Official Review: Little Leo's Bad day by Dale Allen

CataclysmicKnight · Post by **CataclysmicKnight** » 15 Jul 2017, 00:26

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Little Leo's Bad day" by Dale Allen.]

3 out of 4 stars

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Sometimes the attitude a person has going into a day is what sets them up for an epic, awesome day or an awful, bad day. Such is the case with Little Leo's Bad Day by Dale Allen. This 30-ish page illustrated children's book is 3 really short stories in one - Little Leo's Bad Day, Little Leo's Dog Day and Little Leo and his Missing Toys.

Author Dale Allen explores three separate little stories to teach lessons on the importance of a positive attitude and being nice. Leo is a six-year-old who lives with his dad, and it's his dad who sneaks the lessons into each of the stories. Leo also loves playing with his cars and playing with friends or his dog. He's a realistic kid and the images in the book make it easy to relate to his little adventures.

The first story, the titular Little Leo's Bad Day, has Leo in a bad mood when he wakes up. When he asks his dad if he still has to go to school his dad tells him that if he doesn't go, he won't be able to see his friends! He explains that "the day is what you make it", and Leo ends up having a terrific day! The second story is similar but his dad explains why his dog won't play with him when he's in a bad mood, but the third story was my favorite. In Little Leo and his Missing Toys, Leo is playing roughly with his toy cars. When he won't calm down after being warned repeatedly by his dad his cars go missing while he's asleep, and Leo is led to believe they ran away because they were being treated so badly. They return, of course, after he promises to be nicer to them. The lessons are very straightforward but also good lessons to teach a child. A positive outlook is particularly important, especially when a child is being stubbornly fussy or upset!

Unfortunately, the text in the book is tiny! The ebook alternates between images and text, which is fine, but for whatever reason the text is also an image with a white background. As such, it isn't anywhere near as big as standard ebook text, and in fact when rotated sideways becomes even smaller. I really ended up straining my eyes to read the text most of the time, and on pages with more text I actually zoomed in on the "image" so I wouldn't get eye strain. The illustrations, on the other hand, are wonderful. The kids are all cute and cheery, as is dad, and the images are all colorful and fun. It was especially fun in the third story to see the toys that "ran away" hidden in the image, and then to see them right back in his room after they "come back".

While I felt like the book was a little on the short side, it really wasn't. There was a fair bit of text on most of the pages, often numerous paragraphs, and I've reviewed children's books that were 30 pages (or less!) before. It's just the nature of it having 3 stories that made it feel shorter than it really was. Being broken down into 3 mini-stories also means that very young children without much of an attention span can have a whole story read to them in a matter of minutes, or it can be re-read to them when they're having a bad day or playing roughly with their toys. My official rating of Little Leo's Bad Day by Dale Allen is 3 out of 4 stars.

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Little Leo's Bad day
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raikyuu · Post by **raikyuu** » 15 Jul 2017, 23:05

It's good to see a seemingly long children's book that's actually 3 stories in one. The attention span of children is really a challenge. Good job on the review!

crystal clear · Post by **crystal clear** » 16 Jul 2017, 02:25

Good one!

kunlebass · Post by **kunlebass** » 16 Jul 2017, 02:42

Good research on the kids Dale !!!!Congratulations on the review. I'm sure the kids will enjoy this.

cynlorde911 · Post by **cynlorde911** » 16 Jul 2017, 09:08

very good!

lancer254 · Post by **lancer254** » 17 Jul 2017, 11:21

Great job on that review.

Kelebogile Mbangi · Post by **Kelebogile Mbangi** » 17 Jul 2017, 11:44

I really like the idea of a book which teaches children to have a positive outlook. I should get this for my little sister's grumpy days! Thanks for the great review!

mbalu mutisya · Post by **mbalu mutisya** » 18 Jul 2017, 01:46

it is very goog and smart to children ...more intresting .I love it

beatriceanyango · Post by **beatriceanyango** » 20 Jul 2017, 04:41

wow love it

Quirinius · Post by **Quirinius** » 20 Jul 2017, 09:17

Nice review. What a lesson teaching book to children cant wait to share with my little brother.

Juliet Esther · Post by **Juliet Esther** » 01 Aug 2017, 08:47

I love reading children's books, gives me stories to tell when with kids, kids book always carry a nice message with them and this one isn't a exclusion, this book which teaches children the importance of positive attitude, this is a strong message and I like the book despite it's shortcomings. Nice review

Onyinyechukwu · Post by **Onyinyechukwu** » 13 Aug 2017, 13:48

Okay, that was a great review. The way you made it appear, apart from the tiny texts and images the book seemed next to perfect. I already have my eyes on a particular story. Like the quote from the book, 'the day is what you make it'. Thanks.

Uwazie Emmanuel · Post by **Uwazie Emmanuel** » 17 Aug 2017, 12:02

The book is good for inculcating the right attitude towards life, others and properties in children. I grasped the good message of the book by reading the review which was a simple but informative job.

micarida · Post by **micarida** » 17 Aug 2017, 12:12

Very nice. This lesson is not for just kids actually. Having a positive attitude is key to a lot of positive outcomes.

KlareAllison · Post by **KlareAllison** » 27 Aug 2017, 20:41

I like the fact that this book comes in the style of three mini stories. I think it is a device used by Dale Allen to engage children's attention till the end of each story. I find the morals behind the stories interesting, and I also think CataclysmicKnight has done a good job of the review.