Joann and Jane: Who Made This Mess?

Joann and Jane is a darling picture book that has the capability to be used in multiple ways. Joann and Jane are sisters who are uncovering the mystery of the mess in their room. They move about their house interviewing their family members and looking for clues as to where the mess came from. After compiling all their evidence and theories, they finally discover who made the mess- and they learn a valuable lesson in the process. 

I highly recommend this book. It can be used to teach responsibility, problem and solution, and text evidence based questioning. The dialogue is repetitive and fun, and the illustrations are very appealing. The final bonus of this book is the interracial family. What a great book!

**ARC received in exchange of an honest opinion***

Joann and Jane: Who Made This Mess was adorable! There was a really great storyline and a mystery that would be intriguing for little ones. I can't wait to read this book with my 4 year old and see if he can guess who made the mess :) 

5 Stars!

Loved this book!

Joann and Jane are engaging miniature detectives in this delightful children’s book. The story and illustrations draw you in and create anticipation for what will come next. Who created the messes? Will the girls be able to unravel the clues? I think children of all ages will really enjoy this series.

The book, Joann and Jane: Who Made This Mess? is very cute. The two girls find a mess in their room and they don't know where it came from! They ask dad, mom and grandpa. Eventually, the figure it the culprit is the cute dog (who looks like a beagle!). However, it is because they left candy in their room that the dog went through and made a big mess. The girls end up taking responsibility and joke about starting their own detective agency.

The message is a good one that they tried to figure out what happened and then admitted their role in the mess. It was cleaned up and they learned their lesson. I'd recommend this book to kids ages 3-5.

Joann & Jane are loveable characters and I could forsee an entire series. They are sisters in a mission! The determination and thoughtfulness these two portray made this a great children's story. I would love to read this book to children!

I read this book a week or so ago as I received an ARC from the author because I donated to the Kickstarter for this title. 
My anticipation of this book was definitely worth the wait, as I finally know who made the mess! That anticipation has not waned as I am hoping for a series filled with adventure and lessons about Joann and Jane.
The author, Mr. Mayes brought his characters' adventure to life is such a sweet way, I felt like I know Joann and Jane and really wanted them to solve the mystery! I love the inclusion of all of the family members in the household in the story, even the family dog makes an appearance! In addition to the characters adventure, as with all great children's books there is an endearing lesson to be learned in the end. The book is written in language that will be easy to understand for young/new readers and I see this book being one of many that could spark a love of reading in young people.  I would recommend this book for ages 2-5, though anyone would love to follow along this adventure.
Ms. McDaniel also illustrated the most adorable characters, catching them in action and making the reader feel as though they were watching the events unfold along with the characters. The use of colorful imagery is visually appealing and fun. 

I love that the author and illustrator drew from real life to bring this book together and the inclusion of a mixed-race family will show children that not all families are the same, but there are kids out there like them and that we can all love adventures.

This is from an advance review copy for which I thank the publisher.

If you were hoping to let your kids read this on a smart phone as an emergency distraction, it won't work! The picture is larger than the screen so you can't read the text, and you can't shrink the picture! You'd best plan on reading it only on a tablet or in the printed form.

The screens slide up and down, not side to side, but you can't catch the slide in the middle to maybe read the missing text, because for one thing, the text simply isn't there, and for another, the screen doesn't slide - it quantum jumps to the next image too quickly to ready anything even if there was text there to read at the margin.

That said, it's beautifully illustrated by Taylor McDaniel and engagingly written by Brandon Mayes, and it's wonderfully colored in more than one way, because this is a mixed race family which is very rare to see in a children's book even though such marriages have been steadily increasing in real life.

It's been half a century since mixed-race marriage stopped being illegal in the USA, and they're now at the highest proportion in US history, with one in six couples being mixed race, but it remains the case that Asians and Latinx are more likely to marry outside their race than black or white people are. Unsurprisingly, especially in the present political climate, twice as many Democrats as Republicans believe that mixed race marriage as a good thing.

But I digress! Sisters Joann and Jane can't figure out how their room got into such a mess. I'm sure many parents have heard this excuse many times, but here, it's a bit more complicated, it seems. While everyone is wondering how this happened and J&J are playing detective, the little beagle, known as London Dog, seems to be napping quite contentedly. I wonder why? I thought this was a great book and I commend it.

This cute children's story is about a little girl waking up to a mess in her room and her and her sister investigating to find out who made the mess. 

This book was cute, however the formatting on kindle was terrible and I had to squint and squint trying to read this book since the page was so small. Hopefully that gets corrected so it can be more easily read.

Two little girls play detective to find out who went into their rooms and made messes. Mom is more concerned with making breakfast, but grandpa offers some help.
At one point one of the girls lifts up the beagle’s ear and asks the dog if it was the culprit. When called on it, she says, “It was worth a try.” Adorable.
The story’s cute enough. The artwork is okay as well. Nothing is made about the family being mixed-race, which is as it should be.
3.5 pushed up to 4/5