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Benjamin & Rumblechum: A Children's Adventure Kindle Edition
Benjamin & Rumblechum is a story that will keep your children laughing and learning from the first page to the last. As Katie and Jacob travel across Canada with their two eccentric aunts in a minivan named Rumblechum, they learn about history and geography. And with them is their stuffed monkey, Benjamin.
Rumblechum transports them through Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the huge province of Ontario, and finally back to their little house in Edmonton, Alberta. Their dear calico cat Freedom is at the door to greet them, meowing with excitement and joy, and a mysterious parcel is opened.
This is a fictional chapter book suitable for readers between ages 3 to 6, based on true traveling experiences. Your little ones will love paging through the chapters with whimsical illustrations at the top of each chapter, and you will love sharing the magical story of Benjamin's adventures in Rumblechum. This is a story for all ages, sharing the great country of Canada with a new generation of readers.
- Reading age3 - 18 years
- LanguageEnglish
- Grade levelPreschool - 12
- Publication dateJuly 25, 2017
Product details
- ASIN : B0748JV893
- Publisher : Creativia; 2nd edition (July 25, 2017)
- Publication date : July 25, 2017
- Language : English
- File size : 633 KB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 69 pages
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors
Kenna McKinnon is the author of Blood Sister, a quirky mystery starring a schizophrenic female private eye; Den of Dark Angels; Engaging the Dragon; Short Circuit and Other Geek Stories; a tale of a local superhero hair stylist, Timothie Hill and the Cloak of Power; and a novella, Ascending. Her books are available in eBook and paperback worldwide on Amazon KDP and in selected bookstores and public libraries.
Her interests / hobbies include health and physical fitness, volunteering, writing, reading, travel whether armchair or in real life, and entertaining friends. She lives in Canada.
Her most memorable years were spent at the University of Alberta, where she graduated with Distinction with a degree in Anthropology. She has lived successfully with schizophrenia for many years and is a member of the Writers' Guild of Alberta and the Canadian Authors Association. She has three children and three grandsons.
Her author's blog: http://KennaMcKinnonAuthor.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KennaMcKinnonAuthor
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/KennaMcKinnon
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6480104.Kenna_McKinnon
Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.
Customer reviews
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Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book provides fun and rewarding learning experiences for children. They describe the story as a tale of wonderful experiences and emotions, with vivid descriptions of adventures told with affection. The book is described as an enjoyable and heartfelt travel book for children.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers enjoy the learning experience. They find it fun and rewarding for children as they learn new words and geography.
"...She supports and nourishes kids' thoughts with her beautiful story. ... “..." Read more
"In this charming travel book for children, we first learn in the acknowledgements that Benjamin the stuffed monkey actually exists, found by the co-..." Read more
"...It is so heart-felt, fun, and rewarding. I used to think all books for younger people should have a moral value of some sort...." Read more
Customers enjoy the story's quality. They find it a tale of wonderful experiences and emotions, friendships, and dreams. The adventures are told vividly and with affection by the authors. Readers say each chapter is an experience, a mini-story in itself.
"...She supports and nourishes kids' thoughts with her beautiful story. ... “..." Read more
"...Not just a tale of wonderful experiences and emotions, of friendships and dreams, “Benjamin and Rumblechum” is a marvelous teaching experience for..." Read more
"...It is so heart-felt, fun, and rewarding. I used to think all books for younger people should have a moral value of some sort...." Read more
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2017As soon as I saw the cover of Kenna McKinnon's book 'Benjamin & Rumblechum' I knew I had to read this book. My mother worked for ESSO (Austria) for more than a decade.
I absolutely LOOOVE " Benjamin & Rumblechum." Author McKinnon is a natural when it comes to writing this genre. She manages to add "magic" to her story.
All of us know that children have their own fantasy world, full of stuffed toys who listen to and also understand them. McKinnon's presents this world in a beautiful book. She supports and nourishes kids' thoughts with her beautiful story.
... “I remember many interesting places,” Benjamin the Stuffed Monkey said. “I know. I've traveled.”...
... “I've never traveled.” Freedom the calico cat licked one orange paw with a pink tongue."...
Naturally, all children know that stuffed animals can be taken along on a trip easily, whereas taking a real cat (or dog) on a long trip would be a lot more complicated. That's why Freedom, the calico cat, never gets to travel and, in this book, Benjamin the Stuffed Monkey gets to travel to Ontario.
These truths elevate the book's other content, for instance, that stuffed animals who don't say anything m i g h t potentially... possibly... experience their adventures in some way.
Author McKinnon is clever to stay in the realms of the possible,
"... Benjamin the Monkey lay sprawled on the hard ground beside the van. The dog sniffed at Benjamin's Esso hat. He licked at Benjamin's little white beard. He picked Benjamin up in his big soft mouth. He padded away. Benjamin screamed and screamed but no one heard him. He was only a stuffed animal..."
