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Tuesday, June 14, 2011

BOOK REVIEW: The Amazing Adventures of Thomas and Erin with Grandad - Market Day

TITLE: The Amazing Adventures of Thomas and Erin with Grandad - Market Day
AUTHOR: John Vasey
ILLUSTRATOR: John Vasey
PUBLISHER: CreateSpace
DATE OF PUBLICATION: May 12, 2011
FORMAT:
Paperback, 24 pages
GENRE: Children's Books, Picture Books
ISBN: 978-1456411275

SYNOPSIS FROM GOODREADS: 

Children's book for children under five. It is a story about Grandad, his grandson Thomas, who is 3 1/2 and Erin his granddaughter who is 2 and their adventures.

MY REVIEW:

I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review.

This is a cute picture book for young children. It is the size of a reader, so I think that it would also be suitable for children that are over the age of five to use as an Easy Reader.

**SPOILER ALERT**

The children, Thomas and Erin, accompany their Grandad on a trip into town by bus on Market Day. When Grandad remembers that it is not Market Day, he takes the children instead to a bookshop, then a flower shop, and window-shopping down the street. Grandad gets tired and wants to stop and enjoy a cup of tea, but the café is closed already. After the bus-ride home, they enjoy a walk beside the river and watch the sunset. Once the family nears home, Thomas sees his friends and is excited to tell them all about his "amazing adventures" with Grandad.

At the end of the book, there is a page for the child to "Draw a picture of your grandad". My nine-year old daughter was quite excited about this part of the book, and she loved that she could personalize the book in her own way. Kudos to Vasey for this creative idea!

The simple lesson that the book conveys is that just being with family is special. Even though they did not end up at the market, the children still enjoyed themselves because they were with their Grandad. I love this sentiment, and I would expect that most children would relate to it.

I love the illustrations of the scenery, especially the page of the sunset over the river. The pages are colourful and very engaging. I also love the style of font used for its handwritten feel. However, we did not particularly care for the faces of the illustrations of Grandad and the children. Specifically, the eyes of granddaughter Erin are big, black round spots which my three year-old thought made her look like a zombie!

Overall, we did like the book!

MY RATING: 3.5 stars (with the .5 star for the creative page at the end for the children to personalize the book with their own illustration!)

This book qualifies as:
#74 for my 2011 100+ Reading Challenge

2 comments:

  1. Hey! Thanks so much for the Bok Blogs comment. Everyone there is so nice and personable, and I'm already meeting loads of new people! Based on your recent posts and the challenges I see in your sidebar I'm guessing you read a little bit of everything? I'm always on the lookout for books I can recommend to my 4th grade teacher mother, even if I don't usually read them myself.
    Great to meet you!
    -Savs, of savvyescapades.com :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi, Savs! Thanks so much for stopping by! Yes, I do enjoy a wide variety of books - both fiction and non-fiction and in nearly all genres. A book that I can recommend for your mom's 4th grade students is The School Story, which I reviewed here: http://darlenesbooknook.blogspot.com/2011/02/book-review-school-story.html. Great getting to know you!

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