Reviewer Conny Withay:Operating her own business in office management since 1991, Conny is an avid reader and volunteers with the elderly playing her designed The Write Word Game. A cum laude graduate with a degree in art living in the Pacific Northwest, she is married with two sons, two daughters-in-law, and three grandchildren.
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Publisher: Arif Books
ISBN: 978-1-4575-1394-7
Author:
J.D. Means
Illustrator: Romar Lipana
Publisher: Arif
Books
ISBN: 978-1-4575-1394-7
“First, you have to open your mind to the possibilities of such an experience and then it will become natural as you learn this communication, and it begins to flow between you and the other life forms of Appleopolis,” Rags explains to the travelers in Millie and Honey – The Incredible Instantaneous Interplanetary Adventure Volume II Appleopolis, a children’s book by J.D. Means.
With one hundred and seven pages in this small paperback book, it is targeted to young children who enjoy fun make-believe stories about talking animals and space travel. Illustrator Lipana depicts most of the characters placed around the title on front jacket. Inside there are small, sometimes poorly reprinted drawings among the ten chapters with clear colored ones in the final chapter. There is no profanity or scary scenes but some words are misspelled for emphasis purposes and may confuse a beginner reader. At the end of the book, there is a page about the author along with eight pages of the third volume of the series.
After moving from the United States to Dubai, author Means and his wife had to wait a month for their beloved pets to arrive, causing their loneliness to inspire this cute series. In this story, fourteen year old Millie and her dog with four puppies have returned from their first adventure in the traveling machine and told her parents that she now owns the incredible vehicle that transports instantaneously to another planet. When they wake up the next day, Millie, dogs and parents go on a new vacation, this time to the planet of Appleopolis.
After Millie’ father, an aircraft mechanic, asks a myriad of questions to Rose, the computerized lady who assists them in their travels, they insert their penny fee and instantly arrive at the beautiful, lush planet. Greeted by a gruff, pirate-sounding Scottish terrier who says he is the Regent of the Agricultural Garden Society (aka Rags), they are taken to Appleopolis Educational Center to learn that they can telepathically communicate with anything alive. The group goes on adventurous rides such as “Apple Bobbing with a Twist” on Grandfather Apple Tree, “The Apple Press Ride” that juices the apples, “The Maple Forest” where upside down umbrellas accumulate sap and “The Cinnamon Grove” where colorful birds gather cinnamon quills. In the end they raft down the river back to the center to enjoy a feast made from their food collections. The happy family get back in the flying machine, but this time Rags goes home with them.
Even though some of the drawings are poorly reproduced, this is a delightful read that not only young children can enjoy, but parents will happily read as it is innocuous, non-frightening and charming as one considers what trees, grass and birds would say and do if we could communicate with them. With the teaser for the third volume at the end of the book, one looks forward to the next incredible, instantaneous interplanetary adventure.
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