Review of Penny

[Sonia_Gonzalez]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Penny" by George J. Dance.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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Penny or Penny’s Hat is a poem written by George J. Dance that describes a red hat using a list of colors. This hat is red, but what shade is it exactly? Can you imagine what material it is made of? Think about a hat and how would you describe it, then read this poem and tell me what you would have done differently.

This book started as an online publication; several blog posts were eventually turned into this lovely book. It is written in alphabetical order, each letter has its chapter, meaning that there are 26 chapters, but the poem is a correlation of sentences. I enjoyed discovering new colors and words, like acajou, albugineous, and caliaturwood. I also like some word games the author used like Bee-Utah-ful or Del.icio.us. However, some words, in my opinion, had no relationship with a hat, or a description of a hat. I enjoyed that the author included an appendix with the hexadecimal RGB for the colors, so if anyone wants to use them, they can. I must warn you, if you are looking for a specific color, the appendix is almost as long as the poem.

I would have enjoyed this poem more if the author had chosen to add more than just colors and word games, as I believe this poem like it currently is, is perfect for a vocabulary or literature class but not for an afternoon read. It seems tedious and repetitive. At some point, it felt like reading random words from the dictionary.

Overall, I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars. This is an interesting take on poetry, is the most consecutive poem I have read, and I was impressed by the fact a poem can be over a hundred pages long. I decided to deduct a star because, as much research and time it took the author to compile the colors, I do not see much creativity in it, or something that keeps the reader entertained. The book has been professionally edited, as it does not contain errors or typos; however, I would recommend the author to edit in and, either add some text to keep the reader engaged, or make each chapter shorter to make it easier to enjoy.

I recommend this book to teachers; teenagers might enjoy this book. I also recommend it to people trying to learn English or improve their vocabulary, as it has an enormous list of colors. However, if you prefer classical and more traditional this is not the book for you.

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Penny
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[Kigen Valarie]

I think the hat has a dark red shade and is made of plastic and I want to know if I got it right. I think I'd enjoy reading the book and reading about all the colors and word games.

[Francis Kapola]

The appendix will be handy in increasing the knowledge of different hues of colors.