BOOK REVIEWS ~ Pink? Purple? Gold? They Are All Delicious!

Until Alisdair and I started our homeschooling journey, we hadn't bothered to use the local library very much.  Too busy, out of the habit ~ I am not sure exactly why.  But at the beginning of the school year, when I was ordering items for Alisdair's studies, I also requested books for Isobel to use as bedtime stories.  I was surprised the other day to see that we'd read more than 65 different books already.  Many of those we read multiple times ~ even renewing some of them so we could enjoy them "just a little longer" before sending them back on their journey to their library of origin.

Isobel brings home a "Scholastic" book club flyer from Kindergarten every few weeks.  Instead of buying the books, I have been using the flyer to help choose items to order from inter-library loans.  That's how we were introduced to three books - Goldilicious, Pinkalicious and Purplicious, written by the team of Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann.

A unicorn for a pet?

Isobel LOVES pink (as do most little girls).  This trait is the basis for these stories.  The main character is a pink loving young girl.  In "Goldilicious," the first of the series that we borrowed, the girl in the pretty pink dress has an imaginary unicorn as a pet.  While the actual story wasn't particularly remarkable, Isobel loved it.  And so we ordered two more books from the series.

Too many pink cupcakes!

It's raining and the little girl and her mother make cupcakes to pass the time. She eats more of the pink cupcakes than she should ~ even sneaking around to eat them when her parents have told her not to.  Suddenly the girl turns bright pink and the doctor's diagnosis is a bad case of "Pinkititis."  How to cure this mysterious ailment?  Quit eating pink foods and eat lots of green vegetables instead!  Even little brother Peter, gets into the act, for a fun read.

Colours ~ pink + blue = purple

The third book is about bullying.  Kids are mean to the girl who loves pink.  They taunt her and say pink is "passe" and try to convince her that black is the new "in" colour.  For much of the story, the girl feels sad and "suffers from a case of the blues."  But then, she meets a friend, at painting class, who mixes pink and blue paint together and creates a purple shade.  This illustrates that "pink is powerful" and "purple is pretty."  She is not alone and the bullies weren't right.

There are other "Pinkalicious" books to come for Isobel's reading pleasure.  I just ordered "Pinkalicious and the Pink Drink."  It also appears, from the library catalogue, there is another book called "Tickled Pink," as well as two additional titles in the "I Can Read" format.  And so it looks like Isobel will be suffering from "Pinkititis" for a long time to come!  Please pass the broccoli!