children’s stories
Book and Audio Story Review: Billy Joins the Circus by Anna Christina
Title: Billy Joins the Circus
Author: Music Audio Stories
Genre: Children’s Stories
Publication Date: June 6, 2022
Story Synopsis
Billy Joins the Circus is a wonderfully uplifting story about a monkey who wants to join the circus. Through Billy, little ones are inspired to believe in themselves and follow their dreams! One day, Billy the monkey meets the Ringmaster and Polly, the circus flying dolly. They are not sure if Billy has the talent for their circus and they ask him what he can do! Billy cheerfully sings a song that impresses them.
Encourage your child to read, write, listen, sing and dance by combining this fun colourful picture book with the unique music audiobook and interactive activity booklet that go with this picture book.
Available:
- The Billy Joins the Circus Music Audiobook CD – 5:16 with original music, catchy sing-along song and sound effects throughout the narrative
- The MP3 download – so you can play the story on any device
- The Illustrated Activity Booklet – with an interactive question tree page, circus game and a fun colouring in picture to enjoy
Get items here: musicaudiostories.com/billy-joins-the-circus-audio-book
Together, you and your child will love to:
Read and learn about Billy the monkey in the picture book
Write the answers on the interactive question tree page in the activity booklet
Colour in Billy’s picture and join our creative world (see how inside the activity booklet)
Listen to the music audiobook as you follow the words in the picture book
Sing and Dance along with Billy the monkey.
BILLY JOINS THE CIRCUS
➡️ https://www.musicaudiostories.com/billy-joins-the-circus
GET PICTURE BOOK
➡️ https://etsy.me/34wgYRL
EBOOK & PAPERBACK
➡️ https://amzn.to/3y8eUvr
Get items here: https://www.musicaudiostories.com/billy-joins-the-circus
My Review
I listened and reviewed this story several years ago as an audio story only. The author has since added an actual book to go along with the audio story. I enjoyed it back then, but now it’s even better!
This is a story about Billy the monkey who wants to join the circus. Before he joins, they ask him (with a catchy song) if he can do different things such as touching his toes and clapping his hands. I have a 3-year-old grandson who was visiting today. We listened to this a couple of times. The first couple of times he just read along as usual. We took a break, and a little while later he clapped his hands, and I knew he wanted to read the book again. This time we had fun doing all of the movements!
I’m sure we’ll be reading it again tomorrow. It’s nice to be able to listen as Anna Christina reads the book. Her voice is great, and we can put the book down so that we both can do the movements.
About the Author
Anna Christina is the award-winning author, narrator, musician, storyteller and owner of Music Audio Stories. She has entertained and taught thousands of children at nurseries, schools, libraries and workshops with her Music Audio Stories during her musical Storytime, Storytime with Anna Christina. She regularly volunteers at libraries and is a brilliant advocate for the power of stories and music.
The success of her Storytime led her to launch a new product line called ‘Storytime with Anna Christina’. This product line is a delightful new innovative collection of music audiobooks, picture books and interactive activity booklets, that teach, uplift and inspire little ones.
Anna Christina is qualified in Sound Engineering, Music and Sound Technology and Music Production and has been a professional touring and recording artist, musician, songwriter, composer and singer for many years. Her natural flair for strong-themed storytelling, both in writing and in music, is prominent in her unique brand of music audiobooks.
Music Audio Stories are entertaining music audiobooks with brilliant soundtracks, catchy sing-along songs and fun stories in an animal kingdom. The 5-star-rated music audiobooks not only encourage children to be part of the story through drawing, song and dance, but they also inspire them to act out the scenes and be part of the magical journey.
Find out more at: musicaudiostories.com.
Who Writes this Stuff?
Audio Story Review: Billy Joins the Circus
Title: Billy Joins the Circus
Author: Music Audio Stories
Genre: Children’s Stories
Publication Date: August 1, 2016
Story Synopsis
Billy the monkey always wanted to join the circus and one day he heard that one was passing through his forest. He decided he would meet The Ring Master. He meets The Ring Master and Polly, the circus flying dolly. They are not sure if Billy has the talent for their circus and so they ask Billy what things he could do. Billy cheerfully sings a song about all the things he can do such as touch his toes, jump up and down, spin around and various other moves. It’s a happy, uplifting story with the underlining message that dreams can be achieved no matter what others may tell you. This story includes an original classical soundtrack, an extremely catchy song and sound effects throughout the narrative.
Story length: 4m46s | Age: 2+
HOW YOUR CHILD WILL BENEFIT FROM THIS STORY
If you are looking for a story that will encourage your child to sing and dance, this Music Audio Story is for you. Billy Joins The Circus is a wonderfully happy audio book with a strong message that dreams really do come true. The catchy song with instructions on movements to make such as clapping your hands, touching your toes, spinning around and jumping up and down is repeated three times enabling children to learn the song and the moves as they listen. Great fun and enjoyment for everyone.
