2 out of 4 stars
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The Adventures of Digbee: Have You Seen My Toque? is a children’s book by Sheri-Lynn Kenny, and apparently the first in a series of what will be Digbee’s “many adventures.” Published in 2015, it is available in paperback from Amazon. My e-book is 32 pages, including covers and end sheets.
Digbee is a dinosaur – a coelophysis – and a brief explanation is given about the fossil remains of a coelophysis dinosaur being found along the Bay of Fundy near Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, Canada. The author is Canadian and lives in Parrsboro, thus the apparent inspiration for Digbee.
Digbee loves to put on his toque and yellow boots and play by the sea. (If you, like me, never heard the word “toque,” it’s apparently a common word in Canada for a knit cap.In the file I received and on Amazon it is also spelled "touque.") One day the wind blows Digbee’s toque away. Digbee gives chase, and along the way he encounters animals such as a polar bear, snake, beaver, peacock, butterfly, and others. Some give him help in his quest to find his missing hat.
The book is liberally illustrated with many colorful pictures. I’m not sure what the media are, but it looks like it could be crayon, pastels, and/or paint. There are pictures on every page, and three or four pages are full-page illustrations with no text. Where text is used, there are not more than four or five lines to a page (except for the final page), and these are written so that the last words of the lines rhyme.
Although the pictures are bright and colorful, they do not give the appearance of having been rendered by a trained artist. They are roughly drawn and colored, and the animals are mainly represented in side profile or full front view. All of this gives the illustrations a very amateur feel. Most of the illustrated objects – the sun, trees, flowers, some of the animals, and Digbee himself – are similar to what would be expected from grade-school students, and what parents of such children have hanging on their refrigerators all across the country. This is not meant to be an insult; perhaps the author was after this particular style. The bright colors may appeal to small children, but even very young children, through books and other media, are regularly exposed to better quality illustrations than are found in this book.
As mentioned, the text is written in a rhyming style, but many of the rhymes feel forced and awkward. Although the last words of the lines rhyme, there isn’t any rhythm to the text that could properly classify it as poetry. For example (punctuation and capitalization reproduced as they appear in the book):
There on the surface of the lake, he saw it.
It was not his toque, but a beaver with a tail mitt.
“I have not seen your toque as of yet”,
“But I have friends you can ask,
which I will go and get.”
Another:
From out of the woods came Larry the Lynx
who smiled wide
“Come on over, we have nothing to hide!”
After the story, there is a page that says “So…Lets Review”, and the next page contains eleven illustrations of animals encountered in the story, but they are lacking any kind of detail; they are mainly in silhouette. A bear, moose, fish, snake, frog, etc., are pictured, each in a different color, and the corresponding color is written over each picture. These illustrations are so roughly done I had to look twice at one or two to determine what they are. This page almost feels like an afterthought, as these colors are never mentioned in the main text of the book.
I didn’t see any significant lessons that could be taught from this story, aside from the fact that the creatures Digbee meets help him to find his hat. Several animals are pictured, and the final page can be used to teach colors, but some of the words used in telling the story – situation, sported, proud, suggested, absolutely – seem beyond the ken of children who are still learning their basic colors and animals. Finally, I wonder about the word “toque.” This is a very significant word in the story and even in the title itself, but seems quite inaccessible to children living outside of Canada.
This book may provide some entertainment for very small children. The story is extremely simple and the illustrations are bright and colorful. But the mediocre quality of the pictures coupled with awkward text prevent me from giving The Adventures of Digbee: Have You Seen My Toque? more than 2 out of 4 stars. I have difficulty recommending this to parents, as I think there are better books available for small children, and the $15 price tag seems quite high for a book of this caliber.
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The Adventures of Digbee: Have You Seen My Touque?
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