Review by Morganncall -- Puffy and the Formidable Foe

[Morganncall]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Puffy and the Formidable Foe" by Marie Lepkowski and Ann Marie Hannon.]

---

2 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

Puffy and the Formidable Foe by Marie G Lepkowski, Ann M Hannon, and Margaret B Hannon.
Puffy and the Formidable Foe is a short, children’s book that is meant to be read by parents with their child. Puffy, a typical cat is roaming around the woods when he meets a skunk. This foe turns his romp through the forest into a bad day. This book is short and would be perfect to read to younger children who have a hard time paying attention to longer books. This book is set up to be read together with your child as to promote meaningful reading.

My favorite part of the book was that it had suggestions for how parents can use and discuss the book. Before the book begins there is a list of these suggestions that include questions to ask your child after you have finished reading the story. I think that having a list of basic questions for the parent to ask their child after reading is a great way to expand their reading comprehension and connect with their child.

At the end of the book there was a coloring page that the children could color. While I didn’t personally love the illustration style, I did think it would be fun for a child to have a coloring page. As I kid I would have loved to have a coloring page of my favorite book characters.

My only concern has to do with the story. Both the cat and skunk are anthropomorphized in a way that makes them seem like innocent children. I felt bad for the poor skunk who was probably just startled by that cat. The skunk isn’t shown doing anything violent or mean, and the cat still puts a sign up near his house that says, “no skunks allowed”. One of the conversation questions asks, “what should puffy have done?” and, “what has Puffy learned”. My fear is that, with how the skunk is portrayed, the story makes it seem like Puffy just learned to be mean to another little kid that was trying to defend himself when he was startled.

I would want my children to learn how to deal with diversity in a meaningful way, and I fear that this book does not teach that.

Because of the plot, I give this book a rating of 2 out of 4 stars. It has some charm, and a cute character, but I would not be comfortable reading it to my children.

******
Puffy and the Formidable Foe
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

Like Morganncall's review? Post a comment saying so!

[jcoad]

I love reviews of kids books. I'm always amazed by how in depth you can analyze one of these books when you really look at it. Thanks for the great review!