3 out of 4 stars
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Puffy and the Formidable Foe by Marie Lepkowski and Ann Marie Hannon is a children’s story about a kitten named Puffy who wanders away from his home. While he is exploring he comes across another cat and decides to investigate. He soon learns that this kitten does not want to be friends, and it turns out not to be a cat at all. After his encounter with the strange creature, Puffy returns home, and makes the decision not to venture far from his house again.
The book uses rhyming words as a way to capture the child’s attention and to help teach young children to read. I appreciated the suggestions for parents and teachers at the beginning. It’s always nice to be able to use a book for educational purposes, and the author has some good ideas about how to do this. I also liked the included coloring page. Most young children enjoy coloring and this adds a nice hands-on element to the book. It would also be great for kids who need to fidget because they would have something to do while they listen.
The story itself was cute and appropriate for younger children. The one problem I did have with it was that there were some really big words for a beginner. I understand that the author is trying to help build the reader’s vocabulary, but my eight-year-old had to ask about definitions for some of these words, like ensue, and this book is well under his reading or interest level. I think some of these words would make reading the book independently difficult for a beginning reader.
The other problem I had with this book was the illustrations. They looked almost like coloring pages that had already been colored by a child. I’m not sure if this was the intention or not, but my kids and I were not impressed. If the illustrations were intended to look like coloring pages it might be better to just make it into a coloring book.
Despite the issues, this is a great book for toddlers or preschoolers who like cats or animals in general. However, most kids older than five will likely consider this a baby book that they are too big for.
Although the book did have a few issues, overall, the story was good and I’m sure I will be asked to read it again. I give it 3 out of 4 stars.
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Puffy and the Formidable Foe
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