Agabus and the Golden Spear

Agabus and the Golden Spear, written and illustrated by Greg Messina, is the tale of a young boy who must conquer his fear of storms. When a big storm is headed his way, he learns he’s not alone when there’s trouble ahead. God is there with him to keep him safe.

The illustrations are a mixture of photographs and computer-generated art.

What I Like: I like the message the story conveys, that no matter what trials and troubles were are going through, we are never alone with our struggles.

What I Dislike: The text is written in rhyme, which for the most part, is forced and the meter is uneven. I think the text would have been stronger if it had been written without the rhyme.

Also, I don’t really like some of the illustrations. Some of the ones that show the boy’s face look strange, while others are fine.

And, the layout of the book is odd. None of the text and/or pictures go down to the bottom of the page. There is a lot of extra white space at the bottom of each page. Some of the pages have only a line or two of text at the top of the page and the rest of the page is just blank with a white background. I think the book’s layout would have been enhanced by the utilization of a smaller book size.

Overall Rating: Ho-hum.

Age Appeal: 8-12.

Publisher Info: CreateSpace, 2013; ISBN: 9781490330716; Paperback, $10.49.

Buy now at Amazon.com $9.44!

Special Info: Learn more about the author at this website.