Candy and the Cankersaur

Reviewer: Kristen Buchanan
Author: Jason Sandberg
Format: eBook
My Rating: 9 out of 10

----- This book was provided by the author for a fair and honest review. -----

Summary (provided by the author): "Candy and the Cankersaur" is a picture book about a girl who receives a dinosaur as a gift and her determination to train him to be a good pet.  It's a fun homage to Syd Hoff and will make all dinosaur-crazy boys and girls happy.

"Candy and the Cankersaur" is available on Amazon, Nook, iTunes and Kobo.

My Thoughts: This is the first children's book I've ever reviewed, so I'm excited to get started! To begin, I need to tell everyone how amaaaaaaaaaaaazing the pictures were! All the illustrations went perfectly with the story, and were sequenced wonderfully. The drawings were far from sketches, but didn't border on being creepily realistic. We all know a book or two with drawings almost too perfect. The story in itself was something I've not heard. It wasn't a retelling, and I can't think of any child's book that reminds me of this. Which is perfect. I absolutely love when that happens! The story is short and straight forward, and would definitely keep a kid's interest. I mean, it did keep mine! There are some words that are a little too advanced for a book a child would read to themselves (i.e. Paleontologist), so I definitely think this is a bedtime story that a parent or babysitter would read. I may or may not have loaded this onto my kobo for an awesome bedtime story for the kids I babysit. 
Anyways, I really liked Candy. I liked how the author portrayed her frienemy Chucky. I think that they're relationship (or lack thereof) was in tune with how kids act and how they see the opposite gender. I really liked how Candy interacted with Cank as though he was a normal pet. Hello, you have a dinosaur! I think the lesson in this book is obvious, and I liked how it wasn't the typical "listen to your parents" or "friends will always treat you right" bullhockey. I liked that it ended with "sometimes you've just gotta break the rules", even rules you've been taught since you were a baby. I'm a sucker for any kid story with a pet, even dinosaurs. This is definitely a cute read, and you should keep it on your radar! I bet you it'll be big. 

Final Thoughts: Super cute, super fast, and loaded with amazing artwork!