My son declared it “the cutest book ever” and loved the colored pencil drawings. He's right! The Vole brothers are simply adorable!

This is the fun tale of two ravenous rodents who will stop at nothing to get their tummies filled, even daring to outsmart a fat cat to get some delicious food. While we giggled at the tenacity and antics of the Vole brothers we also felt the suspense build as we wondered if they were finally going to get what they were after.

The dialogue is written in speech bubbles giving this book a little of a comic book feel. I was pleasantly surprised that although the text is very simple, the story is rich because of the illustrations and the onomatopoeia (words that represent the sound they imitate) such as beep, crunch and slurp that are spread throughout the book.

This is a feel-good, funny book with the message to never give up. Parents will get a kick out of reading it to their youngsters as much as the kids will enjoy the vivacity of those lovable rodents. We loved reading it together. Highly recommended.

Disclosure: Thanks to the publisher for sending me this book for review. I was not compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate or review this product.

Having worked with children and adults with disabilities, I am always interested in books that feature ways for children to learn more about other people's disabilities. This book proved to be one of those books. It allows for parents to open up a discussion on being different.

Maggie goes out on a walk with her mom, who has made it a special walk because she has arranged for Maggie to meet people who use different things to help their bodies. My children thought it was interesting because they learned about assistive devices, such as hearing aids, prosthesis, guide dogs and communication boards--something my children thought was cool. In addition to meeting people with various disabilities, they are from different cultures, too, adding realism to the story. We began to talk about people we knew who used assistive devices such as my children's Grandma who wears a hearing aid.

Children have a natural curiosity about devices but sometimes seeing a person very different from them may be scary. I remember working in a school with a boy who had an artificial leg he shlepped to school every day and put on so he could learn to walk without his wheelchair. The kids in his class avoided him simply because that leg freaked them out until the day we got the whole class to sit in a circle and listen to the boy explain all about his leg. Then suddenly it was the coolest thing! The kids now wanted to touch it and see how it worked.

I wish I had had this book to introduce those kids to assistive devices because I think it's a good resource for educators, especially those who have disabled kids integrated in their classrooms. It is simple to read, shows insight on the feelings of disabled people, and serves as an educational tool as well. Older kids would need a book with more depth but this one is ideal for the 4-8 year-old target audience.

Disclosure: Thanks to the publisher for sending me this book for review. I was not compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate or review this product.

I was happy to win this book and share it with my children. It exposed my children to what life is like for someone with no home. It opened up a discussion about homelessness and what it means to be kind.

The story is about a homeless man named Abe. No explanation is given about why he is homeless but only that his family lives far away and he is all alone in a big, noisy city. I appreciated this because it left little room for racial prejudice. Abe is a kind, considerate man who helps others even when the majority may think that in some of the situations it would have been understandable had he acted self-serving. Again, I appreciated this because it made me reflect on the Holocaust survivors who had been kind to their cellmates even at great cost to themselves.

Abe gets a chance to change his life and he is grateful. He finds himself lucky not for this reason but because he had the opportunity to help several people throughout the course of his day. The illustrations are simple but colorful and suggestive.

This book was fruit for thought for me and my children. The sadness of Abe's homelessness was tapered by his generosity toward others, his positive outlook despite his grim life situation, and the hopeful tone of the book. I found this a deeply reflective and well-written story.

Rivalry in families causes stress and breakdown. When a parent loses control of a child and a child is angry and unresponsive, parents get desperate and things get out of hand. Is there a solution?

Dr. Andrew D. Gibson definitely thinks there is an effective one and he's written a book about it. Got An Angry Kid is a self-help 28-step PACT (Parenting Angry Children and Teens) parent survival program. Out of everything I have seen in this field, this is one of the best behavior management programs for families willing to do all they can to help their child and improve their family situation.

What makes this program so good? It can best be summarized by what the author himself states in Chapter One: “This program requires self-discipline in the name of love.” Whose self-discipline? The parents! This program asks parents to change the way they interact with their children. It deals fully and profoundly with the fundamentals of good parenting: No yelling, no threatening, no nagging, no accusing, no name calling, no sarcasm, no arguing, etc. Does any of this sound familiar? Even the best of parents get caught yelling and screaming at their kids in moments of stress.

Dr. Gibson is honest and forthright. He says, “Nobody wants to be dysfunctional, but a lot of us are. Practically no one is spared.” He is never negative, only realistic and hopeful as he continues to say, “Forgiveness is at the heart of banishing dysfunction.”

The book is divided into two parts. The first part is about understanding Spike, a fictional child that represents the difficult child. This section helps the reader understand what makes this child abnormal, the portrait of a dysfunctional family, what psychological experts say about the Spike child and portrays case studies. Because of my professional background, I really liked reading this part, and as a parent it was a good wake-up call. I recognized some tendencies in me that could be changed. Part II is the PACT program explained step by step. A parent could skip some of the info in the first part and go directly to the program, or go back and forth between the two parts. It's an easy book to read with no psychological jargon and a layout that makes it easy to scan when looking for info.

Even if you don't have an angry, problematic child, this program is worth following. It will test your parenting skills, your patience, your love for your child. Is it easy? No. It's hard work, and it takes a lot of effort because, guess what? parenting today is challenging. One of the reasons I'm impressed with this book is because I saw instant results when I followed its advice but also because its advice is Bible-based, whether the author knows it or not. And I believe knowledge based on God's wisdom is the best.

I highly recommend this book for all families, whether you have a difficult child or not. The advice is invaluable and can nip the bud of any problem that creeps up on families as they work on raising their children successfully.

For more information about this book and the PACT program, visit GotAnAngryKid.com.