Official Review: 25 Days of Roses by Mellanie Brown
Posted: 26 May 2020, 13:38
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "25 Days of Roses" by Mellanie Brown.]
Marcus is a well-mannered third-grader with an interesting dilemma. His mother’s birthday (which happens to be on Mother’s Day) is in three days, and he has picked the perfect gift: roses. However, the roses cost twenty-five dollars, and he only has fifteen. How will he find ten dollars in three days?
This challenge was a great beginning to 25 Days of Roses, a children’s book by Mellanie Crouell Brown. By the end of the first day, Marcus had several options—some with a higher chance of success than others. My favorite part of this book was seeing how much Marcus loved his mother and how hard he was willing to work to buy her the roses. I could picture him listing his options as he decided how to proceed.
Unfortunately, this book had no illustrations. A few strategically placed drawings would engage the target audience (ages seven through eleven). It would also help the flow of the dialogue, which felt forced. Almost every line contained a vocative even when it was obvious who was taking part in the conversation. In addition, there were many punctuation and capitalization errors.
The story took an unexpected turn in the last few pages of the book. Without giving away too much detail, it dealt with the circumstances of the death of Marcus’s grandfather. This event was revealed too abruptly, particularly since it had not been an acknowledged part of the story beforehand. It was a disturbing scene that was disclosed unexpectedly and wrapped up in two pages. This was what I disliked most about the book. I recommend this story arc be removed to let the focus remain on Marcus and his quest for his mother’s roses.
There were also a few logic errors in this 31-page read. The most obvious error was when Marcus’s grandmother said that his mother was a young girl when his grandfather died forty years ago. But they were preparing to celebrate his mother’s thirtieth birthday. A quick calculation would show a discrepancy of at least ten years.
I rate 25 Days of Roses 1 out of 4 stars. I deducted one star for the many punctuation errors and another star for the lack of illustrations. I deducted the last star because of the logic errors and the handling of the grandfather’s death. The core storyline is delightful, but in its current state, I would not recommend this book to the intended audience or their parents/other adults. The punctuation errors do not set a good example for young students. In addition, there are logic errors that could cause confusion, and the handling of the grandfather’s death may disturb the target age group.
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25 Days of Roses
View: on Bookshelves
Marcus is a well-mannered third-grader with an interesting dilemma. His mother’s birthday (which happens to be on Mother’s Day) is in three days, and he has picked the perfect gift: roses. However, the roses cost twenty-five dollars, and he only has fifteen. How will he find ten dollars in three days?
This challenge was a great beginning to 25 Days of Roses, a children’s book by Mellanie Crouell Brown. By the end of the first day, Marcus had several options—some with a higher chance of success than others. My favorite part of this book was seeing how much Marcus loved his mother and how hard he was willing to work to buy her the roses. I could picture him listing his options as he decided how to proceed.
Unfortunately, this book had no illustrations. A few strategically placed drawings would engage the target audience (ages seven through eleven). It would also help the flow of the dialogue, which felt forced. Almost every line contained a vocative even when it was obvious who was taking part in the conversation. In addition, there were many punctuation and capitalization errors.
The story took an unexpected turn in the last few pages of the book. Without giving away too much detail, it dealt with the circumstances of the death of Marcus’s grandfather. This event was revealed too abruptly, particularly since it had not been an acknowledged part of the story beforehand. It was a disturbing scene that was disclosed unexpectedly and wrapped up in two pages. This was what I disliked most about the book. I recommend this story arc be removed to let the focus remain on Marcus and his quest for his mother’s roses.
There were also a few logic errors in this 31-page read. The most obvious error was when Marcus’s grandmother said that his mother was a young girl when his grandfather died forty years ago. But they were preparing to celebrate his mother’s thirtieth birthday. A quick calculation would show a discrepancy of at least ten years.
I rate 25 Days of Roses 1 out of 4 stars. I deducted one star for the many punctuation errors and another star for the lack of illustrations. I deducted the last star because of the logic errors and the handling of the grandfather’s death. The core storyline is delightful, but in its current state, I would not recommend this book to the intended audience or their parents/other adults. The punctuation errors do not set a good example for young students. In addition, there are logic errors that could cause confusion, and the handling of the grandfather’s death may disturb the target age group.
******
25 Days of Roses
View: on Bookshelves
You did an excellent job! Thank you for your honesty in your review! I am in agreement with you about grammatical, spelling, and logical errors being in a children's book. This maybe interpreted as the 'correct' or standard way to produce written work as the targeted audience is young and impressionable. Excellent review!