Strap on your life vest because there are some severely choppy waters ahead.
THREE PROS
*Author Kathleen Ivan wrote this for her "developmentally slow" niece, and I point this out immediately since no one but Ivan and those closest to her will ever chart the same course in reading it
*I'm not ashamed to say that the pink in here really pops and makes me wonder if it is underutilized in the kidlit color world
*Alan Dugan navigates the boat illustrations perfectly, but he also should have sent out an SOS in a few other spots (namely the look of the main protagonist and the use of space on page 15)
*I'm not ashamed to say that the pink in here really pops and makes me wonder if it is underutilized in the kidlit color world
*Alan Dugan navigates the boat illustrations perfectly, but he also should have sent out an SOS in a few other spots (namely the look of the main protagonist and the use of space on page 15)
THREE CONS
*Why did somebody named Crustina turn into crumbs and where did the mystery man come from (so far from shore) -- seriously, I wish there were answers to these questions
*When the book itself ends by essentially asking those very questions verbatim, it almost felt like Ivan was pouring salt water in my mental wound -- and made my wife think I was joking when I stopped reading at that point
*I'm not sure why the vessel is called PinkBoat or why the character Kathlean spells her name differently than the author (and I truly hope there's a reason for both), but it automatically brings an air of typos and mistakes to the work that I assume most people will be unable to ignore
ONE DAD'S OPINION
I have delayed blogging about A PinkBoat Adventure for about five days now. I did this primarily because I hate sinking independent authors who have spent their hard-earned money shipping me materials. But the other reason was perhaps even more important to me: despite some extremely concrete initial opinions, rushing into the review did not feel like the right thing to do. Rather, I wanted to get my sea legs and have it come about at a time when I was fully engaged, in order to avoid any flippancy in my commentary. [Please note there is a huge difference between being obtusely flippant and using nautical puns in the course of negative feedback.] I hope both Ms. Ivan and the rest of you recognize that I did this, even if you disagree with my assessment (which is that we're dealing with a near-total loss here). As someone who comes from two generations of marine insurers, I tend to think I'm particularly qualified to make this call...
Buy / Borrow / Donate / DESTROY
3 comments:
I love children's books. I used to sell Barefoot Books.
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Hey Erik! I know your about page says you're not accepting Ebooks at this time, but is there anyway you could make an exception? My name is Nicholas Mark of EIMOS Studios, a small children’s e-book company based out of Connecticut. I discovered your website via the book blogger directory. Our title, Monsters, Monsters Everywhere! is approximately 17 pages in length and is currently available for download via iTunes for free.
Here’s a quick blurb about the book...
We love monsters! And we believe there’s a little monster in all of us. This story introduces kids to a bunch of cool colorful creatures, all with unique and charming characteristics. The construction of this Classic version of our book is inspired by good, old-fashioned paper-and-ink books, complete with big, colorful illustrations and large, simple type that kids can enjoy at their own pace.
I appreciate your time and thank you for your consideration.
- Nick
Thankyou for reviewing my book even though the review isn't what I expected.
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