Month: January 2025

Photographer: unknown
Maker and Year: Puzzlebug, 2021
Count: 500 pieces
Final size: 18.25 x 11″
Piece Type/Variety: Ribbon cut, one shape
Piece quality: Poor
Skin irritation: None

This is the last of my small puzzles that fit on the lap board, at least of single boxes. There’s quite a few others in my multi-pack sets that I might get out next. Since they were all small, I kept the recent puzzle assemblies together for a group photo, that’s just fun sometimes:

Same as the others, this one had thin pieces, quite a few of them already bent even though it was in new condition, still sealed in the bag! Didn’t lie quite flat when all put together. It was a tricky one. The horse was challenging though fun, the busy, guady background quite a bit harder.

The horse does look terrified, though. Why does it look terrified. If you look close, the eye has a very anxious expression, and the gaping mouth looks fearful. At least that’s how I read its expression. Like it’s screaming. Beautiful and decked out in flowers, but screaming.

traded for on Puzzle Swaps

by No Voice Unheard

Book of large, beautiful photographs featuring animals that live in several sanctuaries in the US. They are all rescues. Some were pulled from neglectful situations, others were destined for slaughterhouses, or taken from factory farms that were getting shut down. They had lived in cramped, unsanitary conditions or been abused. Now living in wide open, clean spaces with others of their kind (or not, some chose to hang out with a different species- like the swan that is pictured alongside three cows in a field). The book tells their stories, with a real effort to show how individual the animals’ personalities are, and how much like us their wants and needs are. The ninety-five in the title is supposedly the number of animals whose lives would be spared if one person went vegan. (Not sure how accurate that is). Numerous authors, so the writing style and voice varies widely. Some were really straightforward, others so flowery and descriptive with the language I had difficulty with it. Difficulty wrapping my head around how much some particular authors imagined about the animals’ interior state of mind and motivations, too. There’s many pages just pictures, no text and then in the back, a list of thumbnail photos with brief description for each of those animals- where they came from, what they had suffered, etc. This really seemed just a place to point out more awful things that animals go through in order to feed us. It did start to feel a bit repetitive. And the whole book obviously has an agenda- to make readers feel bad about consuming animal protein, or things made from animals in any way (even going so far as to protest sheep being raised or kept to shear their wool). The book shows chickens, pigs, goats, sheep, cows, ducks, geese and rabbits. The stories are all touching. Most of the animals seem to recover from their previous experiences, and settle in to live peacefully. A few are always afraid of humans (and given their space) or belligerant (note the goose named Goosifer). Quite a few make a close bond with another animal which makes a heartwarming story. A lot of their lives are very short after going to the sanctuary, whether due to health problems or just because of breeding, which caused their bodies to grow fast and then falter. This book is part of a series- there’s also a volume about shelter dogs, and another one about animals in zoos.

Rating: 3/5
162 pages, 2010

Photographer: unknown
Maker and Year: Lafayette Puzzle Factory, 2013
Count: 500 pieces
Final size: 18.25 x 11″
Piece Type/Variety: Ribbon cut, one shape
Piece quality: Poor
Skin irritation: None

I was charmed by this cat’s face, because I now have a calico tuxedo kitty myself, and she looks almost just like this one, except mine has darker patches. (This kitten’s a dilute calico). Our kitty even has the little splotch just below the nose! I thought the flowers in this puzzle would be fun, boy was I wrong. They were a trial. Took me quite a few sittings. Reminded me a lot of doing that kitten in a field of daisies. Halfway through assembling the rudbeckia, things started to fall into place and it felt enjoyable instead of difficult. 

Funny, this one made me figure something out about the puzzle makers. Seems all these little puzzles are made by the same company, or one has bought the others. I thought Puzzlebug was a division of Cra-Z-Art, but this box says Puzzlebug on it, and has the logo LPF on the side. Which matches that from the box of the Copenhagen puzzle I have. So I looked up LPF- it’s the Lafayette Puzzle Factory, which was bought by Cra-Z-Art in 2016. So that explains it.