My Review
I listened to this story online.
I have reviewed several audio stories for Music Audio Stories. They’re always cute but this one is my favorite so far. It is a story about Billy the monkey who wants to join the circus. Before he joins, they ask him (with a catchy song) if he can do different things such as touching his toes and clapping his hands. I pictured a young child listening to this and doing each movement as they sing. What fun!
I definitely recommend this story. There are others available at Music Audio Stories.
Audio Story Review: Weird & Wonderful by Music Audio Stories
My Review
What a sweet tale! It’s about a centipede and his friends who are each some time of bug. I never thought about hugging a slug before I listened to this, not that I think I could now.
Even though this story is short, about 4 minutes, it gives children a new perspective on bugs…even though they’re weird, they’re still wonderful. It includes some singing that is geared to young children. Since the attentions span of youngsters is so short, this story is just the right length!
Weird & Wonderful is a great story for parents or classrooms. I went to the Music Audio Stories website, which not only has information about the story, but also how to teach children about insects. There are 8 other audio stories available, some of which I’ve reviewed in the past. They’re great for young children.
Book Review: Adventures with Ragweed by Linda Lou Crosby
Title: Adventures with Ragweed: A Collection of Whimsical Tales
Author: Linda Lou Crosby
Illustrator: Andy Atkins
Genre: Young Adult, Children, Humor, Short Stories
Date Published: February 10, 2014
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About the Book
Whimsy – Humorous Tales of Adventure, Friendship and Outdoor Ventures For Young Adult Readers and those young at Heart
Adventures with Ragweed is a collection of humorous short stories filled with adventure and family themes.
Ragweed is a tribute to the whimsical part of each of us. Follow this young teen and her best friend, Marney as they travel to Mexico for a fishing trip, where the family is to shoot a pilot for a television show, instead, find themselves in an unexpected sea storm.
Laugh out loud as Ragweed takes on the tennis elite at the country club or attempts to rearrange their perfectly cut lawns.
Always one to learn new things, this young freckled face gal with the unruly blonde hair, builds a float, rides a horse and grows a garden – always getting into unintentional trouble and conning her friends to partake. Each task done with her own unique vies of the world.
Light Hearted and Funny
These stories are meant to entertain. It’s difficult to narrow it down to one specific genre as the book is a collection of short stories suitable for young adults as well as for an older crowd with a sense of humor. Family Relationships, Friendships, Essays and Humor are categories all presented within the pages of this book.
If you like the outdoors you might enjoy reading about Ragweed’s horse riding exploits or her compost-creating stunts. She spends a great deal of time playing sports and in the garden. Most of the stories are based on the author’s own experiences when she was a young adult but some of us know that inner youth tends to follow us into adulthood – so if you have similar backgrounds, these tales will make you grin.
Beautifully Illustrated
Each story in this humorous collection is beautifully illustrated. The pictures capture the character and facial expressions of the gals in these short stories and in our opinion add to the text. There is also an animated video on the author’s page that is worth watching. The artist tried to capture the fun-spirited character of Ragweed and when the pictures were put into film, the story came alive visually. It’s like a short cartoon.
Available on Amazon.
My Review
I received a free ecopy of this book for an honest review.
Ragweed is a girl whose family is wealthy and she often finds herself bored, which is not usually a good thing. When she gets bored, she tends to find trouble. This book is a collection of short stories about Ragweed and her adventures from starting her own garden to getting into mischief at school with her only friend, Marney.
The stories are funny and the focus of each story is described well. For example, when Ragweed and her classmates build a float, the float is easy to visualize because of the detailed description.
Many of the characters are interesting. Ragweed, of course, is the most interesting and unique person in these stories. I like how she got her nickname. In fact, there are two reasons for her nickname. The one thing that surprised me was when I found out that Ragweed was a senior in high school. She seemed much younger by her actions and in the way she was described.
A couple examples of other interesting characters are Tex Loveland, a neighbor who is a retired rodeo clown. He saves the day for Ragweed a couple times. And Penelope, a girl who Ragweed plays tennis against.
I definitely recommend this book for children as well as young adults.
About the Author
Linda Lou Crosby is a video producer, storyteller and former professional athlete. Like Ragweed, she has a unique approach to life. Ragweed is a part of herself she wanted to share with others. Linda Lou has a great sense of humor and likes to laugh and make others laugh too.She currently lives with her husband in Montana and California where on clear days you can find her fishing, hunting or hiking.
She and Ragweed hope you will enjoy each tale in this book as much as Ragweed enjoyed living the adventures.
Bound 4 Escape 