Cover for Fantasy Friends on Furlough in a Putrid Pandemic

The First Ten Focus Group Feedback for Fantasy Friends on Furlough in a Putrid Pandemic

Because Fantasy Friends on Furlough in a Putrid Pandemic was Book of the Day, some of our most trusted members have carefully looked over the cover, the description, and other aspects of this book as a part of purchase-intent focus group. We then asked each participant in the focus group if they planned to buy and read the book, and why they planned to buy and read the book or not. Their answer to that question and reasons are displayed below. We call this awesome feature The First Ten Focus Group.

Keep in mind, the responses from the members are not reviews. This is purchase-intent focus group which means the participants are people who have NOT yet bought or read your book. A purchase-intent focus group is an important and extremely useful marketing tool for any product, not just books. For other products, you might walk on the street and show people an item in a package and poll them about whether they would buy if or $X or not. These kind of focus groups are one of the ways big marketing companies find the ideal price points for products and test the effectiveness of different packaging. The focus group can help you identify your market so you how to target ads of your book, and it can (but may not) provide you new useful info about your "packaging" (e.g. your book cover, your book synopsis on Amazon, etc.). The point of the focus group comments is to give you information from people who have not bought or read your book about why they plan to buy your book which will help you in marketing the book. These are not reviews or critiques of your book because they are not from people have read the book. This is a marketing tool, not reviews. The trick of book marketing and book advertising is that you have to convince people who have not read your book yet that your book is worth buying and reading. For marketing, it doesn't matter much if people love your book after reading it if you cannot convince potential buyers before they read it that they will love it.

IMPORTANT: Any score over 10% is considered very good. And any score above 0% is acceptable. This is because we only poll about 20 or so readers, and all readers have to say "no" to almost all books. Over a million books are published each year. Even a very active reader cannot come close to even reading 1% of books out there.

This is also why publishing books is such a tough industry.

Manang Muyang

I am a huge fan of children's picture books, so I was sure I would sample the book when I saw it, whether or not I was part of the program. The engaging OBC review encouraged me even more. The illustrations were wonderful, but I have yet to find out what animal graced the prologue. I was not too happy with the poem. I did not grasp what the frog wanted to say. I wonder if children will be able to. I hope the author can use simpler words that kids would appreciate. I also noted editing mishaps. These are examples from the prologue: "After boring months cooped up in their houses and apartments, grownups and children wearing masks, were finally allowed to go outside" did not need the last comma. The bracket before "Maybe sometime" should have been paired with another bracket after "I'm afraid." The author used a brace. I think kids will enjoy the pictures immensely, but the text definitely needs some repair, as the OBC reviewer also pointed out. As for me, I will not buy the book because I do not have children to share it with.

First Ten review added on February 26, 2023, at 4:53 am by Manang Muyang.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Shrabastee Chakraborty

I love reading children's literature. Based on the official OBC review and other published reviews, I intended to read this book. I did not find any errors in the first ten pages. The author told us how in the later part of the pandemic, our animal friends gathered to talk about their lives. The next pages introduced Yoga Frog who wanted to eat a quail egg. I loved the author's suggestions about not showing fear. I liked the colorful illustrations and the yoga poses of the frog. I had no suggestions for improvement. Based on my reading experience, I would read the whole book.

First Ten review added on February 26, 2023, at 3:03 am by Shrabastee Chakraborty.

Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!

Gabriella H

I would've sampled this book without this program because I like the colorful book cover and found the title interesting. Also, I enjoy reading illustrated books. However, I didn't quite understand the Yoga Frog story. I understood the yoga frog and the dragonfly wanted food, but I didn't get the point or moral of the story. So, after sampling the first ten percent of the book, I decided not to complete it. I must commend the illustrator for the beautiful illustrations in the book. My decision wasn't influenced by the OBC official review, customer reviews, or the lack of an OBC blurb and editorial reviews. I didn't notice any errors in the first ten percent of the book. I think improving the clarity of the stories would be helpful.

First Ten review added on February 26, 2023, at 2:22 am by Gabriella H.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Sou Hi

Without this program, I wouldn't have read this. The official review from OnlineBookClub, the cover, the blurb, and the ratings on Amazon are fine, but the book's premise is not my cup of tea.