While the pieces on this one are still thin, prone to getting bent, and all one shape, I do have to say the box they came in is quite a bit sturdier than the other little puzzles I have.

a thrift store find

by Katherine Applegate

Another sequel to The One and Only Ivan. This one from the viewpoint of the little elephant, Ruby. Ruby, having escaped the horrors of the mall along with Ivan (who now lives next door), is now safe in the zoo and surrounding by other elephants who love and support her. She’s charming- so spunky and silly, loves to tell riddles and have fun. But reluctant about an upcoming event- a celebration the elephants in her adopted herd are having for her “Tuskday”- a coming-of-age thing. I really thought this book would be either about her struggles to adjust to yet another new environment, or about her desire to live free in the wild, return to Africa. Nope. Most of it is about what she remembers from being in Africa, before she was captured as a baby calf and sold to the mall display. She has a very good memory. And it’s why she dreads her Tuskday. She doesn’t like her tusks, because back in Africa, elephants in her family were hunted for their tusks, people killed them for it. Ruby relives the trauma and fear of those days as she tells her story, and by the end of the book, is able to come to terms with some things. That she can’t escape growing up, but she can face things together with her friends and family. Like the other books in this series, it was a touching story, and shares a lot of info about wild elephants and the threats they face, through Ruby’s eyes (with a bit too much knowledge of what humans did – but easy to overlook that) which is a great way for young readers to learn. I don’t know why, but again I found myself a little bored with it. Maybe because all the things Ruby shared about the plight of elephants, was already in my awareness, and the plot itself didn’t have much unique to it- or maybe I need to really start moving on to YA and adult books again.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5
218 pages, 2023

Photographer: unknown
Maker and Year: Puzzlebug, 2022
Count: 500 pieces
Final size: 20 x 12″
Piece Type/Variety: Ribbon cut, one shape
Piece quality: Poor
Skin irritation: None

Yet another small lap puzzle, with running horses. I liked assembling the horse part. So crisp the image you can practically see every hair on the flying manes and tails. Improbable that the flowers in the foreground should also be in such sharp focus, and they were so obviously photoshopped in that it annoyed me. The green background was tedious, turned into trial-and-error fitting. Even though there was some variation in the green shades. Not sure if I’d want to do this particular one again. I do have plenty of other puzzles with galloping horses (it’s a popular kind of image, for animal pictures).

Puzzlebug is a division of Cra-Z-Art. So this has the same thin pieces already starting to bend, a bit too shiny (as you can see in the photos) and lacking in any piece shape variety.

a thrift store find

by Katherine Applegate

Sequel to The One and Only Ivan. This one is from the dog’s viewpoint, and it takes place mostly after the events in the old shopping mall, although there are some flashbacks where Bob describes their time there, or his memories of puppyhood before. He was a scrappy street dog, had to rely on his wits and definitely did not trust humans. But now he’s in a comfortable home, taken on walks, even entered into obedience school (which he defies). He’s worried about “going soft.” The best days are when his family takes him to visit the zoo, and he gets to see Ivan the gorilla and Ruby the elephant again. The first part of this story is Bob explaining his situation and reflecting on the relationship between dogs and humans. He’s sarcastic about it all, doesn’t quite agree with most dogs’ fawning on their owners, and makes pointed remarks about some famous dogs (Chaser the border collie who knows a thousand words and Hachiko who waited nine years for his owner- neither are actually named in the book but it’s obvious who they are). I did like some of his descriptive phrases: “homework, which smells like frustration with a hint of eraser.” Or this: “We live on a lonely ball called Earth, and humans have basically been throwing it against the wall for so long that the poor ‘ol ball is falling apart.” Yeah, the dog talks like he knows more than animals actually could, but so do all the other animals in this story. And they all talk to each other.

About halfway through the book, a huge natural disaster strikes. While Bob is at the zoo, visiting his old friends. He’s suddenly roaming through the debris, searching for his friends. Finding and helping other animals in distress, in spite of himself. While humans are trying to rescue animals from the rubble and capture or subdue the dangerous ones that have gotten free, Bob is mostly worried about Ivan. A flood follows the initial blow, and Bob (against his will) winds up in the animal shelter nearby, where more humans are trying to evacuate the animals. He encounters someone from his past there, and finally is able to lay to rest an old hurt. To find forgiveness for himself, for a wrong he thought he’d done (but nobody else held it against him). He goes on yet another rescue mission, determined to succeed where no one else can. But he needs the help of his old friends in this, too.

