I wrote this wonderfully witty post about reviewing and especially about a book I reviewed and when I went to post it up, blogger crashed. Now I can't recover the thing and I'm not sure I have it in me to re-write it. Particularly since a recreation of a post that you thought was witty, is almost never as witty as the first one. Even if it is wittier in fact, it will never measure up. Besides, an hour has passed and now it's practically bedtime.
Sigh.
But I'll try. So, on Tuesday I got four books in the mail to review. I kid you not. FOUR! You tell people you'll review for them and they promise to send the book and ..... nothing. So you tell more people you'll review for them and they say they'll send it and ... nothing. And then one day they start coming. And they come and they come and they keep coming and before you know it, the floodgates have opened and you are so far behind you'll never catch up. Thankfully only two of the books have a deadline to get done and both of those are picture books and both are done. They were two of my Tuesday four. I gave myself three days to read them to my kids, analyze whether it would be a long term hit versus and new book flash in the pan, wrote my reviews and sent them to Connie at Armchair.
The rest I have in a stack and will take them in the order that they came. I'm about five deep. And they are all novels. Not picture books. How smart was I to agree to review children's for the deadline people? Nah, I'll get them all done in the very generous four-week time period. Even unenforced.
Anyway, let me tell you about Tree Ring Circus by Adam Rex. The entertainment starts on page one folks. I kid you not. I spend several moments (as many as my children would allow) inspecting the subtleties of the title page. Now that I can sit and read it alone, let me tell you, it is hilarious!
What an awesome book! It has everything. The illustrations (by the author) stay true to the circus theme and incorporate the text (making you wonder if you are supposed to be reading it right up until you notice that the pictures are beginning to rhyme and build in intensity). This is a parent friendly book. The kind that you will helpfully suggest when your kid toddles over with one of those books that you just hate to read. And the kid will go for it. I mean why not? The illustrations are full color, vivid, and entertaining. The text reads flawlessly (no clunky cadence). And there are monkeys (what kid doesn't love a good monkey?).
I love, love, love this book. It reminds me of the reason I'm not published instead of making me wonder why others got that way. So, Mr. Rex, when is the next one coming out? (Asks the reviewer who got this one three months before it is available....)
And just in case you wondered. This is no where near as witty as the first post. Rats.
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