Welcome Home, Beaver is about a beaver who leaves his dam in search of adventure. However, after wandering far from home, he worries he will not be able to find his way back home. He is helped by Akita, a friendly but confused dog who asks him if he lives in a tree, underwater, etc. The style of the book is the call-and-response type of "Are You My Mommy" and other books. I wish there had been more on Beaver's adventure first because it just did not feel realistic that he was suddenly lost and wanting to return home after one page. The art was good and there was a lot of detail on each page that could keep kids busy for a long time, but the story itself was very simple and rushed.

Note: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not compensated in any other fashion for the review and the opinions reflected below are entirely my own. Special thanks to the publisher and author for providing the copy.

Super cute and fun read. I know some patrons that would love this book. I will definitely recommend this one.

Enables children to explore the habitats of animals other than beavers. The book visual illustration is quite attractive to kids.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.


Welp, this one sounded better than it actually was. I thought the adventure would last a bit longer than 1 page. Really, just 1 page. :| He probably travelled pretty far, but it would have been nice if we, the readers, would have seen that.

Next up is Akita who is going to help Beaver and does an outstanding terrible job at it. Does Akita really think that that Beaver lives in a cave underwater (fully submerged) or lives in mouse houses? Then again, given the proportions and that they aren't that good at times, I can slightly imagine that Akita may confuse the Beaver for some other creature. :P But still. Akita isn't smart.

Sometimes repetition works. But in this one? Especially combined with the stupidity of Akita? No. It didn't work, and I was just flicking through the book on my tablet, feeling bored.

The ending was, of course, no surprise. The title spoils it already, plus it is a children's book, they generally go for the good/happy endings.

There is a lot going on in the pictures, at times a bit too much taking away the focus of the "story".

So yeah, I am disappointed, when I spotted this book on Netgalley I was really hoping it would be a great picture book.

What a delightful children’s read of an adventure with a Mr. Beaver and his adventure dog friend. They travel all over the world, high and low, in a hot air balloon discovering housing and habitats in which other creatures live. The illustrations are really wonderfully done and you can’t help but wish you could escape reality and climb inside some of them to have a meal, maybe a slumber party and fellowship with the family there. I recommend this wonderful children’s book.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Welcome Home, Beaver is a charming children's book written and illustrated by Magnus Weightman.

Within thirty-two pages, this book focuses on Beaver traveling across the world in a hot air balloon, while searching to find his way back home. Along the way, he views various animals and their homes, and a map diagram of Beaver's travels is included.

Welcome Home, Beaver is a delightful easy-to-read picture book with elaborate, yet adorable, illustrations. It's geared toward young children, particularly ages four to nine.


Note: I received this book from NetGalley, which is a program designed for bloggers to write book reviews in exchange for books, yet the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

It's 'up and away' in a wonderful exploration to some of the less known animals of the world and their exciting homes.

Beaver is floating down river but finds himself in the middle of a big city. . .no where near his home. Luckily, Akita, the adventure dog, spots him from her hot air balloon and offers to help get him back to his warm abode. The trip takes them to many new places to meet animals around the world.

What a lovely trip! There is so much to love in this picture book, that I had to read it several times before writing this review.

The text is fairly simple and flows with a great repetition, exactly the kind which kids enjoy to hear as they go from one scene to the next. Akita and Beaver take off to the North Pole, to deep Africa and beyond. Each time Akita asks if the animal's home they happen across is Beaver's. Of course, it isn't. This is where the play between word and text perfectly weave together. Although the text only makes a general statement, the illustrations are packed with details. There is so much to discover at each animal's home, fun things. There's always something new to discover every time kids flip through, which will definitely keep them coming back for more.

These animal homes aren't the common well-known ones, but rather introduce young listeners/readers to some 'homes' they haven't necessarily run across before. Storks, foxes, termites, and weaverbird are only a few of the creatures visited. Even adults will discover a few things they might not have known before.

Warm feelings of security and comfort close off the tale as Beaver finally finds his own home and is glad to be there. But this isn't a book that will be set down after that last page and forgotten. It's one to flip through and read time and again.

This was a cute book about a beaver that leaves home only to realize that he doesn't know how to return. The illustrations and text follow him as he passes by all sorts of other animals and their dwellings in search of his home.

This was a very simple yet adorable book. The images are very detailed and I think parents and young readers will love this book for a few reasons. The book teaches readers about different types of animal dwellings while beaver is looking for his home. It is presented as questions and answers, so that not only do you see the image but you learn about how the homes is built. Readers will learn who the homes belong to and some of the features of those homes.

The illustrations are wonderfully done, 2-page spreads and have so many fun things to look at for those listening to the story and reading it. The details are what make this book stand out. They help the story along very well.

Overall I think that this is a fun book for both young readers and parents, and I think that you have to see it in order to appreciate all of its beauty.

