Thank you to all the readers that have stopped by this week. It’s been a pleasure bringing you all of the different children’s books. All of the participating authors really appreciate you exploring and learning about their books.
Below, I’ve recapped each book and its author and linked back to its review. If you missed any of the book reviews, or maybe, you’re stopping by after the first week of October, you can catch up on any of the books you’d like.
Thanks again for stopping by. Submissions for the 2027 Back to School Blog Tour starts in the beginning of the summer in 2027. Plus, I take submissions for book reviews and author interviews all year round. Please feel free to submit if you’re a children’s author.
Welcome to day 3 of the Back to School Blog Tour. Today, I have a fantastical, magical surprise for you. It’s Ellie’s Magical Surprise, a picture book that will help beginning readers with their phonics and imagination. Written by Erin Davenport, this beautifully illustrated picture book will sparkle in the minds of any child that wanted to own a unicorn, including myself when I was a child.
Ellie is waking up on what she thinks is a normal day. But after breakfast, she discovers, with help from her mother, someone else living in the horse stables on her farm, a magical unicorn. After exploring each stable, she bonds with the new creature living with the other horses. It’s a pleasant surprise that will enchant any horse owner and child that loves horses.
The first thing that stands out about this picture book is the repeated rhyming words that help with phonics identification for beginning readers. This is a picture book that beginning readers will be able to follow along or read themselves. It brings to mind the early rhyming text used by Dr. Seuss to help children with decoding words. But even better. After exploring the stables on her farm, Ellie discovers a new friend, a unicorn. I am sure the adventures that await them will be enchanting.
I recommend this picture book for teacher’s needing beginning reader books in their reading groups or if teaching reading workshops. It also has a little girl protagonist to give variety in storytelling heroes. The rhyming patterning of the text is great for beginning decoding. It will also be a great fantasy picture book read for parent’s that are homeschooling, especially if your child adores horses and would love to own a unicorn.
Ellie’s Magical Surprise is a beautifully illustrated book that will help any horse-loving child with their phonics and decoding.
This Kindle unlimited book is available on Amazon as a ebook or in print.
Welcome to the 2026 Back to School Blog Tour event. This year, I’ve decided to heavily focus on book reviews to give a fresh look at books that can sweep your child into the world of reading. Each day this week, I’ll be featuring a new book and review ranging from picture books to middle readers. Please bookmark and check back each day to find out about a new book. Like what I’m talking about? Please subscribe!
For the first book review, I’ve chosen a beautiful drawn picture book with a mermaid at its center. “Penny Lane in Florence” is a journey of a mermaid dreaming to become an artist. It’s written and illustrated by the author, Sarah Arias.
Penny Lane has heard the legend of the magical hat given to any aspiring artist in Florence that has real talent. But trying to find the hat is the hard part. Along her journey, she’s helped by flamboyant Italians, a mysterious mouse, her animal friends and her own intuition. Will she be able to find the hat? Or is it something to be earned?
The one thing that strikes me about this book is the beautiful, whimsical artwork. It is amazing! A whole world of fantastical friends and creatures accompany Penny Lane on her adventure. The artwork keeps you anchored in her quest. I really enjoyed seeing the interactions and comical betrayal of her animal friends. It creates a fantastic world of fantasy to dive into.
The book is also divided into chapters to make it easy for beginning readers to join in. It’s a great way to help introduce the chapter structure in stories. There is the strong theme of finding the artist within which goes well with combining literature and art for reading units.
Sarah Arias is the author & illustrator of the picture book, Penny Lane in Florence.
As far as the plot, Penny seems to find the hat within herself and her artwork which the whole story leads to easily. It is very predictable, which any children’s book should be to an extent. But I think the moment of the discovery could have been more dramatic then nonchalant as it’s shown in the book. A magical moment of self-discovery might have been lost, or it just became less important to her at the end, maybe symbolizing the journey being more important than the hat itself.
Overall, I found it to be a fun, fantasy story to help inspire children to not give-up on their artistic impulses. It does lend itself to the idea of exploring your artistic side and less to trying to find the recognition of being a real artist. I did relate to the action of burying myself in pillows when feeling the artistic rejection or failure. That’s relevant at any age. But that drive to keep going has to be intrinsic, which is delightfully illustrated and told throughout the book.
