Sandra R Andersson

Experience a painting from the inside.
This was a fun read (listen), with just the right balance of adventure, fantasy and moral. It is listed on Amazon as suitable for age 6 to 18, though I doubt most eighteen year-olds would choose it. (Audible lists it as 5-7 years)

Konrad is only 8 years old and keeps getting picked on by Philip and his gang from Grade 5. When he finds himself outside the headmaster's office for being late, a series of events leaves him in possession of a wonderful pair of show more magic sunglasses. He discovers that these allow him to stare into a painting and manipulate things from afar.
Konrad finds himself on an unexpected adventure as a result of the sunglasses, which also allow him to enter a painting.
The descriptions of life inside a painting were fabulous, complete with brushstrokes and an alternative reality.
Could these sunglasses allow Konrad to sort out the school bully once and for all?

I enjoyed the narrator, Amy Vance, though she could have put a little more excitement in her voice, given that her target audience is children.

As yet my grandchildren are too young, but I look forward to sharing this audiobook with them in a few years. show less

While the book does not cover new ground, it does a decent job presenting its story.
Lee, a ten-year old girl, lives with her mothers in a dome that keeps them sheltered from the 'Outside'. Believing that the Outside is poisonous, the women inside the dome (no men! Lee doesn't even know what that would be) live a sheltered, predictable, controlled life where nothing is a surprise and food comes as tablets. When one day the dome is breached by a fallen tree, Lee's curiosity leads her to the show more Outside. There, she not only discovers real nature, but also a boy, and through him she learns a lot - about the false history of her kind that she was taught and that her dome is not the only one. But, most importantly, she learns that she won't be able to survive on the outside. Going back home reluctantly, Lee vows to forever keep the memories of this day in her heart...

There are tons of books out there about people living cut of from the outside world for whatever reason, so the basic concept is not new. However, the author expertly depicted Lee's thoughts and feelings, and her naive wonder at discovering simple things that are most common to us but utterly new to her. The ending of the book was really sad, but fitting (sometimes, a Happy End would just spoil the atmosphere). A short, but nevertheless satisfying in-between read.

(Thanks to librarything, the author, and the publisher for a copy of the book, all opinions are my own) show less

This book for middle grade readers explores the idea of a self-contained society 800 years into the future. Lee, the protagonist, through curiosity and dissatisfaction with her life, takes a big chance and leaves through a crack in their dome. It's fun to experience things with Lee for the first time--wind, boys!, and real food. She spends a day, helped by Hardy, a kind teen boy, and learns that her Dome-world is more like a prison. Much of what she's learned in school is false. Yet because show more of the threat of bacteria and disease in the outside world, she's happy to go back home.
This story ended too soon, with many unexplored questions. The people were packed in like sardines (said Hardy) but they were sustained only by outsiders taking care of all their needs. When Lee saw the real world, she saw how restricted her own was (a good thing.) But she went back, apparently without plans to ever come out again.That point is odd, and so the ending was not satisfying to me. If lies and fear kept her in the Dome, she must realize that these could be overcome in the real world. show less

Konrad and the Birthday Painting by Sandra R. Andersson is a fun to read children's book for ages six to eighteen. I gave it four stars.

This is a nice magical mystery for children. Konrad finds a pair of sunglasses that change the painting outside the principal's office into something beautiful in addition to showing what is happening throughout the rest of the school. Konrad sees Phillip, the bully that tortures him daily do something wrong. He doesn't know how to make the situation better. show more When he realizes that Frey, his babysitter will be blamed, he knows he has to do something, but what? How can he make people know what he saw was the truth?

I received a complimentary copy from Wordbuilder & NetGalley. That did not change my opinion for this review. show less