It is not very often that I am asked to review a children’s book. I tend to spend most of my time reading tales of derring-do. How do you review a children’s book? Not having a preschooler handy, I used the next best thing - my wife!
Writing books for young children is not so much a science as it is an art form, and Ed Baker has found the perfect formula. The ideal book in this genre has vivid and easy to understand graphics. The words have to be easy to comprehend, and the ideas within the tale need to be concepts that a young child can grasp. The Story Of Kitten Cuckoo achieves all of these goals.
Using the canvas of the pictures, Ed Baker does a great job with the accompanying text. Written as a loosely rhyming poem, we are introduced to concepts of friendship and loneliness.
Kitten Cuckoo is a kitten who does not seem to fit in. His only friend is a baby elephant who also does not seem to fit in with the other elephants. The two friends form a bond. They do not care what the other animals think of them; they are outcasts within their own society.
Because they are unhappy with their lives, they run away. A kitten can hide easily, but unfortunately, an elephant is a slightly different kettle of fish. It does not take long for the bad guys to capture poor Paquile (Pah KEEL). As punishment, the baby elephant is sent to a game reserve in Africa. Poor Kitten Cuckoo is distraught. Not only has he lost his only friend, he also discovers he has lost his home.
Lapsing into a life as an alley cat, Kitten Cuckoo has to face the realities of life on the streets. Of course there has to be a happy ending, and that is achieved when Kitten Cuckoo decides to find his long-lost friend.
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