Monday, October 17, 2011

Ponder Learns to be Thankful



Ponder Porcupine has everything he needs. He has a family who loves him, a warm place to sleep at night, nice clothes to wear, and plenty of food to eat. He thinks everyone has the same nice things he does.

But Ponder Learns to Be Thankful when he discovers that the Muskrat family lost their home in a flood. Now the Muskrats have no place to sleep, they have very little food to eat, and they must wear the same clothes every day.

When Ponder realizes he has so much compared to the little the Muskrat family has, he is thankful for what he has and does something special for the Muskrat family.

The story is both written and illustrated by Marla F. Jones. All of the illustrations cover a full page and are simple but expressive. A Bible verse is given at the end of the book to reference the story: “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” [1 Thessalonians 5:18]

What I Like: I like the storyline. Ponder learns to be appreciate what he has when he finds out that other people don’t have much of anything. He’s not being “preached” to, he simply observes what’s going on around him and makes the connection himself.

What I Dislike: I don’t really like the layout of the book. The pages either have text on them or they have illustrations on them. There are no pages with both text and illustrations. It would have been nice if there were some pages with both illustrations and text.

Also, there is a typo in the text. It’s not a big deal, but I just thought I’d point that out.

Overall Rating: Very good.

Age Appeal: 4-8.

Publisher Info: Author House, 2010; ISBN: 9781449085704; Paperback, $13.99.

Buy now at Amazon.com $13.99!



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2 comments:

heavenlygurl said...

Christine, Thank you for honestly sharing both your likes and dislikes in your reviews. I am finishing up my first children's book. Your reviews have helped me to pinpoint several things that I needed to change to improve my book. That to me is priceless, especially here in the process. To find, after the fact, that my text has a typo would be mortifying! My goal is to bring God's light into the lives of our little ones. You've been a great help to me. Blessings!

Christine M. Irvin said...

Thanks for visiting our site and leaving your feedback. I don't like to criticize books, but I do try to be honest in my reviews and critiques. I'm happy if anything I've written about someone else's book(s) have helped you in the process of setting up your own book. I hope and pray your book will be a success.