3 out of 4 stars
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Toni the Superhero by R.D. Base is a short picture book purposely made to teach young children simple sentence construction, through the use of repetition.
The book features Toni, a superhero, but likewise, your average young boy. Instead of saving civilians or a damsel-in-distress, we see superhero Toni who loves to eat, sleep, sweep, and other very normal activities done by your very normal kid. Despite using minimal words, the book effectively conveys the message that being a superhero doesn’t always involve performing death-defying acts and exchanging blows with villains. Even simple acts of kindness like helping in household chores are already heroic. In summary, the book shows that heroes are still ordinary humans, and that ordinary humans are capable of being heroes.
The book has also served its purpose of teaching through repetition, though I believe adding more pages would have been better. The book is only 30 pages long, and these already include the front cover and extra pages like the author’s dedication. Nonetheless, I recommend this to parents teaching their young children basic English. Language teachers for early learners or special learners can also use this as a supplementary material.
Grammar-wise, there honestly is not much to comment on as there are only a few sentences in this book. The sentences are also in basic simple form which is perfect for its target audience.
I think the illustrations and book formatting can still be improved. The author must have formatted the book in a way that there are some two-page spreads. This formatting is okay when in print. However, as I am reading this book in pdf format, I was disturbed by the cut pages. For instance, you read the sentence ‘Toni likes to jump’ on one page, but the corresponding illustration is on the next page. This is not really a major problem and can easily be fixed.
Meanwhile, about the illustrations, the positive points are they are colorful and the character’s expressions do seem animated. Still, I have seen similar books with way better illustrations. This is a picture book, so the illustrations will definitely be one of its major selling points. The character’s face is also not consistent in some drawings. This is evident in page 7 where there are two drawings of Toni. They honestly look like two different characters who just happen to wear the same costume.
Overall, this is a decent educational and light reading material meant for very young children who have just started learning English. I give this book 3 out of 4 stars, due to its unconventional portrayal of a superhero and its function in language learning. Nonetheless, I believe this book needs a few more pages and more appealing illustrations.
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Toni the Superhero
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