Charlotte VoakeReviews

Do not recommend. Concept book for size. But I cant let go of the main dino looking like a bipedal lizard and plucking pineapples from the forest floor into a bucket just to turn out to be offspring of the ENORMOUS dino. He is also easy to miss. I didnt get much out of this. As with most picture books, it is cute though.

I dunno, maybe not all that special... esp. because it really isn't about Ginger or the nameless kitten... but it still charmed me. And reminded me of [b:Six-Dinner Sid|707710|Six-Dinner Sid|Inga Moore|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1375646830l/707710._SX50_.jpg|693985].

I read the board book. It seems unabridged. I love the nifty way the HEA came about. See Maru Mugumogu on youtube if you doubt. This book could be used for Intergenerational Friendship (allegory).

awfully straightforward telling of a common trope... but it did make me smile so ok rounding up to 3 stars.

The science in this is, as other reviewers have said, lacking. It's a metaphor. About what, I'm not sure. Maybe bullying. Fun for the right audience, but let your child decide what to appreciate about it.

Charlotte Voake has been around for ever: since my grown-up children were small, anyway. This is another splendid addition to the canon. Melisssa has an odd pet. Her other friends do, too. A warthog, a worm, and elephant, a mole...... All unsuitable in their own way. Most unsuitable of all is a crocodile. What will happen when they all go round to tea to see him? A delightful tale that's just scarey enough for the three year old who will. I'm sure, love this book.

A cute story about a dad who takes his two young children to a bridge to watch trains pass underneath. It's so funny how loving trains is a universal childhood experience.

Such a fun and silly book about outlandish pets. My only complaint is that the alligator doesn't actually eat Kevin, Bertrand, Melissa, Thomas, Betty, Arthur, Caroline, Simon, and Peter.

Do you every wonder what bees do all day and where they go? Follow a little boy as he becomes a bee and answers all of his questions.
The beautiful illustrations and simple text give the reader a basic understanding of bees by allowing their imagination take them into the world of the bees. This book is a great read a loud for ages 4-7. It would be great to follow it with a nonfiction book about bees.

It's true, I like any picture book where there's a strong possibility of a character getting eaten, but this one also shines in excellent vocabulary and a weirdly deadpan tone. Delightful!

This review posted at The Children's Book and Media Review

People can have all kinds of different pets. Melissa has an octopus, but it’s not very suitable because he makes such a mess in the bathroom. Thomas has a mole, but the mole is always making tunnels and so is difficult to find. Betty can’t ever find her chameleon. Arthur’s warthog does exactly what it wants. Caroline has to use a ladder to hug her pet giraffe, and Simon’s doesn’t know which end of his worm he is supposed to talk to. Peter’s elephant is sometimes way too heavy. With all of these unsuitable pets, though, a crocodile that could eat its owners could be the most unsuitable pet of all!

This book doesn’t have lessons to learn from. Instead, it uses a lot of visual humor and charming illustrations to talk about pets. There isn’t a particular plot. Instead, there are examples of all the different kinds of unsuitable pets that the children in the book have. The last pet takes away some of the cuteness of the book and makes it somewhat alarming instead. The lack of a plot and the simple descriptions of why certain animals are unsuitable pets make it something of an odd book, but many children will enjoy the pictures and perhaps decide that they don’t want an unsuitable pet of their own.

toddler read-aloud
not quite participatory enough for my storytime crowd (even when I skip pages to make it shorter), but a cute story that would do well with small, quiet crowds or one-on-one.

Delightful new dinosaur book with wonderful illustrations!!

SS
Sharing with others, getting along

A humorous but not terribly memorable story about unsuitable pets, from an octopus to an elephant to the most unsuitable of all - a crocodile! Introduces some new vocabulary and interesting animals.

See also: A Hungry Lion, or, A Dwindling Assortment of Animals; Oliver and His Alligator; Dear Zoo

"First Things First" by Charlotte Voake is a concept book of many different concepts. This book is to help young children to learn about different things, such as abc's, numbers, insects, animals, colors, birds, etc. This book was used as research for my children's book.½

About twins Simon and Charlotte, Simon and Charlotte may be twins but they are complete opposites. One thing they both love about being twins even though they are different is the fact that they are twins.

Ages 3-4
Source Pierce College Library- Fort Steilacoom

Genre: Realistic fiction
Age: Primary
Media: water color
Review/critique: This book follows two twins around and shows how different they are, but they still love each other. This is an example of realistic fiction because nothing absurd happens in this story and as far as we know it is not based on actual people or events. It is plausible that it is an autobiography however. The twins' names are Charlotte and Simon and the author's name is Charlotte, meanwhile the book is dedicated to Simon with a drawing of the little boy from the story.

"Ginger" is a story about a cat who comes from a pampered environment. One day when a new kitten is brought home, Ginger's world seems to be turned upside down. This book would be great if any child needs help coming to terms or understanding a new child coming into the home. It touches upon being upset with the attention the new kitten gets, the feeling of wanting to run away or leave, and the coming together and bonding with the new kitten and learning to love it in the end. This parallel's some feelings or emotions children might be going through but don't know how to express or have trouble figuring out for themselves. Seeing that they will eventually come to love their new sibling is a comforting agent for any kid or family.

unsuitable pets - fun story

As soon as I finished this book, I had a warm, happy feeling inside. This is such a sweet story about a cat that has a new family member come, the naughty kitten, and the cat is not happy about it at all. Eventually they become friends, however it takes a while for them to get to that point. I had the warm, happy feeling inside because I imagined this same thing happening to a child when they get a new little brother or sister. Even though this story is about two cats, it is still very relatable because there are plenty of times in our lives when we feel left out and not wanted. The writing throughout this book carries to multiple pages. For example, “He lived with a little girl who made him delicious meals (page 1) and gave him a beautiful baskets, where he would curl up… (page 2) and close his eyes (page 3). This aided with helping the words match the pictures. The reader sees the picture of the little girl holding the cat (page 1), then sees the picture of the cat in its basket (page 2), and then see’s the picture of the cat with its eyes closed and sleeping in the basket (page 3). The writing and words used in this book are very simple and easy to read. I read this whole book in about three minutes. The sentences may be long, but they are broken up throughout the pages. An example of a simple sentences from the story is “It wasn’t the same without Ginger”. This sentence is very easy to read and contains a few high frequency words such as “it”, “the”, and “same”. Unfortunately, the illustrations in this book do not fill the whole page, however they are still very beautiful. The illustrator makes up for this by making the illustrations small and detailed. You can even see the hair lines of the cats and the different patterns in the woven basket. This book pushes readers to think about a time when they have felt left out because of someone or something new. With that, the message of the story is to give that someone or something a chance (similar to the saying “don’t judge a book by its cover”). There have been times when I have given someone I did not like a chance, and it actually worked out too.

And the most unsuitable pet of all is ... Droll, absurd fun.

A variation on the Ugly Duckling. Mrs. Goose has an egg that she takes care of and after it hatches she tries to teach it everything a goose needs to know. As the baby grows, mom soon finds out that her baby is different and it is actually a chicken.

The twins are the complete opposite of each other. They do the opposite except for one is upside down and the other is right side up. They like each other just the way they are.

Age: 3

Source: Pierce College Library ECE

A book about twins who look nothing alike, have their own preferences, and enjoy doing different things, but they still love being each other's twin.

Ages: 3
Source: Pierce College Ft. Steilacoom Library