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This Book Is Not Ready!
This Book Is Not Ready!, written and illustrated by JWoodall.Art, turns the making of a story into a lively children’s book. Its central character is a wide-eyed, scribbly figure who discovers that it’s inside a book and immediately starts worrying about the missing plot, scenery, and supporting cast. What follows is a string of creative experiments, complaints, costume changes, and mishaps, with the reader recruited as a helper. The character’s exaggerated reactions give the book its personality: it’s bossy, easily flustered, and eager to keep things moving. There’s something funny and inviting about watching this little figure try to manage a project that keeps growing beyond its control.
The reader participation is one of the book’s strongest features. Shaking the book sends a jumble of objects tumbling across the page, including a banana, a treasure chest, and a rubber chicken. Pointing out a green crayon helps get the scenery started, while turning the book upside down creates a fresh problem for the character. These prompts make page turns feel like part of the action, and they give an adult reading aloud plenty of chances to pause, invite a response, and play up the surprise. The humor also moves between straightforward silliness and jokes about storytelling, such as a plot hole becoming an actual hole that needs construction work. Some references, including craft services and aviation approval, seem especially likely to amuse the grown-up sharing the book.
The illustrations carry much of the comedy. The main character’s round head, wiry limbs, and dark, crosshatched body keep its expressions easy to follow, from suspicious sideways glances to full-on panic. Against pale, textured backgrounds, bright crayons, yellow sticky notes, green trees, and scattered props stand out clearly. Slanted panel borders add movement, and oversized drawing tools make the act of creating this picture book feel physical. I especially liked the trees that resemble broccoli and the enormous dragon whose size overwhelms its creator. A small squirrel keeps appearing in different roles and situations, giving children an extra detail to track on another reading. As the pages fill with jungle foliage, outer space, and a winding path to a castle, the expanding artwork makes the character’s progress visible.
The book’s pace is busy and episodic, with each attempted solution opening the door to another joke. A search for coffee and a wardrobe inspection stretch out the preparations, so the experience works best when readers enjoy the character’s detours and the running commentary. The final castle doorway gives all that activity a satisfying destination, even as it suggests another adventure is waiting ahead. The closing thanks to the reader fits the book’s shared approach to invention, and the last pages of sticky notes keep the jokes going through squirrel complaints and reminders to buy more crayons. It’s a cheerful choice for children who like talking back to a book, spotting small visual surprises, and imagining how stories get made. Its most appealing idea is that a messy beginning can be enough to get everyone creating together.
Pages: 39 | ASIN : B0DKJRMJSS
The Rhythm of the Story
The Trouble with Hector is a playful rhyming children’s book about a lovable lizard whose fiery breath causes hilarious trouble at home and school. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Like most writers and dreamers, I often ask, “What if?” and follow wherever the possibilities lead. If I find myself carried along by the scenes I imagine, I keep going. In the case of The Trouble With Hector, my starting point was the pet store, which was one of the usual outings when my children were little (and even now). After all, when you bring home a pet, how do you really know what you’re getting? Case in point: When my children were young, we adopted an adorable rescue puppy. She was always loved and well cared for, but she turned out to be a holy terror who barely tolerated us. What might have gone wrong if we had brought home a different kind of pet, a lizard, for example?
Did you imagine the story as a comedy from the beginning?
Absolutely. I love to laugh, so I write stories that keep me laughing. This one naturally called for bouncy rhyming couplets, and the rhythm of the story lent itself to fun and silliness.
How did you decide which everyday situations would become chaotic?
The story centered on the boy, so I chose places familiar to kids: home, the classroom, the school cafeteria, and the playground. Because these settings make up much of a child’s world, they were natural places for chaos to unfold.
Are there more adventures ahead for Hector?
We’ll have to wait and see. Stay tuned…
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The Trouble With Hector
The Trouble with Hector, by Bonnie Denmark, is a playful children’s book about a boy who spends his carefully saved $3.98 on a lizard who has already been returned to the pet shop nineteen times. Hector quickly proves to be affectionate, unusual, and a little combustible. When he’s worried, hungry, or sad, his breath heats up until sparks and flames start flying, which turns ordinary moments at home and school into escalating comic disasters. The story moves at a lively pace, and Denmark’s rhyming text gives it the kind of bounce that should work especially well when read aloud.
