So I wrote a whole post on this series and then deleted it because it was nonsense. Essentially, while I REALLY wanted to love these books, I just didn’t care for them too much. I usually make an agreement with authors that I won’t review books I think deserve less than three stars (I’m just not interested in writing a bunch of negative stuff in general, but really… we’re talking about PEOPLE here and their work – I don’t like to trash it). In this case, while I received the books from the author for free in exchange for a review, I communicated through Word Slinger Publicity and didn’t make my standard arrangements. So, here’s my review saying I didn’t like the books.
You are, of course, entirely likely to have your own opinion on the matter so here’s a quick bit about the books and why I didn’t like them. You can decide whether or not to read on your own and form your own opinions!
The Zoom Boom series (the first three published stories, out of 16 written by the author, are pictured at the top of this post) is a series of stories for children ages 3-7 centered around Zoom Boom the scarecrow and his friends who live on the same farm. As advertised, the stories aim to tell the adventures of Zoom Boom as he spends his time rescuing his animal friends and the farm’s pesky crows when they get into trouble. Written by a grandfather and school bus driver and published by a small Christian publishing company, the stories are intended to teach children “lessons from everyday life which will help them make wise choices, and be nice to others,” according to Word Slinger Publicity’s marketing material promoting the books.
When I received the books in the mail, they were accompanied by a letter from the author describing his intentions in writing the books. Unfortunately, his letter was more compelling than the stories themselves. Overall, the books do strive to teach valuable lessons such as safety in “Be Careful” and valuing others despite their differences in “Be Tidy, or Not?” However, the biggest drawback is that each individual book really tries to do too much. “Zoom Boom” introduces all the characters that (I presume) we will meet throughout the series, with their strengths and flaws but doesn’t tell us a story. “Be Careful” and “Be Tidy, or Not?” each tell snippets of a story, but include too many unrelated lessons. I also get squirmy about phrases like, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness, I always say,” but that might just be because I am messy and don’t clean my house nearly enough…
In any case, the character is a good idea, but the ideas need to be demonstrated–actually shown through stories–rather than just stated.
Two stars.
by P.D. Eastman. We got this book as a baby shower gift before our oldest was born, so I’ve read it bunches of times over the past four and a half years and even heard it at a few library or bookstore story times. Basically, it’s the story of a baby bird who goes looking for his mother, as she wasn’t in the nest when he hatched because she was out getting food for him. He encounters other animals as well as cars, boats, etc., asking each, “Are you my mother?” before he reunites with his mother in the nest. I have to say that until this week, I was generally indifferent to it. I thought it was a good enough story, and fun to read every once in awhile, but it wasn’t one of my favorites. Actually, I think I had an annoying association in my mind from a Barnes and Noble story time I went to a few years ago – every time I read the book, I pictured the woman from the story time and heard the story in her voice. Annoying. Plus, I thought it was awkward to read with a lot of repetition and an irritating lack of contractions.
Kristin Houlihan, Writer 