Review of Linus the Lying Lion Fish and friends

[Annelore Trujillo]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Linus the Lying Lion Fish and friends" by Marilyn E Jones.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Linus the Lying Lion Fish and Friends by Marilyn Jones is a Christian children’s picture book that teaches kids to be kind. Linus tells a lot of lies to all of his friends. He tells stories of places he has gone. He fibs about paying back the money that he owes. He lies about a little bit of everything. Will he get away with lying, or will it get him into some trouble? That’s just the story of Linus. There are additional sea creature friends who also have lessons they need to learn. Each friend has a story. Tootsie is a tattler, Mick is a bully, and there are even more characters than that in this book.

I like that each story has a predictable structure. The main character has something that they need to fix, and the story has a lesson about that. It tells the story with a consistent rhyming pattern. Each story also has Bible verses that relate to the lesson in the story. This structure is the same for each of the stories in the book. I do like that this book is trying to teach kids some important lessons.

The reason I say “trying to teach” in the last paragraph is that the stories in this book can send the wrong message. There seems to be a “fight fire with fire” theme within the book that I don’t like. The fact that this is backed up with Bible verses also doesn’t sit quite right with me. I want my kids to learn to be kind, but I don’t think payback is necessarily the way to do it.

The formatting of the book needs some work. The color of the text sometimes blends in with the background. This makes it difficult to read. There’s even one spot where the page number overlaps with the end of a sentence. This is mostly because the author tried to use fancy text. Plain text that is easy to read would be a better option.

The book also is not professionally edited. There are several errors throughout the book. Children are impressionable. They learn from what they read. They don’t just learn from the story. They learn about writing and grammar from these books too. The books they read should be edited.

I give this book 2 out of 4 stars. I took off a star for the editing. I also had to take off a second star for the other issues I mentioned above. Unfortunately, the negatives outweigh the positives in this book. This book would be best suited for parents to read to their kids. Then they can talk about all aspects of the book with the kids and not let them get the wrong lessons from it. I would not recommend that kids read this on their own. This book would also be best for Christian families due to the use of scripture throughout the book.

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Linus the Lying Lion Fish and friends
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[Ogunkoya Mayowa]

This is a children's book that teaches kids to be kind. The book talks about how Linus lies about everything and how the lies will get him into trouble. The book format and color need to be worked on. The book is also poorly edited. Thanks for the honest review.

[Penny Ann Criswell Johnson]

I can appreciate a wonderful children's book with Scriptures. But, this book sounds like it's missed the mark. To have a lesson in here where you teach a child to "get even" and then back it with Scriptures is unfair. Parents need to know what their kids are reading at all times. Great review.

[Sarah Sonbol]

Children books need to be tackled with great care. A lot of thinking needs to be done to ensure that the right message will be delivered to the kids. I also agree that grammatical errors and improper editing can't be accepted in children's books in particular. Thanks for your honest feedback.