Children with artistic interest will enjoy this mermaid led adventure in self-discovery.
“Penny Lane in Florence” is available at Amazon.com as a print hardcopy or ebook. It’s recommended for ages 4-8.
Bookmark this blog and return tomorrow for another book review. Please leave in the comments if you enjoy this week of reviews. It is truly a labor of love to help connect teachers, parents and readers to fabulous Indie children’s authors and their books.
-Tiffany Turner
Editor/Head Writer of the Indie Children’s Authors Connection Blog
Tour sign-ups for the Back to School Blog Tour 2026 are now closed!
Thank you for all the submissions. If your book isn’t chosen for the tour, I keep submissions on file for future reviews and interviews. So, thank you again. Please follow this blog to get all the information on the Back to School Blog Tour.
Also to note, due to a medical incident over the weekend, I am having to postpone the blog tour a few weeks so I can recover. I intend to continue with the tour, get to the reviews and post the planned author interview (s). I am just unable to do much work right now. I’m pretty bummed, but will get to it when I’m able, and will get it up and running by the end of September.
The new dates for the blog tour are:
September 28th through Oct. 3rd.
Thank you for your patience. I hope that you all will follow and stick around to find out about all the fabulous books to check out for the new school year of 2026.
-Tiffany Turner
Head Writer/Editor for the Indie Children’s Authors Connection Blog
Welcome to Day 5 of the 2025 Back to School Blog Tour. On our final day, I’d like to introduce you to a fabulous, children’s poet, Jeff Boldt. With a background of teaching English in Shanghai for twenty years, he employs his humor and English literature knowledge into his poetry. He grew up in Texas immersing himself in books as a kid. He has been published in the Humor Times, the e-edition of the Orlando Sentinel, and in Doug Weller’s book, Six Word Wonders. I had the opportunity to review his children’s poetry book, It’s Raining Bats and Frogs and ask Jeff all about his inspirations, writing routines, and about his future projects.
Jeff Boldt is the author of the children’s poetry book It’s Raining Bats and Frogs.
What made you want to become an author?
Jeff Boldt: When I was young, I was immersed in books – they were such a big part of my life. Whenever I didn’t want to be in my own world, I would just go to Narnia or Oz or Wonderland instead. But books were more than a form of escape, they also challenged me intellectually and creatively. They had such a profound influence on my sense of self and my place in the world. Because of this, I wanted to be able to share that same experience with others.
Who were your inspirations on your writing journey?
Jeff Boldt: Shel Silverstein, more than anyone, has had an impact on my writing. And not just on my style but on the way I think about writing as well. His work was always so funny and so brilliantly realized. I couldn’t believe that there were entire books filled with ridiculously hilarious and nonsensical things – like “Carrots” and “Everything on It” and “Snowball”. So much of school (and learning) to me was serious and boring and safe – and I thought that was what awaited me in the “real world”. Writers like Silverstein and Dahl and Carroll showed me a completely different way.
Do you have a writing routine? If so, please explain.
Jeff Boldt: I have never been good at schedules and structure, but I do make time for writing. I join writing clubs, take online classes (Oxford and UC San Diego), and generally push myself to do things that will challenge me and get me writing more. In other words, I don’t have a writing routine, per se, but I do make it a priority. Along those lines, I am applying to MFA programs right now because I want to pursue writing full-time.
For your featured book, how did you get the ideas to write it?
Jeff Boldt: Many of the ideas for my poems come from everyday life (work, spending time with my daughters, going out to eat, etc.). For example, the poem “If” came to mind after walking up some stairs to get to my office. The line goes like this: “If I took a set of stairs / and they led to nowhere / how far would I go / before I would know?” Reading it now, though, it’s hard not to see Pablo Neruda’s influence. Back in university, I used to carry The Book of Questions around with me wherever I went. It’s such a great little book. If you’re interested in philosophy and the absurd, I highly recommend it.
What writing projects are you working on right now?
Jeff Boldt: I’ve been tinkering mostly with picture book manuscripts lately (but also writing poems whenever I can). As for the picture books, I have a vowel series and I’ve completed manuscripts for e, o, and u. The u story actually appears as a poem in my latest book. It’s called “The Cnrious Case of the Lowercase u” and it’s a humorous rhyme about two letters, y and a, who can’t seem to find their missing friend.
