Rita BalducciRecensioni

A collection of mostly mediocre short stories of about three pages each. There are a few gems, but not enough for an overall thumbs up.

The Friendship Bridge ~ 3 stars

With a bridge covered in wet paint between them, Pooh and Piglet try to figure out how to get to Eeyore on the other side. A silly but amusing story about impatience.

A Honey of a Cake ~ 3 stars

Pooh, Piglet, and Tigger want to help Rabbit bake, but as Rabbit fears, " . . . too many cooks spoil the honey cake." Fortunately, they are able to find a silver lining to the subsequent disaster.

The Best Gift of All ~ 2 stars

Roo makes the round of his friends asking for suggestions for his Mother's Day gift to Kanga. Eeyore gives the right answer but is ignored -- figures! The final gift is too corny for me.

Rabbit's Reunion ~ 2 stars

When Pooh hears Rabbit is hosting a family reunion, his first thought is to put on a bunny costume and secretly crash the party? A weird but intriguing concept peters out in the end.

Help for Hiccups ~2 stars

Tigger's hiccups cause him to be more destructive than usual as he loses control of his bouncing. His friends try various remedies to stop them and the chaos they're causing.

Pooh's Bright Idea ~ 2 stars

Instead of disguising himself as a little black rain cloud, this time Pooh thinks he can fool the bees into thinking he's a harmless firefly by tying a flashlight to his back. His flashing light wakes up the whole Hundred-Acre Wood, bees included.

Piglet and the Boowuzzle Monster ~ 2 stars

The Pooh friends get startled by a sound at the door while reading a scary story one night and are surprised by which of them acts the bravest.

Pooh and the Pot of Gold ~ 2 stars

A rainbow sets off a fruitless quest for a pot of gold that Pooh hopes might contain honey. If anything, it's full of corn, considering the ending..

Eeyore's Amazing Adventure ~ 2 stars

Ugh, a story about using your imagination. I hate using my imagination, that's why I read books with pictures.

Pooh's Garden ~ 2 stars

Rabbit railroads Pooh into making his own garden, though Pooh despairs it has no flowers to attract bees and no tree to hold a hive. I despair the story is not fun or interesting.

Roo and the Baby-Sitter ~ 3 stars

Kanga is always eager to find a new babysitter. Eeyore gets his turn and comes up with a clever way to get a rambunctious Roo to settle down to sleep.

Tigger's Bounce ~ 2 stars

Tigger's bouncing gets him banned from a raft ride with his friends. Inevitably his bouncing saves the day when the raft gets stuck.

Fair-Weather Friends ~ 2 stars

Piglet is scared of the big thunderstorm lashing the Hundred-Acre Wood, but his friends show up to comfort him. Ho-hum.

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: The Friendship Bridge -- A Honey of a Cake -- The Best Gift of All -- Rabbit's Reunion -- Help for Hiccups -- Pooh's Bright Idea -- Piglet and the Boowuzzle Monster -- Pooh and the Pot of Gold -- Eeyore's Amazing Adventure -- Pooh's Garden -- Roo and the Baby-Sitter -- Tigger's Bounce -- Fair-Weather Friends

(My Pooh Project: I love Winnie the Pooh, and so does my wife. Having a daughter gave us a chance to indoctrinate her into the cult by buying and reading her every Pooh book we came across. How many is that? I’m going to count them this year by reading and reviewing one every day and seeing which month I finally run out. Track my progress here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/23954351-rod-brown?ref=nav_mybooks&she... )

Pooh is impressed with Rabbit's sunflowers, so Rabbit gives him some seeds to make his own garden. As I've seen in numerous other Pooh books, he is a crap gardener, but he takes things to a whole new level here as he disdainfully takes a nap while Piglet does all the hard work and yet still manages to muck it all up in the end.

Overlong and frustrating, and the art seems a little out of sync with the story even if it is mostly cute.

(My Pooh Project: I love Winnie the Pooh, and so does my wife. Having a daughter gave us a chance to indoctrinate her into the cult by buying and reading her every Pooh book we came across. How many is that? I’m going to count them this year by reading and reviewing one every day and seeing which month I finally run out. Track my progress here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/23954351-rod-brown?ref=nav_mybooks&she... )

Piglet is having another of those days where he feels small and useless. He wanders through a wintry Hundred-Acre Wood meeting his friends one by one and slowly realizing that being small is wonderful indeed.

Very very been there, done that, including Eeyore losing his tail for the umpteenth time even.

(My Pooh Project: I love Winnie the Pooh, and so does my wife. Having a daughter gave us a chance to indoctrinate her into the cult by buying and reading her every Pooh book we came across. How many is that? I’m going to count them this year by reading and reviewing one every day and seeing which month I finally run out. Track my progress here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/23954351-rod-brown?ref=nav_mybooks&she... )

Zip through this little book to discover a fun surprise on the last page.

Disclaimer: I usually review children's book based more on what my children think of the book and less on what I think of the book...

Why do four boys love the Nutcracker? Your guess is as good as mine but they do!

This book is about a young girl named Clara who in the middle of the night enters into another magical world. During Christmas time the toys and animals come alive. Clara is the only one who can defeat the evil mouse king and save the land. I love this book I’ve read it, watched it, and seen the play in theaters.

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My sister was in the ballet - I've always loved the different versions of this!

As a Children's book, I have serious reservations about this one. First off, the print is too small for the young reader of this age group to really get into. So really, this would be a book that an adult should read to their young child.

Secondly, the book's story is disjointed. One series of events does not smoothly transition into the other. A big emphasis was put on the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies. Which I think was ok for the Ballet as there was musical accompaniment. But it is sort of lost here. Maybe, if you took your child to see the Ballet and then read this book, it would make more sense and the child could relate. But on it's own, to someone who does not know the story, it seems that whomever wrote this was on drugs as it is so disjointed.

I would not recommend this book for a child to read without having the child understand the actual story whether they read it somewhere else or they see the ballet of it.

Barbie (based on the doll) visits her friend Christie in Egypt. She falls asleep and dreams of being a princess in ancient Egypt when the Sphinx was being built.

For my full-length review, see http://www.shira.net/books/breviews/balducci-barbiepyramid.htm

Barbie, Midge and Teresa are sailing through the clear, blue waters of the Caribbean. Their adventure begins when Midge overhears a secret message.

The Nutcracker is a classic story that children are often told during Christmas time. Children enjoy would enjoy the pictures and storyline that Rita Balducci has retold.

I can't pass up a picture book about pigs, and this one was okay.½

Christmas

Being the new kid isn't easy. But Jane has Barbie as her teacher. With her help, Jane and her classmates work together on a science fair project.

When her sisters ask for a bedtime story, Barbie weaves a tale of love and adventure.

When her young patients start showing up with in-line skating injuries, Dr. Barbie springs into action.