Talee and the Maze-a-thon Race: Early Reader Chapter Book

I love this book! The author did an amazing job story telling with beautiful illustrations. 10/10. Would recommend for anyone with young daughters!

This is a great book for your kids! It has a fun storyline and nice illustrations. I recommend this book for anyone who has young kids!!!

I’ve read this book a few times now and love it.

Talee and the Maze-a-thon Race has a lot of action. It is the second installment in the Talee series. Readers are introduced to more characters and learn more about the world where Talee lives. The illustrations are colorful and show good action scenes of the obstacles in the race. It is a chapter book so I didn't expect a lot of illustrations, however, I would've liked one illustration showing the maze itself. Overall, it is good read with a positive theme about overcoming our fears and encouraging one another. I would recommend this book for early readers.

Talee and the Fallen Object is a story about an 8-year-old girl whose ordinary day turns into a simple adventure. This introduction into Talee's fantastical world and her enthusiasm draws readers into her excitement. The striking and colorful graphics draw the eye; and the layout lends to an easy read. It does introduce some advanced vocabulary to help expand the reader's knowledge. A great early reader.

At first I thought this was a comic book, but its more like a picture book with longer paragraphs. The story is quick, fun and warm. The pictures are adorable and Imaginative. Would recommend to young children.

This was such a great short story. I loved how it was written and the point of view really felt it came from a 8 year old. This was such a great little story to read I actually can't wait to read more for my son and well, myself.

Love, love, love this book and the other titles by the author!

Talee and Nola, her big fluffy Capla, are going to the First Annual Gala Maze-a-Thon. When it was time to race all of the competitors line up for take-off. The maze floated in the air with large floating obstacles and lots of tricky tunnels. Talee sized up her competition and realized many of the other Capla’s were bigger than Nola. And she could see that Nola was nervous. When it was time to race will both Talee and Nola take on the challenge or will they stay behind in defeat?

This latest addition to the Talee and Nola book series by Jacquitta A. McManus is so much fun. The larger than life colorfully illustrated images bring excitement to the story. Basic sentence structure and easy to navigate language makes this story a perfect read for any beginner reader transitioning from picture books to easy readers.

The layout of the illustrations reminded me of Alice in Wonderland. It was because they were arranged more like chapter markers. They were brilliantly colored pictures and served well as breaks in the text.

The story was fun. It captures beautifully youthful imagination. I was captivated by the world of Gala. I also can see how young children will be able to relate to Talee.

It also contained some good life lessons. This is a good bedtime story. I look forward to reading more in this series.

“Talee and the Fallen Object” is about a beautiful, brown skinned, eight year old girl named Talee. She loves reading, writing, the color purple, wild puffy muffins, and going on adventures. She lives on the planet, Gala, which has two moons and enormous, flying animals called Calpas, which are used as modes of transportation. One day, she notices from her window an object has fallen from the mail carrier (called a mail flyer). She is very curious to find out what it is. Here begins the adventure! In this book, children learn the importance of safety, communicating with parents, consequences of one’s actions, and responsibility. I loved the simplicity of the narration in the story, the bright colors used by the illustrator, and the creation of an alternate world. I also loved that the interactive activities that accompanied the book, namely the coloring pages and word puzzles. This book was voluntarily reviewed and is recommended for children with a love of fantasy worlds age 4 to 8.

From the very first page the reader is engaged with the following… “I just came in from outside. The sun is warm. Can you feel it?” this sets the tone of the story about a chatty and curious little girl with a bit of sassiness, who lives in an extraordinary place. Author Jaquitta A. McManus, has created great balance by writing a fantasy adventure with a character who is charmingly relatable, and a planet that is equally magical.

