Review by NSOfficial -- Puffy and the Formidable Foe

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NSOfficial
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Joined: 16 Jun 2017, 05:22
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Latest Review: "Puffy and the Formidable Foe" by Marie Lepkowski and Ann Marie Hannon

Review by NSOfficial -- Puffy and the Formidable Foe

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[Following is a volunteer review of "Puffy and the Formidable Foe" by Marie Lepkowski and Ann Marie Hannon.]
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3 out of 4 stars
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If you were on the lookout for a pleasurable read for your little ones, then Puffy and the Formidable Foe might be the one for you. This book has been penned by a mother-daughter duo and has managed to garner positive reviews from many reviewers so far. Owing to its success is its easy and “read along” style of writing with a hearty helping of rich vocabulary and rhythmic structure. This short, sixteen-paged story is packaged in an important moral for kids: not to stray away from home, unlike Puffy (the cat) who mistakenly went astray, crossed paths with a stinky “kitty” (actually a skunk), and then had to face the consequences once he got back home.

Having delved into the background of this story, I came to find out that it was inspired by and loosely based on true events. It traces the journey of a teenager who had gone astray after leaving his home to experience the world for himself. Despite having taken a few wrong turns during his wandering, he found his way back to the safety of his home and thus, provided a ‘happy ending’ to his story.

They say that first impressions are the last and if this is true, then the illustrations of this book were the first thing to catch my eye and they definitely hit the right note for me. Simply put, they were captivating. An interesting aspect about them is that they are stimulant for the child’s imagination because they are etched out to be pages from a coloring book that have been filled in by someone. As a treat for having read the story, children are provided a coloring page at the end of the book to fill out by themselves.

According to me, the rhyme scheme is integral to this book because it gives it its read-along characteristic and makes it memorable for children. In fact, the author claims that this story is one that children tend to memorize along the way and I greatly attribute that to its rhythmic properties. The author emphasizes the rhyme scheme by underlining sets of rhyming words without fail.

Not to be overly critical but there were some points in this book that didn’t sit too well with me. For instance, the consequence for Puffy getting drawn to ‘bad’ company (though unknowingly) was being bathed in “yucky” shampoo. In my opinion, shampoo could have easily been substituted by “cold water” or “an unrelenting hose” because we normally promote shampoo for good hygiene, not as something unpleasant or yucky.

Also, the resolution of this story revolved around Puffy deciding not to leave the comfort of his home – so much so that he plants a “No Skunks” sign by his door and plans not to transgress its boundaries! I would have much preferred if the resolution came along the lines of him deciding never to leave home without being accompanied by someone who cares for him.

Another noticeable detail in this short book is the varying degree of rhyming words starting off from basic rhyming sets like ‘cat and rat’ all the way to more advanced sets like ‘scene and obscene’. This is where the author’s underlining comes to play because, even though the latter set looks nothing alike, it sounds the same and the kids can automatically predict that they sound alike, because they too are underlined like cat and rat or hole and mole. I believe the author has transitioned nicely from cat/rat sets to beware/hair sets to scene/obscene sets and has provided a good learning curve for children.

All in all, I would recommend this book for parents to read to their children. My rating for this book is 3 out of 4 stars and I give props to the writers for delivering such an important message in a well laid out children’s book.

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Puffy and the Formidable Foe
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Latest Review: "Puffy and the Formidable Foe" by Marie Lepkowski and Ann Marie Hannon
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