Are you bored with bedtime stories about princes and princesses, gnomes, wizards, and dragons? Do you want something more realistic, closer to our time?
Do you also need bedtime stories to make sense, teach a moral lesson, and raise interesting topics?
Everything you need is here!
A Collection of Fantastic Short Bedtime Stories for kids contains 10 five-minute fantasy stories that you can read aloud to your child before going to bed.
No princesses here-these stories are about space, other planets, aliens, artificial intelligence, robots, cloning, portals, and modern technologies.
There are no illustrations in this book–we give children the freedom to fantasize (adults will also be interested) and imagine the characters, places, and events themselves.
These bedtime read-aloud stories are not only in prose but also in verse.
Five-minute stories are just what busy parents need:
– you can have a good time with your child by reading aloud (especially if your kid is 5-6 years old and is just starting to read on his own),
– you will definitely not be bored–fantastic plots will allow your kids and you to go on a short, exciting journey,
-you will entertain your child while teaching a moral lesson, which is especially important for children aged 5-8 years.
These stories promote in your kids such character traits as kindness, optimism, self-confidence, courage, determination, respect for oneself and others, self-confidence, diligence, honesty, and responsibility.
The themes and situations in the stories will raise important moral issues that you can discuss with your child:
– what friendship is based on and how to preserve it,
– why it is important to respect each other’s boundaries,
– how to see beauty in the ordinary,
– how to stay calm in difficult situations,
– why you need to be bold and decisive,
– why it is important to do not only the work that you like and enjoy but also the work you must,
– why it is important for you to take responsibility.
This book also touches on the problems of our time, and older children (8, 9 and 10-year-olds) and adults will also be interested in expressing their opinions on such issues as
– overpopulation of the Earth,
– a society built on consumption.
Perhaps it is our children who will be able to influence these issues and change the situation for the better in the future.
The book will appeal to both boys and girls.
Stories inside the book:Can a Human and a Robot Be True Friends?About Intelligent Space SatellitesUnnecessary Electronics: Life after LifeDangerous! It is Possible to Fall into the PortalAlex and Fly: To Be in Someone Else’s BodyAliens from the Fiery and Icy PlanetsI Have a CloneUnusual Help from SmartphonesSearch for a New Home for the Inhabitants of Planet Ko.
Free on 12th Nov 24
Reviews:
"a decent book of short stories and poems to keep children entertained"
Reviewer: DireCritical for Bookangel.
This is a collection of stories and poems aimed at very young children - playschool or primary school. The cover is gorgeous, and why I picked this up.
The author's foreword contains a statement that these stories are designed to entertain and have a moral message, teaching children about climate responsibility and similar. However there are issues. First, there are grammar problems, though no spelling errors I could find. Second, not all the stories teach the message that the author may have intended.
Dealing with the issues in reverse order, one of the worst offenders has Telly the Telephone thrown in the trash and finding a new home at the dump. This might be a UK/US difference but in the UK phones with cracked screens are sold, traded in, or have to go to special (expletive deleted, please start allowing walk-ins, dear councillors!) recycling places. The 'place of broken things' gives children a very bad message it is acceptable to throw electronics in the trash.
"Unusual help from smartphones" has a great message about being honest, and a definitely not-so-great message about how children should let their phones do their thinking for them.
"I went back to the post office and asked for the unclaimed letters." Yeah, no. Also asking for free goods (like all the "unused paints in the artshop") from shops is not something we want to encourage in children, not matter how creative they feel.
Others have a rather broken happy ending: the first has any adult or child capable of critical reasoning asking why her parents won't just make her give her pets back again?
On the other hand, "I have a clone" is a standout story, that gets its point across in an easy to understand and clear message, but never bothers to give the clone a name.
With regard to grammar, there is a recurring error on the first page that instantly set my teeth on edge, and recurs intermittently throughout the book. When a new speaker begins dialog in a conversation, their speech section should start a new line. A dialog or action tag may follow. This book reverses that frequently. Sentences start with 'But' when a comma rather than a full stop would be better than a new sentence - though it is done correctly in other places.
Formatting was slightly off for the poems, but I'm using the cloud reader which is not consistent on formatting, so I'm not commenting.
All in all, as a freebie, it is fine. For parents aware of the mixed messages, of who don't care, its a decent book of short stories and poems to keep their children entertained. Just don't think too hard about them!Rating: 3Quicklink to this review
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