by Melody Lockhart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Will little girls (and boys possibly) love this story about a new girl to town who makes a friend and then finds out the woods behind her a magical and full of mystical animals? Probably.
Did I personally enjoy it? Not really.
There is no reason why introductory readers like this, a simple book good for readers at a level 3 or 4, shouldn't also be well-written books. That said I know two little girls who read this series around the age of 6 and 7 years old and they thought it was amazing. So what do I know right? For this sole reason I am giving this book a four star review (instead of 3) because I can't argue with the target market's love of it.
But on the note of what is a bit meh about Oona the Unicorn. It starts with a poorly set-up premise. I'd like to know a bit more about why our lead gal has been moved and a bit more about how she feels about it. She seemed to be taking the move to a new area where she had no friends very well. It seems a bit optimistic by us adults to think that a child would be so easily adaptive to a new home. That said it's not the deal breaker that causes me to drop the rating to four stars.
What I cannot tolerate is silly lines referring to an (albeit mystical) animal that has "an allergy to gravity". Say what?
Why on earth would anyone think it's cute or smart to make up a fake allergy? Children have enough misinformation thrown at them on a daily basis; let's not make it worse by trying to be cute with a new species and making it allergic to something that: it has to encounter on Earth everyday no matter what, is completely false and can't cause an allergy in any living thing I know of on Earth. This is just silly for no real reason. There must be another reason why this animal lays it's nests upside down! I think Melody Lockhart needed to be a little more creative here and a little less ridiculous.
Between magical unicorns and boo-bears that are super cute (yes I'll admit it their spots are adorable) to magical flying carpets and doctors (vets) for magical animals you as the parent/adult/guardian may not love this book. But I know a lot of little girls (and some boys) will! Just throw in some less silly content while you're supplying your children with reading content please. I'm always a fan of Babysitters Club (no idea if new ones are good; but the old ones are!) to keep most of their thoughts on practical, reasonable things. Fantasy and imagination are some of my favourite things in the world; but I do recognize they can be taken too far at times. Just imagine a child telling their teacher they are "allergic to gravity" and need to go home; feels like that would be one of those embarrassing moments we all want to avoid!
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.
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My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Will little girls (and boys possibly) love this story about a new girl to town who makes a friend and then finds out the woods behind her a magical and full of mystical animals? Probably.
Did I personally enjoy it? Not really.
There is no reason why introductory readers like this, a simple book good for readers at a level 3 or 4, shouldn't also be well-written books. That said I know two little girls who read this series around the age of 6 and 7 years old and they thought it was amazing. So what do I know right? For this sole reason I am giving this book a four star review (instead of 3) because I can't argue with the target market's love of it.
But on the note of what is a bit meh about Oona the Unicorn. It starts with a poorly set-up premise. I'd like to know a bit more about why our lead gal has been moved and a bit more about how she feels about it. She seemed to be taking the move to a new area where she had no friends very well. It seems a bit optimistic by us adults to think that a child would be so easily adaptive to a new home. That said it's not the deal breaker that causes me to drop the rating to four stars.
What I cannot tolerate is silly lines referring to an (albeit mystical) animal that has "an allergy to gravity". Say what?
Why on earth would anyone think it's cute or smart to make up a fake allergy? Children have enough misinformation thrown at them on a daily basis; let's not make it worse by trying to be cute with a new species and making it allergic to something that: it has to encounter on Earth everyday no matter what, is completely false and can't cause an allergy in any living thing I know of on Earth. This is just silly for no real reason. There must be another reason why this animal lays it's nests upside down! I think Melody Lockhart needed to be a little more creative here and a little less ridiculous.
Between magical unicorns and boo-bears that are super cute (yes I'll admit it their spots are adorable) to magical flying carpets and doctors (vets) for magical animals you as the parent/adult/guardian may not love this book. But I know a lot of little girls (and some boys) will! Just throw in some less silly content while you're supplying your children with reading content please. I'm always a fan of Babysitters Club (no idea if new ones are good; but the old ones are!) to keep most of their thoughts on practical, reasonable things. Fantasy and imagination are some of my favourite things in the world; but I do recognize they can be taken too far at times. Just imagine a child telling their teacher they are "allergic to gravity" and need to go home; feels like that would be one of those embarrassing moments we all want to avoid!
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.
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1 comment:
I suspect I might have loved this story as a child, I was always playing being a vet!
That being said, the gravity allergy doesn't make a lot of sense. I feel like there are more clever terms (even medical ones) that could have been used to describe the situation!
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