Official Review: The Sheep Who Was Afraid of Her Own Refl...
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- leiabutler
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Official Review: The Sheep Who Was Afraid of Her Own Refl...
The Sheep Who Was Afraid of Her Own Reflection is a light-hearted and comedic read about a little dog called Drifter who has the responsibility of looking after Rosie's herd of sheep. Drifter has to try and keep Rosie happy by keeping the sheep calm and out of trouble. But is that easier said than done?
Overall this story is a great read. The part of the novel I felt was most successful was Drifter's realistic and relatable personality and the simple and loving message in the plot. Arthur W Treloar does so well to give Drifter's character such a funny tone and personality. He is self-aware, and he is very intelligent. I love his character presentation, but equally, I love his development as a character towards the end when the true extent of his big heart is revealed.
This story is classed as a children's book and based on the beautiful, colourful and engaging images that appear very frequently, and the simple messages in the story, I would have said the novel is aimed at younger children around the 5-7 age group. However, the vocabulary in the story is much more advanced with words like 'gesticulating' and 'disconsolate' that I would expect to see in books for children 11+. However, if the story is meant for older readers, as suggested by this language and the long paragraph lengths in the first page, then the story is much too short and simple for that audience. My main criticism of the novel is I don't think it is aware of who it is aimed towards. I think by adding more text and developing the story a little more, this novel would be perfect for older children because the language is quite academic and they could learn a lot about sheep. Equally, by reducing those advanced words and separating the text into smaller paragraphs, this book would be perfect for most younger children. I personally would suggest this book apt for children in the age bracket of 9-12, (depending on the child and their mental development) however I think the novel's writing and stylistic choices could have been better tailored to a specific age group. This small tweaking would have significantly enhanced the book.
After reading, I also wondered if the title is a little confusing. If I was a parent picking the book up, I might assume it was based on a story of self-reflection which aimed to promote messages of self-love and would have expected the story to revolve wholly around Masie. However, the story actually revolves around Drifter, and I wonder if the novel could have had a title that better introduced the fun aspects of Drifter's personality.
The story is a fun read, and I particularly like some of the interactive activities such as the 'spot the mistake' activity on the first page. I think lots of children would enjoy this book and it would be a good bedtime book. I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. It is a good book in terms of the content and illustrations. However, I'm taking a few points off based on the fact I don't think it particularly fits a particular age group very well and would need tweaking for me to give it a three or four-star rating.
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The Sheep Who Was Afraid of Her Own Reflection
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