Book Review
It’s Raining Bats and Frogs by Jeff Boldt is a marvelous children’s poetry book that reminds me of the humorous poetry of Jack Pelutsky. This collection of poems sparks the imagination as it described dressed up dinosaurs, dancing with potatoes in the moonlight, and ridiculous rhymes to recite. It’s a riot of humorous word salad as you read each poem making it a great read-aloud. It had me laughing, remembering when humor was much more simple as a kid.
The illustrations are beautiful. Black and white pencil drawings bring the imagery of the poetry to life. Sometimes the cartoon renditions would make me burst out with giggles. The pictures definitely touched my inner child.
I loved Jeff Bodlt’s silly and mischievous mind that thought up these poems. They remind me of the children’s poems by Jack Prelutsky that wrote “Homework, Oh Homework”. I used to read-aloud his book during Poetry Month. I appreciate the use of humor to help kids connect with poetry. These poems do the job nicely. There is a lot of read-loud chanting and word play that will spark the creative side of any child.
I used to do a poetry collage project as a book report each year during poetry month. I would have loved to place this in my class library for my students to read and use for that project. In fact, I’ll place a link below where you can find it now on Teachers Pay Teachers.com.
I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time. These poems are a joy to share and to read out-loud. They will have whole families and classrooms laughing together. Perfect for read-aloud at home or any classroom.
It’s Raining Bats and Frogs is available on Amazon.com and is a Kindle Unlimited title.
Thanks for following along with the Back to School Blog tour for 2025. This will conclude the blog tour event for this year. Please show some love to the featured authors and check out their websites, look over their books, and consider your purchasing power when choosing an Indie author. They are so often overlooked for libraries and schools, but really can give new perspective, POVs and protagonists that speak to so many children.
As promised, here is the link to the poetry book report project available on Teachers Pay Teachers. I developed it over the years, making it a poetry collage and memorization project, mostly during Poetry month in March. But it can be done all year long. I wrote and developed it myself.
Thanks for stopping by all week. The Back to School Blog Tour will return next year. For more information on sign-ups, check out the Back to School Blog Tour page.
This is Mrs. turner, signing-off. Until next year, keep reading and writing!
“Brave Enough: Atlan and the Farm Animals” by Bowe Balhoff is a charming picture book of facing fears and unknown experiences on a farm. The main character, Atlan, is a quiet 4-year-old boy based on the author’s real son. He is experiencing his first trip away from his parents by spending time on his grandparents’ farm. The kindness and love that surround the little boy start the story. The grandparents start with comforting things to calm his fears of his new surroundings. Home-made ice cream is the ticket. But of course, new experiences, such as feeding chickens and a pig, could be overwhelming for any 4-year-old. They kindly guide him through these activities.
The unique aspect of this story is that Atlan changes into an animal several times when scared, expressing how he feels in relation to meeting the other animals. First, he turns into a snail while feeding the chickens. Then, he turns into a mouse when meeting the pig, and so on. The animals he turns into embody his feelings. These are such relatable symbols for children dealing with new experiences and the real fear that goes along. When he has acknowledged his feelings for the situation, he changes back into a boy. It’s such a nice way to show this emotional change for the character. His grandmother’s voice is the catalyst for the emotional growth as she guides him into navigating his fear of the farm animals.
New experiences such as feeding chickens and a pig could be overwhelming for any 4-year-old. I loved the way that this story acknowledges those fears, and brings comfort to the character and the reader alike. Techniques to help with anxiety are shared within the story, such as slow breathing, trying to look at a new point of view, and trying to focus on the fun aspects. Granny’s protective arm, showing the support of family, is another life line for the character and reader.
Overall, this is a great story showing a young boy facing the unknown with support from his family. I would recommend this book to any parent or teacher that is trying to model how a child can face unknown challenges, navigate their complex feelings, and look to their family for support. This would be great for any class or home library. Grandparents would find this a fabulous gift to give their grandchildren, especially if they own a farm.
Karin LaScola is the author of the picture book, “Just the Way I Am: A Sam the School Bus Story”.
