3 out of 4 stars
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Toby’s Frightening Adventure is a children’s book written and illustrated by Christina Cameron. Toby is a domesticated cat that longs to go outside to play. He is let outside to bask in the sun and run around. Unfortunately, his bliss is disrupted when he hears a threatening sound and sees an enemy rushing towards him. Toby darts to safety and ends up stuck in a tall tree. How will he get down? This book was based on a true-life story. The author briefly retells the real account at the end of the book. She also includes a picture of Toby.
There were many things that I liked about this book. It was very reminiscent of a little child’s scrapbook. The pages looked like pastel-colored manila paper with cut out drawings glued to most of them. The story was written using big bold letters that would be very beneficial to younger readers who need to point to the words on the page as they read. On average, there were only about ten words per page and there were only twenty pages dedicated to the telling of the story.
I also liked the style of drawing that was used throughout the book. The drawings did not try to emulate a clean ‘Disney-like’ cartoon look as many other children’s books have done. Rather, they looked like the drawings that little children work so hard on with their crayons. I think that the drawings and scrapbook feel of this book would inspire the young readers to write and illustrate their own story using a scrapbook.
It was really great that I did not spot a single grammatical error in this book. I believe that the target audience for this book is young readers between the ages of four to eight. Hence, my only lament was that this story did not really have a moral message that would shape the children’s mind.
Moreover, I would like to inform readers that a paperback version of this book can be bought on Amazon.com at $13.99. I would like to recommend this story to parents with young children but the current price seems too expensive for this book. I would suggest that the author at least make a cheaper e-book version available for purchase.
In conclusion, I rate Toby’s Frightening Adventure 3 out of 4 stars. I could not give it a full star rating because I believe that the story was not complete without a moral lesson.
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Toby's Frightening Adventure
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