First sentence: You are very lucky. You are reading Everybody’s Favorite Book. There is not one person anywhere who has a different favorite book.
Premise/plot: Can ONE book really please or satisfy everyone and actually be everyone’s favorite?!?! The author offers such a book (I hope with a great deal of sarcasm) to young readers.
My thoughts: So why one star? Allegra tries a little too hard to be clever and funny. I was leaning more towards a “Bless his heart” but mom was more “what a waste of paper?!” Things to keep in mind...neither of us is the target audience. A young reader might find it amusing, perhaps even worthy of a laugh, and not just stupid. There is one whole page dedicated to poop jokes.
I started out thinking it might have potential. I did. But it was just way too scattered and pointless.
This is as good a time as any to share my philosophy on picture books. I do believe they are the most subjective kind of book there is. Every single book has the potential to be someone’s favorite and best book. It doesn’t matter what any adult may think, to that one reader it may be the one. It will be—to that reader—a magical book worth reading again and again and again until it’s memorized by everyone in the family. It will be loved and cherished forever. Parents can share books that they really love and enjoy and want to be ‘the one’ but it is the child who ultimately chooses. The world is a better place because each individual has his or her own favorite and best book.
Text: 1 out of 5
Illustrations: 3 out of 5
Total: 4 out of 10
© 2019 Becky Laney of Young Readers
No comments:
Post a Comment