Review of Shadow's Adventure Home

[Sarah Schmidt]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Shadow's Adventure Home" by Kathy Kovar.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Shadow’s Adventure Home is a short children’s book written by Kathy Kovar and illustrated by Mardel Rubio. Shadow, a housecat, sees his family packing their things, as well as his, into boxes. He learns that they are moving to a new house in the country. After the move, he is daunted by his new surroundings, but he soon works up the nerve to start exploring. One day, Shadow sees a bird perched outside through an open door. He begins a chase, but, when the hunt fails, he realizes that he cannot find his way back home. He endures a period of wandering, a brief stay at a nice lady’s house, then is kept at an animal shelter. After his frightening experiences, Shadow learns that there is nothing like the comfort of home.

Shadow’s Adventure Home is an appealingly simple story. It does not teach a huge lesson, but it does drive home how much we suffer without the comfort of our loved ones. It is also a perfect representation of the curious natures of cats. The ending was a touching reunion between Shadow and his family, making all the misery he endured on his adventure almost forgettable.

I was not a big fan of the illustrations. I found them to be somewhat dull and not very eye-catching. The art style was not very expressive, and I remember twisting my head every which way while trying to work out a particular drawing – Shadow’s time in a cage at the shelter – as it was not clear. This was the only thing I disliked about this story.

The standard of writing of Shadow’s Adventure Home was quite decent. I did locate three errors, and though this is a small number, these were rather notable as the book was not lengthy. The rest of the story had faultless grammar, so I assume that this book has been professionally edited.

I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. I think a perfect rating is justified in spite of the aspect I disliked. I would recommend this book to parents who are looking for a short naptime story for their children and to people who like children’s books about animal adventures. I do not think that people who enjoy fable-like, lengthy stories would find this a suitable read.

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Shadow's Adventure Home
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