Story Time with Sara: The Yummy Adventures of Celia & Cedric #1: Amazing Apples by Erin Kurt and Laara Exsnar

 

The Yummy Adventures of Celia & Cedric #1: Amazing Apples
written by Erin Kurt and Laara Exsnar
published: 2015

find it here: (affiliate links) Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Book Depository, Goodreads

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange  for an honest review.

Did I enjoy this book: This book was not my favorite. There’s a lot of character introduction and background information given, but it sort of overshadowed the story itself. Also, I am the first to admit that I LOVE children’s stories that sneak learning into the story, but here there was no sneaking. In fact, there was no real story. There was no conflict or drama at all. It felt like a flimsy construct created for the sole purpose of delivering random science and health facts about apples. My favorite is how they were sitting at the dinner table and one child comments, “Did you know that apples have boron in them, which helps keep your bones strong?” Followed by, “Mom, can you remind us why Vitamin C is good for us?” I know my kids can totally relate to dialog like this . . . <eye roll> Further, the cover states that this is a “Read and Bake” series, so I was expecting there to be a recipe for the Apple Cake Celia and her Mom baked. I did not find it. It actually sounded yummy and I was interested in baking it with my kid . . . perhaps it was just missing from the file I was sent for this review. I think there may have been a formatting problem because there were no illustrations either.

Would I recommend it: Uh, as of right now I would say not really. I want to read some of the other books in the series and see how the characters and the stories pan out. I think the premise is a really cool idea, so I would be willing to give the series another shot, but I was really not a fan of this particular book.

About the book – from Goodreads: Celia is bored. And with everyone in her family busy she doesn’t know what to do…until her dad gives her a task that leads to her best day ever; the day she meets Cedric and their yummy adventures begin!