Blink and Glow - Raven Howell - ★★★★

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AUTHOR: Raven Howell
ILLUSTRATOR: Ann Pilicer
GENRE: Children's Picture Book
PUBLICATION DATE: July 15, 2024
RATING: 4 stars.


In a Nutshell: A sweet picture book about appreciating nature and its creatures. Good story, lovely illustrations, important message. Recommended.

Plot Preview:
Leo and Lilly love chasing fireflies and salamanders in their backyard. They even manage to capture one of each in a glass jar to take it to school for show-and-tell. However, when they show their treasures to Grandma, she wisely guides them towards doing what is right for the creatures, and even shows them a way they can take a ‘firefly’ and a ‘salamander’ to show-and-tell.  


When I read the start of the story and saw the kids happily capturing those lovely creatures in glass jars, my heart began to sink. This wasn’t at all an activity I could advocate! Just as I was wondering how I would review this book politely, Grandma came to the rescue. 😍

The picture book offers quite a few beautiful messages. Listening to the advice of the more experienced adults, respecting Mother Nature, taking care of other creatures and their needs, using your creativity for show-and-tell – all are valuable lessons for littlies to have. I also love how the two children in the story were shown playing in nature and later, channelling their imagination in their school project instead of sitting in front of screen or Googling for instant solutions.

The plot provides a nice way of letting kids understand that natural creatures are better off in nature. At the same time, the manner in which Grandma conveyed the message was a bit too subtle for my liking. I wish there had been a little more information on the harm caused to innocent captured creatures. 

The story is written in simple text with vocabulary suitable to kiddos between 4-8 years of age. The page layout is used optimally, with each page containing not more than 1-2 sentences.

The illustrations are created digitally but they looks as beautiful as a painting. There is a little dog on almost every page. (You can see it on the gorgeous cover as well.) This dog isn’t an active part of the story but it sure brightened up the pages with its expressions.

There is an interesting craft activity at the end of making a firefly sun catcher, with easily available craft items. But there should have been a note warning kids to be careful with the scissors. 

Overall, this is a really sweet picture book that offers fun as well as a valuable lesson to its little readers. 

My thanks to WOW! Women On Writing and author Raven Howell for a complimentary copy of 'Blink and Glow', and for allowing me to be a part of this blog tour. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. 

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Blurb:

Lilly and Leo think it's super to catch fireflies and salamanders—and even more exciting, as they plan to bring their glowing nature finds to show-and-tell the next day. That is until Grandma's wisdom guides the children and teaches them respect for the freedom and light of the natural life surrounding us.


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Author Raven Howell:

Raven Howell writes stories and poetry for children. Having published several award-winning picture books, she enjoys sharing her joy of reading and literature by visiting classrooms and libraries. Raven serves as Creative & Publishing Advisor for Red Clover Reader, writes The Book Bug column for Story Monsters Ink magazine, and is a Collaborating Author for Reading is Fundamental and I am a Promise Books.

She writes for children’s magazines including Ladybug, The School Magazine, Highlights for Children, and Humpty Dumpty. She’s a storybook writer for educational publisher, Reading Gate, and aims for every child’s opportunity to blossom.

Connect with her on:

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This has been a stop on the #BlinkAndGlow blog tour conducted by WOW! Women On Writing. (@womenonwriting on X/Twitter.) Thanks for stopping by!


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