What gives the story some emotional weight is the boy’s loyalty to Hector. He doesn’t give up on his pet when things get difficult. Instead, he tries meditation and yoga with him, comforts him after he’s sent out of the classroom, sneaks him food, and eventually builds him a cozy treehouse when Hector can’t stay indoors anymore. That relationship keeps the book warm even while the jokes get bigger and smokier. There’s also a nice childlike logic to the whole setup: of course a bargain-bin mystery lizard might breathe fire, and of course the kid who bought him would still think he was worth every cent.
Mina Sešek’s illustrations are a major part of the picture book’s personality. Hector’s bulging eyes, curled tail, purplish-and-green markings, and increasingly sooty face make him expressive even before the text tells us what he’s feeling. The images also carry plenty of visual humor, from the pet-shop sign warning customers to “BUY AT YOUR OWN RISK” to the burned curtain, smoking seesaw, and school-lunch chaos. The soft, hand-drawn look and generous use of pinks, greens, oranges, and muted pastels give the book a friendly visual warmth that keeps Hector’s fire-breathing from ever feeling threatening. I especially like how the later treehouse scenes open up the setting and give the story a cozy, almost storybook-hideaway feeling.
The ending gives Hector’s fiery problem an unexpectedly sweet solution when he meets a girl lizard and immediately settles down. From there, the book closes on an affectionate joke: Hector may be calm now, but he’s still occasionally useful for roasting marshmallows. It’s a charming finish that fits the book’s lighthearted tone and brings the story back to the bond between the boy and his very strange pet. The Trouble with Hector is an energetic and funny picture book with a memorable creature at its center, a warm sense of friendship, and illustrations that give kids plenty to notice beyond the words.
Pages: 32 | ASIN : B0GSSLG3HF
Permission to Be Kids Again
What’s for Dinner? follows a young boy and his friends as a simple misunderstanding about his dad’s dinner sparks a hilarious series of increasingly outrageous guesses about what they’ll be eating. What draws you to write children’s literature?
I think children’s literature gives us adults permission to be kids again, which is something we all need, in my opinion. As adults, we have long lost the innocent view of the world; children display it every day. I love writing for children because their imaginations have no speed limit or has no boundaries, they ask questions we adults stop asking ourselves as we get wrapped up in life. The way children can take an ordinary cardboard box and create a spaceship or castle from their imagination, or create a superhero cape from a blanket, is something we aduts can learn from. Children take a simple question, such as “What’s For Dinner?”, add a little imagination, a lot of silliness, and absolutely love the journey it leads them on.
Honestly, if I can write a story that makes a child laugh, help make family memories…I consider that a successful day.
How did the idea for Mac, Howard, and Caitie’s hilarious misunderstanding of “Nun-Ya” come about?
So the characters are actually based off my wife (Caitie), one of my closest friends from my military days (Howard); even Obie is based off of a real dog (my wife’s service animal, Oberon), and of course myself as Mac and Dad. It all started with one of those classic dad answers to “What’s For Dinner?” we all received as children ourselves. Once I started the process, I asked my own children what they thought it was, as we said the same answer to them when they were younger for some ideas of gross foods. Of course we know now as adults that it should have meant “None of your business,” but as children we all took it as an actual meal, and once a child’s imagination gets involved, there’s no way to put the brakes on a wild imagination. I wanted to capture that wonderful childhood ability to take one tiny misunderstanding and turn it into a full-blown investigation.
As a father, I’ve learned that if you give children a question, they will give you a pure and honest answer. However, if you give them a mysterious answer to their questions, they will provide approximately 100 answers, with about 25 of those answers being absolutely wild.
The illustrations add visual jokes and exaggerated reactions to the story. How did you collaborate with Emily Close and Jennifer A. Wijaya to bring the humor to life?
I absolutely loved working with Emily and Jennifer. All the character designs are my own, and I handed them the sketches in the beginning of the process, as I simply didn’t have the time to render or learn a new program while working full time as a father of four and, of course, actually work. Emily and Jennifer took these sketches and layouts and took the humor within my story and tuned it way up in the best possible way!