I like nothing in the bit I read. The art is not very captivating, and I don't really understand what the author is trying to say. The poem featuring the yoga frog and the dragonfly seems quite confusing. I also think another round of proofreading is needed. Since the plot can't pique my interest, I won't buy the book. The OBC review was helpful in making my decision.

Error example: After boring months cooped up in their houses and apartments, grownups and children wearing masks, were finally allowed to go outside. -> The comma after "masks" is not needed.

First Ten review added on February 26, 2023, at 2:19 am by Sou Hi.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Vidhi Adhikari

The book makes a decent first impression with its attractive cover design, straightforward title, detailed description, and few customer and OBC reviews. Since the book is based on uplifting children during the pandemic, I was reluctant to read the sample. That said, I loved the simple writing style of the author. There were some minor grammatical errors, but nothing that would affect my reading experience (After boring months {comma} cooped up in their houses). Unfortunately, genre is not to my liking, I will not be finishing this book. I have no suggestions because had I been interested in this type of book, I would have loved reading it.

First Ten review added on February 25, 2023, at 11:35 pm by Vidhi Adhikari.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Annelore Trujillo

I would have sampled this book based on the genre, OBC review, cover, title, and customer reviews. I like to find new books for my children. After sampling the book, I won’t be finishing this book. I think some of the vocabulary is too advanced for the age that the actual book seems to appeal to. For example, the title has “furlough” in it. I also wasn’t really sure how the stories related to the pandemic despite the explanation in the prologue. I also saw errors that told me the book might not be edited, which could use improvement. For example, “ohmy” should have had a space between words. I did like the illustrations.

First Ten review added on February 25, 2023, at 10:39 pm by Annelore Trujillo.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Heidi M Simone

If it wasn't for this program, I would not have sampled this book. The cover is cute, but there's something about the talk about COVID-19 that is a bit off-putting to me. I don't think I'm ready to read books inspired and/or based on the pandemic right now. Therefore, the blurb and title would not have piqued my interest. The positive customer and OBC ratings do not affect my opinion of the book.

Based on the sample, the book could use another round of editing. On the last page, it states, "Ohmy!". That phrase actually includes two words, "Oh" and "my"; therefore, the two words should be separated.

I really like how colorful each page is and how easy it is to still read the text despite the colors. It makes the book inviting and seemingly fun to read. However, I am very confused by the "Yoga Frog" story. The following lines confuse me:

"And please remove this confetti
He cried to the dragonfly, who
Was hoping for calm
When he flew through the shredder
On the desk with the teddy."

Then, the two characters, the frog and dragonfly, are looking for pumpkin pie in the sky? Perhaps this is meant to be more fantasy, but since it's written in a poem structure, I think I would have a tough time explaining the meaning to a child. Due to the confusion I felt while reading and my lack of interest to continue, I do not plan on buying and reading today's book.

First Ten review added on February 25, 2023, at 10:08 pm by Heidi M Simone.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

OTrain Disene

The title of the book was hilarious and indeed promised to evoke imagination in the reader. The cover was fun and engaging with its beautiful colours. They all worked together to entice anyone who might set their eyes on it. But I don’t think I would have chosen this book if it wasn’t because of this programme. The OBC review didn’t convince me enough that it would be worth my time. The first ten pages I read were talking about the COVID pandemic that struck the world by surprise in 2020. And then, they talked about the restriction measures that were put in place by governments worldwide. Now though they had been uplifted, animals were left on their own, and they turned to the imagination. We got introduced to a frog that enjoys doing yoga while singing its beautiful tune. The text was engaging, and so were the illustrations. The pictures were big and colourful that any child’s imagination would be sparked. The frog animal had beautiful details that will stick with the reader when they have long finished the book. What I didn’t like was the fact that the text was written like poems, and when the frog was speaking, I didn’t see any inverted commas. Plus the theme of COVID was not appealing to me.

