Annalise's Up and Down Day / Denise L. Jenne

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Children's Picture Book

Approximate word count: 24 pages

Availability

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: NO Paper: YES

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

“Dr. Jenne has taught Criminal Justice at state and online universities for almost three decades, and she is a published author in the field. Outside of work, she enjoys music, reading, scrapbooking and time with friends. However, one of her greatest joys is being an aunt to her nephew and nieces -- including her great-niece Annalise Clare. This is her first work of children's fiction.”

Description:

“This is the story of one day in the life of three-year-old Annalise. The winsome watercolor illustrations follow her through her daily activities, adventures and misadventures on one summer day, as she explores the meaning of 'up' and 'down' in her world.”

Appraisal:

How do you judge a children's picture book with few words and consequently little story? The words and pictures, obviously. But when you're many decades past that point, it isn't as obvious as it would be for you kids in your thirties. The story here, is one of contrast, taking us through the ups and downs of Annalise's day. The illustrations are excellent, not only in supporting the story, but in being simple enough for a child to grasp at first glance, yet with enough details to hold a person's interest.

But it doesn't matter what this old man thinks, it's what the kids think. So I took a test run, using my seven year-old granddaughter to share reading duties with me and her two year-old sister as the audience. My co-reader had no trouble with any of the words. Since it's aimed at a brand new reader, I expected that to be the case. But she still gave the book good marks. (As the middle kid, she's happy to get a starring big sister role, even if only for a few minutes.) The real acid test was the two year old. Getting her to sit still in one place for long is usually a losing proposition. Not this time. The only problem we had was her wanting to swipe the page to get to the next picture before we were ready.

While this can be read on a black and white eInk reader, it is much better suited to an eReader with color capability or a tablet with an eReader app. (Or sure, paper works too.)

Format/Typo Issues:

None.

Rating: ***** Five Stars