Cover Image: Help Wanted, Must Love Books

Help Wanted, Must Love Books

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Member Reviews

A cute story that younger children are sure to love! They will enjoy being able to name their favorite fairy tale characters that appear in this book. It would also be great for teaching about allusions and inferring to upper elementary children since the fairy tale characters are not specifically named.

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This is such a sweet ( and clever ) book on so many levels. Shailey loves bedtime and after she shimmies into to her pjs and sparkles her teeth she looks forward to snuggling up with her dad as he reads her a bedtime story. She looks forward to this bonding ritual every night. But then the unthinkable happens. Her dad acquires a new job and their nightly routine greatly suffers and quickly becomes non-existent. Poor dad is so busy trying to meet his work obligations that he has no time to spend reading to his daughter any more.

Shailey, disappointed, take matters into her own hands and fires him! She quickly creates a Help Wanted poster and the search for a reading daddy substitute begins.

The author makes a brilliant decision to have story book characters be the applicants. Poor Shailey sifts through Cinderella, the Three Little Pigs, the Big Bad Wolf, the Friendly Giant, Sleeping Beauty, the Gingerbread Man and Snow White with her seven body guards trailing behind her, just to name few. None of the contenders are fit for hire in Shailey's view. Will she ever find a daddy surrogate that can replace the snuggles and reading prowess that she receives from her real daddy?

This book highlights a beautiful father/daughter relationship and the joy they share when they read wonderful bedtime stories together each night. The illustrations are gorgeous and animate the text bringing much enjoyment, interest and engagement to the reader. At the end of the book are personal résumés from a few of those who were seeking employment including Pinocchio, Tinkerbell, The Frog Prince and Robin Hood. I highly recommend this fun, family-friendly book.

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Shailey loves bedtime and especially loves reading bedtime stories with her father. Unfortunately, dad is busy these days with a new job that keeps him on the phone and computer a lot so she has to find a new bedtime storyteller. When Shailey places a help wanted ad, she is surprised by the fairy tale applicants who arrive for an interview. She has some requirements but each of the applicants has a problem, Sleeping Beauty falls asleep on the job, the Gingerbread Man steals her books, and Snow White brings all the dwarves with her. Will she ever find someone to replace her dad in the bedtime story ritual?

This is a cute story for both young readers and adults thanks to the familiar characters. The illustrations are well done and I enjoyed the pages with her help wanted ad on them. My son reads every night to his children, so this book was a fun fit for us. My granddaughter thought it was funny and my grandson loved the fairytale characters that applied. We tried to guess what they would do before the book told us. I really liked that this story shows the importance of sharing time and developing a routine with children to nurture a love of reading. A great book for any family library.

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A young girl fires her dad from reading bedtime stories when he gets too bogged down with work. She sets out on a mission to find a new bedtime story reader. I found this story absolutely delightful. Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

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Great book! I love the little girl showing empowerment and the opening of discussions that sometimes things change and resetting of priorities. The nod to fairytales and other bedtime stories are familiar yet still a fresh take.

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*received from netgalley for honest review* This book is ADORABLE!!! just too freakin cute! when robin hood showed up I almost teared up lol honestly a great book tho I saw someone else had gotten their hand on an ARC of this and knew I had to too and I am not disappointed !!

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This book oozes charm, and I loved it. The storyline is original, the illustrations are beautiful, and the characters are such fun. I'm always drawn to books about books, and this is a great one for kids. I can't imagine anyone not liking this story.

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This book was a fun read that hit on a really good topic not talked about a lot. When kids are used to having their parents home and then all of a sudden, the parents start a new job, kids can feel a bit "left out" sometimes. My son was nodding his head with this book and it kept his attention all the way through. We loved the fairytale characters that showed up in this book, as well as, the ending. Great book and I absolutely recommend.

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I received an arc of this book from netGalley for an honest review. This book is a great book about a young girl looking for a replacement for her suddenly very busy dad.

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O my word I loved this book! This little girl has fired her dad from bedtime storytelling because he gets distracted with adulting. She posts an ad to interview for a new storyteller. Many different actual fairytale creatures and people come to interview but none of them are quite right and she keeps adjusting her ad to try to attract the right storyteller. It is the sweetest story and the illustrations are great too. I can't wait to read this to my students!

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What a creative story! I'll be adding this one to the stack of favorites! The resumes at the end were the best!

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Aww this book was simply so precious! I completely love it and am glad to see a father/daughter relationship represented. The fairy tale resumes were funny but not necessary for the story.

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This is such a cute book. Shailey is such a good girl and loves bedtime. Before going to bed her father reads her a bedtime story until she is asleep. This arrangement was great until he has a new job and is unable to give much needed time to his daughter Shailey. She goes to her father for the story but finds him always busy and finally she fires him. She puts up a job notice for the post of a bedtime story teller and different applicants from the world of fairytales come up for the interview. Shailey is not convinced by any of them since some come in groups, some are weird, some fall asleep and some have hygiene issues. Finally she finds an applicant who is fit for the job and she is happy.