Wow, there was so much tension with the disaster and aftermath in this one. It was pages and pages and pages of action- all happening in what seemed just twenty-four hours, as the animals scrambled around trying to survive and save each other. Bob finds he’s just as brave and plucky as he ever imagined himself to be, but more importantly, that he also cares more about others than he would have admitted. It’s very touching and heartwarming, but a much too. With the disaster events. Not sure if I would have liked this one as a kid. It looks like a really thick book, but it’s actually not that long. All told in brief paragraphs and one-liners spaced down the page, almost like poetry in style. So a quick one. I did like that the voice of this was very different from the previous book, as Bob is not at all like Ivan. But I think that’s why some other readers didn’t like it as much.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5
340 pages, 2020

Artist: John Crisp
Maker and Year: Cra-Z-Art, 2019
Count: 300 pieces
Final size: 18.25 x 11″
Piece Type/Variety: Ribbon cut, one shape
Piece quality: Poor
Skin irritation: None

I liked this bright picture. Not much to say about it- another little puzzle worked on my lap. Very boring all-the-same piece shapes, but lots of color and detail so it didn’t matter. I’m finding myself more tolerant of cheap puzzles as time goes on. At least for now. This one the pieces are thin, and even though the colors are still vivid, some of the corners have little bits missing (so there’s white specks across the picture) and several knobs starting to lift up. So it’s showing some wear.

It was fun anyways.

a thrift store find

Photographer: unknown
Made by: Dreamtivity
Count: 101 pieces
Final size: 16 x 6″
Piece Type/Variety: Ribbon cut, average
Piece quality: Average
Skin irritation: None

I think this is the first 100-piece panoramic that I’ve ever done. For what I would usually consider a “kid’s puzzle”, it was somewhat challenging. All the feathers complex and dazzling. The pieces were decent thickness, not too thin, but already starting to warp in places so it didn’t all lie flat. Worth keeping for another go-round someday.

a thrift store find

Photographer: unknown
Maker and Year: LPF Ltd, 2010
Count: 350 pieces
Final size: 12.25 x 7.25″
Piece Type/Variety: Ribbon cut, one shape
Piece quality: Poor
Skin irritation: None

A very long name for a small puzzle! Thin, rather flimsy pieces with no variety. They did go oblong one way and more squarish the other, so at least there was orientation to go by. And very few false fits- it’s just that the individuality in knobs/indents was too small to see. Still, an engaging little puzzle to while away time. I like that the blue building in the middle of the picture is a near match for the color of the sky.

a thrift store find

Artist: Elaine Estern
Made by: Coconut Coast Studios
Count: 300 pieces
Final size: 15.5 x 11″
Piece Type/Variety: Straight ribbon cut, one shape
Piece quality: Decent
Skin irritation: None

Nice little puzzle that I got as a souvenir. From the Virgin Islands, in a gift shop at the National Park on St. John Island. I was delighted to find a small, very lightweight puzzle to bring home! The image is painted by a local artist and I wonder if it was locally produced as well. Not surprised that it has a very simple cut- all the pieces one shape-

but with so much color and detail in the picture, it wasn’t too hard to do. Only had a few false fits. These pieces feel different from the usual puzzles I get, though. They’re so light if I blew to get debris out of the way (no cardboard puzzle dust, but little bits of plasticky material shed off), pieces shifted around. The surface was very shiny and smooth, plastic feel. Some pieces had little threads of plastic hanging on the corners. The reverse sides are textured- which I liked because I could tilt my board a good amount before it all started sliding off.

They fit together very snugly, most times I had to press a piece into place with some force, and it made a little audible snap. It all held together so well, not only could I pick the entire puzzle up and wave it around in the air, but I could do this when it wasn’t even complete yet! (Bad photo example- the shadow from my arm holding it aloft).

I won’t be able to just waggle my fingers in from each edge to dismantle this puzzle- going to have to carefully separate it all one piece at a time. This was another one worked on a board on my lap.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, it’s sparkly. The whole thing has a fine glittery layer, appears to be beneath the plastic, not going to rub off as from the Mermaids.

bought new in a gift shop

DISCLAIMER:

All books reviewed on this site are owned by me, or borrowed from the public library. Exceptions are a very occasional review copy sent to me by a publisher or author, as noted. Receiving a book does not influence my opinion or evaluation of it

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