*
Benjamin the Stuffed Monkey experiences new adventures with Aunt Mary and Aunt Kathleen, Katie and Jacob. And, of course, there is Rumblechum, the minivan, who makes that noise, Rumblechum, Rumblechum, Rumblechum.
Freedom the cat stays behind with Della and her daughter Emily who are cat-sitting. Freedom's adventures are less "exciting." One day, Emily leaves the house door open and Freedom seeks his own adventures in the vegetable garden. Unfortunately, Freedom gets attacked by bird parents who think that he wants to attack their baby bird. When finally, Emily rescues him from the birds Freedom decides that it is best to stay indoors.
Meanwhile, Benjamin gets to participate in a rodeo.
The cowboy will send gifts for Benjamin and Freedom. (No spoilers!)
The book features awesome travel descriptions, describing travel in Canada, specifically: Brandon, Manitoba, Maryfield, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Manitoulin Island, and flat Saskatchewan . It also advertises Canada's finest goods:
"... where you can eat eggs fried in maple syrup, and maple syrup in your coffee, and sausages made with maple syrup, and pancakes with maple syrup, and maple syrup on toast...”
(Admit it - right now you'd like to eat pancakes with maple syrup; so, do I.)
However, the book's most important message us:
Children are different.
• "... Katie smiled to herself. She heard Benjamin talk sometimes. No one else heard Benjamin talk. It felt like a whisper in her mind. You had to really love stuffed animals to hear them talk..."
• "... Emily had a stuffed Kangaroo all the way from Australia which she called Wally the Roo. A friend from Down Under had brought it back for her after a visit. But she loved real critters better..."
5 stars! Highly recommended.
Gisela Hausmann, author & blogger
- Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2017In this charming travel book for children, we first learn in the acknowledgements that Benjamin the stuffed monkey actually exists, found by the co-author Emma (a teacher of children for 37 years) in an ESSO Service Station on the border of England and Wales. The author Kenna McKinnon dreamed up the adventure of two children - Katie and Jacob - who “travel across the wonderful and great country of Canada” with their aunts, and with Benjamin who is happy to go but a bit sad at leaving behind his friend Freedom the Calico cat (who also actually exists). This marriage of reality and creative ideas results in a tale that to we adults would seem, well, preposterous!
But now we enter the realm of the child’s mind where all disbelief is abandoned and nothing is impossible, where even stuffed animals can exchange real feelings with other toy creatures, and live pets and people. Maintaining an exalted position atop the dashboard of the family minivan - whose motor goes Rumblechum-Rum-Rum, hence the book’s title - Benjamin’s little life takes on an almost Walter Mitty persona. In a variety of circumstances in a variety of places, Benjamin falls out of the van and is carried off by a dog who contemplates eating him before his compassionate master comes to the rescue ; visits a famed museum in Manitoba; becomes a good luck charm for a robust Bronco-riding rodeo cowboy; enjoys a performance of Beauty and the Beast at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. On and on the adventures go told vividly and with affection by the authors.
Not just a tale of wonderful experiences and emotions, of friendships and dreams, “Benjamin and Rumblechum” is a marvelous teaching experience for children as they learn new words and some important geography and history. I imagine this could be enhanced by parents or teachers who read the story in front of a huge map of Canada and have children travel with Benjamin across the Canadian landscape from Edmonton to Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoulin Island, Ontario - and ultimately home again where everything Benjamin and his family treasure awaits them.
The adorable cover depicting Benjamin in his iconic costume is the only illustration by Aniela Abair we see in the Kindle book version. I do hope the illustrations are found in the print version, which would justify the 5 star rating.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2020The characters take off on a cross country trek that is bound to provide fun learning experiences that a middle grade reader will surely enjoy. The author has thoroughly shown us not only the characters’ physical demands but their emotional experiences as well. And Benjamin is one character I believe with which most young people will feel empathy.
Though the story flows seamlessly from chapter to chapter, and every chapter is an experience, a mini-story in itself. One by one, a chapter could be read each night to a youngster. Or, one or two chapters, depending on how the young person follows the story. This is also a story a middle grade reader won’t hesitate to dive into and finish. It is so heart-felt, fun, and rewarding.
I used to think all books for younger people should have a moral value of some sort. Then I changed that when some stories could be read for the sheer pleasure of it all. But here again, how do you tell a story to a child that doesn’t have a lesson of sorts included, something from which they can learn to be caring and responsible adults? What the characters experienced in Benjamin and Rumblechum shows the great benefits derived from caring for one another. What the characters expressed emotionally are feelings to which younger children can relate. And on top of all that, it’s simply a fun and enjoyable story.