3 out of 4 stars
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Muddysocks Finds Her Feet by Deirdre Cichosz is a charming little book for children. It tells the story of Muddysocks, a doll who not surprisingly, is made from a rather muddy sock. Muddysocks is unhappy because she doesn’t know what she’s going to be when she grows up. Fortunately, Threads, another sock doll turns up and together they explore some potential careers.
I liked this book very much. The illustrations are actual photos of the dolls while the background has been cleverly enhanced with paints to add a fairytale feel. It strongly encourages children to use their imagination and creativity as well as to be the best person they can be. I enjoyed the way that Threads mowed down gender stereotypes by suggesting that he and Muddysocks could be engineers, dancers and astronauts, along with other suggestions.
The photos also contain props made mainly from cardboard boxes. Among other things, these include a garage, spaceships and a fire engine. At the end of the story, there are instructions as to how the child could make these props for themselves. In addition, there are instructions on how to be a kind and happy person and most importantly, to be yourself.
My favourite picture in the book is where Threads and Muddysocks don legwarmers, have a go at dancing, fall over and Threads stands on his head. My main criticism is that the book is let down by the punctuation and grammar. Many of the commas that should come after speech and before ‘he/she said’ are missing. Once, speech from different characters was separated by a comma instead of a full stop. My other criticism is that I got completely lost on step two of the raft making, resulting in the coast guard having to be called.
Altogether, I love this book for its charm, its creativity and its positive message. With a bit of editing the book would be perfect. As it stands, I’m awarding it 3 out of 4 stars.
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Muddysocks finds her feet
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