First Ten review added on February 25, 2023, at 5:46 pm by OTrain Disene.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Alice Heritage

I wouldn't have sampled this book outside of the programme of the basis of the title, which seems rather wordy, or the cover where the letters look cluttered, although the colour illustration is well executed. Children's books isn't a genre I typically sample, though the Amazon blurb made this sound attractive because of its wholesome messages. The customer reviews indicate this is colourful, but these wouldn't have led me to sample this as there aren't many of them, and I didn't see an editorial review. The sample didn't change my mind from my original guess: I won't buy this today because I'm not in the market for children's books, and also the one story I saw did not seem to reflect the virtues described in the Amazon blurb. There was a comma error in this sentence on the first page: "Meanwhile, special creatures in the animal kingdom, were confused and missed their human friends very much." There should not be a comma between "kingdom" and "were confused" because that separates the subject and the verb - the "special creatures" are a subject, not an interrupter. I liked the illustrations - it is good that the colour fills the page. It's refreshing to see pictures that I would say are hand drawn when CGI is in common usage, and the shading and detail are pleasing. With regard to what could be improved, some of the surreal elements could be confusing for children. I know this is imaginative and meant to be fun, but still, it might be better not to give the impression that animals had to wear masks - and even the coronavirus itself, as shown on the first page. The prologue is not quite accurate because it says that the virus appeared in early 2020, but it first appeared in China in 2019. The facts were more accurately reflected in the OBC review, which was great, and I admit I was slightly tempted by it to buy the book after all to find out about the flamingo and the dish of ointments. So that review was very helpful, but I still realized this book isn't really a good fit for me.

First Ten review added on February 25, 2023, at 3:51 pm by Alice Heritage.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Timothy Rucinski

The cover is very colorful and fetching to the eye. I don't have any reason to purchase a children's book at the moment, as there are no children in my life. But this cover would have caught my eye if I had been in the market for one. The Official OBC Review did little to pique my interest, primarily because the mental scars of Covid are still too fresh in my mind. From a personal point of view, I don't want to read anything about Covid at the moment. Therefore, once I read the sample on Amazon, I was sure this wasn't for me. This isn't a genre of interest. I didn't read any other reviews or blurbs. What I liked most about the book were the illustrations. I wasn't all that enamored with the text, as the writing wasn't all that compelling. However, the colorful drawings, which I liked the most, were excellent. I agree with the Official OBC Reviewer that the book was probably not professionally edited as there are errors. For instance, in the Prologue, there is no need for a comma after "kingdom" in the following sentence: "Meanwhile, special creatures in the animal kingdom, were confused and missed their human friends very much." My only recommendation for improvement would be for the book to be professionally edited.

First Ten review added on February 25, 2023, at 3:08 pm by Timothy Rucinski.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Jeremie Mondejar

I love children's tales, so I sampled the book right away. It's all about the pandemic and a yoga frog in the sample. I enjoyed looking at the sexy frog with the dragonfly hovering above it. The story will indeed appeal to all ages. I like the beautiful colors and how the author made this book with the concept of the scary COVID-19. I also read the customer reviews on Amazon, as well as the OBC review, which influenced my decision. I will continue reading this book because I have a child who likes books and loves to read a bedtime story. I don't see any errors in the sample or anything for improvement. There's nothing I notice to dislike, either.

First Ten review added on February 25, 2023, at 3:01 pm by Jeremie Mondejar.

Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!

Mayang Bature

I admire those who use gentle methods to expose children to the harsh realities of the world. The author accomplishes this by making the COVID pandemic "fun," so that children of a young age can relate to it. I like the concept and am glad the author has used it here. I would have read his book if I hadn't been in this program. The cover indicates that it is a children's book, and I enjoy reading short books such as children's stories during lunch breaks or while traveling. The only thing I didn't like about the book was that some of the words felt too big for the intended audience, and the official OBC review agrees. As a result, the book will be better suited as a teaching tool for parents and teachers than as a standalone novel for children. I only found one typo in the book, which says "Ohmy" instead of "Oh my" in location 1. I'd like to read the rest of this book at some point, perhaps during my next lunch break.

First Ten review added on February 25, 2023, at 2:18 pm by Mayang Bature.

Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!

Tara D Morgan

Having read the OBC review, I would definitely have checked this book out. I like the idea for the book, as COVID will soon be a subject in history lessons. I have a granddaughter who is too young to read books herself but enjoys books with rhymes. However, having read the poem about the frog, I won't buy this book. The poem is dreadful, doesn't flow or rhyme properly, and is just nonsense verse! I did enjoy the pictures, which were nice and colorful, and were this books saving grace! There is also an error on the second page of the frog poem "Ohmy!", it should be "Oh my!".

First Ten review added on February 25, 2023, at 11:39 am by Tara D Morgan.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Diana Lowery

I thought the title had some questionable vocabulary choices for a children's book. I did like the rainbow font. The blurb was short and not very informative. The 45-page length seems a little long for a children's book. The OBC review was from a year ago and the book received a 3 out of 4 for errors, which convinced me not to read the book. However, I did not see any errors in the pages that I read. I liked the illustrations in the pages that I read. The poem "Yoga Frog" made no sense to me, and I can't imagine trying to explain it to a child. I will not finish reading this book because, apart from the illustrations, there was nothing that I liked. I do not have any suggestions for the author.

First Ten review added on February 25, 2023, at 10:04 am by Diana Lowery.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Sanju Lali

I could find only a few customer reviews that praised the book, but I could not find any editorial reviews of this book. I was inspired to sample this book after reading the OBC official review. I could hardly make enough guesses about this book after reading its title. The cover and genre barely impressed me, so I would not have read the reviews of this book outside The First Ten program. When I sampled this book, I realized that this book was not professionally edited. For example, the sentence, "After boring months cooped up in their houses and apartments, grown ups and children wearing mask, were finally allowed to go outside." This sentence could have been as follows. "After boring months cooped up in their houses and apartments, grown-ups and children wearing masks were finally allowed to go outside." I liked the scene where the frog and the dragonfly were looking for pumpkin pie. I understood that the frog and dragonfly felt good after seeing the moonlight. Sadly, I had to zoom in and zoom out for each page. My suggestion to the author is to go for a flexible font size or bigger size font. I will not buy and read this book today until my suggestion is addressed.

First Ten review added on February 25, 2023, at 8:56 am by Sanju Lali.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Christell Lindeque

Even though I am a participant in this program, I will not be purchasing this book. The sample was enjoyable, and I think my son would enjoy it as well, but I wouldn't like reading it to him on a screen. I prefer to pick up paperbacks at a local shop rather than have them shipped to me.

The sample on Amazon convinced me that this would be a book my son would enjoy, but I ultimately decided against purchasing a copy for him for the reasons given above.

I found 1 mistake, which is at location 1. "Ohmy!"
This should be "Oh my!"

I enjoyed the lessons and the book's illustrations. A frog doing yoga and a frog and a dragonfly is the first two illustrations in the book. The sample is two pages long and uses rhyme to creatively talk about things like quail eggs, confetti, and pumpkin pie.

After reading the OBC review, I knew I wasn't going to purchase the book because I would rather buy my son books in paperback from a local bookstore store.

First Ten review added on February 25, 2023, at 8:17 am by Christell Lindeque.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Surabhi Rani

I found the title of the story somewhat difficult to comprehend. Moreover, I avoid reading on the topic of pandemics due to my bitter personal experiences related to the spread of the disease. So I would not have chosen to read or sample the book had it come my way independently and not as a component of this program. After reading the first ten pages, I am not going to buy and read the whole book, because I found numerous new and unfamiliar terms in the author's work. Also, I decided to wait until I accomplish the right mindset to read the book. I spotted two instances of missing commas before the conjunction 'and' used to join two independent clauses throughout the sample. For example,'...and all gathered on the Philosophical Farm to talk about their lives and to think about what is really important in life.' Secondly, '...and no one will suspect I'm afraid.' Commas before 'and' were missing correspondingly in the aforementioned parts of sentences.

