Children's Book Review for Luciana's Finest Hour by James Reum

Luciana's Finest Hour by James Reum

Published:  April 29, 2025 by Blue Balloon Books

 

Taken from Amazon:  "Once upon a time, there was a medieval land called Knowhere ruled by the kindly King Julian . . ."

In the whimsical royal realm of Knowhere, renowned for its talented artisans and majestic scenery, lives a young girl named Luciana who works as a junior apprentice in her father's glassblowing workshop. Teased by boys at school and longing for acceptance, Luciana spends her free time training and riding Diego, her loyal pet dragon and best friend. When her father invents an innovative hourglass to help the king and townspeople track their daily tasks, the jealous town hermit Balthazar casts a spell on him that results in timekeeping disasters and chaos throughout the kingdom.

Desperate to rescue her father from confinement in the royal dungeon and to prove her worth, Luciana and Diego set out on a brave undertaking against daunting odds. Will Luciana succeed, or will the chance to save her father's fate slip away like sand through an hourglass?

Luciana's Finest Hour is a story that celebrates and embodies the spirit of a girl's empowerment. In her unforgettable finest hour, Luciana shows readers that with courage, kindness, and belief in one's self, anything is possible.

My Thoughts:  For the dragon loving, mystical world dreaming child this is the perfect book.   I love that Luciana is a young girl who stands up not only for herself but also for her father.   She can see that he is being treated wrongly and knows that she can make the town see that they are seeing it wrong.  

The illustrations are wonderful!  I love the scene where Luciana throws her cape off as she is on top of her dragon ready to prove her strength.   This book will entertain  children of many ages, from the young who will love the illustrations to the older who will learn about courage and kindness from the story. 

Thank you Blue Balloon Books for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

Purchase your own copy on Amazon

 

Meet the Author:  James Reum is a Harvard-educated lawyer who’s enjoyed a distinguished career in senior positions with an international law firm, the national government, and nonprofit organizations, including Junior Great Books and Children’s Legal Aid. Among his favorite pursuits are sports/coaching baseball, classical and ragtime piano, French cuisine, Broadway musical theatre, and dreaming up puns and fractured fairy tales. He lives in Chicago with his wife, Christel, and is the proud father of daughter Chloé and son John.