was younger. As a result, reading is
her primary passion along with music. These two passions feed her imagination
into stories and drawings, which she joyously sketches out into storyboards for
a potential book.
Liana-Melissa is also a dedicated classical/jazz
pianist, and mostly enjoys older music, especially from the big band era and the
1940's, 50's and 60's. While playing the piano, her imagination often leads to a
great amount of improvising. Frequently, Liana will improvise a theme for one of
the stories she is writing. Capturing this improvised music became a priority,
which ultimately resulted in theme music for "A Horse Valley Adventure". The
"Horse Valley" theme will be used for a short animated video featuring her Horse
Valley characters.
Liana-Melissa loves to hear from her young readers.
Please visit her website at www.lmabooks.com for more information, and to
contact her by email. Visit her on Facebook too.
Win one of ten sets of A Horse Valley
Adventure books! One winner will also get a $30 Amazon gift card. Open
internationally.
Ends April
17.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
I received both books from iRead Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.
