1 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Nothing quite compares to the bond between siblings. Despite the attention often placed on the expected rivalry, siblings are often our first friends. Rolly Olly-Brother and Sister Short Stories is a children’s collection featuring roach siblings by authors Gomathy S and Nikki K.
As the older brother, Rolly is patient and often plays with his younger sister, Olly. The two bugs share a love for dancing, eating pizza, and playing blocks. Olly seems to cry a lot, but Rolly is always there to comfort her. Some of the topics included in the collection are school, bedtime, roach games, pulling loose teeth, pajama parties, and celebrating holidays. The stories often conclude with one of the bugs telling the other, "You are the best."
I've had a long-time affection for children's books. Children's literature was my favorite course in college, and I've been smitten ever since. What I liked most about this book was the sweet sibling relationship between Rolly and Olly as the basis for the stories. One of my favorite children's authors, Rosemary Wells, and her lovable brother and sister duo Max and Ruby came to mind. However, in this case, I was disappointed.
There were several factors that detracted from my overall enjoyment of this book. First, the writing style was very elementary, so much so, that I thought perhaps a child wrote the stories. I have previously seen books that children have dictated to their parents, but I wasn't able to find any information to support the theory in this instance. To clarify, I'm not referring to simplicity regarding the story, but rather the way a child describes a series of events when writing. Next, the illustrations were poorly-done and too small. There were captions placed directly on the images, which was in addition to the story's text and didn’t serve any purpose. Also, the entire book was in bold type, which was not only distracting to read but highlighted the many errors.
It's obvious the book wasn't professionally edited, as I noted spelling and punctuation mistakes on the majority of the thirty-one pages. One word was misspelled twenty-two times. Correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling shouldn't be less of a priority for children's books. In fact, the opposite is true. For these type of blatant errors combined with the shoddy illustrations, I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars. I honestly wouldn’t recommend it unless these issues are addressed.
******
Rolly Olly - Brother and Sister Short Stories
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Cecilia_L's review? Post a comment saying so!
Thanks for your comment.