Eight-year-old Talee lives on the planet Gala, which has two moons. She loves to read and write about great adventures, especially treasure hunts. Her favorite colors are purple and yellow, and her favorite food is wild puffy yellow muffins with pink icing, which her mother fixes every weekend. Gala is an amazing planet because the land floats in the air. People get from place to place by Calpas, which are big, friendly, flying animals. Early one Saturday morning, Talee has finished her puffy muffins and is reading one of her favorite Captain Jewel books about a bag of treasure that was hidden in a lost city when she sees a mail flyer go by outside her window and something falls out of the mail flyer's bag.
The object lands on a small floating landmass and starts to smoke when it hits the ground. Thinking it might be a bag of treasure, Talee takes one of her family's Calpas to look for it. Will she find it? What will it be? Like McManus's Labyrinth's Door: Anyia--"Dream of a Warrior," Talee and the Fallen Object is a fantasy adventure tale, but for a slightly younger set. In addition to the story book, there is an accompanying coloring book for youngsters with an artistic bent. It begins with a page which starts the adventure, and as the child looks at each scene and colors it in, all the scenes together will make up Talee's story. At the end, there are some pages where the readers can write their own Talee adventure based upon the pictures which have been colored. Children who like to think about living on or visiting other planets will especially enjoy these books.

Talee is an eight-year-old girl who lives on the planet Gala. One day, the mail flyer drops a package, and Talee ventures out to find out what it could be.

I received a copy of Talee and the Fallen Object for review.

This book is perfect for early elementary age children, but I have to say my two and three year olds enjoyed it as much as my six year old. The planet and creatures in the story are creative and intriguing. Talee is "African American" (not technically since she lives on a different planet, but you know what I mean). I LOVE this! I don't know why there aren't more children's books with African American characters. Everyone needs to learn about diversity and African American girls needs heroes too!

Jacquitta's writing style is fun for children. Talee is telling her story, and that really helps bring the children into her adventure with her. The illustrations are beautiful, although I have the book on my Kindle so they weren't in color. But, based on the cover, I can imagine they are just as magical as the story itself. I would love to get a hard copy and a coloring book for my daughter.

This is a super cute story that you and your children will love!

If you love reading about adventures then let Talee who is eight years old take you on a fantasy adventure. When Talee notice something fallen out of the mail flyer's bag from the sky she couldn't wait to see what it was.
Talee let her curiosity get the better of her by leaving home and not letting her parents know. She learnt an important lesson about safely.

The author also added a coloring book with giant pictures featuring scenes in the book. Any child that loves to color would love to bring this coloring book to life with fun colors. And you can write your own adventure at the back of the coloring book. I highly recommend this book for young readers as it is a light chapter book to start children with.

FTC Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I was not monetarily compensated for my opinion in any way.

Talee is eight, loves purple, yellow and big puffy muffins. She is from Gala, a planet with two moons and it floats. She wants to share her adventure with you. An object falls from the sky and it's a baby Capla she names Nola.

Young readers will love sitting down with Talee as she speaks to them as if they are sitting right there with her. This wonderful tale is a quick read for beginners and has pictures kids can color as they read along. Young readers will love learning about Talee and her world.

Talee also has a fantasy adventure coloring book. Giant pictures fro kids to color will allow them to utilize their imaginations and make Gal a world of their own. In the back is a place for kids to create and write their very own story to share with family and friends.

Children are naturally curious. In Talee and the Fallen Object by Jacquitta McManus, Talee, an eight year-old girl, living on another planet, shares her exciting adventure after she notices an item falling from the mail flyers' bag. Her curious mind has her running to get on a Calpa, to fly to where the item lands. What will she find when she gets to the place where the item landed?

Talee and the Fallen Object is a book for the early, elementary school-aged children. However, the parent or teacher reading this to a child or group of children will transport them to another world. The descriptions given by the protagonist, from the beginning to end, created vivid images in my mind. Ms. McManus sent me a beautiful coloring book to go with the story. After reading this, I wanted to lie on my belly, with my feet up and color like I was a little girl again. My own children have asked to color in the book, but I think I am going to keep this one for me. I recommend this story to children between ages 4-8, teachers and parents.

The author provided a copy of the e-book (story) and the coloring book for review purposes.

Jennifer Coissiere
APOOO BookClub