I have been looking forward to receiving my first Christian children's book to review. Now it has come, and I am disappointed that my first review will not be glowing. Based on the cover and description, I expected I would be able to highly recommend this latest book from "The Dragon and the Turtle" series. Unfortunately, The Dragon and the Turtle Go on Safari did not quite live up to my expectations.
Illustrator Vincent Nguyen has done a marvelous job creating adorable characters and exciting backdrops. As a picture book, this would have been wonderful, eliciting enchanting imaginary tales. However, the story itself seemed somewhat lacking.
I appreciate the authors' attempt to teach a lesson in encouraging others and overcoming fear, but the point was conveyed so subtly, I don't believe it will be appreciated by young readers without a great deal of prompting. To that end, the book does provide some discussion questions (strangely, inside the back cover, not on their own page), but the questions seem almost forced. Perhaps they were an afterthought to bolster the easy-to-miss lesson of the storyline.
Further, extensive use of British-English vocabulary leave me wondering if many U.S. children in the targeted 4-8 year old range could follow the dialogue.
I imagine children will enjoy this book on some levels, but I am certain it has not hit the mark on teaching a Christian lesson.
Printed in the United States of America.
I received this book from publisher Waterbrook Press so that I might give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own, as I am not required to write a positive review.
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