Picture Book Review: Five Funny Tummy Men, by Jean Reed

Why does your tummy ache? Why does it make noises? What happens in your stomach after you eat? Why should you eat slowly? 

In this educational picture book, the author answers these questions and more, describing the “five tummy men” that inhabit our stomachs and their specific jobs: 

Mr. Boss, the one in charge 

Mr. Swallow, catcher of food 

Mr. Grinder, most happy when you chew well 

Mr. Piler, sorter of nutrients into piles for different parts of your body 

Mr. Deliveryman, carrier of piles to your body 

FIVE FUNNY TUMMY MEN encourages dialogue between children and adults, making it a good resource for class or homeschooling discussions. Children are told to eat healthy and chew well and not snack a lot between meals, and in a simple, clear and friendly manner this cute little book explains exactly why. Recommend for readers 4-8. A multicultural edition of the book will be available soon. 

Available at Amazon  

Product Details 

Publisher: Peppertree Press 

ISBN-13: 9781614937098 

Publication date: June 2020 

Pages: 20 

Product dimensions: 8.50(w) x 8.50(h)

Age Range: 3 Months to 12 Years

🏰 BOOK REVIEW: Greenhouse Gardening: How to Build and Sustain a Greenhouse Garden by Emma Brooks

I have always loved to garden even though the Prince tells me that it's not very Princess-like. Phooey. I like getting my fingernails dirty. It's something about making things grow out of the earth and being able to eat them that makes me want to get down and dirty with the best of them.

I've never had a greenhouse. We have really talented people to tend to the gardens but never have I thought about a greenhouse. Maybe our gardeners might have, but I haven't. But wouldn't that be the neatest thing and go one step further and grow VEGETABLES year round? I don't mean those yucky vegetables grocery stores sell. I want organic vegetables. At least I know where they came from.

In Greenhouse Gardening: How To Build and Sustain A Greenhouse Garden by Emma Brooks, I have found a great resource that will help me grow things in a climate-controlled environment if I so desire at some point. And if the Prince gives me too much flack, I can at least get one of the gardeners to start one for me and I could sneak in now and then to talk to the little plants to make sure they're doing fine. I give this book 4 magic wands!

🏰 BOOK REVIEW: Relationship Maintenance 4 Men by Alba Lewis

Title: RELATIONSHIP MAINTENANCE 4 MEN
Author: Alba Lewis
Publisher: Independent
Pages: 57
Genre: Self-Help

Book Blurb:

A practical guide to support men who love their women with 21 tasks, one each week. 

Written a ‘just do’ guide and based on a survey conducted with over 100 women, the book aims to give actionable tasks that will create better relationships.

My Review:

Even though I'm a princess and not a prince and this book is intended for men, I requested a copy to get a peek inside to see if my prince was doing the right thing and if not I was going to use the helpful tips inside to show him the light.  Tricky, huh? Let me start off by saying that even though my prince treats me like royalty (no pun intended), I was sure that there was room for improvement.

Relationship Maintenance 4 Men is a crash course in relationships - literally. Lewis does an excellent job giving men pointers on how to please a woman. Part 1 is a survey.  It starts out with a question - What is the most romantic thing a man has done for you and the women in the survey gave quite interesting answers.  For example, one said he made her a lego mosaic of a picture of them when they first met. Here's one I loved - he drew a heart in the dirt at the hunt club and send her a picture /text of it. How romantic!!!

Part 2 was the course designed by women for me and explored the simple practical ways one can enhance a relationship with a woman. Week 1 you do this, week 2 you do that, and so on. Oh my heavenly father, if I could get my prince to follow this book and do each task a week, I would think I had died and gone to heaven.

This is such a fun book! A great gift for your mate. Better yet, get a girlfriend or a guyfriend to suggest he buy the book and don't let on that you know what's going on. 

I can't wait to try this out.  I just have to figure out a way for him to read it without letting on that it's more for me and not him!

I fully recommend Relationship Maintenance 4 Men by Alba Lewis and give it 5 magic wands!

🏰 Book Review: How to Sell Crafts Online by Monica Van Zandt

Title: How to Sell Crafts Online: The Little Handbook of Craft Selling for Beginners (Selling Crafts)
Author: Monica Van Zandt
Genre: Crafts
Publisher: Monica Van Zandt
Pages:34

As a PRINCESS, I usually get my staff to provide me with anything I want, but sometimes a Princess gets an urge to do something with her hands besides wave to her beloved kingdom. I tinkered with making sachets filled with herbs and flowers I had picked from the gardens.  It gave me such joy.  Now I'm hearing that those little satchets I made could have made money ONLINE.  But pooh I have enough money; I don't need it but I love donating to charities and I could have done that!