I appreciate the author's idea to raise awareness about the coronavirus disease among children. The author's endeavor to explore the role of fiction in nullifying the consequences of the deadly disease is commendable for sensitive readers. There was nothing I did not like in the book, and I absolutely admired the author's contribution to the world of literature. The OBC review of the book was enriching and filled with diversity. It provided me with complete knowledge about the book and allowed me to figure out what matters the COVID-inspired book for children leaves out.

First Ten review added on February 25, 2023, at 6:05 am by Surabhi Rani.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Emy Katherine

I liked the beautiful cover and the intriguing title, but I would not have read the book based on the genre and blurb. I am not interested in reading children's books, so neither the sample nor the OBC review convinced me to read the whole book. I could not find any editorial reviews, but the book had positive customer reviews. The book focuses on the adventures of some adorable animals as they learn to live with the COVID-19 pandemic. It contains 18 stories that will teach children valuable values such as kindness, responsibility, perseverance, and inclusion. I liked the rhyming style and the colorful illustrations as I read the first story, but I disliked that the book had editing issues. For example, it should be written "Oh my!" in the following sentence: "Ohmy! What a mess!" (Location 1 of 1 • 100%) There should not be a comma after "kingdom" in the following sentence: "Meanwhile, special creatures in the animal kingdom, were confused and missed their human friends very much." (Prologue, page 1 • 81%) Other than another round of editing, I could not find anything that needed to be improved.

First Ten review added on February 25, 2023, at 3:32 am by Emy Katherine.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Ari Martinez

If it wasn't for the First Ten program, I wouldn't sample this book based on its title, cover, genre, blurb, OnlineBookClub review, or other reviews because this is a children's book, and I don't have any children. After reading the sample, I will not read the whole book because of the same reason just mentioned. My favorite part was the book's simple way of describing the pandemic. I thought it was a great way of describing what happened to young children who might still have questions. The book doesn't need improvement. In the prologue, I don't think the second comma in the following sentence was necessary: "Meanwhile, special creatures in the animal kingdom, were confused and missed their human friends very much."

First Ten review added on February 24, 2023, at 11:07 pm by Ari Martinez.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Jennifer Garcia 555

I love the bright colorful cover, but I think the long title would confuse children. Based on the description and the official OnlineBookClub review I read, I would not pick this book to read. The OBC review stated that the book contained a lot of errors. I read the sample pages and enjoyed the vivid and adorable illustrations. Children would enjoy pictures like the yoga frog with confetti. This book could be improved by leaving out the mention of a lot of people dying on the first page. The book starts off sad. I found an editing error on page three. Oh my is written as one word (Ohmy). This book could use another round of editing. I like that the author encourages children to use their imagination, but the beginning was too sad and the title was too long and confusing for children, so I will not buy or finish reading this book.

First Ten review added on February 24, 2023, at 7:21 pm by Jennifer Garcia 555.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

María Andrea Fernández Sepúlveda

The cover's gorgeous! But I won't read anything about the pandemic. I'm sufficiently traumatized. The blurb's too succinct. I would only buy my (hypothetical) child this with more information on how the pandemic aspect is approached. And I don't have children. So I wouldn't have bought this book based on my first impressions.
I didn't get the first ten pages, probably because of the brevity of the book. But I'll comment on the sample. The illustrations are amazing. The Yoga Frog story is whimsical. But I don't know if the message of animals missing "their human friends very much" is appropriate. The only positive point of the pandemic was that it was actually pretty great for the planet (https://climate.nasa.gov/news/3129/emission-reductions-from-pandemic-had-unexpected-effects-on-atmosphere/). With cleaner air and water I don't think animals missed us. At all. There are also some editing mistakes. For example, "Ohmy!" (p.1) should be "Oh, my!" I suggest fixing the edition because kids learn spelling and grammar from books. They can't differentiate a minor flaw. The official OBC review didn't convince me to read the book.

First Ten review added on February 24, 2023, at 6:56 pm by María Andrea Fernández Sepúlveda.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

MsH2k

I read children’s books often, but based on the title, cover, and blurb, I would not have sampled this book if I were not part of this program. It seemed more appropriate as an illustrated book for adults who wanted a creative break. The sample confirmed my initial impression. The language was too advanced for children to grasp, and the story was a bit odd overall. I did not understand what was going on with the frog and dragonfly at all, and I will not buy this book. I am not sure if it was professionally edited. I noticed a few grammatical errors in the sample. One instance was on the prologue page. The last comma is not needed in this sentence, as it is separating the subject from the verb: After boring months cooped up in their houses and apartments, grownups and children wearing masks, were finally allowed to go outside.

