My family had the honor of getting to know a new publisher and company recently. The Schoolhouse Review Crew is always showing us new people and business's that I'm so glad to get to learn about. This review is one of those new to me - Barbour Books & Publishing. Barbour Publishing began back in 1981 and has grown and changed names through out the process. This company is responsible for publishing a very popular and loved book - The Pilgrims Progress in 1984, What a classic! With that the company found their nitch, Christian retailing.
What Did We Receive?
My family got a physical copy of a new book from them, Diary of a Real Payne Book 1 - True Story! It's written by Annie Tipton. Book 2 is expected in March of 2014. This book is a softback book with a very cute and engaging photo on the cover. Diary of a Real Payne - True Story is 192 pages long. This book is good for ages 8-12.
How Did We Use This?
This book became our read aloud. My kids are 13, 10 and 8. We took turns reading the book just as we always do on our read alouds. My children enjoyed the adventures Emma Jean went on. She actually reminded me some of my daughter, EJ is a 10 year old girl which is how old my daughter is. The book was read about 3 to 4 days a week during our reading time. We would get on the couch and curl up and normally read about 2 chapters each day.
What Did We Think?
My kids loved this crazy dreamer Emma Jean! We actually could relate with her. My daughter's favorite part was having the "diary pages" throughout the book in each chapter. My daughter is into writing in her diary every night so again a similarity between the two which I believe helps be more involved in the story being told.
The reading was funny and humorous enough to keep their attention to what was happening. I enjoyed the humor within the book.
I loved that the writing wasn't small and everyone could read from it however my kids did have a few issues throughout the book with the italic writing but nothing that we didn't sort out.
The journey of her heart and dreams was sweet to me, I can remember being a small girl and thinking the town I lived in was small and wasn't made of anything I wanted once I grew up but then I moved away and had no family and seen that I actually loved my little hometown not because of anything other than the people there.
I loved how her parents were involved in her life throughout the book and her adventures. Her dad is a pastor and her mom was a teacher. So many times parents are left out of stories all together and it bothers me.
My favorite part of the book was watching the relationship between her and her brother Isaac or should I say the space invader?
A huge plus for me was knowing this was a Christian fiction book that we could enjoy together and not worry about what we was reading.
My favorite part of the book was watching the relationship between her and her brother Isaac or should I say the space invader?
A huge plus for me was knowing this was a Christian fiction book that we could enjoy together and not worry about what we was reading.
How Much Is It?
You can get this book for $5.99 regularly but right now it's on sale for $4.49.
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Thanks for your review! I love hearing about families who read the book together--and come along on EJ's adventures. Happy reading!
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