Welcome to the first day of the 2025 Back to School Blog Tour. Each year, I gather together book reviews and interviews for Indie Children’s Authors to share with all of you. I’m kicking off this year with the fabulous author, Karin LaScola, author of the picture book, “Just the Way I Am: A Sam the School Bus Story”. With a background in education and TV news reporting, she listened often to issues children needed help and support with.
The idea for Sam the School bus came about by watching a local school bus climb a hill near her home every morning and afternoon. Stories started to speak within her mind, and she now proudly brings Sam the School bus’s world and friends to young readers to help with challenges in reading and life. I had the chance to interview Karin LaScola about her school influences as a young reader, her plans as an author, and what it means to write.
What made you want to become an author?
Karin LaScola: I’m not sure I ever saw myself as an author, however, I very much wanted to enable and excite youngsters about reading so it became the likely avenue for me.
2) Who were your inspirations on your writing journey?
Karin LaScola: Definitely, the school bus near my home. I heard the gears churning as it chugged its way up the hill past my house, and started to empathize with its job. From the literary field, I became enamored with children’s picture books where the text was simple, but the message loud and clear. There are so many delicious examples of this but Leo Lionni’s book “Swimmy”, remains one of my favorites even though it was published back in 1963. I like the stories where there is an unlikely hero.
3) Do you have a writing routine? If so, please explain.
Karin LaScola: I am what you might call a spontaneous writer. I jot down notes and inspiration on my phone and transfer them to my computer as soon as I can. I re-visit and re-work my “Sam” stories periodically. The initial story might take me a half-hour to write, the final story could take months.
4) How did you get your ideas to write the book, “Just The Way I Am: A Sam the School Bus Story”?
Karin LaScola: The Sam the School Bus series was born, after watching the bus I mentioned, while I was holed up in the office for my graduate program. It didn’t take long before I began to anthropomorphize and the bus became Sam. The plot line of “Just the Way I Am” began to develop when I started playing with words that rhymed with school.
5) What writing projects are you working on right now?
Karin LaScola: I have three more books in the Sam series already on paper, now the fine-tuning begins. I hope to have the second book in the series available this time next year. I will be concentrating on early literacy components to add into each one, as getting ready to read in the early years is so important.
Book Review: “Just the Way I am: A Sam the School Bus Story”
“Just the Way I Am: A Sam the School Bus Story” is a great back-to-school story for those little ones nervous about going back to school. Whether it’s a new school, new grade or their first day of kindergarten, this book helps address the anxiety of starting something new. It might stir inside fear inside a young one’s mind. This book helps with facing the inner fear and realizing you are enough.
Sam the School Bus is the experienced helper for the new school bus on the route, Sabrina. She has prepared so hard for her first week. But her anxiety of pleasing the children starts to overcome her when she starts to dress in different outfits. She tries dressing up each day of the week, presenting a new Sabrina to the school kids along her route. But will this help her win over her students? Or will she find that being herself is the key?
I have to say, my first impressions of this book were the absolutely beautiful and charming illustrations. They really draw you into the world of the school bus route. Plus, the soft edges and cartoon playfulness really will be appealing to younger minds.
I really like the theme for the picture book. All the different ways Sabrina tried to present herself for school was a great way to make her relatable and emphasize the theme of being yourself. I loved the educational tie-ins for days of the week and showing how teamwork is important. The format of showing each day of the week really makes it a strong read-loud for the classroom or at home.
I can see this as a great ice-breaker for the start of school, whether starting a new school, or going for the first time, this picture book will help ease those fears and teach some helpful life lessons. I recommend it for home and class libraries, especially as a back-to-school read-aloud to start any school year.
“Just the Way I Am: A Sam the School Bus Story” is available at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com starting September 2, 2025.
*I received an advanced review copy for this book.
For more information on Karin LaScola and her books, visit her website at:
Remember to check back each day this week for new book reviews and author interviews of fabulous Indie children’s authors. Happy Back-to-School to all teachers, students and parents! I hope you enjoy finding out about all these fabulous authors and books this week.
“An Instrument for Florenda” by Tomeko Brown is available on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.
As summer is starting to wind down, I wanted to let you all know about a wonderful story with heart. “An Instrument for Florenda” by Tomeko Brown takes you into a small town in Louisanna through the eyes of Florenda. Her dream is to play the clarinet. Filled with challenges and life lessons, this chapter book will inspire and validate any reader to follow their dreams.
