Review by jov13 -- Sigfried’s Smelly Socks!

[jov13]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Sigfried’s Smelly Socks!" by Len Foley.]

---

3 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

My first children’s book since I turned 18 how many years ago, and as old as I am, which actually isn’t very, I must admit the book put a smile on my face. A tale of disgusting smells and horrible stains, Len Foley captured my kid at heart. In the book Sigfried's Smelly Socks, Sigfried goes through the book telling us about the stains on each page and the funny and unusual history of how they actually got there, and let’s not forget his smelly socks.

My standards weren’t high for this book, knowing that it was supposed to simply please children, but having my eyebrows raise in amusement from the weird combination of stains and smells, as well as the cleverness of the rhymes, my standards had been set and met. I came across no grammatical errors, as there rarely ever are in children’s books, and enjoyed the images used.

I would allow my two nieces to read this book. I believe it is applicable to those who enjoy taking part in weird things or those little children that find being disgusted entertaining, which so happens to be my nieces. However, it can be found entertaining to just about any child interested in hearing stories, or funny rhymes.

I enjoyed the combination of cartoon art as well as the use of real images. They both blended with the book so well and brought it to life. The use of bright colors also added to this. The imagery stood out on its own and was so inviting that I would look at the book just for the beautiful use of colors. The art was simple and not too structured which can emphasize its employment as a children’s book, due to children themselves not being able to draw or colour with fine lines at such a young age. The art was also found to be comedic with the funny facial expressions and construct of each character.

I don’t believe the title of the book really fits due to how little socks were mentioned in comparison to other stains and smells. It seems to be centered around the pages of the book than it was about Sigfried’s socks. Also, the ending of the book was a little unusual for me and perhaps didn’t quite fit. It did play along with the theme of the book by continuing the trend of disgust, but I didn’t find it to be a very strong ending. However, it came across as an unexpected turn of events and was still amusing nonetheless.

I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars simply for how amusing I found it to be as well as the use of bright colors and amusing images. However, it did not achieve full ranking due to finding the ending a bit unusual.

******
Sigfried’s Smelly Socks!
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

Like jov13's review? Post a comment saying so!

[Ruba Abu Ali]

This is either a love or hate book, so much as I've noticed. I enjoyed your lovely review. Having reviewed the book myself, I agree with much of what you've said.
Please feel free to have a look at my review, if you'd like.
viewtopic.php?f=60&t=78846