1 out of 4 stars
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What do you do when your shadow frightens you and it seems to be everywhere? Come follow a young boy who is afraid of just that in Olga Fyne’s illustrated children’s book, My Shadow is a Copycat. Whether inside or out, playing or resting, the ominous shadow seems to always be there.
The vibrant illustrations within this book almost jump out of its pages. The young boy shows detailed facial expressions that would make it easy for children to understand his feelings at any given moment.
As good as the illustrations may be, the storyline in general was lacking. The clear problem of an unnamed boy being afraid of his shadow was presented in an almost frightening way. Sentences of “He follows me to my room.” (page 5), “He follows me to the bathroom.” (page 7), and “He follows me to the shower.” (page 9) gives off a very uncomfortable feeling. With the addition of phrases such as “stop” (page 15) and “please stay away” (page 47) without the child’s wishes being heard, I would be afraid it would send the wrong message to children. By the end of the story, the problem is left unsolved.
The boy in the story seems to participate in several activities and the fact that he is afraid of his shadow could make him relatable to children. Unfortunately, his development was severely lacking. Firstly, he didn’t have a name, which makes it difficult to truly connect with a nameless character. Secondly, the boy clearly was having extreme issues and was constantly feeling this big weight on his shoulders, but he was left to deal with the situation on his own. Toward the end, the boy considered that his mom could talk to his shadow, but again with no real resolution.
There were also a number of errors throughout this short book. Ranging from missing commas, unnecessarily added commas, missing quotation marks, and missing spaces in between words. Therefore, the book could use another round of editing.
As a little warning, there was an illustration where the boy’s behind shows a bit, which could be bothersome for adults to show some children.
Overall, My Shadow is a Copycat is a children’s book that needs a lot of work before exposing it to young kids. Due to its lack of character development, plot resolution, and editing, I give the book a 1 out of 4 stars. In its current state, I cannot honestly recommend this book.
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My Shadow is a Copycat
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