Florenda is an eleven-year old living in a small Louisiana town. When her school announces a new band class starting during the summer break, she is excited to take advantage of the opportunity. But when she visits the local music store with her mother, she finds out the instrument she longs to play is out of her budget. Will she find a way to acquire an instrument before the new class starts? Can she make her family proud when confronted with how difficult learning to play an instrument can be?
I really did enjoy this chapter book as a choir kid. I knew a lot of band kids in school too, and it really does give you an insight into what it’s like to begin that journey. It also really shows the struggles of Florenda’s family in making the dream come true, and how she doesn’t want to disappoint them when she finds learning an instrument to be harder than she realizes. It’s a great journey in finding the strength inside to fulfill your dreams, and how family support really does make dreams come true.
This is a great book with an African-American protagonist that reaches into your soul and takes you on a band kid’s journey. I can see this as a great gift for a child starting band class, teacher’s needing to add to their class library, or as a reading circle novel study book. Tomeko Brown does a wonderful job pulling you into the world of her characters and showing the struggles of a Louisanna family making musical dreams come true. A few black and white pencil illustrations add drama to the story. The support and love comes through strongly in the actions and dialogue of the book. I would recommend it as a great addition to any home or school library.
And just an FYI to add, the 2025 Back to School Blog tour will be starting Labor Day weekend. It will include author interviews and book reviews for the latest Indie children’s books. If you’re an author and would like to apply, please fill out the form here.
Greetings and Happy New Year! I’m excited to start out 2025 with a fabulous chapter book for all those dancers out there. Whether you enjoy ballet, dance history or have a little one that is taking dance classes, this will be a great chapter book for a beginning third grader up through sixth grade. The book, “The Ballerina” is a great inspirational read for young readers that need that push to believe in themselves.
Alina, a young girl that is into dancing herself, finds a beautiful ballet costume along with other items that connect her to a prima ballerina. She begins a journey to discover more about the art of ballet. As she finds out more, it feeds her passion for ballet while giving her the confidence to reach inside and believe in herself.
I enjoyed this magical journey of a girl in search of inspiration from the greatness of the past. I love how it teaches youngsters to believe in what you love, follow your dream, and work hard to achieve what you feel passionate about. Alina is a relatable character for any young reader, especially if they are currently enrolled in a dance class. There is a lot of information in relation to the ballerina, Anna Pavlova, and how she helped better the art of ballet. This book is an excellent read for any child that enjoys a good book on dance, history and following your dream.
Book review written by: Tiffany Turner, a retired elementary teacher with over two decades of teaching experience and is currently retired. She is also a children’s fantasy author and has written the Crystal Keeper Chronicles.
Welcome back to day 4 of the 2023 Back to School Blog Tour. I have a fabulous book review today of a paranormal/spooky genre book. Check out the book review below. Please come back tomorrow for the last installment of this year’s blog tour.
Book Review: Devin Drake and The Family Secret
By R. M. Clark
School has started, but that means Halloween is just around the corner. This is a great time to introduce your child or students to the spooky genre before October hits. I’ve found a marvelous spooky mystery novel that is sure to be a great addition to your classroom or home library.
Devin Drake and the Family Secretis a not so average spooky mystery. It likes to tantalize the senses with Greek food clues and paranormal intrigue. Devin is your average sixth grader that loves magic card tricks and is excited about his new drone for his birthday. But when it ends up in a cemetery, he has to retrieve it which leads him to discover he has the ability to see and hear ghosts. He soon finds this ability runs in the family, and starts to try to get the hang of his new skills. Then, his classmate, Eva, asks for help. Her grandfather seems to be contacting her beyond the grave and she needs help understanding why. Can Devin solve the reason for this mysterious communication? Or are the clues distractions to the real problem at hand?
I enjoyed the real sense of voice in this story. Mr. Clark really puts you into the head of a twelve-year old boy dealing with real problems along with paranormal twists. This is a great read for kids that love a good mystery along with a ghost story. I used to love this kind of book when I was a kid, and that wasn’t just around Halloween time either. This would be a great middle grade book to introduce your preteen to the spooky/paranormal genre and get them interested in reading paranormal fiction all year long.
