Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Magic Puppy: A Forest Charm

A Book Review by Magdalen Aithne Arkwright

This children's book was handed to me by a boy I babysit twice a week and he offered, quite out of the blue, to let me borrow it if I wanted.  I suppose I picked it up a few times when it was sitting out on the table, but all I was doing was occupying my hands.  I admit, the cover is arresting.  It's green with shiny stars all over it and right in the middle is a white West Highland terrier puppy with big blue eyes.  Not one to be rude, I accepted the offer and brought it home with me.

Magic Puppy: A Forest Charm has a dog bone proudly displaying the number six on its spine, so it is probably the sixth in its series.  However, I didn't feel as though I was missing out on anything.  All the necessary information was in the book.

It was written by Sue Bentley with occasional illustrations by Angela Swan.  It is a cute story about a magic wolf who turns into a puppy - both for convenience and for disguise.  Another magic wolf is out after Storm, our adorable protagonist - Shadow wants to lead the pack, but as long as Storm is alive, the pack will want to follow him.  Storm leaves his world for ours to grow in "strength and wisdom" before he fights Shadow.  Along the way, he cheers up a young girl who is going on a team-building camping trip with her parents and her father's coworkers' families.  Cassie Yorke attempts to make friends with the other girl on her team, but Mr. Ronson and his daughter Erin are a little haughty!  Erin feels physically tricked by fate - but is it possible she's still useful?

Grammatically speaking, it was lacking here and there.  Once or twice, the pronoun was unclear.  Some of the lines are cliches and the theme and feel are common and dull.  However, as a children's book, it was satisfactory.  The author demonstrated competency in her writing and plot line, and the vocabulary was not too simple nor too complicated for the intended age group, which is about up to third grade.

Overall, I was satisfied.  It was neither too dull or silly and kept me interested enough for my tired mind (which is currently on autopilot) to read and comprehend.  I would recommend it to young readers.

~Meggy

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