This is a wonderful book which has taken creativity to a different level altogether. It wonderful to see a child putting a job notice and the changing it as up her experiences. This a wonderful read for kids and they will definitely enjoy it. It is a special book for all fairy tale lovers (even for adults like me).

Thank you so much Netgalley and Capstone publishing for the ARC in exchange of a honest review.

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Attention! I am in the market for readers who love bedtime stories. Any applicants interested must read the following book review. All inquiries of a new adorable picture book are welcomed and encouraged!

Help Wanted: Must Love Books is an adorable, new picture book that must quickly become a regular in any child's bedtime rotation.

In the story, you will meet a sweet, little girl named Shailey, Shailey is a huge fan of books, and she adores her nightly reading time with her dad. They have the perfect arrangement. Shailey gets to raid her bookshelf, select the perfect bedtime story, and then her and her dad snuggle up for some of the greatest bedtime adventures ever.

But, her dad's new job changes everything. He is occupied, stressed, and unable to join her for their nightly reading time. That leads Shailey to make the only call she can...

She fires her dad from being her bedtime story reader.

After the firing, Shailey creates a help wanted sign in search of her father's replacement. Her sign works and attracts a lot of unusual, yet familiar "fairy-tale-ish", applicants.

As Shailey begins give the new applicants a fair chance to be her new bedtime story reader, she finds herself in very usual circumstances. The three=pig team was scared away by some wolf-looking applicant. A little gingerbread man actually ran away with her bedtime story, a kind princess could seem to stay away through her book, and one giant like reader was so scary, Shailey refused to come out of hiding.

No matter how specific Shailey changed her help wanted sign to be, she still seemed to have zero luck with finding a replacement for role her father had always played.

Finally, the perfect applicant arrived. He seemed to look just like her father... only more "Robin Hoodish." She gave the new reader a chance, and soon realized that this new reader was the perfect fit.

However, in true Shailey fashion, she did have one final request of her new bedtime reader....

I absolutely adored Janet Sumner Johnson's story, Help Wanted, Must Love Books. It is one of those picture books that just melts your heart. The message for both parents and children are clear. Our time is limited, and our priorities must always focus on those we love and adore.

The utilization of fairytale creatures as the applicants was just brilliant. I loved seeing which creatures showed up to interview for the position of bedtime story reader. Throughout the story, I found myself chuckling at the many reasons as to why Shailey was unable to hire them. These characters were creative, and they were modified perfectly to fit into the plot of this story seamlessly.

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3.5 Stars

Shailey loves to hear bedtime stories from her dad - until he gets a new job. So Shailey decides its time to hire a new bedtime story reader. Many storybook characters apply for the position - but of course no one seems to fit. Night after night, Shailey must change the criteria for her applicants until finally the perfect candidate comes along.
The illustrations in this picture book are darling. The humor and storyline fell a little flat for me. I did enjoy the storybook character resumes at the end.

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I loved the story it is so cute. The illustrations and cover is beautiful. Shailey loves her bedtime, as her dad tells her stories. When her dad gets bust with a new job, Shailey is looking for another person to fill the position I loved that fairytale characters came to apply for the job.

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This is a very sweet story about a little girl—Shailey—who absolutely loves bedtime because her dad reads stories to her every night. Things change when her dad gets a new job, and he’s either too tired or too distracted for bedtime stories. Shailey is not happy, to say the least. Many parents will relate to this point, and to their children’s disappointment. Shailey then decides to take action and host “interviews” for a new bedtime reader, and fairytale characters (Snow White, Goldilocks, etc.) come to apply for the job. In the end, her dad applies and is re-hired. This story is a fun way of reminding us of the importance of reading aloud—not only because it’s fun, but also because it strengthens the relationship between parent and child. The illustrations are perfect and go well with the story. Help Wanted, Must Love Books would make a wonderful bedtime story.

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

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Shailey is looking for someone to fill the role of bedtime storyteller. Shailey soon learns that she needs to be VERY specific with her job description. Will she ever find some to fill this role as perfectly as her Dad?
I thought this book was super cute. Students will enjoy seeing characters from well know fairy tales and like discussing why the characters are not good candidates to take the job of bedtime story teller.
I would read and recommend this book to my students,

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This book was adorable and fun. My kids loved reading it with me. Deep gratitude to Net Galley and Janet Summer Johnson for the opportunity to read it. Read it to your kids, its a good one.

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First thanks to #NetGalley and #Capstone for letting me read #HelpWantedMustLoveBooks.

This book is just too cute. Perfect bedtime story. This little girls knew what she wanted in a storyteller. I hope my library can get this book in.

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