Official Review: xola lola's journey from mexico to vermont
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CataclysmicKnight
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Official Review: xola lola's journey from mexico to vermont
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "xola lola's journey from mexico to vermont" by Pamela Davis Pouliot.]
3 out of 4 stars
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Xola Lola's Journey from Mexico to Vermont by Pamela David Pouliot is a children's book with a pretty self-explanatory title and a little twist. Four-year-old Anne Shirley's Memere (grandma) has several pets, and has been told that with all the shedding they do she can't have anymore. One day, however, she finds out that a Facebook friend - Miss Moira - had a Mexican hairless dog. What a perfect concept! But unfortunately, while Miss Moira's neighbor does have more Mexican hairless dogs available, they're in Mexico, a very long way from Vermont!
Xola Lola's Journey from Mexico really utilizes the point of view of little Anne Shirley (really her name, not the Anne Shirley of Anne of Green Gables or the actress who took the moniker from the book) incredibly well. The book is written as if she's talking to a friend, which makes the book totally relatable to kids and really cute for everyone. It also allows for some great teaching moments including maps for Xola Lola's journey and explaining Xola's namesake (based on the name of Mexican hairless dogs in Mexico being Xoloitzcuintle). My favorite line in the book is easily the one that introduces Anne, in which she basically says her grandmother says she's too smart for her own good!
The book also includes illustrations, as most children's books do. They're cute and colorful and silly and even informative. These images aren't on every page or even every other page, they're simply wherever they need to be. These include the aforementioned maps for Xola Lola's journey, a cute signature and paw print at the end of the book and illustrations of what a Mexican hairless dog looks like. There's also a really silly one of a hair ball with eyes, ears, whiskers and a tail following the text that their pets shed so much fur they could practically make new pets out of them. Across the 14 pages of the story are 8 illustrations, so it still averages out to just over one every-other page.
Despite the ratio of images to pages, however, the book felt a little text-heavy for a children's book. It's easy to read, though, and the tougher stuff (like Xoloitzcuintle) are explained and/or the way to pronounce them is shown. While the book doesn't have some sort of life lesson to teach, it does manage to teach about Mexican hairless dogs (including some cool history!) and a little geography. I really wish the book would've defined "Memere" and "Papere", however - they're two of the first four words in the book and I had to google them to figure out what they meant, and Memere even has alternate meanings.
While the book isn't perfect, it's definitely very cute and something that someone with dogs (especially a Mexican hairless dog!) will enjoy reading to their kid(s). As such, I'm rating Xola Lola's Journey from Mexico to Vermont by Pamela David Pouliot 3 out of 4 stars.
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xola lola's journey from mexico to vermont
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3 out of 4 stars
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Xola Lola's Journey from Mexico to Vermont by Pamela David Pouliot is a children's book with a pretty self-explanatory title and a little twist. Four-year-old Anne Shirley's Memere (grandma) has several pets, and has been told that with all the shedding they do she can't have anymore. One day, however, she finds out that a Facebook friend - Miss Moira - had a Mexican hairless dog. What a perfect concept! But unfortunately, while Miss Moira's neighbor does have more Mexican hairless dogs available, they're in Mexico, a very long way from Vermont!
Xola Lola's Journey from Mexico really utilizes the point of view of little Anne Shirley (really her name, not the Anne Shirley of Anne of Green Gables or the actress who took the moniker from the book) incredibly well. The book is written as if she's talking to a friend, which makes the book totally relatable to kids and really cute for everyone. It also allows for some great teaching moments including maps for Xola Lola's journey and explaining Xola's namesake (based on the name of Mexican hairless dogs in Mexico being Xoloitzcuintle). My favorite line in the book is easily the one that introduces Anne, in which she basically says her grandmother says she's too smart for her own good!
The book also includes illustrations, as most children's books do. They're cute and colorful and silly and even informative. These images aren't on every page or even every other page, they're simply wherever they need to be. These include the aforementioned maps for Xola Lola's journey, a cute signature and paw print at the end of the book and illustrations of what a Mexican hairless dog looks like. There's also a really silly one of a hair ball with eyes, ears, whiskers and a tail following the text that their pets shed so much fur they could practically make new pets out of them. Across the 14 pages of the story are 8 illustrations, so it still averages out to just over one every-other page.
Despite the ratio of images to pages, however, the book felt a little text-heavy for a children's book. It's easy to read, though, and the tougher stuff (like Xoloitzcuintle) are explained and/or the way to pronounce them is shown. While the book doesn't have some sort of life lesson to teach, it does manage to teach about Mexican hairless dogs (including some cool history!) and a little geography. I really wish the book would've defined "Memere" and "Papere", however - they're two of the first four words in the book and I had to google them to figure out what they meant, and Memere even has alternate meanings.
While the book isn't perfect, it's definitely very cute and something that someone with dogs (especially a Mexican hairless dog!) will enjoy reading to their kid(s). As such, I'm rating Xola Lola's Journey from Mexico to Vermont by Pamela David Pouliot 3 out of 4 stars.
******
xola lola's journey from mexico to vermont
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
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