Books about Maggie and Maddy, by Kyle and Amy Goleno

Recently, I was offered the opportunity to review two children’s books about Napa Valley, California.  I’m reviewing them both here.

The first book is called Colors of Wine Country, which is for very young children to help them learn colors.  The idea is that on the right-hand page, the page is a solid color with the name of that color in the center.  On the left is an illustration of that color as it is found in the Napa Valley, e.g., “brown” is illustrated with Maggie and Maddy playing hide and seek behind brown wine barrels.  I absolutely loved this book, without hesitation.  I was charmed by the concepts that complement each color.  The book is so short that anything more I might say would make the review longer than the book, but I highly recommend it.

The second book is called Adventures in Napa Valley, and is for slightly older children. This oversized book describes a day of adventure for older sister Maggie and younger sister Maddy.  Together, they spend the day exploring the region by hot air balloon, bicycle built for two, double kayak, train, and limousine.  The Napa community was involved, allowing real stores and tourist attractions to be included in the girls’ day of adventure.  Maggie and Maddy made Napa Valley look like great fun!

The Maggie and Maddy stories are the brain-children of Kyle and Amy Goleno, with illustrator Peter Francis.  Personally, I would love to see more of these books.  Travel, adventure, beauty, and lots of fun food — It doesn’t get any better.  I wish this crew great success.