Now, craftspersons are rolling up their sleeves and selling their crafts through the Internet and it always made me wonder just how do you go about doing that?

This is where How to Sell Crafts Online comes in handy.  While it's a short ebook, it's packed with great information like suggesting different things you can sell online plus where to sell it.  I'd heard of Etsy and eBay before, but hadn't heard of Artfire.  It even gives suggestions on how to stand out from all the others selling their wares.

Because it's such a short book but does have helpful instruction on how to sell crafts online, I'm going to have to give this book 3 princess wands.

 My Rating: 3 Princess Wands

🏰 Book Review: The Ultimate Guide To Sleep by Jessica Lopez

Title: The Ultimate Guide to Sleep: How to Combat Insomnia and Sleep Problems
Author: Jessica Lopez
Genre: Self-Help
Publisher: Jessica Lopez
Pages: 30

Since I am a Princess, one of the things I know about is sleep.  I sleep whenever I want and as much as I want but there are those darn nights when I can't get to sleep worth a toot.  This is the reason I agreed to review The Ultimate Guide to Sleep: How To Combat Insomnia and Sleep Problems by Jessica Lopez.

One of the points in The Ultimate Guide to Sleep was that you should keep to your usual pattern or rhythm before retiring.  Anything different that happens to you during the day or night before you retire for the night might trigger insomnia.  In my case, being a PRINCESS, I did do something different than I usually do and that was get myself involved in this bad ass story about a prince who fell in love with a commoner and left his princess at the alter.  I could not go to sleep for the life of me.  I just had to find out if he was going to go back to the princess or carry the commoner off on his white horse to Happily Ever After.  Ugh. There were lots of other times when I got involved with certain things that kept me from falling asleep but The Ultimate Guide to Sleep is now my new knight in shining armor.

Even though it's a short little book, but it's jam packed with explanations on why you might not be sleeping and a few antidotes if it happens.  I knew about the warm milk but I didn't know about other things that might help like lavender for example.  No, you don't eat it, but the smell is a great sleep inducer. I might even get the maid to go pick me some from the countryside and throw the petals all over my Princess bedroom.

Overall, nice book and I give it 4 princess wands!

🏰 Book Review: Traveling for Love by Becky Due

Title: Traveling for Love: Searching for Self, Hoping for Love
Author: Becky Due
Publisher: Telemachus Press
Pages: 178
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1937698173
ISBN-13: 978-1937698171


 Book Blurb:

Amanda’s life is suddenly turned upside down when her husband tells her he wants a divorce. She realizes she no longer knows who she is – her life revolved around her husband. At age 40, she finds herself divorced, childless, living in an apartment with a roommate, with little education and no career path. Can Amanda heal her pain and find love again? Will she find the career of her dreams? When will Amanda realize that she deserves to be happy?

My Review:

After being dumped by her husband, Amanda goes on a self-love journey.  She encounters various men in her life along the way and each one enables her to make one more step toward the right direction of learning who she is.  All are important in some aspect – but she doesn’t know this until the end.  I loved how Becky Due handled writing Amanda’s personality.  I really hate when some women are portrayed as victims even when they are.  I love a strong woman and I believe that Amanda was a very strong woman. I could tell so as I was reading it even though at times she had her doubts about herself and that’s what prompted her to take cruises.  By herself.

Let’s talk about Nick, her husband and soon to be ex as the story progresses.  He could kiss a frog for all I cared.  But he’s typical of a lot of men unfortunately.  These are men who only care about themselves.  When he wants to do something, he expects his wife to do it with him but when she wants to do something, it’s like “Go ahead with your friends.  Have fun.”  Man that makes my blood boil.  So lesson here to be learned is that there are men out there who do have the same likes you do, the trick is to find them.

The next man in Amanda’s life, I’m not sure if I liked him either.  Sam.  He wouldn’t ever talk about his personal life.  It was like he had some deep secret.  And all the guy wanted to do was have sex.  But, the sex was great according to Amanda who loved this new lifestyle of being able to finally do what she wanted and when she wanted with no strings attached.  She was getting close to Sam, then something happened but I don’t want to give it away.

The next guy was a guy she met on a cruise ship.  He seemed nice enough but there was something about him I didn’t think he was right for Amanda, but the next guy after that, I really liked him even though he did a few things that made you think he might not be right for her as well.

Amanda tended to pick guys who seemed to have hangups about the girlfriend thing until she finally…well I can’t give that away, can I?

You’ll have to read this book; it’s about one woman’s journey to find herself. 

I give this book 4 Princess Wands!