I have no suggestions for improvement; it seems like a fun escape for adults. Neither the featured OnlineBookClub review nor any other ratings or reviews influenced my decision.

First Ten review added on February 24, 2023, at 4:32 pm by MsH2k.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Amy Luman

I could find no editorial reviews for this children’s book. There were 5 customer ratings for this, but only 3 reviews. They all rated it highly, though. The OBC reviewer commented on the illustrations of animals and, while I really do like them, I will not be finishing it because it is a children’s book and I don’t like those. The cover is very colorful, which will probably attract children, but the title refers to the pandemic, which will probably grab the attention of parents trying to explain it. I didn’t like the size of the font. I had a very difficult time reading it, but maybe it’s different in print. There were only a few pages in the sample, but I did like the illustrations of the frog in them. I didn’t find any errors in what I read, though. It was such a small sample, however, there may be some in what I didn’t get to read. I would change the font size in the Kindle edition.

First Ten review added on February 24, 2023, at 4:18 pm by Amy Luman.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Nemanja Jankovic

I'd decide to read a book based on its cover. Although the book's title is intriguing, I am not particularly drawn to it. I read the blurb and the Official OnlineBookClub review, but they did not affect my decision. My decision was somewhat influenced by an Oleander Whisper customer review that emphasized the variety of animals that appear in the book. There are no editor reviews online. Because I'm not in the mood to read children's books right now, I won't be reading the book. As I couldn't find any typos or errors, the book seemed to have undergone thorough editing. I appreciate how the animals are depicted so that they hold or wear masks in some way. Nothing in the book, in my opinion, needs to be improved.

First Ten review added on February 24, 2023, at 3:58 pm by Nemanja Jankovic.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Kajori Sheryl Paul

"Fantasy Friends on Furlough in a Putrid Pandemic" is a children's illustrated book by Alexandra DeHaven. It is illustrated by Dori Hartley. The book starts off with an overview of the pandemic and lockdown. DeHaven's book brings to us fantastical stories of animals left alone in the world while humans were cooped inside their homes. I found some errors. It should have been "Oh my!" instead of "Ohmy!" Apart from the minor errors, I would not change anything about the book. I like the rhyming writing style and the colorful illustrations. The OBC review and the reviews on Amazon are helpful. I would skip this book based on the cover, title, genre, customer reviews, editorial reviews, and blurb as I am not in the mood to read books of this genre as of now. For the same reason, I have decided to skip this book.

First Ten review added on February 24, 2023, at 3:52 pm by Kajori Sheryl Paul.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Stephanie Runyon

I don't have any young children in my home; I would not sample this book. I did like the artwork on every page. I think this will appeal well to young children. I noted an error. Beyond some minor editing, I have no suggestions for improvement. The OBC review did not influence me to read the story. Nothing online altered my decision. I am passing on the BOTD because I am not part of the targeted group of readers since I do not have young children. Error: Ohmy! Correction: Oh my!

First Ten review added on February 24, 2023, at 3:49 pm by Stephanie Runyon.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Kelsey Roy

I was not initially intrigued by the title or cover of “Fantasy Friends on Furlough in a Putrid Pandemic.” This appears to be a children’s book, which isn’t useful in my life. Additionally, the blurb and OBC discuss how the stories and illustrations apply to the COVID pandemic. I am not interested in this topic for myself or the children in my life.

I found no errors in the sample pages. The illustrations were cute, and I enjoyed the rhyming in the “Yoga Frog” story. However, I’m sick of talking about COVID, so I dislike the topic. Because of this disinterest, I will not finish reading this book. I have no recommendations for the author.