One of my favorite parts of creating the final version was seeing my characters come to life through each edit and through their expressions on the pages. Watching children read our book and make similar facial expressions is exactly the response we all were looking for by the end of the project. A funny line in a manuscript can make you smile, but seeing my characters’ faces when they are illustrated can make it even more ridiculous and take that joke to the next level.
I basically wrote the joke and gave these very talented artists the opportunity to expand that joke to hilarious new levels…and I am looking forward to working with them on future projects!
Do you think the story might inspire children to invent their own ridiculous answers to “What’s for dinner?”
I truly hope it does, and if it does, I apologize in advance to their parents! LOL. I hope kids start playing their own versions of “What’s For Dinner?” around their dinner tables. The possibilities are endless with children and their imaginations; one might create spaghetti with marshmallows, another might create stink bug stew for their Nun-Ya meals. That’s exactly what I love about this book, as I wanted children to realize that they can take a simple question and turn it into an imaginative adventure. Hopefully, after reading What’s For Dinner? children decide to put their art skills to work and create gross food of their own, and parents send me the images.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Amazon
What’s For Dinner?
What’s for Dinner? by Michael P. McClellan is a playful children’s picture book built around a question nearly every family knows well. Mac comes home from school hungry and eager to find out what his dad is making, only to hear that dinner will be “Nun-Ya.” From there, Mac and his friends Howard and Caitie let their imaginations run loose, dreaming up increasingly disgusting possibilities such as wormy spaghetti, hairy meatballs, anchovy hoagies, frog legs, and the dreaded steamed Brussels sprouts. The setup is simple, but that simplicity works well for a funny children’s book because the whole story grows from the kind of misunderstanding kids can turn into a full-scale adventure.
The biggest strength of this humorous kids’ book is the way it understands childish imagination. Mac doesn’t just wonder what Nun-Ya might be. He becomes convinced it could be something truly awful, and every suggestion from his friends makes the mystery more dramatic. The exaggerated food combinations give the story its comic momentum, while Mac’s increasing dread keeps the plot moving toward dinner. There’s also a nice family rhythm underneath the jokes. Mac’s dad teases him without being mean, Mac pushes for answers the way a curious kid naturally would, and even the family dog Obie becomes part of the fun.
The illustrations are bright, expressive, and packed with visual jokes that make the imagined meals look just gross enough to be funny. Mac’s worried expressions, his friends’ reactions, and Obie’s personality give the story more energy than the text could create by itself. The typography also joins in, especially when the invented foods appear in oversized, gooey-looking lettering. That makes What’s for Dinner? feel well suited to a read-aloud setting, where kids can react to each new disgusting possibility before turning the page. As a children’s read-aloud book, it knows how to use anticipation and repetition to keep young readers involved.
The reveal lands exactly where this kind of picture book needs it to: Nun-Ya turns out to be “none of your business,” and dinner is simply Taco Tuesday. It’s a satisfying payoff because the joke has been hiding in plain sight the whole time, and Mac’s relief makes the ending feel cheerful rather than merely clever. The final pages add a few more dad jokes and extend the playful family atmosphere, while also nudging kids toward appreciating the meal in front of them before their parents get any wild ideas. What’s for Dinner? is a lively kids’ comedy book about food, family, and imagination, with enough silliness to make repeat readings fun and enough warmth to make the characters easy to enjoy spending time with.
Pages: 32 | ASIN : B0G7KPVK9K
Beyond the Maps
Legends Unearthed follows young adventurers as they decode a wartime notebook, evade dangerous treasure hunters, and discover that the true test is not finding a legendary hoard, but deciding what to do with it. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I’ve always thought it was incredible that there are real lost treasures in the world. I kept wondering, What if I actually found one? Around the same time, I wanted to challenge myself to write a fun adventure novel and prove to myself that my dyslexia wouldn’t stop me from becoming an author.
At first, I imagined one person finding a lost treasure, but I realized it would be much more interesting if a group of friends discovered it together. Then I started thinking about how that could realistically happen. A family trip with close friends traveling together seemed like the perfect setup, giving the characters opportunities to explore different locations, solve puzzles as a team, and face challenges together. From there, the story just kept growing until it became Legends Unearthed.
