3 out of 4 stars
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In some children’s minds, being able to tie your shoes is a rite of passage into kindergarten. It means that you’re a big kid who can do anything by yourself, without the help of an adult. It means, all the other kids will look up to you in owe and admiration. So…what happens if you don’t know how to tie your shoes? Can you still go to kindergarten? Can you still make friends? In Umm Jannah’s I Can Tie My Shoes, we join little Noah in his ambition to master the art of shoe tying.
The plot of the story was very straight forward and easy enough for a child to understand. The story did well in introducing us to the character and giving us the plot all in the first page. The author made sure that no one would be able to say that they didn’t know what the story was about. The plot is a great story for parents to read with their children as they join Noah in the art of turning shoe laces into bunny ears. A concern I have is that, some of the pages were too wordy and should have been separated on different pages. Children have shorter attention spans than adults. It’s not the best choice to have too many words on one page for them to focus on.
Even though, the story is great for parents and children to read together, the format of the book makes things a little more difficult. Young children are visual. When they read, they need to be able to see the pictures alongside it. In this book, the story and illustrations were on separate pages. Also, there were a couple of illustrations that didn’t match up properly to what was being read. When they did match, the illustrations were simple…perhaps too simple. In certain pages, there was too much white background. There should have been a properly drawn background for children to look at.
In terms of character, this is the area I feel the author succeeded in. Noah is a child who young readers can relate to. His fears, frustrations and then over all happiness and pride, are all emotions that children will be able to recognize in themselves. Children will feel comforted reading this story and knowing they are not alone in their feelings. If they don’t know how already, children would also enjoy learning how to tie their shoes right alongside him. Noah’s character also shows a great amount of kindness in the book, that I think is very important for children to be exposed to.
I really would like to rate this book a 4. The plot was uplifting and the character of Noah would serve as a great role model to children. Unfortunately, the fact that the illustrations were on separate pages from the story and some didn’t match up, lowers the rating. Also, some of the pages are too wordy for the age group that this book would be the most appropriate for. For these reasons, I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. If small changes were made, I would recommend this book for children aged, 3-5. This is an uplifting and wonderful story that every parent should add to their child’s bookshelf.
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I Can Tie My Shoes!
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