Monday, September 26, 2011

Children's Book Review: The Cave Monster by Thomas and Peter Weck





Author: Thomas Weck and Peter Weck; Illustrations by Len DiSalvo
32 pages, Dust-jacked hardcover, Full-color illustrations throughout, Extend the Learning and Activities pages, For ages 4 - 8, 8.5 x 11
ISBN: 978-1-933872-01-8 $15.95
Pub Date: September 1st, 2011
Published by: Lima Bear Press, LLC
Distributed by: AtlasBooks

Summary:

Oh no! L. Joe Bean, Lima Bear's cousin, has been captured by the Cave Monster. Lima Bear and his friends must enter the Black Cave to try to save L. Joe Bean.

Venturing into a new place, especially if it is potentially scary--like a dark basement or somewhere unknown--is not something most children would choose to do, and certainly not alone. That is the situation the animal friends face in The Cave Monster.

All 4-8 year olds will love following along as Whistle-Toe (the rabbit), Maskamal (the raccoon), Back-Back (the opossum), and Lima Bear (a tiny bean-shaped bear) come up with a plan to save Lima Bear's cousin. Bringing along the thing each one thinks might be the most useful--a tiny sword, a rustic bow & arrow, a red flag and a canteen of water--the band of friends tentatively approaches the scary cave.

Will their ideas go according to plan? Will they get to L. Joe Bean in time? Will they save themselves?

The take-away message of this book is friends, individually afraid, find courage when acting together. 

My Review:

The Cave Monster is the third title in The Lima Bear Stories series from Lima Bear® Press, LLC.  Back in July, I had the opportunity to read How Back-Back Got His Name.  If you missed my review of this book, click here to read it now. If The Cave Monster was anything like How Back-Back Got His Name, I knew my daughter and I were in for a treat, as we just loved the other book in the Lima Bear series.  And, again, after reading The Cave Monster, I was happy to have stumbled across another book that teaches a positive lesson to young children, and included activities at the end book to extend the learning and fun after you finish reading the story to your young child.  This is a great feature not seen in many books that both parents and teachers can take advantage of to get your child to think more about what they have just read and what lesson they learned.  Many times we rush through books, but with these fun activities, it gives us as parents and educators the opportunity to teach and develop our child's minds, all while sharing the joy of reading together.

The take away message in The Cave Monster is that friends who work together can conquer individual fears.  What a great message to share with children.  I especially loved the illustrations in this book.  They tied the story line together beautifully and were very eye-catching -- a plus to keep young children engaged in a story.  

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and have passed  it on to friends to share with their children.  And, each parent reports back how much they enjoyed reading this book as a family.  They will definitely be checking out other books in the series, as will I.

About the Author:

 
Thomas Weck is a creative and captivating national award-winning author of children's books. He has traveled extensively in the U.S. and in foreign countries including teaching children through the Peace Corps. With four children of his own and a passion for observing children's behavior, he has distilled these observations into stories that excite the imagination of young minds amidst peals of laughter and learning. The Megasaurus was the first title in the exciting series of book being published by Lima Bear Press, LLC, followed by How Back-Back Got His Name and The Cave Monster. Watch for more books throughout 2012 and beyond.


Peter Weck
grew up enjoying the wonderful stories his father told about Lima Bear and his friends. Now that he is the father of three young girls, he has teamed up with his father to capture these and other stories in print. Peter's goal is to help children foster a love for creating, reading, and listening to stories. He currently serves on the board of the Menlo Park Library Foundation and is CEO of StoryJumper, a web based company that enables anyone to create and illustrate children's stories. 


Disclosure:  I was sent a copy of this book in order to write up an honest review.  The views above are mine and mine alone.

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