How did you develop the distinct personalities and complementary skills of Sam, Riley, Ava, and Jonah?
The four friends are really different parts of my own personality. I think everyone has different “voices” in their head depending on the situation, and I thought it would be fun to turn those into separate characters. Jonah is the part of me that’s always thinking about snacks and would rather avoid anything involving ghosts. Ava is the tech genius with skills I wish I had — she’s the one who keeps the adventure moving. Sam is the planner who likes to think everything through before taking action, and Riley is the brave one who’s willing to take risks.
Putting those personalities together made the team feel balanced and made the adventure a lot more fun to write. Sometimes we’re cautious like Sam, sometimes we’re adventurous like Riley, sometimes we’re curious like Ava, and sometimes we’re just hoping there’s food nearby like Jonah.
What research did you conduct to portray Filipino landscapes, foods, transportation, family terms, and cultural heritage authentically?
One of my favorite parts of writing the book was spending hours on maps of the Philippines, trying to find terrain and locations where the treasure could realistically be hidden. I wanted readers to feel like the adventure could actually happen — that the places were real, the routes made sense, and the landscape matched the clues the characters were following.
Beyond the maps, I researched Philippine history, animals, famous landmarks, local foods, common transportation, family terms, and cultural traditions. I also watched travel videos and read firsthand accounts to better understand what everyday life actually looks and feels like there. The goal was always to make the setting feel as authentic as possible, because the Philippines itself is such an incredible backdrop for this kind of story.
Why was it important for the treasure to become an ethical dilemma involving looted cultural property rather than simply a reward for the characters?
I wish I could say I planned that from the very beginning, but it actually came out of trying to make the story realistic. If I found a huge hoard of gold on a family vacation, my first thought would probably be, “This is amazing — I want to keep it!” But then I started asking practical questions. How would you even get it out of the country? The parents would have to get involved, and suddenly the story would become about a family trying to take cultural property that didn’t belong to them.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized the right thing for the characters to do would be to turn most of the treasure over so it could be preserved and shared — maybe in a museum where everyone could appreciate it. My original ending was actually for the kids to simply hide the treasure again so another group of adventurers could find it someday. But I ended up liking the final ending much better because it felt more believable. I think real kids might keep a small souvenir, but they’d eventually realize they couldn’t keep the rest — and that doing the right thing was the real victory.
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Most kids spend summer vacation playing video games, sleeping late, and trying not to get sunburned.
Sam, Riley, Ava, and Jonah accidentally start a treasure war.
When Sam discovers a hidden notebook connected to the legendary lost treasure of General Yamashita, the four friends are pulled into a dangerous hunt across the Philippines filled with secret tunnels, hidden maps, ancient booby traps, pirate chases, and clues buried since World War II.
At first, it feels like the ultimate adventure.
Until they realize they are not the only ones searching.
A ruthless treasure hunter has spent years hunting for the lost gold, and now he is following the kids’ every move. With armed pirates, deadly caves, mysterious maps, and hidden enemies closing in, the friends must solve clues before the treasure and its secrets disappear forever.
Perfect for fans of fast-paced middle-grade adventures, Legends Unearthed: The Hunt for Yamashita’s Gold combines real historical mystery and unforgettable friendship into a thrilling treasure-hunt adventure.
If you’re ready to uncover hidden secrets, survive deadly traps, and join the adventure of a lifetime, then scroll up and click the “Add to Cart” button right now.
The Rishi Trilogy
The Rishi Trilogy, by Mark Miller, is an illustrated children’s fantasy adventure that combines magical travel, family relationships, humor, and gentle lessons about responsibility. The collection follows Rishi, a curious boy from Wellington, New Zealand, whose life changes after he meets King Montamahilla, the warmhearted gorilla ruler of Gorillia. A glowing staff connects their worlds and eventually gives Rishi and his friend Kiri remarkable abilities, but its only instruction is simple: “Use it wisely.” That idea gives the three-book collection a clear foundation while leaving plenty of room for safaris, experiments, international travel, soccer matches, and royal surprises.
