Barbour Publishing TOS Review

 http://www.barbourbooks.com

I received Diary of a Real Payne Book 1: True Story

by: Annie Tipton 

from Barbour Publishing for review.

PRICE: 
$5.99 - but on SALE now for $4.49!

ISBN:
9781624161315

Paperback, 192 pages 

Recommended for ages 8 and up. 

This is book one in the series.  Watch for book two called 'Church Camp Chaos' in March 2014!

The author is Annie Tipton.  She loves to write and made up her own first story at the age of two!

What Is This? -

This is a child's book about a girl with a huge imagination.  Her name is Emma Jean Payne.  Her friends call her EJ.  She is starting fourth grade in the town of Spooner, Wisconsin.  Her father is a pastor and her mother is an elementary teacher at EJ's school.  This story is filled with funny situations, that usually involve her wild imagination, through summer camp and through the fourth grade.  Her relationship with her brother Isaac (who she calls 'the space invader') starts a bit rough in the beginning of the book, but they become a bit closer and realize just how cool each other really are. 




One of the really neat things about this book is that EJ writes in her diary.....every chapter.  So we get to experience the life of EJ, through her eyes.  In the picture below you can see how each chapter starts, with a diary entry.  There are a total of 15 chapters.



 


There are several great illistrations in this book.  As you can see in the picture below, they are cute, funny and child like.





How We Used This -

I read this to my 10 year old son.  I had him read one page each chapter to me.  Being in the fifth grade, he struggles a bit with reading so I wasn't sure how he'd do.  He read it pretty easily with a little help here and there.  It's a pretty easy read.  We read about a chapter a day several days a week.  









What my son & I Thought -

My son really enjoyed the book.  He laughed quite a few times while I was reading.  The book really is funny.  He really liked the daily situations that EJ's imagination got her into.  

I liked that the book kept my son's interest.  Some books we start reading and by the second or third chapter he has lost interested and doesn't want to finish.  This book was different.  I liked that he could really relate to the things she was going through even though he is homeschooled.  They were 'real life' things going on in EJ's life that are so realistic to children.  

Another great thing about this book is that it is a Christian book.  EJ's dad is a pastor (like mentioned above) so it was great to have that 'Christianity' mentioned in there at times.