Review will be live on blog on 10/26

I was really impressed with this book about Beaver having lost his way and trying to find his home. The illustrations are absolutely fantastic! They are so incredibly detailed, that you just know that every time you open this book to read it, there'll be something new to discover. In each page there is so much going on that I'm sure little eyes will be pointing out something different every time. It also has a great educational aspect, showing the different habitats of different animals across the world, with a map at the end of the book which shows where the animals originate. The only downside is the very small text, which I found difficult to read and I'd imagine other people would too.

The illustrations are very detailed and engagingly fanciful. Unfortunately, my Kindle doesn’t have a color screen, but I’m sure they are even better in full color. The story line was a bit flat. I’m not sure why he’s looking for his house up in trees and like places, or how he met Akita the Adventure Dog, but it might work for young children.
I received this as a free ARC through NetGalley.

I loved the charming illustrations in "Welcome Home, Beaver". Each page had so many fun places to explore. Beaver goes on an adventure around the world with the aid of his friend Akita Dog. I was happy to see the map of the world with the markings of where they had been.

Adorable, detailed illustrations I think kids will love. Would be great paired with a nonfiction selection about animal homes. The rhyming text was just ok, I'm glad there is a map at the end, but I would have loved to have seen photos of the real animal homes somewhere as well. I can see this working as a read-aloud or one-on-one.

My kids enjoyed this sweet story about a beaver traveling around the world learning about other animals' homes while trying to get back to his.

Welcome Home, Beaver has lovely, detailed illustrations that will captivate kids and their parents. This was a fun book to look at and inspect the details of each animal's home. This book is filled with something my sister calls "sneaky nature teaching," in which information about the natural world is part of the story- or in this case, the Illustrations. The images show the many different types of homes animals live in around the world, my kids were fascinated to see the different shapes, sizes, and locations of animal homes. My kids and I especially loved the map at the end of the book that showed where Akita and Beaver traveled on their adventure. The only drawback is that the story seems overly simplistic, the characters simply travel from place to place and don't seem to learn anything new or undergo any character development. While this irked me, my kids hardly seemed to notice and were very focused on inspecting the details in each illustration. Overall this was a very fun book to explore.

A easy way for children to learn about different animals homes and the way they live under the ground in busy towns in jungles.Besutiful illustrstions that can be adapted for school usr such as wall pictures,games and art work to make a ckassroom display a dhort story thst eill thrill children everywhere.

This was an interesting and successful way to look at where animals live. Beaver traveled down the river too far and needs to find his way home. Akita the traveling dog and his hot air balloon are there to help. Akita points out various types of homes while Beavers tells him who lives there. Plus at the end, there is map of their travels. A lovely book to add to any collection.

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Let beaver take you and your child around the world in his hot air balloon, seeing all the different ways in which animals around the world live! Perfect bedtime reading to spark off the imagination of a young child. Fantastic book, highly recommend.

Beaver goes off exploring, but then gets concerned that he won't be able to find his way home. Akita, the hot air balloon adventurer, helps Beaver find his way home, circumnavigating the globe and checking in on a variety of animal houses along the way.

Each stop is a full, two page spread, illustrated in a colorful, "Where's Waldo?" search-and-find style. There are an abundance of scenes to look at within each landscape and I loved taking the time to slowly peruse each scene, finding all of the small animals and illustrations of daily life. The map at the end highlights where in the world each "house" is located.

The prose itself, written in short, rhyming couplets, wasn't terribly captivating; however, it introduces each of the scenes, stating what animal lives there, and then lets the picture tell the rest of the story.

It's subtly educational, allowing kids to see the wide variety of dwellings and landscapes that animals live in, from tunnels and ice caves to honeycombs and nests. It will surely spark some interest in finding out more about some of the habitats that animals make for themselves.

Already on the cover there’s a lot of stuff going on, but. . . why do beavers need scuba gear?
An adventurous young beaver—dressed like a lumberjack, of course—is on a log, rowing along a giant city with skyscrapers. Quickly he becomes homesick, so Akita the Adventure Dog! (must have exclamation point) takes him around the world in his balloon searching for it. I hope Akita is doing it on purpose, because if he can’t tell there’s no way Beaver could possibly live in a honeycomb then he’s the dumbest superhero ever.
Again, there’s a lot going on in each artwork. My fave is when they’re in the Arctic and the seals are playing ring toss with a narwhal. On another page there’s a prairie dog playing the accordion—that’s just evil.
On the other hand, some of this background material, added to make things funny, isn’t very realistic. (Yes, this is about a beaver and a dog in a balloon going around the world, but still.) For example, Fox has three kids in his cave. . . and a liquor cabinet with the bottles on top, where anyone can get at them. And a pantry but no real kitchen. Maybe it’s more my attention to detail that’s at fault here. I supposed the author/artist doesn’t expect kids to catch all this. For them it will be fine and fun—don’t want anyone to think this sucks in any way—just felt like a little more thought could have been put into the details.
The couplets certainly rhyme, though forget about the meter. Don’t know how big this real-tree book will be, but the print is tiny. (This rhyming stuff is catching!)
At the end there’s a map of all the places they visited.