The Adventures of Popcorn and Jellybean

If you know me at all you know that my love of literature extends to children's books as well so anytime I have the chance to review one, I jump on it.

The Adventures of Popcorn and Jellybean - Robert Gillespie

Popcorn and Jellybean had never ventured down the path beyond the big tree. But since they never really did anything exciting and even though it made them a little nervous at first, they decided it would be a fun adventure for a couple of days since. What could possibly go wrong? Plenty, as it turned out, if the explorers were not prepared! Join them as they took on new challenges each day, learn how to survive by following the behaviors of the animals they encountered, and go where Mother Nature led them. And who knows, maybe we would learn as well! 

If you're in the market for a really cute book that doesn't have your cookie cutter characters, this one is for you. We meet Raisin, Popcorn, and Jellybean (often referred to as JB) who venture on a five day adventure down the path beyond the big tree. The book itself is long, much too long for my two and one year old to listen to in one sitting so we broke it up into a few reading sessions. A good reading group this would be for are your first and second graders, beginning chapter book readers. The words are easy, the text is clear on the page making it an easier read visually, and there are illustrations that correspond with the text. One thing I noticed right away is that there aren't as many illustrations as I would have liked, though maybe for a beginning chapter book reader that isn't a deterrent.

Penelope telling me I had to read the book!

The story itself moves along pretty well, we have JB and Popcorn on their grand adventure but they encounter problems along the way, find solutions, and do kind things for others throughout. The story gives you lots of opportunities for asking your child questions about the book, you can ask them to guess how JB and Popcorn are going to solve a problem, how can they be kind towards others in that moment, etc. The first thing came to mind is maybe using this as a classroom read along, or maybe a good book if you're doing one on one work with a student having a harder time. The book itself is a little larger than a regular chapter book, making it easy if you wanted to read side by side with a kiddo, which is really nice. Oh! I thought this would also be kind of a cool read for the youngest group of Girl or Boy Scouts, they could probably work this story around with a fun project or maybe before their first walk into the woods to clean up and take out what doesn't belong there, like JB and Popcorn do.

My two and one year old can't give me a great opinion about it but the fact that Penelope (two) wanted me to keep reading it is always a good sign, she's a tough critic when it comes to books! I'm going to give this one a solid 4 stars. My only complaint is wishing there were more illustrations because what was there was cute, and maybe the length wouldn't make this a good book for the young readers but more towards elementary age children.

   

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