Another charming and beautifully illustrated book, I was a bit disappointed at first with the writing, until I quickly figured out it's geared towards a much younger audience.  And as such, it's perfect. 

A small selection of land, sea, and air animals and the collective nouns we use to describe them, each blurb is written in a very friendly, chatty style that is sure to appeal to kids.  The illustrations should appeal to everyone.  There's a checklist at the end of the book, encouraging kids to look out for the different types of animals, some of them presumably at their local zoos, as I'm not sure many are going to see a camel walking down their street in the normal course of their day.

This is such a cute book with wonderful watercolor depictions of the Owls of the world. Separated out by the type of owls, the descriptions include scientific and funny facts. 

Although there are some tough words, this would still be good for an older child to read, especially given the artwork. For the birdwatchers of the world, there is a checklist of the owls for when you spot them in hikes! 

The matte finish of the cover and the watercolor art is a perfect blend, and a favorite for me when I read books. One of the first things any reader notices is the cover and any artwork. 

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.

http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/252263/owls-by-matt-sewell/ 

I LOVE owls!! Quite obsessed with the little winged creatures. When I saw this book offered on Blogging for Books I couldn't believe my good fortune. Thankfully, I was lucky enough to snag a beautiful copy. Not disappointed either. It's such an adorable book for all ages. Artist Matt Sewell does an amazing job of bringing each owl species alive in vibrant watercolors. From Woodland Owls, Tropical Owls, Wilderness Owls to Desert Owls, who knew there were so many different varieties?! This charming book covers all four categories of owl and each category has individual pictures of the different owls, each with a short description. You'll get to know forty-seven magnificent, cunning birds of prey. If you love owls as much as I do, you will treasure this stunning little book of owls of every kind. 

Matt Sewell is an ornithologist, regular contributor to the Caught by the River website, and the author of several other illustrated bird books. His work has been exhibited in London, New York, Tokyo, and Paris. 

*Thanks to Blogging for Books for sending me this lovely ARC. Opinions are my own. 

Jamaican Owl - Pseudoscops grammicus (found only on the beautiful island of Jamaica in the West Indies.)

Fearful Owl - Nesasio solomonensis (The X across his countenance strikes fear in prey...and poachers.)

Jungle Owlets - Glaucidium radiatum (a toy-sized owl that can fit on your bookshelves. Isn't he scrumptiously cute?!)

Pel's Fishing Owl - Scotopelia peli  (Proud of her looks and flares her fine head feathers when the mood strikes.)

Want to keep track of the owls you spot? (Sorry for the blurries. Samsung tablet doesn't take the best pics. The book is not blurry so buy it and enjoy perfectly artistic pics.)

Just a few sample pages. Had to share. The book is a fun size, too. Easy for a child to hold at about 5 x 7. 

Hello friends! :)

 Here is what I read for the month of September! Also, my apologies for forgetting to write an August Wrap-up. Lets do this:

12 books total

The Sisters' Grimm Series (Books 1 and 2): The Fairy-Tale Detectives, The Unusual Suspects by: Michael Buckley- This is a middle grade fantasy series. It is about two sisters who are descended from the Grimm brothers. Their parents go missing and they are sent to live with their grandmother in a city where all of the fairy-tale characters are forced to live. The girls must solve mysteries in this town in order to find the group that kidnapped their parents. I loved these books. They were quick to read and they were really funny! The plot is well developed but, the characters need work. One in particular is very inconsistent. Other than that, I really enjoyed them. I will be continuing on with this series at a later date!

Red Queen by: Victoria Aveyard- I already reviewed this book in a previous post which can be found here. I won't get into all of the details but, this book just didn't live up to my expectations. There wasn't enough originality for me in fact, up until now, I forgot I even read it.

Miss. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by: Ransom Riggs- I also did a review for this book, it can be found here. Once again this book just fell short of my expectations. I didn't like the characters, I didn't like how slow the story moved. This was just the wrong book for me.

Sapphire Blue By: Kerstin Gier- There is a review up for this book, found here. I have loved this series so far! Love everything about it! The characters are great and the books are just hilarious!

Strawberry Shortcake Murder by: Joanne Fluke- This is book two of the Hannah Swenson mystery series. I love, love, love these books! Humorous, mysterious, addictive. They are always what I go for when I feel like reading a mystery. It's like Nancy Drew but its for grownups!

Diary of a Jackwagon by: Tim Hawkins- I received this book in exchange for an honest review. The review can be found here. This is a hilarious book written by a famous christian comedian. It is a collection of some of his skits and it gives a little background information on how he comes up with his skits!

My War: A Love story in letters and Drawings by: Tracy Sugarman- This is a nonfiction account of WWII through the letters that an American naval officer wrote to his wife. During his deployment he also painted and drew some of his surroundings. This was a great book! I had never read a first hand account of someone who was involved in the Normandy invasions, it was quite and eye opener!

The Wrath and The Dawn by: Renee Ahdieh- This is probably going to be one of my favorite books of the year! I enjoyed it so much! I gave it a five out of five stars! So much mystery and the characters are great, and the plot is absolutely fantastic!

Owls: Our Most Charming Bird by: Matt Sewell- I received this book in exchange for and honest review which can found here. This is the cutest book! It has the cutest owl illustrations and witty little descriptions of each owl. It is cheeky and creative!

A Heart's Home by: Colleen Coble- I received this book in exchange for an honest review, which can be found here. This turned out to be the continuation of a series, which I wasn't informed of until after it arrived. So, I went in knowing nothing about the character's and I was very confused through most of the book. That caused my rating to be lower than it might have been had I read the whole series previously.

The Importance of Being Earnest by: Oscar Wilde- This was a fantastic book! I had to read it for school, and I think it is probably the funniest book I have ever read for school. I would compare the humor in this to the humor in Jane Austen's books. Jane Austen's comedy mostly focuses on manners in a much more subtle way, whereas Wilde blatantly pokes fun at the manners represented in both his time period, as well as his own social class. Phenomenal read!

Thank you so much for reading this Wrap-up! I love writing these because, I like looking back at what I read each month and bringing back all of the feelings associated with each book.

Yours Truly, signing off!

Kenzie

Published by: Ebury Press, November 2014

Safety Rating: G (New rating system I am trying out...think of it like a movie rating. G means safe for all ages!)   

*I solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help me God!*

As I scrolled through the Blogging for Books website, something cute catches my eye. What could it be? A book about owls? Would I read this? Of course I would!! As if there was any doubt!

     While I finished up the last of my library books I became increasingly aware of the void I would have once those books were finished...Oh! What would I read? Would my cute little owl book be here in time? Spoiler alert: It got here in perfect timing! Coincidentally it arrived at my door while I was at my library perusing for my next haul. (Coming up in the next post!)

     This book is an informative and humorous look at the many owl species in the world! The descriptions are snarky, with interesting little tidbits thrown in the middle! The Illustrations are adorable! In fact, this book would be the perfect little book for a coffee table! (Indeed, that is where this book will soon reside!) Definitely give this book a try if you are an owl lover like I am! My sister and I love owls, it is one of the many, many reasons why I love her! (Enough about my amazing sister!)

For more information on the book click here.

For more information on the author click here.

*I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review*

For more information check their website linked here.

Yours Truly, signing off!

Kenzie