The first story, Rishi and the King, has the cheerful rhythm of a children’s travel adventure. Rishi meets the King during a parade, watches his doctor father help him recover from an illness, and receives an invitation to visit Gorillia. The royal banquet and African safari create an energetic introduction to the series, especially as Rishi encounters flamingos, crocodiles, lions, giraffes, and elephants. Miller tells the story in Rishi’s casual voice, so his excitement, nervousness, and occasional confusion feel natural. King Montamahilla’s fondness for songs, green bananas, grand entrances, and affectionate hospitality also gives the book an appealingly playful personality.
In The Wisdom of the Staff and Kiri and the Cousins, the series grows into a children’s magical adventure about curiosity and good judgment. Rishi and Kiri test the staff by ripening apples, producing a few coins, communicating through television screens, transporting luggage, and eventually carrying their families across oceans. Their experiments are fun, but they also reveal the emotional intelligence at the center of the trilogy. A wish involving Kiri’s absent father carries more weight than a wish for money, and the children gradually learn that genuine needs, thoughtful intentions, and patience matter. The later trips to Canada and Paris expand the story without losing its family focus, while Kiri’s emerging ability to understand and repair the staffs makes her an especially interesting partner for Rishi.
The book’s many illustrations give this picture book a bright, cinematic quality. The parade crowds, glowing green staffs, palace banquet, wildlife encounters, cozy family rooms, Paris landmarks, and packed soccer stadiums help younger readers follow the action and provide visual pauses between sections of text. King Montamahilla is particularly expressive in the artwork, whether he’s greeting a crowd, singing with his staff, imitating Rodin’s The Thinker, or appearing at someone’s front door. Overall, The Rishi Trilogy is a friendly children’s fantasy series with the scale of an international adventure and the warmth of a family story. Its strongest moments come from watching Rishi and Kiri discover that wisdom isn’t a power the staff gives them. It’s something they build together, one choice at a time.
Pages: 116 | ASIN : B0H4M9LB57
Saltarico e Carmel: Aventuras no Mar/Chesty and Carmel: Adventures by the Sea
Saltarico e Carmel: Adventures by the Sea follows Chesty, a book-loving squirrel from Boston, as he travels with his friend John to California. Along the way, he meets Posso, a gentle grizzly bear who teaches him the quiet power of asking permission, and later Carmel, a surfing shark who shows him that the sea can hold stories just as beautifully as any book. It’s a bilingual adventure about friendship, curiosity, courage, manners, and the way new places can open a child’s heart.
What I liked most was the book’s tenderness. As a parent, I’m always drawn to stories that teach without tightening their grip too much, and this one has a sweet, earnest spirit. The lesson about saying “May I?” could have felt stiff, but Posso makes it feel warm and relational. It’s not just about rules. It’s about respect, patience, and making room for someone else. I also loved how the story connects reading with travel and imagination. Chesty sees books as companions, and by the end, he’s able to see the ocean itself as a kind of living library. It’s a lovely way to remind children that stories aren’t only found on pages. They’re in places, friendships, fears, and first tries.
The writing is gentle and full of wonder, with a classic picture-book sweetness that feels especially suited for children who enjoy animal adventures with a moral center. The story takes its time, moving through Boston, Yellowstone, San Francisco, and Carmel-by-the-Sea with an almost travel-journal rhythm. The bilingual format gives the book an added richness, especially for families who value language learning or cultural connection. The artwork is bright, expressive, and inviting, with glowing forests, sunny beaches, and cheerful animal characters that give the story an imaginative, almost storybook-postcard feel. I was especially drawn to the scenes by the sea, where Carmel’s playfulness and Chesty’s smallness against the waves create a real feeling of awe.
I found Saltarico e Carmel: Adventures by the Sea to be a warmhearted, thoughtful children’s book with a unique spirit. It blends friendship, travel, literacy, and manners into a story that feels sincere and full of affection. I’d recommend it for families with children who love animals, books, ocean adventures, and gentle lessons about kindness, especially bilingual families or young readers learning Portuguese and English side by side.
Pages: 111 | ISBN : 978-1962185868
