The Ballad of
Sandy McNab by Colin Mackenzie
is an interesting children’s book with a very different art style.
The back of the book claims that this book will be available as a
children’s song (I have not looked for it as of yet). The way the
book flows definitely lends itself to being a song.
A
little green crab is minding his own business in his home when a
shark shows up. The shark tries to trick the crab into going outside
by asking him to come out and play. When the crab refuses the shark
breaks in and tries to attack him. The little crab is quicker than
the shark and pinches it until the shark leaves. With the shark gone
the little crab can live peacefully again.
It
is hard to pick out just one thing as my favorite when I think the
entire book is great. The little crab pinching the shark’s nose
made me smile and a whale swallowing the shark was an ironic twist I
was not expecting. As for what I did not like, its not exactly a
complaint this time but more of something that people should be aware
of when getting a book (or anything really) that is not from their
country. On two pages there was a word that just felt wrong to me. One
was “barmy” which given the context I believe means stupid. The
other was “nippers” which I believe to be claws. While this is
not a problem with this book people (like myself) should be prepared
for language differences.
Parents
will enjoy reading this short book to their children and may find
that is is difficult to read it without singing it or adding emphasis
on the verbal patterns. Also as children get older this is a book
that they will still enjoy reading themselves. I give this children’s
book a 4 out of 4 rating
like so many others. The story is not overly long or detailed and the
author clearly took time to structure a story around the rhymes. It
keeps a steady rhythm that is frequently hard to accomplish. The
story itself is cute with a crab besting a much larger opponent.
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