I'm Not.


If you are a loyal follower of my blog and want to save yourself some time, this is virtually the same analysis as we saw for Hello, My Name Is Bob.  What?!  You don't remember exactly what I said ten months ago about a less-than-stellar book?  Well, I guess you better read on like the rest of the world! 

THREE PROS
*Children will rarely turn down a hearty message (the power of friendship) when presented in easily digestible Paleolithic bites  
*Having a meek girl kick ass at karate shows that strength comes in many forms
*I'm sure author Pam Smallcomb will take no pleasure in this pro, but I was happy how easy this review was to write (finding an actual third pro was tough; although I did like when the pet worm got stuck to the gum bubble)

THREE CONS 
*I rarely complain about the visual elements of a book, but Robert Weinstock's dinosaur girl world felt muted and almost drab despite the rainbow of colors he utilized 
*Shining implied lights of approval on both getting in trouble at school and splattering paint all over a bedroom isn't what I'm really looking for 
*For someone who is so scared of the dark on one page, it's odd how carefree Evelyn is playing in it on another

ONE DAD'S OPINION
To be fair, this story is slightly better than Bob's, since the pair of Smallcomb friends seem to have a healthier balance of positive attributes that help explain what each girl values in the other.  On the other hand, the artwork in Linas Alsenas' book is far superior to what we see here.  As an avid kidlit reader, I am more likely to side with good writing over good illustrating (which is weird when you consider how much more I respect the talent of a good artist, probably since I couldn't draw my way out of a wet paper bag, if that was possible).  At the end of the day, there's no use splitting hairs between two Donates. Neither is worth a whole lot more discussion than the two paragraphs and six bullet points I have provided them on this site. Now if you want to talk about how surprisingly unoriginal the topic of boring friend versus wild friend is, that might excite me...
    

Buy / Borrow / DONATE / Destroy



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