Official Review: The Ordinary Extraordinary Dog

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Bianka Walter
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Official Review: The Ordinary Extraordinary Dog

Post by Bianka Walter »

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Ordinary Extraordinary Dog" by Andrew Sherriff.]
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1 out of 4 stars
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Lewin, the rescue dog, has an interesting affliction. He thinks he’s human! The Ordinary Extraordinary Dog follows Lewin on his daily routine. This allows the reader to truly comprehend just how un-doggish he is. Without the occasional slip-up of real dog behaviour, and without his perfectly dog-like looks, it would be very difficult to tell Lewin apart from an actual human being. Waking up to a cornflake breakfast, going to school, and playing cricket with his friends are some of the things that Lewin loves doing. These are the things that make it hard to tell whether he is, in fact, a dog or a human.

The premise of this book is very sweet. It is based on the author’s real dog, and there are ideas and thoughts derived directly from Lewin’s life. As a children’s book, it has the ability to poke fun at Lewin pretending to be a real human. I believe that children would love it even more because the whole principle is rather silly! Children tend to enjoy ideas that are somewhat illogical, and this book falls firmly into that category.

Andrew Sherriff, the author, also happens to be the illustrator. Sherriff has created some great paintings that go well with the text. They are colourful enough to keep the book entertaining, and they are realistic enough to understand exactly what is going on in them.

Unfortunately, the illustrations aren’t strong enough to carry the text. With 12 pages of writing containing only about two or three sentences per page, this book still needs extensive editing. The most obvious problem is the lack of commas. Without too much text to wade through, I can say that most of the sentences in this book are run-on sentences. An example of this is, “His favourite was cornflakes but he would sometimes forget to use a spoon and go back to being a dog and stuff his nose in the bowl.” This is very disappointing for a book with such little narrative.

The most information that I got about the book was in the Amazon blurb. It was there that I found out that Sherriff painted his own pictures and that Lewin was a shelter dog. The PDF format that I received had no front or back cover, nor did it have any information on the book – not even publishing information. As a result of this, I believe the version I read was a contraction of the real book. In other words, I think it’s unfinished.

I toggled between a rating of one and two stars. The only reason that I would give this book more than one star is because I might recommend it for children who can’t read yet. However, that is not the purpose of a children’s book. In good conscience, I cannot recommend The Ordinary Extraordinary Dog to anyone without a solid proofread and without a more finished feel. For those reasons, I have landed on a rating of 1 out of 4 stars. The illustrations and the charming premise don’t make up for the absolutely dismal text. The best thing, however, is that this book has four-star potential – and I honestly hope that the author gets it there!

******
The Ordinary Extraordinary Dog
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Post by wendos »

I honestly agree, the book has 4 stars potential for the premise itself speaks volumes. I sincerely love the dog, he is super social.
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Post by Sonya Nicolaidis »

What a pity that this book fell short. It sounded so appealing to begin with, and the idea is pretty good. I really hope the author irons out the wrinkles and sorts it out.
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Post by fredrick otieno »

Quite unfortunate that such a book with a chance to inspire would land at a one star rating. Anyway i encourage the writer to redo the book again to bring out the best.
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Post by kandscreeley »

It sounds like this book has some potential. I love the premise of the story; pets are almost human. It's too bad the author didn't have an editor to help him with his work. Sadly, that's lacking in so many books. Thanks for the review.
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Post by Caylie_Cat »

It is a shame about the editing and run-on sentences, as I see every childhood book as being of educational value which includes being well-written. The bones of the story sound great and certainly something I would read to our families' little ones, as we are very dog-friendly. Thanks for the review!
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Post by Bianka Walter »

wendos wrote: 18 Oct 2018, 00:17 I honestly agree, the book has 4 stars potential for the premise itself speaks volumes. I sincerely love the dog, he is super social.
I also thought the dog was great :) Thanks for stopping by.
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Bianka Walter
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Post by Bianka Walter »

sonya01 wrote: 18 Oct 2018, 02:14 What a pity that this book fell short. It sounded so appealing to begin with, and the idea is pretty good. I really hope the author irons out the wrinkles and sorts it out.
The wrinkles are also easily ironable :) I hope so too!
Thanks for commenting.
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Bianka Walter
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Post by Bianka Walter »

fredrick otieno wrote: 18 Oct 2018, 04:38 Quite unfortunate that such a book with a chance to inspire would land at a one star rating. Anyway i encourage the writer to redo the book again to bring out the best.
I hope he does so too!
Thanks for the comments :)
You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax, all you need is a book.
- Dr. Seuss
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Bianka Walter
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Post by Bianka Walter »

kandscreeley wrote: 18 Oct 2018, 10:00 It sounds like this book has some potential. I love the premise of the story; pets are almost human. It's too bad the author didn't have an editor to help him with his work. Sadly, that's lacking in so many books. Thanks for the review.
I know, my pet is SUPER human :) I hope the author finds an editor - this book would be great with a decent proofread.
Thanks for commenting :)
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Bianka Walter
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Post by Bianka Walter »

Caylie_Cat wrote: 18 Oct 2018, 18:52 It is a shame about the editing and run-on sentences, as I see every childhood book as being of educational value which includes being well-written. The bones of the story sound great and certainly something I would read to our families' little ones, as we are very dog-friendly. Thanks for the review!
It's always good when the bones of a story are solid. It means there is hope :)
Thanks for the comments!
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Post by Connie Otwani »

It's disappointing that a four-star potential ends up with one star. I absolutely loved the premise - and title. I agree that children enjoy ideas that are somewhat illogical. The author needs to put his best foot (or book version) forward! Thanks for the entertaining review!
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Post by FictionLover »

:coffee1-smiley:

I always think that the .pdf books must be pre-publication versions. Hopefully the author irons out the problems with this because it sounds like a premise that children would love. I want to see the picture of the dog eating Cornflakes!
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Post by Jackie Holycross »

It sounds like such a cute premise, but a kid's book especially needs to get the editing right.
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Post by kfwilson6 »

Lewin eats cornflakes for breakfast? What an odd dog. I agree that children would be interested in the silliness of this tale. Too bad you didn't find it worth recommending.
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