Lima Bear Labyrinth Book Review

I received The Lima Bear Stories Labyrinth book in exchange for an honest review.  So, I sat down with my early/emerging reader, five-year-old daughter and began to read. Having no idea that there is a classic mythological story by the same title, my daughter laughed at the green-colored main characters and enjoyed the newly told story with a surprise ending.  Soon, she was pointing to the words as I read them.  We especially enjoyed the words that would pop off the page with highlights and word art.
The story is about a princess, Princess Belinda Bean.  She is given the throne but Mean ol' Bean is not happy about this and lures her into a labyrinth in an evil plot to take the throne for himself as king.  Authors Thomas Weck and Peter Weck and illustrator, Len DiSalvo, weave the playful story to present a lesson to always leave room for forgiveness in your heart.

The Labyrinth Lima Bean story paints whispers of the classic Labyrinth story, but tells the story using green, Lima Bean, bears.  The illustrations are bright and colorful, and the story line keeps the child's attention using word art and rhymes.

There is one rhyme that is repeated over and over that makes the story memorable for listening ears:

"Oh, Mean ol' Bean
How He Did Scheme.
To Be Rid of the queen,
That was his dream."

Vocabulary words are interjected like "glistened", "dazzled", "gust", "golden", "huge", "glowed" and such.  There are even activity suggestions at the end of the book that make it very usable in a classroom or homeschool setting.

The Lima Bear Stories The Labyrinth by Thomas Weck and Peter Weck and illustrations by Len DiSalvo is a cute, lively and interactive book that your child will enjoy for late summertime reading or to use during the school year.  Early readers who still need help sounding out words, will enjoy being read to, while older readers will enjoy reading the book alone.  Hint:  Even my twelve-year-old son was listening in with interest as I read aloud.

My review was a preview of the book that will be available in August.

Available online http://www.limabearpress.com/books.html

Other books by Weck at Barnes and Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Weck?store=ALLPRODUCTS&keyword=Weck