Picture Book Review: Tea Time with Sophia Grace and Rosie / A Very Beary Tooth Fairy

From You Tube sensation to Ellen Show regulars ... and now their own picture book. Yes, the tutu-clad British cousins known as Sophia Grace and Rosie have most definitely arrived. How long will their 15 minutes last? Who knows, but regardless, many Ellen regulars will be purchasing this cute PB for the little girls in their lives.

Sweetly illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas, TEA TIME WITH SOPHIA GRACE AND ROSIE (Scholastic, Feb 2013) tells the story of the girls' plan to host a tea party, but each want to invite the person they love most in the world... and craft invitations, decorate and plan a menu ... slipping a surprise invitation under each other's pillow the night before the party.

Princess-wanna-be's who love watching these girls sing and prance online or on the Ellen Show will be just as charmed by this book as they are by the girls' rendition of Super Bass.

In Arthur A. Levine's latest, the mystery of the tooth fairy is presented from the point of view of a curious little bear named Zach. With illustrations by Sarah S. Brannen, THE VERY BEARY TOOTH FAIRY (Scholastic, Feb 2013) touches on the scary part of the Tooth Fairy and what exactly that means. As a bear, Zach has been taught to stay away from people, but when he overhears a child at a campsite talking about the Tooth Fairy and his loose tooth, Zach wonders if that means a human tooth fairy will come to visit when his own loose tooth falls out.

A bit freaked out by this, he asks his friends, his mother, and his sister, but no one seems to help. Later, he tucks his tooth under his pillow and is surprised to find a very special visitor who comes to allay his fears.

It's a sweet book, and I love that it addresses the fears of special, secret visitors like the Tooth Fairy, Santa and the Easter bunny -- which have exciting elements of both fear and fun in them. This is a nice way of showing that even brave bears can get scared sometimes, and that family is always there to make things better.

*Both books were generously given as review copy ARCS -- and are much appreciated early reads!

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Every teenage girl wants a boyfriend who is an angel. But Nora's new lab partner, Patch, seems anything but. She's drawn to his bad-boy persona, but can't help but question what exactly he's up to.

HUSH, HUSH by Becca Fitzpatrick (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2009) is one of a bevy of angelic YA books that enjoyed success partially carved out of the Twilight Saga popularity (as in girl meets boy, boy isn't human, girl falls for him anyway).

That's not to say that many of these books are entertaining reads, and I found HUSH, HUSH that.

Fitzpatrick creates interesting characters in her Maine high school students, especially Nora who lives with her widowed mother in an old farm house out in the sticks -- an eerie setting that makes spring-time Maine seem more like autumn.

Nora is a strong, independent female, but she's not perfect and there are times when you wanna slap some sense into her -- although some of her bad decisions seem to be essential for keeping the plot moving.

Nora's bestie Vee tries to corrupt her straight-A-earning BFF but the mysterious Patch may have better luck. Sure, he's dark, gorgeous and silent and... did I mention mysterious? Yep, he's about as typical a teenage love interest as you can get, (and all the descriptions of his flat abs and smoldering charcoal eyes were a bit much at times.)

What really hooks the reader about Patch, however, isn't the author's physical description of him but how she paints him in such a confusing way through the first two-thirds of the book. Like Nora, you sense an attractiveness about him, but you really wonder if he's the good guy or not. Other bad guys show up in Nora's life, but despite the fact that he's obviously on the cover of the book, and clearly the one you're SUPPOSED to want Nora to end up with, there are moments when you're just not sure.

Nora can't get Patch out of her head, literally, like she swears he's speaking to her telepathically. Then when crazy things start happening, but later seemingly didn't actually happen, Nora wonders if she's losing it. Are she and Vee really in danger? What's the story with the new guys from the private school who seem so polite and perfect at first? Who is the guy in the ski mask who keeps showing up to torment Nora -- is he real or a part of her mind still reeling from the violent, random death of her father?

The first book of the series, this sets things up nicely and definitely made me want to find out what happens with Nora and Patch after HUSH, HUSH ends.