First Ten review added on February 24, 2023, at 3:10 pm by Kelsey Roy.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Olga Markova

But for The First Ten, I would have sampled this book because of its very cute cover with a koala and because of its title - it mentions fantasy, and I like to read fantasy. The title is also relatable as it mentions Furlow and the pandemic. So my instant guess was that this book was a light-pitched satire on the times of the pandemic. Now that I have sampled this book, I liked the amazingly cute illustrations, the gentle and funny poems, and the Yoga Frog. I did not find any errors in this adorable book, and I cannot think of anything to improve. The only reason that I will not read this book is that I have no children, otherwise I would enjoy reading it with them.

First Ten review added on February 24, 2023, at 2:45 pm by Olga Markova.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Kaitlyn Canedy

If Fantasy Friends on Furlough in a Putrid Pandemic hadn't been the OnlineBookClub's book of the day, I would have read the sample of it anyway because of the colorful title on the book cover. I normally do not read children's books, as I do not have children, but this cover caught my attention. The description and customer reviews did not affect my decision to read the sample. The artwork was my favorite part of the book; the frog with the dragonfly was my favorite picture. While I do not think anything needs improvement, I did find a grammatical error in the 51% section of the sample. There is a comma after the word before the verb in this sentence- "Meanwhile, special creatures in the animal kingdom, were confused and missed their human friends very much." An official OnlineBookClub review exists for this title, but I knew I was skipping it because this book is intended for children.

First Ten review added on February 24, 2023, at 2:22 pm by Kaitlyn Canedy.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Shanesha Sammerson

After reading the OBC review and Amazon summary, it interests me enough to make me want to read it. The title and genre piqued my interest, as I am always looking for a book for my children, who enjoy reading. I would buy it after reading the first few pages because the illustrations were captivating, and I enjoyed how the author implemented the fantasy friends putting on masks as a safety measure so kids would see it can be fun but it is something they have to do to stay safe. I did not find any errors. I like the book so far and won't change any parts.

First Ten review added on February 24, 2023, at 2:10 pm by Shanesha Sammerson.

Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!

Kendal Low

I don't believe I would have read this sample if not for this program. The cover is cute, but I am not interested in children's books much. The OBC review was very flattering of the book, which increased my interest in reading the sample. I appreciated the lack of errors in the sample, and there wasn't anything I disliked or thought needed improvement. I loved Yoga Frog's story as it was very cute, but I will not be reading the book.

First Ten review added on February 24, 2023, at 1:01 pm by Kendal Low.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Bertha Jackson

I enjoy reading some children's books, so I would have picked this book up outside of this program because of the colorful cover, title, and genre. The blurb, customer reviews, and the OnlineBookClub review did not impact my decision. There were no editorial reviews to read. To my disappointment, I only liked this book's beautiful illustrations, which children will surely enjoy. The wording of this book is too advanced for children, and many of the words will have to be explained to them. The "Yoga Frog" was confusing because quail eggs do not have legs, so I did not understand why he was begging for there to be no legs. There were a couple of errors in the first ten pages, so I do not believe this book was professionally edited. The first one at 59% of the sample, "Meanwhile, special creatures in the animal kingdom, were confused and missed their human friends very much." This sentence should be, "Meanwhile, special creatures in the animal kingdom were confused and missed their human friends very much." It does not make sense to have a comma after "kingdom." I recommend that the author rewrite this book using words children can understand and have a professional editor edit the text. I will not purchase and read this book because of its many flaws.

First Ten review added on February 24, 2023, at 9:25 am by Bertha Jackson.

Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Total ~ 13%

Fantasy Friends on Furlough in a Putrid Pandemic earned a score of 13%.

In other words, out of the top-level reviewers who read at least the first 10 pages of this book, 13% plan to read the whole book.

IMPORTANT: Any score over 10% is considered very good. And any score above 0% is acceptable.

Over a million books are published each year. Any given person could not even read .0001% of the books out there. This means readers have to be very selective. Even taking the time to look over reviews and blurbs, let alone read samples, is more time than most readers can afford for most books. The First Ten is a powerful focus group that addresses those issues. It creates a helpful tool for authors, publishers, and other readers.

Go to main Bookshelves page for Fantasy Friends on Furlough in a Putrid Pandemic