James A Cox – Editor-in-Chief
Diane C Donovan - Editor
Midwest Book Review – CHILDREN’S BOOKWATCH: February 2007
Oregon, WI

"Veteran scuba diver Don Arends puts a novel twist on an original, entertaining, and character building picturebook story whose simple ‘kid friend’ text is colorfully illustrated by Neelam. Presenting young readers with the tale of the fish called Grandpa Grouper and his undersea friends, the story is about what happens when Grandpa Grouper’s mini-submarine is captured, he loses his king crown and glasses, and how his team of friends recover his possessions and, escaping the Blue Island Aquarium, finally make it back to Grandpa Grouper’s coral reef home. Thoroughly charming and thoughtful, “Grandpa Grouper” is a very highly recommended addition for family, school, and community library picturebook collections."

Al Galasso
North American Bookdealers Exchange
Cottage Grove, OR

"This easy to read enjoyable fish tale features Grandpa Grouper and his delightful friends. They are captured by a mini submarine and put on display in the Blue Island Aquarium. Grandpa losses his glasses and crown to a bully triggerfish, but the group make a daring escape back to the coral kingdom. In this unique children’s book (for ages 5-8), the young people are challenged to find special details in the bright underwater illustrations, which are full of motion, color and happy faces. Based on a true sea voyage that took place in the Galapagos Islands, this book makes a perfect gift for grandparents, schools, public libraries, gift shops, churches and fundraisers."

Pre-publishing field-testing in preschool to second grade classes provided very positive feedback from children, teachers and familes.

Nikki Stauffer
http://www.gatherroundthetable.com/Grandpa_Grouper_Review.html

"Our world is inundated with graphic and violent images both on TV and in video games. In a traditionally styled children’s book, Grandpa Grouper: The Fish With Glasses, author Don Arends attempts to draw attention back to the written word.

Grandpa Grouper, with his friends, lives in the coral reef. Grandpa and his friends are captured by a mini-submarine and brought to a new home at the aquarium. There, Grandpa becomes the star of the show where children come to see all of the beautiful fish. Even though their new home has all the things they need, it's not home. Devising a plan to escape and return to their homes, the group only needs the perfect moment to put that plan in to practice. Will they make it home?

With engaging questions on every page, even the youngest of listeners or readers will feel they are part of the story. The illustrations are quite colorful and bright, eliciting the feel of a magical watery realm.

We love this story of friendship, teamwork and determination."

Anne Butler – Preschool Teacher
Bethlehem Preschool, St. Charles, IL

“Our children were absolutely delighted by the story of Grandpa Grouper and his friends. Our curriculum is based on the children using exploration, discovery and problem-solving to create meaningful and fun learning experiences. This marvelous book provides all of that and so much more!”

Zoe MacKay Zacker – Age 6
"Reading Grandpa Grouper brings a treasured smile."

Anne M. Jeans School – Willowbrook, IL
"Grandpa Grouper is a big hit."

Sharon Korzenecki– 2nd Grade Teacher St. John of the Cross School

“Grandpa Grouper is a delightful mix of lessons ranging from recognizing possible causes of emotions that occur in interaction with others, and a lesson in learning how to be a team player. Grandpa Grouper is truly imaginative,has interactive lessons and is a terrific story of friendship which is critical for developing social and emotional skills.”

Ginny Stonecipher – Elementary Teacher

“We gave our book to our friend with four little granddaughters ages 5-12. They read it to them on Thanksgiving and asked them to critique the book. Never have four kids felt more important as they knew their thoughts would go to the author and were very impressed and so said they were giving their honest opinions.”

“The four loved the book, liked the characters and felt that you needed to write more books using the same characters. The youngest wears glasses so that really impressed her. The second youngest, around 8, says you should write a hurricane into your next one with the same characters and an island.”

“Don your “Grandpa Grouper” story is absolutely delightful. Our granddaughter Anna loves it!”  - Dave and Prue

“Thank you so much for the book “Grandpa Grouper”. Sarah is really enjoying the story.  The illustrations are wonderful too.  My parents gave it to her over Thanksgiving. It was an instant favorite.”
- Kelly Ratchford

“You were terrific with the children in Summer Church School and Vacation Bible School. Thank you for your ministering to our children, you have a real gift and are generous to share it.”  - Gail Patterson.

“Samuel an Cathy are very happy with their new book. Each night before going to bed, Samuel tells Cattie, “Let’s go and read our Dr. Clark Book.”  Every night they listen keenly while their father reads the story to them just before bedtime. It’s now Samuel’s favorite book.”
- Our Careroon friends living in Beijing

“Thank you Don Arends so much for the book “Saving Bonehead”. We still have a small birthday party for Vivian this weekend and Vivian will open the package then. I knew the sisters will love the story, as both Kaydence and Vivian love the first one and have memorized al the character/fish names from the first Grandpa Grouper book.” 
- Shumin Mao, Sir Run Shaw Hospital

“Congratulations for your success as a children’s book author.  Timothy loves “Grandpa Grouper”. Catherine reads it with him every evening.” 
- Andrew McEachron

“Here’s a little consumer feedback on Grandpa Grouper: Last week we gave our 5 year old grandson a copy of the book. He has a ton of books and loves to be read to. Although he’s not quite able to read, often, he can be seen leafing through his books on his own. Well, Liam loved Grandpa Grouper. Our kids have a “guest reader” program. Whoever is visiting takes Liam to bed and reads a book to him. That evening I was guest reader #1 and Mary was guest reader #2. He liked the book so much that we each read him the same book. As if that weren’t enough, the first thing the next morning he asked his father to read it to him again. Grandpa Grouper was definitely a hit.” 
- James Montgomery.

“We would like to thank you for your help in making Family Reading Night at Anne M. Jeans a success.  Your time given to us was very much appreciated. How wonderful for the children and the families to meet and hear a real author read his book!  That was an experience most of our students may never have ha before.”
Our Sincere Thanks - The Staff and Students from Anne M. Jeans Elementary School

Career Day Presentation:

“Thank you so much for donating your time to speak at the Palm Desert Charter Middle School. Listening about your career and what you do was greatly appreciated by others and myself. Grandpa Grouper was such an amazing book and was very cute. You taught me so much about the advertising business and how to always work hard for what you want. Teaching me that “creativity is key” was something that I found really nice about your career. Learning different advertisement strategies was something very useful to tell the class. Listening about your job and all your stories was just a pleasure. My favorite story you told was about your scuba diving trip.  I loved it. Thank you again for speaking to my class. I enjoyed having you at PDCMS and I’m sure everyone else did as well.” Cindy Michelle Delic

“Thank you Mr. Arends for coming to our school for career day.  I really appreciated you donating your time to talk about your interesting career history. What I learned from the presentation is that creativity and imagination can take you anywhere.  I especially liked your ideas about “Grandpa Grouper” and “Norm the Ninja River Mouse”. Personally, I enjoyed your presentation the most out of the four other speakers. I just thought it really cool going from World War II Vet to a commercial agent then to an author.” 
-Emery Caster.

All illustrations have lots of motion, color and happy faces. The story stresses how friends use their imaginations and talents to help each other in Grandpa Grouper’s adventure. Each spread has a question for children to find the answer in the pages